The Sega Saturn - What Happened?

[Music] let's see [Music] [Applause] [Music] before we start exploring the rings of Saturn I'd like to give a shout out to the Out of This World flavor of magic spoon whose sponsoring today's video if you're a blue skeleton like I am you yearn for the fun Saturday morning serial memories of your Youth and would like to recapture that same feeling but with more protein less sugar and four to five net grams of carbs per serving well magic spoon does just that while I personally love blueberry muffin that comes in this cute box here I gotta say I'm really excited for the birthday cake flavor which it's on its way to my door literally as we speak some of you may know I am a big cereal fan so magic spoon has been a great choice for my midnight snacking urges they've been really supportive of the show so if you'd like five dollars off the cereal bundle of your choice enter the code Mick muscles at checkout scan the QR code you see on your screen right here or go to magicspoon.com mcmuscles to snag some of that birthday cake before it's gone now without further Ado let's start the show hello and welcome to another episode of what happened a show that takes an analytical eye to games and media with absolutely Divine development struggles and when you're coming hot off the heels of a very successful video game console like the Genesis Mega Drive well you better believe you'll struggle to reach those same lofty Heights even if you're named after the sixth planet from the Sun so grab your space helmets in a 4 Mega expansion cart and get ready to blast off as I answer the question what happened to the Sega Saturn when telling the story of a console's entire lifespan it behooves one to rewind just a little bit before that and Sega was in a pretty weird place Circa 1993. well the Genesis Mega Drive okay I'm just saying the Genesis from now on okay sorry had been a worldwide hit on the Sega CD had been a novel diversion things took a let's just say it a very wrong turn with the 32x the ill-fated accessory was created to take on new competition that was hitting the marketplace specifically the Fearsome Atari Jaguar the mushroom-shaped peripheral did have a surprisingly decent launch though selling almost 500 000 units throughout the holiday season but that petered off quickly due to lackluster's support as only 40 games were ever released for it it really only hurt Sega in the end though as they had to slash the cost of the device dramatically within a year to liquidate all stock before its official discontinuation and not to mention all the loyal customers who felt shortchanged while the order to release some type of technology to combat encroaching Rivals came from Sega of Japan it was Sega of America's responsibility to make it all happen and while they were busy with that toilet fire the true follow-up to the Genesis was being designed before and during all of this Sony had approached Sega of America on the possibility of doing a collab on a new next-gen system only a short while after Nintendo had backed out of more or less the same concept Sega of America leadership was hyped as hell over the possibilities so why didn't this happen then well according to former Sega USA CEO Tom kalinski in a story on game industry.biz one of the key reasons why I left Sega is when we had the opportunity to work with Sony Sony leadership and I had agreed we were going to do one platform share the development cost of it share the probable loss for a couple of years on it but each benefit from the software we could bring to that platform we go to Sega and the board turned it down which I thought was the stupidest decision ever made in the history of business and so Sega continued charting their course towards Saturn while Sony swore to never entrust their heart to another and finally decided to go at it alone let's get into the tech in terms of design philosophy the Saturn seemed to have been built with dueling ideologies at play trying to balance between the old and the new but not dedicating itself 100 percent to either thing obviously being able to handle the majority of sega's latest 3D Arcade Hits was a priority but when the Saturn was being designed throughout 1993 and into 94 2D was still King so Sega most likely wanted some flexibility between the two they found that flexibility with two Graphics processing units each with their own dedicated video RAM which had their their own unique responsibilities if this sounds really similar to how the guts of the Jaguar worked well that's because they are really similar hell that's basically how the 32x worked these two chips were known as vdp-1 and vdp2 with the first usually being responsible for handling pretty much all on-screen actors and objects Sprites polygons all that important stuff while it wasn't a ginormous triangle pushing Powerhouse it could scale move and rotate 2D art without breaking a sweat so it was for a lack of a better term a pretty robust GPU so you know how the Saturn's library is remembered for its many 2D titles with impressive Sprite work while this is all down to vdp1 vdp2 was no slouch either but it was most often used as a background generator and was rumored to have included into the Saturn fairly late in development because it was probably incorrectly predicted that vdp-1 couldn't do absolute delete everything by itself of course the idea here was that when both gpus were used in tandem they could produce some very nice looking visuals but developers would need to get creative to achieve them and that included Sega themselves as a quick example while the arcade version of Virtual Fighter 2 had gorgeous 3D stages the Saturn had to approximate them by pushing around a lot of 2D assets in the background and the same went for last Bronx although that saw better results these two examples are of course pretty much best case scenarios where the changes are negligible to the point that some might not even notice them however this did lead to many multi-platform games having to go through some pretty serious compromises to get up and running or even to release at all how just the amount of games I've covered on this very show that had their Saturn versions canceled well before release well it's like way more than a few which is way too much so while it was just powerful and versatile enough to to get most things working but it often required workarounds and extra time to suss out the nuances of the architecture which became harder and harder for Publishers to justify porting to it of course all of this was exacerbated by where the industry was heading in general which unfortunately for the Saturn was directly towards a 3dville once Sony started touting the cutting-edge polygon pushing power of the PlayStation and eventual details started leaking about the Nintendo Ultra 64. Hardware the majority of big studios started chasing the 3D Dream which you can't really blame them for 3D is the future [ __ ] you Symphony of the Night this was something that was completely out of sega's hands though but like all other consoles I've covered in the past the problems with the Saturn weren't just relegated to a single massive mistake oh no Sega made lots of their own with arguably the biggest one being the Saturn's ill-conceived Western launch you know while it's been a lot of Doom and Gloom so far when the Saturn released in Japan in November of 1994 it sold around 500 000 units in just about 30 days Virtua Fighter was incredibly popular in Japan at that time so it absolutely was the killer app despite the port being less than arcade perfect and with no extra features added Sega then announced that the Western launch would be in Fall of 1995 almost a whole year later but would do so with a far meteor library of roughly 20 games however and this is a big however Hayao Nakayama CEO of Sega at the time was starting to get a bit antsy as the PlayStation was very rapidly catching up to the Saturn's Japanese sales numbers despite having enjoyed a two-week lead not willing to give Sony the same opportunity to catch up in the rest of the world he mandated that the Western launch had to be moved up almost five whole months May in America in July for Europe while the PlayStation was still scheduled for that September Sega of America CEO Tom kalinski strongly advised against this move as it meant launching with very little software amongst a myriad of other logistical problems but Nakayama remains steadfast according to Tom's account in the book console Wars Sega Nintendo and the battle that defined a generation was clear to him that despite being CEO of Sega of America it wasn't a decision he was allowed to participate in so then at E3 1995 the very first one Tom kalinski took the stage after a Saturn software demonstration and literally Shadow dropped the whole console saying that the Saturn had shipped yesterday and was now available across North America at some major retailers for 399 US Dollars which it's safe to say blindsided the entire industry now while that could easily be considered a mic drop what happened next was a mic orbital strike that very same E3 Steve race Sony Computer Entertainment America's CEO walked up to that same Podium and simply said and swagged off the stage his giant balls clattering between his legs so yeah the Saturn would debut first but the PlayStation was going to be 100 cheaper have a bigger launch lineup and a ton more hype leading up to it because you know they didn't decide to suddenly release it on a whim Sega of America had to do the best with the hand they were dealt and thus the Saturn launched with six games Clockwork Knight Daytona USA Panzer Dragoon Pebble Beach Golf Links virtual fighter and worldwide soccer Sega International Victory goal Edition well not a terrible Bunch it wasn't the best Bunch either Daytona USA and Virtual Fighter were Bare Bones Panzer Dragoon could be beaten in under two hours Clockwork night was Clockwork night and two sports titles that were worlds Away away from the NFL and NHL Smash Hits that typified the Genesis this wasn't the only issue though as moving up the Saturn's launch ruffled many of the third party feather who found out about the Saturn's moved up released the same time as everyone else it also pissed off other retailers who are not given any stock in lieu of favoring the bigger chains since they were under such a sudden and tight deadline and when the Saturn was finally available to them some chose to not even carry it at all the Ripple effects of this snap decision go even further than that because so many developers were caught so unawares between May and the original Saturn launch month of September only two two games were released that being bug and uh Street Fighter the movie I couldn't make this up if I tried a steady stream of games did eventually emerge as the original September release came into view but by that time everyone was talking about the PlayStation there was also another big elephant in the room or or not in the room in this case during the Saturn's launch well it's first year hell its entire life cycle really it was missing something something kind of important namely sega's Speedy blue animal mascot Echo the dolphin there wasn't a single 3D Mainline Echo game ever released for it resulting in millions of dollars in Lost sales and many many unhappy fans no seriously though check out my Sonic extreme video because that's its own absolutely Bonkers thing and while it's nice the Blue Blur got some representation on the Saturn with Sonic R Sonic 3D Blast and to a lesser extent Sonic Jam most fans knew these games weren't the big turgid 3D Sonic experience they were hoping for so they didn't move the needle all that much it can't be overstated how much of a massive fumble this was on sega's part as Sonic had been a huge element of the Jenny's success it was just about a year into the Saturn's Global debut that Tom kalinsky who Nakayama had hired himself to beat Nintendo in the west started to see his power and influence suddenly diminish in a December 2022 interview with time extension he explained the situation did change dramatically it went from where I was able to do whatever basically I wanted to to all of a sudden I was being dictated to and I really at the time didn't understand why this was occurring we'd been so successful so I didn't understand why all of a sudden decisions were being forced on me from Japan even to the degree of all the stuff I've talked about before on the Saturn and where I was forced to introduce it we didn't have enough Hardware we didn't have enough software and then to make matters worse we were forced to introduce it five months earlier than we wanted well we didn't want to introduce it anyway see Sega of America had reportedly spoken against pushing the Saturn several times to their bosses in Japan saying it was underpowered and that relying too heavily in arcade ports would eventually turn into a detriment but These Warnings fell upon death ears so in June of 1996 Tom stepped down from his position as the CEO of Sega of America along with co-chairman David Rosen with Sega then bringing in Bernie Stoller who they had just lured away from Sony as their new Executive Vice President in charge of product development and third-party relations during this process Sega of America's autonomy was also greatly reduced projects like Eternal Champions three were canceled and they would no longer be able to Greenlight any games without approval from Japan which of course would result in less games being published overall so for those keeping track it was only one year and some change into the Saturn's Western launch and Sega of America's upper management had already seen two high-profile exits which should give you an idea of how things were going and unfortunately where they were headed oh during his tenure at Sony Bernie Stoller was known for electing against bringing over a number of Japanese titles a tradition which he proudly continued over at Sega According to some list and this might not be 100 accurate all told there's 1046 games released for the Saturn over its lifetime with 785 of those which is just shy of 75 percent having never been brought outside of Japan now of course a fair number of these probably wouldn't have done that well outside of the country but that's still a staggering amount of content left unlocalized and you thought Reggie's tenure during the Wii era was rough now I know I've been focusing a lot on how badly the Saturn was faring in the west so it's only fair to mention that in its native Japan it never struggled oh no it actually thrived arcades remain popular in Japan all throughout the mid to late 90s in contrast to the Stark drop-off they saw in the rest of the world so the Saturn saw the benefits of quick arcade conversions along with many quality jrpgs are actually just RPGs in this case so it should be no surprise where the Saturn moved the bulk of its 9 million worldwide tally selling almost 6 million of those consoles in Japan which beat the likes of the N64 GameCube Wii U Xbox 360 and damn even the Mega Drive and Dreamcast the Saturn's catalog of games also had its own unique appeal especially to those who weren't really into the first few years of clunky 3D that the PlayStation and N64 hosted Dragon Force a style Legend of Oasis Guardian Heroes and some incredibly accurate Capcom fighting game conversions with the use of the 4 Meg expansion cart which produced better visuals and animation than their PlayStation counterparts but as nice as those small W's were the problem was that magazines and just playground Word of Mouth weren't really a buzz in about Dragon Force or Guardian Heroes they were Gavin about GoldenEye Final Fantasy VII and Metal Gear Solid while Virtual Fighter 2 would top the Saturn charts in Japan with over 1.7 million copies sold Sega would sadly never manage to secure that killer app and so desperately needed outside of Japan even a price dropped to 199 didn't help matters much and by 1997 there were signs that Sega themselves were already giving up on the Saturn at least in the west Bernie's Stoller himself was not a fan of the console claiming it was poorly designed and even going so far as to say at E3 1997 that the Saturn was not their future I mean hey it's great to acknowledge when things aren't going so hot but just like saying that raw and in public like who who let this man cook 1997 also marked another major turn of events Sega and bandai's failed attempt at a Fusion dance since by both companies were starting to fall upon hard times they felt combining their resources and Brands would net them never before seen profits this obviously did not happen because at the 11th Hour it came to light that many staffers in middle management have been strongly against the merger and the opposition then grew so fast and so loud that Bandai just pulled out this failure then caused their CEO slash nepotism baby who inherited the company from his dad Makoto yamashina to quit altogether taking most of the responsibility for the merger collapsing in a post-failed merger statement sega's CEO Nakayama said you will not be successful working together if van dive's management cannot take a hold of people's hearts damn that's some real ass [ __ ] right there but then Nakayama also stepped down from his position as CEO mainly due to his part in the failed merger all his recent really bad decisions and finally the really terrible 1997 that Sega had so he was out the door by January of 1998. while not every merger throughout history has been an unmitigated success it's easy to see how access to way more staff and Bandai licensed Brands could have really benefited Sega in the long run as we move into 1998 though we move into an incredibly tough time if you were a Saturn fan living outside of Japan during the entirety of that 12-month period there were only seven new Saturn games released seven granted they weren't really anything to scoff at Burning Rangers winter heat The House of the Dead magic Knight Ray Earth Shining Force 3 NHL 98 and Panzer Dragoon Saga but can you imagine your platform of choice getting barely more than a half dozen games per year uh well I guess Wii U owners could Hey Y'all Scott here obviously this reduction in releases was mostly down to Sega diverting their teams onto the Dreamcast which I've covered before but this meant that from November of 1998 to September of 1999 Sega released no games for any console in North America which most likely caused a decent chunk of fans to seek their gaming fix elsewhere meanwhile in Japan the Saturn continued on its merry way for two more years seeing support from Sega until its final release in March of 2000 which actually hurts my head a little bit when I think of the Saturn I imagine it just banishing off the face of the Earth the second the Dreamcast was announced which goes to show just how different the situation was in its Home Country I think when looking back on the complicated relationship between Sega of America and their home Branch it's clear there was a lot of finger pointing but after going through all the facts I can't help but feel that the U.S branch got the short end of the stick here this was a really tumultuous time for the industry in general with several other high-profile consoles failing to gain much traction but fortunately for the Saturn it's the most successful of that bunch and easily the most fondly remembered nowadays the console and its back catalog is highly desirable amongst collectors as it's teeming with underrated gems worth seeking out especially the ones that never left Japan like my precious final fight Revenge if you know of any other games consoles or whatever that absolutely went through it let me know in the comments below or give me a shout over on my Twitter see you next time and thanks for watching [Music]

Channel: Matt McMuscles

Views: 276,759

Keywords: matt mcmuscles, What Happened, wha happun, The Sega Saturn, What happened to the Sega Saturn?, video game documentaries, failed consoles, history of Sega

Id: G4q52XfZCmY

Length: 21min 59sec (1319 seconds)

Published: Sat May 13 2023

Reddit Comments

[u/neoalan00]

My only experience with the Saturn was playing a bit of Nights Into Dreams at Blockbuster while my parents chose a movie to watch. Yet it always held a fascination to me, it's a mysterious console I wish I could have had. If only to play Panzer Dragoon and Sonic R.

[u/VagrantShadow]

I have fond memories of the Sega Saturn. It was quite an interesting console, I feel. I think the game world was in a transitional period and the Sega Saturn wanted to hold back to the past.

I will say this though, I had some of my greatest video game experiences with the system of the 90s with a number of games on it. Guardian Heroes was an amazing game that me and several of my friends beat all the time. It just had that perfect mix of 90s anime, RPG elements, side scrolling fighting, and street fighting to it. It was an absolute treasure of a game. Funny enough it was made by Treasure themselves. Great game all in all.

[u/olorin9_alex]

Building an ultra 2D console when the industry (and most of your internal studios) already pivoting to 3D then bolt on a 3D chip at the last minute onto the motherboard is probably a bad idea

[u/YashaAstora]

The Saturn was a big success in Japan--basically the only success SEGA had there outside of the arcade market, which I feel people don't talk about often. It helps put SEGA's troubles in perspective, because after the American and Japanese branches already had enough bad blood between them during the Genesis/CD/32X days, now the Japanese branch wanted to keep the Saturn running as long as they could while the American branch desperately wanted to move on to something new.

[u/Dwedit]

Between the SNES and the Playstation was the Dork Ages of game consoles. We had the 3DO, the Jaguar, the 32X, the CDi, the Amiga CD32, the PC-FX, and even a few others all trying to compete, and none of them were able to measure up to the SNES's 2D game quality, or the Playstation's performance at its price. The Saturn fits in right there with the other dork age systems.

[u/drachen23]

I have fond memories of the Saturn as a Capcom/SNK fighting game fan during that time. It came out of the box with a 6-button controller layout. It supported fighting games like X-Men/Marvel vs Street Fighter and KOF, but they required the extra RAM cartridge. Most of those games I got as imports, so I had to get past the international restrictions with a separate Japanese emulator cartridge. There was only one cartridge slot, so I had to get good at the timing to start the system with the Japanese cart to get the game to boot and then yank it and replace it with the RAM cart before the game tested that you had the RAM cart. Fun times.

[u/PlugInSquid]

I recently bought my first Sega Saturn actually (as well as a Satiator to run roms on it), I accepted that I will never own a fullsize good condition arcade cab and the Saturn was the next best thing. Sega really succeeded at bringing the arcade home, Virtua Cop and Sega Rally in particular run and play amazingly.

[u/Nervous_Ad6805]

I couldn't make it 2 minutes thru the video between the paid advertisement and all the goofy animations. I understand I'm probably not the target audience but it didn't seem to provide a deep dive that would be appropriate and appreciated for the Saturn. I'll go back to my rocking chair on the porch.

[u/SeriousPan]

The Saturn is another one of those stories where the Japanese side of the company makes a decision and the American side says "please no." And then the Japanese side is all confused when it fails. Looking at you Street Fighter x Tekken.

Also, what happened to Matt's awesome marionette style avatar? That was so expressive and fun, I loved how it moved. This new one is so stiff and safe in comparison.