Sega Dreamcast Dreamcast one too late

Well you look at the type of systems put out by Sega and they were bad like the Sega CD and the Sega Saturn. The thing that happened with Sega is that they didn't have the loyalty of the fans they once had. The Dreamcast was a beautiful system with high quality titles but when it came out it was outsold by the PS 2 and it flopped badly. What I have to say is this I love the Dreamcast as a system and I though it is great but by the time it was released it was too late.

PS is it true that right before Sega took apart their Colsole division they were in the middle of creation a system that was more powerful than PS 2 in every way?

I think it's more like one too early. In my opinion, if Sega stretched the life of the Saturn out a bit more and put out more titles (Even if they were in house), the Dreamcast would have dominated the market. Or at least made Sony scratch for the number one spot.

Also what would have helped was the title selection at launch. If they made the Dreamcast backwards compatable with the Saturn, then I think that it would have helped the Dreamcast if the launch title selection was slim.

But we'll never know... :-\

Rollermacka said:

Well you look at the type of systems put out by Sega and they were bad like the Sega CD and the Sega Saturn. The thing that happened with Sega is that they didn't have the loyalty of the fans they once had. The Dreamcast was a beautiful system with high quality titles but when it came out it was outsold by the PS 2 and it flopped badly. What I have to say is this I love the Dreamcast as a system and I though it is great but by the time it was released it was too late.

PS is it true that right before Sega took apart their Colsole division they were in the middle of creation a system that was more powerful than PS 2 in every way?

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Saturn was not a bad system in the USA, however it was a pre-mature and released far too early after the 32X add-on for Genesis. Plus the marketing and support was a crying shame, all the companies that made Sega Genesis shine were already going to Sony and supporting Nintendo by this time in 1995. Plus ignoring the Sega CD was a pitiful as their marketing plan to focus on 32X and Saturn, when the Sega CD had so much potential and power that was left untapped because of the poor sales. It had some incredible titles! Yet only 5-7 really worth mention Plus angrying the public by releasing Saturn at $499 with Virtua Fighter was a slap in the face and the last straw.

Oh Sega had Loyalty, but no respect from the media and very poor marketing in the USA.

In Japan, Sega Saturn and Sega Dreamcast is BUDDHA to them...the support they recieved makes PS1 look like Virtual Boy...

Dreamcast was shunned because the average American consumer had it in their head the PS2 would be SO worth the wait (Yes it was btw), so they literally waited and saved up for another year because they knew it was going to be such a success. I agree with Neph, when Shenmue II was canned that just angered us more. AND Sega denying us of a TRUE Sonic game for Sega Saturn was just adding liquid smoke to the fire...

Plus Virtua Fighter 3 was gonna be on Saturn, but it was canned and put on DC, sadly that didnt do too well...Resident Evil 2 was gonna be on Saturn too...but that stopped and was ported to DC

Bottom line, Sega is the Rodney Dangerfield of the industry, no respect and passed away...but the MEMORRRYYYY REMAIINNSS!! :rockin (sorry, had to throw in some Metallica)

Now I question every decision Sega made back in 2001 to 2005, because whoever took over was really silly but dishing out tons of Sonic games for GameCube and such...milking a Sonic cashcow while ignoring other franchises is just selfish...until the Nintendo Wii Virtual Console having Sega Genesis games and then the Sega Genesis Collection PS2/PSP was announced.

Nephlabobo said:

After shafting people in North America by not releasing Shenmue II (but releasing it in EUROPE?!), Sega deserved to go out of business.

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Again, I'm going to agree with you. I was heavily looking forward to Shenmue II as it was just months (perhaps less, it's been a while) before release. Then all of the sudden no release X Box time? Heavily disappointed. Disagreeing with the new situation, I imported a Euro edition. Nice boxes those have.

However, on the note of the SEGA Saturn.. that's one of my favorite systems ever, so I don't really agree with you slamming it, OP. Saturn had amazing titles like Panzer Dragoon, 2, Saga, best version of Rockman X4 via controls, an AMAZING startup screen, jesus, the best ever.

And man, it had potential. Anyone see the Shenmue video when it was on Saturn? I think it looked amazing. Well beyond anything Sony did on the PSX in 3D fashion. It was a wise move to delay it to Dreamcast, but it made no difference in the end.

On the thought of graphical capability, I'd say Dreamcast games looked better than Ps2 titles until the megaliths came out (IE: ZoE, MGS2, etc) which was 6 months in the case of ZoE and a year in the case of all the other titles. Dreamcast died from hype, not from anything else. Well, SEGA's management upstairs is a little kooky too. Sega of America, anyway.

Sartori said:

Dreamcast died from hype, not from anything else. Well, SEGA's management upstairs is a little kooky too. Sega of America, anyway.

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I was going to say... Sega died from management... not from anything else.

Why is Nintendo still around? They remained profitable and learned to be as such. Why ISN'T Sega? They weren't profitable... and couldn't avoid the inevitable. Same with Atari, NEC, 3D0... and others. GRANTED there are other factors that played into that as well.

Bv :hat

What management?? That snake in the grass Peter Moore left 1 WEEK before the Dreamcast launched to work with Mircosoft's new project during 1999..."X"...

I believe, though I could be mistaken, that Nintendo always had their handheld systems to fall back on in case their console systems didn't work out. Sega never had that. Personally, if I had a choice between Saturn/Dreamcast or N64/Gamecube, I would pick the former rather than the latter.

lesley said:

I believe, though I could be mistaken, that Nintendo always had their handheld systems to fall back on in case their console systems didn't work out.

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That statement, is what I agree on 120%. I firmly believe in that, because it's true. Nintendo has that much control over the portable market.

MegaDrive20XX said:

That statement, is what I agree on 120%. I firmly believe in that, because it's true. Nintendo has that much control over the portable market.

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yeah... but they have had competition in the portable market and they figured out how to make a killer system every time.

It wasn't like the portable market was handed to them on a platinum plate.  They had to work for it.   Who's to say that the Lynx, Turbo Express, Nomad, Game Gear and other portables couldn't have succeeded?  Sega HAD a portable platform but decided not to follow through with it.

Sony, who is dominating the console market ... cannot get the handheld market right.  SO... the real statement might be "Nintendo is a handheld company that is attempting to break back into the console market."

No... I think something else was up with the Dreamcast.  I think it came out too early.  and I think the N64 came out too late.  The Dreamcast had plenty of good games just like the PLaystation 2.  IN FACT, the Dreamcast had a lot better games  (IMO) even 1 year into the Ps2.  Dreamcast had an online service before anyone.  I think they were just too early for the world... if that makes sense.

Bv :hat

There is truth to this as well. N64 was late, I agree. From what I saw, Dreamcast had a poor American marketing crew that was trying to publish games that already existed on PS1 other than trying the original path, if it wasn't for Capcom and SNK on DC, it would be dead to me.

What weakened the DC alot, was delaying the big titles, like RE Code Veronica (which showed up around April of 2000) and Marvel Vs. Capcom (Late October/ Early November of 99). Heck by the time Sonic Adventure 2 showed up, the system was legally dead you could say since Xbox, PS2, and Cube was on the peak.

I remember thinking about buying a Dreamcast for quite a while.... and then I heard Castlevania was cancelled and I knew it was the death of the system, so I bought one a couple years ago at a garage sale for $25 instead. Awesome system with a lively homebrew scene still. There's also a new commercial game, "Last Hope" that is a killer R-Type shmup coming out.