The Saturn is probably one of the most jaded consoles I come across, on one hand I like some of the japan only games, but on the other, most multiplat games were better on the PS1.
Another thing I realised recently when researching about this console is that it didn’t really have a “killer app” sonic game that’d show off the capabilities.
What happened here? Did Sega leave development time too short on to refine some things about the console? Apparently it was difficult to code due to having 2 processors
Let me know your thoughts!
There were lots of things that impacted how the Saturn sold compared to the PS1. These include things such as its 2D vs 3D performance (it did 2D much better than 3D, which impacted the Japan vs Western sales since the Western market was all in on 3D whereas Japan still had an appetite for 2D games yet), its basis on squares vs triangles for rendering polygons (a major impact to that 3D performance), infighting between Sega of Japan vs Sega of America (the Saturn was developed in Japan to be Sega’s launch into that generation, while the Genesis was still selling well in America, leading to Sega of America pushing the 32X instead, and Sega of Japan forcing their hand on Sega of America and pulling a surprise Western launch of the Saturn, angering devs and retailers who weren’t ready, and leaving Sega of America holding the bag), and the cancelation of what was supposed to be that marquee Sonic game, Sonic X-treme.
Sega Lord X has a fantastic video about what went wrong and hypothetical fixes that may have saved the console.
In addition to what others said, due to the architecture it was notoriously hard to develop for. The Playstation dev kits were a dream to work with in comparison. Sega of Japan hedged their bets on 2D remaining king due to the Japanese market preferring arcade ports and slowness to accept change, and slapped on some 3D capabilities almost as an afterthought. Meanwhile Sega of America assumed the US market would scoff at spending 500 on a console when the 32X had just released and was very similar (and also selling poorly).
Sony took risks by pushing 3D hard, were aggressive with pricing, did a ton of marketing, and completely ate Sega’s lunch. Despite the Saturn being arguably more powerful and better made than the PS1, it wasn’t enough to right the ship. And it continued on this downward spiral due to the negative impressions that Sega was dying with the Dreamcast where they again flubbed the launch timing while people were enamored with the N64 and the PS1 had a massive library.
There were lots of other shenanigans involved, I’m skimming the surface here. Regardless, both consoles have some bangers and I recommend trying some out if you ever have the chance. The hardware is also very cool if you can find them cheap but might need refurbed at this age.
I played Panzer Dragoon and Mystaria at my friends house and was so jealous of the Sega Saturn.
This was the summer before the PS1 was released so ALL of what the Saturn had was a “killer app” as far as my 10 year old brain was concerned.
LTT just did a “console tier list” video with a bit on what went wrong with the Saturn.
I think one of the biggest problems was how Sega decided to split their market between the Saturn and the 32X. They should’ve focused their efforts on making one good console & games catalog instead of two mediocre ones.
Now that brings me back to the 90’s.
