Uploaded June 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
This Sonic Indian TV commercial landed on Game Forest GF today and it tells one of the strangest distribution stories in Sega's entire history. In April 1994, Sega struck a deal with Shaw Wallace Electronics to bring the Mega Drive into India, and the catch is that Shaw Wallace was not an electronics company at all. It was a liquor company, founded back in 1886, best known for whisky and beer brands like Royal Challenge and Director's Special. The reason for that odd pairing was purely financial, since direct imports of consoles like the Mega Drive faced an 80 percent tariff in India at the time, and partnering with a domestic company let Sega sidestep that cost entirely while still keeping things technically legal.
The console sold for roughly 18,000 rupees through this partnership, a steep price for most households at the time, and Shaw Wallace ended up handling distribution until Mitashi Edutainment took over in 1995, dropping the price and bundling in games like Sonic the Hedgehog and Michael Jackson's Moonwalker to push sales further. Sega's popularity in India held strong through the mid 90s before starting to fade out around 1997 and 1998 as cheaper clone consoles flooded the market.
The ad itself fits right into Sega's reputation for genuinely strange, over the top commercials from this era, complete with exploding television effects and Sonic showing up to drag a kid into playing Sega instead, all delivered in a high pitched voice, since Sonic did not even have an official voice actor locked in for games yet at this point.
Let me know in the comments if you remember Sega being sold this way in India. Subscribe to Game Forest GF for retro gaming content every single day.
#segamegadrive #sonicthehedgehog #sega #shawwallace #retrogaming #classicgaming #90scommercial #retrocommercials #indiangaming #90sgaming #oldschoolgaming #vintagegaming #gaminghistory #90snostalgia #segaindia #india #youtubeshorts #gaming #viral
This Sonic Indian TV commercial landed on Game Forest GF today and it tells one of the strangest distribution stories in Sega's entire history. In April 1994, Sega struck a deal with Shaw Wallace Electronics to bring the Mega Drive into India, and the catch is that Shaw Wallace was not an electronics company at all. It was a liquor company, founded back in 1886, best known for whisky and beer brands like Royal Challenge and Director's Special. The reason for that odd pairing was purely financial, since direct imports of consoles like the Mega Drive faced an 80 percent tariff in India at the time, and partnering with a domestic company let Sega sidestep that cost entirely while still keeping things technically legal.
The console sold for roughly 18,000 rupees through this partnership, a steep price for most households at the time, and Shaw Wallace ended up handling distribution until Mitashi Edutainment took over in 1995, dropping the price and bundling in games like Sonic the Hedgehog and Michael Jackson's Moonwalker to push sales further. Sega's popularity in India held strong through the mid 90s before starting to fade out around 1997 and 1998 as cheaper clone consoles flooded the market.
The ad itself fits right into Sega's reputation for genuinely strange, over the top commercials from this era, complete with exploding television effects and Sonic showing up to drag a kid into playing Sega instead, all delivered in a high pitched voice, since Sonic did not even have an official voice actor locked in for games yet at this point.
Let me know in the comments if you remember Sega being sold this way in India. Subscribe to Game Forest GF for retro gaming content every single day.
#segamegadrive #sonicthehedgehog #sega #shawwallace #retrogaming #classicgaming #90scommercial #retrocommercials #indiangaming #90sgaming #oldschoolgaming #vintagegaming #gaminghistory #90snostalgia #segaindia #india #youtubeshorts #gaming #viral
