Segata Sanshiro (せがた三四郎?) is a fictional person who appeared in the Japanese commercials, promoting the Sega Saturn and its games like SoloCrisis and Sonic R.
Usually, the commercials have Sanshiro showing strength or being skilled, like breaking concrete with his forehead or picking someone up and throwing them with little effort (the drop then causes them to explode... twice). He is also shown to be a skilled martial artist.
Sanshiro lives as a hermit, training with a giant Sega Saturn and will sometimes go into the city to "enlighten" people about the Sega Saturn by beating them up until they play it. When the Dreamcast was made, he was no longer needed. In his final commercial, a terrorist fired a missile at the Sega of Japan but Sanshiro stopped the missile and flew off into space and muttered "Sega Saturn Shiro!!" a few more times before the missiles explodes and Sanshiro dies. The announcer then states that "Segata Sanshiro will live on in your hearts," followed by a display of the game Segata Sanshirō Shinken Yūgi.
In 2020, Segata Sanshiro's son, Sega Shiro became the face of the Go Sega 60th Anniversary campaign. Entrusted with keeping Sega(the company) safe, Sega Shiro did battle with a masked martial artist dressed in black. After he defeated the masked man, it was revealed the mysterious fighter was in fact, Segata Sanshiro. Stating he was proud of his son he demanded he throw him, which a teary Sega Shiro does, throwing him with enough power to launch his father into the planet Saturn. Sega Shiro then wakes up, the event seemingly a dream, but holding his father's black belt and hearing his voice in his head.
Other appearances[]
Segata Sanshirō Shinken Yūgi (1998): A Sega Saturn game, only released in Japan, in which Sanshiro plays a major role.
Rent a Hero No. 1 (2000): A game released only in Japan, in which Segata is a minor character.
Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed (2012): Segata Sanshiro makes a cameo in the Race of Ages track, riding on a rocket similar to his final commercial appearance.
Project × Zone 2 (2015): Segata Sanshiro is featured as a playable character in this crossover game.
Trivia[]
Segata Sanshirō was played by actor Hiroshi Fujioka, an expert in martial arts and well known in Japan for his interpretations of characters in many tokusatsu series (i.e.: Kamen Rider).
The character was a spoof of Sugata Sanshirō, a legendary masterful character of the homonymous film (1943) from director Akira Kurosawa.
Segata Sanshirō was both mentioned in the Conquest of the Commercials[1] and incluided in Dragon's Lair the Movie Sketch[2] videos from Nostalgia Critic/Channel Awesome.
