RPGs are the most overrated game genre ever.Originally Posted by Black_Tiger
And if stores DID have imported games, you got charge UP THE ASS for them. $80 for a copy of X-men Vs. Street Fighter, plus $25 or whatever for the Action Replay to play it on? Fuck that, the price of import games was too high. Do you expect the average person who just paid $400 for their Sega Saturn to shell out another $100 to play one import game? I don't think so.
this is a great thread, i have really enjoyed reading over it, the only input i have is that sega was an amazing console maker and i miss them very much, they made some mistakes and it ended up killing them.
Autobots. Roll out.
where would i get a modded model 2 gen with the 32x inside?
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Well I'm working on one. Might be for sale after
I was talking about basic tile/sprite/tilemap functions, duh. The SNES and Genesis don't have bitmap modes so that don't excel at anything bitmap related (Doom or polygons). Anyway, did you *not* read what I posted? Or do you not understand what sprites/tiles/tilemaps and other effects that SNES or Genesis had in hardware that the 32x lacked? And no, the 32x can *not* simulate two background layers, all the sprite modes, and FX of even the Genesis - at Genesis' speed of 60fps. Let alone the SNES. The 32x does everything in software. Ev-er-y-thing. There's not enough processor resource to do that. Why do you think most 32x games still rely on the Genesis video layer for conventional 2D graphics? Why do you think Space Harrier and After Burner only run at 30fps? I'm glad the 32x came out. I think it's cool that it exists. But I don't have unrealistic expectation of the system (especially that I know its specs).
Yeah, it was soooo viable that developers were just jumping ship to develop on the n64They didn't need to. Early Playstations had overheating issues and the disks they used were easily scratched.The Cart format was viable up
until the end of the PSONe vs N64 era because it could do every game except long winded RPG's like FF7. Final Fintasy 7 released in 1997 was when for the first time that the CD format showed a clear advantage in a better game experience if you dont count Sewer Shark
10 years from what? PC-Engine? So that's why PC (in Japan and US) adopted the CD drive early on and was soo un-successful? I think not. The CD32,CD-I,3DO,PC-FX failed because of other reasons. It had nothing to do with media format. The CD-I was a piece of shit in a box with shit software. CD32 was 1985 technology. It strong point was supposed to be EU, but it was nothing more than an Amiga. Why would the majority of Amiga owning EU purchase a repackaged Amiga with a CD with nothing to benefit from (not to mention the majority had Amiga systems). The 3D0 was an over priced system. $700 at launch and mediocre-at-best titles throughout its life span? But I'm sure if the 3D0 was cart based, it would have failed as bad as the Jag - haha. PC-FX, a 3D system released without its 3D capabilities (the 3D hudson chip was removed). It had no chance of competing with the 3D fad/power of PSX and Saturn. Not even 2D wise. It's equivalent to a souped up SNES. For 1994, too little too late.It took a good 10 years for the CD format to be viable. How many CD based systems failed? lets see AmigaCD32,CDI,3DO,PC-FX
Jaguar CD, Apple Pippen, the list goes on.
Why? If you modify the 32x close to what the Saturn was, it wouldn't be anything close to what a 32 was. You might as well have a whole new system. So you want something close to the saturn, but not a saturn? Why not just go with the Saturn then??? That really makes no sense. Call the Saturn the Genesis 2 or Mega Driver 2, if it makes you feel any betterYou take the 32x hardware, modify it close to what the Saturn was, make it a cartridge based system, call it the Genesis 2 or
Mega Drive II, rinse and repeat. It would have been competitive, I dont care what you say friend.
That doesn't make any sense. First of all, you just proved my whole point about the advantages of the CD format over cart. Second, how is having a cart only equivalent of the Saturn going to give it the "carry over" of the Genesis? Because it's cart based? That's lame. The problem wasn't the 32x addon confusing the customer base. It confused some Sega loyal customers, sure. But that had no effect on the generation of gamers purchasing the PlayStation over the Saturn. There are many factors as to why Sega failed to capture the market and mostly likely uncontrollable societal factors (gaming and normal) as well. The "Megadrive" legacy wasn't "all that" in Japan. No where near as close as the famicom or super famicom, in relation. I think the last thing Sega of Japan wanted was ties to a system that was considered a failure by it's own creators. Or did you expect SOA and SOE to disassociate from SOJ and make there own system and market? I'm sure that would have gone down pretty badly. All those systems you listed as failures? Guess what they have in common? They weren't Japanese designed/developed systems and didn't have the support of Japanese software developers. The vast majority of "hottest" titles were still coming out of Japan in the 32bit era. Without that, your system is doomed to fail.well Duh, who would make cartridge games for a CD based system even if it could boot. Simple economics to use something cheaper if the option is already there.
All I am saying is that a Genesis II cartridge based sytem released in 94 would have been successful if they wouldnt have confused
the consumer with the 32x and Saturn. The Genesis II would have been Sega's version of how the SNES carried on the legacy of the NES.
I'm love to see a good debate on subjects like this, but like many threads (of other forums too) before this one, there's nothing solid in evidence that the neptune was going to improve anything for Sega. Quite the opposite, actually. And as far as your logic/comments, they come off as some sort of illogical fanboy cart fetish. Look, I get it. Some people love carts over CDs. Unless you have multiple accounts on other forums, you're not alone. But that doesn't change the fact that the CD format came around at the right time and was mature for the 32bit era. The CD format was proven years before as Japan's #2 system during the 16bit era. Not only proven in a consumer accepted market, but the benefits out weighed anything cart could provide for a home console. If flash/memory was as advanced back then as it is today, then your argument would hold some merit. But it doesn't.
I was talking about basic tile/sprite/tilemap functions, duh. The SNES and Genesis don't have bitmap modes so that don't excel at anything bitmap related (Doom or polygons). Anyway, did you *not* read what I posted? Or do you not understand what sprites/tiles/tilemaps and other effects that SNES or Genesis had in hardware that the 32x lacked? And no, the 32x can *not* simulate two background layers, all the sprite modes, and FX of even the Genesis - at Genesis' speed of 60fps. Let alone the SNES. The 32x does everything in software. Ev-er-y-thing. There's not enough processor resource to do that. Why do you think most 32x games still rely on the Genesis video layer for conventional 2D graphics? Why do you think Space Harrier and After Burner only run at 30fps? I'm glad the 32x came out. I think it's cool that it exists. But I don't have unrealistic expectation of the system (especially that I know its specs).
The 32x was a quick engineering job by Sega of America to try to keep whatever momentum going because of fear from the Sony project.
It would have been a viable format for 1994 if it would have been better optimized so that it would have been easier for developers
to program. The 32X tech would have been strong enough for consumers to upgrade to once its full power was shown
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pOWZbydnlZE
My whole point however is that Sega should have released a 32bit cartridge based system with Genesis backward compatability.
Marketing is a big point of video games(look at the tech inferior Wii and how it is doing).My point is that Sega couldnt figure
out which direction to go because they enjoyed being a competitor to Nintendo after lagging behind them so much in the Master
System years and didn't want to be left behind in the dust again.Indecision on a format to chose was really Sega's undoing.
Sony was a much larger company than Nintendo and had the money to sway developers. Its simple economicsYeah, it was soooo viable that developers were just jumping ship to develop on the n64
10 years from what? PC-Engine? So that's why PC (in Japan and US) adopted the CD drive early on and was soo un-successful? I think not. The CD32,CD-I,3DO,PC-FX failed because of other reasons. It had nothing to do with media format. The CD-I was a piece of shit in a box with shit software. CD32 was 1985 technology. It strong point was supposed to be EU, but it was nothing more than an Amiga. Why would the majority of Amiga owning EU purchase a repackaged Amiga with a CD with nothing to benefit from (not to mention the majority had Amiga systems). The 3D0 was an over priced system. $700 at launch and mediocre-at-best titles throughout its life span? But I'm sure if the 3D0 was cart based, it would have failed as bad as the Jag - haha. PC-FX, a 3D system released without its 3D capabilities (the 3D hudson chip was removed). It had no chance of competing with the 3D fad/power of PSX and Saturn. Not even 2D wise. It's equivalent to a souped up SNES. For 1994, too little too late.
Nintendo had been in discussion with Phillips and Sony about a CD system/add-on. They realized how gimmicke it had been with
Sega and they jumped ship. They could have used CD's with the N64, but they chose to stay with catridges because they saw
how these other systems had failed because the slow load times and 1x CD speeds and didn't want to
lose their loyal customer base with a technology they werent confident in. All in All, catridges were really
fine for games except when FF7 was released and showed what the CD format could truly do and that the cartridge format
was aging. That was 1997, 32X was 94.
Why? If you modify the 32x close to what the Saturn was, it wouldn't be anything close to what a 32 was. You might as well have a whole new system. So you want something close to the saturn, but not a saturn? Why not just go with the Saturn then??? That really makes no sense. Call the Saturn the Genesis 2 or Mega Driver 2, if it makes you feel any better
Sega could have bought the M2 technology from 3DO/Matsushita if they really wanted to. You act like I am saying that
the 32X technology would have slayed Sony. It wouldnt, but optimized we could have gotten some great Shining Force Games
and consumers would have been fine with the graphics.(The Neo Geo had superior graphics to the SNES but somewhat failed). My point
is that consumers would have bought the Neptune if the Saturn hadn't existed and Sega would still be around today in the
console business. The graphics were good enough for 1994 and catridges were still fine.
I need proof of being able to boot a game of the catridge slot of the Saturn aka the RAM slot before I can concede this point to you.That doesn't make any sense. First of all, you just proved my whole point about the advantages of the CD format over cart. Second, how is having a cart only equivalent of the Saturn going to give it the "carry over" of the Genesis? Because it's cart based? That's lame. The problem wasn't the 32x addon confusing the customer base. It confused some Sega loyal customers, sure. But that had no effect on the generation of gamers purchasing the PlayStation over the Saturn. There are many factors as to why Sega failed to capture the market and mostly likely uncontrollable societal factors (gaming and normal) as well. The "Megadrive" legacy wasn't "all that" in Japan. No where near as close as the famicom or super famicom, in relation. I think the last thing Sega of Japan wanted was ties to a system that was considered a failure by it's own creators. Or did you expect SOA and SOE to disassociate from SOJ and make there own system and market? I'm sure that would have gone down pretty badly. All those systems you listed as failures? Guess what they have in common? They weren't Japanese designed/developed systems and didn't have the support of Japanese software developers. The vast majority of "hottest" titles were still coming out of Japan in the 32bit era. Without that, your system is doomed to fail.
Last edited by ReaXan; 07-21-2009 at 11:10 AM.
Sega screwed up by trying to hang on to the Genesis for probably a year too long and not putting full support to developing the Saturn. 32X was completely not necessary. THe fact that the sound on those games were just as crappy as Genesis games means they should have moved on.
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You are saying a lot of things there! First, remove "somewhat" when talking about the Neo Geo being a failure. The home version (which I have) was not an achilles' heel for SNK or anything, but it was more of a prestige project treading water than a project that could have propelled SNK into the future. They absolutely didn't have a platform to allow them to rake in the cash and that led to the marginalization and eventual downfall of the company.
Cartridges didn't make sense after the appearance of CD-ROMs, and the lack of 3D hardware in a new system didn't make sense after the PlayStation (the origins of Sony's polygonal 3D system date back to 1983 or so). Cartridges were just too dang expensive for everybody involved, and didn't have much space anyway (it would've been even worse before the release of the N64, which is the time period we're talking about). The actual Neptune would have been unnecessary dead weight in Sega's product line; they already had their 32x and the verdict was in by then - it wasn't great and couldn't really compete. Better by far to move to the Saturn and newer hardware - and not by some fanciful $100M purchase of the 3DO M2 (oh goodness) which wasn't competitive and hurt Matsushita / Panasonic financially.
The alternative you suggest would be a Saturn with hardware a year further out of date, which I find a revolting idea. That or they would have lost the farm on buying components at much higher prices. The 32x was about the best they could do before the Saturn, why would you want them to have done it earlier?
Or maybe you meant that they should have moved more developers towards the Saturn early in its lifespan - I think the console got about as good as it could do later on, and it was always going to be hard to work on considering its bizarre architecture.
If everybody had dropped the Genesis and started salivating over the Saturn ahead of schedule...I don't see what purpose that would have accomplished; Konami might not have made Contra, or Bloodlines, and the idea of losing other classics from '95 like Comix Zone in favor of playing around with preparing for Saturn's primitive 3D hardware and more third person snorefests makes me ill.
I think that the console companies should stretch their systems as long as possible to lower barriers to entry for everybody. Extender systems aren't certain to have a market though, and special chips (like in the SNES) are wasteful.
Last edited by Ed Oscuro; 07-22-2009 at 12:03 AM.
The original design of the 32x was to incorporate addon for 3D into a pass through cart instead of adding the cost of extra chips per game, to compete with Nintendo (or more precisely new softs like Starfox). A buy once and save money in the long run type of strategy. The 32x morphed into an attempt to keep its user base that couldn't afford the up coming Saturn. A go between step. This makes perfect sense because the software for the Megadrive was all but gone. SOA was surviving on some stuff coming out of Europe and a few converted EU companies working out of the US. They must have been worried for a while. It's one of the reasons why I don't like that last generation of Sega titles (the first two years are my favorite for the Genesis).
But anyway. That demo is just that. A demo. It has no real world environments to process. Demos are very misleading in that way. There's no AI, no enemy/friendly objects, no collision detection, a fixed path (which exploits all kinds of speed tricks), etc. I have experience with coding for consoles and I know the specs of the 32x fairly well. If you're basing your assessment of the 32x's power on that video, then you've been mislead. It's really hard for people to understand just how underpowered the 32x is relative to the Saturn and PSX, let alone to 2D of arcades and snes at the time. Then add on top of that, a clip of that video.
Very true. Marketing is the key factor of success. Look how Sega had a tough time for the first year with the Genesis VS the NES. I mean, the NES is from 1983 technology. Even the SMS has much better graphic/colors. History has shown that a systems specs don't necessarily translate to superior sales. Infact, quite a few generations have inferior spec wise systems as leading the sales.My whole point however is that Sega should have released a 32bit cartridge based system with Genesis backward compatability.
Marketing is a big point of video games(look at the tech inferior Wii and how it is doing).My point is that Sega couldnt figure
out which direction to go because they enjoyed being a competitor to Nintendo after lagging behind them so much in the Master
System years and didn't want to be left behind in the dust again.Indecision on a format to chose was really Sega's undoing.
Sega's biggest mistake was a lack of focus. The MegaCD failed in japan because failed to make it its main focus. The SegaCD as a side effect, failed as well. Granted, they had better success in the US - but we loyal NA games tend to buy shit without much thought and a lot of influence by marketing telling us what we need. MegaCD in EU failed too.
Which brings me to my next point. The MegaCD was developed to take on NEC's CD system, not Nintendo, in Japan. In 1991, NEC's main system was the release of the Duo. Solidifying it's place as a CD only console (with backward hucard support).
Actually, nothings simple when it comes to the gaming market. Nintendo sold 20 million units here in NA while only 6 in Japan. Nintendo had the popularity to take on Sony. What Nintendo lacked were all those beautiful softs coming out of Japan that Sony had. There were no bully practices in Japan with Sony like Nintendo did here in NA. There are many reasons why the PSX was popular with gamers and developers, but you can't deny that developers had a pretty big advantage on the PSX over the N64. CD's are cheaper. CD's are bigger. CD's can stream audio without even lifting a finger. FMV shorts/opening/closing cinemas were the norm and expected (I'm not talking about FMV games). Much larger space and cheaper to develop for (the developer pays the cost for every single cartridge that is manufactured). That's kinda hard to ignore.Sony was a much larger company than Nintendo and had the money to sway developers. Its simple economics
Why do you still consider it "gimmicke"? I'll say it again. The PC-Engine Duo was second only to the SNES in Japan. I'm talking about a CD based system. It was extremely popular in Japan. 2006 gamers poll in Famitsu named Far East of Eden 2 12th most popular/best game overall. That's a CD game from the 16bit era. Not to mention tons of classic and when known/popular Falcom titles that appeared on NEC's CD system. NEC proved in Japan that it was not a gimmick. The Play Station, the Saturn, even the MegaCD, not to mention CD-roms for Japanese PC's, proved that CD's were not a gimmick by 1994.Nintendo had been in discussion with Phillips and Sony about a CD system/add-on. They realized how gimmicke it had been with
Sega and they jumped ship.
There's only one reason why Nintendo eventually stayed with cart format. Control. The NES had a lockout chip. The SNES had a lockout chip system. The CD format has no suck similar capable lockout chip system. The CD disc itself cannot give realtime response/feedback like the lockout chip systems could. Piracy was a big. Look how fast it was cracked on the PlayStation. That is the reason why Big N went with cart over CD format. I wouldn't be surprised if the delay of the N64 was due to rom prices not falling enough to be cost viable option for developers.
Putting it into the context of the n64; take a look at CD data tracks of pre-ff7 games on PSX. They're still in the 100megabyte range. That's still much larger than first generation n64 carts (even last generation carts). Now put that into perspective of the 32x with came out early and roms even smaller/more expensive. There's a reason why the 32x was release with a cart format. I stated at the top of this thread what the 32x was originally intended for. And they couldn't very well just as well openly piss off the customer that bought a SegaCD and tell them they must buy a whole new CD unit (32x CD unit). Every SegaCD owner essentially had a Genesis, but not the other way 'round. They had no choice but to release the 32x as a cart format setup. But that's the least of the 32x's problems.All in All, catridges were really
fine for games except when FF7 was released and showed what the CD format could truly do and that the cartridge format
was aging. That was 1997, 32X was 94.
By consumers, you mean you-yourself. But unfortunately the majority of gamers would have disagreed with you. Look, I was there. I remembered what looked good and what didn't. I remember gamers complaining about the saturns "inferior" looking graphics compared to the PSX. I remember thinking same. You really think they were going to except the 32x's vastly inferior graphics to even the Saturn (both 2D and 3D)?Sega could have bought the M2 technology from 3DO/Matsushita if they really wanted to. You act like I am saying that
the 32X technology would have slayed Sony. It wouldnt, but optimized we could have gotten some great Shining Force Games
and consumers would have been fine with the graphics.
I know that's your point, you stated that in the beginning of the thread. But give no facts as to how this was going to "help" Sega win the day. You give personal feelings that it would, but no concrete facts that hold up to your claims.My point is that consumers would have bought the Neptune if the Saturn hadn't existed and Sega would still be around today in the
console business. The graphics were good enough for 1994 and catridges were still fine.
Let's say this: Saturn never existed. Neptune was created using the current 32x and the Genesis.
Now, who's it going to complete with? The combo is miles behind the PlayStation and N64, in both 2D, 3D, and music. There's the stigma that it's a budget system from "last generation". Look at it this way, you think a kid is going to want an budget NES system when the Genesis was out with Sonic 1? The SNES was a "budget" system by the time PSX was hot in 1995/6 and the 32x couldn't even do fancy color transparency and effects on the scale of even the SNES. Then we're back to the problem of getting software for this system. It's not coming from Japan that's for sure. And you know what that means, it's doom to failure.
I could go on about tech specs and such, but the easiest proof to show are carts that allow you to play import CD's on the Saturn. They boot from the cart first. Anyway, it's not a secret to the dev community that you can boot from the cart slot. I already know of one person who's going that route for his Saturn project.I need proof of being able to boot a game of the catridge slot of the Saturn aka the RAM slot before I can concede this point to you.
Last edited by tomaitheous; 07-22-2009 at 12:19 AM.
I think they should have though far ahead enough to probably try to get Konami to make a Contra or Castlevania for the Saturn. The whole company should have shifted the focus towards the next big system, Saturn in this case, instead of fragmenting and working on the Genesis, 32X and even Sega CD at that point. What they should have done was focus on putting out a few top notch titles for the Genesis and accept the fact that the system was going to die out. The 32x was just life support. By the time 32X came out, the SNES claimed the top and even that was winding down. Nintendo already started to plant the "Ultra" 64 brand name and they were building that brand, even though it turned into the "Nintendo"64, and letting people that THIS is out next system. I didn't get that from Sega and I actually had more questions about what the hell the 32X was. I really didn't like the adding new content to old games either because it was still an old game.
The Neptune would have been better but I still would have had questions about it. Especially if I saw the Saturn and saw the memory card slot in the back. I would have been like, do these games play on the Saturn? Basically, too much nonsense and none of it paid off. On the other hand though, I think Sega learned a lot from that and they had probably the best console launch in American history with the Dreamcast. 9/9/99 is when it came out, it's Sega's new system, new exclusive game, Sonic running from a whale. They did that right... the launch at least.
Last edited by emceelokey; 07-22-2009 at 08:01 PM.
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Well, we saw how that came out.
And one of those was Japan-developed, and the other was shoveled in straight from the PlayStation. Sometimes more (hardware) is less (when you have the same budget, same developers, etc.)
You could make a good game for any system - but the Genesis was plain more economical to develop for at that time. Konami had enough trouble porting SotN to the Saturn; whether they could have possibly made a smoother game (of course) is immaterial, since it didn't happen. Psychic Killer Taromaru aside, the early 3D systems made developers do bad things. As Taromaru again demonstrates, even when you did things right, things easily went horribly wrong.
On the topic of Panzer Dragoon Saga @ 30K copies:
Panzer Dragoon Azel says "lol, I'm 30 bux." If that.
I agree! I'm not knocking the 32x... it was a cool idea that should have stayed an idea. I used to have a complete 32x collection and I am still facinated by what the system could have accomplished if it had been treated to some real "A" development teams.
The Sega CD wasn't that great of an idea either but at least it hosted some damn fine games. The 32x was just a distraction and a money pit. Had Sega really put ALL its muscle behind the Genesis and worked on getting the cost down on the SVP chip (Virtua Racing) then things might have turned out far differently for the Saturn and the Dreamcast.
I have to disagree with the SNES chips being wasteful... I think they were super-cool for the period and alloweded the SNES to compete for a time against the CD systems. I can't think of any SNES game with as much 3-D muscle as Virtua Racing.
Thanks for indulging my gaming habit when I was young, Dad. You were the best. I miss you. ~David Barnes 1926-2007~
The 32x was not a bad idea, like the neptune, they both needed to be executed properly and Sega was just not on the ball at that time.
DERP
Not on the ball? How about broke? How could a company with limited resources support the Genesis, Sega CD, 32x, Game Gear, Pico, AND Saturn, all at the same time? Something had to give, and it was the Genesis... and the Sega CD and 32x by default as they were add-ons. They gave the still-profitable 16-bit market to Nintendo and alienated consumers at the same time. Brilliant.
Thanks for indulging my gaming habit when I was young, Dad. You were the best. I miss you. ~David Barnes 1926-2007~
Don't forget Daytona USA. Despite the fact that I completely SUCK at racing games, Daytona is fun & great w/ the NiGHTS analog controller.
I think people forget that the "lack" of 3D Saturn games they seem to complain about is just the smaller overall library. The PS-1 had a HUGE library of games, but about 2/3 of it is crap. How many incredibly terrible 3D games came out for the original Playstation? LOADS. I'd venture to say the PS-1 has the highest ratio (other than the N64 or Jaguar) of crap to quality releases. But the sheer size of the PSX library lent itself to a lot of great titles, as opposed to the relatively small US Saturn library, which had some great titles, some mediocre stuff, and a lot of crap. It's a numbers game. The NES suffered from this to a lesser extent - toward the end of its life it started to see a lot of lame games made by publishers just trying to milk the popularity of the format.
I'm am a happy Saturn and Dreamcast owner. I think both systems were high quality, despite their issues. I have several great games for each, and have more domestic titles to acquire for each. The idea that the Saturn game out too soon is probably right, but never in a million years would I believe a cartridge-based "Neptune" would have been a winning proposition for either SoJ or SoA. As was eluded to before, the N64 proved that to be true.
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Sorry to drag these two posts up, but just to clear up some of Baloo's misinformation:
The Genesis was closer to $200 in '89. ($189.99 in 1990)
The price of the Saturn was nowhere near $400 by the time the games you mentioned (Xmen vs Street Fighter) came out.
Besides, most anyone who bought a Saturn at release for $400 also had disposable income to buy whetever the heck games they wanted.
iirc Saturns were down to $200 by the time Panzer Dragoon Zwei was released. When I purchased imports at my local Electronics Boutiques JPN Daytona CCE was marked down to $10, a region cart was $20, Thunder Force V was discounted to $30. Metal Slug and Castlevania were pricey at $60, and Radiant Silvergun was $60 at release.
You have a real penchant for exageration, kid.
I hop on to see posts about prices. I was easily able to snag copies of marvel vs street fighter and x-men vs street fighter for saturn for under $100.
One thing you do have to remember is that the Saturn was built more for 2d games. Compare any Capcom fighter on Saturn and ps1 and you will see what I mean.
Sorry for upping this old thread. But I had to.
You didn't answer my PM, so I ask here. Where did you get the information about the "second neptune" in Sega's HQ? I'm trying to find the origins of that rumor. Even the author of Sega Collected Works encyclopedia stated that in the book, but when I asked he replied me that he's not sure.
So I'm really interested whether it's true. I already made a trip to Las Vegas to see the known Neptune mock-up on Classic Gaming Expo / Videogame Museum. And if there's another I would try my best to see it too. But have to know for sure!
Thanks!
You do have a valid point however it appeared that SoA knew that gamers in North America were still somewhat comfortable with the cartridge format probably didn't even realize the amount of advanced CD based systems "kids especially" that were being released by the Japanese electronic giants in the early 1990's.
I mean I never even heard of a FM Towns Marty until I visited this site as an adult. Japanese gamers probably wouldn't have settled for a cartridge based system in 94 because of their exposure to better technology for years and years. SegaCD doesn't really count as it wasn't a hit in NA for the mainstream consumer.
It also appears that Sega may have done better if they merged with NEC using Hitachi technology in the mid nineties which was underpowered.
The 32X was a fucking joke
You can quote me on that.
I feel I'm entitled to talk as much smack as I want about the 32X, because I was one of the suckers that bought one on launch day. I paid $169.99 I think for the thing, and also bought Star Wars Arcade and Virtua Racing Deluxe separately. There may have been some coupons in the launch box that gave me a slight discount on the two games, but that's besides the point...
The thing was a steaming pile of trash. Virtua Racing Deluxe is awesome, and Star Wars was decent, but everything else pretty much blows. The system just didn't have enough power. If it was a legit taste of 32-bit, it could have been cool, but it just didn't live up to any of the promises. I remember them promising all these thousands of colors on the screen and everything, but honestly, most 32X games look similar to Genesis games. They don't exactly blow me away with color. I'm sure there is a game here or there that might be colorful, but on average, I honestly don't think there is this huge dramatic jump beyond the Genesis.
The thing that really pissed me off was Knuckles Chaotix. People really tried to convince themselves that game was good. I got the game, and even I tried to force myself to like it, but I just couldn't take it anymore. I knew the game was crap, but some people were just so invested in Sega and Sonic, that the game HAD to be the one 32X game that you just "gotta" play.
If it wasn't for Virtua Racing Deluxe, (and to a lesser extent Star Wars), I'd have no need to even own a 32X.
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