shikamaru317 said:
In a nutshell, exactly this. Nintendo was alot cooler under pressure, instead of rushing to make a console to counter Sony they decided to wait and let the SNES have a few more years of popularity. Then they released the N64 after hardware prices had gone down enough that they could release a more powerful console than PS1 for a good price. They still lost to PS1 in sales by a considerable amount, but they sold enough N64's to stay in business. If Sega had adopted a similar strategy, releasing games for Genesis, Sega CD, and Sega 32X for a few years, then releasing the Dreamcast a year early in 98, they would very likely still be around today. |
Saturn was the right strategy and 32X should never have been created.
People don't realize that in 1993-1994 Sega had plans to release an upgraded Genesis (colors, sprites on screen, SVP chip integration) that played and enhanced all existing Genesis games. This was scrapped by a dude called Joe Miller who just before 1994 E3 pitched the idea of the 32X instead. What a big mistake listening to that guy...
PS1 would have won gen 5 no mater what. They had Final Fantasy which won them Japan and would have won them the west as well. But without 32X and with tweaks to the Saturn, Sega could have hung in there and sold 20-30 million Saturns, delaying the Dreamcast and making it a fair fight come PS2, Gamecube, Xbox were coming out.
Sega always had the software, they just needed a console that sold well.
