Feature By

Ben Hopper

In light of the recent rumors flying around concerning the premature death of the Sega Dreamcast and the possibility that Microsoft's Xbox might include Dreamcast's chip set (and thus enabling it to play all Dreamcast games), I thought it might be interesting to go back and retrace the steps (missteps actually) that brought Sega to where it is today. Let's face it, if Sega does indeed cease hardware development, it will mark the end of one of the greatest video game institutions as we know it. If the rumors of Microsoft's Xbox possibly incorporating the Dreamcast chip set into its own prove true, well that's a story for another day.

Now, this isn't a eulogy or anything. Whatever happens, Sega isn't going anywhere. Sega will continue to produce exciting and innovative games like it always has. But who would have thought back in Sega's glory days with the Genesis that it would have ever come to this? The upstart that knocked the great Nintendo down a peg or two is now in deep financial trouble and is desperately fighting to stay in the game—literally.

Ironically enough, we can trace some of Sega's questionable business decisions back to when it was the industry leader in America (the Genesis, or Mega Drive, wasn't quite as popular in Japan). Without getting into silly accessories like the Menacer (a rip-off of Nintendo's Super Scope 6) and the ridiculous Activator, it was, among other things, the release and subsequent financial flop of some pricey Genesis expansion platforms from which Sega still hasn't recovered.

Sega CD

The Sega CD was a CD-ROM drive that attached to the bottom of the old Sega Genesis that was meant to redefine what video games were all about. It really wasn't such a bad call on Sega's part. Multimedia was the buzzword of the day, and people were genuinely excited about playing games filled with grainy full-motion video (FMV). Hell, people were practically having orgasms showing their friends JFK's inauguration speech on the PC version of Compton's Interactive Encyclopedia (which, of course, was eventually released for Sega CD as well).

In the end, the Sega CD cost too much and didn't do enough for consumers to buy into the idea. A sleek redesign that corresponded with the smaller version of the Genesis in 1993 helped a little and coincidentally brought some decent games to the platform, but it would never realize its full potential. The result stopped Nintendo from making the same mistake with its own CD-ROM add-on for the Super NES (a decision that would eventually cause Sony to create the you-know-what).

Footnote: The Sega CD came with an internal memory cache that could be used to save game progress in addition to available back-up RAM cartridges that were sold separately. The Saturn used the same set-up when it was released. Why this practical idea didn't catch on is still a mystery.

Sega Game Gear

When Sega released the portable Game Gear in 1991, Atari's LYNX and NEC's TurboExpress were already on the verge of being discontinued. All three systems had faster processors and full-color displays (Game Gear and TurboExpress were even compatible with optional TV tuners), but they still couldn't hold a candle to Game Boy's popularity—simply because they devoured batteries and weren't as convenient to carry around. Despite that, Game Gear managed to survive the longest and, for a while, seemed to be threatening Game Boy's hand-held dominance.

Game Gear was essentially a portable version of the Sega Master System, Sega's original 8-bit console. It could even play Master System games through an attachment called the Master Gear Converter. Game Gear's own game library grew to a respectable size, though there are only a few truly worthwhile games—such as Defenders Of Oasis and Fatal Fury. Overall, Game Gear was a moderate success and has done the best in giving Game Boy a run for its money.

Sega CDX

The CDX was certainly a neat idea—it was a Genesis and Sega CD all-in-one stuffed into a portable CD player—but it was way too costly and suffered from the same problems the Sega CD inherited. This product must have lost Sega a considerable amount of money.

Sega VR

Sega was still sitting pretty with the Genesis when Sega VR was announced. Virtual reality was another idea that somehow captured the imaginations of the public and the media at large, and Sega once again fell into the trap. The Sega VR never got beyond the prototype stage—it was a virtual reality headset that played games—but they put money into it and even had some games in the early planning stages. It was a half-baked idea that thankfully never saw the light of day. Again though, it was money lost.

Sega Pico

Sega's Pico was billed as "the computer that thinks it's a toy." It was an educational tool marketed to kids 8-years-old and under and connected to a TV like a standard game platform. The software played out like a storybook and kids could use a "Magic Pen" stylus to interact with the screen. It received some good reviews but never really took off as a mass-market product. Sega deserves credit though for making a serious effort to use video game technology for education purposes.

Genesis 32X

32X was, quite frankly, a huge mistake. With the Saturn's launch nearing in Japan, the big wigs at Sega decided that the Genesis was too valuable and popular for it to merely fall by the way side. The belief was that gamers wouldn't want to part with their beloved system and spend more money on a completely different console. They instead thought consumers would pay for an attachment that would allow the Genesis to play 32-bit games.

The 32X unit sat on top of the Genesis and used cartridges as its game-playing format. Though it had a few noteworthy games—Virtua Racing, Virtua Fighter and Kolibri—the system was little more than a distraction, both for Sega and for consumers. It took Sega's focus away from the upcoming Saturn launch and wore thin consumers' patience with the brand name. The 32X was quickly forgotten once the Saturn and Sony PlayStation hit the stores.

Sega had it backwards with the 32X idea from the start. The assumption that gamers wanted to cling to their aging Genesis was all-wrong—it's the games that matter, not the console you play them on. The Genesis wasn't built to last anyway. First and final drafts of the Saturn design included both a cartridge slot and a CD-ROM drive. If Sega was so concerned about keeping its core Genesis user base, the entire notion of a 32X should have been skipped all together. The focus should have been on making the Saturn compatible with Sega CD and Genesis games. This would have saved everyone involved a lot of headaches.