Sega likely couldn't have saved the Saturn even if they wanted to.

[atarilovesyou]

I commend you for the sheer amount of time it took to make this thread. I dont really have an opinion either way on the mater, I just know I like the games on Saturn.

 

Odd though that during that time period ni console manufacturer wanted to settle for anything less than the number one spot. So what if they didnt outsell Sony?

[JaguarVision]

So what the Saturn needed was more Mr. Bones, Three Dirty Dwarves, and Bug! Clearly the brilliance of these Western developers would have saved the Saturn if given the backing they deserved. It's not because the Saturn's third place position caused it to miss out on blockbusters like FF7 and Metal Gear Solid.

Driver, Tony Hawk, and Spyro all were bigger games than FF7 in the US on psx.

 

How would FF7 help Saturn US sales?

[amiman99]

How about releasing Sega Saturn in Japan AND Sega 32X in the USA almost at the same time?! Using same CPUs causing CPU shortages, and announcing the release of Saturn sooner then they wanted?. With barely no games!

[JaguarVision]

How about releasing Sega Saturn in Japan AND Sega 32X in the USA almost at the same time?! Using same CPUs causing CPU shortages, and announcing the release of Saturn sooner then they wanted?. With barely no games!

Ah, you reminded me of the CPU shortages.

 

Man, Sega must have felt like crap when they realized the Jaguar was nothing to be scared of and the 32X wasn't needed.

 

I kind of understand why they did it thought. They wouldn't know how bad Atari was financially until later.

[DJ Clae]

Driver, Tony Hawk, and Spyro all were bigger games than FF7 in the US on psx.

 

How would FF7 help Saturn US sales?

The games I mentioned were system sellers, and therefore drove sales for other games.

[JaguarVision]

The games I mentioned were system sellers, and therefore drove sales for other games.

MGS was not a system seller in the US. At least not significantly.

 

FF7 was, but not as much as Spyro or Tony Hawk.

 

I don't think FF7 was going to sell as much as the psx version in the US. That came out in 97 and US consumers already considered Saturn 2nd tier by that point.

[JaguarVision]

I commend you for the sheer amount of time it took to make this thread. I dont really have an opinion either way on the mater, I just know I like the games on Saturn.

 

Odd though that during that time period ni console manufacturer wanted to settle for anything less than the number one spot. So what if they didnt outsell Sony?

One thing about the Saturn is that it lost Sega money. If the Saturn was more profitable I believe they may have accepted 2nd place, especially since that would mean they beat Nintendo for the first time.

[empsolo]

MGS was not a system seller in the US. At least not significantly.

The first Metal Gear Solid sold 6 million copies worldwide in 1998.

[JaguarVision]

The first Metal Gear Solid sold 6 million copies worldwide in 1998.

I said in the US.

Edited September 10, 2018 by JaguarVision

[Osgeld]

The game was a commercial success, shipping over six million copies worldwide.^[9] It became one of the most rented games^[126] and topped sales charts in the United Kingdom.^[127] It sold 1 million units in Japan, and approximately 5 million units in the United States and Europe.

 

[atarilovesyou]

MSG was a system seller for me...along with GT and RS. I think Canadian and US tastes in games are similar.

[amiman99]

They shouln't have designed and released the 32X Period. They should focus more on Saturn instead, instead dividing their resources on both systems.

 

From my personal experience, I went with Sony Playstation. They have games that appealed to me, like Tekken and Ridge Racer. I saw the Arcade Ridge Racer in the movie theater once and loved it, when I saw that the game was released on PS1, I was hooked.

But, the deciding reason I got the PS1, is the VCD adapter that let you play movies on Playstation.

[DJ Clae]

MGS was not a system seller in the US. At least not significantly.

 

FF7 was, but not as much as Spyro or Tony Hawk.

 

I don't think FF7 was going to sell as much as the psx version in the US. That came out in 97 and US consumers already considered Saturn 2nd tier by that point.

The tastemakers at your middle school and the people with the purchasing power cared more about the Japanese blockbusters I mentioned. Spyro and Tony Hawk sales were driven by kids. I'm not talking about raw sales. I mean games that raised the platform's prestige in the industry, which in turned fueld sales of other titles.

[JaguarVision]

The tastemakers at your middle school and the people with the purchasing power cared more about the Japanese blockbusters I mentioned. Spyro and Tony Hawk sales were driven by kids. I'm not talking about raw sales. I mean games that raised the platform's prestige in the industry, which in turned fueld sales of other titles.

Your downplaying Tony Hawk quite a bit here. Stores were literally reporting consoles sold with Tony Hawk. It wasn't just kids either.

[JaguarVision]

 

The game was a commercial success, shipping over six million copies worldwide.^[9] It became one of the most rented games^[126] and topped sales charts in the United Kingdom.^[127] It sold 1 million units in Japan, and approximately 5 million units in the United States and Europe.

 

MGS sold 2.43 million in the US according to NPD with 2.45 million for FF7. That's despite FF7 being talked about more, both were outsold by Crash, Spyro, Tony Hawk, and Drive. Also honorable mention to Tekken 3.

 

People in the US did buy MGS and FF7 don't get me wrong, but those were not the games that US consumers were buying on average. Ff8 sold less than Namco Museum vol 3.

 

I'm not attacking these games, I like Metal Gear Solid, but if these games were not top 10 on PSX how were they going to save the Saturn?

[DJ Clae]

Your downplaying Tony Hawk quite a bit here. Stores were literally reporting consoles sold with Tony Hawk. It wasn't just kids either.

Tony Hawk would have been very helpful for Saturn to have. Unfortunately most of the Western-developed games the Saturn did get were garbage.

[JaguarVision]

They shouln't have designed and released the 32X Period. They should focus more on Saturn instead, instead dividing their resources on both systems.

 

From my personal experience, I went with Sony Playstation. They have games that appealed to me, like Tekken and Ridge Racer. I saw the Arcade Ridge Racer in the movie theater once and loved it, when I saw that the game was released on PS1, I was hooked.

But, the deciding reason I got the PS1, is the VCD adapter that let you play movies on Playstation.

You're right, they shouldn't have. But look at it from Segas point of view. The Jaguar was releasing soon and you knew the Saturn wouldn't be ready for months and you hear rumors about specs and you hear words like "64-bit" and "3D".

 

Yeah it was dumb but there was no way Sega was going to know the Jaguar was a flop ahead of time.

[JaguarVision]

Tony Hawk would have been very helpful for Saturn to have. Unfortunately most of the Western-developed games the Saturn did get were garbage.

Sega could have went to Activision to get it on saturn. Twice on Genesis and Twice on Saturn Sega screwed up negotiations with Activision. I don't know why they failed, but I have a feeling it's more Segas fault than Activisions those deals never went forward..

[empsolo]

Sega could also done more in getting games like the X-men VS games and RPGs like Suikoden over here.

Edited September 10, 2018 by empsolo

[JaguarVision]

Oh you slick editor. You posted MGS sold 5 mill in the U.S. alone than changed the quote.

 

It sold 5 million in the U.S. alone.

That would make MGS not only a top 10 best selling game but would mean MGS outsold FF7 2:1 in the US. Heh that ain't happening. Edited September 10, 2018 by JaguarVision

[+Gemintronic]

1. Poor communication with 3rd party developers and gaming industry prior to launch.

2. Poor communication with 3rd party developers and gaming industry after launch.

 

That is all.

[mbd30]

Should Nights Into Dreams been repurposed as a Sonic game? Flying Sonic? Sure why not...

Edited September 10, 2018 by mbd30

[JaguarVision]

Having shown off33D games thatsupportedthe Saturn 3D controller and bundling it with all Saturn's would have been a good idea. Along with getting support from major games.

 

A good amount of games that supported the 3D controller were games that hadbatelyanyZ-axis or games Like Deep Fear where the benefits were minimal.

[DJ Clae]

Sega could have went to Activision to get it on saturn. Twice on Genesis and Twice on Saturn Sega screwed up negotiations with Activision. I don't know why they failed, but I have a feeling it's more Segas fault than Activisions those deals never went forward..

The original Tony Hawk came out in 1999. Way too late to be on the Saturn outside Japan. Sega did play ball with Activision. The series came to the Dreamcast.

[Osgeld]

looking at activisions title list by year kind of reminds me that they really did not do all that much tween 85 and tony hawk

 

outside of reboots, and bad ports of other people's IP, there's probably 5 noteworthy games in 15 years, now thats subject to opinion but yea actiwho?

 

then you have the battle tech games, interstate76, tony hawk and omg its not a complete zombie brand again trying to sell me zork 34, return to who givesashit

Edited September 10, 2018 by Osgeld