Except come 2001 when Sega pulled the plug they had absolutely no money to launch another console. They don't have a big daddy like Microsoft or Sony to milk for cash while they grown their business.

Otherwise I agree with the final nail was going software only...but its not like they had a choice.

Wish they were bought out by a gaming company like nintendo or even Microsoft. They have too many cool IPs we will never see. Also, they most likely own the rights to a good DPAD as none of the companies making controllers know how to make DPADs anymore.

It is true that Sega were in debt, but they could have easily borrowed money to launch the Dreamcat 2. (People also forget that Japan had ZIRP at that time) Sega was killed by bad internal decisions right to the end, but for some weird reason people think Sony or Microsoft killed them.

I don't know if it would have been #1, but it certainly might've been more successful. They released it too early, abandoned it too early.

But almost more importantly, while Saturn had some really good games of it's own, they failed to do the one thing that most companies do keep momentum going from console to console: make sequels/follow-ups to games that were popular the previous gen. They never made a real Sonic for it, and they didn't need to bother trying to make a 3D Sonic. They could have easily made another 2D Sonic (a REAL Sonic 4, if you will), with 32bit graphics, and it would have been very popular, I'm certain. They could/should have done the same for Golden Axe and/or Streets of Rage, making 32bit, arcade quality beat em up experiences for Saturn. They did have another Shining Force, but had it in multiple CDs, of which they failed to have all released in NA. They could have easily made a 32bit Vectorman 3, that actually DID compare to the DKC games technically (even surpassing them), now that they had the hardware to really do so.

They failed do cash in on any almost any of the franchises they made popular during the Genesis era. They instead went with almost entirely new games (Clockwork Knight, Bug, Nights, arcade ports, etc.), and while many of them were very good, you can't tell me Sega fans wouldn't have also liked to have had some new entries in series they had already invested in. I think that alone, along with not cutting out early and then once again pushing DC out the door too early, would have helped Saturn immensely.

Sega CD worth it for one reason.

Working Designs

The classic list of mistakes.

Too many add-ons
Too little support for the various add-ons
Too expensive for the add-ons and systems
Too complex to dev for
Not having quality 1st party software lined up and ready
Bad marketing

Basically, that's the laundry list that Sega went through from mid Genesis lifespan all the way to DC launch, and by that time it was too late. Too much damage had been done. Devs didn't give DC a chance from 3rd party, fans were already burned, Sony had captured a ton of the market, and Nintendo always kept its core base around with Mario and Zelda.

Enter Microsoft, Halo, and the path that led to today. More Sony domination, MS still relevant, Nintendo still pumping out 1st party to a dedicated base. Honestly not a ton has changed since the death of Sega when you think about it. The rise and fall of extreme casuals and the migration towards mobile for many of those has been the most noteworthy event in the 15 years since DC launch.

well... then we would... probably have Shining Force continue as a tactical RPG series, Shenmue 3 would probably be released, etc

and most of all we would probably have this still https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AiVS3SFUTA8

i miss SEGA ;,( RIP

There are lots of reasons Sega CD is "worth it". Working Design Games yes, but also:

Final Fight CD (better than arcade)

Robo Aleste (one of the best SHMUPS eever)

Eternal Champions CD

Shining Force CD

Snatcher

Sliphead

Sonic CD

Heart of the Alien

All these games were top notch gaming experiences that you really couldn't get anywhere else.

Where have you been? Some significant things have changed in gaming since Sega died.

(1) Sony is now a dying corporation.

(2) Nintendo is struggling but is still richer than Scrooge McDuck.

(3) Many third party devs went bankrupt.

What hasn't changed much is Microsoft's situation, they still are losing tons of cash on the Xbox brand and still has never won a generation.

Fairly certain Microsoft has been making money with Xbox since 2008. Especially considering it has been carrying windows phone since 2010...

Agreed. This type of approach would have required Sega to be unified and work as one...which was next to impossible when Japan and USA divisions are constantly budding heads.

Also Nvidia really F'd sega over with their 3D technology used for the Saturn. Quads instead of trinagles made Saturn crazy difficult to program for. Devs were just drawing trinagles anyway using 4 side quads and wasting processing power in doing so. Even if sega released the same console but had a different 3D rendering technology, they would have been better of with 3rd party devs.

To make mater worse, Sega kept investing capital in Nvidia and their NV2 technology to be used for "Saturn 2". Nvidia still kept pushing quads and when the chip finally failed, sega had absolutely no 3D technology that they could use. They had to get off the shelf parts for the Dreamcast (3DFX first but then NEC), making the dreamcast not as powerful as it could have been.

Is there a console manufacturer that Nvidia didn't fuck over? Nintendo I guess...