Mr Puggsly said:
I think the goal of add-ons was trying to keep users engaged with unique or better experiences. Maybe even to deter them from other platforms. Sega CD wasn't much of a success, but I do believe it had a solid library with numerous titles that were later ported to other platforms. That was certainly the goal of the 32X, but it seems like horribly designed hardware overall. Ideas I consider bad from Nintendo were the DSi and New 3DS. The DSi was needed for access to digital games. While the New 3DS was a half assed upgrade that gave access to an underwhelming library. They also locked SNES emulation to New 3DS to drive sales. Its also worth noting Nintendo played with add-ons for NES. They worked on a CD add-on for SNES. The N64 did get the 64DD in Japan as well. When I look at Sega CD, I consider we got some solid games that Genesis couldn't really duplicate or do so as well. |
I get what the goal was, but like I said, Sega was a bit ahead of their time. The concept just wasn't ready.
With the DSi and New 3DS, they worked fine because they were replacements for portable hardware, and they had other features that made it more appealing. People are going to replace portables anyway as they get banged up. So they worked as hardware revisions. The exclusive games for them didn't really sell very well.
I'm not arguing that the CD wasn't decent hardware, but it just wasn't a good idea from a marketing point of view.