The Sega Saturn 1995

It didn't have blast processing.

>>3297197
Genesis popularity was built on Sonic, MK, and Sports.

Sony had MK3 and Sport Games while Sega was just putting out arcade games. To many people, PS1 felt like the true Genesis successor.

File: sonypunisher.jpg (79KB, 648x300px) Image search: [Google]

79KB, 648x300px

Well they pushed the release of the console forward for no reason, fucked up the schedule of many devs, fucked over the other devs like EA who caused a public fuss and created a bad image.

Finally they released it only 2 weeks before Sony's curb stomp of a console which had been hyped like the second coming of jesus.

>>3297229
Oh, and then the company that was making the laser in the Dreamcast (Phillips?) leaked the fact they were working on a successor as early as 1996. Nobody saw the point.

Basically it'd be easier to just ask what went right.

>>3297232
Solid arcade ports are what went right, let Sega give Nintendo the middle finger in Japan for once.

>>3297234
No it was a great console don't get me wrong, management, SoA and third party devs fucked it though. Sad to see the same thing happen to the Dreamcast.

>>3297237
Management wise? the Segata ad campaign!

>>3297240
I was talking about the US release, have no idea about Japan. Did it do well there?

>>3297241
It actually outsold N64 there despite being replaced by Dreamcast halfway through the gen

>>3297242
I guess that explains why there's so many great Japanese games compared to the trickle of US releases.

>Consumer confidence in Sega was low
>No backward compatibility (full abandonment of 32xCD)
>Notably weaker at 3D
>Sony's production and marketing strategies were a whole different level and cut deeper into Sega's traditional market than Nintendo's

>>3297297
It is almost teasing you with that cartridge slot, look at me I have a cart slot but no backwards compatibility for youuuu.

No games worth getting the console for?

>>3297304
Bulk Slash is fucking phenomenal, it's an absolute tragedy that it was Japan exclusive.

>>3297330
I really love bulk slash, so great. Saturn has a lot of great games though, it's the best failure you can buy (other than the dreamcast)

I don't see why people think backwards compatibility was such a big deal, the N64 wasn't backwards comparable, the Playstation didn't even have anything to be backwards compatible with.

Most consumers wanted to leave the 4th gen behind and play all the exciting new 3d games that were out. Not to mention that the Market grew significantly in the 5th gen, so many consumers didn't even have any old games to play.

Backwards compatibility would have been cool, but ultimately I can't see how it would have shifted many more units.

>>3297357
I actually remember people being pissed off at Nintendo for not having NES compatibility with the SNES - to the point where some bought Sega or even Atari.

>>3297387
>or even Atari.
Well it sure saved their fortunes. Meanwhile the SNES was the best selling console of the generation.

>>3297197
Saturn just seemed like a bad deal.

For $100 extra over Playstation

-A console that was significantly weaker at 3D

-A console that was slightly better at 2D (from a consumer standpoint at least, people that count frames may think differently)

-A console that didn't come with any built in FMV decoding (you had to buy an add-on card)

-A flawed battery powered internal saving system, and expensive backup cartridges (compared to cheap battery-less flash memory PS1 cards)

-Sound system didn't support hardware ADPCM meaning sound effects usually sounded either high pitched or grainy than on PS1

-A difficult console architecture that ensured multiplatform games looked and played even worse than they ought to have

Just looking at the hardware, and the fact you had to pay an extra fucking $100, it seems difficult to justify buying a Saturn over a Playstation.

>>3297403
>flawed battery powered internal saving system
nobody knew this while it still mattered

>>3297432
People did quickly find out the internal storage was absolutely tiny though

>>3297438
Bigger than Playstation's

>>3297403
>A console that didn't come with any built in FMV decoding (you had to buy an add-on card)

bullshit, saturn and PS both had bad fmv for the time, saturn had video card that enabled video-CD playback and upscaling fmv for games that supported it

>>3297460
>bullshit, saturn and PS both had bad fmv for the time

Yeah, and it was objectively worse on Saturn. The PS1 had a MJPEG decoding block in its CPU, the Saturn didn't have anything like that built-in.

You hadn't noticed how in multiplatform games Saturn FMV is a tiny grainy windows while full screen and relatively clear on PS1?

>upscaling fmv for games that supported it

Which was hardly anything.

>>3297465

exactly with the last sentence, you didn't have to buy saturns video card unless you lived in asia where VCD was a popular format.

>>3297357
In general I don't understand people's obsession with backwards compatibility in games... Very few gaming machines have had true backward compatibility and perhaps the only systems that do it standard, the Game Boy and now DS lines, have had models that dropped it.
In terms of home consoles, only the Genesis, PS2, PS3, Wii and Wii U have had the feature out of the box.

>>3297197
awful launch that alienated all store lines, and SOJ trying to run the american end of the business.

That's about it.

>>3297228
This

Also as an example the marketing in germany from nintendo and sony were back at these days much better. Dont know other countries. Sony was much more a rival to Sega then to Nintendo.

Sony got ff7, tekken and gran tourismo which were very good games for their time.


Sega failed also before with the Genesis CD and 32x. Another problem i think is that some good titles from Sega were released for PC. I remember Virtual Fighter.

>>3297548
>only the Genesis, PS2, PS3, Wii and Wii U
So with the exception of Wii U all smash hit consoles

>>3297548
Also we'd come to expect backward compatibility since literally every major system of theirs had featured backward compatibility. The whole idea behind 32xCD was to build on what they already had. A Neptune can play Master System games - maybe even Mark 2 games iirc? Game Gears can play Master System games. It was, like, to be expected.

That's why I personally was so upset with Saturn. CD and 32x had been so expensive I couldn't get then for birthday or Christmas and there was no fucking way I was going too part with months of paperboy money. Then I was an adult when Saturn was announced and I thought "Finally I'll be able to play all that stuff I missed plus have a next gen console" since as anon already said, it aesthetically gives you every reason not to doubt it would be back compatible.

>>3297197
So what the fuck even is nights into dreams? From the little bit of gameplay I've seen, it looked boring as fuck.

>>3297750
They could've EASILY release a backward compatibility cartridge for the Saturn. They never bothered because the Megadrive never did well in Japan, and the Saturn never did well outside Japan.

>>3297762
Easily? None of the hardware necessary was built into the system, the only reason the Genesis had one for the Master System was because it had the chip necessary inbuilt. It would literally have to be a Genesis within the cart, At that point they were still producing actual genesis consoles, as it had a long life in less wealthy markets.

>>3297770
The genesis CPU is inside the saturn.

>>3297776
Source?

>>3297801
It's pretty well known at this point, just look at the specs.

>>3297548
But didn't the Genesis require an add-on for Master System BC?

>>3297812
Yeah, I had a look, it's using it as a sound chip. Kind of neat.

>>3297815
Yes but the add on was nothing but a cartridge pin passthrough

>>3297821
I thought it stepped down the voltage as well?

>>3297776
Nope, the Saturn has a cut-down 68EC000, and it's doing nothing else but driving the SCSP. Using that for Megadrive compatibility would be more trouble than not.

>>3297770
>It would literally have to be a Genesis within the cart,

Exactly. All they'd need would be the single-chip MD hardware from 1996 + its memory, hooked up to a digital video encoder (this could be possibly integrated), and a boot CD that would set up a watchdog code to bypass controller input, and set the Saturn to the appropriate video output mode.

They already had most of the hardware - only thing missing was software on the Saturn side and a video encoder IC.

>>3297824
It probably did add a few resistors in the line as part of the pass through.

But nothing too complicated. There were third party Master System adapters too.

>>3297826
Where does it say the 68EC000 is cut-down? I can only see it described as a low cost version. Looking at at this dhrystone benchmark its even with the 68000.

68000 2100 4376
68EC000 2100 4376

>>3297760
>boring as fuck
That's it man. It's like one of the Sonic bonus stages but stretched out into an entire game.

There are far better games on the Saturn than that.

>>3297548
Atari 7800

the mark 3 and its upgrade the japanese master system also had it, but notably sg1k support was dropped with the megadrive

>>3297849
um no

>>3297548
The Atari 7800 also had backwards compatibility out the box with all 2600 games.

>>3297750
>since literally every major system of theirs had featured backward compatibility
You make it sound like a long standing tradition, they'd only had 2 major consoles.

The first was only backwards compatible in Japan with a console which was only released in Japan, where it sold poorly.

The second was only backwards compatible with additional hardware.

the weeb market wasn't big enough back then.

Probably because no madden also.

>>3298176
Additional, cheap hardware - just like Game Gear which you're forgetting about plus the 32xCD add-on philosophy is essentially backwards compatibility. Like I said, a Neptune is backward compatible all the way to Mark 2.

Even the SNES was first designed to be backwards compatible, but they dropped that feature late in development. It's why it has the shit resolution and archaic CPU.

>>3297197
Listen carefully fagit: there is only ONE reason consoles succeed or fail. ONE REASON.

AND IT'S CALLED

_GAMES_

Overall market doesn't give a shit about memes like blast processing, it's made of GAMERS and they are attracted to GAMES. Saturn had fuck all of them, hence didn't fly.

>>3298974
Yeah but they could have had games.

>>3297232
Between that, the 32x add-on shaking people's faith, and EVERYTHING Bernie did, it got wrecked.

What it did right was games.

Oh boy. Where do we fucking start? An entire book could be written on why the Saturn failed. A lot of it had nothing to do with the Saturn itself. A huge chunk of it had to do with the Saturn's high price point, early introduction, and Sega's previous mistakes with the Genesis. Total market over saturation with the Genesis while also trying to push out a 32X addon.

They canceled the Sega Neptune and should have just kept on that, and delayed the Saturn's launch and guaranteed a Sonic release with the system. It should have come out alongside the N64 and been a close competitor with the N64 instead of attempting to undercut Sony and compete with the PS. Sega should have let the hardware develop further by waiting an additional year to launch the Saturn, instead of worrying about an early install base.

Unfortunately, pushing for an early install base also fucked up the Dreamcast, which is arguably a system on par with the PS2 and had an incredible lineup that could've been continued into the 2000s easily.

The missteps Sega took with the Genesis were because the Genesis was so successful. Sega was not conservative at all and slapped their name on tons of add ons and shit consoles that they shouldn't have, and it led to the Saturn being dead on arrival.

>>3300116
Saturn was already dead by the time Bernie came on board. They had an incredibly small market share while the Playstation kept rocketing up. Developers hated the Saturn, retailers hated the Saturn and did not carry the console, and the consumers hated Sega at that point because they fucked them over.

>>3300121
It's pretty sad that the Dreamcast had so many good things going for it and a strong lineup and still bombed.

Video game industry has always been a 3 person market.

>>3300121
This hits many of the key points

I was 12 back in summer of 1995 when both the Saturn and PS1 came out. Saturn had come out earlier (May of 95) with their suprise launch and most of the video game magazines at the time panned many of it's launch games.

Panzer Dragoon did ok with ratings, but Virtua Fighter was a terrible pack in game and most of the launch games were duds like CLockwork Knight and the horrible port of Daytona USA.

Oh yea, the $400 price tag didn't help because even with the pack in game it was still too expensive.

I was still playing SNES and decided to wait a year until July of 1996 when I decided to get a PS1 due to it having total control of the market in only one year after its release. The N64 still hadn't come out and the only launch games it had in the US were Mario 64 and Pilotwings 64. It was a super easy choice to buy the PS1 because it had every awesome game at the time and every multi-plat game was so much better on PS1.

>>3300170
>Near universal acclaim
>Did OK
Panzer was pretty much the only title everyone agreed was good.

>>3300170
Yeah I remember having the 32x, then a year later a whole new console comes out. I managed to rent the Saturn because I was huge into Sega at the time and was excited about the new games. Virtua Fighter was disappointing. Fun for about 5 mins then got boring really fast. I remember just horrible disappointment when it came to the Saturn. I was still kind of interested in it but there was no way I could get one. I was still a kid and it was damn expensive..

They really fucked over people with the 32x too. People just bought it a year before and it was already useless.

>>3300170
Yeah, I've studied Sega and the Sega Saturn. Sega was actually afraid of Atari, believe it or not.

>>3300170

Were the later versions of Daytona better?

And for that matter, what's the best way to play Daytona in 2016? I know the Dreamcast version has a bunch of extra content and I appreciate that greatly but it's so twitchy.

File: 1459824159192.jpg (116KB, 409x393px) Image search: [Google]

116KB, 409x393px

>>3298974
>Listen carefully fagit: there is only ONE reason consoles succeed or fail. ONE REASON.

Excellent Sarcasm, buddy! Just illustrates the annoying issue with these threads rock solidly!

>>3300430
>Yeah, I've studied Sega and the Sega Saturn. Sega was actually afraid of Atari, believe it or not.

No they weren't. Atari was nonexistant for all practical considerations by the 90s at best, a laughing stock at works.

>>3298974
The wii and ps2 launched with fuck all games yet sold millions, though. Gamers care more about NOVELTY really.

>>3300718
Not him, but I remember reading somewhere that the 32X was made in response to the Jaguar's launch.

>>3301121
That's not true at all. The PS2 had an industry changing lineup of launch titles. The Wii came with a game everyone wanted to play...

>>3300709
He is right though. The ONE REASON the Saturn failed is because you faggots didn't buy enough of them when it was on sale.

>>3297197
It was intended to be a 2d powerhouse machine but since people went crazy over shitty looking polygonal tits they had to "force" the machine to do 3d models.Also release way before it was supposed to with out telling anybody was really fucking stupid move.

>>3302398

Sega was hyping 3D with the Virtua titles before the Saturn was conceived, and the VF2 on Saturn is still great today.

Yes, it was the most competent 5th gen console for 2D. No, it wasn't mean to be only-2D and Sega was interested on pushing 3D gaming ahead like everyone else.

>>3302398
>It was intended to be a 2d powerhouse machine but since people went crazy over shitty looking polygonal tits they had to "force" the machine to do 3d models

You have it backwards. The Saturn didn't even come with a 2D background processor originally.

File: soarce coarz!.png (321KB, 900x1000px) Image search: [Google]

321KB, 900x1000px

>>3302065
That's stupid. It's not a cause. It's just a pattern that goes together with a console failing. It is a RESULT of reasons the saturn failed.

It had few games because:
-it was hard to program for
-it gave lousy results for 3d games
-it was optimized for arcade ports, which were safe to count on anyway, arcade-like hardware only helped the perfectness of arcade ports, rather than whether those ports actually existed
-it cost a lot, hence sold little, wrecking confidence for prospective game makers

and people didn't buy many of them because:
-if you bought a 32x or sega CD, it left a bad impression
-if you had a PC, that had impressive stuff, which the Saturn didn't port well, despite SoA being dead set on western style games
-it was deprived of good games that they left in japan
-it was a worse deal than the playstation, or N64 if you're open to something quite different

>>3302946
I'm really curious were you clowns get this shit.

Few retailers carried the hardware or were willing to. That right there doomed it.

>>3302946
PC games were still shit in 1994.

>>3302956
It alienated tons of important retailers with an awful surprise launch at E3 which Sony immediately took the wind right from the sails of by dropping their retail price by $100

>>3300718
>No they weren't. Atari was nonexistant for all practical considerations by the 90s at best, a laughing stock at works.

Yeah, you're totally wrong.

>>3302969
Again were do you clowns get this shit?

The SEGA CD was bad.
The 32x lost retailers money. KB toys was selling them brand new for under $30. It was that bad.

Few wanted to carry Saturns

>>3302439
>The Saturn didn't even come with a 2D background processor originally.

False, that part was always in the design from the beginning.

The "original design" of the Saturn was the same thing as the final, but it used a NEC V60 and only 1mb main memory. It still could've ran 3d games fine since it had its DSP. Virtua Fighter 1 for example would've ran identical as it mostly used the DSP for transform math.

Changing to dual SH2 was done because they had a really good deal with Hitachi, who manufactured the VDP2, the CD Block (the sh1), the chipset on the CD Drive, and the MPEG card hardware (which extended both the VDP2 and the CD Block).

Adding the two SH2s also meant that they had to add a controller chip for accessing the slave SH2. This controller chip was what they tucked-on an extra 1mb of 16bit DRAM, making the total main memory 2mb, split in two 1mb banks (fast and slow).

>>3302979
The SEGA CD sold around a million units, which is still somewhat impressive for just a console addon. It was a bad system, but that's not because of the system, that's just because of the limited amount of good games on it.

The 32X was a huge gaff but they rushed it out because they were worried about the Atari Jaguar in the western market.

>>3302960
>PC games were still shit in 1994.

Warcraft, Doom 1-2, and Sim City 2k would disagree with you.

>>3302979
the surprise launch and the high price point caused many retailers not to carry it.

>>3302989
The price wasn't bad. Within $100 of the PlayStation.

>>3302994
That's fucking horrible.
100 dollars more expensive is BAD.

>>3302986
>they were worried about the Atari Jaguar in the western market.

No they weren't. I don't know where this meme even came from. They even had a cross-license agreement with Atari (that, of course, Atari did not benefit from...).

The 32x simply came from the fact that SOJ wanted to give an upgrade to the machine, first they wanted an SVP cart, then Joe Miller mentioned that they could then do a better upgrade that could increase the colour count and enhance the audio too. What he didn't knew was that the Saturn was also just about done.

>>3302994
The high price tag was bad enough after the 32x getting killed in half year. And the surprise launch meant that few retailers got Saturns at the launch, the ones who did not get any units thought that they were purposefully left out, and then refused to carry Sega stuff altogether.

The early launch literally destroyed the Saturn in the USA.

>>3302996
Listen kid. The Sega Saturn was $50 more in Japan at launch than America. Least that is what I remember. Pretty sure that is correct.

It outsold the shit out of PS1 at launch.

>>3302956
Causality-wise, that's halfway between being a root cause and the glaring iconic symptom of a failed console, but then I guess you're not even claiming it's a root cause?

>>3302960
Sega wanted american style games. That objective naturally implied a need to share titles with PCs.

>>3303002
What eceleb are you getting this opinion from?

Magazines and other publications were talking about Saturn for awhile before launch.

>>3303010
The 32x pretty much single handily destroyed SoA.


If you want to talk root causes.

File: THE BIGGITY BUCK BUMBLE.jpg (127KB, 1907x1117px) Image search: [Google]

127KB, 1907x1117px

>>3303002
>No they weren't. I don't know where this meme even came from. They even had a cross-license agreement with Atari (that, of course, Atari did not benefit from...).


Uh. It's not a meme. It's a fact. Go be a dumb faggot somewhere else, because you keep posting stuff you know nothing about.


In January 1994, Sega began to develop an add-on for the Genesis, the Sega 32X, which would serve as a less-expensive entry into the 32-bit era. The decision to create the add-on was made by Nakayama and widely supported by Sega of America employees. According to former Sega of America producer Scot Bayless, Nakayama was worried that the Saturn would not be available until after 1994 and that the recently released Atari Jaguar would reduce Sega's hardware sales. As a result, Nakayama ordered his engineers to have the system ready for launch by the end of the year.

>>3303008
>It outsold the shit out of PS1 at launch.

Oh did it.

>>3303035
Yes, champ.

The PlayStation being sold for years longer than the Saturn is pretty much the only reason it sold so much more in Japan overall.

>>3303019
Okay, but that can be dissected further into, first, how much they shot themselves in the foot by resolving to make an add on(an a 2nd one at that), and second, how much of that was because of SoJ not warning them about the Saturn, and sega not making the 32x less overpowered and expensive.

File: 1455950698736.gif (367KB, 500x281px) Image search: [Google]

367KB, 500x281px

>>3303040
Don't suppose ya... You know...
Ya got a source that shows launch sales for PS1 and Saturn in Japan, do ya, champ?

>>3303045
You got to be on crack to think SoA didn't know the Saturn wasn't coming. Their inability to properly introduce it doomed them.

Your posts read like some eceleb opinion. Filled with holes and assumption.

>>3303008
And it was relatively successful in Japan but we're not talking about Japan now are we?

>>3302994
$299 vs $399 launch price is a fucking revolution

>>3302979
It's funny that you call us clowns for stating absolutely true historical facts about Saturn's release while you're pushing assumptions about retailer attitudes based on anecdotal recollections. Earthbound sold like shit and got closed out by retailers at $20 and less but that didn't stop them from stocking 64s.

File: 75.jpg (5KB, 150x124px) Image search: [Google]

5KB, 150x124px

>>3303040
UH OH, CHAMP...

>Sales of Both Sega and Sony were claiming around 600,000 of their consoles had been sold by March 1995

>>3303054
This guy is a fucking moron who just keeps posting anecdotal bullshit instead of actual facts or statistics. He totally ignored this post, too
>>3303028

>>3303053
The December 3 ship-out of 100,000 PlayStations to stores across Japan ... was not met with the same euphoria-charged reception that the Saturn received ... Saturn arrived to a rapturous reception in Japan on November 22. 200,000 units sold out instantly on day one

From Edge magazine.

>>3303054
>>3303057
Hello underageb& that can't read.

>>3303063
No one fucking cares about day 1 sales. That means nothing.

Right here, they were even by March 1995.
Saturn was already fucked.

So that idiot saying the the only reason PS1 beat Saturn was because the PS1 was around longer already got fucked.

Just stop posting.

>>3303053
>You got to be on crack to think SoA didn't know the Saturn wasn't coming.

They didn't knew of it in 1993 december when the 32x was conceived.

>>3303069
I said launch you dumb child.

Nice moving goal posts now.

>>3303074
You said
>The PlayStation being sold for years longer than the Saturn is pretty much the only reason it sold so much more in Japan overall.

You dumb champ.

Calm down sport, getting proven wrong happens when you spout eceleb opinions and bullshit that can be readily fact checked.

>>3303078
Got news for you kid. 95 isn't years after the Saturn/

>>3303080
Got news for you slick,
By 95 the PS1 was already even with the Saturn and blowing past it, which isn't "years after" either.

>>3303082
Got some more news for you kid. The PS1 was disconnected in 2005. 5 years after the Saturn.

>>3303089
discontinued* fucking auto correct.

>>3303089
Got some more news for you, scout.
The PS1 beat the Saturn by 1995.
You said it took years after the Saturn for the PS1 to win.
Sorry, fella.

>>3303091
So you went from even to now beat. All this time I was talking about the launch of the systems.

Man I hope you're not much older than 8 with reading comprehension that bad.

>>3303093
So you went from
>The PlayStation being sold for years longer than the Saturn is pretty much the only reason it sold so much more in Japan overall.

To
>PS1 and Saturn were even by 1995

Man, I hope you're not much older than 8 with reading comprehension that bad.

>>3303097
Can you not read a post chain? Because that second quote isn't mine. I know you're probably used to reddit and what now on your tablet.

I hate that glossy coat, looks disgusting.

>>3303103
Have a nice day, Junior.

>>3303049
>The PlayStation launched for 37,000 yen and only 100,000 units were distributed to 4000 stores throughout Japan, selling out instantly. A further 200,000 were sold before the end of the month. At the time, however, Sega’s rival Saturn machine outperformed the Sony console, shifting 200,000 units on its 22 November launch day.

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/dec/01/playstation-20th-anniversary-sony-1994

That was mostly due to Virtua Fighter tho.

>>3303114
It looks like Sony just didn't ship enough.

>>3303091
not that guy, but in Japan, the Saturn DID outsell the PS1... for maybe one or two years around 1997-8. And I'm not sure if it was hardware sales, or software-only sales.

Internationally the PS1 did destroy the Saturn, no one is doubting that, but in Japan the Saturn did great.

>>3303121
>Not that guy

You bet, slim.

I think we are looking over the fact that the PS1 defeated the Saturn in almost every game type when it launched.

Ridge Racer was universally acclaimed and was a system seller. It was so far ahead of everything out there and demolished the terrible Saturn Daytona USA port.

Battle Arena Toshinden is unplayable by todays standards, but at the time it was light years ahead of anything else in terms of graphics, sound, and all around style. The characters were well done and even though it didn't play as well as VF, it looked so much better that people didn't care.

Even shit like ESPN extreme games sold like hotcakes on the PS1 and by December, it had Tekken, Wipeout (far superioir to the saturn port), warhawk, destruction derby, and more.

Saturn's 1995 game library was anemic compared to the PS1. The Saturn was too expensive, did not have enough games in it's first year to justify its purchase, and did not fit in with what people wanted. Nintendo people were waiting for the Ultra 64 and everyone else who wanted a new system bought the PS1

I can think of a few reasons why the Saturn might not have been particularly successful:

- Games were frankly overpriced. We're expected to pay the same price for optical media as cartridge-based games? To be fair, this practice still goes on today. Doesn't make it any less bullshit.
- Not all that many games were even localized. The Saturn wasn't a very good investment if you lived in the U.S. Sure, I'd love to play all three scenarios of Shining Force III, but Sega deemed that this just isn't going to happen.
- The SNES had already been on the market for a while and built up a sufficiently strong library. I suppose people might have been reluctant to start investing in new hardware, especially when there was a trove of SNES games they probably hadn't even discovered yet.
- Did Sega even advertise this thing outside of Japan? I didn't know it existed until well after its lifespan had ended. I don't recall ever seeing any Saturn games in stores, for that matter.

Oh, well. The Saturn seems like a decent piece of hardware, but I'll probably never get the opportunity to become familiar with it. I gather the hardware and games are treated like collector's gold on the reseller market, especially here in the U.S. where it didn't see as wide distribution.

File: lol, it's not a hitachi SH-1.jpg (47KB, 400x248px) Image search: [Google]

47KB, 400x248px

>>3303072
That still leaves the question of whether it could have been scaled down at that time to one processor or to 2xSH1, which in turn seems to hinge on the question of what process and die size the SH2 and SH1 were based on, and whether they needed to be made at the same foundries or other differences determining yields.

Both consoles had shit libraries in 1995.

>>3303137
SH1 was just a SH2 with no cache.

According to some interviews, the 32x was much more ambitious, but SOJ said that it had to be an expansion and nothing else, which greatly limited the cost, and so they ended up with a piece of shit.

Plus it was rushed, and ended up barely working and the games under performing.

>>3303173
>According to some interviews


Pure kalinske bullshit, don't believe his lies.

>>3303175
>Pure kalinske bullshit, don't believe his lies.

So every interview is Kalinske bullshit now regardless of source? Because it was Scot Bayless who said that:
http://www.sega-16.com/2012/03/interview-scot-bayless/

Sega-16: The original design of the 32X was reportedly quite different than what was released. Hideki Sato’s machine was to be a Genesis with more color and little more. What did Sato think of Marty Franz’s design? What was his reaction?

Scot Bayless: As far as I know Sato-san thought very highly of the original design. The problem was cost. 32X was never very clearly defined in terms of its target audience or it’s place in the Sega ecosystem. It was a genuine textbook stopgap. That’s not to say it didn’t have merit. Marty’s original concept for the device was brilliantly simple and powerful. But SOJ very clearly thought of the 32X as a peripheral and, as such, it couldn’t be priced beyond a certain level. That cost cap is what ultimately killed 32X. Sato had to cost reduce it and, by the time the smoke cleared, they had a 32-bleh.

>>3303173
That prods the suspicion that they come from SH-2s that end up with the cache being defective. I guess information on how yields went is too meta to be as common as technical details?

>>3303220
I think it's more like that the internet wasn't around as it is right now, so even if 1 engineer confirmed what you are thinking of, you'd need to read through hundreds of Japanese publications to find his quote.

For what it's worth, I know that the sh-2 was done on a 0.65 micrometer process.

>>3303242
If there are some badly burnt out Saturns out there, the chips in them could in theory be dissected to attempt to compare the different SuperHs.

I'm sure no one would do that specifically for that one detail, it would be more likely from someone interested in dissecting all sorts of chips.

Timing. Every console SEGA released after the Genesis was released way too late in it's gen to matter. The competition had already swept through and eaten up all the sheckles by the time they came around.

Also, the Dreamcast didn't sell at all in Nippon for some reason, even though it did really well internationally.

>>3303279
You're pretty ignorant huh? If anything it's the opposite.

>>3303124
Sucks being defeated doesn't it?

>>3303127
>Sure, I'd love to play all three scenarios of Shining Force III, but Sega deemed that this just isn't going to happen.

Abandoning their IPs def made it worse. They got way too cocky with the Saturn's 3D capabilities. If they actually gave people what they want, then maybe it would have sold more. A new Sonic game not coming out fucked it up i'm sure too, but I'm sure sales could have still been improved if they brought back some beloved Sega IPs for the new system

>>3303451
The guy defeated himself. The other guy was just fucking with him because he was using dumbass arguments.

>>3297465
The MJPEG decoder is a very clever little piece of hardware that allowed Sony to avoid the expense and licensing fees of MPEG while still providing acceptable FMV playback on a CPU without an FPU.

Most Saturn FMV is Cinepak or Truemotion and decoded in software on one of the SH2s. They both made tradeoffs to get FMV into home consoles, and neither is necessarily better. More importantly, just like the PS1, the quality depended on the source material and how much disk space was available for video after other game assets.

On a regular TV the difference is pretty minimal.

>>3303630
>On a regular TV the difference is pretty minimal.

But that's totally, totally wrong. FMV on Saturn is 90% of the time a small window. And 95% of the time grainy.

Even in Soviet Strike, which actually has excellent FMV quality by Saturn standards (full screen, and relatively clear) is still slightly grainier on Saturn than on PS1.