By using this site, you agree to our Privacy Policy and our Terms of Use. Close
archbrix on 31 July 2012
Edit Thread
kain_kusanagi said:
archbrix said:
kain_kusanagi said:
archbrix said:
kain_kusanagi said:

One console would be cheaper and more accessible. It would end stupid fanboy wars. I'd love to go back to a time like when there was just Nintendo and Sega. Those were simpler times, better times.

Well, there was never a time when there was "just" Nintendo and Sega.  There was always either Atari, NEC, SNK, 3DO, etc in the marketplace.  But I agree with your sentiment:  Now that all of the big three are so big, there will inevitably be great games exclusive to each system, and something like this could certainly help to limit how many consoles one has to buy to play everything.

Personally, I don't think it will happen, but if it did, that'd be pretty awesome.

Know what I meant. Of course there has been other game companies. But during the 8 and 16 bit years none of them reached the market share that Nintendo and Sega had. As far as Nintendo and Sega were conserned Atari, NEC, SNK, 3DO etc didn't matter, and they didn't.

Actually, NEC's PC Engine (TG16) outsold Sega's Mega Drive (Genesis) in Japan - so yeah, they kinda did matter to Sega in their homeland regarding the fourth generation...

Yeah, the PC-Engine outsold even Nintendo... in Japan. The TG16 and Turbo Duo, both of which I own, sold terribly in the US and didn't matter to Nintendo or Sega. The largest market is what matters to the big companies. Japan is a small little island.  NEC may have been king of a mole hill, but Nintendo and Sega were titans fighting in mountains.

The little guys that get stepped on are not driving competition. NEC's PC-Engine was super cheap and easy to dev for. Beyond that it was so underpowered that I doubt Sega or Nintendo ever bothered to print an ad even mentioning their superiourity. But they sure did try to one up each other. Nobody tried to one up the Turbo Grafx-16 and nobody even noticed it's CD addon like they did the Sega CD.

All this is moot anyhow. Regardless of the little companies that came and went without notice, Sega dn Nintendo owned half the market each during the 16bit generation. Their competition was plenty to drive games forward. The same would be true if it was just Nintendo and MSony even if the Ouya  even gets released. Nobody will notice the Ouya or care about it's tech. Everyone will be talking about the big two and their tech. The big two will be enough to drive gaming forward just like back in the 16bit days.

I wouldn't call the Japanese game market a "molehill" back in the fourth generation, simply because it was such an important player back then.  And remember that Japanese companies are very proud when it comes to their home turf.  

Of course Nintendo and Sega were undoubtedly the top dogs in the fourth generation and their rivalry was the most legendary before Sony and Microsoft entered the market, but by your rationale - that only the top dogs have merit in the marketplace - would render Nintendo and Sega insignificant for two generations since Sony demolished them.  Were they a threat to Sony in the 5th and 6th gens?  Nope.  Were there console/fanboy rivalries regarding said companies during those eras?  Absolutely.

Which brings me back to my initial response to your post in the first place, which was to point out (mostly to some of the younger members here who may have read it) that Nintendo and Sega weren't the only companies around back then, nor was their rivalry the first.  After all, console rivalries have been around since the '70s with Magnavox vs Atari, and later, 2600 vs Intellivision, etc.