Why has the Saturn been forgotten among modern gamers?

[FerretGamer]

The Playstation just wasn't ready for it.

[johnny turbo]

I really don't think it was toms fault for the failure of the Saturn. I think that lies on the shoulders of the Japan branch. Tom knew the Saturn wouldn't sale in America, the Japanese branch should have listened to him. He was kinda the whole reason they were successful with the genesis. The whole early launch was probably a bad idea. Games like virtua fighter in Japan sold much better than in America.

His primary selling points for the genesis were

"Aggressively market the Genesis in the U.S., the biggest market in the world (believe it). This lead to the implementation of the “Sega Scream,” one of the most recognizable ad campaigns ever. (Once more, it must be noted that the idea of directly advertising against Nintendo did not originate with Kalinske. Former Sega president Michael Katz originally challenged the big “N” with the famous Genesis Does what Nintendon’t ads shortly after the Genesis launched.)

Make people aware of the speed and power of the new system.

Gear advertising towards the new, “cool” market that was buying the Genesis.

Drop the price of the Genesis and switch Altered Beast for Sonic The Hedgehog as the pack-in."

And SOJ really kicked him in the nads when they discontinued the genesis so early. Tom predicted in 94 that " the 16 bit business will be strong for 2-3 more years." And after all, the man did single handedly turn the fortunes of the genesis around in America. The sega scream is in my opinion one of the most memorable and compelling TV ads.
Needless to say, there wasn't much to work with on the sega Saturn launch.

[brukner1129]

And SOJ really kicked him in the nads when they discontinued the genesis so early. Tom predicted in 94 that " the 16 bit business will be strong for 2-3 more years."

Well, he wasn't too far off: 16-bit went pretty strong until mid to late '95, just a few months after the Saturn and PSX hit American shores. Of course, everything kinda went downhill for Sega after that...

[noiseredux]

Everyone in this thread should read Service Games. You'd all love it.

[3DSStrider]

Young people don't know what it is, because, in all honesty, their first game system usually started around PS2 or N64 and, at that age, wasn't aware of console wars and the business of video game systems.

Don't worry. When your peers grow up and, if they have a love for videogames, will start to understand what the Saturn is.

What does age have to do with it? I'm 14 and the Saturn is one of my favorite systems.

[brukner1129]

What does age have to do with it? I'm 14 and the Saturn is one of my favorite systems.

I love hearing stuff like that (or reading, in this case)

[Hobie-wan]

I can't tell you how many times I've purchased a Saturn game that was described as like new and it came factory sealed. The Japanese Americans really underrate overrate the condition of their games, it's insane.

FTFY

[Duane Dibbley]

We can blame this guy.



He hated the Saturn.

So I just figured out who that was a picture of. I never understood why SoA hired Bernie Stolar, the man who denied the US release of any RPGs or games with 2D graphics for the PlayStation's first couple years. He may not have been the singular cause for the Saturn's failure, but he certainly accelerated the decline.

On a related note, I also never understood why SoA didn't market the heck out of the Saturn's 2D capabilities. Instead, they tried to directly compete with Sony and Nintendo on 3D, which despite some amazing games like the Panzer Dragoon series, was a losing battle from the start.

[noiseredux]

On a related note, I also never understood why SoA didn't market the heck out of the Saturn's 2D capabilities. Instead, they tried to directly compete with Sony and Nintendo on 3D, which despite some amazing games like the Panzer Dragoon series, was a losing battle from the start.

because (sadly) everyone seemed to think that 3D was 'the future of gaming.' This is just a case of hindsight being 20/20 of course. Had they promoted the 2D capabilities, they could have possibly staked out a certain niche market. Or not. Who knows? Like I said, 3D was supposed to be our gaming savior at the time.

[BogusMeatFactory]

What does age have to do with it? I'm 14 and the Saturn is one of my favorite systems.

Ask most 14 year olds what a saturn is and then ask them what an xbox 360 is.