They actually made those hats back in the day. If only I could have one for my own...

Here we go folks, after all the waiting, doubting, picking on poor Stan for his foolish attempts at contacting an insider at Sega I have beaten you all! All of you! Alright, so no one really doubted me other than that twisted fiend known as Bock, but regardless I've got something great for you all here that even the most hardcore and knowledgeable of Sega Master System fans will find enjoyable. I finally got the chance and honor to interview John Sauer, a man who originally worked deep within Sega of America and revealed a lot of answers to mysteries and innerworkings from back in the SMS days. Let's start from where this all began before I get into details so it doesn't seem all over the place. Just so you know, commentary and history by me are in regular type. My questions are in bold and John's responses are in italics. In some cases I put his answers before he actually answered anything because at times his responses didn't conicide with the rest of the email since he simply answered questions directly in my email and sent it back to me. Anyway, here we go!

So there I was, looking for something else to waste my money on that was Master System related, when a well-known magazine seller, billmarioman, nabbed a huge lot of Sega magazines for hardly anything, thereby ruining my chances of finally getting the complete set of Sega Team Newsletters without paying a bundle. Sure enough, a few weeks later the nice, but devious, seller had listed them around twenty-five bucks apiece, but considering how rare they were and how much fun I'd have reading them I said screw it and purchased all of them. Good luck seeing them again in such great shape. Anyway, enough complaining and bragging, so I finally got my horde in the mail and started to scan through them. Inside the first issue I noticed an introduction with a man by the name of John Sauer, who had started working for Sega and helped with advertising and writing all the box texts you're familiar with, among other things. Looking at his cheery, goofy picture (see above), I wondered if in all hell I'd have a chance of talking to someone who worked for Sega to make it seem like I had some purpose on the site other than accessory reviews and annoying everyone from time to time. Perhaps he'd answer some questions, relay some unknown information, explain some history, whatever, so I took a chance and looked around the internet for a few minutes. To my surprise the name was very easy to find, I located a site by an artist who worked with glass. I didn't think it could be him, though who knew, so I took a chance and sent out an email to the address provided. Sure enough, I did get a response.

Hi, I hope I've found the right person. I'm looking for the John Sauer who did work with the Sega Master System in the 1980s. If this is you, please reply, I help to run a Master System site and I was looking to have some questions about products answered and also set up a possible interview. Thanks!
Stan

Hi Stan, Wow, you have a deep memory! You have the right guy. Fire away with your questions and I would be happy to talk with you.
Best, John

I must say I was amazed it was actuallly him let alone the fact that he responded. Seems to go further along with my theory that everyone in the SMS community, even people who worked with Sega, tend to be nice people, willing to talk about what they've done and elucidate on things fans are uncertain about. I sent another email with a few questions and got a response within a few days without a hitch. The questions I asked of him helped me put together some gaps in the character section, as well as helping me flesh out the NTSC Rerelease article I did a few months back.

Wow, quick response! Actually, I just sent the email and did my research in the span of about five minutes. I recently picked up the old set of Sega Team Newsletters and was leafing through and saw you mentioned in most of the issues. I must say, as geeky as this may sound, it's quite an honor to be able to speak with you. Have you ever received any contact about this? First off, check out our site at www.smstributes.co.uk We're currently reworking some things, such as the characters section, but it will give you an idea of what we're about.

Nice site...the honor is all mine. I appreciate the level of fan-dom that the SMS still has after all these years! I play mine often and have raised my children to enjoy the classics in the face of the ultra-real games they have to choose from today. I answered your questions below...feel free to ask more. I am OK with you posting this and your interview on the site with the cheesy picture from the magazines if you want. You can also get a current picture of my from my art site at www.gleenglass.com .
Thanks again and very best, John

Okay, so you get the point, now let's get on to the actual interview! Before you click the link below to your ultimate happiness, I should state that I've reorganized some of the questions so they were in an order that made the most sense. Regardless, I'm following the same format you see above. Let's get cracking!

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