A tale of why Dreamcast never stood a chance

based, show no tolerance to blabbering millennials

zoomers are mortally terrified of two paragraphs of text

it's okay zoomie, you can ask Alexa to read it out loud for ya

Could you imagine being on the verge of bankruptcy and green lighting a 6 part job sim where the first game would need to sell 4 copies per console to even break even just because the creator was your friend?

i wouldn't be surprised if they already knew the ship was going straight into an iceberg and he just wanted to cash out asap while helping its closed ones

yeah

the Dreamcast's GD-ROM notoriously had no protection

Ackshully the Dreamcast's anti-piracy is uncracked to this day. The exploit that allowed for burned games just circumvents it completely. Nobody has cared enough to reverse engineer it for decades as a result.

I’m a gen x. I lived this and don’t need to some gay retrospective on something that is dead and buried for many years now. It’s pointless.

zoomer pretends he's not a zoomer

kekaroo

brown seethes

Expected

ok and we should stop the thread because you are a bitch about it? you do know that you are not forced to enter every thread you see right? there is a big X on the top right corner, press it to close the browser.

Panzer Dragoon Saga happened, so did Shenmue. Skies of Arcadia as well but that launched a week after Shenmue in America, fucking Sega.

i think the issue had to do with the Saturn more than anything else. For the 32 bit era, it decided to go more 2D style and had hardware to back that up, whereas Sony's Playstation had the 3D focus and of course the specific time when Sony's exec just basically walked out and announced the lower price. There were issues before, such as the split between SoJ and SoA (which had to do with things like the 32x / CD focus, as well as certain titles getting their release in the US), but I think what set up the Dreamcast to be behind some of the other offerings at the time came out of the Saturn's comparative failure

Oh and Grandia 2 launched like 2 weeks after Skies of Arcadia. Legitimately too many long games in too short of a time frame.

this, it honestly feels like they wasted a console on the saturn, it had some great names, but its genuinely more forgettable than the PSX or N64, everytime someone mentions the 90s console wars, its always N64 vs PSX, sometimes someone namedrops the dreamcast....but nothing of the saturn.

The exploit that allowed for burned games just circumvents it completely

our gates are unbroken!

everyone just walked around them!

The Saturn only really took off in Japan where it outsold the N64. Sega of America didn't localize enough of the games. The Saturn in the west and in Japan are basically 2 separate systems, the catalog difference is that huge.

I think had the Saturn launched shortly after the JP version and if it came over with the same catalog, it could have done much better. It would have been ahead of other consoles and could have leaned heavily on the

we're bringing the best of Japan to you, all the stuff never before imported!

but sadly, this was the time when Sega of America and Sega of Japan had a bit split in approaches, with SoA basically having a huge focus on delivering and marketing games to be edgy and XTREME to pick up a perceived older and more mature crowd of preteens, teens, and 20s while Nintendo was heavily into the family friendly era. SoA is part of the reason that the 32X was added as a stopgap etc.

None of this is necessarily exclusive to Sega though, as for instance NEC (among other mistakes, like the eleventy bazillion variations of console, game media, upgrades and more) with the PCEngine / TurboGrafx-16 / TurboDUO etc a generation previous - lots of neat stuff for its time, but so much stuck in Japan.

SEEEGAAAAAA

Saturn succeeded in Japan because they had that strong arcade foundation that made home ports more appealing. By 1995 arcades in the US were already dying off, so Sega of America needed time to get the sports games ready.
Jumping the gun meant Sega had to launch with no sports titles which was the backbone of the Genesis.
Waiting a year and a half for Madden and Sega's own and terrible football game to show up was a killer for Saturn against PlayStation's full 3d NFL Game Day which was out shortly after launch.

oh ya

Dreamcast bombed because some magazine in the UK was straight up selling that cd/whatever it was called that let you play pirated games alongside it's magazines and for some reason Sega did not rape them into slavery.
For some reason not a lot of people are aware of this.

shitty devs lying about their exclusives for dreamcast doesnt help

Dreamcast's anti-piracy is uncracked to this day.

because it doesnt exists

Well admittedly, sports games were a part going back to the Genesis/MegaDrive for Sega of America ; part of the attempt to get more "mature" focused gaming on their console. Sports titles were desirable to some players in the US, but I don't think I'd call it the backbone of the lineup - the Genesis had plenty of other types of games from Golden Axe and Altered Beast, to Sonic, etc.. which were seen as iconic to the platform While i'm sure Madden and other football games were noteworthy, I don't think that's what was focus back then - in fact, it wouldn't become a major demographic until the Xbox era where "Xbros" in the West who bought consoles specifically for "Madden and Halo" . Before that, stuff like Mutant League Football or NBA Jam (or one of those more serious tennis games on Genesis) were not considered major system selling focal points, they were just one of many options; people who bought the Genesis played Sonic or Shining Force, Ghouls and Ghosts , as well as others.

Maybe its best to think of it as a doorframe standing in the middle of an open room. The door may be locked, but you can walk around the entire frame so why bother picking the lock if you can just walk to the same destination on the other side by going around?

i have fifa 94 and 96 for megadrive
but yeah i agree with you

You could do it with any boot disc, it's how we played imported DC games and anime VCDs, I used a gameshark disc.

i dont even remember if i needed a boot disk
pal console

actual vidya discussion thread

some zoomers and retards have an autistic meltdown

yikes

The Saturn only really took off in Japan where it outsold the N64.

And even then it was by a very tiny margin, and N64 games still had more presence there since they sold far better. Saturn only had one million-seller in Japan, and that was far ahead of the pack of everything else on offer.

Sega's NFL '94 -'98 outsold every RPG on the Genesis. They were moving a million copies a year, for context the #1 unbundled game Mortal Kombat sold 4 million copies.

Originally, the Dreamcast was lagging behind game consoles from other manufacturers. At that time, then-chairman of Sega, Mr. Okawa (now deceased), who had a close relationship with Akimoto, reportedly proposed bringing him on board.

Subsequently, in June 1998, Akimoto became a director at Sega, and in November of the same year, he assumed the role of president of a promotion company exclusively serving Sega (effectively becoming CEO of that subsidiary). Under his leadership, Sega produced variety shows funded solely by the company itself. One such notable campaign was the "Yukawa Executive Series" commercial featuring Hikaru Takizawa.

It’s said that during the production of these shows, Akimoto received unusually high fees for planning — which was possible since Sega itself was the sponsor. (Though one might think that, given those circumstances, it would’ve been wiser to invest more into things like set design or staff salaries to enhance the actual content of the programs.) As for the commercials, while they starred high-profile talents like Takizawa, making for glamorous productions, it’s unclear where the rest of the budget was going in terms of overall quality.

Beyond his Sega work, Akimoto also pursued personal publishing ventures such as “Akimoto Yasushi Complete Works 97%,” leading some to accuse him of treating Sega’s funds as his own private resources.

The “Yukawa Series” commercials were undeniably attention-grabbing and created a buzz, but they failed to communicate the actual appeal of the product — such as the software lineup or the hardware capabilities. As a result, Sega had anticipated selling around 1.1 million units, but only managed to move half that number. The massive advertising expenses ended up draining resources, with Sega spending as much as ¥13 billion on promotion. Despite this, the company continued to post losses and was forced to lay off 1,000 employees — about 25% of its workforce — in 1999. By 2001, production of the Dreamcast was discontinued entirely. Chairman Okawa took responsibility for hiring Akimoto and donated ¥85 billion of his personal fortune to help salvage Sega, passing away that same year.

Akimoto’s ideas have always been noted for their entertainment value, but it seems they lacked deeper strategic thinking when it came to generating consumer demand or contributing to sound business planning. According to interviews conducted by the weekly magazine, Sega executives criticized Akimoto’s involvement. In response, Akimoto reportedly said something along the lines of, “I was like a transfer student to Sega. I thought we’d become friends, but I remained just a transfer student,” showing no signs of remorse regarding the failed promotional campaign.

Sega dies

Nintendo becomes Soitendo

Well of course, there was only one NFL game per year thanks to licensing (with actual current teams etc), and many RPGs and other games. However, it was still a time when the person who owned or rented Madden / NFL etc.. would have also owned or rented Mortal Kombat, Altered Beast, Golden Axe, Gunstar Heroes, Shining Force, Ghouls and Ghosts, Ecco the Dolphin, Sword of Vermillion etc..

gave Code Veronica a perfect 10

man, the Dreamcast well was really dry huh

Sega of America didn't localize enough of the games

The games didn't sell. In 95-96 most games were localised. This stopped in 96-97 because sales figures were so bad. Most examples of missing games were games released later in the Saturn's life

still one my favorite resident games

I think had the Saturn launched shortly after the JP version and if it came over with the same catalog, it could have done much better.

Didn't that pretty much happen?

If you look at the Saturn's best-selling titles in Japan, it mostly amounts to arcade ports released during the 1995-1996 window. North America got most of those arcade ports.

I subbed to this mag and had dozens of these. I sadly recycled them almost 2 decades ago.

Wish I would've scanned them or sent them off to be scanned for a fee/gave them to someone who'd do it and cut me in.

Oh well. Tears in rain. Dreamcast was too good for this world.

Bleemcast?

Dreamcast was the last system with SOVL. Since you've grown up in a world devoid of SOVL I can understand why this makes you upset Li'l Zoomie.

Happy for you, or sorry that happened i ain't reading all that.

Then also you have the issue of piracy; the Dreamcast's GD-ROM notoriously had no protection, so people were just burning discs like nothing, undermining the already underwhelming sales.

wait, piracy is bad?

retard

We are better than you, zoomer. We are better than awoogies. We are better than boomers. We're about on par with Gen X (but still better). You have nothing. Your generation and all that follow are automatons, blindly going from one piece of algorithmed slop to the next, unable to think on your own or learn or read. Everything is an aesthetic to be consumed, a costume to be worn. You do nothing with sincerity, nothing out of genuine love for X or Y. Everything you do is proceeded by what others might think and the seeming existential dread that one person might see you and say—or even think—"cringe." "Chat, is this..." is like a mantra; an attempt to seek consensus before risking looking uncool or dumb, yet in living like this you come off as nothing but an inflatable man, vacuous and empty whose appearance is easily popped leading to an emaciated husk of a human.

You are sad and you will die never having known a life of sincerity or individuality. I should pity you for it is an inhuman existence but you are too much of an empty-shelled NPC to realize that you exist in such a state and so shuffle along in your state of unthinking mechanically-driven predestination.

That's called SOVL and led to Shenmue 1, a game as filled with it as has ever existed (not Shenmue 2 though and certainly not Shenmue 3).

Because in America Kalinske tried to cling onto the Genesis longer than he should have which helped ruin the Saturn. Nobody but dronies cared about the N64 which had precisely two good games (Goldeneye and Ocarina) just like dronies were the only people who cared about the Gamecube, Wii and WiiU. Nintendo is a handheld company that got lucky with one console released with practically no competition and another released against retarded competition.

for consoles before they turned into pc wannabes? yes

Of course, when the PS2 came out, it was game over for everyone in town, even Nintendo, let alone Sega.

Not exactly. While it's easy to look at the success of the PS2 in hindsight, the first year of its life was pretty rocky. There were constant shortages of systems to be sold, the earliest models had several mechanical problems, and it had very few games. It wasn't until 2001 when huge hits like GTA3 came out that the system really hit its stride.

I know there were some big ones, but there were so many others the US didn't get. Pic related is even on Wiki

Basically 75% of the library is exclusive to Japan. That's just devastating to the legacy of a platform because, while there may be some junk of course, it means there are so many other games that are not available. Hell, I remember being excited for Shining Force III and only the first episode ever made it over to the West, despite previews showing that Ep 2 and 3 were in the pipe etc. This has the effect of ensuring that people miss out on lots of niche titles, and also especially at the time, it meant that the library seemed very small compared to the PS1 for instance which, despite having JP exclusives, had less by comparison and even experimental stuff make it across the ocean.

Niche titles would not have saved the Saturn. It already lost the battle against the PS1 and N64 by late 1996. What's the point of localizing games that sell like 50K units when you don't even have first-party titles that can each a million; especially when your competitors' biggest titles are reaching multi-millions in sales?

If you don't have a solid mainstream base, your niche titles don't have a market to exist in.

out of curiosity, did the console/games made a profit?
or its another crapcum case of

if we dont sell 500000 billion copies its a flop even after we got profit after 10k copies

no sincerity or individuality

copypasta

I finally found a real-life irony. Thanks for that.

I don't know Sega's corporate earnings figures. What I do know is that they went from a console that sold over 30 million units worldwide to a console that only sold 9 million units. There's no way in hell a dropoff like that doesn't negatively impact your overall earnings as a company.

still could have been a profit, but well we know how shitty companies think

In an alternate world where

Saturn released in the West at the same time as Japan or shortly after ie 1994/1995

Most titles "best versions" were localized giving the west a very similar library to Japan minus a few older variants

Delays thanks to 32X and the like were not involved, so focus was on Saturn as the next gen successor, allowing many Genesis/MD favorites to get successors made for Saturn ASAP, with both JP and NA/EU titles crossing to new audiences like big system sellers.

things could have been very different in terms of competing with the PS1/N64. This doesn't mean that Saturn would have "won" necessarily but it would have been a much better fight so to speak. It also would have meant that Sega would have had a stronger and more concerted SoA+SoJ approach for the Dreamcast.

any alternate world where microshit didnt enter the console market would be better

Then also you have the issue of piracy; the Dreamcast's GD-ROM notoriously had no protection

next time you write an essay you should uh research what you're talking about and also uh not post it on a video game forum where no one cares.

It’s pointless.

So is your life but that doesn't stop you from existing does it?

fuck off dumb zoomer

Yeah.

You are so dumb that you see paragraphs and instantly think it's a pasta. Holy fuck zoomers really are beyond hope.

mfw seeing the vga cable upscaling dreamcast games

i remember thinking that it was black magic

Possible, though it may have had effects on peripherals especially - its crazy how Xbox360 gamepads basically became the de-facto pad for cross platform and PC use because MS made decent pads themselves, XInput was standardized, etc.. but stupidly, despite using more open protocols for wireless like Bluetooth fucking Sony and Nintendo NEVER BOTHERED to bring their peripherals officially supported on PC. Microsoft sold gamepads (and other hardware , they did afterall havea history of force feedback flight sticks, gamepads before Xbox, and KB/M among others) to people who would never buy an Xbox console and its mind numbing that Sony nor Nintendo decided they wanted to do the same.

shieeeet