Huehuecoyotl
Monthly Donor
I hope so, as you can imagine the last year has been rather chaotic. I've forgotten a lot of what I had lined up next for this timeline, but I want to get back into it eventually. Just don't hold your breaths.
Blue Phoenix: How Sega Won the War
- Thread starter Huehuecoyotl
- Start date
Huehuecoyotl
Monthly Donor
The current plan is "yes" in both respects. As for timeline progress: still nil at the present time, but it's on my to-do list for next year.
The warning box that said it had no activity in 483 days should probably have been a clue.
Don't necro dead threads.
Thanks
Update 5: E3 1995
Huehuecoyotl
Monthly Donor
Sega’s Sonic fanatics anticipate a new generation
from The Daily Californian [1], May 1995
from The Daily Californian [1], May 1995
With a new generation of video gaming consoles freshly debuted in Japan at the end of 1994, American gamers now patiently (or not so patiently) wait for the arrival of the new 32-Bit machines on US shores. We asked some people around the campus of UC Berkeley for their thoughts on the upcoming Sega Saturn and Sony PlayStation, and while newcomer Sony is attracting some interest, Sega seems to be the name on everyone’s lips. Here’s what they had to say.
“I’ll be waiting for the Ultra 64 [2]. Sega really lost me with all those CD games, like Night Trap, and I liked Nintendo first anyway. You just know the Big N is going to come out swinging.” - Colin M
“Nintendo is really pushing it by waiting until next year. I think people are going to get impatient and turn to Sega and Sony instead. [3]” - Tom S
“I mean, Sony is the best there is with CD technology. What did Sega do with their CD addon? FMV games? I guess Castlevania was pretty good, though.” - Min H
“I think PlayStation looks awesome.” - Tina L
“All respect to Sega but – you just can’t win with a $46 billion gorilla in the room.” - Tom R
“It’s Sega’s game to win. They just have to keep up the momentum.” - Jen D
“Saturn will probably carry it. They’re just more popular with developers right now.” - Brian T
“I really hope Sega pulls it off. A 3D Sonic game is just what the doctor ordered.” - Will W
“As long as the sports games are good, I don’t really care which one wins out.” - Mark S
“Which one am I more excited for? (laughs) Ask me again in September!” - Nancy K
Interview with Steve Race, President of Sony PlayStation Group
Next Generation #5, May 1995 [4]
Next Generation #5, May 1995 [4]
E3 1995
excerpts from a Sega fanblog, retrieved 21 September 2023
excerpts from a Sega fanblog, retrieved 21 September 2023
In most respects, Tom Kalinske’s keynote speech at the start of E3 1995 reflected Sega’s optimism coming into the fifth console generation. After discussing Sega’s prioritization of the teen and young adult demographic and the importance of the game industry’s continuing evolution, he finally wrapped it up with the news everyone had been waiting for. The Sega Saturn, with its launch date now firmly set for 2 September 1995 (or “Saturnday” as it would be advertised everywhere), would launch with an MSRP of $349.99. This represented a significant cut from the original Japanese MSRP due to steadily dropping manufacturing costs and was better than some analysts were expecting.
Still, it can’t be denied that the buzz of Sega’s triumphant return was undercut somewhat by Steve Race’s one-word address not too long after: “$299.” [5]
[...]
Despite the embarrassment of losing the game of price point chicken, Sega acquitted itself well on the showroom floor during the rest of E3. A number of games targeted for the September 1995 release window were present and playable, and demos were likewise there for several games due out in 1996. Of particular interest to booth-goers was, of course, Sonic 4, helpfully advertised by an acrylic statue of the blue blur hovering over Sega’s portion of the floor and visible both near and far. The Sonic 4 demo was something to behold, with an air of palpable excitement for the final game energizing attendees and employees alike.
The home release of Virtua Fighter was also popular with attendees, along with the impressive 3D shooter Panzer Dragoon, which was considered the most graphically advanced game on display. While the Mega Genesis was late in its lifespan, one new release, Vectorman, was also on display at the show and attracted some positive attention.
At the end of the show, with the shape of the first clash between Sega and Sony now clearer, the gaming world could only wait with bated breath for the real show to begin that September.
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[1] - UC Berkeley’s student paper, founded in 1871.
[2] - At this time, Nintendo’s 64-bit monster had not yet been given its final name.
[3] - As announced early in May 1995, the Nintendo 64 was delayed from the ‘95 Xmas window to April 1996. It would ultimately be released IOTL in June 1996.
[4] - The real interview is well worth a read if you’re interested in the history of the era. Race states in the interview that the launch sales numbers of the Saturn in Japan were inflated because they counted units sold to retailers, and didn’t necessarily limit it to units that were sold to consumers. I was unable to verify this independently, and for what it’s worth later sources still seem to back up the claim that Saturn outsold PlayStation in late 1994, even if you only look at its second shipment which arrived around December 3rd, the PSX launch date.
I was also amused by the NG interviewer’s pointed comments about the price point of CD-ROM games, asking how it makes sense for them to retail at the same price point as cartridge games when the cost of manufacture is far lower. Race basically washes his hands of the question, saying that it’s up to software manufacturers to place that price point and that Sony (or Sega, or Nintendo) had no control over it. I find this interesting, as in the modern day the same process has repeated again with digital games, which cost almost nothing to distribute except server costs, being sold at the same price point as their physical counterparts.
[5] - Saturn avoids the disastrous blunder of the surprise May 1995 launch ITTL as Sega of Japan feels secure enough not to coax Sega of America into it. Saturn also launches $50 cheaper than IOTL thanks to its slightly cheaper architecture and Mega Genesis software profits. Still not enough to prevent one of the sickest owns in video game history, however.
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So, hey. This long-ish update is in celebration of the end of my 3 or 4 year hiatus. I certainly hope I'll never be gone for so long again; after COVID hit, I experienced a series of challenging life events that really kept me occupied until late last year. Still, I now find myself re-energized and ready to continue my two ongoing threads and explore Blue Phoenix further. Next update will also be large-ish (this is a real word, I promise) and will cover the North American Saturn launch. See you soon.
Virtual figther sales figures did show japanese where buying for it, it took till ff7 to get a multimillion seller for Sony.
I'm surprised it was revived
Update 6: Saturn and PlayStation launch, September 1995
Huehuecoyotl
Monthly Donor
It’s Out There: The Story of Saturn
excerpt from the book, published August 2017
excerpt from the book, published August 2017
In the immediate lead-up to “Saturnday”, the hype of the gaming public reached a fever pitch. Good word of mouth and encouraging reviews, not to mention a $60 million advertising campaign [1], had done their part to inform the public of the impending 32-bit revolution. If that and the solid-looking launch lineup weren’t enough, the impending release of the first 3D installation in the world-famous Sonic the Hedgehog series could have easily carried the affair on its back. It is safe to say that most of the people camped overnight outside KB Toys and Electronics Boutiques across the US and Canada on the night of September 1st were there for the Blue Blur more than anything else. But Sega of America would never complain.
When the doors opened, gamers and harried parents both flocked to the displays and the counters, finding not quite enough units to go around. In twenty-four hours, the entire first shipment of 300,000 consoles would find itself sold out, which might seem wild in light of the fact that buyers could have waited a week to spend $100 less on the PlayStation. That was the power of pack-in games at work, as the inclusion of “Sonic 4” bundled with the console more or less made up the difference in respect to the PlayStation, which would not release with any pack-ins. [2] Sega of America had capitalized on Americans’ sheer enthusiasm for their prickly protagonist, repeating their Genesis/“Sonic the Hedgehog” bundle success from a few years before – this time in spades.
A strong stable of additional launch titles and continued Sonic hype would continue to drive Saturn sales once the next shipment arrived, coinciding with the PlayStation launch on September 9th. Sony would briskly sell 120,000 units by the end of its own launch day, a respectable number driven by positive reviews for its flagship launch titles “Ridge Racer” and “Tekken”, but it was clear they had been bested yet again in an apparent reflection of Saturn’s earlier successes in Japan. The scene was repeated once more in miniature a month later, when both consoles were released at the end of September in Europe. As the holidays drew closer, it was clear that Steve Race’s confident predictions were wrong: Sega had beat the odds yet again.
Sega Saturn North America launch titles [3]
from Wikipedia
from Wikipedia
- Astal (Sega CS)
- Battle Arena Toshinden (Tamsoft)
- Black Fire (NovaLogic)
- Bug! (Realtime Associates) [4]
- Clockwork Knight (Sega CS1)
- Cyber Speedway (Nextech)
- Daytona USA (Sega AM2)
- Doom (id Software)
- Dragon Warrior VI (Heartbeat/Enix)
- Ghen War (Jumpin’ Jack)
- Golden Axe: The Revenge of Death Adder (Sega AM1)
- Madden NFL ‘96 (High Score/EA)
- Myst (Sunsoft)
- NBA Jam Tournament Edition (Iguana Entertainment/Acclaim)
- NHL ‘96 (High Score/EA)
- Panzer Dragoon (Team Andromeda)
- Parodius (Konami)
- Pebble Beach Golf Links (T&E Soft)
- Phantasy Star: Age of Strife (Sega RPG Production)
- Rayman (Ubisoft)
- Roar of Thunder (Hudson)
- Robotica (Micronet)
- Sega Rally Championship (Sega AM3)
- Shanghai: Triple Threat (Activision)
- Shining Wisdom (Sonic! Software Planning)
- Shinobi Legions (Sega CS2/Tose)
- Sonic the Hedgehog 4 (Sonic Team)
- Street Fighter: The Movie (Capcom)
- Virtua Fighter (Sega AM2)
- Virtua Racing (Time Warner Interactive)
- Virtual Hydlide (T&E Soft)
- World Series Baseball (Sega Sports)
Console War ‘95 - The Launch Titles
excerpts from a Sega fanblog, retrieved 21 September 2023
Platformers
Following up on their last hugely successful Sonic game would prove to be a challenging task for Sonic Team, and even more so on this new 32-bit hardware. The early stages of development soured the project for Yuji Naka, who would go on to say that he was not especially proud of his work on “Sonic the Hedgehog 4”. It might just be that his heart was not in it, as Naka was already thinking ahead to his next project, “Nights into Dreams”. Other Sonic Team members would recall it as a lopsided development cycle, with a beginning plagued by bugs and turns of ill fortune, from the coffee machine exploding the day that Sega top brass visited the studio to the source code of the game almost being lost due to a technical fault in early 1995. Fortunately, the “Hedgehog Curse” would be broken; after this incident, the remainder of development was remarkably smooth, and would be remembered fondly by many of Sonic Team.
The story of “Sonic 4” picks up on the time travel trends last seen in “Sonic the Hedgehog 3 CD” for the Mega Genesis. Having successfully stolen the Chaos Emeralds at the beginning of the game, the devilish Dr. Robotnik uses their power to break time itself in his last desperate attempt to stop Sonic the Hedgehog, by going back before their first confrontation to destroy the earlier Sonic with his advanced technology. With the whole world fluctuating rapidly between past and present, Sonic and his buddies Tails and Knuckles are sent racing through bizarre landscapes including a Precambrian volcano field, the age of the dinosaurs, and ancient Atlantis, defeating Badniks all the way. Along with the three heroes that Sonic fans knew so well, the game would also mark the first appearance of Team Chaotix, including Espio the Chameleon, Vector the Crocodile, and Charmy the Bee, who are rescued from captivity by Knuckles early in the game and join the fight against Robotnik. [5]
Ultimately, having recovered the Chaos emeralds, Super Sonic dukes it out with the Doc in a dramatic battle, ending with Robotnik’s latest mecha breaking up and sinking into a whirlpool in a stormy ocean, a maelstrom caused by the time rifts backfiring. In the face of this more final defeat, Sonic wonders if this is really the end of Robotnik, but puts it out of mind to enjoy a beach party with his friends and enjoy the peaceful world they created.
In gameplay terms, the player alternates between Sonic and his friends on different missions. Sonic’s missions took inspiration from the half-pipe bonus levels in “Sonic the Hedgehog 2”, starting off in a side-scrolling view before the hedgehog takes a right or left turn, after which the player would be free to dodge around the track with the camera following him from behind. Dramatic rises and falls in the path gave a convincing feeling of speed, but for a taste of true third-dimensional gameplay, players would need to wait for the boss at the end of each zone, where Sonic and friends could move freely around a circular arena while dodging attacks. By contrast, Tails, Knuckles, and Charmy’s levels would have more verticality and traditional platforming.
While the characters, tracks and platforms were all polygonal, the backdrops were parallax scrolling 2D paintings, with occasional objects and animals close to the track (such as the Brachiosaurus in Jurassic World Zone [6]) being fully modeled. The game contains several FMV cutscenes, without character voices but instead with text on the screen to indicate character dialogue; scrolling boxes would perform the same purpose outside of cutscenes. The choice to not add voiced dialogue was ultimately a question of space on the disc, which was pushed to its limit by the game’s ambitious scope. Some criticized the choice not to take advantage of the move to the CD medium in this way, but others were relieved, feeling that it would have been a little weird to hear the Sonic characters chatting audibly. Sonic would find his voice in later games in the series, of course, but players would at least hear the characters exclaiming while jumping, attacking, or taking damage.
The CD medium was used to its full advantage in the realm of music, but the choice of how to soundtrack the game proved a difficult one for Sonic Team. An orchestral score was much desired, but the cost involved ultimately ruled it out. The final soundtrack instead took inspiration from house music, with synthetic noises playing on the game’s sci-fi themes and a thumping bassline to add to the feeling of speed and energy. Sega of America considered a grungy rock soundtrack as a replacement for the NA market, but Sega of Japan put their foot down on the matter, and “Sonic 4” would ultimately release with the same soundtrack in all regions.
Posters everywhere boldly advertised the game, showing a familiar red cap being left in the dust. “Sorry Mario,” they boasted, “you’re too slow!” These celebrated the milestone of Sonic arriving in the 3D landscape well before his Nintendo rival.
The critical reception was overwhelmingly positive. Despite occasional frame drops in the fastest sequences, the game otherwise ran smoothly at 30 FPS and looked phenomenal for the time, albeit rough by the standards of later Saturn games. A few critics sighed at the fact that the game was mostly “on rails” and did not permit the player to fully explore a 3D world, accompanied by chuckles in gaming magazines about players spending most of the game staring at Sonic’s butt. [7] But for most players this limited locomotion wasn’t much of a negative. The gameplay itself was fun and fast, just what Sonic fans were expecting. It would become the console’s first million-seller, then later multi-million seller, helped along by its pack-in status and the hedgehog’s enduring popularity. While superseded in gamer’s hearts by later, more polished 3D entries, it is still remembered as a classic today.
Despite this, Yuji Naka and his colleague Naoto Ohshima were both eager to move on from Sonic, feeling they had done all they could with the Blue Blur and overstayed their time with the property. They would move on to “Nights into Dreams” as soon as “Sonic 4” development wrapped, leaving many to wonder what sort of future Sonic would have.
While the other first-party platformers that made it to launch day all had their fans, particularly the humorous “Bug!” and the fanciful “Clockwork Knight”, it was generally agreed that both were rendered dead on arrival in terms of technological advancement, Sonic having blazed past them. The Ubi Soft platformer “Rayman” also out-competed its 2D counterpart, “Astal”, which while a gorgeous and quite solid game did not have nearly as much content. Though “Sonic 4” was the obvious leader, “Rayman” still surprised many, who were playing it for the first time despite its original release on the Atari Jaguar earlier that year. It would go on to spark the beginning of a successful franchise.
Fighters
Sega’s own “Virtua Fighter” led its charge into the Fifth Generation fighting-game space, just as it had done in arcades before. Compared with the arcade original, players were impressed by the texture-mapped character models as well as its faithful translation of the arcade experience. [8] Critics compared it favorably with “Battle Arena Toshinden” by Tamsoft, a cross-platform title, but the matchup against Namco’s “Tekken” on the PlayStation was less clear. Many pointed out that, gussied up graphics or not, “Virtua Fighter” still felt a bit outdated when up against the newer game on Sony’s machine. It was received well by the gaming public as well, albeit soon overshadowed by later releases.
Racing games
Ever since the release of “Virtua Racing” in arcades in 1992, Sega had been a leader in pushing racing games to the next level. But with the debut of the fantastic “Ridge Racer” from Namco on the Sony PlayStation, it seemed like there was a worthy challenger. Sega riposted against this new challenger with three titles of its own, including an expanded port of “Virtua Racing” by Time Warner Interactive [9], a home version of “Daytona USA” [10], and “Sega Rally Championship”. Between these three and “Ridge Racer”, the latter was ultimately considered the best-looking game, though Sega’s assortment of racers gave it a serious run for its money. By sheer quantity, at least, Sega were the victors.
RPGs
RPG fans were disappointed with the early PlayStation lineup, which carried no RPGs in the American market at all. Sega fans would be far happier with their own selection, as Sega of America, while a bit skeptical of the genre, had responded to positive feedback for the Mega Genesis release of “Phantasy Star IV” by greenlighting three RPGs to be localized from Japan. “Phantasy Star: Age of Strife”, the first 32-bit entry in one of Sega’s premier series, would prove to be the flagship of this valiant offensive, and fans would not be disappointed.
With the story line of the first four games having wrapped up in the previous entry, “Age of Strife” takes players out of the Algol system for the first time, spanning a wider part of the same galaxy in the third millennium, the titular age of instability and war following the events of “Phantasy Star IV”. The game follows the story of Flair Trill, a cargo pilot who finds himself wrapped up in the quest to prevent the rise to power of a dictator who intends to end the Age of Strife with fire and steel.
While still 2D in its overworld segments, the 3D dungeon-crawling segments of the game, inspired by those of the first “Phantasy Star”, would be widely praised, and the art direction of the game was considered stunning overall. All things considered, it was a great transition to the new generation for the series, and many would consider it the best game out of the starting lineup.
Not to be left out, another venerable RPG series would come exclusively to the Saturn in time for the launch: “Dragon Warrior VI” (“Dragon Quest VI” in Japan) from Enix. Enticed over by the benefits of CD storage capacity for music and game worlds, as well as the opportunity to tweak the nose of their rival Square who seemed set to hop into the Sony camp, Enix would in fact go on to primarily favor the Sega Saturn for the duration of the Fifth Generation console war. Unlike “Age of Strife”, “Dragon Warrior VI” would have few 3D elements to speak of, aside from some monsters. These would be praised, but some in the gaming press would grumble that it looked little better than a Super Nintendo game. To those who took time with it, it was considered another winner in the Saturn RPGs column. [11]
“Virtual Hydlide” by T&E Soft would receive a more mixed response, with its graphics praised by most, but its gameplay praised by few. [12] Most gamers overlooked it in favor of the stronger offerings by Sega, and today copies are quite rare.
Shooters
The headliner in the shooters department was, by far, “Panzer Dragoon”. Developed by the comparatively new Team Andromeda at Sega, this futuristic rail shooter was widely admired for the strength of its gameplay and beautiful graphics, if sometimes with the caveat that the game didn’t have much mechanical depth besides. Immediately after its development wrapped, Team Andromeda split its efforts to work on two follow-ups in the same world.
It was joined by a new game from Hudson, acquired by Sega in 1993. Hudson Soft had last developed a game for a Sega platform in late 1993 with “Ys IV: The Dawn of Ys”, which released exclusively on the Mega Genesis, although they had also recently ported their excellent shoot ‘em up “Lords of Thunder” to that same system in early 1995. Now they were ready for another go with “Roar of Thunder”, a sequel to the aforementioned. Once again, Duran takes up arms against the demonic legions with an array of magical projectiles. Although the story was considered a bit thin, the game excelled as a shoot ‘em up, and its use of 3D characters and locations were considered highly impressive at the time.
Shoot ‘em up fans would also be pleased to see Konami’s “Parodius” finally make it stateside in the form of a two-part compilation of their hits “Parodius Da” and “Gokujou Parodius”. Konami had started to foster a stronger relationship with Sega since the launch of the Mega Genesis, with this bizarre but fun shooter being the first of many hits that would come from them to the Saturn. Thanks to this semi-exclusivity, PlayStation fans would need to wait until early 1996 for their own copies. [13]
Inevitably, id Software’s “Doom”, that groundbreaking first-person shooter, also made the jump over. The port was generally well-regarded and would open the way for many “Doom-likes” on the Saturn over the next few years.
Sports games
Although sports fans were for the most part content to keep buying 16-bit editions of their favorite series, the appeal of polygons drew more than a few for the launches of both the Saturn and the PlayStation. “Madden NFL ‘96” was not technically the first 32-bit game in the series, that being “John Madden Football” (1994) for the 3DO, but that wasn’t exactly a hot seller. The game arrived right around the start of the 1995-96 American football season on both Saturn and PlayStation and sold a hilarious amount of copies. It is still well-regarded despite the inevitable clumsiness inherent to early 3D sports titles. [14] 3D hockey and baseball games, and an updated “NBA Jam”, would round out the early Saturn sports stable, although it no longer had a strong lead over the competition with the “Joe Montana Football” series seemingly in limbo.
Conclusion
All in all, the Saturn enjoyed one of the strongest launch lineups of the 90s, and few gamers found anything to complain about in the variety and quality of the games available, as evidenced by the console’s healthy sales through the end of 1995. PlayStation being put on the back foot and forced to keep up with Sega was definitely a good sign for the blue titan, which had justified its own bravado while making Sony’s look premature…
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[1] - Compare with OTL’s $50 million campaign, which included some of the weirdest damn commercials I’ve ever seen.
[2] - IOTL, the pack-in game at Saturn’s May 11th launch was “Virtua Fighter”.
[3] - This list may seem a little inflated at first glance, but this is basically every Saturn game that should have been released around its original September 2nd launch window IOTL, plus several extras on account of Sega not bungling their third-party relationships ITTL. The PlayStation’s NA launch titles list is similar to OTL, but with the addition of “Madden NFL ‘96” and “NHL ‘96”.
If a game isn’t mentioned in the paragraphs below the list, feel free to assume that it is largely unchanged from OTL.
[4] - “Bug!” was famously conceived originally as an American-made Sonic game when it was clear that the Saturn wouldn’t have a Sonic game at launch. SOJ put the kibosh on that idea and it was reworked into this original concept instead. ITTL, “Bug!” arrives nevertheless. Realtime Associates, who were always most at home in this genre, just developed it anyway. It was probably conceived during the troubled early production of “Sonic 4” when it wasn’t certain if Sonic would make it to the launch after all.
[5] - “Knuckles’ Chaotix” for the 32X obviously never happened ITTL, but was canned after the character concepts for these three were finalized.
[6] - No relation, but the Brachiosaurus was probably picked because of its famous appearance in Jurassic Park (1993).
[7] - OTL’s “Sonic's ass game”, starring a certain bandicoot, will be covered in a future update.
[8] - It has been known for years that, despite launching the Saturn with the original pack-in version of “Virtua Fighter” with all its glitches and textureless polygons, Sega had the fixed and prettied up “Virtua Fighter Remix” pretty much ready to go by E3 1995. Their decision to withhold this improved version of the game until later baffled many. ITTL, the Saturn is comfortably able to launch in North America with the “Remix” version instead.
[9] - IOTL, Time Warner Interactive didn’t exactly port “Virtua Racing”. In fact, Sega refused to give them the source code for the arcade version and they had to build it from scratch instead. All things considered, it was still a great version of the game, but players noticed the difference in how vehicles handled. This weird blunder manages to be avoided ITTL, allowing the game to release in time for the launch.
[10] - A smoother product than OTL’s original Saturn “Daytona”, basically resembling “Championship Circuit Edition” with its 30 FPS and reduced pop-in issues.
[11] - Released on the Super Famicom IOTL, the series’ early transition away from cartridge games is the work of dedicated schmoozing by Sega and money.
[12] - Believe it or not, this is as OTL. The game is mostly a meme nowadays, but apparently people were really easy to impress in 1995 as long as you put polygons in front of them.
[13] - This two-part “Parodius” collection was released on Saturn and PS1 in Japan IOTL, but despite being localized to English for the EU it was never released in North America. The reasons why are still quite mysterious. ITTL it manages to make it, but Sega gets first dibs.
[14] - This game didn’t actually make it to the next-gen consoles in OTL’s 1995, though God only knows why.
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There you have it. The changes made by Sega so far reap big dividends here, but it's not over yet. The 1995 holiday season is coming up next.
Huehuecoyotl
Monthly Donor
Aside from grunts and shouts when jumping, attacking, or taking damage, no. But that day will come...
I would love for Terranigma to get a US release on both the SNES and the Saturn ITTL.
Who voices Sonic's grunts and shouts in Sonic 4? And are the FMV cutscenes in the game pre-rendered CG or 2D animation? And also, a Classic Sonic game with a orchestral score would've been epic. A shame that they didn't go that route. Oh well, at least the final soundtrack would sound good.
Huehuecoyotl
Monthly Donor
Some uncredited Sonic Team employee, possibly. As for the cutscenes, they're pre-rendered CG.
Update 7: Holiday Season 1995, and looking forward to 1996
Huehuecoyotl
Monthly Donor
Saturn’s not just out there (It could also be under your tree!)
from a promotional page spread in a Toys “R” Us catalog, November 1995
from a promotional page spread in a Toys “R” Us catalog, November 1995
( An illustration of Sonic in a Santa Claus hat can be seen, waving to the reader and sitting on top of an oversized Saturn. )
Saturn comes to Earth with hot Black Friday deals! Now just $299.99! [1] Enjoy an authentic arcade experience right in your living room!
[...]
The Queen has been kidnapped by the forces of the evil mage Bane! Can a noble prince and his eleven allies rescue her? Find out in the exciting adventure “Blazing Heroes”! [2]
[...]
Dino-mayhem! The arcade hit by Sega based on the blockbuster movie, “Jurassic Park”, comes home. Is your aim good enough to help you escape the island alive? Get the most out of your gaming experience with the help of the Sega Saturn Arcade Stick! [3]
( The page goes on to show several launch titles, plus “Gex”, “Virtua Fighter 2”, and “Earthworm Jim 2” )
It’s Out There: The Story of Saturn (cont.)
excerpt from the book, published August 2017
excerpt from the book, published August 2017
When all was said and done, Sega had a lot to be proud of at the end of 1995. They had conclusively shown that Sony’s financial might was not everything; strong first-party titles, plus the tight third-party relationships they’d cultivated over the last five years, had proved more than enough for Sega to fend off their new rival. The numbers reflected this as well, with Sega and Sony closing out the year with the former firmly in the lead; the Saturn had sold 986,423 units in North America, with some speculating that it might have sold more if Sega had been able to keep up with demand, and the PlayStation had sold 344,686. Worldwide, Saturn was close to the 3 million mark, with PlayStation trailing at just under 1 million.
The industry as a whole could take some optimism from this, as the cumulative numbers of both systems combined seemed to indicate that the industry-wide slump which had begun in 1993 was now being reversed. Sega, of course, was the happiest of them all. But despite all appearances, they were not out of the woods yet. 1996 would be the year that Sony struck back… [4]
The War Council
excerpt from a post on SonyWorld, a fan blog, retrieved 28 September 2023
excerpt from a post on SonyWorld, a fan blog, retrieved 28 September 2023
Olaf Olafsson was reviewing holiday sales projections in late December 1995 when he received a summons from on high. Flying to Japan later that same night, he arrived in Tokyo jet-lagged but steeling himself. The phone call had been short and terse, and Olafsson wasn’t sure if he was about to be sacked.
What he found instead was nothing short of a war council. Aside from himself, Ken Kutaragi was in attendance, as was a representative from the parent company, and even some of his own subordinates from Europe. They had all been gathered there to discuss – what else? – the challenge posed by Saturn.
Olafsson, Kutaragi, and their colleagues were relieved to hear that Sony’s upper management still had faith in the PlayStation IP. It hadn’t achieved the market dominance they’d hoped for, but all their projections suggested that this could be reversed. For now, they were still willing to pump more money into PlayStation to help it carve out a larger market share. The silent implication: if the 1996 financial year didn’t turn things around, that willingness could change.
Many strategies were discussed that would ultimately be implemented, including a massive new advertisement campaign, as well as an initiative to offer cheaper prices to retailers for PlayStation demo kiosks to crowd out the competition. Finally, a price drop was agreed upon, bringing the PlayStation down to $199.99 stateside as soon as possible. Olafsson, who had clashed with his superiors numerous times already about lowering the PlayStation’s price, felt vindicated by this. [5]
Everyone knew that games were the biggest issue, however. Launch titles “Ridge Racer”, “Wipeout”, and “Tekken” [6] had impressed the industry and players both, and the newly released “Twisted Metal” was proving quite popular, but surveys suggested that players perceived a gap in both quantity and quality between Sony and its competitor Sega. The Saturn’s first-party launch titles were seen as bold and inventive, and there were far more of them besides.
As a relative newcomer to the industry, Sony’s own first-party stable was still finding its feet. Third-party support had been what they banked on, and while that was still fairly strong, they hadn’t gotten nearly as far with that as they’d hoped. Sega’s long-established relationships in the industry had closed a lot of doors for them; Konami’s preference for Sega in particular was a stinging blow, as Sony had been very interested in their upcoming games.
Sequels to “Tekken” and “Ridge Racer” were both due for release in 1996, with other first-party projects in early development at the San Diego, Santa Monica, and London studios as well as Polys Entertainment. All of these were fairly promising, but they were still a ways off. On the third-party front, a large number of equally promising games were coming, but many of these were set to be cross-platform releases.
RPGs were seen to be a particularly weak area for Sony, who had been surprised by the strong performance of Sega’s releases in the genre that year. Olafsson inquired with his Japanese colleagues about whether there were any strong RPG releases coming up. On that end, it was somewhat slim pickings, but after hearing more about “Arc the Lad” by G-Craft, which had been PlayStation’s top-seller in Japan in 1995, he and his team jumped to ask if it could be brought stateside. It would ultimately be localized in North America and Europe in late 1996. “King’s Field” by up and coming developer FromSoftware was also due for a North American release in early 1996. When asked about Square, the Japanese reps could only shrug, saying that the next installment in the “Final Fantasy” series was at least a year away.
A rep from the UK also mentioned that the game “Rapid Reload” by Media.Vision, which had not yet been localized to North America, had been a hit with PlayStation fans in Europe, and while not an RPG itself (a run-and-gun game similar to the “Gunstar Heroes” series on the Mega Drive/Genesis), Ken Kutaragi confirmed that the developer was making a Wild West themed RPG that would probably be out in Japan later that year. It was decided to bring “Rapid Reload” over in the meantime.
Also pressing was the fact that survey responses said, when compared with Sega, Sony Computer Entertainment had yet to establish a firm brand identity for itself. Its famous “U R NOT (RED) E” series of ads was now running, showing off a modern, frenetic image for PlayStation promising a high-octane gaming experience. The linchpin factor of a mascot, an instantly-recognizable character like Mario or Sonic, was still missing.
Sony didn’t have anything from its first-party studios to address this problem. Kutaragi mentioned that Hideo Yoshizawa at Namco was working on a mascot platformer, but it was still very early in development, and many present were reluctant to pin all their fortunes on Namco yet again, especially with rumors in the industry that Namco was considering going cross-platform in 1997.
Olafsson remembered something, and smiled. He had recently been in touch with Mark Cerny at Universal Interactive Studios, and they had a project over there that sounded like it was just what Sony needed.
The Once and Future King?
excerpt from an article on Nintendo Legends, a fan blog, retrieved 28 September 2023
excerpt from an article on Nintendo Legends, a fan blog, retrieved 28 September 2023
As always, Nintendo outwardly kept its cool as 1995 slowly turned to 1996, but internally they were finally starting to worry. With an eye on quality assurance, they did not regret their decision to wait to release the Ultra 64 (now revealed as the Nintendo 64 at Shoshinkai in November), but they were nevertheless starting to come to grips with the challenges this delay posed. As it stood, only three games were forecasted for the June 1996 launch of the console in Japan, and only two for the planned September 1996 launch in North America. Overcoming that year-plus late start was going to pose an uphill battle, as both its largest competitors were now firmly established in all the major markets.
They knew their first-party games were well worth the price, but the lack of enthusiasm among third parties was proving to be a vexing issue. Long-time Nintendo allies Enix and Square had both thus far declined to announce any games for the 64, and were seemingly fully committed to their new friends Sega and Sony respectively. Many developers were growing more lukewarm about the idea of developing games for cartridges when the benefits of the CD format were now more obvious. To make matters worse, the price of CDs was projected to drop further over the next couple of years, something which Nintendo’s proprietary cartridges could not match.
The facts as presented promised some pretty lean years ahead for what had once been the console industry’s sole superpower, but Nintendo were still determined to play to their strengths and stick by their beloved properties. They would remain true to themselves, no matter the good or the ill that would come of it…
The Sega Empire in 1996
excerpt from Moonrise: The Definitive Sega Luna, published November 2008
excerpt from Moonrise: The Definitive Sega Luna, published November 2008
With the Saturn proving to be successful in the Japanese, American and European markets, Sega now had its sights set firmly on the future. However, there were just a few remnants of the past slowing them down. More than a few, actually – there was a positive glut of Sega hardware sitting in their warehouses, some of it with nowhere to go.
Although the Saturn was still selling everywhere about as fast as they could stock it, and the Mega Genesis was still selling at a modest, if declining rate, Americans and Canadians had started to lose interest in the basic Genesis, abandoning it in favor of the newer fifth-generation machines or its upgraded variant. This posed a problem for Sega of America, which had been forced to overstock much of its hardware in order to meet the requirements of American retailers and still had tens of thousands of Genesis units rotting in its warehouses. It likewise had too many Game Gear units, a surplus of Picos, and even some Sega CDs still lying around. [7]
This was a point of embarrassment for Sega of America, who were otherwise having such a nice year. They needed to get out the old to make space for the new, but with the demand for their older systems drying up, doing so at the domestic level just wasn’t feasible.
Ultimately, as Sega considered branching into emerging video game markets with the Saturn, they decided to pave the way by shipping and retooling this excess hardware in Southeast Asia, Southern and North Africa, and Latin America and the Caribbean. It was hoped that this could kill two birds with one stone by dealing with the stock problem and creating new markets for future Sega hardware and software.
This plan would have only limited success, as the cost involved in shipping and localizing the machines and software (usually just a few games for each region) proved greater than the profits made in return. Furthermore, not all the stock could be moved even with this initiative, requiring some more to be sold at bargain bin prices in the states, given away to Sega employees, or even scrapped. But the export strategy did, nevertheless, make new Sega fans and prime certain markets for upcoming releases of the Saturn, most notably South Africa and Argentina.
As for out with the old, in with the new, Sega was closely watching the movements of its rival Nintendo in the handheld gaming space. The Game Gear had been a modest success, but had never come close to catching up with Nintendo’s Game Boy, in part due to the Game Gear’s issues with battery life. Now it seemed that Nintendo was about to release a new iteration of the Game Boy with a smaller form factor and improved battery life in the form of the Game Boy Pocket, due out in Japan sometime later in 1996. It wasn’t time to discontinue the Game Gear just yet, but it would begin to wind down in early 1996 in all regions except Europe and Brazil, where it was still doing fairly well. In the meantime, Sega would begin to research the feasibility of a 16-bit handheld, seeking software and hardware developers to collaborate with… [8]
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[1] - As in OTL, Saturn’s price was cut to match the PSX’s $299 for Black Friday in 1995. ITTL Sega’s not losing quite as much money on each system.
[2] - In our timeline, its name had to be changed from “Mystaria: The Realms of Lore” after a copyright infringement suit from TSR, owner of Dungeons & Dragons and its Mystara setting. This time around it was caught and fixed earlier, preventing it from losing valuable time on the market.
[3] - The “Jurassic Park” System 32 shooter game never made it to home consoles in our timeline. Nor did the Saturn ever have a dedicated arcade joystick peripheral; it did have a twin stick controller for “Virtual On: Cyber Troopers” as well as an arcade flight stick, but nothing that would have been appropriate for the stick-operated shooting crosshair in “Jurassic Park”. This has changed here.
[4] - These numbers are ultimately extrapolated from the Sega FY1997 brand report that was uploaded to Archive.org earlier this year. It’s a treasure trove of previously forgotten or hidden information about the financial hole that Sega got itself into; page 48 includes cumulative sales to date of both the Saturn and PlayStation as of the end of 1995.
Saturn of course fares far better thanks to a multitude of factors, but the cumulative numbers of both systems combined are better than OTL due to increased hype over the new generation and the presence of 5th-generation sports games on both consoles bringing in the normie dollars. In theory, the console industry is off to a better start in this generation than IOTL.
[5] - IOTL, this price drop would occur months later in May 1996. Olaf Olafsson ultimately left the company in early 1996 because of his disagreements about multiple things, including the hardware price. Them caving early has the butterfly effect of leaving him with Sony, at least for a bit longer.
[6] - I forgot to mention it, but “Tekken” was actually released in North America in November 1995 IOTL; localization and release was moved up slightly ITTL as a reaction to the Saturn’s stronger starting lineup of fighter games.
[7] - This is also based on information from the aforementioned FY1997 brand report. Apparently in 1996 OTL, Sega of America projected it would have more than 600,000 Model 2 Genesis units rotting in its warehouses with nowhere to go. Dire stuff.
[8] - They actually looked into this IOTL too, but were forced to stop with Sega’s finances collapsing in ‘96 - ‘97. Where will this tangent lead? You'll see soon enough…
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So, we reach the end of 1995 at last. It's been a big year, but 1996 is gonna be even bigger. Stay tuned for the arrival of the N64, Sega's explorations of the handheld market, an update focusing on South Korea, and Sony's revenge, featuring a certain marsupial.
Update 8: Saturn ports for personal computers
Huehuecoyotl
Monthly Donor
Sega brings the arcade home... again.
excerpt from Sega Games on Home Computers: The Complete History, published April 2016
1996 would mark the year when Sega Saturn games finally arrived on the home PC market, though perhaps not quite in the way that gamers expected. Sega was, of course, in the middle of a multi-year contract with NEC, who had provided the CPU architecture for the Saturn. But when it wasn't moonlighting in the game industry, NEC was also one of the largest home computer manufacturers in Japan. Their deal with Sega promised to make them a lot of money in the American and European markets, but this was not NEC's only foray into the West, as in July 1996 they finalized an acquisition of Packard Bell.excerpt from Sega Games on Home Computers: The Complete History, published April 2016
Packard Bell had once been one of the most dominant PC manufacturers in America, but a series of class-action suits prompted by PB failing to adequately advertise their usage of refurbished parts brought them to the brink of ruin in 1995. NEC bought the brand in the interests of spreading its roots in North America, taking over a roughly 15% market share overnight. Despite this strong start, the highly competitive American PC marketplace quickly proved a tough nut to crack. NEC decided to turn to their friends at Sega in the hopes that they could help coax Americans into buying Packard Bell NEC machines.
Sega was a bit skeptical, but they had been planning to make further inroads into the PC space anyway; their release of the Genesis hit "Comix Zone" for Windows had been well received in late 1995, and they were curious how their newer Saturn titles would fly with the PC gamers of the day. Perhaps in spite of their better judgement, Sega agreed to a six-month exclusive contract with Packard Bell NEC to allow one of "Virtua Racing", "Panzer Dragoon", or "Daytona USA" to come pre-installed on new units of the Force series of PCs. These three games in particular were chosen because preliminary Windows builds of these three games had already been in development by Time Warner Interactive, in the case of "Virtua Racing", and the other two by Sega PC. They started to roll out with Force machines in September 1996.
Although those who played the ports received them positively, that roster of players was a pretty small one. Packard Bell NEC saw its share of the US PC market decline precipitously over the following six months, and NEC began to have second thoughts about its American adventure. They ultimately opted not to renew the PC port contract with Sega, who gladly went on to put out wider releases of its Saturn titles on Windows PCs in 1997. Although this deal did not save Packard Bell NEC as some had hoped, it had the unexpected benefit of giving Sega plenty of time to prepare yet more PC ports for a 1997 release, including "Sonic 4" and "Virtua Fighter 2". Many of these were likewise developed by Sega PC, but Tantalus Media would also be an important partner.
When they did make a push for the PC market that year, the software sold well, as did a PC version of the Saturn Arcade Stick peripheral. Although ultimately a sideshow to the console race Sega was embroiled in, this series of events would leave Sega's footprint on the PC game space for years to come, with big effects in the late '90s...
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