post #1332493

The Sega Saturn was Sega's fourth console, and their first console with 3D capabilities. The Sega Saturn launched in 1994 in Japan and performed relatively well there, but it never caught on in the United States due to several factors:

1. The infamous botched launch of the console. The Sega Saturn was initially meant to be released in September 1995 on a Saturday, dubbed "Saturnday". However, because Sega of Japan wanted to get a head start over the Sony PlayStation, the pushed the launch forward from September 2nd to May 11th. This surprised people, developers, and retailers. One retailer who didn't receive Saturns, the late KB Toys, blacklisted Sega from their stores. Game developers didn't have time to put out titles, and the launch titles were rushed.

2. The price. The Sega Saturn was launched at $399 in the US ($716.23 if adjusted for inflation), while the Sony PlayStation was launched at $299. This especially stands out as during the first E3, Sony Computer of America's president Steven Race went on stage, said "$299", and just walked offstage.

3. Bernie Stolar. He was the CEO of Sega of America (after being fired from Sony Computer Entertainment America at that) at the time and had an infamous "five-star game" policy, which meant that any game that he didn't think fit his views on a "five-star" game wasn't localized. He also was HEAVILY against any 2D games being released on the Saturn in the west, though a few did end up releasing on the Saturn anyways.

However, there were some things that limited the Saturn's success everywhere, regardless of region.

1. Difficult development. The Sega Saturn was initially meant to play only 2D games, but in order to get 3D games to run, Sega slapped on another CPU and GPU to make it powerful enough. Developers at the time didn't know how to work with multiple processors, leading to 3D games not running as well compared to other systems. Also, instead of using the industry standard tris for polygons, the Saturn used quads, which made porting over models harder.

2. No official Sonic the Hedgehog game. The official Sonic game teased for the console, Sonic X-Treme, never ended up getting released due to development problems and executive meddling, and instead in its place was a Saturn port of Sonic 3D Blast. The closest to a true 3D Sonic game for the console was the Sonic World portion in the compilation game Sonic Jam.

Due to these problems, the Sega Saturn is considered a commercial failure for Sega, but does have a cult following in the West after it was discontinued in 1998. The console that would follow this would be the Sega Dreamcast, which sadly, would be their last.

Sega consoles

• Sega Master System
• Sega Genesis (Mega Drive)
• Sega CD (Mega-CD)
• Sega 32X
• Sega Saturn
• Sega Dreamcast