If Sega released a new console today?

[Louis_Cypher]

This video was quite an interesting look at some of Sega's mistakes, and one idea stood out. The Saturn had a cartridge slot, but it was only used for RAM expansion carts. If the Saturn had included a functional cartridge slot that could actually play Mega Drive/Genesis games, it would have been the only 5th generation console with backward compatibility, and people could have migrated their entire Mega Drive/Genesis library over, which would have no doubt earned them a degree of added interest.

If Sega, out of the blue, suddenly teamed up with some hardware company like Samsung, and released a 'Sega Jupiter' tomorrow, focusing on what they were always best at, such as porting arcade games, etc, what features would you like? I would personally love them to include Saturn and Dreamcast backward comparability, and a Mega Drive/Genesis cartridge slot lol; that would sure as hell leave a few people stunned, and wouldn't honestly be that hard to do with the simplicity of the chips/emulation.

It's of course completely implausible, but would be an ultimate act of sheer fan service.

 

[Falksi]

Considering the relative success of the Megadrive Mini, I think loads (myself included) would jump at the chance to own a console which could play all of SEGA's back catalogue.

To this day there's not a system which offers the 20-60 min, hi octane, in your face arcade experience which the Megadrive did, and one of the reasons retro gaming is booming is because bite-sized gaming (especially local gaming with mates) has been largely forgotten, but remains just as enjoyable as it was back then.

Whatever SEGA do if they want it to be a success they have to embrace the philosophy which made them a success, and that's to buck the trend rather than following it.

And no more planet or space names please. 80's balls out ones like "Megadrive" are what we want. Saturn was OK, but "Dreamcast" sounded bent. They need the SEGA "Thunderspunk", "Bitchraper" or something.

 

[Louis_Cypher]

Sega GigaBeast

 

[Falksi]

Sega GigaBeast

THAT's the fucking shit I'm talking about

 

[d1r]

Another console on the video game market. Yeah, that's something we definitely need in these days.

 

[Hellraiser]

Considering the relative success of the Megadrive Mini, I think loads (myself included) would jump at the chance to own a console which could play all of SEGA's back catalogue.

Well if that did include the arcade stuff that never got properly ported...

OTOH how much stuff from their library, especially the arcade one, isn't properly emulated at full speed?

 

[Louis_Cypher]

Well, the thread isn't serious. However, maybe niche consoles can be sustained if they do different things. It depends what value it adds to gaming, if there is anything new or different left untapped. Sega are not great hardware developers, that much is clear. So it would be a low-spec console, sub-4K, like the Switch. What can they could bring would be their massive arcade library, which is almost entirely unavailable on any platform, yet huge. Also, although Sega will never do this because they have a history of 30 years of incompetent management of their many IPs, they could make dozens of sequels to dormant in-house franchises.

 

[Falksi]

SEGA have some potential booming franchizes which, if they actually put some care and attention into, could net them nice yearly sequels. Let's not forget, SOR 4 sold 2.5m copies in just over a year. Considering production costs will be relatively low, that's a worthwhile endeavour.

Then you've the likes of......

• Phantasy Star
• Golden Axe
• Shinobi
• Shining Force
• Afterburner
• Space Harrier
• Outrun
• Road Rash
• Altered Beast
• Alex Kidd
• Wonderboy
• Thunderforce
• Gunstar Heroes
• Ecco
• Toe Jam & Earl

ect.

I don't think you could get yearly games out of all of those but a lot you could. For a 3-6 year endeavour I reckon it's a golden opportunity.

 

[Zarniwoop]

It would be another AMD PC with a tiny hard drive and fuckhueg game installs promising 4K 60fps and underdelivering on

1) Performance
2) Actually existing to buy
3) Games to play that aren't slightly upscaled last-gen ones.

 

[Louis_Cypher]

I was looking at a list of first-party franchises the other day and Sega does have a fuck ton.

• Sonic the Hedgehog
• Shinobi
• Yakuza
• Shenmue
• Phantasy Star
• Panzer Dragoon
  
• Shining
• Ecco the Dolphin
  
• Streets of Rage
• Golden Axe
• Virtua Fighter
• Virtua Cop
• Sega Rally
• Alex Kidd
• Altered Beast
• Wonder Boy
• Road Rash
• Afterburner
• Space Harrier
  
• Sega GT
• NiGHTS
• OutRun
• Hang-On
• Jet Set Radio
• Crazy Taxi

Plus they own Atlus, so Shin Megami Tensei, Persona, Devil Summoner, Trauma Center, etc.

 

[Falksi]

I was looking at a list of first-party franchises the other day and Sega does have a fuck ton.

• Sonic the Hedgehog
• Shinobi
• Yakuza
• Shenmue
• Phantasy Star
• Shining
• Shenmue
• Ecco the Dolphin
  
• Streets of Rage
• Golden Axe
• Virtua Fighter
• Virtua Cop
• Sega Rally
• Alex Kidd
• Altered Beast
• Wonder Boy
• Road Rash
• Afterburner
• Space Harrier
  
• Sega GT
• NiGHTS
• OutRun
• Hang-On
• Jet Set Radio
• Crazy Taxi

Plus they own Atlus, so Shin Megami Tensei, Persona, Devil Summoner, Trauma Center, etc.

So much they could do with all that. The cultural influence SEGA had in Europe was huge, and that alone would drum up a buzz for their return. Again, look at those SOR4 numbers.

 

[Zarniwoop]

I was looking at a list of first-party franchises the other day and Sega does have a fuck ton.

• Sonic the Hedgehog
• Shinobi
• Yakuza
• Shenmue
• Phantasy Star
• Shining
• Shenmue
• Ecco the Dolphin
  
• Streets of Rage
• Golden Axe
• Virtua Fighter
• Virtua Cop
• Sega Rally
• Alex Kidd
• Altered Beast
• Wonder Boy
• Road Rash
• Afterburner
• Space Harrier
  
• Sega GT
• NiGHTS
• OutRun
• Hang-On
• Jet Set Radio
• Crazy Taxi

Plus they own Atlus, so Shin Megami Tensei, Persona, Devil Summoner, Trauma Center, etc.

So much they could do with all that. The cultural influence SEGA had in Europe was huge, and that alone would drum up a buzz for their return. Again, look at those SOR4 numbers.

Yeah what could possibly go wrong with a bunch of millennials making "spiritual sequels" to classics?

Just look at how great the NuStar Wars turned out.
Or every comic book movie
Or NuStar Trek Derpscovery
Or Picard
Yeah beloved franchises will always be respected nothing to see here

 

[zwanzig_zwoelf]

I don't want another console from Sega. Just give me decent PC ports of their back catalogue and figure out how to bring third-party games along the way.

 

[Nifft Batuff]

Sega-Mame?

 

[Ezekiel]

I don't want another console from Sega. Just give me decent PC ports of their back catalogue and figure out how to bring third-party games along the way.

And have them fix the existing ports. I can't play Jet Set Radio anymore. There is a well documented save bug (Some DRM crap.) on Steam. If it hits your saved game, you will never be able to save again. At least I was able to 100 percent finish it again before mine got corrupted. But it depresses me that I can't play the game at all (without keeping it open and my computer on forever).

 

[Great Deceiver]

As said before, Sega has a veritable goldmine of classic franchises it just refuses to make money off of. It's one of the dumbest companies ever - its western management was even worse. Even today, as mostly just a publisher, it still continues making terrible decisions.

For example, the recent re-release of Virtua Fighter Final Showdown as Ultimate Showdown, making it a Playstation exclusive is just the dumbest fucking shit imaginable. Outside of Japan, the game is already completely dead 2 months after its release. A PC release would guarantee it some additional longevity and aspies could mod it or whatever. Plus, since the developer is RGG Studio and the Dragon Engine has already been ported to PC, the port itself is basically zero effort and free money. Sega's just dumb as shit.

 

[Falksi]

I was looking at a list of first-party franchises the other day and Sega does have a fuck ton.

• Sonic the Hedgehog
• Shinobi
• Yakuza
• Shenmue
• Phantasy Star
• Shining
• Shenmue
• Ecco the Dolphin
  
• Streets of Rage
• Golden Axe
• Virtua Fighter
• Virtua Cop
• Sega Rally
• Alex Kidd
• Altered Beast
• Wonder Boy
• Road Rash
• Afterburner
• Space Harrier
  
• Sega GT
• NiGHTS
• OutRun
• Hang-On
• Jet Set Radio
• Crazy Taxi

Plus they own Atlus, so Shin Megami Tensei, Persona, Devil Summoner, Trauma Center, etc.

So much they could do with all that. The cultural influence SEGA had in Europe was huge, and that alone would drum up a buzz for their return. Again, look at those SOR4 numbers.

Yeah what could possibly go wrong with a bunch of millennials making "spiritual sequels" to classics?

Just look at how great the NuStar Wars turned out.
Or every comic book movie
Or NuStar Trek Derpscovery
Or Picard
Yeah beloved franchises will always be respected nothing to see here

I dunno, SOR4 turned out OK and SOR Remake is excellent.

If it were to happen, hopefully the right people would get a hold of these games.

 

[Ash]

Considering the relative success of the Megadrive Mini, I think loads (myself included) would jump at the chance to own a console which could play all of SEGA's back catalogue

You have heard of a little thing called emulators, right?

"Dreamcast" sounded bent

 

[Ezekiel]

Considering the relative success of the Megadrive Mini, I think loads (myself included) would jump at the chance to own a console which could play all of SEGA's back catalogue

You have heard of a little thing called emulators, right?

The Dreamcast emulators are inefficient and crappy. Your luck with how well the game plays and sounds depends so much on the game. PS2 and Gamecube emulators fared much better.

 

[Falksi]

Considering the relative success of the Megadrive Mini, I think loads (myself included) would jump at the chance to own a console which could play all of SEGA's back catalogue

You have heard of a little thing called emulators, right?

The Dreamcast emulators are inefficient and crappy. Your luck with how well the game plays and sounds depends so much on the game. PS2 and Gamecube emulators fared much better.

Yeah. My experience with Dreamcast emulators is the same as Ezekiel's I'm afraid Ash. Bareable, but someway short of the original machine.

But even so, for £100-ish, having a console to put in the front room when family & friends are round is more than worth it too for me. First it means that I don't have to worry about any kids breaking owt on the PC. Secondly it means none of them "accidentally" stumble over my plethora of fucked up pornos too

 

[shywn]

I never cared much for consoles, but...

They'd do well to essentially re-release the Dreamcast. It had a lot of things right, and would have been much bigger if it... had been much bigger.

It just failed to gain enough momentum, really.

Also, do game consoles really consume 150+ watts these days? How do they even dissipate that much heat?

 

[Great Deceiver]

The Dreamcast was just the last in a long line of Sega marketing blunders, including the 32x and the Saturn. It was an amazing system - the first time we had really arcade perfect ports at home - but it was steamrolled by Sega's massive incompetence. It didn't "fail to gain enough momentum", it was killed prematurely by an inept company. Sega of America's mistakes were particularly egregious.

Considering the relative success of the Megadrive Mini, I think loads (myself included) would jump at the chance to own a console which could play all of SEGA's back catalogue

You have heard of a little thing called emulators, right?

The Dreamcast emulators are inefficient and crappy. Your luck with how well the game plays and sounds depends so much on the game. PS2 and Gamecube emulators fared much better.

Yeah. My experience with Dreamcast emulators is the same as Ezekiel's I'm afraid Ash. Bareable, but someway short of the original machine.

But even so, for £100-ish, having a console to put in the front room when family & friends are round is more than worth it too for me. First it means that I don't have to worry about any kids breaking owt on the PC. Secondly it means none of them "accidentally" stumble over my plethora of fucked up pornos too

I've been using the Flycast core in Retroarch and everything I've tried so far works pretty much perfectly. Give it a try if you haven't.

 

[Lutte]

The dreamcast's failure is a multifaceted thing. There's some fuck ups from sega, including the loss of trust after what happened with 32x/saturn, mismanagement of marketing, there's the "it became really too fucking easy to pirate games on it" --- you didn't need any extra hardware, chip mods or anything (it's not the ONE cause for the death of the DC but it sure helped kill it faster when Sega was already struggling and game publishers could see blood), there's the fact that a certain large publisher threw its weight against Sega : EA told them to only distribute their sports game on the DC and leave them without competition or they would boycott the console -- which killed the platform for a lot of casual gamers who were looking for their next FIFA fix and the likes and a ton of other papercuts.

It was a cool console, and IMHO superior to the ps2 despite the older hardware if only because games weren't massively jagged messes - the ps2 really didn't do antialiasing well. But it ultimately wasn't meant to be.

 

[Great Deceiver]

Yeah, I agree that piracy was a huge factor, too. I just don't agree when people let Sega off the hook and say things like "oh, it just happened".

 

[Higher Animal]

Philosophically I like the idea of Sega's approach, develop specialized hardware and games that express the uniqueness of its hardware. The problem is that approach is becoming increasingly impossible as more and more things get standardized under certain software/hardware regimes. This leaves Sega with a huge backcatalogue but no working philosophy moving forward. There are trends that Sega could jump on, like Esports and the like, but nothing aligned with its core philosophy.

I can't really foresee a vision, but I would take a few core titles that hit, like Virtua Fighter, Golden Axe, and Sonic and try to create a similar unique feeling that blends hardware specialty with gameplay precision and creativity that flows along the same path of some current gaming trends but ultimately goes its own way. The problem I think is that Sega is simply trying to churn a profit based off of IPs and things like Pachinko, stuff that is kind of dying while they're trying to keep their head above water. They're a middle sized fish in a pond of all consuming sharks and don't have a way to go. Also, I'm not exactly sure how much talent is still left in Sega from days of old, and how much they're still looking for the same people.