What made the Sega Saturn's sales so underwhelming?
>>12486695The games.
>>12486695$299
STOP MAKING SATURN THREADS
>>12486695First impressions matter. It launched with a 30fps low res virtua fighter and a 20fps Daytona with the worst pop-in imaginable all for a $399 price tag. And any time devs were interviewed they'd complain the hardware was a total dick and was nothing like SEGA's arcade stuff.The playstation had Tekken running at 60 and a 30fps Ridge Racer that was much more faithful to the arcade. Not to mention plenty of other arcade games based on the hardware built to get first class ports. And $299 sealed the deal.SEGA did literally everything wrong. Sony did almost everything right.
>>12486695It was the console we deserved, just not the one we needed then.
>>12486729
>>12486695didn't sell very well
KEEP MAKING SATURN THREADS
>>12486695>being an absolute shit console company with the Sega CD, 32X, Sega CD32x etc that burned many people>the price>the controller>the games that were popular were almost all better on the PS1, and the exclusives were pretty niche and weeb, hence why it did much better in Japan>the N64 was just a pure 3D powerhouse and had a good analog controller from the start and the Saturn had nothing to compete with games like SM64, Mario Kart, Star Fox or Goldeneye which were super popular in 96/97
>>12486695no gaems
>>12486892B-but it had such classics like Bug and Clockwork knight!!!!!!!
>>12486695too expensive
>>12486729Are you the guy complaining about Resident Evil threads? My God man, go make a Discord or something.
>>12486892it actually did have some really good gaems. I vastly prefer it to the N64 and I mean comparing US to US libraries. The JP library is ridiculously good.
>>12486695Things you're not allowed to discuss on /vr according to the whiny faggot who does nothing but complain all day every day:>resident evil>mortal kombat>sonic the hedgehog>the saturn>the 32X
>>12486695Lack of a good Sonic game and Square and Enix chose Playstation.>>12486704>>12486739>>12486897Saturn price matched the Playstation within a couple weeks of its launch.
>>12486894don't forget the 20 different anime robot shmups that no one played
>>12486813The controller is preem fuck you
It was a beautiful wonderful console that was mistreated due to SEGAs nationalism
>>12487189Rather than develop a premature 3D console they developed the most advanced 2D console. But I don't want to say 3D then was premature, because it wasn't. They just focused on fully realized 2D over early 3D. In hindsight this is something we all would have wanted today. But back then 3D undeniably the biggest revolution since the beginning of vidya. Saturn was caught in hard place and Sega really messed up every aspect of it, if they wanted a good selling console for that gen. It's a tragedy.
>>12487110>Saturn price matched the Playstation within a couple weeks of its launch.people keep pointing this out like it matters. the damage was already done.
>>12486695Tranny clown instead of Sonic
>>12487363>people keep pointing this out like it matters. the damage was already done.Lol, no. That wasn't the damage. The Saturn only had that $399 price when it had the market all to its lonesome. The le epic mic drop moment is a great thing for nerds to onions over in hindsight but parents were getting their prices from store flyers, not electronics shows. Having better games / 3D graphics is what really moved PS1's when both consoles cost the same.
>>12486892>no gaemsThe Saturn has nearly 3x as many games as the N64
>>12487405>about a thousand games in Japan>about 250 games in the US and Europe>nothing to challenge the sales numbers of Mario 64 or OoTAnd the only market it had passible sales in was Japan... until it got bodied by picrel and died.
>>12486695The youtube that told you so
>>12486695I suspect you know the answer already but whatever. Sega abruptly launched the system ahead of schedule, pissing off retailers and leaving the Saturn with very few launch titles. Despite Sega thinking that this would help them get a head start on the market many people dismissed the Saturn since the psx and n64 were coming in about a year and presumably had better hardware. When they did arrive, consumers had to make a tough decision between psx and n64; the Saturn wasn’t even worth considering at that point, it was a losing pick.
>>12487695To follow up on this, I actually really like the idea of the Saturn and wish that it could have functioned as a gorgeous 2D game console for people who wanted an alternative to that generation’s 3D games. It could have been the especially “Japanese” console if Sega were bold enough to localize the weirder/anime games. Anime was just starting to gain traction in the US at that time and I think there was a new hungry market for that kinda stuff.
>>12487396Nights was good though, when I played that and Panzer Dragoon at a friends house (literally the only person in town who had a Saturn) it almost made me want a Saturn.Went with Playstation instead, already had an n64. I made the right decision.
Was it even marketed?I grew up in Germany and I never even saw an ads for the Saturn.I remember tv ads for PlayStation, for N64, for Game Boy Special Edition (Play it loud in America) and Pocket around that time but not a single Saturn ad.
>>12486695The sales were really good in Japan for a while. Sega of America fucked up the launch, part of it is general incompetence and another part was the 32X fiasco (SoA's idea). They didn't know what they were doing. Then by 1997 the thing was dead and SoA's new president gave the interview that ended up killing it in Japan too.I recommend checking out the book Console Wars, it's from the point of view of SoA's president through the 16bit era and into the launch of the Saturn. In the book you can see this guy thought he was hot stuff who did everything right and thought that SoJ were retards. Pretty racist too. And then after you finish the book go check out those leaked company documents from 1997 that show he was a retard and lied about everything for the book.Sega of America is a textbook case of incompetence. Somebody should write a book about it.
>>12486695no joysticks, outdated at launch.
>>12487706>Nights was good thoughNope. Not then, not now.>>12487716YWNBJ
>>12486695Sega had already fucked over its die hard customer base with the Sega CD and 32x. When you show that you're basically ripping everyone off with hardware to play glorified point and click movie "games", people are going to give another console a chance.And they did.
Sega arcade heritage was it's greatest strength and it's greatest weakness.. at the time, people didn't really care for arcade ports, they wanted more involved engrossing experiences. Arcade games just felt bare ones.
>>12487405are you retarded? None of those games are in the same stratosphere as what the n64 and ps1 had
>>12488202Tekken 3 is the 5th best selling on PS1 anon...
>>12488205Yes, and compare it to VF2. It has a shit ton more content. VF2 feels barebones when you compare to it.
>>12486695It should have sold well, it was in stores along side ps1, to the general public the games looked about the same, plenty of games on store shelves. I think maybe around 1997 Sony started pushing really hard with a lot of deals and advertising, as for Sega, what about Sega Rally 2. or Nights 2. I think around the launch of the N64 you rarely saw Saturn demo setups. For me I would have wanted a Saturn but by the time I could afford a next gen system you just couldn't buy one and I just didn't really notice until a fair bit after the N64 when I though hey what ever happened to the Saturn. I have heard that the Saturn was expensive to make and they wanted lower sales.>>12488179I don't think that many people had those. They were systems people heard about but never saw so not many people knew about the fmv crap until emulation. I knew people who very happen with the Genesis/Megadrive who still got a ps1.
>>12487706Nights is okay for what it was, but this was during a time of large expansive hits like FF7, Mario 64, Crash, etc. And then saturn has... this arcade time attack sphere collecting game. Its just not on the same level
What's the best wireless controller option for the Saturn?
Auster and his eternal crusade to convince /vr/ that saturn bad
>>12486695Sega of Japan themselves did not want to sell it because it was expensive and the hardware was crap and the US launch was completely irredeemable. They were prepping the ground for the successor as early as 1997, part of which was to tell the US branch to quietly pull the machine.
>>12487716>In the book you can see this guy thought he was hot stuff who did everything right and thought that SoJ were retards. Pretty racist too.Well Japan was not selling Megadrives at all while Kalinske turned the console into a worldwide phenomenon and even outsold Nintendo for a year. Plus SoJ shot down all his attempts at getting new cheap console ideas, including the N64 chipset and teaming up with Sony. The one time they allowed SoA to make a new console, it was to fight the fucking Jaguar. And the Saturn was clearly well behind in hardware, and had no Sonic game, but SoJ thought it was the best thing ever invented because it was selling well thanks to Virtua Fighter, which nobody gave a shit about outside Japan. So SoJ were indeed complete fucking retards.>And then after you finish the book go check out those leaked company documents from 1997 that show he was a retard and lied about everything for the book.Which part, the one where he had millions of consoles and titles pre-sold to store chains, that got returned and put them in the red? That would not have happened if the Saturn US launch did not completely fuck up the pre-negotiated marketing timelines of the stores, which is the reason why they had enough of Sega and returned everything.>Sega of America is a textbook case of incompetence.Tom Kalinske sold more Sega consoles in 5 years than Sega of Japan managed to do in their entire lifetime, and that's including when they had killer apps like Virtua Fighter.
>>12488240FF7 came a year later, Nights was up against Crash, Mario 64, and a few months later Tomb Raider.
>>12486729As soon as we determine how the Saturn could have won... This is very important.
