For today, we're going to look at some print media, and a very special competition~
1. TV Magazine (テレビマガジン) 1995.03 & 1995.05 Issues
So, uh... what are these magazines? Well, TV Magazine (テレビマガジン) is a children-oriented monthly Japanese magazine (mainly aimed at young boys) published by Kodansha Ltd. that primarily features children's television shows and videos, and to a lesser extent, children's video games, model kits, and toys. It was first published on November 1st, 1971.
Alright, so you're probably thinking "That's nice and all, but what on earth would such a magazine have to do with Clockwork Knight?!"... well, I can easily answer that!
Let's look closely at the top right front cover of the 1995.03 issue...
Well, as you can see right there, there is a Sega Saturn console sitting on the front cover. The text right next to it says "セガ・サターンクロックワークナイトイラスト大コンテスト", which pretty much translates to "Sega Saturn Clockwork Knight Illustration Big Contest"... see, I told you there was a reason for posting this! haha
Now, inside the issue is a 3 page feature on the first Clockwork Knight game (strangely at least 1 of them is a screenshot from a much earlier version of the game, even though it was now 3 months after release!), but the main focus for today will be one particular part of the third page, where the details of the competition can be found (Which, itself, also contains a screenshot from a much earlier version of the game...):
The basics of the competition were, the entries were to be drawn on the clear side of a plain postcard, and then the 2 above little white address boxes with blue text were to be cut out and attached to the address side of the postcard. The entrants also had to pay 50 Yen (¥50) for postage costs. The deadline for the competition was 1995.03.05, and the winners were to be announced in the street dated 1995.05 issue of the magazine.
To note, the release of this issue (street date of 1995.02, with a cover date of 1995.03) means that this competition happened during the production of Clockwork Knight 2 in Japan, but we'll come back to that later, as it's significant.
So, what were the prizes?
Grand Prize (1 Winner Only) - Sega Saturn Console with controllers, etc.
Prize A (3 Winners Only) -
Clockwork Knight game for Sega Saturn.
Prize B (3 Winners Only) -
Virtua Fighter game for Sega Saturn.
(It is assumed that the Grand Prize would also come with a copy of each game)
Along with 2 other Judges, the games producer "Noriyoshi Oba" was one of the judges.
As previously stated, the winners were announced in the 1995.05 issue of the magazine. So, who were the winners? Well, in a very small section of the issue, we get to find out...
Grand Prize Winner: Takuya Kawamoto from Ōsaka Prefecture (大阪府/ 川本 拓弥)
Prize A Top Winner: Yuiko Muraoka from Aichi Prefecture (愛知県/ (村岡 佑伊子)
Prize A Other Winners: Asuka Kido from Saitama Prefecture (埼玉県/ 木戸 あすか) & Saori Nishimura from Hyōgo Prefecture (兵庫県/ 西村 沙織)
Prize B Top Winner: Yūsuke Hanai from Aichi Prefecture (愛知県/ 花井 祐輔)
Prize B Other Winners: Kazuaki Mihara from Kyōto Prefecture (京都府/ 三原 一晃) & Hikaru Suzuki from Aichi Prefecture (愛知県/ 鈴木 輝)
(Only the top winners illustrations were featured in the magazine, probably due to issues of space)
So, are we at the end of the story for this one? Well, almost, but not quite.
Remember earlier I mentioned that this competition happening during the production of Clockwork Knight 2 in Japan was significant? Well, that is because the winners and a few other entrants had their illustrations featured in the end credits of the Japanese version of Clockwork Knight 2!
And thus, ends the story on the Illustration contest. This was a long post, but I was happy to write about it and spread the information a little. It just goes to show you, you never know what is hiding in old Japanese magazines of the era, sometimes even mostly unrelated to gaming!
More information on the Illustration contest (and full scans from TV Magazine Issue 1995.03) can be found on the section I wrote about it on the
Clockwork Knight 2 Sega Retro page.