The Sega Thread

[gunswordfist]

I know there has been a great thread for the Genesis but there has yet to be a topic created for Sega itself.

I'll try to start things off by saying I think Sega, when it was a console maker, had the greatest mindset of all time when it came to how it treated its games. They weren't scared to have games that are made for everyone mixed in with 'Mature' titles. In fact I think they were responsible for making M rated games popular at home. I think they struck the perfect balance. Plus doing things like having online gaming way before its competition was incredible. Sega first had it with the Saturn, right? I wish they were still in the console race (minus having all their games just on their console these days)

[Spark Of Spirit]

Sega is one of the greats, no question. It's just really such a shame that Sega Of Japan and Sega Of America could not agree on anything which ended up killing them to the point of being bought by Sammy and being knocked out of the console race.

But still they made:







Among countless other games in so many genres. I don't think anyone except Nintendo comes close to them.

[gunswordfist]

Exactly what killed them? I honestly have no clue. And I just heard about the Sammy purchase (probably from you) a few months ago (assuming the purchase wasn't recent)

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I always thought that it was the Dreamcast which was the first home console to have online support. I could be wrong, though.

At any rate, Sega kicked serious ass. I'll admit to never having owned the Saturn, and barely playing any of its library, but I grew up with a Genesis right alongside by SNES, and I played the hell out of the Dreamcast back in the day as well (I liked it better than the N64, PS1, PS2, and XBOX, personally). Its too bad that Sega has kind of been reduced to having to outsource most of their games to third party developers, with only a handful of those games actually being really good ones, and with even the good ones never selling all that well. Their Sonic games do still sell well, of course, but a good chunk of those games have been pretty awful and really have to rely on name-recognition to make those sales in the first place.

Putting that aside, though, I still think that Sega qualifies as being one of the best and most iconic parts of gaming history, overall.

[Spark Of Spirit]

Exactly what killed them? I honestly have no clue. And I just heard about the Sammy purchase (probably from you) a few months ago (assuming the purchase wasn't recent)

It's a very long series of events that killed them.

Basically they released the Genesis/Mega Drive that was a huge hit for them and to maintain an edge over the Super NES in the console war made the mistake of investing money into bombing hardware to graft to it like the Sega CD, 32x, and several dumb peripherals.

Then they made the Saturn, their biggest mistake by far. Overpriced, impossible to develop for, terrible 3D, and 95% of the best games never released over here. The worst part was at one point they had the same hardware that Sony would eventually use for the PS1 and opted not to use it. Sega of Japan refused to listen to any of America's advice or requests (despite them being the reason the Genesis took off in America with their amazing advertising) to change anything and wouldn't listen to anything they had to say.

Nonetheless the Saturn crippled Sega horrendously. Then they came out with the Dreamcast which was easy to develop for, cheaper, had arcade-level 3D for arcade-level games, and most of the best games DID come out over here. The Dreamcast was everything the Saturn should have been and then some. Unfortunately, while the Dreamcast was already being made Sega was already almost out of money and it was just plain too late.

Hence the Dreamcast dying and Sega going third party. They also ended up not using their properties properly which ended in losing more money and having Sammy bailing them out. Unfortunately laying off many employees and disbanding almost every team.

I really do wish Sega had better management, but what's done is done.

[talonmalon333]

Exactly what killed them? I honestly have no clue. And I just heard about the Sammy purchase (probably from you) a few months ago (assuming the purchase wasn't recent)

It's a very long series of events that killed them.

Basically they released the Genesis/Mega Drive that was a huge hit for them and to maintain an edge over the Super NES in the console war made the mistake of investing money into bombing hardware to graft to it like the Sega CD, 32x, and several dumb peripherals.

Then they made the Saturn, their biggest mistake by far. Overpriced, impossible to develop for, terrible 3D, and 95% of the best games never released over here. The worst part was at one point they had the same hardware that Sony would eventually use for the PS1 and opted not to use it. Sega of Japan refused to listen to any of America's advice or requests (despite them being the reason the Genesis took off in America with their amazing advertising) to change anything and wouldn't listen to anything they had to say.

Nonetheless the Saturn crippled Sega horrendously. Then they came out with the Dreamcast which was easy to develop for, cheaper, had arcade-level 3D for arcade-level games, and most of the best games DID come out over here. The Dreamcast was everything the Saturn should have been and then some. Unfortunately, while the Dreamcast was already being made Sega was already almost out of money and it was just plain too late.

Hence the Dreamcast dying and Sega going third party. They also ended up not using their properties properly which ended in losing more money and having Sammy bailing them out. Unfortunately laying off many employees and disbanding almost every team.

I really do wish Sega had better management, but what's done is done.

And PS2

[Spark Of Spirit]

PS2 didn't really make a difference, they were already finished before it came out.

[Rynnec]

The only thing the PS2 teally did was hasten the inevitable. If I'm getting my facts straight, the PS2's being able to play DVD's made it a pretty big deal, ang gave it advantage over the dying Dreamcast.

[gunswordfist]

The only thing the PS2 teally did was hasten the inevitable. If I'm getting my facts straight, the PS2's being able to play DVD's made it a pretty big deal, ang gave it advantage over the dying Dreamcast.

Yeah, from what I heard PS2's dvd player killed DC but that's apparently ignoring a lot of what actually happened.

[talonmalon333]

The PS2 was basically the final nail in the coffin.

[gunswordfist]

Ok, back to loving Sega. I want to play the first Golden Axe again. Good times.

[Lord Dalek]

Great Sega Games You've (well not necessarily YOU but the general populace) Never Played...

Eliminator
Zaxxon
Tac/Scan
Quartet
Bullet
Crack Down
SDI
Alien Syndrome
Alex Kidd in Miracle World
Alex Kidd The Lost Stars
Galaxy Force II (NOT THE GENESIS VERSION)
Dynamite Dux
AB Cop
Turbo OutRun
Rail Chase
Rent-A-Hero
Spider-Man The Videogame
Super Fantasy Zone
Puyo Puyo
Landstalker
OutRunners
Phantasy Star IV
Monster World IV
Jurassic Park Rampage Edition
Fighting Vipers
Rail Chase 2
Last Bronx
Dynamite Cop

[Kiddington]

Alex Kidd was the original de facto mascot way before Sonic.

Man, why haven't I played these yet? I'm terrible sometimes.

[Avaitor]

I still haven't added in my Wii points card. I think I might make my first purchase be for either Ristar or Shinobi III.

Unless you can name a better Sega game that I should get first, besides the Sonics, since I already own those.

[Spark Of Spirit]

Better than Shinobi III or Ristar? That's difficult, since those are two of my favorite Genesis games. I would recommend Monster World IV but I'm not sure if you'd dig that one as much as the other two and it's 100 points more.

Alex Kidd was the original de facto mascot way before Sonic.

Man, why haven't I played these yet? I'm terrible sometimes.

Other than the Janken boss fights Alex Kidd In Miracle World is pretty great if not ridiculously hard. I also really dig Alex Kidd In Shinobi World as sort of a Shinobi/Alex Kidd hybrid.