1995 was a great year for gamers. Sega launched it’s 32 bit Saturn game console in May of that year. It launched about 4 months ahead of schedule. I remember I had crossed into Michigan to have lunch and look around the mall when I saw the boxes on the store shelves. I had assumed they were display boxes and went in for a look.
To my surprise I left the store with the console and a couple of games. The console was really cool and had amazing graphics for its time. They were sharp and colourful, something Sega was always known for. The games I bought were BUG! and Panzer Dragoon.
BUG! was a fun little platformer … Like Rayman. Nothing special.
Panzer Dragoon on the other hand was simply beautiful. Go and google this one. My description wouldn’t do it justice.
Sega had managed to sneak its console out to market 4 months ahead of its competitor. I was happy with my decision at the time. I knew Sega. They were a brilliant company with a proven track record for making great games.
Sony on the other hand was a relative unknown in the gaming arena. It would probably take years for the them to catch on, especially in the North American market. Boy! Was I wrong.
The PlayStation arrived in September 1995 and was a huge hit right from the start. I had a handful of launch titles that went on to be classics in the industry. Ridge Racer, Battle Arena Toshinden, Rayman, NBA Jam, and Air Combat.
These were all amazing titles and great showcases for the hardware. Let’s not forget the hardware. Sony chose to go with a light grey case that was significantly smaller then the Saturn’s black box looks. The controller also had a futuristic look that is still used by Sony today.
It was a tremendous package overall. Sega and its Saturn didn’t have a chance.
Sega had made a bad call. They misjudged a major industry shift and paid a harsh price for it. They failed to see the shift to 3D games.
By 1995 3D games were the new hot property. Gaming up to this point had been sprite based-2D animated characters pasted on top of 2D backgrounds. The Saturn was designed to be the ultimate sprite-pushing power house. From a technology standpoint… it was dead on arrival. Sega’s ports of its own 3D games Virtua Fighter and Daytona USA (both massive hits in the arcades) were failures on the Saturn. It just couldn’t create the 3D needed to make these work.
Sony on the other hand built their machine around 3D graphics. 3D polygonal models for characters were used on almost all of the games made for it. 3D backgrounds were not commonly used as the hardware was not yet powerful enough but clever programmers were able to create some great effects. Ridge Racer and Jumping Flash! were great examples of what this hardware could do.
The Saturn was all but dead in 1996 and Sega would never be the same either. Sony had the North American game market all to themselves at this point.
Nintendo would launch their N64 system in September 1996. For me the N64 was a non-starter.
It was built through a partnership with Silicon Graphics. They were a leader in graphic design at the time and had done special effects work for all the major Hollywood studios. Their hardware and software was used in the production of the Toy Story movie.
This drew a lot of people to the N64 but not me. I had always found Nintendo games to be a little too light and cheery for me. Also their decision to censor games on their systems didn’t sit well with 20 something me.
Tomorrow we’ll move on to PlayStation 2 and Sega Dreamcast.
NoShade's 