Cerebralbore101 said:
Chrkeller said:
That seems like a gross exaggeration. The Sega CD was ok at best. Bear in mind it required a $200 Genesis and then another $300 for the add-on, I could be a bit off on my numbers. But given the price it was meh.
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And the graphical jump was meh at best for both the CD and 32x. Then the Saturn was $100 more than ps1, and the ps1 had a better lineup.
Sega fell hard and fast from grace. It was both epic and tragic.
Sega wins this in a land slide, just because their decline happened in a few years, while MS's decline was more long term. The Saturn was meh and expensive. Niche titles doesn't make a system great, it makes it ok at best.
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Your numbers are off by a lot. A Genesis model 2 was $89.99 in 1993 (Launch Price) and came with Sonic 2 for $30 more. A model 2 Sega CD was $229 (Launch Price) and came with Sewer Shark packed in. So more like $200 after you sold Sewer Shark back to the game store for half price. That's nearly half your initial $500 price tag for a Sega CD and Genesis combo. Less if you count getting Sonic 2 packed in. I can't really fault you for coming to those numbers though. Info on Sega CD and Sega pricing is hard to come by these days and it took me 45 mins of digging even to find proof of what I remembered as a kid.
Also while Genesis games frequently launched at $70, Sega CD versions of those same exact games launched at $49.99 due to the cheaper cost of producing CDs.
I agree that the graphical jump wasn't up to snuff for what you paid. Even showstopper titles like Soulstar and Battlecorps were merely great looking. Nothing mindblowing compared to DKC on SNES IMO.
Saturn launched as an expensive system but quickly got amazing pack-ins in the USA. You could get a Saturn with VF2, Virtua Cop, and Daytona packed in for less than a PS1 in 1996. NA/PAL Saturn wasn't as good as NA/PAL PS1 in terms of game library, but if you added in an action replay cart and imported games from Japan the library definitely rivaled PS1. Babbages at the time would import quite a few Saturn JP exclusive games like X-Men vs SF. A boatload of arcade titles ran perfectly on Saturn, while they were absent on PS1 or lacking several frames of animation. If you liked Fighting Games, Shmups, and Arcade games Saturn was the better system.
Anyway take the time to watch some SegaLordX videos on youtube about the best Sega CD games. The library is nothing to sneeze at. At $50 per game the initial Sega CD investment got paid for very quickly, by saving $20 per game. And lots of stores ran insane deals because nobody else was buying Sega CD.
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Why pick the model 2 price? Lol, the original price was $299. Fine, a Genesis at the time was $90, but that is still $390, $900 via inflation. Dude, it was incredibly expensive with an incredibly weak lineup for that price.
Sega, within a few years, destroyed their entire reputation. The entire Sega CD and 32x was a completely and utter ****show. And Sony out did the Saturn with ease.
Sega went from competing for top dog to being irrevelant in a handful of years. MS is still around, especially with game pass, and didn't destroy themselves in years, but over a decade. The answer to the question of this thread is Sega, and it isn't even close. Nobody can argue Sega didn't make some of the dumbest decisions in gaming history.
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As a side note, my brother was a massive Sega fan. We had a Genesis, CD and 32x. I can tell you that the CD and 32x were such a crapfest that he went from a massive Sega fan to wanting nothing to do with them. I don't think he is alone.
Last edited by Chrkeller - on 29 January 2026
