The Rise and Eventual Fall of SEGA

[dazzsheil]

I'm sure you've all heard about it, it's one of the saddest storys in the history of gaming. How one company that once dominated the entire market became just a little speck in the gaming world.

This is SEGA.

Master Hardware, Poor Sales
I thought the Master System was a neat little machine. It had a few good games and was overall technically more powerful than the NES. If you look at Phantasy Star and comapre it to Zelda or Final Fantasy, it looked way better! But the Master System had extremely bad sales in Northa America, and while it was really popular in Brazil (Stayed in Production till 2008!) it just coulden't really meet demands elsewhere. The Master System therefore died in 1991 in most of the world.

The Mega Rise, and Mega Bulls**t
The Mega Drive has to be one of the greatest systems of all time. Having near perfect ports of arcade games and awesome 1st party games like Moonwalker and- of course- Sonic the Hedgehog, the Genesis kicked the NES In it's butt. But things turned for the worst in 1993, why? The Mega-CD. The Mega-CD Was a CD Add-on for the Mega Drive, and one of the reaons why it failed was because of lackluster FMV Games. Night Trap doesn't make a great killer app, right? I mean, the only good game was Sonic CD!
Don't get me started on the 32X. It failed badly because of the impending release of the Saturn.

Ring of Mediocrity
The Saturn was technically a failure, but it has it's fans. Releasing in 1994 it had a 1 year hold of the market ahead of the Playstation. It had NiGHTS, Which was cool. But the nail in Saturn's coffin was Sonic X-Treme. It never saw the light of day. So what does SEGA decide to do for Xmas of '96? RE-RELEASE SONIC 3D BLAST FOR THE SATURN!!!!! And it failed....badly.

Dreaming high, falling hard
I'm sure you've heard of September 9th, 1999 Right? 9-9-99? That was the day the SEGA Dreamcast launched. It was a beast of a console. It had great launch titles and it used Wndows NT as it's platform so that made it easier for programmers to develop games for it. The Dreamcast was doing well with superb software like Soul Calibur and Sonic Adventure 1+2, but the major reason why it failed was because of one thing: The Playstation 2. SEGA, In the fall of 2001 decided to fold over their hardware department and make software. They were finished. I cried when Sonic Adventure 2 was released on the Gamecube. SONIC ON NINTENDO. That was satanic in my opinion.

Nowadays, when people think SEGA, They think Mega Drive. They think of the early 90's.

What do you think of the Rise and Fall of SEGA?

 

[A Link In Time]

Truth be told, SEGA never dominated the video game market. Nintendo was always a step ahead.

The Master System and Genesis were truly great systems. SEGA was especially skilled at targeting a more mature audience which Nintendo's stringent censoring policies largely alienated. At the same time, however, via mascots like Sonic and Alex Kidd, SEGA attempted to tap into that younger audience and did so rather successfully (truth be told, they still do to the present day with the former).

The Saturn was just a massive flop. Period. It was the equivalent of the Virtual Boy for Nintendo.

Dreaming high, falling hard

Great subheading. <3

The Dreamcast launch was ludicrously good. No joke, it definitely ranks in the top three industries launches ever. Soul Calibur went on to become the most acclaimed launch game of all time. PS2 killed the system, however, with its ability to not only play videogames but also movies. The reason the XBOX and Gamecube were able to compete semi-successfully (although never to the same extent as their competitor) was due to having a ton of power in the system and iconic franchises, respectively.

Things aren't looking particularly good for SEGA now either. Nevertheless, even through hard times, the company has remained resilient. Who knows, maybe they'll be back in the hardware business someday.

 

[dazzsheil]

Truth be told, SEGA never dominated the video game market. Nintendo was always a step ahead.

I Don't think so buddy. At one point, SEGA Had 65% of the Market in their grasp.

 

[endtoendhockey]

I picked the Genesis over the SNES, but I was the only kid in our neighbourhood who did. Had to drive a half hour to rent a video game. But boy did I ever fall in love with Eternal Champions...

 

[Fig]

It is a shame that one of the greatest video game companies had to downgrade themselves from a hardware to a software company. Most original games such as Sonic the Hedgehog were from SEGA, and only a few of their series are still surviving, with Sonic as a perfect example. I always believed that SEGA could actually outrank Nintendo at any point in time, and then obliterate Nintendo as a video game company. I was scared that SEGA had the lead at one point and I didn't want to see my favorite video game company go down in popularity. Though I was relieved it didn't last for so long, yet I had to feel bad for SEGA, they were an original video game company and if it wasn't for the release of the PS2, SEGA might have controlled the video game market as a whole. I am happy that Nintendo is giving more support to them now, and it is nice to see the two companies team up and act as brothers.

 

[dazzsheil]

hey, heeey, whats wrong with being satanic?

Think about it. It's Sonic the Hedgehog on Gamecube/Nintendo. THINK ABOUT IT!

 

[donpedrox]

Its a shame really what happened to Sega as a hardware contender with the likes of Sony and Nintendo and eventually Microsoft. Sega were screwed as soon as Sony announced the PS2. The dreamcast was a great system with some awesome titles

 

[theoathtoorder]

The Sega Genesis 32x was my first gaming system ;(
le sigh- back in the day when Eggman was Robotnik.

 

[Dan]

The sega master system and mega drive did really good in Europe for a long while. It was really odd at first seeing sonic on the gamecube but there's not much we can do only DREAM of a second coming

 

[Mariley]

Now that I think about it, I'm pretty sure the only Sega console I've ever owned was the Genesis. I did really love the Genesis though, it was a great console with some fantastic games. I think that was the only time where SEGA was a real competitor with the other console manufacturers.

It's a shame they had to get out of the hardware business. While I never owned a Dreamcast, it seemed like a really neat console that was ahead of its time in a lot of ways. Ultimately, more competition always benefits the consumer.

 

[goomboo]

Hmm... At least we can enjoy Sonic games and Nintendo games with only one system now

 

[KirbyBBQ]

Now I'm sad.
I miss Sega.
I grew up playing the Genesis at my grandparents house,
and I have such fond memories of playing Sonic 1 and 2.

I can only hope that the children of the 90's and late 80's still own their Genesis and Dreamcasts, and introduce them to their future children. :c

 

[theoathtoorder]

My favorite games from Sega were Ecco the dolphin, Sonic 2 & 3 (minus the carnival puzzle on the red barrel-ughhh!), Bubsy, and Mortal Kombat 2. I still remember by memory how to do lui kang's bicycle kick and mileena's pink ball thingy attack- lol. Long live Scorpion and Baraka. <3

 

[banders]

I have never been a fan of Sega. Even their most beloved franchise Sonic.

 

[A Link In Time]

I Don't think so buddy. At one point, SEGA Had 65% of the Market in their grasp.

Really? Nintendo hardware and software always sold more than its SEGA counterpart.


NES-61.91 million units sold
SNES-49.10 million units sold
N64-32.93 million units sold
Gamecube- 21.74 million units sold

Master System-10-13 million units sold
Mega Drive/Genesis-39 million units sold
Saturn-9.5 million units sold
Dreamcast-10.6 million units sold

Source: List of best-selling game consoles - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I also agree with others that SEGA's systems were ahead of their times. Heck, it seems that Nintendo took inspiration for the screen on the Wii U controller from SEGA's Dreamcast!