I would have you know the Genesis proved to be viably competitive against the SNES even though Nintendo technically had superior hardware at the time of Sonic's release

I would also note that Sega was the first company to have a console or console add-on that could play games on disks, AND render full-motion videos or cutscenes. Sonic CD, for example, took advantage of the Sega CD's cutscene capabilities by including some pretty amazing animated cutscenes that would play at both the start and end of the game.

Granted, after the Genesis and CD addon, Sega seemed to always be behind other companies in hardware power. And the only consoles that performed well usually had to rely HEAVILY on Sonic just to market them. (Sonic 1, for example, was sold as a bundle with the Genesis, in fact, the very first Sonic the Hedgehog commercial asserted "it's a lot more for a lot less!" by showcasing Sonic the Hedgehog 1's faster speed and gameplay).

Granted, SEGA could never truly make the leap to 64-bit (3D). The SEGA Saturn could not even remotely compete with the Nintendo 64 (let alone the PlayStation 1) because of 1. A severe Sonic draught in which SEGA simply could not for whatever reason develop a good Sonic game for the Saturn. and 2. It was a step behind the 64 and the PlayStation in terms of graphics. In fact, that only thing that prevented the Saturn from being a commercial failure in Japan were a series of commercials that asserted that if you don't play Sega Saturn, a scary karate master named Segata Sanshiro will beat you up. Heading outside to play baseball? REKT. Hanging out with your friends at a party? REKT. Wanted a snowboard for Christmas? TOO BAD! SEGATA HAS REPLACED SANTA CLAUS AND IS BRINGING SATURNS TO EVERYBODY!

Ahem.

The Dreamcast was SEGA's answer to PlayStation 1, and the Nintendo 64, but by then they were already too late to the race. Even though the Dreamcast would go on to feature not one, but two of Sonic's best games, (which showed just what blast processing could do in a 3D environment : P) PlayStation 2, and later the Gamecube, would prove to not only be more powerful consoles than the Dreamcast... but more fun. The other thing was, of course, a kind of dry game library outside of just Sonic Adventures 1 and 2. Eventually, Sega began to realize the pattern that they just weren't cut out for the console business anymore, and began to only develop games for other platforms.

But uh, yeah. Blast processing is kind of underrated modern consoles don't have it, which explains why Sonic games just aren't good anymore

Sonic Mania was only successful because Christian Whitehead was able to replicate an emulator that mimicked the effects of blast-processing on screen, and thus, we were finally able to be welcomed to the next level after so long :3

I may or may not be being silly at this point, but no, really, SEGA did what Nintendidn't... until they didn't