Look at the first 30 secs of that video, which is the 1995 E3 Sony Keynote about the upcoming Playstation. Can you guess what game they showed as an example of a "Substandard 2D game"? Yes, that's right, Irem's NINJA SPIRIT for the Turbografx!
What an odd choice.
GREAT FIND!
I agree, it seems odd that Sony would choose an old, relatively unknown title to represent the "archaic" 2D genre of gaming.
Of course, that could have been the point: choose a relatively unknown game as a *generic symbol* for "the old way"...nobody's feelings are hurt, no Mario/Sonic fans (with fond memories of playing prior generations of games) get their hearts broken...
And, on a corporate/business level, no relevant publishers or third party companies are publicly mocked.
Still, it seems like an odd choice.
I feel like we could list many SNES/Genesis games to be the generic symbol for "2D" (even if we have to be careful not to offend folks)...
Choosing a game that was well-received by critics, such as Ninja Spirit, was a good decision (assuming any thought was put into it)...it strengthens Sony's argument that even "good 2D games" are going to be destroyed by modern 3D revolution.
Poor Ninja Spirit.