I dont think it was SEGA of Japan's problem, I think it was the arguing done between the two regions of SEGA. Also the fact that they freaking rejected Sony's proposition, they would probably be in a much better place now if they accepted it.
@@BillehBawb that's the trick about business - high risk options like Sonys could have made or broken them. Theres no way Sega would have known, so they decided to play it safe. Blockbuster made a similar mistake with Netflix.
@@atre5763.NOOO!!Sega still holds up today as one of the greatest companys and my personal favorite!Is this your opinion?Because if it was,I would have never typed this in the first place(also could you stop swering).
Let the Saturn be a lesson to all: Pride gets you nowhere. By all means, putting all your eggs in one basket is a bad idea too, but the Saturn would probably not had faced the fate it did if SEGA had taken the risk and worked with people trying to get IN to the gaming market.
Some of the example of SEGA Sony partnership was already apparent, SONY was already publishing a majority of game titles that were being released on SEGA CD. I've booted countless SEGA CD games to the logo of SONY Imagesoft. This would have just been more apparent in the Saturn (or whatever name would have been decided for a partnership. ) I think the best choice for SEGA would have been to split into two branches. SOJ and SoA had different audiences and for the most different platforms. It's a shame that this couldn't be realized as an option. It would be no different than an automotive manufacture company being the umbrella of several car brands. i.e. Volkswagen Auto Group a parent to Volkswagen, SEAT, Skoda, Audi, Porsche, Bentley, Bugatti etc.
Squeezed out by Sony? You mean retain the rights to distribute the products they made? Which is why Nintendo went behind their backs and found someone else? Regardless of what you think of Sony, Nintendo isn't clean in the deal either.
For anymore interested in this time in video game history, I highly recommend the book Console Wars. It chronicles Tom Kalinske’s tenure at Sega, helping turn the Genesis from an afterthought into a true competitor against Nintendo.
No that was Kalinske. Genesis was doing mediocre in Japan (which led to the Sega CD) while Kalinske made Genesis a household name in the west and was actually doing better there than SNES was for a time. The problem was so much infighting and rivalry between the American and Japanese branches of Sega instead working together that cause the whole thing to come tumbling down.
I heard that the reason for that is because Nakayama was jealous of Kalinske's success in America. I can see how envy and insecurity would drive a man to make poor executive decisions.
This is borderline heartbreaking. Imagine being a little boy and you all you want is to design games....then working for sega and eventually having idiot bosses who run the company into the ground
Iwata was more of a saint than people realize. We all knew and love him for his humility, kindness, and work ethic, but it's easy to forget he was from the same corner of the ring as all these people, who led to this recurring pattern of older Japanese executives shooting down new ideas and refusing to work nicely with other companies and their own employees.
Bingo! People may take that Naka, Suzuki and other Sega important directors were the good guys of SEGA. Welp, in Japan because around the world it was not like that. Watch the DYK Dreamcast, Sonic Adventure, Sonic glitches 1&2 to see how scum was Yuji Naka(and prob is) and the higher ups were.
"He declined due to Sony's inexperience in the console market." *25 years later* "PRESENTING THE ATGAMES SEGA GENESIS 13TH REVISION!" "Presenting the 500 million units sold limited edition celebration PS4!" Man.
Want to know how fucked up Sega really was? Here's Victor Ireland's explanation for why Phantasy Star IV was $99.99 at retail. It wasn't because it was an RPG and required a large cartridge! "Yeah, I wanted to do Shining Force III (I still do, actually - all of them), but it wasn't going to happen. But this reminded me,(again) of one SEGA title that pissed me off - Phantasy Star IV. We stepped in to do that when SoA passed because they said was no market for it (total bull) and it wouldn't sell. But when they learned we got involved and were going to license it from SoJ, SoA magically became interested again, but only so they could sell it for a ridiculous price to PROVE there was no market, rather than have us succeed with it and prove them wrong to SoJ. That $100 price had nothing to do with reality and everything to do with them trying to kill the title at launch with a price like 60% over the norm to prove a point. They failed. Even at $100, it sold out."
I should have added for people that don't know: Victor Ireland is the former president of Working Designs, the company that translated and published Lunar, Dragon Force, and many other RPGs from the 90s. They were one of Sega's biggest allies until the two companies had a falling out during the Saturn era. Victor Ireland now has a company called Gaijinworks, and they have a forum that he posts on from time to time. That's where I got the previous information. Here's a link for anyone that's wants to see for yourself. www.gaijinworks.com/interact/showthread.php?56-WD-Trivia-Storytime-Thread&p=97178&viewfull=1#post97178
michaeloffgrid was it during the reign of Bernie (none of of this Japanesey stuff) Stolar that working designs fell out with Sega? It's incredible to think that Sega were sitting on a treasure trove of jrpgs that could have saved the saturn but chose to wind the saturn down early so that the dreamcast could be brought forward
Maybe of they scrapped the idea completely for the peripherals for the Genesis and focused on the Saturn more and ditched the nomad they could still be alive today. :/
I believe it has to do with the size limitations of a cartridge, which might not be able to store the large spritework needed for big 2D games. Then again, I am no expert, and maybe the size isn't the problem.
When I look at 2D games on the N64 like Yoshi's Story or Mischief Makers, I think they are better than anything on the Saturn. But it's just my opinion. If you don't agree, it's fine.
I fell bad for Kalinske, he wasn't able to take Sega of America as far as it could have gone because of Sega of Japan interventions. P.S. I would recommend reading "Console Wars" by Blake J. Harris. It gives some good background to Sega of America's fight against Nintendo and how Sega of Japan kept holding SOA Back.
Sega of Japan kind of killed Sega hardware as a whole. Saturn and Dreamcast may have been successful in Japan but it wasn't enough at the time with vastly more popular competitors.
Deja VoodooDoll maybe it wasn´t the most sold console of his genereation but his library is better than the n64 one not ass well as the first playstation but way better I have both but I prefer my saturn
Sega of Japan knew Japan better, but Sega of America knew America better. That's kinda the point of having offices in different countries. Makes it easier to hire people who know the different markets better.
SEGA of America: How about th- SEGA of Japan: No. SEGA of America: But I- SEGA of Japan: No SEGA of America: But please- SEGA of Japan: NO NO NO NO NO NO NO!
@@ClaudioVarone3299 Maybe people would've bought the 32X if it was actually supported by SEGA. It was well received and sold decently at launch, but when people realized there were no games anyone would actually like to play on it things turned sour.
Dear lord, Nakayama has to be one of the most incompetent CEOs in the history of CEOs... it's one thing to make decisions that sabotage your own work to the point of bankruptcy, but it's a whole other level of dumb making worse decisions that help and create new competitors for you.
@@AtlasBlizzard i guess you guys have more attention than us, south americans, or the africans. For example, the ps2 was officially released in Brazil 9 years after it's initial release.
@@bernardogoncalves825 I think South America wasn’t viewed as a market due to the low economical value of South America’s money… So it sort of made sense I’m glad South America is getting stuff though Changing your image
I really wish Sega would make a compilation of their Saturn games. Mine doesn't work anymore so I can't play Bug and I want to finish that game one of these days.
I always knew about the Sony/Nintendo thing, but I had no idea they went to Sega too. Sony really did the whole "fine, screw you guys! I'll make my own console, with blackjack and hookers!"
@@eponymous7910 Sony, when working with Nintendo, did not intend to make their own console. There isn't much information regarding their time talking with Sega of America, but in terms of Nintendo, they weren't a competitor. They were a parts manufacturer in video games, like the audio chips for the Super Nintendo
A lot of people in this comment section are saying how they feel sorry for Tom Kalinske (rightfully so, he made Sega a force to be reckoned with in America), but I also feel bad for Chris Senn Having to work on Sonic X-Treme while getting messed around constantly by the Japanese Sega staff is bad enough, but he later worked on Sonic Boom with Big Red Button and we all know how that turned out. Wouldn’t be surprise if the man hated Sonic and Sega by now.
At least it’s living a good second life as a favorite of many retro-collectors. Even without a Sonic game its library of games deserves a lot to be discovered.
@@nintendo1889x If it's a 3D game, then yes it was difficult to work with. But it the game was 2D, then the Saturn shows off it's true colors, especially the Marvel vs. series being much more closer to the arcades on Saturn compared to Playstation.
@@nintendo1889x To be fair, the dual 32 bit processors was a last second change to the Saturn after SEGA saw the Playstation's 3D capabilities. It resulted in quads, unstable 3D, and the lack of a Saturn SDK (due to the fact that the system released exactly on E3 1995) made these problems worse. To make matters worse, the Model 1 arcade hardware used quadrilaterals and still looked as good as triangle polygons.
I remember an old article said an engineer had an idea of just raising the clock speed of the single SH2 by 8-10 mhz, adding extra 512k of work ram and making one of the VDP chips stronger allowing for a couple extra layers, more sprites and true transparency. Costs was cheaper than adding a second cpu and using more board space. Oh well. I enjoyed it and all the import Japanese games.
All of Sega Of Japan's executives at the time of the 32x/Saturn should be ashamed of themselves. They dealt such a devastating series of blows to the company that not even one of the best consoles of all time (the Dreamcast) could save it.
Again the "2nd CPU added in response to the PSX" myth comes up. It's not. Sega of Japan already planned to have a dual CPU design from the start (look at the Tom Kalinske interviews in Blake Harris' "Console Wars" book), since they already had internal experience programming such systems: After Burner, OutRun, Power Drift, and Virtua Racing/Fighter were all multi-CPU arcade games made by Yu Suzuki and AM2, who had the required skills - in detriment to the rest of game developers. What they DID add, after getting some leaked PSX specs from a spy employee and finding out about the GTE (PSX's equivalent to a T&L engine), was the VDP2 - essentially a Sega System24 GPU bolted onto the Saturn to lessen the load on the VDP1 for backgrounds and compositing/blending effects.
Nvidia wasn't contracted by Sega - I couldn't find any reliable sources that confirm this statement other than some speculation. (web.archive.org/web/20060523150505/firingsquad.com:80/features/nv2/default.asp) Instead, Sega _themselves_ decided to port some of their games to the NV1 due to a similar rendering architecture to get their feet wet with Nvidia's hardware, mainly because it was being considered for the Dreamcast (and later rejected in favor of 3dFx, to be _again_ rejected for NEC's PowerVR). I agree about the "Model 3 home console" part, however. If just they waited a couple more years and didn't kill the Mega Drive because of Sega of Japan's stubbornness, it would have trounced both the N64 and PSX in the graphics department while still being easier to develop for than the Saturn.
SegaSaturnSubs also wanted to use the real3d chip from Lockheed Martin for the as a add-on first to a successor to the Saturn. Then to 3dfx and last the power vs chip.
32x is the biggest mistake in gaming. The Saturn still gave me many great memories, as did the Dreamcast. By then I knew owning Sega meant owning their hardware for the exclusive experiences. I chose Nintendo as my other console maker because they had a really nice exclusive library as well. I could play PlayStation at my friends’ houses.
3 Things They Did Right with the Sega Saturn But Not with the Sega Dreamcast 1. Easy Cmos battery replacement 2. Upgraded 1st party controller 3. Anti piracy in its CDs (not until later)
"Responding to the Atari Jaguar", I swear, Sega of Japan spent way too much time sharing coke in the conference room. Responding to a bomb with a bomb, smart.
Afr0Thund3r exactly, the Jaguar was not a threat. Nintendo did a better job maintaining there market share than Sega during that time. Sega was pushing the panic button after that.
And watching this shows, people don't like the word racism, but racism definitely took Sega apart at the seams. Why won't the Sega of Japan guys listen to those gaijin from America? Because they're gaijin and don't know what the fuck they're talking about! Nintendo of America and Nintendo of Japan were actually cooperative.
I always took Sega as a company that stumbled into success. Reading about their history and stories of how things went in the 90's for Sega, it's a miracle they still exist today.
Very first system I bought with my own hard earned money. I bought it about 5 days after launch and paid $400 for the unit and $50 for Daytona USA. I still own that very system with the box but most of my games are Japanese imports because that’s where the best game were available.
Another great video! As someone who owned a Sega Saturn and owned a few games. I had a memorable experience with the games I played on the saturn. Also, I recognize the song at the end of the video! It's from one of my Favorite RPGs from the Saturn itself, Albert Odyssey: Legend of Eldean. Albert Odyssey is a great and memorable, yet forgotten RPG that I wish many others would have experienced as it had a good story, good characters, and a WONDERFUL unforgettable OST as well. Thank you for reminding me why I love this RPG!
Hayao Nakayama literally ruined Sega with his stupid decisions and ego. They had so many opportunities to completely dominate the console gaming industry, but he would always fuck it up. In the end the Dreamcast was amazing, but that wasn't enough to save an already doomed company due to poor leadership.
5:08 that is actually a cancelled game based on the sonic satam cartoon. the game was called sonic 16 (which was most likely a placeholder name) it was cancelled due to Yuji naka giving it thumbs down because the people at sti didnt show the fast segments first. if sega technical institute did show the fast segments, then i think the game would have been a success
The whole video feels like Sega is in a sinking ship but instead of slowing down they continue to run into more Icebergs because they need to stay up with the other ships ( Nintendo, Sony, etc.) It is hard to watch yet you can’t turn away because it is so incredibly terrible.
One more piece of trivia: The Japanese commercials for the Saturn featured a character named Segata Sanshiro, who's name is derived from the console's name, and was portrayed by Hiroshi Fujioka, who is most famous as his role of Takeshi Hongo in the Japanese Tokusatsu show Kamen Rider.
Damn. Imagine if Sega never made 32x, used the Silicon Graphics chips, and partnered with Sony for the Disc bases system. It would have been the greatest console in history.
In summary many of Saturn's misfortunes are in large part to: Sega of America: Here's an idea that will reverse our fortunes, and put us back in everyone's favor! Sega of Japan: Shut your filthy, gaijin mouth!
Such a flawed view from Naka. A game creator should allow his peers to use tools that can help make a great game especially when said peers are in the same company.
5:42 - correction: the demo they tried to show off to nakayama was a failure not because it wasn't the boss engine, but that the demo they tried to show would not work. that's what made nakayama leave the room (ps i didnt work there at all, i've heard the entire story in a very detailed video series which explained pretty much everything)
DYKG, looking at this video makes me feel quite sad that you didn't feature SEGA LORD X as a special guest. I know he's a relative small and new channel but trust me when I tell you, he's the biggest Sega Saturn fan out there. I felt very educated by watching his videos, not only you can see his enthusiasm but I feel like he provides new points that most people fail to bring when it comes to the Saturn and SEGA in general. If you're seeing this comment, do yourself a favor, check his channel for just a few moments and I'm sure you'll handle things from there for a possible follow-up video.
Marcus Hunter I agree with you wholeheartedly! His video on the fall of Sega is far A better telling than this video... making Tom K. out to be some kind of hero, which he certainly was not for Sega of America.
I always feel terrible hearing about how terribly SEGA did after the Genesis' life started to run out. If they just made smarter decisions, they could still be a force to be reckoned with, but instead they did hasty actions to compete with Nintendo and Sony, and thus the Saturn and Dreamcast flopped as a result. Yeah, I know I'm a "SEGA Fanboy" and thus my opinion doesn't matter, but I really do wish they could have just done better back in the 90s and especially in nowadays. Maybe if they could learn, they could be revered again, but let's face it, they most likely will never learn. -wow, this was an unnecessarily poignant comment-
Arcanus Zenbrk I really think it would be kinda awesome for Sega to be a powerhouse in the industry today. How different would everything be if they had made better decisions. It seems that Sega of Japan was the bigger issue during their downfall, sadly.
Even though SEGA failed in many ways with the Genesis’ addons (the CD&32X) but I’m still totally happy with the Dreamcast, it’s one of my favorite consoles ever. (And that’s coming from someone who got one in 2015, and grew up with newer systems)
Dreamcast is still awesome, I use it regularly and it can still be played online via DreamPi or BBA. I think if Sega hadn't released the 32x and Mega CD, as well as not piss off third parties such as developers and retailers with the Saturn's surprise launch, then I think the Dreamcast could have survived longer and Sega may not have had to leave the hardware market. These days, I don't trust Sega's quality anymore. They consistently just rush games and throw stuff at the wall to see what sticks. Sonic's probably the most infamous example to be honest, they had great Sonic gameplay with the Adventure 1 and 2 games (NOT saying the games were great) yet they've gone through multiple styles and games that have consistently flopped outside of a handful of successes. Sadly as a result of this, I do not think they would fair well at all these days
@@CristianMartinez-xl8lc The first Klonoa game was on the PS1 called "Klonoa Door to Phantomile", an official sequel came out called "Lunatea's Veil" on the PS2. Then a remake of the first game was released on the Wii called "Klonoa" which was also the last Klonoa game for a long time. There was also a three GBA games (One of them is Japan exclusive) and one spin-off game called "Klonoa Beach Volleyball" which came out in 2002 on the PS1 (Only in the UK and Japan). There was also a Klonoa game on the Wanderswan called "Klonoa Moonlight Museum" that was only in Japan.
Shivas Thong already have one. There are just some titles for the saturn that I always wanted to try, but I probably can go on without them. The same goes for the dreamcast. I have the majority of the nintendo and sony consoles and I even have an xbox, but the only sega console I ever owned was the mega drive so I feel like I missed out on alot of stuff that the saturn and dreamcast had.
The saturn has really great titles. As Sega developed their consoles from the arcade gamer perspective, lots of the games from the arcades ran almost better than their original versions. For the saturn there are lots of good rpgs and fighting games. Sega rally runs really smooth and the virtual cops are fun as hell. Nights is a really fun game with a different vibe. The dreamcast was the same as Sega is a top arcade developer. There's lots of videos on TH-cam talking about top games for each console. Don't listen to fanboys. I own the original xbox, xbox360, nes. Gamecube. Wii, switch, game boy color, game boy advance, Nintendo DS. Nintendo 3DS, psp, ps vita, ps2, PS4, I probably forgot about some. But the central thing here is that you should never limit your possibilities of experiencing new things. Have a good one.
99% of the games needing the RAM card were only in Japanese. There's like 5 games in English that used it, and even then it was optional for some them just to enhance how well it ran.
Sega Saturn problem was you lose every save you did when the battery dies and no vibration but it did beat the PS1 console it sure plays the games way better
I'd say it was less of it being an accident and more of Sega of America working their magic to make the Genesis the hit it was here in the States, which is something even Sega of Japan couldn't do in their own country. Had SoJ listened to Kalinske about joining up with Sony or nixing the surprise launch of the Saturn, Sega may still be making consoles today.
5:03 AFAIK that isn't footage from Sonic X-Treme, it's from the Sonic World tech demo. I don't know if it was at one time intended to be part of Sonic X-Treme, but later development footage of the game looked very different.
I still have the games for this console. I'll be honest, here. Even though the US version had good games and hidden gems, the Japanese and European versions of the Saturn were much better in terms of the gaming library. Sega really ripped off US gamers. Again.
Still, even if Sonic X-Treme had been released I doubt it would've made a difference, the Saturn was more or less dead on arrival in USA and the footage of X-Treme makes it look like it would've been very confusing to navigate those levels.
Wirlog He is the one responsible for idea of the 32x, surprise launch, hardware mess of the Saturn and many more. Plus, the bad relationship with SOJ and SOA made things bad for the company.
You know what the biggest problem Sega had? They always wanted to be first. They always wanted to be the first in the market ever since the MegaDrive/Genesis. It's the reason why the Saturn and Dreamcast failed. If the Dreamcast came out with better hardware around the same time as the PS2 it probably would've done better...maybe.
Dreamcast could have done better if Sega didn't piss off retailers with Saturn. Sure hypothetically better hardware,better sales. But the machine was good enough. Look at the 360. They entered the market early and they sold massively. Dreamcast and the 360 have a similar thread, but to contrast what went right and what went wrong is important. Heck, 360 even had a bad choice. Gdrom vs DVD and DVD vs Blu-ray. Yet the 360 survived and made sales. The comparison is crucial to understanding this. Dreamcast was fine. Saturn was good enough. It was the sega's actions and poor planning surrounding the consoles is what ruined their chance to grow.
what? You wana sega to split resources and keep saturn supported and genesis. The addons for the genisis is one of the many reasons the saturn failed. So how exactly are you going to get the saturn to not fail if you're dividing resources with the genesis?
NoNoseProduction The money that kept Saturn and Sega afloat during that time was the genesis. Once the support was gone, Sega was losing a lot of money rapidly and affected the Saturn a lot. The Game Gear was declining and never resolve the issue with the battery life and never thought about releasing the cut-down version like what Nintendo did with the Gameboy like the pocket and lite. Also, never having a true handheld successor to the game gear and wasting money releasing the sega nomad. I blame the massive spending they've done during the 5th gen era.
Maroon23 Honestly they should have just had the Saturn and never released the 32X. I doubt the Megadrive would have been profitable with it's aging hardware, expecting when 3D was becoming a thing.
Check out the book "Console Wars" by Blake Harris. It reads like a goofy, poorly written novel, but it gives a very detailed account of Sega's rise from nothing to surpassing Nintendo in the market, and the constant infighting between SOA and SOJ that led to their fall. It was interesting to realize that all of that was happening while I was a kid at the time, not realizing any of it was going on.
for some reason everytime i think of present sega, I imagine metal palm trees, robots instead of animals and some fat egg like scientist fighting with blue hedgehog that looses. And thats what i call bad future. Sega next time get all time stones
No amount of time stones could have stopped the miscommunication and the foolish business decisions of SEGA of Japan. For more information, please read "Console Wars" by Blake J. Harris.
Sega Saturn in a Nutshell The Japanese Headquarter of SEGA refused to work with newbies, over-reacted with their competition, and made poor financial and marketing decisions.
Little did most people know that in the 70's, Segata Sanshiro used to dress up as cyborg grasshopper biker and fight mutant animal monsters working for a neo-nazi terrorist organization.
Brandon Murray yes had they had a strong relationship they would have making hardware now. We would seen the Dreamcast 2 and 3 by now. Imagine the technology they would use for portable console now and the last generation.
Hayao Nakayama was the death of Sega because of his unwillingness to try new things and adapt. I'm sure he regretted his stubborness and stupidity every single day after he awoke the sleeping giant known as Sony. That being said I'm sure Nintendo regrets poking the sleeping giant too lol.
They regret the deal more. The add-on would either have flopped like the Sega CD did or deprive Nintendo of royalties as developers flocked to the cheaper medium. Better options would have been to either re-work the deal (maybe make the PlayStation a next-gen console instead of an expensive peripheral) or back out.
When Saturn came out, remember it feeling like it just came out of nowhere. Such an underappreciated console, I wish it was handled better.
Well, it kinda DID come out of nowhere. Rushing the original release date by MONTHS! WTF.
only 1 reply? (Now 2)
Sega of Japan 🇯🇵 was really arrogant and they always tried to screw over Sega of America. 🇺🇸
@@ElfHostage And they didn't warn the stores!
It could have been worse, it could have been the Dreamcast
This was just really depressing to watch, it's literally just a story of the fall of SEGA
Well sadly, you can thank Sega's Japanese branch for them ending up the way we see them nowadays.
I dont think it was SEGA of Japan's problem, I think it was the arguing done between the two regions of SEGA. Also the fact that they freaking rejected Sony's proposition, they would probably be in a much better place now if they accepted it.
@@BillehBawb that's the trick about business - high risk options like Sonys could have made or broken them. Theres no way Sega would have known, so they decided to play it safe.
Blockbuster made a similar mistake with Netflix.
Sega sucks ass anyway!
@@atre5763.NOOO!!Sega still holds up today as one of the greatest companys and my personal favorite!Is this your opinion?Because if it was,I would have never typed this in the first place(also could you stop swering).
Let the Saturn be a lesson to all:
Pride gets you nowhere. By all means, putting all your eggs in one basket is a bad idea too, but the Saturn would probably not had faced the fate it did if SEGA had taken the risk and worked with people trying to get IN to the gaming market.
yeah, Tom had a cool idea and could've changed the entire future of Sega. :(
Some of the example of SEGA Sony partnership was already apparent, SONY was already publishing a majority of game titles that were being released on SEGA CD.
I've booted countless SEGA CD games to the logo of SONY Imagesoft.
This would have just been more apparent in the Saturn (or whatever name would have been decided for a partnership. )
I think the best choice for SEGA would have been to split into two branches. SOJ and SoA had different audiences and for the most different platforms.
It's a shame that this couldn't be realized as an option.
It would be no different than an automotive manufacture company being the umbrella of several car brands. i.e. Volkswagen Auto Group a parent to Volkswagen, SEAT, Skoda, Audi, Porsche, Bentley, Bugatti etc.
Squeezed out by Sony? You mean retain the rights to distribute the products they made? Which is why Nintendo went behind their backs and found someone else?
Regardless of what you think of Sony, Nintendo isn't clean in the deal either.
Charriii5 Saturn, N64 , PS3 and Xbox One proves you are right.
For anymore interested in this time in video game history, I highly recommend the book Console Wars. It chronicles Tom Kalinske’s tenure at Sega, helping turn the Genesis from an afterthought into a true competitor against Nintendo.
"... But Sega of Japan-"
Rarely are positive things said after those combination of words are muttered
The moral of the Saturn's story is that Hayao Nakayama is a terrible businessman.
yeah, tom had a nice idea :(
Out of all the comments on this video, yours is most true. Nakayama was fucking awful.
True for Saturn. But he did good with the Genesis.
No that was Kalinske. Genesis was doing mediocre in Japan (which led to the Sega CD) while Kalinske made Genesis a household name in the west and was actually doing better there than SNES was for a time. The problem was so much infighting and rivalry between the American and Japanese branches of Sega instead working together that cause the whole thing to come tumbling down.
I heard that the reason for that is because Nakayama was jealous of Kalinske's success in America. I can see how envy and insecurity would drive a man to make poor executive decisions.
This is borderline heartbreaking. Imagine being a little boy and you all you want is to design games....then working for sega and eventually having idiot bosses who run the company into the ground
Iwata was more of a saint than people realize. We all knew and love him for his humility, kindness, and work ethic, but it's easy to forget he was from the same corner of the ring as all these people, who led to this recurring pattern of older Japanese executives shooting down new ideas and refusing to work nicely with other companies and their own employees.
Sounds to me like Sega’s japanese higher ups just made a ton of bad decisions that could have been avoided.
I always took it (between Sega of Japan and America) that the left hand doesn't know what the right hand's doing
Demon Dethchase That's perfect to be honest. And when they did find out what the other was doing, they were upset with one another.
Demon Dethchase I was under the impression that Sega of Japan always knew what Sega of America was doing, it just didn't care.
I agree completely.
Bingo!
People may take that Naka, Suzuki and other Sega important directors were the good guys of SEGA. Welp, in Japan because around the world it was not like that. Watch the DYK Dreamcast, Sonic Adventure, Sonic glitches 1&2 to see how scum was Yuji Naka(and prob is) and the higher ups were.
"He declined due to Sony's inexperience in the console market."
*25 years later*
"PRESENTING THE ATGAMES SEGA GENESIS 13TH REVISION!"
"Presenting the 500 million units sold limited edition celebration PS4!"
Man.
cell processor
The flashback was actually functional.
If it wasn't for the cell processor, you would not get graphically impressive games like Last of Us on a system from 2006.
JROKGaming Sony is still trash
NeverSaySandwich1 far from it but ok
Want to know how fucked up Sega really was? Here's Victor Ireland's explanation for why Phantasy Star IV was $99.99 at retail. It wasn't because it was an RPG and required a large cartridge!
"Yeah, I wanted to do Shining Force III (I still do, actually - all of them), but it wasn't going to happen. But this reminded me,(again) of one SEGA title that pissed me off - Phantasy Star IV. We stepped in to do that when SoA passed because they said was no market for it (total bull) and it wouldn't sell. But when they learned we got involved and were going to license it from SoJ, SoA magically became interested again, but only so they could sell it for a ridiculous price to PROVE there was no market, rather than have us succeed with it and prove them wrong to SoJ. That $100 price had nothing to do with reality and everything to do with them trying to kill the title at launch with a price like 60% over the norm to prove a point. They failed. Even at $100, it sold out."
Lol
michaeloffgrid sweet Jesus, that's unbelievable
I should have added for people that don't know: Victor Ireland is the former president of Working Designs, the company that translated and published Lunar, Dragon Force, and many other RPGs from the 90s. They were one of Sega's biggest allies until the two companies had a falling out during the Saturn era. Victor Ireland now has a company called Gaijinworks, and they have a forum that he posts on from time to time. That's where I got the previous information. Here's a link for anyone that's wants to see for yourself.
www.gaijinworks.com/interact/showthread.php?56-WD-Trivia-Storytime-Thread&p=97178&viewfull=1#post97178
unstoppableExodia It really is. It's a wonder Sega had any success at all, in retrospect.
michaeloffgrid was it during the reign of Bernie (none of of this Japanesey stuff) Stolar that working designs fell out with Sega? It's incredible to think that Sega were sitting on a treasure trove of jrpgs that could have saved the saturn but chose to wind the saturn down early so that the dreamcast could be brought forward
Did you know?
“The Saturn is not our future”
The words that doomed Sega
SEGA was already doomed because of the bad decisions made by the Japanese leadership.
The words that doomed SEGA are whichever words were used to put that idiotic hack YakkoWakko in charge of the entire company.
Yeh, I didn't know that also SEGA "help" in creation of Sony consoles ;D
Lord Publius pretty much
Maybe of they scrapped the idea completely for the peripherals for the Genesis and focused on the Saturn more and ditched the nomad they could still be alive today. :/
The Saturn didn’t kill SEGA’s console line, the CEO did.
no it was Bernard Stolar
@@GiordanDiodato
No, it was Sega of Japan. They were the main cause. Stolar was just an effect.
Twas CEO that killed the Beauty
It's a bummer the Saturn was such a failure. It's probably the best 2D powerhouse console in history.
yeah
Not really. The N64 was more powerful as a 2D console. The problem was the cartridge format.
Michel Jairala The Problem was putting 2D games... On a Cartridge?... I don't think that's right.
I believe it has to do with the size limitations of a cartridge, which might not be able to store the large spritework needed for big 2D games. Then again, I am no expert, and maybe the size isn't the problem.
When I look at 2D games on the N64 like Yoshi's Story or Mischief Makers, I think they are better than anything on the Saturn. But it's just my opinion. If you don't agree, it's fine.
I fell bad for Kalinske, he wasn't able to take Sega of America as far as it could have gone because of Sega of Japan interventions.
P.S. I would recommend reading "Console Wars" by Blake J. Harris. It gives some good background to Sega of America's fight against Nintendo and how Sega of Japan kept holding SOA Back.
Sega of Japan kind of killed Sega hardware as a whole. Saturn and Dreamcast may have been successful in Japan but it wasn't enough at the time with vastly more popular competitors.
Basically Nintendo's current design strategy... Design for Japan. Fuck everyone else.
Jorge Ramos I guess that's why the 3DS and the Switch are successes then?
Naw, he screwed himself.
Nintendo's design strategy is more "Give the consumer a reason to remember our system instead of blending in with the competition."
The Sega Saturn is one of my favorite console so thank you for making this amazing video. Segata Sanshiro Continues to live
Deja VoodooDoll maybe it wasn´t the most sold console of his genereation but his library is better than the n64 one not ass well as the first playstation but way better I have both but I prefer my saturn
@referral madness I mean, it sold better than the N64 there, in a market where SEGA had historically sold poorly. I'd call that a success.
Sega of America and Sega of Japan kept disagreeing with eachother, every bad decision can be traced back to that
Sega of Japan knew Japan better, but Sega of America knew America better. That's kinda the point of having offices in different countries. Makes it easier to hire people who know the different markets better.
@@foxymetroid yeah
I love your slowking picture! Ita my favorite pokemon!
SEGA of America: How about th-
SEGA of Japan: No.
SEGA of America: But I-
SEGA of Japan: No
SEGA of America: But please-
SEGA of Japan: NO NO NO NO NO NO NO!
PK Radical! This comment deserves more likes
This is accurately true
@@ClaudioVarone3299 Maybe people would've bought the 32X if it was actually supported by SEGA. It was well received and sold decently at launch, but when people realized there were no games anyone would actually like to play on it things turned sour.
32X have no sense to exists.
Claudio Varone. Except that Sega of Japan ORDERED Sega of America to create the 32X ( 2:40 ).
Dear lord, Nakayama has to be one of the most incompetent CEOs in the history of CEOs... it's one thing to make decisions that sabotage your own work to the point of bankruptcy, but it's a whole other level of dumb making worse decisions that help and create new competitors for you.
Ah, yes. The times Sega (of Japan) shot itself in the foot for the American market. I remember reading about these and cringing so hard.
@referral madness Nobody remembers us Europeans, lol.
@referral madness Well there are a few notable ones like Pewdiepie and DidYouKnowGaming, but yeah, it sucks how we get treated like we don't exist.
@@AtlasBlizzard i guess you guys have more attention than us, south americans, or the africans. For example, the ps2 was officially released in Brazil 9 years after it's initial release.
@@bernardogoncalves825 I think South America wasn’t viewed as a market due to the low economical value of South America’s money…
So it sort of made sense
I’m glad South America is getting stuff though
Changing your image
The Sega Saturn had several amazing 2d games, too bad not many people experienced them.
They need to not cost several hundred dollars.
Had a lot more than a couple of them... try a couple hundred of them just with the shooters and 2d fighting games alone
I really wish Sega would make a compilation of their Saturn games. Mine doesn't work anymore so I can't play Bug and I want to finish that game one of these days.
You could always buy another Saturn, or buy a PC copy of Bug! (both Bug! games were ported to PC).
cjszero01 Didn’t expect you to be here! You could always play the PC ports or emulate it.
I always knew about the Sony/Nintendo thing, but I had no idea they went to Sega too. Sony really did the whole "fine, screw you guys! I'll make my own console, with blackjack and hookers!"
And that's how GTA was born. :P
Sony always intended to make their own console. They were just leeching precious ip from Sega to get a headstart.
Sony were (and still are) ruthless
@@eponymous7910 Sony, when working with Nintendo, did not intend to make their own console. There isn't much information regarding their time talking with Sega of America, but in terms of Nintendo, they weren't a competitor. They were a parts manufacturer in video games, like the audio chips for the Super Nintendo
A lot of people in this comment section are saying how they feel sorry for Tom Kalinske (rightfully so, he made Sega a force to be reckoned with in America), but I also feel bad for Chris Senn
Having to work on Sonic X-Treme while getting messed around constantly by the Japanese Sega staff is bad enough, but he later worked on Sonic Boom with Big Red Button and we all know how that turned out. Wouldn’t be surprise if the man hated Sonic and Sega by now.
At least it’s living a good second life as a favorite of many retro-collectors. Even without a Sonic game its library of games deserves a lot to be discovered.
Pretty much just a series of horrible decisions on Sega’s part. The Saturn itself is a pretty neat console though.
Too bad it used quads and not triangles
But why? It just made it harder to program for.
@@nintendo1889x If it's a 3D game, then yes it was difficult to work with. But it the game was 2D, then the Saturn shows off it's true colors, especially the Marvel vs. series being much more closer to the arcades on Saturn compared to Playstation.
@@X2011racer Still stupid to use quads, there's no advantage to doing that
@@nintendo1889x To be fair, the dual 32 bit processors was a last second change to the Saturn after SEGA saw the Playstation's 3D capabilities. It resulted in quads, unstable 3D, and the lack of a Saturn SDK (due to the fact that the system released exactly on E3 1995) made these problems worse.
To make matters worse, the Model 1 arcade hardware used quadrilaterals and still looked as good as triangle polygons.
The most underrated gaming console in history
What?
I remember an old article said an engineer had an idea of just raising the clock speed of the single SH2 by 8-10 mhz, adding extra 512k of work ram and making one of the VDP chips stronger allowing for a couple extra layers, more sprites and true transparency. Costs was cheaper than adding a second cpu and using more board space. Oh well. I enjoyed it and all the import Japanese games.
Physick1 i wish know the article of all of this info.
All of Sega Of Japan's executives at the time of the 32x/Saturn should be ashamed of themselves. They dealt such a devastating series of blows to the company that not even one of the best consoles of all time (the Dreamcast) could save it.
Again the "2nd CPU added in response to the PSX" myth comes up. It's not.
Sega of Japan already planned to have a dual CPU design from the start (look at the Tom Kalinske interviews in Blake Harris' "Console Wars" book), since they already had internal experience programming such systems: After Burner, OutRun, Power Drift, and Virtua Racing/Fighter were all multi-CPU arcade games made by Yu Suzuki and AM2, who had the required skills - in detriment to the rest of game developers.
What they DID add, after getting some leaked PSX specs from a spy employee and finding out about the GTE (PSX's equivalent to a T&L engine), was the VDP2 - essentially a Sega System24 GPU bolted onto the Saturn to lessen the load on the VDP1 for backgrounds and compositing/blending effects.
Nvidia wasn't contracted by Sega - I couldn't find any reliable sources that confirm this statement other than some speculation. (web.archive.org/web/20060523150505/firingsquad.com:80/features/nv2/default.asp) Instead, Sega _themselves_ decided to port some of their games to the NV1 due to a similar rendering architecture to get their feet wet with Nvidia's hardware, mainly because it was being considered for the Dreamcast (and later rejected in favor of 3dFx, to be _again_ rejected for NEC's PowerVR).
I agree about the "Model 3 home console" part, however. If just they waited a couple more years and didn't kill the Mega Drive because of Sega of Japan's stubbornness, it would have trounced both the N64 and PSX in the graphics department while still being easier to develop for than the Saturn.
SegaSaturnSubs also wanted to use the real3d chip from Lockheed Martin for the as a add-on first to a successor to the Saturn. Then to 3dfx and last the power vs chip.
"Screw you guys! I'll make my own console! With blackjack and hookers!" -Sony, 1994
more like 4 great consoles and counting.
Sonic Xtreme actually looked solid, pretty surprised they canceled it.
Let's see if we can raid the official sonicthehedgehog TH-cam channel to remake sonic xtreme on the sega Saturn mini
@@michaelthefurrycat2093 we'll never see a Saturn mini
The Saturn was hard to program for but the creative games were really fun to play.
SEGA does what nintendon’t drop out of the console market.
Oof
TheMarioManiac Well they’ve dropped out of the home console market as the Switch is a handheld.
Sega dose what Wii u don't
wizzgamer It's a home console you dumbass!
Had no choice
Alternate title.
"Sega of Japan Fucks Up - Did You Know Gaming? Feat. Greg"
That is pretty much Sega in a nutshell.
It took a while for a Saturn episode... Not that I'm complaining.
32x is the biggest mistake in gaming. The Saturn still gave me many great memories, as did the Dreamcast. By then I knew owning Sega meant owning their hardware for the exclusive experiences. I chose Nintendo as my other console maker because they had a really nice exclusive library as well. I could play PlayStation at my friends’ houses.
It almost makes me cry with how sad the story of the Sega Saturn is, it really makes me wish they made better decisions about the console.
Shiro-Luna Same here. The Saturn was a great console.
Sega Saturn did good here in Japan
Despite the launch of the Saturn, most of the games on it are actually pretty good. I absolutely loved NiGHTS and Sonic 3D Blast.
Sadly, a true mainstream Sonic game (a port of Sonic 3D Blast doesn't count) for the Saturn never happened.
Not a day goes by where I want to play Sonic X-TREME!
I don't know, it looked pretty cool to me.
So you don't want to play it is what you're saying?
Tropical Pepper
*cancerous profile picture*
*glorious profile picture
Skyward_Strike Space Ghost pfp *BLESSED PFP*
I waited years for this episode and it did not disappoint. Thank you to all involved for finally doing the Saturn.
I cant wait for SATURNday.
3 Things They Did Right with the Sega Saturn But Not with the Sega Dreamcast
1. Easy Cmos battery replacement
2. Upgraded 1st party controller
3. Anti piracy in its CDs (not until later)
"Responding to the Atari Jaguar", I swear, Sega of Japan spent way too much time sharing coke in the conference room. Responding to a bomb with a bomb, smart.
Afr0Thund3r exactly, the Jaguar was not a threat. Nintendo did a better job maintaining there market share than Sega during that time. Sega was pushing the panic button after that.
And watching this shows, people don't like the word racism, but racism definitely took Sega apart at the seams. Why won't the Sega of Japan guys listen to those gaijin from America? Because they're gaijin and don't know what the fuck they're talking about! Nintendo of America and Nintendo of Japan were actually cooperative.
I always took Sega as a company that stumbled into success. Reading about their history and stories of how things went in the 90's for Sega, it's a miracle they still exist today.
Very first system I bought with my own hard earned money. I bought it about 5 days after launch and paid $400 for the unit and $50 for Daytona USA. I still own that very system with the box but most of my games are Japanese imports because that’s where the best game were available.
Another great video! As someone who owned a Sega Saturn and owned a few games. I had a memorable experience with the games I played on the saturn.
Also, I recognize the song at the end of the video!
It's from one of my Favorite RPGs from the Saturn itself, Albert Odyssey: Legend of Eldean. Albert Odyssey is a great and memorable, yet forgotten RPG that I wish many others would have experienced as it had a good story, good characters, and a WONDERFUL unforgettable OST as well. Thank you for reminding me why I love this RPG!
“He declined because of Sony’s lack of experience in the console market”
Oh how the tables have turned...
Did you know?
It’s not thinking
Not anymore
*thingken
Something about your profile picture... looks familiar.
wrong console
SuperDrinkingPepsi That’s why it’s not thinking
Hayao Nakayama literally ruined Sega with his stupid decisions and ego. They had so many opportunities to completely dominate the console gaming industry, but he would always fuck it up. In the end the Dreamcast was amazing, but that wasn't enough to save an already doomed company due to poor leadership.
Did you know Shinmu was originally developed to run on the Saturn, however it wasn’t powerful enough so the project was moved to the Dreamcast.
SEGA's strategy had always been to throw everything at the wall and hope something stuck. It worked for the Genesis, but certainly not for the Saturn.
5:08 that is actually a cancelled game based on the sonic satam cartoon.
the game was called sonic 16 (which was most likely a placeholder name) it was cancelled due to Yuji naka giving it thumbs down because the people at sti didnt show the fast segments first. if sega technical institute did show the fast segments, then i think the game would have been a success
The whole video feels like Sega is in a sinking ship but instead of slowing down they continue to run into more Icebergs because they need to stay up with the other ships ( Nintendo, Sony, etc.)
It is hard to watch yet you can’t turn away because it is so incredibly terrible.
One more piece of trivia: The Japanese commercials for the Saturn featured a character named Segata Sanshiro, who's name is derived from the console's name, and was portrayed by Hiroshi Fujioka, who is most famous as his role of Takeshi Hongo in the Japanese Tokusatsu show Kamen Rider.
Sega of America: coming out now at $399! Also 4 games!
Sony: *299*
LOVE SEGA SATURN SO MUCH. I still collect for it today ( Japanese versions though ).
Damn. Imagine if Sega never made 32x, used the Silicon Graphics chips, and partnered with Sony for the Disc bases system. It would have been the greatest console in history.
In summary many of Saturn's misfortunes are in large part to:
Sega of America: Here's an idea that will reverse our fortunes, and put us back in everyone's favor!
Sega of Japan: Shut your filthy, gaijin mouth!
Such a flawed view from Naka. A game creator should allow his peers to use tools that can help make a great game especially when said peers are in the same company.
He killed sonic
sonic x-treme looked so good, that nakayama guy is too strange
and yuji naka is another sucker, by the way
On one hand, it's sad to see the fall of Sega. On the other hand, it's satisfying to see Sega Of Japan get exactly what they deserve for their hubris.
It's a shame Sega of America couldn't buy out Sega of Japan and just be one united Sega.
5:42 - correction: the demo they tried to show off to nakayama was a failure not because it wasn't the boss engine, but that the demo they tried to show would not work. that's what made nakayama leave the room
(ps i didnt work there at all, i've heard the entire story in a very detailed video series which explained pretty much everything)
DYKG, looking at this video makes me feel quite sad that you didn't feature SEGA LORD X as a special guest. I know he's a relative small and new channel but trust me when I tell you, he's the biggest Sega Saturn fan out there. I felt very educated by watching his videos, not only you can see his enthusiasm but I feel like he provides new points that most people fail to bring when it comes to the Saturn and SEGA in general. If you're seeing this comment, do yourself a favor, check his channel for just a few moments and I'm sure you'll handle things from there for a possible follow-up video.
Marcus Hunter I agree with you wholeheartedly! His video on the fall of Sega is far A better telling than this video... making Tom K. out to be some kind of hero, which he certainly was not for Sega of America.
The deal between Nintendo and Sony could've worked, if Sony didn't design the contract to be rejected; creating the "Habsburg Ultimatum" effect!
I always feel terrible hearing about how terribly SEGA did after the Genesis' life started to run out. If they just made smarter decisions, they could still be a force to be reckoned with, but instead they did hasty actions to compete with Nintendo and Sony, and thus the Saturn and Dreamcast flopped as a result. Yeah, I know I'm a "SEGA Fanboy" and thus my opinion doesn't matter, but I really do wish they could have just done better back in the 90s and especially in nowadays. Maybe if they could learn, they could be revered again, but let's face it, they most likely will never learn. -wow, this was an unnecessarily poignant comment-
Arcanus Zenbrk I really think it would be kinda awesome for Sega to be a powerhouse in the industry today. How different would everything be if they had made better decisions. It seems that Sega of Japan was the bigger issue during their downfall, sadly.
And then they completely screwed over their mascot by plaguing him with terrible, terrible games that diluted any sense of quality the company had.
Even though SEGA failed in many ways with the Genesis’ addons (the CD&32X) but I’m still totally happy with the Dreamcast, it’s one of my favorite consoles ever.
(And that’s coming from someone who got one in 2015, and grew up with newer systems)
Dreamcast is still awesome, I use it regularly and it can still be played online via DreamPi or BBA. I think if Sega hadn't released the 32x and Mega CD, as well as not piss off third parties such as developers and retailers with the Saturn's surprise launch, then I think the Dreamcast could have survived longer and Sega may not have had to leave the hardware market.
These days, I don't trust Sega's quality anymore. They consistently just rush games and throw stuff at the wall to see what sticks. Sonic's probably the most infamous example to be honest, they had great Sonic gameplay with the Adventure 1 and 2 games (NOT saying the games were great) yet they've gone through multiple styles and games that have consistently flopped outside of a handful of successes. Sadly as a result of this, I do not think they would fair well at all these days
As powerful as Segata Sanshiro is, saving the Saturn was beyond his reach from the beginning.
Please do a Did You Know Gaming on the Klonoa series.
They hearted a comment about Klonoa on an extra video... almost a year ago.
I thought there was only one game?
@@CristianMartinez-xl8lc Nah, Klonoa has a sequel called "Klonoa 2: Lunatea's Veil" which came out in 2000/2001 on the PS2.
@@nyanpirethecat2257 so the first game was on the wii and the second one was on ps2?!?!? Tf
@@CristianMartinez-xl8lc The first Klonoa game was on the PS1 called "Klonoa Door to Phantomile", an official sequel came out called "Lunatea's Veil" on the PS2. Then a remake of the first game was released on the Wii called "Klonoa" which was also the last Klonoa game for a long time.
There was also a three GBA games (One of them is Japan exclusive) and one spin-off game called "Klonoa Beach Volleyball" which came out in 2002 on the PS1 (Only in the UK and Japan). There was also a Klonoa game on the Wanderswan called "Klonoa Moonlight Museum" that was only in Japan.
In other words, the CEO majorly fkd up. That's what happens when you have visionless old boys in charge
I always wanted a saturn, but I haven't gotten around to it yet.
your not missing out, get a ps3 instead
Shivas Thong already have one. There are just some titles for the saturn that I always wanted to try, but I probably can go on without them. The same goes for the dreamcast. I have the majority of the nintendo and sony consoles and I even have an xbox, but the only sega console I ever owned was the mega drive so I feel like I missed out on alot of stuff that the saturn and dreamcast had.
The saturn has really great titles. As Sega developed their consoles from the arcade gamer perspective, lots of the games from the arcades ran almost better than their original versions. For the saturn there are lots of good rpgs and fighting games. Sega rally runs really smooth and the virtual cops are fun as hell. Nights is a really fun game with a different vibe.
The dreamcast was the same as Sega is a top arcade developer. There's lots of videos on TH-cam talking about top games for each console.
Don't listen to fanboys. I own the original xbox, xbox360, nes. Gamecube. Wii, switch, game boy color, game boy advance, Nintendo DS. Nintendo 3DS, psp, ps vita, ps2, PS4, I probably forgot about some. But the central thing here is that you should never limit your possibilities of experiencing new things.
Have a good one.
Mr.megacham thank you very much!
99% of the games needing the RAM card were only in Japanese. There's like 5 games in English that used it, and even then it was optional for some them just to enhance how well it ran.
Sega Saturn problem was you lose every save you did when the battery dies and no vibration but it did beat the PS1 console it sure plays the games way better
Sega did so bad with the 32X and all the decisions after, it makes me think the Genesis hitting gold was a simple, favorable, accident.
I'd say it was less of it being an accident and more of Sega of America working their magic to make the Genesis the hit it was here in the States, which is something even Sega of Japan couldn't do in their own country. Had SoJ listened to Kalinske about joining up with Sony or nixing the surprise launch of the Saturn, Sega may still be making consoles today.
5:03 AFAIK that isn't footage from Sonic X-Treme, it's from the Sonic World tech demo. I don't know if it was at one time intended to be part of Sonic X-Treme, but later development footage of the game looked very different.
I still have the games for this console. I'll be honest, here. Even though the US version had good games and hidden gems, the Japanese and European versions of the Saturn were much better in terms of the gaming library. Sega really ripped off US gamers. Again.
Still have and play my original Saturn and dreamcast to this day. 2 of the best consoles to be released
Even though Naka had no rights regarding the NIGHTS engine.
Still, even if Sonic X-Treme had been released I doubt it would've made a difference, the Saturn was more or less dead on arrival in USA and the footage of X-Treme makes it look like it would've been very confusing to navigate those levels.
Very true sega owned The Nights Engine
Daytona USA for Sega Saturn will always be a legend. Also the controllers were ahead of their time.
I'm a simple man; I see a Sega Saturn topic, I drop a comment.
Good man
FINALLY an episode on the Saturn
Love the Saturn. Played it at a friend's house back in the day.
Underrated console
BIRDS BE LIKE.. beonhbeo beo bwo wbo wbwo
I even loved the controller they made a little later, the d pad was perfect.
You're hot!
I am impressed at your timing. Saw your other comment on Sean’s newest video.
“Coffin almost drove himself into the ground”
Teehee.
I cant feel the sunshine
If Saturn was entirely in the hands of Sega of America, it might have actually succeeded and we might have had the best 3D Sonic to date.
In the end... that Nakayama guy was the biggest idiot in SEGA's history and responsible of the bad decisions....
Wirlog He is the one responsible for idea of the 32x, surprise launch, hardware mess of the Saturn and many more. Plus, the bad relationship with SOJ and SOA made things bad for the company.
I've been waiting for years for this. Now we only need Master System, and Game Gear
You know what the biggest problem Sega had? They always wanted to be first.
They always wanted to be the first in the market ever since the MegaDrive/Genesis.
It's the reason why the Saturn and Dreamcast failed. If the Dreamcast came out with better hardware around the same time as the PS2 it probably would've done better...maybe.
Dreamcast could have done better if Sega didn't piss off retailers with Saturn. Sure hypothetically better hardware,better sales. But the machine was good enough. Look at the 360. They entered the market early and they sold massively. Dreamcast and the 360 have a similar thread, but to contrast what went right and what went wrong is important. Heck, 360 even had a bad choice. Gdrom vs DVD and DVD vs Blu-ray. Yet the 360 survived and made sales. The comparison is crucial to understanding this. Dreamcast was fine. Saturn was good enough. It was the sega's actions and poor planning surrounding the consoles is what ruined their chance to grow.
If the Sega Saturn didn't fail and kept supporting the genesis. They will have enough money to get better hardware than the actual dreamcast.
what? You wana sega to split resources and keep saturn supported and genesis. The addons for the genisis is one of the many reasons the saturn failed. So how exactly are you going to get the saturn to not fail if you're dividing resources with the genesis?
NoNoseProduction The money that kept Saturn and Sega afloat during that time was the genesis. Once the support was gone, Sega was losing a lot of money rapidly and affected the Saturn a lot. The Game Gear was declining and never resolve the issue with the battery life and never thought about releasing the cut-down version like what Nintendo did with the Gameboy like the pocket and lite. Also, never having a true handheld successor to the game gear and wasting money releasing the sega nomad. I blame the massive spending they've done during the 5th gen era.
Maroon23 Honestly they should have just had the Saturn and never released the 32X. I doubt the Megadrive would have been profitable with it's aging hardware, expecting when 3D was becoming a thing.
Check out the book "Console Wars" by Blake Harris. It reads like a goofy, poorly written novel, but it gives a very detailed account of Sega's rise from nothing to surpassing Nintendo in the market, and the constant infighting between SOA and SOJ that led to their fall.
It was interesting to realize that all of that was happening while I was a kid at the time, not realizing any of it was going on.
If they listened to Tom Kalinsky SEGA would have had a better future. Such a shame.
one man couldve changed the entire future :(
He should've tried harder to gather the time stones
for some reason everytime i think of present sega, I imagine metal palm trees, robots instead of animals and some fat egg like scientist fighting with blue hedgehog that looses.
And thats what i call bad future. Sega next time get all time stones
No amount of time stones could have stopped the miscommunication and the foolish business decisions of SEGA of Japan. For more information, please read "Console Wars" by Blake J. Harris.
We’ve never owned a Sega Saturn - we went from Mega Drive to Sega Dreamcast. Always wanted a Sega Saturn thou. Great video by the way
Nothing new was learned here, I was hoping for something someone else had not already covered, some years ago, but I guess not. Maybe next time.
Starting the video with Segata Sanshiro... 10/10!!
Sega Saturn in a Nutshell
The Japanese Headquarter of SEGA refused to work with newbies, over-reacted with their competition, and made poor financial and marketing decisions.
1:17 Holy combover, Batman!
In short: *Nakayama killed Sega*
I enjoy videos based on the Saturn, behind the scenes and stories of it all.
Little did most people know that in the 70's, Segata Sanshiro used to dress up as cyborg grasshopper biker and fight mutant animal monsters working for a neo-nazi terrorist organization.
And managed to start off this odd, fringe trend that NEEEEEVER got off the ground.
This is a perfect case study of how poor communication can ruin the best plans.
Brandon Murray yes had they had a strong relationship they would have making hardware now. We would seen the Dreamcast 2 and 3 by now. Imagine the technology they would use for portable console now and the last generation.
Hayao Nakayama was the death of Sega because of his unwillingness to try new things and adapt. I'm sure he regretted his stubborness and stupidity every single day after he awoke the sleeping giant known as Sony. That being said I'm sure Nintendo regrets poking the sleeping giant too lol.
They regret the deal more. The add-on would either have flopped like the Sega CD did or deprive Nintendo of royalties as developers flocked to the cheaper medium. Better options would have been to either re-work the deal (maybe make the PlayStation a next-gen console instead of an expensive peripheral) or back out.
"Sega Saturn, shiro!!"
Great video!
Where do you put the ashes of sega consoles?
In a sega satURN. Huehue
What’s the song playing at 4:53? I really like it and I wanna know where the track is from
Bump