The Rise and Fall of Sega

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We take a look into the past of Sega and where they went wrong in the console wars.

 

Techmo Bowl sucks, I got Joe Montana. Youʼre still playing Mario, Dude! Ask your Mom if you can come over. Iʼll let you play on a real video game system. My Genesis has 16-bit graphics, whatʼs yours again? 8-bit, thatʼs funny. Oh the good old days of harassing Nintendo players. Being the first kid to own a Sega Genesis on my block was the biggest thrill of my adolescent life. Until Mark “My Parents are so Rich” Bradley brought in his Neo Geo instruction manual, everyone was my friend. But thatʼs another story for another time. It was a time when wearing British Knights and Air Jordans was as important as having a Triple Fat Goose and a Starter hat to be in the upper echelon of public middle school society. It was the pinnacle of Segaʼs Pax Romana. Sadly, like a VH1 “Behind the Music” episode, the downward spiral soon began.

 

After being released in Japan back in 1985, the Sega Master System was brought to the United States with no great success. Almost every one I talk to fails to remember it at all. “Whatʼs this?” I remember asking when I opened a present from my Father. Being rather disappointed that all my friends had the NES with “Rob the Robot” and I got stuck with some crappy black brick, I barely played it. While everyone else was getting it on with Super Mario Brothers, Excite Bike, and Legend of Zelda, I was sulking in the shadows with the likes of Rambo and Alex Kidd. Letʼs just say, as a venture console here, it was a flop. Third party games were flocking to the NES while Sega was producing only their own games.

 

With mediocre sales in Japan and U.S. markets, Nintendo was looking down its nose at Sega. European sales of the Master System, strange as that sounds, brought Sega enough money to give birth to the greatest of its consoles, the Genesis. I literally shredded the box opening it when it released in1989. My hands were shaking so bad I could barely open the packaging. In minutes I was punching and kicking my way through Altered Beast in search of those magic blue floating orb thingies filled with super steroids. After gaining 50 lbs of muscle and some mystical glow around my fists and feet with the first two juice injections, I found the third one and got taken to an awe-inspiring cut scene of my guy morphing into a werewolf (Hooowwwlll). Thatʼs when I knew Nintendoʼs days were numbered. Genesis games were averaging $50 at ToysʼRʼUs. I begged and pleaded to get Styrder, which was the most expensive game out at $69.99, and finally got it and Streets of Rage for Christmas that year. Phantasy Star, Sonic the Hedgehog, Pat Rileyʼs Basketball, Shinobi 3, Truxton, Shining Force, I could go on and on about all the awesome games that came out. Sega became number one here in the U.S with a battle cry of “Genesis does! Genesis does! You canʼt do this on Nintendo,” and the “Sega!” Yell. Come on, who doesnʼt remember those commercials? They were great. I was a little daunted about my Genesisʼ console supremacy when the Turbo Grafix 16 came out, but laughed when I saw how rushed and full of bugs it was. I continued in my reverie until Nintendo struck back with the Super NES in 1994. It came with a six button controller and was the first system to bring Street Fighter 2 and Mortal Kombat to home gaming. Not to be outdone, Sega ported the games and made a redesigned controller housing six buttons, but this did little to bring back Segaʼs dominance.

 

While everyone was playing their new Super Nintendo, I was thinking of what Sega was going to unleash next. Boy was I disappointed in the end, but Iʼll get back to that ballyhoo later. Iʼm going to rewind, then fast-forward a little here. See, there was this thing called the “Gameboy,” and Nintendo was making a killing with it. There was no such thing as mobile gaming on your cell phone back in the late 80ʼs early 90ʼs. Cell phones then were owned by rich people who wore power suits and rode around in limos. So, if you didnʼt have a “Gameboy,” you had Tiger handheld games if you wanted mobile games. Well, that and thumb wrestling. Sega thought since they were dominating the home gaming industry, and 99% of people already have thumbs, then they should try and dominate mobile handheld games too. In 1991, Sega unveils its own hand held. Sound the trumpets; here comes the “Game Gear.” Good idea, but if you werenʼt near a wall socket with the AC adapter or just happen to be carrying a pound of AA batteries with you, you were sucking. They said it had a three-hour power capacity with new batteries, but I think it was more like 20 minutes. Energizer must have had stock in that thing, I swear. There werenʼt many new or innovative games for it either. Most of them were just Genesis games formatted into 8-bit graphics. Basically, crappier looking games youʼve already played, on a battery-devouring black brick. I donʼt know who devised the design, but it seems the black brick thing is here to stay. I was not impressed when I got this, but it was in color. Thatʼs right color… oooh… ahhh. Next, we fast-forward four years to the Nomad. Of course Sega didnʼt learn their lesson with the Game Gear. Instead of crappy looking 8-bit versions of Genesis games, they made a hand held that you could play all your Genesis games on. All right sweet, I can play my Genesis games on the bus…what the…man this thing eats more batteries than the Game Gear. I guess Duracell found out about Energizerʼs stock in the Game Gear and wanted to get in on the action too. I didnʼt own one, but my friend Kevin did. Iʼll give you one guess on what it looked like. Thatʼs right a black brick. Howʼd you guess?

 

Now, I am going to bring up the dumbest, bass-ackward, WTF time period for Sega or any video game company for that matter. Iʼm sure at the time it must have sounded like a great idea, but why would any company make itself a competitor? I guess when youʼve been backed into a corner youʼll do anything to fight your way out. Theyʼd try one thing and when it didnʼt get results right away they brought out something new. After the huge loss of revenue at the hands of the SNES, Sega tried to return to its powerhouse sales - and failed horribly . Letʼs begin in 1992 shall we?

 

Genius idea #1: Sega CD. As the name implies, the games were on CD; hurray! Whoʼs laughing now Turbo Grafix 16? It was an add-on, or should I say large black brick looking tray thing, that the Genesis sat on top of and slid over to connect them via a side port. It costs a wallet-raping $299.99. The Sega CD had its own games. About the only one I liked was Lethal Enforcers, but it was really expensive too. You had to buy the gun(s) to really play the game. The Sega CD had a very limited run of games because Sega was really stingy with its development tools. With so few games and a huge price tag it flopped horribly, driving profit further into the red.

 

Genius idea #2: The 32X. It was another add-on that plugged into the cartridge slot of the Genesis, doubled the bit rate, and cost a measly $159.99. It had its own games with their own special cartridges. It did have a few cool games like Afterburner, Doom, and my personal favorite Space Harrier. Initially the Sega CD and 32X were supposed to be compatible, but that fell through. So, those of us who picked tobacco, mowed lawns, and bucked hay in the middle of summer to earn money so our parents would buy us this got screwed. The result of such a poor idea and implementation was mass revenue loss.

 

Genius idea #3: Enter the Dragon of the Sega Saturn. For only $399.99 you could own the newest installment of Sega consoles. If gamers and parents werenʼt already confused and unsure in 1995, they were after Sega released the Saturn. “Which system does my kid own?” I heard in many game stores from parents not in the know. I never bought a Saturn because I was about to finish high school and go off to the Navy. Other than getting to play Panzer Dragoon at a friendʼs, I didnʼt get a lot of exposure with the system. The biggest problem besides all the different consoles Sega manufactured was an upstart in the gaming industry called Sony. That and the fact Sega still hadnʼt learned to make it easier for developers to make games. Sonyʼs debut of the Playstation that year was the straw that broke the camelʼs back. Sony quickly grabbed Segaʼs reeling gamers who felt betrayed and used by the company. I was one of those gamers who cut my losses and turned my back on a franchise I had loved for years.

 

After almost four years of nothing, Sega announced the Dreamcast woud go on sale on 9/9/99. A lot of gamers felt the same as I after the CD/ 32X/ Saturn fiasco: “Why should we show you any brand loyalty after everything you put us through?” . Undaunted, with the backing of Microsoft and with their super-hyped “Next-Gen” system as a bayonet, Sega rallied for one last charge into the trenches of the console war. They had great first year release games like Soul Calibur, Sonic Adventure, Crazy Taxi, House of the Dead 2, Power Stone, and Sega Bass Fishing. With that, Sega seemed on the rebound sporting the best controller ever made to date (It is the best and I donʼt care what anyone else says on the matter), an innovative memory card which you could play mini games on, and online play forecasted in the “then” near future. My faith returned to the Sega name after a short stint with my new Dreamcast. I brought my Dreamcast and game collection with me when my ship was being deployed to the adulation of the rest of the crew. Not since Golden Eye for the N64 had there been gaming marathons onboard. Young, old, enlisted, and officers alike waited their turn to take on the current champ of Soul Calibur or in some 4-way Power Stone. I remember getting woken up many times by people asking to borrow it so they could try their luck at fishing or owning some zombies. When the PS2 dropped in 2000, I laughed at the release games and left EB Games without one. I did eventually buy one, but I used it as a DVD player for the longest time. In 2001, good games did start coming out for the PS2 and Sega was once again cast from the forefront. After two years of production Sega pulled the plug on the Dreamcast and sold off many of its franchises.

 

Sega started as a small business from which spawned a gaming giant. As with all great Empires, they eventually rot, crumble, and fall from their own ever-grasping hand. After the Genesis they tried to go in too many directions at once and spread their resources too thin. They knew they would have major competition from other game developers, but I bet when they started, they never imagined they would be their own worst enemy. If Sega had used the CD unit as a springboard until perfecting the Saturn, things might have gone differently. Alas, you canʼt re-fight Sundayʼs battle on Monday, for which Iʼm sure the then CEOs are still kicking themselves. I still have fond memories of my childhood and younger adult life playing some of the greatest games ever made. Sega had numerous wonderful ideas, but none ever came to profitable fruition.

 

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ligo poli gnwsta ta aitia tis ptwseis tis sega,i opoia den ofeiletai stous antagwnistes tis alla stin idia.kathe xrono parousiazan ena neo mixanima me anabathmismenes dinatotites klp.distixws den akolouthisan tin sintagi tou MegaDrive,k otan pleon tin thimithikan me to dreamcast itan idi poli arga.poses poiotikes paixnidares eixe k ola xathikan.akoma exw apokomata selidwn(mias k eimai fanatilas sega)pou parousiaze i sega ta sxedia tis gia tin budget eisodo tou kosmou sta 32bit me tin tripleta genesis,mega cd,32x k tin akribi eisodo me to saturn to opoio na men itan pantodinamo hardware gia tin epoxi(me 2 hitachi sh2 mesa)alla mono thewritika.to apotelesma itan na min mporei na bgalei grafiko tis prokopis k na fainetai i pio adinami konsola.balte mesa k ta sfaksimata sto dioikitiko simboulio tis sega me ton Irimajiri k edese to gliko.

to DC gia mena itan mia foberi konsola,i opoia den etixe apo ton tiflo gia ps2 kosmo.k ti den eixe.otan sto ps2 epaizan fantavison k typing emotion alloi epaizan code veronica,shenmue,soul calibur etc etc.anyway o kosmos kserei panw katw ti paixthike an k iparxoun perissotera pisw apo tin istoria

 

k mia diorthwsei: “Genesis does! Genesis does! You canʼt do this on Nintendo,”

autos pou to egrapse to arthro exei kanei dw ena lathos.to alithino moto tis Sega itan"Genesis does,what Nintendont"

wraies agnes epoxes gaming..