32X Do you think there is any way the 32x could've succeeded?

[RageBurner]

I'm pretty sure whomever the fuckwit was who ordered the launch of the Saturn in extreme limited quantities to an extreme limited number of retailers in the US & Europe (allegedly the order to do this came from Sega Japan to try to best the Playstation, which failed and backfired spectacularly) was secretly working for Sony Computer Entertainment.

That's because whoever was behind the launch strategy of the Saturn had extremely limited IQ.

 

[MasterEn]

I'm pretty sure whomever the fuckwit was who ordered the launch of the Saturn in extreme limited quantities to an extreme limited number of retailers in the US & Europe (allegedly the order to do this came from Sega Japan to try to best the Playstation, which failed and backfired spectacularly) was secretly working for Sony Computer Entertainment.

that or they experienced what nintendo did after the success of the wii; getting their head lodged too far up their ass and thinking that they could do anything and make money.
both are viable.

 

[RageBurner]

that or they experienced what nintendo did after the success of the wii; getting their head lodged too far up their ass and thinking that they could do anything and make money.
both are viable.

And they never quite found their way out of there.

 

[What's His Face]

And they never quite found their way out of there.

I feel like I should make a joke about asses, holes in walls, and maps...

 

[MasterEn]

And they never quite found their way out of there.

yeah, it does explain a lot, especially the deadline for sonic '06 being unchangeable.

 

[RageBurner]

yeah, it does explain a lot, especially the deadline for sonic '06 being unchangeable.

Congealing its deadline also congealed its fate as the legendarily bad entry it is.

 

[MasterEn]

Congealing its deadline also congealed its fate as the legendarily bad entry it is.

it was supposed to be a birthday game for sonic, more or less. 15 years since his first debut.

 

[RageBurner]

it was supposed to be a birthday game for sonic, more or less. 15 years since his first debut.

Yeah, that kind of birthday when you get pairs of socks or a wallet LOL.
Honestly it could have been great, it wasn't ready, though.

 

[MasterEn]

Yeah, that kind of birthday when you get pairs of socks or a wallet LOL.
Honestly it could have been great, it wasn't ready, though.

matt mcmuscles has an installment in his wha happen? series on the game:

 

[RageBurner]

matt mcmuscles has an installment in his wha happen? series on the game:

I love that channel. Also Sonic's face really says it all.

 

[MasterEn]

I love that channel. Also Sonic's face really says it all.

yeah. sega definitely didn't not recover from that debacle. and it carried over to the attempted split in the franchise sonic boom too.

 

[RageBurner]

yeah. sega definitely didn't not recover from that debacle. and it carried over to the attempted split in the franchise sonic boom too.

Yeah, very much so. I never liked the idea of anthropomorphizing the characters any further than they already were, and Boom did just that.

 

[MasterEn]

Yeah, very much so. I never liked the idea of anthropomorphizing the characters any further than they already were, and Boom did just that.

matt also has a video on sonic boom. the character designs are the least important thing when it comes to that game.

 

[RageBurner]

matt also has a video on sonic boom. the character designs are the least important thing when it comes to that game.

Oh I'm sure, but it is inevitably the first thing you see, and for me that's enough to cause instant revulsion.

 

[MasterEn]

Oh I'm sure, but it is inevitably the first thing you see, and for me that's enough to cause instant revulsion.

the idea was to make the characters distinguishable between each other at a glance and for newcomers to be able to tell what each character's role is at a glance.
that was sega's idea and then they got mad at the developers for making those designs.

 

[Leon]

The 32x came out way too late to succeed, the sega cd could have been a bigger success (though unlike what some thing, the sega was not actually a failure as a console or in sales really) but sega was wishy washy with it's library support which made it niche.

The only way the 32x could have succeeded is if sega made the saturn's cartridge slot able to play 32x games aka backwards compatibility, but sega rushed the saturn out way too quickly for that to work.

 

[Ikagura]

They should've done it like Nintendo with an added chip for the games rather than a new hardware.

 

[RageBurner]

They should've done it like Nintendo with an added chip for the games rather than a new hardware.

The SVP perhaps, yeah.

 

[MemeAlert]

Sonic 3 & Knuckles with the same animation quality from Tempo. Or I guess arcade ports like The Simpsons.

 

[dr grim]

They should've done it like Nintendo with an added chip for the games rather than a new hardware.

They kinda started it with lock on tech, could have been used for so much more though

 

[What's His Face]

They kinda started it with lock on tech, could have been used for so much more though

Not really. The lock-on gimmick was cool don't get me wrong, but it required a minimum of two games to be programmed exactly the same and with the lock-on in mind to be effective. For example, if Fatal Fury 2 had been a lock-on game with Art of Fighting, that would allow for characters from both games to fight one another as the two games were programmed specifically to do so. But plonking Super Street Fighter II to Fatal Fury 2 would result in an error as the two were not designed to "combine" in such a way. Much like plonking Castlevania: Bloodlines into Sonic & Knuckles.

In the end, S&K worked as a fantastic marketing gimmick, but had exceedingly limited commercial viability otherwise - it required developers/publishers being willing to spend extra to make & people to be willing to buy two or more similar games for the sole purpose of combining them Devastator-style.

 

[MemeAlert]

Not really. The lock-on gimmick was cool don't get me wrong, but it required a minimum of two games to be programmed exactly the same and with the lock-on in mind to be effective. For example, if Fatal Fury 2 had been a lock-on game with Art of Fighting, that would allow for characters from both games to fight one another as the two games were programmed specifically to do so. But plonking Super Street Fighter II to Fatal Fury 2 would result in an error as the two were not designed to "combine" in such a way. Much like plonking Castlevania: Bloodlines into Sonic & Knuckles.

In the end, S&K worked as a fantastic marketing gimmick, but had exceedingly limited commercial viability otherwise - it required developers/publishers being willing to spend extra to make & people to be willing to buy two or more similar games for the sole purpose of combining them Devastator-style.

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Also no one would of supported it knowing you could combine games with Bubsy of all things.

 

[MasterEn]

Also no one would of supported it knowing you could combine games with Bubsy of all things.

i don't know about that. having bubsy pop up in a fighting game and being able to punch him millions of times does sound pretty satisfying.

 

[Ezri_Muldoon]

The only way it could have succeeded is if it was fully compatible with Saturn games, giving consumers the choice of a "arcade perfect" upgrade or renewed life into the Megadrive/Genesis at the cost of performance.

Sega of America actually flirted this idea but Sega of Japan said it was impossible.
Which is true, But...
Hypothetically and with the hindsight of knowing Sonic Team had began to develop standardised game engine for Nights/Burning Rangers rather than pure machine code development there is like one-in-a-billion chance such an engine if rolled out fast enough could have been backported to the 32x.
Nah, I'm just teasing that would never have happened.
The 32X shared no hardware with the Saturn or Sega's arcade boards.

However the 32x is no different from a PS4/PS5 Pro, just with out any of the marketing or third party support.
Actually no it has great western third party support at launch which evaporated once the Saturn/Playstation dropped.

The other option would have been to delay the Saturn and have it launch in Christmas 96. Give the 32x breathing room to actually gain an audience.
Sure, it would have left the Saturn to fight the N64 Head on but it could have had a launch library of 50-100 games on day one-

Wait no Sega of America hated none US games. To the point they gave up FIFA exclusivity on the Saturn ?
32x was doomed, it doomed Sega.

 

[Moreno909]

The only way for the 32x to succeed, in my opinion, would be if it was released as part of a console, with compatibility with Megadrive games, a kind of Megadrive Pro, and continued to be sold in poorer countries. As the hardware became cheaper, it wouldn't be so expensive.