There were a number of things Sega did wrong to fall from grace, but what do you think was the biggest mistake?
Sega really had a shot of being the top back in the Genesis/MegaDrive days, but I think they tried to move too fast too soon.
Look at Nintendo. They are taking their time and, while the N64 and GC may not have been huge successes, they might rule with the Wii.
What Was Sega's Biggest Mistake?
The day they announced they were dropping Dreamcast support. God, that was like a punch in the gut. Never saw it coming. Dreamcast seemed to be fairing very well. It was right in it's prime. Tons of fantastic games being released left and right, and many many more being previewed. It didn't make any sense to me. Sega screwed me over two times in a row.
At that point I think they were just trying to stay healthy.
While the Dreamcast wasn't a complete failure, they figured they could make more money if they went with only software.
The problem is that they didn't keep pumping out all the quality titles that they did in the past.
They also didn't have the army of Sega fanboys like me that bought their systems and had all their games on one console.
Now, I have to decide what console I want based on their systems.
There wasn't one console that had enough to make me interested.
In the end, Nintendo had enough good titles of their own to get me to buy a Cube.
Now I might actually get an XBox and will at least get a Jet Grind Radio, Outrun, and Panzer Dragoon fix...
While the Dreamcast wasn't a complete failure, they figured they could make more money if they went with only software.
The problem is that they didn't keep pumping out all the quality titles that they did in the past.
They also didn't have the army of Sega fanboys like me that bought their systems and had all their games on one console.
Now, I have to decide what console I want based on their systems.
There wasn't one console that had enough to make me interested.
In the end, Nintendo had enough good titles of their own to get me to buy a Cube.
Now I might actually get an XBox and will at least get a Jet Grind Radio, Outrun, and Panzer Dragoon fix...
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Wackiness!
I think the biggest mistake in the US was not giving us the wacky games and accessories that they gave to asia. When I was in Japan in February I saw SO many neat things for all of sega's systems from the mega drive to the dreamcast, I brought home cool things like the Dreamcast R7 and Hello Kitty Dreamcast(My friend bought that one 
).
They still have some great arcade games there, Like House of the Dead 4 and LOT'S of claw games and Pachinko!
If they'd focus some of that wackiness here they'd be in the top spot!
). They still have some great arcade games there, Like House of the Dead 4 and LOT'S of claw games and Pachinko!
If they'd focus some of that wackiness here they'd be in the top spot!
32X
If you look at it, the 32X is really the only absolute failure. Saturn did well in Japan and Dreamcast was a great product that had total quality domination for almost 3 years. Even into the first year of PS2 its games were arguably technically superior.
32X confused and scared the hell out of the American market. I had no idea what the F to do. I had the cheap option of $150 for 32X, $400 for Saturn, or $300 for PS. I was kind of forced to wait it out and by the time I made my decision 32X was dead, Saturn was failing domestically and PS was cranking out titles. Eventually I bought a Saturn and ended up playing it more and feeling despite less games there was undeniable quality in most of the titles.
Had 32X not been an option, I probably suck it up and figure out a way to buy a Saturn for $4-300 near launch.
The only reason the DC wasn't a runaway hit was the "Don't want to get burned by Sega again" mindset. And the only product to truly burn consumers was 32X. I don't know any Sega CD owners who felt burnt. It was the favorite system of my friends and I. The people talking about how it failed were mostly outsiders.
Nintendo had an equal total flop with the Virtual Boy and weathered the storm a little better.
32X confused and scared the hell out of the American market. I had no idea what the F to do. I had the cheap option of $150 for 32X, $400 for Saturn, or $300 for PS. I was kind of forced to wait it out and by the time I made my decision 32X was dead, Saturn was failing domestically and PS was cranking out titles. Eventually I bought a Saturn and ended up playing it more and feeling despite less games there was undeniable quality in most of the titles.
Had 32X not been an option, I probably suck it up and figure out a way to buy a Saturn for $4-300 near launch.
The only reason the DC wasn't a runaway hit was the "Don't want to get burned by Sega again" mindset. And the only product to truly burn consumers was 32X. I don't know any Sega CD owners who felt burnt. It was the favorite system of my friends and I. The people talking about how it failed were mostly outsiders.
Nintendo had an equal total flop with the Virtual Boy and weathered the storm a little better.
32x the ONLY Failure?
The sega cd and 32x were both terrible terrible ideas! they should have had those teams working on the saturn to make it do 3d as good as the playstation. The 32x launched 6 months before the saturn and was not compatible with the sega cd.
Also the game gear, that thing drank battery juice like a vampire! And it was huge! Wow that thing wasnt very good.
Also the game gear, that thing drank battery juice like a vampire! And it was huge! Wow that thing wasnt very good.
I agree it was a bad choice with Sega releasing the 32X. I remember seeing it at Toys R Us shelves, always in stock. And after re-reading some old articles -- about 10 other consoles were battling at the time. Everyone was really focused on 3D polygons, and Saturn's US release. People had the Sega CD/Jag/CD-I/ being shuved in there faces, where other gamers were propsering about the future of gaming! which was also near!! saturn/playstation/nintendo64/NUON. horrible mistake.....
Nuon
I was at CES in Las Vegas w/ a friend for his business when they unveiled the NUON technology, we were excited to check it out but left their booth pretty confident it was going to flop. I think it was summer of 99.
Nuon, wow Im a geek and I never heard of that
Dont remember the Nuon, but I will say Sega totally botched the Saturn launch, I was a huge game freak and when the saturn launched I didnt know it for months because they only sold it to their preferred outlets and didnt do any television advertising I saw...which is crazy, they played favorites with their console business. That's hubris, dangerously arrogant. The Sega America team was a bunch of morons, that was their biggest mistake, not firing them.