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/vr/ - Retro Games


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File: 479 KB, 1200x664, Saturn.png [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
4091394 No.4091394 [Reply] [Original]

Why did it flop so hard? Even the n64 sold like 3 times more than the Saturn

>> No.4091419

>very few exclusive titles that weren't first party
>many great titles didn't get released in the US because Bernie
>many fans didn't want to bother investing in a new sega console after getting burned twice with the 32X and SegaCD
>many retailers neglected the system after getting jerked around with the release debacle
tl;dr version: Sega of America was headed by a major fuckup who drove the console into the ground for reasons unknown. This is old news. Unless you wanted this to be another "Sega fans whine about how the Saturn got fucked" thread.

>> No.4091426
File: 53 KB, 1200x551, 1200px-PSX-Console-wController.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
4091426

>> No.4091428

>>4091419
In Asia(particularly Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan) it did at least slightly better than the N64.

>> No.4091436

Saturn was way too weeb, N64 was way too American, PSX had a perfect balance of good American, Japanese and even European games.

>> No.4091453

>>4091394
SoJ thought it'd be funnier to sabotage the company than to let baka gaijins be more successful than their superior japanese branch.

Oh, and it was a pain in the ass to develop for.

>> No.4091556

>>4091394
Too many filthy casuals who weren't ready for the ultimate gaming experience of all time

>> No.4091574

The Sega CD and 32X, despite having OK titles, drained developement time for the Saturn. Also the marketing didn't help.

>> No.4091594

>>4091574
The Saturn was going to be shit no matter what. SoJ shouldn't have banked on multi-core processors.

>> No.4091616

>>4091594
Maybe at least one less CPU. Also, the 32X was better off being canned before its official release.

>> No.4091647

>>4091394
>3 times more
Not in the only market that mattered

>> No.4091872

>>4091436
>N64 was way too American
>Most best exclusives were made in Japan

>> No.4091950

>>4091872
N64- North American sales - 21 million
N64- Japanese sales- 6 million

seems legit

>> No.4091960

>>4091950
North America includes Canada, and also probably sales in Mexico and the rest of Latin America, which aren't to be underestimated, especially Mexico, those guys are huge Nintendo fags.
Japan on the other hand is a tiny island, however, N64 software sold really well in Japan. I believe in total N64 sold more software than Saturn, despite selling less hardware (in Japan)

>> No.4092243

>>4091960
I think the N64 was behind the Sega Saturn overall in Asia.

>> No.4092257
File: 82 KB, 540x720, image.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
4092257

>>4091394
Ps1 was the new meme.

>> No.4092263

>burgerland didn't get all the cool, outlandish exclusives
>botched-ass launch that pissed-off developers and retailers
>weird architecture made it hard to develop for, especially 3D games
>more expensive than the PS1 for some time
>"The Saturn is not our future"
>Sonic X-Treme's fucked development and cancellation, leading to the lack of a true flagship Sonic game on the platform
>animosity and noncooperation between Sega Japan and Sega America
>money and resources wasted on redundant products nobody asked for like the Nomad, CDX, and especially the 32X

>> No.4092364

Japan loved the Saturn and it was still getting games into the PS2 era there

It's well known that Sega of America was a shit show run by an idiot and rife with in-fighting withing itself and against SoJ. None of its failings were because the system or games were bad.

>> No.4092368
File: 48 KB, 484x667, tumblr_m9l4hmb81X1qg6ae4o1_500.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
4092368

They didn't market in the US using the greatest man who ever lived, Segata Sanshiro.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gc3AK8k90xw

>> No.4092392

>>4092364
The system was too expensive and shit to program in 3D

>> No.4092412

>>4092364
Some of the poor decisions like the 32X's release and Sonic X-Treme's cancellation are believed to be the fault of SoJ though, so they're not entirely free of fault.

>> No.4092415

>>4091394

weaker console, no games, too japanese, ps1 was the shit back then, also the failure of the sega 32x and sega cd

>> No.4092419

>>4091872

>Most best exclusives were made in Japan

you mean what? only a bunch o JRPGs never left japan but you can hardly say they are "most of the best exclusives".

>> No.4092425

>>4091394
Not accepting SGI's offer to get N64's GPU before Nintendo did. It's pretty much as simple as that.

>> No.4092968

>>4091872
Other than Nintendo Games, the system is know for shooters and western collectathons.
>but Rare is British not American
Might as well be an American company in the wrong continent, they were developing nes games back when no one gave a shit about that system here.

>> No.4092981

>>4091419
Pretty much. Better question would be how it survived as long as it did.

>> No.4093019

Never saw a single person with a Saturn growing up. Everyone either had PS or N64.

>> No.4093043

>>4092368
that football RPG at 6:07 looks cool

>> No.4093045

>>4093019
I had one and several friends too. i'm european though, i think it was a worse blunder in the US

>> No.4093050

>>4093019
I still hate myself for not having this, Dreamcast and the original Xbox

>> No.4093075

>>4091594
>The Saturn was going to be shit no matter what. SoJ shouldn't have banked on multi-core processors.

They didn't have multi-core processors, they had two separate physical processors sharing the same bus.

The big problem wasn't that though, it was the polygon gpu being complete trash. PSX one was literally 6 times better, to the point that it didn't really matter how efficient your CPU was because you could do sick graphics regardless.

>> No.4093078

>>4093075
>because you could do sick graphics regardless.
Yeah, wobbly models and warped textures are so amazing and lifelike.

>> No.4093080
File: 1.46 MB, 500x310, psx_simulator.gif [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
4093080

>>4093078
pic related

>> No.4093085

>>4093019
I did, once, in the USA. In retrospect it's awe-inspiring how they went from the Genesis to *that*. What an amazing fuck-up.

>> No.4093089

>>4091394
It flopped outside Japan, but in riceland it was quite successful. It did better than the N64 there, granted the N64 did very poorly in Japan. Hence why N64 stuff goes for so cheap over there, and so many retro stores are dropping prices hard to get rid of their stock to make more room for more popular consoles.

What sold the Saturn in Japan was the only exclusivity of virtua fighter, which was the most popular game in the arcades over there at the time.

Ultimately the ps1 took the top spot over there because a lot of 3rd party developers jumped ship from Nintendo and went over to PlayStation. Due to ps1 dev kits being super cheap, it being easier to develop on, and cds being cheap to print, and cds holding lots of memory. It makes perfect sense why the ps1 won in sales really.

Why the Saturn failed in the west was simple. People lost all confidence in SEGA due to crapping out new hardware too often, while still supporting all their old consoles. Why would someone buy the new one when games are still coming out for the old consoles. The hardware was pricey too. There was a big lack of not just good games but games in general. The US only got some 350 games, somewhere around that number. While Japan got 1400 games.

Now granted most of those games where ports of porn and hentai games from the PC98. But there where plenty of non porn or hentai related games that the west never got that where decent as well.

>> No.4093095

>>4093085

The 32X was an even worse Fuck-up.

>> No.4093103

>>4093095
Trufax, but it wasn't their flagship console. Funny thing though, I see way more used 32X stuff than Saturn.

>> No.4093117

>>4093075
More realistic than the 4 colour meshed "transparent" polygons you do on the Saturn.

>> No.4093121

>>4093089
>What sold the Saturn in Japan was the only exclusivity of virtua fighter, which was the most popular game in the arcades over there at the time.

And then Sakura Taisen, and also all the incredibly good arcade ports.

>> No.4093159

didn't i read somewhere that sega of japan kept the development secret, or at least away from, sega of america?

and at the same time that SOA was developing and launching the 32X?

>> No.4093168

because 400$
/thread

>> No.4093312

>>4093168
the PS2's first model cost 400$ at launch, and it managed to outsell the gamecube and the original XBOX

>> No.4093331

>>4093312
And it literally had no games for like the first year and a half. Didn't matter, Sony guys already did their marketing magic and people were ready to buy anything, meanwhile Sega was at its lowest with Saturn and early Dreamcast.

>> No.4093334

>>4091394
I'm sorry to sound like /v/, but NO GAMES. Sure there are a few good first party games and even a couple good third party games, but overall the library is filled with cheap shovelware that Saturn owners and collectors praise and collect because frankly there isn't anything else to play

>> No.4093358

>>4093331
>no games

Battle Arena Toshinden.
ESPN Extreme Games.
Kileak: The DNA Imperative.
NBA Jam Tournament Edition.
Power Serve 3D Tennis.
The Raiden Project.
Rayman.
Ridge Racer.

>> No.4093364

>>4093358
>overall the library is filled with cheap shovelware that Saturn owners and collectors praise and collect because frankly there isn't anything else to play
Thanks for proving that for me champ

>> No.4093368

>>4093364
Those games were all PS2 launch titles.

>> No.4093371

>>4093368
And? That's the sort of shovelware that every console has, only difference being that that's ALL the Saturn had for the most part

>> No.4093374

>>4093371
>all the Saturn had for the most part
Definitely true for what came out in the West.

>> No.4093375

>>4093368
No they aren't, is this some form of advanced autism.

>> No.4093379

>>4093331
>And it literally had no games for like the first year and a half.

It had the entire PSX library plus all existing DVD discs available for it on launch.

>> No.4093387

>>4093379
Not him but since when does being able to play the same games from the last gen counts as having games? The Wii U can play every Wii game, does that mean it has an expansive library?

>> No.4093393

>>4093358
>espn, tennis
complete sports $1 shovelware
3rd tier fighter. 3 games that already had their definitive releases in the past on other consoles. and 2 games no one has ever heard of except dreamcast owners whose parents got them at target

>> No.4093417

>>4093080
>the train pulling into Timber Station in FFVIII

Like the world's flimsiest papercraft diorama.

>> No.4093427

>>4091394
I either didn't mod mine correctly or I don't know how to burn the disc images. Maybe both.

>> No.4093449

>>4093085
I had one. Loved mine and honestly had no idea it was failing until EB started liquidating all the Saturn stuff. Got Magic Knight Reyearth for a song and a second analog controller for a buck. Still got all that stuff packed up somewhere....

>> No.4093451

>>4093387
>Not him but since when does being able to play the same games from the last gen counts as having games?

It makes the console more than an expensive paper weight in case the launch games are shit / nonexistant.

Also it was playing games with faster loading and texture filtering...

>> No.4093454

>>4093451
>>4093387
also, most households only allow for 1 game console. PS2 being backwards compatible meant that they could buy that, then sell the PS1, and still keep all their games. That's a damn big of a deal, and even the Megadrive benefited from that with its master system converter (there's an interview with one of the executives that states this to be the case).