The 1998-1999 Sega "gap" in console availability

[WelcomeToTheNextLevel]

Between March 1998 and September 1999, Sega did not make new consoles for the Western market. This doesn't apply to Japan, as the Saturn lasted throughout that period (and the Dreamcast was available for much of it). I feel that having that gap was horrible for Sega, even as bad as the Saturn did in the West. I have an idea as to how that gap could have been plugged, mostly with the Dreamcast. It wouldn't have won Sega the console war and they may very well have exited the console race in 2001, or sometime between then and the present, but it probably would have helped to some extent.

In hindsight, it seems that Sega should have had the Dreamcast available in the West for the holiday 1998 season, focusing on getting games ready for the Western market for that period instead of the Japanese market. Ideally, the system could have been released in both Western and Japanese regions in November 1998, but it may have been necessary to delay the Japanese release into 1999 - preferably, still before the PS2's March 1st announcement. This would have, obviously, ran counter to what the Japanese side of Sega wanted but would have been a visionary move, seeing the much larger Western market as a higher priority than the Japanese market.

Sega would not have missed a crucial holiday season, having something truly next-gen on sale against the PS1 and N64. It probably wouldn't have gotten a majority of the market share that season or been a PS2-beater but it would have at least given Sega time to compete while the PS2 was still unannounced.

On another note, getting the Saturn out in the West in '94 (and eschewing the 32X entirely) probably would have helped matters as well.

[Greg2600]

What games would have even been on Saturn that early? The launch lineup was mediocre, and the early release lineup was even worse. The system was a total disaster. It was too difficult to develop for, and their late addition of a second CPU that was rarely used and a waste of money.

SEGA screwed themselves twice. First they bailed on the Genesis when the SNES was still going strong with inexpensive gaming. Then as you write, they caved on the Saturn and had nothing to sell for 18 months, even dumber. Granted Majesco were still producing Genesis-3's at the time I think. Unfortunately Sega of Japan never cared about any of this. They had a myopic tunnel vision that rarely extended outside of Japan.

[gbpxl]

Ive thought about this a lot. The damn Genesis was getting more attention from Sega in 1998 than its sucessor consoles. Poorly run company on the part of Sega of America.

[Tupin]

Ive thought about this a lot. The damn Genesis was getting more attention from Sega in 1998 than its sucessor consoles. Poorly run company on the part of Sega of America.

From what I recall hearing, most of the problems with Sega came from Sega of Japan. Sega of America were the ones that got Sega a ~50% marketshare in the US with the Genesis while later Sega of Japan was insisting that the Saturn didn't need a Sonic game.

[Greg2600]

Ive thought about this a lot. The damn Genesis was getting more attention from Sega in 1998 than its successor consoles. Poorly run company on the part of Sega of America.

No, by 1998 Sega of America was long done with the Genesis. Heck they were done with it by Christmas 1995 for sure, and most of what came out in '96-97 were just 3rd party rehashes. They'd rightly shifted to the Saturn. There was just so many issues they had. Developers could not create games quickly. Sega of America's budget didn't provide for enough translations/imports of Japanese titles, including the strong RPG and Shooter categories. Even what was once Sega's bread and butter, arcade ports suffered. What did get released was often buggy, and just not impressive.

1998 was far too late, SEGA was done by then, whether they knew it or not. They likely knew. The Playstation stole their market share, reducing SEGA to not much more market than the TG-16 occupied years earlier. IMO their failure was in offering a primitive interactive FMV solution (CD) and a more powerful polygon-based solution (32x) separately, while asking consumers to spend $500+ to experience both. I felt that Tom Kalinske, being a toy guy, improperly missed the boat on the Genesis add-ons. They were good concepts, probably the only want the CD and 32X get released, but they never made practical sense. Each required far more investment than they got. Nintendo meanwhile completely ignored FMV trash, spent a little bit on special chips, and were able to have their SNES last several years longer than the Genesis.

[gbpxl]

No, by 1998 Sega of America was long done with the Genesis. Heck they were done with it by Christmas 1995 for sure, and most of what came out in '96-97 were just 3rd party rehashes. They'd rightly shifted to the Saturn. There was just so many issues they had. Developers could not create games quickly. Sega of America's budget didn't provide for enough translations/imports of Japanese titles, including the strong RPG and Shooter categories. Even what was once Sega's bread and butter, arcade ports suffered. What did get released was often buggy, and just not impressive.

1998 was far too late, SEGA was done by then, whether they knew it or not. They likely knew. The Playstation stole their market share, reducing SEGA to not much more market than the TG-16 occupied years earlier. IMO their failure was in offering a primitive interactive FMV solution (CD) and a more powerful polygon-based solution (32x) separately, while asking consumers to spend $500+ to experience both. I felt that Tom Kalinske, being a toy guy, improperly missed the boat on the Genesis add-ons. They were good concepts, probably the only want the CD and 32X get released, but they never made practical sense. Each required far more investment than they got. Nintendo meanwhile completely ignored FMV trash, spent a little bit on special chips, and were able to have their SNES last several years longer than the Genesis.

Yes. I have in my posession a Genesis made in 1998. Not sure how many Saturns were made in 1998 but if I were a betting man, I'd say there's more '98 Gens than there are '98 Saturns. I am not sure if Majesco did any re-releases like they did with SNES games but the Genesis was alive and well well into 1998

[Gameguy]

Yes. I have in my posession a Genesis made in 1998.

How do you know when it was manufactured? Do you have any pictures?

I am not sure if Majesco did any re-releases like they did with SNES games but the Genesis was alive and well well into 1998

Majesco did rerelease games for the Genesis, and rereleased their own Genesis 2 console. And later released their own Genesis 3 console in 1998.

There are numerous guides that describe how to tell the differences with Genesis motherboard revisions, all documenting the Majesco versions too. Yet none of the guides I've found mention how to date the manufacturing date of the console. So I'm curious how you know your console was made in 1998.

[WelcomeToTheNextLevel]

I also have a Genesis 2 made in 1998, and a Genesis 3, I assume made in 1998 or 1999. I got the Genesis 2 new in late 1998, my mom got it for me as my first console.