How would you have...

[kainemaxwell]

How would you have marketed the Sega CD and the 32x differently? What kinds of games or even game add-ons would you have marketed to try to make both a better success?

[ShinobiMan]

The Sega CD was a tragedy, in that it holds some of my greatest memories, yet, is one of the many systems the gaming community bashes quite often.

Sega made a poor decision in trying to market FMV games as the mainstream titles for the Sega CD. I feel if they pushed the system with original 2D games (meaning all new creations specifically for the Sega CD, not ports of Genesis games) we would have had more top caliber titles like Sonic CD and Eternal Champions CD.

Also, the high cost of the system at it's release turned a lot of people off from the get-go. Could a possible pack in with the Genesis itself have helped sales? One can only wonder.

The 32x, while it had it's share of good titles, had the worst marketing, equally the "Virtual Boy" of Sega. I remember calling up Sega back in the day and having them actually tell me the 32X was to be just as good as the Saturn and that the Saturn would only be released in Japan. Even salesmen told me this in game stores.

Ah, those were the days. Back when you had to practically call the company itself to get new information. The internet has spoiled us all.

[rbudrick]

I definitely agree with that FMV thing. People wanted to interact with what they saw, not watch videos. Sure, we were amazed that the machine could do it, but that lasted for about 10 minutes.

How would I have marketed it differently? Firstly, the 32X would have NEVER happenned. At all. Period. When the Saturn came out, you already had too many disgruntled Sega fans. 1 Add-on for a system is the max you should ever have. Even one alienates many people. If the 32X was built into the Saturn (a cart AND CD system), then it would have been more expensive (at least for Sega), but a much better seller. They could have shared processors and many other components, greatly reducing the price of them seperately. Backwards compatiblilty with the Genesis on this combo unit would have also helped. I know this would be an expensive console for Sega. However, if sold at a loss, like all systems are, they could have made it up in software sales if they had marketed this better. Besides, they wouldn't have had to worry about all that money they lost on the 32X to affect their Saturn32X decision, so they would have had more $ for marketing.

But then, hindsight is always 20/20, right?

-Rob

[Raccoon Lad]

I'd have changed the Sega CD's hardware a little, giving it more colors on screen, and maybe making it cheaper to manufacture (if possible) to reduce the inital cost. I mean c'mon, $150 for the Genesis, and ANOTHER $300 for an add-on?!

The real problem with the Sega CD was that it was so similar to the Genesis, most of the games for it were identical to their genesis counterparts, but with cd audio. Had the hardware been a bit more dissimilar, we might have seen less ports, and actually some original titles that could sell the system.

[charitycasegreg]

Has some great games though: bouncers, lethal enforcers, sonic cd was ok... um...I loved bouncers!

[Spartikcus]

Oh boy this is a great topic.
I have always thought of how I could have changed Sega history, Well lets start off when the Snes launched, I would have waited a couple of years and instead of releasing the Sega CD, I would have released a new machine that would have had the capabilities of the 32x(not the saturn they were not the same). After that Im sure people would flock to this new arcade machine that starred Sonic the Hedgehog. The N64 would have came and Dreamcast would rule over it, since Playstation wouldnt exist PS2 wouldnt kill the DC.
And sega would rule the gaming world again. :D

[roxybaby]

I think that Sega should have lowered the price of the Sega CD and offered a rebate to Genesis owners for purchasing the add-on.

[Ed Oscuro]

After that Im sure people would flock to this new arcade machine that starred Sonic the Hedgehog. The N64 would have came and Dreamcast would rule over it, since Playstation wouldnt exist PS2 wouldnt kill the DC.
And sega would rule the gaming world again. :D
So no Sonic until the 32x? I say that's a great idea, but unfortunately companies in the business have to keep a presence year after year...and I think their wish to reward Genesis owners for their loyalty with an addon clouded their judgement, not to mention the apparent success of the PC-Engine CD-ROM^2 system in Japan. Different market, make no mistake...