It's a sad way to start a new week, but one of the most influential figures in gaming has sadly passed away. Hideki Sato, the designer behind all of Sega's consoles, has died at the age of 77.
The report comes from Japanese outlet Beep 21 (via VGC) that Sato passed away this past weekend.
Sato went on to become Sega's president from 2001 through 2003, as the company transitioned away from hardware, eventually leaving in 2008.
When Sega's earliest consoles came to market, Nintendo was already the established giant, and you could easily argue that without the competition, the landscape would look very different, today.
The arrival of PlayStation, in particular, had a lasting effect on Sega's place in the console market. The Sega Dreamcast, the final hurrah, had a partnership with Microsoft to run Windows CE software, but ultimately Xbox arrived, and the rest is history.
I feel immense sadness at this news, though. The Master System was the first console I ever played. As a youngling, my friend group were all Sega players, and at the age of eight, my parents bought me a Mega Drive (Genesis in other markets), and that set my love of gaming in motion.
Even before online gaming existed, it was this newfound, shared passion with my friends that provided many cherished childhood memories. And at eight years old, finishing Sonic the Hedgehog in one sitting — without using the level select cheat as a sort of save and quit —felt like some achievement.
To this day the Dreamcast remains my all-time favorite console. I didn't have one from new because they were expensive; it launched before I was old enough to get a job, and as I already had a PlayStation, my parents (quite rightly) weren't keen on buying another console.
But a friend had one, and I was instantly smitten with the outrageous nature of the controller and the VMU. Crazy Taxi was an instant hit, and ChuChu Rocket was ridiculously fun.
I've owned Dreamcasts since. One had technical issues, and the other sadly didn't make it through a house move. But out of every console I've ever owned from any manufacturer, nothing will ever dethrone it.
So, I pay tribute to the man that kickstarted it all. But most of all, remain eternally happy for everything he did. Legends never truly die. Do please share your own Sega memories in the comments below.
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