The fate of Saturn a quick synopsis

[sabre2922]

“There’s a whole number of reasons why the Saturn failed.” – Mike Wallis, Producer (of SonicXtreme for Saturn)

The decision to boost NiGHTS may have been a good one, but the clock was ticking. Christmas of 1996 was a successful period for the Saturn, with the large campaign boost and price cuts to compete with the Playstation, but it was, essentially, the end of the road for the system. In January 1997, looking to boost itself, Sega and Bandai announced a possible, highly-controversial, merger. The move was widely criticized, and fell apart in the 11th hour when the two companies clashed. In February, signs began to emerge that SoA was struggling, when it laid off 65 staff members; following on that were even more layoffs in March. Also in March, Sega Enterprises decided to dissolve its U.S. holding company, Sega Holdings U.S.A. Inc, to solve losses at its U.S. subsidiaries. In April, Sonic Jam and what would become Sonic R were announced, but neither were true 3D Sonic games, or even true Sonic games; Jam was a compilation, and R, while popular, was a racing game. During this period, the Saturn showed a marked drop-off in software and hardware sales. In June, the price dropped again to $149, and Bernie Stolar announced that “the future is not Saturn.” By November, SoA was struggling badly, and what would become the system’s final batch of American games were announced and/or nearing completion. The fate of the Saturn was sealed; Sega would look to the Dreamcast for its future.

So the biggest question is, would a successful Sonic X-Treme have saved the Saturn? Wallis thinks probably not. “It could have helped to prolong Saturn’s lifecycle, but the overall problems with the Saturn stemmed far beyond any lack of Sonic game on the platform. Third party software wasn’t coming in fast enough and when it was, (usually) didn’t look as good as the PSX version. The machine was difficult to program for, etc. There’s a whole number of reasons why the Saturn failed.” Analysis seems to bear this decision out. While the mascot game still seemed to be alive and well, the more important factors were beginning to come to bear in the market, such as gameplay and story. The innovations the game presented may have had a lasting impact on the future of 3D platformers, but the world will never know. It's just another tantalizing aspect of an elusive game.

- from lostlevels.org

[Snapple]

I can make a shorter synopsis.

Lackluster launch titles, too little third-party support, no real Sonic game, really bad marketting, and a shaky reputation after Sega failed with the SegaCD and 32X.

[sabre2922]

good point snapple ;)

It was still a good system great for 2-D fighters and games like Panzer Dragoon Saga and Nights showed that it could do decent 3-D in the hands of a telented competent development team.

[RetroYoungen]

It could definately produce some nice 3D effects, but as it was dificult to program for it took some time in order to create those effects (even by a capable team) and get them out to the market. The Saturn had some great titles, but let's face the facts: the PSX had more that people were getting excited about.

As much as I love my Saturn and NiGHTS, as well as what's probably my favorite sleeper Three Dirty Dwarves, it just wasn't any competition to Sony.

[Ed Oscuro]

Was the "mascot game" REALLY alive and well for the Saturn? Crash Bandicoot seemed to me a lot better of a 3D mascot than Sonic was (but then again, I didn't know the Saturn existed). I think their lack of advertising doomed the system.

[sharp]

1996 a good year for Saturn?

Maybe in the USA, but not in the Netherlands, all toystores deleted the Saturn from there product range within a year. I think Sega Rally was the last game they stocked. Then the Saturn died here except for the few gamestores which were there (and there were not much back then here).

Anyway the Saturn failed as 3D games were hard to program, the machine is capable but it was too expensive to make great conversions of 3D games. On 2D it slays of the PS, but no one cared about that back then, only look at the sales of Rapid Reload and you see (which was a great shooter for the PS and the reason for me to buy one).

Anyway I still love the system and at least it was quality build as I still use my first Saturn which I used more then all three Playstations I owned (two broke down).

[Mangar]

Lackluster launch titles, too little third-party support, no real Sonic game, really bad marketting, and a shaky reputation after Sega failed with the SegaCD and 32X.

Agreed. Except i'd add that the Saturns initial high pricepoint also played a major role. You figure that if they would have just debuted it at the price they lowered it too, you would have had a score of people who would have bought one. By waiting until the PSX was released, you gave people a CHOICE and options in regards to a next-gen console. Sega essentially wasted a whole year.

I also don't think that the PSX's ability to do 3D better then the Saturn played nearly as much a role as people tend to believe. The average parent and gamer really had no idea about such things at the initial "Must buy now!" level. A Saturn priced appropriately with solid launch titles, **GOOD** marketing(Which the PSX had) and perhaps a decent Sonic title for when the PSX finally launchged. And things would be been much different.

[emumuumuucowgomoo]

Good one, Snapple.

You forgot one thing though -

-Lousy controllers.

Seriously - those things were an absolute abomination to man, Christ, Allah, Woody Allen, Ted Kazinski, and beast alike. The trigger buttons were beyond merely "flimsy", entering a whole new realm of "cheap"... the d-pad was squishy, it had less buttons than the Super Nintendo (if I remember correctly - wasn't the original controller ABC + LR + Start?), and no analog (a crime which it can be forgiven for, since the Dualshock was but a distant gleam in some Japanese commercializer's eye, and it took until the Dualshock 2 for an analog controller to positively feel "right").

Sega tried to patch things up with a replacement or two - but frankly, every single console since the Channel F can be measured in terms of how good the controller was, and typically there's a definite pattern between good controllers and successful systems.

2600 vs. Intellivision, for instance - the first basic, no frills joystick in consoles vs. some fucked up remote control wannabe with a cheap, flimsy feel.

Or, the most obvious, Saturn vs N64 vs Playstation vs. Dreamcast. In order, crappy awful "should have done better" controller, gimmicky controller that at least featured analog, solid, sleek controller with lots of buttons, and a slightly overweight, kinda awkward to use controller, but with an awesome viewscreen.

And the systems, respectively:
-bombed everywhere, oh god the carnage, the carnage...
-sputtered like a Pinto - but at least it had Smash Brothers!
-pwned the world and made enough money to buy the left arm and right hand of Bill Gates
-and... well, could have done better, but has a lot of amazing fighters and wacky Japanese stuff. Not to mention the emu scene.





Not that I would EVER play "hacked" software on an official system or anything. O:-)

[RetroYoungen]

I feel I should stand up for the Saturn controller. For me personally, while it does feel a bit cheaply produced, I've never had a problem with it. ABC and XYZ buttons, the shoulder buttons (which I don't think I've EVER used, to be perfectly honest), the Start key and the D-pad always felt pretty good, almost exactly the same feel as one of my other favorite controllers, the 6-button Genesis controller (which in essence it was).

[Poofta!]

i think the dreamcast controller was the worst of all those... i hated it so much, i destroyed like 10 of them (i found em for 2 bucks each at some sale). besides, most people use the saturn's Nights controller, so the controller 'problem' wasnt a big deal.

as for the n64 stick, remember, it put analog on the map, and mario 64 made it a necessity, so you cant really throw dirt on the n64 stick, it was the transition to full analog (90% of the games dont use the d-pad for control).

[emumuumuucowgomoo]

i think the dreamcast controller was the worst of all those... i hated it so much, i destroyed like 10 of them (i found em for 2 bucks each at some sale). besides, most people use the saturn's Nights controller, so the controller 'problem' wasnt a big deal.

Well why didn't you just buy a third party Dreamcast controller? The Nights controller was a "third party" controller in that it was not packaged with the system, unless you waited until it was obviously going downhill and paid full price for the NiGHTS version, in which case you're a dumb poof. :-P

Anyway, yeah, the DC has annoying analog - I personally can't stand the way it's off center - like, if you relax your hand and push your thumb what feels liike "up", you're actually moving up and to the right...

Not to mention the cord coming out of the front... I don't like being fondled by wires while I'm concentrating on kenetic shoot 'em up activity.



as for the n64 stick, remember, it put analog on the map, and mario 64 made it a necessity, so you cant really throw dirt on the n64 stick, it was the transition to full analog (90% of the games dont use the d-pad for control).

Oh come on, analog was on the map way before Nintendo Power sent all the children into a frenzy about it...

I won't be cheesy and count trackballs and driving controls in the arcades... or the paddles on the 2600... but what about the 5200's controllers?

Plus, computers had analog joysticks for quite some time before the N64 was even Project: (fuzzy, pastel colored, foggy) Reality. I remember going to a friend's house in 1994 and playing X-Wing with his Flightmaster (or imitation, I don't remember the brand name). Now THAT was the shit.


And what you forgot to mention is that while 90% of games don't use the digital, 70% of them should. Seriously - it took me a long amount of time to get used to playing Smash Bros. with analog. I ask, what's the point of Analog for a 2D (okay, fine, 2.5D if you must) fighting game? Or a first person shooter for that matter - does anyone really walk in Turok? Do those five (or however many) degrees of speed control really make a difference when you're trying to play Goldeneye on a 4 player split screen?

[fishsandwich]

You forgot one thing though -

-Lousy controllers.



Or, the most obvious, Saturn vs N64 vs Playstation vs. Dreamcast. In order, crappy awful "should have done better" controller, gimmicky controller that at least featured analog, solid, sleek controller with lots of buttons, and a slightly overweight, kinda awkward to use controller, but with an awesome viewscreen.

And the systems, respectively:
-bombed everywhere, oh god the carnage, the carnage...
-sputtered like a Pinto - but at least it had Smash Brothers!
-pwned the world and made enough money to buy the left arm and right hand of Bill Gates
-and... well, could have done better, but has a lot of amazing fighters and wacky Japanese stuff. Not to mention the emu scene.
. O:-)

I have to put in my words of defense for the Saturn analog controller... I think it's the best controller ever made! The original does suck, but the analog one that came out later with Nights was awesome.

Contrary to popular belief, the Saturn was NOT a bomb in Japan. It had over 700 games came out and held its own against the PSone for a number of years. It sold more in Japan than both the N64 and the Dreamcast (maybe combined.)

@_@

[sabre2922]

-Lousy controllers

I have to comment on this.

The Saturn contollers are great for 2-D fighters and the 3-D analog "nights" controller was great :rocker:

now the N64 controller :puke: I dont care what anyone says I HATE that single controller more than any other hell I would rather use a Jaguar contoller anyday.

The Dreamcast pad was good also just becuase it doesnt have the anolog in the same place as a freakin dualshock does not make it a bad controller.

I have a feeling that there are more gamers here that started out with the PSX as their first real game experience than many care to admit.
Its very telling when some want to rag on any type of contoller (or system for that matter) that does not copy a dualshock or have similiar traits ;)

[Anthony1]

It's funny how this turned into a discussion about the controllers.


But since it has, I might as well throw my 2 cents in.


The Saturn controller is a dream come true as far as I'm concerned. Sure, it might be kinda flimsy, but it has maybe the best D-pad of any controller ever.


It might not be the best for 3D games, but for 2D, the Saturn controller is a dream.







Now, back to the discussion about the downfall of the Saturn. You know what's kinda interesting...... I bought a Saturn on launch day, and I was super excited about the Saturn, and then I got a Playstation. I still had some excitement for the Saturn after getting the Playstation, but it was definitely different at that point.

Then the Saturn started to really drop off in the U.S. Blockbuster only had a handfull of games to rent, some retailers stopped carrying Saturn products. In September of 1996 I sold my Saturn to some kid and his dad. This was right before the N64 was released, and I used the money to get a N64 and a few games.

I remember the Dad asking me if I thought that the Saturn would be around a long time, and I lied to the guy. I feel bad about that. I told him that I thought the Saturn was an awesome system, and it would last for a long time. The little kid wanted it, and his Dad didn't know anything about it. At that time, I could see that the Saturn was about to die here in the U.S. I also didn't care about 2D game at that point, and I had no idea of all the great Saturn games in Japan. So I was thrilled to have sold my Saturn stuff and gotten as much for it as I did.

A few short weeks later, I had my N64, and I was playing Mario 64 every day, all day. I quickly forgot the Saturn ever existed.


Then just a few years ago, when I went Retro, I discovered that the Saturn is one of the most amazing systems out there. I have a huge love of 2D games, (I didn't at that time, I was more into 3D, because it was new and fresh) and the Saturn is one of the 2D kings. Plus it has all those great games from Japan, that I never knew existed. I'm also a huge shooter fan, so the Saturn is definitely one of my favorite systems now.

It's funny to think that I actually thought that the Saturn sucked.

[RCM]

There are a lot of reasons Saturn failed in the States and Europe. You truly can't point to one thing.

I pity those who missed it when is was widely available. There were some great games released in all territories. I've owned Saturn for over 10 years and i'm still buying games for it. I can't say the same for PS and N64.

THE ONE, THE ONLY- RCM