Why the Sega Saturn Failed

[Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] one of the often discuss topics whenever sega comes up is their failure with the Sega Saturn and their ultimate demise is a home console maker you can't get away from it really as these failures would ultimately define Sega for millions of gamers all over the world the saturn is my favorite console of all time and sega is my favorite game maker from the 80s and 90s saying everything I'm about to say doesn't come without its pain but I feel in order to truly love something you must see it for all its faults as well as its strengths so here we go why the Sega Saturn failed [Music] my opinion on this subject is often quite contrary to the normal reasons you get you normally get stuff like developing for the Saturn's hardware was too difficult or the Saturn's early launch or the 32x or retailers hating on Sega or even the infighting between Sega of Japan and Sega of America being the route calls you get all kinds of reasons for the Saturn's fall and while many of these things no doubt hurt Sega I do not believe any of them killed the Saturn there have been plenty of successful hardware that were hard to program for and more than one console has had a disastrous launch and recover to a profitable business model no Sega's failure would actually run much deeper and irreparable than any of these things it would be something that would be the foundation of every successful games machine in the history of the console business Sega failed because of its games to understand my point of view you really need to understand what made Sega's Mega Drive in Genesis so incredibly popular this console is considered to be Sega's lone success when talking worldwide sales so popular was the Genesis that it would challenge the very company responsible for the resurrection of console gaming in the mid 1980s Nintendo but why why was the Mega Drive in Genesis so popular and the other Sega systems failures in the majority of the regions across the globe the Genesis Hardware had been strong for a 1988 release but it was hardly anything spectacular when compared to its contemporaries she could paint a pretty picture and move around sprites nice and fast but I can't say I'd attributed success to this alone the sound capabilities of the Genesis was absolutely awesome in the right hands and it would go on to produce many unforgettable music tracks but again its competitors could pump out a decent tune themselves so what was it what made the Genesis so damn appealing quite simply it was its games Sega had executed a nearly flawless game plan with the Genesis either by happenstance or does 9 I do not know what I do know is that from day one the genesis brand in North America South America and Europe did everything it needed to do with regards to games correctly Sega had built a stable foundation of arcade and sports games in the system's first two years on the market providing the launch pad that Sonic the Hedgehog needed to explode in popularity the arcade experiences were exactly what gamers had wanted for the previous 10 years of the Hobby games that genuinely looked and sounded like they were straight from your local arcade the sports games proved to be one of Sega strongest moves as the mainstream gamers flooded the console to play football basketball baseball soccer hockey and boxing games by the millions branding Sega as the sports console was ingenious for these games began to become more complex and draw in new customers to the business these customers tended to be older and had more disposable income than the generation of consoles before Sonic the Hedgehog had provided an anchor for the brand as well a magnet for newcomers of all ages to experience something faster and more colorful than anything before it for years Sega used its arcade focused designs to great effect its shinobi games would be some of the finest action endeavors that generation and Streets of Rage which show up three times to give beat'em up fans that fixed a crave the Genesis platform would churn out countless popular licensed games as well with everything from Michael Jackson Batman Mickey Mouse spider-man Ghostbusters and Jurassic Park all getting the exclusive treatment for the platform Sega had also scooped up countless third parties that were sick of Nintendo's license fees and rules these developers themselves would dump an avalanche of software on the platform with even Nintendo stalwarts like Capcom Konami and Tecmo coming on board to add to the already impressive library of the Genesis many of these were arcade ports or arcade-style games as well solidifying Sega's only the sports games machine of choice but also is the place to get your arcade action the Genesis and Mega Drive platform was an absolute monster from 1989 to 1994 with just about everything going Sega's way even their stance on violent games had benefited them with Mortal Kombat being a huge deal on the Sega Genesis with its blood and true to arcade fatalities but major trouble was brewing for Sega at this time as well while Sega of Japan started quietly moving towards a Mega Drive replacement in 1993 Sega of America had taken over the reins of the Genesis and begun publishing games themselves while Sega of Japan had put out a near constant supply of great content Sega of America was publishing games all over the place and quality while there were some gems Sega of America began pushing out a fair number of games that were marginal at best and even god-awful at times games that would fail to be engrossing at nearly every level of design games that have some of the most mundane gameplay graphics and sound on the machine while tom kalinske had made some really smart moves during his run the guy had absolutely no eye for quality game design and the games published by Sega under his watch were some of my worst experiences for the Genesis this wasn't exclusive to the Genesis though as Sega of America was responsible for some hideous game design on the Sega CD as well everything from garbage full motion video games too horrendous sports efforts to even more garbage full motion video attempts there was no shortage of they're staying on the Sega library of games this near constant supply of mediocre games by Sega of America would damage the Sega brand in these later years a crippling turn of events considering Nintendo and its third parties were just hitting their stride on the Super Nintendo platform even worse these failed IPs were supposed to be the building blocks of new franchises that Sega could create sequels to in the future a point I wish to to later in this video with Saturn coming to the Japanese market in 1994 Sega had another problem brewing arcade games had plummeted in popularity in the West in the mid-90s and Sega's entire strategy for the Saturn had been centered on its arcade business they figured ports of games like Virtua Fighter would be the killer app they'd need to get the console off the ground and it had worked in Japan as the arcade was still very popular there and Sega's machines were doing gangbusters in the West though gaming tastes had shifted and customers were expecting more from the new generation of consoles they were dropping 300-plus on hardware and wanted a gaming experience that reflected it the meager three tracks and two cars of Sega's arcade racers a handful of fighters with no story hidden characters or endings and gun games that were over in 15 minutes were losing out to games with tons of unlockables deeper stories and loaded with RPG elements Sega's insistence on bringing home arcade ports worth little to no extra content often meant that third-party games designed from the ground up for the home experience simply had more content and stuff to do even Namco was well aware of the shifting times loading up their arcade games and home versions with tons of story hidden characters additional modes and even spinning off games entirely into new genres the arcade was dying in the West and Sega was still asking customers to pay $50 for five minute gameplay snippets Sega had also been the king of the 16-bit sports arena releasing countless great experiences during the lifespan of the Genesis games like Joe Montana NFL football Evander Holyfield real-deal boxing World Series baseball and David Robinson's supreme court basketball all sold like hotcakes third parties pelted the system of sports games as well with prolific sports maker EA doing extremely well themselves on Sega's 16-bit hardware I don't know what the hell happened or who the hell's fault it was but Sega completely lost sight of this on the Saturn at the Maschine surprise launch there were two sports games available in North America a soccer game called world wide soccer Sega International victory goal and a golf game called Pebble Beach Golf Links these were quite decent games but the really popular games in North America NFL football and NBA basketball were completely absent for over a year that's right the most popular sports games during the run of the Genesis didn't appear for over a year for the saturn in the one country they were guaranteed to sell well you know who did have an NFL an NBA game available shortly after launch oh yeah it was the Sony Playstation and it gets even worse if you can believe it because when the Sega sports NFL football game finally did show up for the Saturn it was absolute garbage NFL 97 was a joke of a game late to the party and a shameful follow-up to Sega's excellent Genesis titles it was a hand-me-down engine of a poor game to begin with and Sega had the nerve to slap their Sega sports logo on it and try and sell it based on the strength of their brand again Sega of America was concerned with having a game to sell instead of having a good game to sell Sega sports domination in the West ended instantly with the Saturn and with Electronic Arts taking 1995 off and not releasing a 32-bit John Madden football game the only place to play North America's most popular sport was on Sony's new console at this point I probably could end the video right here and would have made a strong enough point as to the direction Sega was headed yet I'd be remiss in doing so things get much worse even from here remember the point I made earlier about those bad games Sega of America were putting out and how I'd return to it you see that load of bad Asians yield it not one single continuation on Saturn not one IP would make it over from the stuff Sega of America published there was no green dog - no chalk on the forever man - no Batman Returns returns and no Fantasia - so not only did they not continue their biggest sports franchises on Saturn right away but none of the other stuff on Genesis moved over none of them had been good enough to evolve into a 32-bit release so what sega of america do to combat the lack of new games on Saturn that's right my friends they published even more garbage games games that yet again would make the new Sega platform look terrible god forbid they would choose to put resources into some hard-hitting attention-grabbing sports games that would entice the Genesis faithful over No instead we would get black fire and Ginn war early in the Saturn's life pouring more gasoline on the pyre that was the Sega Saturn Sega of Japan wasn't innocent in all this either aside from the bonehead mistakes made in designing the hardware and at the system's launch they were hell-bent on making sure the world forgot the Sega Genesis and Mega Drive ever existed remember all those awesome 16-bit exclusives like Streets of Rage Castle of illusion fantasy star and ice watt not one of them were continued on the Saturn just imagine that Genesis and mega drives very best experiences evolved with deeper stories and gameplay mechanics perhaps the Streets of Rage with randomized enemies and RPG elements like being able to power up your armor or weapons maybe a new Castle of illusion where you could jump into the beautiful backgrounds of a stage and they'd scale forward revealing new enemies in areas to explore imagine a fantasy Star game dump similar to Final Fantasy 7 with great Saturn backgrounds and 3d characters even when Sega did bring a franchise forward they did so with virtually nothing improved they just copied existing game mechanics from a 16 era giving new 32-bit customers no motivation to try them the Genesis had been one of the great Sega's success stories yet its entire identity was lost in transition to Saturn virtually none of its best games continued on Saturn meaning the company had given 16-bit Sega devotees no real reason to stay with their platforms Sega would also fail to anticipate the popularity of RPGs in the West the genre had been picking up steam in the latter years of the Super Nintendo and once the ps1 got here Sony got behind their third parties and pushed the hell out of the genre Sega was utterly and completely left with his pants down during this build-up there had been plenty of games in the genre released in Japan but Sega had not commissioned hardly any of them for an English translation as a matter of fact the RPGs the Saturn would get in the West were largely there because of companies like working designs without their hard work bringing over these games that Sega deemed unprofitable in the West we never would have received stuff like dragonforce iron stormed magic knight rayearth or Albert Odyssey by the time Sega had realized that the RPG genre had absolutely gone nuclear in North America and Europe it was far too late we'd get the fruits of that realization in the form of Panzer Dragoon saga and Shining Force 3 games that would be released after the system was nearly dead and buried Sega had left a virtual cornucopia of RPG content in Japan but there was no use translating games for a dead system ultimately Sega would be a victim of its own making they didn't use their 16-bit success as a roadmap for anything after it none of its popular IPs had been continued or evolved to keep fans that had loved the Genesis coming back for more they lost the sports market almost immediately at the Saturn's release a major blow considering they had owned that segment of gaming for the 5 years prior relying on arcade games had been a blow as well as Sega had pretty much left these intact without a ton of added to them this was fine for arcade fans like you and me but a complete turnoff for the average Joe looking for longevity for his $50 game add in the misguided resources lost on 32x development Sega CD for motion video game development and the recipe was a perfect storm of failure while Sega was truly capable of some magical game design failing to evolve that game design on a wide scale across its countless popular IPs had been a huge mistake Sega's heart and soul had been the arcade and much like that very platform of entertainment time had simply run out and Sega had no answers for the viciousness of its new rival as a dedicated fan of Sega these thoughts and realizations paint a clear picture as to what was wrong with the company in its lack of success but don't for a second think that Sega's mistakes here somehow mean that they had no good games some of the finest experiences of the 32-bit generation came from the Saturn when Sega did get something right it was usually an experience you couldn't get anywhere else these games would endear the Sega Saturn experience to me on a nearly untouchable level and our games I can still play to this very day but Sega was only one company and their resources simply paled in comparison to what Sony and its arsenal of third-party support could churn out it truly was a case of David versus Goliath [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music]

Channel: Sega Lord X

Views: 769,883

Keywords: segalordx, sega lord x, sega saturn, sega genesis, sega dreamcast, mega drive, megadrive, game gear, 32x, seca cd, mega cd, genesis, saturn, master system, sega, history, review, retro, retro gaming, retro game, collection, collecting, game room, man cave, panzer saga, virtua, arcade, sonic, hedgehog, 16-bit, 32-bit

Id: _7Uzb2kJdB4

Length: 18min 27sec (1107 seconds)

Published: Sun Jul 08 2018