Could The Saturn Have Pulled It Off?

[flojocabron]

I know this is fanboyism.

Right now both PS3 and 360 exist comfortably together.

But if we flashback back to 199X, When the first real popular disc based consoles were out: Saturn and Playstation. Obviously PS1 came out on top.

But if the saturn had survived as long as PS1 did, What games would have been possible for it? Graphics wise and processing power taken into account (or programing tricks), what games do you think would have worked or played even better on sega's console?

Would popular sequels like Tomb Raider 2 and Resident Evil 2, whos predecessors did appear on the Saturn have been released on the Saturn, had it not been a distant 3rd?

What games do you think that were released on PS would have been just as good on Saturn?

I think Wipout XL would have been a good candidate for Saturn. How awesome would it have been to play Silent Hill on it too? Need for Speed games, could the saturn had played them right? Dino Crisis would be fun too....

Feel free to argue with me!

[jay_red]

I wonder the same thing about the Dreamcast, if it had lasted alongside the ps2 what could we have seen graphics wise?

[flojocabron]

I would have loved to see Grand Theft Auto III in all its glory on the dreamcast. Even if it had to be on three discs!

[BoringSupreez]

For one thing, Shenmue would have been a Saturn game. Shenmue 2 would most likely have been released earlier, and in all regions. We would have eventually gotten a 3D Sonic game on Saturn, although most likely not until '98 or '99. The Dreamcast would have come out in 2000, and had DVD abilities like the PS2.

[dreamcast4ever83]

I was looking at a list of all unreleased games for the dreamcast that were partially done then scraped and games that were planned and God i was kinda mad to think about what could have been?

Im very happy that we all have the dreamcast and saturn i think gameing would be so boring wihtout those, but i here games like

castlevania dreamcast
max Payne was gonna be released on dreamcast
air nights

so many more.....

Saturn had so many wounderful games i love to death infact i could not imagine not haveing Panzer dragoon saga or gurdian hero's ,magic knight rayearth,mr bones

check out this list...
http://www.unseen64.net/category/1/dreamcast/

[Cronozilla]

Well ... you know all those amazing 2D PS1 jRPGs? (Lunar Silver Star Story, Lunar Eternal Blue, Grandia, Suikoden, Sihoette Mirage, ) Yeah those were originally released on Saturn then ported for release in the US because the Saturn was dead.

We might have gotten that Magic School Lunar game even.

The thing that bugs me is the Saturn was artificially killed. Sega of America really jumped the gun in terminating it. The console got a breath of new life in Japan largely thanks to their Segata Sanshiro campaign ... something they absolutely should have reflected here.

If Segata Sanshiro, Mario, and Kevin Butler have taught us anything it's that fictitious spokes people who are awesome sell things.

Also, Saturn games wouldn't have been so rare so far and thus ultra-expensive. Panzer Dragoon likely would have had another iteration sooner and not on Xbox.

And, of course, Sega wouldn't have been in such a bad position when launching the Dreamcast. Really, that $199.99 price point was a really stupid thing to do.

Furthermore, I'd argue the resurgence of 2D in that generation would have greatly helped the Saturn's sales if they stuck around and released those games on their original console. Suikoden likely wouldn't have shifted to the PlayStation platform and we might have seen the sequels on Dreamcast instead.

Not to mention all the multi-platform games that would have also been released on Saturn at the time.

Furthermore, think about all the absolutely untapped potential in the Dreamcast. It's not exactly that far behind the PS2 in terms of power.

[AppleQueso]

I really think Sega should've stuck it out with the Dreamcast, even if it meant sitting in a distant 3rd place or so. It was as much of a comeback from the 32x and Saturn disasters as they could've possibly made, and I think they could've easily been on top (or at least a close 2nd or 3rd place) in the current gen.

If Sega had stuck around, do you guys think Microsoft would've even bothered entering the console realm? Would they have had any chance at all if they did?

[o.pwuaioc]

We would have eventually gotten a 3D Sonic game on Saturn, although most likely not until '98 or '99.

[AppleQueso]

Oh come on that doesn't count and you know it...

...wow does that seriously say "Sega Saturn Exclusive"?

do they not count the Genesis version or what?

[Blu]

I believe the Saturn really could have pulled it off. I never owned one personally, but my argument is Sega very much could have remained in the hardware business, if one or two things would have happened differently. If Sega had forgone the development of the 32X, and dare I say, Sega CD, we might have seen a different Sega today. Don't get me wrong, I own both a Sega CD and 32X, but in terms of development, they were introduced too quickly without a span of time in between.

For example, Sega CD came out three years after Sega Genesis did, and retailed for $300. Noted, Genesis was $189.00 in the states when it first game out. 32X launched two years after Sega CD did, and retailed for $159. It only lasted 11 months, after probably millions of dollars in development. This doesn't include different models of Genesis or SegaCD.

I know we're talking alternative history here. If Sega solely focused on expanding its market in the Genesis, and used that profit to fund the next gen development (which would have been the Saturn) you would have seen Lunar have a NA release on the Saturn. Sega honestly just was too forward thinking of the next big thing, and cramped their own consumer base by announcing console after console. I would have easily invested in a Sega Saturn if I wasn't already $400+ invested into my Genesis in hardware alone.

I'll give you my parting thoughts. For US Markets, Playstation released in 1994, Playstation 2 in 2000, and Playstation 3 in 2006. SNES 1991, Nintendo 64 in 1996, Gamecube in 2001, and Wii in 2006. The margin between releases around 5-6 years at best. Looking back, I think Sega had good intentions but would have better used its resources to focus on the Saturn rather than introduce add-ons for the Genesis. Instead, developers and consumers were torn on which to support, the Saturn or 32X. The success (or commercial failure) of Saturn and Dreamcast were no doubt affected by this.