/vr/ - Retro Games

>>10748438
>oh neat this is a thing
>oh Panzer Dragoon looks nice
>Oh it's a bit too costly

That's about it.

>>10748438
>Saturn releasing early? It just seemed to piss off everyone
This wasn't all that talked about or well known back in the actual days. The way information spreads in the modern internet days makes certain events that weren't that notorious back when they happened become the central point thanks to the way information flows and viralizes now.
The Saturn was a mystical console, o oy for the initiated.

>>10748438
The idea was had some good thought into it.
The PS1's launch titles had better 3D than what Sega had to offer at the time, so by launching it earlier they could get more ground ahead of sony.
The problem is that they launched the console too early and didn't give the western devs good tools to work with it.

the timing is irrelevant, nintendo could release their consoles late, early or whatever and it'd still sell

>>10748567
Nintendo held more values to their IPs than Sega.
Nintendo also didn't have a fuck buddy relationship with Hitachi.

>>10748531
Yeah, it wasn't known because stores and journalists decided to bury Saturn because they were so mad at Sega for screwing with their schedule.

>>10748531
It was well known if you went to certain stores or read magazines.
>>10748438

Anyway no, it actively hurt SEGA in the long run, it burned their relationships with retailers. Also the PSX was a few months away and $100 less.
My mom did know someone who imported a Saturn and got pissed his American games wouldn't run.

>>10748589
>imported a Saturn and got pissed his American games wouldn't run.
this is not as stupid as you may think, Saturn and PS1 were probably the first mainstream consoles with real software-enforced region lockout. Super Famicom and US SNES carts are actually fully compatible if you remove the plastic that prevents the PCB from fitting inside the slot.

>>10748594
Genesis games started adding region locking that got more common toward the end.

>>10748438
Back then, I just thought it was another console (which I couldn't afford) being launched. I was still stuck with the 4th-gen ones, but I was glad there were so many seemingly good options. It was quite surprising to see only the PS1 and N64 by the end of the gen. Game magazines were always telling that something new was being released, so I thought we'd end up with like 10 different consoles.

>>10748594
>>10748605
why they did it to begin with?

>>10748650
Because of different TV standards between USA and Europe and because of language barrier between the USA and Japan, that'd be my guess.

>>10748694
locking the system seems overkill, a simple label on the cover is sufficient
if a person wants to buy a japanese game to play before the western release that is his business

>>10748438
Tom said he did it cuz people were importing Saturns, and he was proud he did it. Years later on the internet when everyone agreed maybe it wasn't a great idea he said it was all the fault of the Japanese for some reason.

The Sega Satan.

>>10748589
>It was well known if you went to certain stores or read magazines.
I dont personally remember but then again I'm from Europe and this was an american thing. Anyway I never said it was a national secret but it's something that only in the last 10 years or so gained popularity as common knowledge.

>>10748731
The correct way to romanize it would be Sataan, with a prolonged vowel at the end

>>10748947
I'm not romanizing. Saturn is Satan.

>>10748721
In retrospect, now that I think about it, back then I did visit a lot of colleges with their anime clubs. Every one of them had 2 or 3 people that imported the Saturn to show off the games. I eventually got my own Saturn when my launch PS1 needed to be placed on its side/upside-down to play games, and immediately modded it with a region switch. Every Saturn owner knew they had to get games direct from Japan anyway, such that even stores like EB, Software Etc., Babbages, etc. carried Japanese Saturn games. Never did realize that it may have been a possible reason for the now known poor decision of a surprise early US launch.

>>10749624
I think it could have been made into a more sound business decision had they taken a quick response to help developers still targeting the original launch. The original plan to have something like 30 games out *by* the original launch date would have been more effective. Once people saw what PlayStation was doing at its launch Saturn had been flooded with bad press and delays in the US. Their ducks weren't in a row when they pulled the move and it makes it now look desperate and absurd.

>>10749636
Such is how I know as a fan of Sega games. Sega and failure are eternally intertwined. I'm just glad they existed to bring me a lot of joy through the games they brought to the table.

>>10749246
Jesus got romanized lol

>I'll just release a same generational console 2 years later than my competition
>oh no all the 3rd party studios are heavily invested in and experienced with my competitor's console which has 99% of the market share

>>10748438
It was probably a positive for the 5 people who bought it early and showed it off to their friends

>>10748438
it killed sega
how much more positive you can get?

>>10748438
Sega was run by morons.