By using this site, you agree to our Privacy Policy and our Terms of Use. Close

Forums - Gaming Discussion - The third console curse: Which was the biggest stumble?

 

I think the biggest stumble was...

Nintendo 64 5 6.25%
 
Sega Saturn 40 50.00%
 
PS3 7 8.75%
 
Xbox One 28 35.00%
 
Total:80

In hindsight, Sega's best play with the Saturn would have been to agree to pay for 100% of Final Fantasy 7's budget and a fat money hat on top of that.

The Saturn was outselling the Playstation 1 in Japan in those earlier days, they should've just thrown everything at making a deal with Squaresoft that they couldn't possibly say no to the second they sensed any dissent with the Nintendo-Square relationship. 



Around the Network
curl-6 said:

So it would seem the consensus here is that the Saturn was the biggest fuckup of the four, though Xbox One also garnered a lot of votes.
N64 meanwhile got off the most lightly, with the least number of people crowning it biggest stumble.

It would seem a major factor was how well the system in question satiated the fans in spite of its commercial missteps; PS3 and N64 for instance are generally looked back upon fondly for their killer exclusives, while Saturn and Xbox One are somewhat more controversial.

The PS3 and N64 were less successful outliers from generally successful console lines. Yes, Nintendo has been up and down, but they've been overall pretty strong. The Gamecube outsold every Sega console other than the Genesis and ran neck-and-neck with the Xbox. The Saturn and X1, OTOH, were the baseline for their manufacturers, with the Genesis and 360 being the more successful outliers for those lines.  

The best-selling game of the 5th generation was a N64 game, Super Mario 64, and the two Zeldas and Rare's output help the N64's ongoing reputation in a way that games like Panzer Dragoon Saga and Sunset Overdrive don't for Sega or MS. Konami also had some pretty good games on N64. 

Last edited by SanAndreasX - on 24 October 2024

Soundwave said:

In hindsight, Sega's best play with the Saturn would have been to agree to pay for 100% of Final Fantasy 7's budget and a fat money hat on top of that.

The Saturn was outselling the Playstation 1 in Japan in those earlier days, they should've just thrown everything at making a deal with Squaresoft that they couldn't possibly say no to the second they sensed any dissent with the Nintendo-Square relationship. 

Sega likely didn't have enough money to buy exclusivity to FFVII, when the PS1 was a more attractive alternative. The Saturn was difficult to make games for. Plus, Sega didn't have a great track record in Japan, where the Mega Drive not only got steamrolled by the Super Famicom, but Hudson/NEC's PC-Engine outsold the Mega Drive 2:1 to finish second behind the Super Famicom.