Balloons, Merch and Crazy Dancing - Check Out SEGA's TGS Booth

Tokyo Game Show 2023 has officially kicked off, and as you can probably tell with all the news we've been struggling to post it's already been an incredibly active one! Sonic Frontiers won an award, new exclusive merch was revealed, Sonic Superstars got a deep dive into its Battle Mode... but what about the experience on the show floor itself?

Well, thanks to SEGA's own photo blog, we can share with you exactly what the company has going on, and what the booth looks like! Come on a journey with us, why don't you?

Perhaps the most striking thing about SEGA Atlus' TGS booth this year is the photo spot (of which there are many, for all their different games) for Sonic Superstars. The Classic Sonic 2D adventure is featured prominently at the company's large event space, and by approaching the demo kiosk you are immediately greeted by huge balloons of the game's main characters.

Here's a closer look. How cute do they all look!? We think Tails is about to pop at any moment though, best keep an eye on him.

Underneath the balloon characters, you can take pictures with Sonic himself! This looks exactly like the Sonic I saw many years ago at TGS in 2007... that Sonic was incredibly energetic, and I wonder if this 2023 version has the same amount of dancing skill..?

As we reported elsewhere, fans who come along to play the game will get themselves some cool swag. Here are some booth hosts posing with one of these items, the plastic Sonic character masks. Read more about all the TGS Sonic merch you can grab in our news story here.

Here's another photo of the merch available, this time a t-shirt. You get it by not only playing the demo, but completing it as well. Which isn't going to be a very difficult task to be truly honest, so go for broke!

Of course, it wasn't all about Sonic at SEGA's booth. There was a lot of space dedicated to the company's other high-profile releases. A significant section on the Ryu ga Gotoku / Like A Dragon series (which happens to be my other favourite game series of all time, so this makes me very happy), as well as space for Atlus titles such as Persona 5 Tactica and Persona 3 Reload, and even smaller-but-still-important titles like Endless Dungeon and Football Manager.

There is absolutely no reason for me to be posting Like A Dragon photos on a Sonic fansite.

I just wanted to do it because I love the series so much.

Go on then, have some Persona as well. For balance.

On top of this, SEGA in Japan also acts as publisher for a number of Western video games, and these are also represented in some small way at their TGS booth. You can see the full lineup on the official website, but we're talking about games like Payday 3, Atlas Fallen, EA Sports FC 24 and STALKER 2. In Japan, these are technically SEGA games. Crazy right?

Well, not as crazy as the "Sonic Superstars Funtime Show", an event that apparently takes place regularly at the massive stage area of the SEGA Atlus booth. I guess this Sonic really does have some epic dance moves after all. A still photo of Sonic apparently doing the Macarena with cheerleaders isn't good enough, in my opinion, so have a clip of the madness happening in front of a number of bemused Japanese fans (just ignore the translator voiceover chap, he was clearly having a rough day trying to keep up).

So! This appears to be SEGA's (and Atlus') complete presence at TGS 2023. What do you think? Personally, I think I want to see a full video of the Sonic Superstars Funtime Show - can anyone at SEGA make that happen please?

Let us know what you think of SEGA's booth in the comments below!