| Salnax said: I'm working on an epic history. The big one: What if the PlayStation was never created? So far, I've come to a few conclusions, but I'm being held back by my limited knowledge of all things Sega. Does anybody have a concrete reason why the Saturn lacked a real Sonic game? How much did the Saturn cost at what points in time? And what Saturn games should I know more about? Thanks! |
I can help with a few of those ^^
The next Sonic game was supposed to be a fully 3D game released in 1996 called Sonic Xtreme. Sega's best american studio, the Sega Technical Institute, who had in the past developed Sonic 2, 3 and Knuckles with help from Sonic Team were doing the development. It started as a 32X game, but then grew into a Saturn project.
The project bacame delayed and screwed up by many things, most notably the Japanese bosses being previewed outdated builds of the game and demanding evertyhing remade from scratch, as well as Yuji Naka ( The programmer of Sonic 1 ) being a giant asshole and threathening to quit the company when STI got permission to use the Nights Into Dreams engine, which meant they had to abandon a lot of work again.
The end result was the game not being ready, and Sega's mangement closing down STI and switcing focus to Sonic R and a port of Sonic 3D Blast to at least have something Sonic-like on the system. So basically, Sega lost both their next-gen Sonic and their best (IMO) studio.
I have no idea if the pressure of the PS1 had any impact on the game.
Notable Saturn games are the AM2 games, like Virtua Fighter 2, that pushed the saturn and was sort-of killer apps for the system if you were an arcade fan. If there was no PS1, I can add that the Saturn fighter library would have been INSANELY strong if Tekken didn't go to the N64. VF2 being sort of the Starcraft of fighters in japan at the time, those series combined would have locked the fighter audience to Saturn.
Other notable games are the quirky games that Sonic Team were fooling around with when they could have made something that pushed momentum (Nights into Dreams, Burning Rangers) and the early third party games like Tomb Raider and Resident evil. Those series would definately have been Saturn series if there was no PS1. (Tomb Raider was originally planned as a Saturn exclusive)
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