We have discussed why Dreamcast failed; why did SEGA SATURN fail?

[Kingshango]

Rare footage of the dagger being placed in the heart of the Saturn.



Fast forward to 3:30.

 

[Rice N Beans]

Sega just handled consoles very poorly until the Dreamcast. Sega innovation would have went well with Nintendo software and commitment.

Genesis simply came out at the right time. No other console was as successful for Sega.

 

[The Antagonist]

I got a Saturn before a PlayStation. I wanna say it was late 1995 when I got it. I chose the Saturn because as an 8 year old kid who loved the Genesis I stuck with the Sega brand. I also never had the 32x or Sega CD so there was no bitterness from those flops

I remember playing Virtua Fighter 1&2, the demo disc that came with the Consol, Virtua Cop, Gex, NFL quarterback Club and Corpse Killer which was a game that was more a movie than a game.. i remember always watching the video clips on that more than playing the game

 

[Notorious 1 E.Y.E.]

sega saturn failed because developers were making trash games
word is that it was really hard to make games for it

 

[Mensch Fontana]

ecco killed sega

 

[Cladyclad]

Brutal too considering the entire point was to a) beat sony and b) make up the lost money from the 32x and Sega CD

Looking back I just look like a dumb azz 16yr old for begging my moms for a early Xmas present I just saw what happen to my Saturn after like 2 years on top of the other crap I didn't get (32x sega cd). But yet I wanted this bull. I never forgave sega for Dreamcast. I vowed never to buy anything Sega related @ having my mom spend over a thousand dollars Sega's buiishyt

 

[LezJepzin]

Real reason why it failed? That's easy. Sega already had the rep of launching things and not supporting them for long...

The..
Sega channel
32X
Sega CD

All had extremely short life spans

This. I had a friend on my block who got a Saturn and I just couldn't get into it. Even though I was a Nintendo stan at the time, I was a fan of the Genesis and Game Gear. Sega Saturn however was like the previous products I quoted all rolled up into one A clusterfukk of a system. Couldn't think of asking my parents to shell out big bucks for a system that only had three games worth buying. Plus I knew the Sony wave was coming.

The Saturn when I was in school in '95 was something only the spoiled kids bragged about having , thinking they were ahead of the game. Me and my friends looked at them like

 

[Ken Piffey Jr.]

I bought a Saturn at Christmas time - deal breaker over n64 and ps was that it came with three free games.

 

[jazzfan]

Blazing Heroes
Dark Stalkers III
Radiant Silvergun
Burning Rangers made it but a US addition is rare.
Guardian Heroes -US version is rare

Here are some more I remembered. Saturn had a great catalogue. Too bad most at that time didn't hit US soil.

Radiant silvergun is the hardest shooting game ever created.

 

[storyteller]

I remember loving my Saturn...Shining Force 3, Dragon Force and Virtual Fighter vs Fighting Vipers were all straight heat! Saturn wasn't great for sports games though imo and that was a problem. Idk what killed it, but that would factor in to me.

 

[NV-ME]

Saturn was pretty dead before PS got popular. PS was a slow burn.

nah, they both dropped w/I a few months. Saturn was like the summer and ps was early fall. it was the lack of games. I bought virtual fighter, panzer dragon & Daytona at the launch and for the longest they didn't have enough games available. especially sports games. the madden & nba games took a minute from both systems, but ps had a konami bball game, and the gameday football joint atleast whet sports fans appetite.

I think im the reason the game stores like babbages and electronic boutique changed their return policy. I took my Saturn back 4 months after I bought it. they tried to deny me and I took some chick that was studying law up to the store and she talked the manager on duty into a corner and I walked out with a new ps-1 and three games.

til this day though, the Saturn's controller was the best joint ever. right size, weight, buttons perfectly placed. perfect.

 

[Slystallion]

Couldn't do 3d right
shyt just appeared at the store no hype

No visually or mechanically groundbreaking must have game available at launch

 

[Slystallion]

Was 399 at launch I believe

 

[Slystallion]

Yeah nobody was ready.

Gamers were caught off guard with an expensive console that looked cool.

Publishers and Retailers had to scramble out of nowhere.

It was a situation in where not even sega benefited. Those who followed the industry back then viewed it as a desperation move to beat Sony to the market.

Even developers were mad because they viewed it as Sega giving their first party games an advantage because third party development games were not ready for that launch and were expecting the September launch

 

[Danie84]

Sega Saturn was but Virtua Cop help me aim better and knock my target off with one shot