10 Times Sega Really Let Me Down

An episode purely for the fun of it. We go over some of my biggest letdowns at the hands of Sega.

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Opening "Sega" jingle is from Astal for the Sega Saturn.

Ending Music during the credits is from Batman for the Sega Genesis.

SLX Logo
By: Jan Neves

Intro by Evan S.

Episode Notes:

1. MUSIC-

OPEN. Shinobi SMS
10. Y's SMS
9. House of the Dead 2 Dreamcast
8. Revenge of Death Adder Arcade
7. OutRun Arcade
6. Skies of Arcadia Dreamcast
5. Sonic Adventure Dreamcast
4. Sonic & Knuckles Genesis
3. Panzer Dragoon Saturn
2. Batman Returns Sega CD
1. Virtua Fighter 3 Arcade
END. Streets of Rage Genesis

2. You may be surprised to see that the way the Saturn was handled in the US not being on this list. I actually mainly followed the Saturn in Japan, where I received 5 years of quality releases. I was pretty happy with the Saturn's life overall.

3. The Sega CD's sprite scaling and rotation came at enormous cost to performance in many games. This is likely why Sega rarely used it. But this still doesn't explain why it was put in the machine in the first place. If Sega knew it would be hard to implement, why not just make a cheap CDROM addon like NEC and focus on things like cinematics, soundtracks, and FMV at a MUCH cheaper price?

4. Be wary of Saturn VF3 footage that circles the net. It's not genuine. There is no footage of the actual game running to my knowledge.

5. I figure I'm gonna get a lot of responses in regards to Panzer Dragoon Saga. Keep in mind I was not a huge RPG kid and much preferred action games.

6. A lot of folks bring up the uneven terrain in VF3 as a reason the Saturn couldn't have done it. This is simply not true. VDP2 could do slanted surfaces(like VF3's rooftop stage), and VDP1 could overlay sprites onto VDP2 to simulate height changes(such as Contra Legacy of War). It would have looked different to be sure, but VF2 turned out just fine and it looked quite different as well.

[TheBeird]

For me, it’s SEGA’s reluctance to re-release, or even acknowledge, their libraries outside of the MegaDrive. And even then it’s only a select few games for the system. I understand rights issues, and the MegaDrive is their best selling and widely known console, but there is a wealth of material they can mop up with on the retro scene. Plus, an entire generation of people’s hard work may be lost. Forever

[DLviewer]

"Instead we got this hunk o' shit from Mad Catz". OMG I'm dying lol!

[renaero]

Sega is the best in sabotaging themselves and making their IP's weaker, due to poor management or simple oblivion.

[josevanz]

I'm Brazilian, and seeing TEC TOY and its Master system 3 here was a pride! TEC Toy has released mega drive 3 as well, in addition to some games for the master system that don't exist in the rest of the world, like an 8bit version of street fighter 2!

[GameSack]

Oh man that switch to cardboard boxes on the Genesis REALLY pissed me off. It made Genesis games feel far cheaper and of less quality. Interestingly the reverse happened with the Sega CD in the US. Good list overall with well thought out explanations for them. I was never disappointed in the existence of the Sega CD's special hardware, just disappointed that it was seldom touched as you explained. I think Sega originally wanted the CD to be seen as more powerful than a standalone Genesis, but when push came to shove they just wanted to be lazy and also thought that FMV would blow everyone away. I think if FMV hadn't been so overused people wouldn't hate it so much, but the fact that FMV cutscenes and CD music were often the only thing added, it was easy to hate.

[TeamLegacyFTW]

I CAN'T believe Skies of Arcadia had poor sales! That was a masterpiece😢

[GhibliNova]

I would've liked Daytona 2 on the Dreamcast instead of a rebuild of the original, and I would have liked a Panzer Dragoon on the Dreamcast. But for every disappointment, there are also the times where they put way more memory on the Genesis mini than what was needed which just happens to fit all the best Genesis, Master System, Game Gear, and 32x roms on it 😁

[realdiesoft]

Personally I felt the original Streets of Rage 4's cancellation for the dumbest reason possible was one of my biggest letdowns. The guy who took over running Sega at the time simply hadn't heard of the series so he canceled it. How stupid can you be if you're taking over a position like that?

[SgtSega]

They let all their best talent leave, they let Sonic's reputation go down the toilet, they never brought back their Saturn or Dreamcast games other than the usual suspects...

[realevostevo]

I can relate to many of these things, especially Outrunners not getting a Saturn release. To this day I still think of Sega as a wild card in the industry. You can count them down but I'd never count them out. I think they have the biggest appealing set of IPs of any company, pretty much something for everybody; if only they would consistently support them with quality releases.

[crowmki]

Skies of Arcadia is one of the best RPGs I’ve ever played and the fact that Sega hasn’t put out multiple sequels to it, or even one for that matter, is borderline criminal.

[leonidaschryssinas]

Shining Force 3 scen. 2 & 3 as well as Dragon Force 2 & Grandia NOT getting a release outside Japan were among the worst Sega experiences I eveer had sigh

[shaolin]

ha I read the title as "10 times Sega Rally Let me Down" I was like...mmmm odd topic :D

[bruhaha]

Panzer Dragoon Saga ended up being one of my favorite games of all time, but I was also angry when I read it would be an RPG. Thankfully, Team Andromeda came through and I absolutely loved it.

[iMichaelS]

I would also LOVE a Saturn-Mini though it would be a must that it has SEGA Rally with all the classic licensed cars for the era too.

[carlaustin]

The build quality of the Game Gear! Its rare you see one working without having to do a recap and screen replace.

[axeltank]

I would've shelled out serious money for a port of Outrunners back when I had a Dreamcast. That was a real bummer.

[iMichaelS]

I love how you keep making content from this fabulous era of gaming @segalordx

[heavysystemsinc.]

Not sega specifically but just a lot of developers disappointed me when they used ugly ass dithering on scanned or photographed images without any touch up or cleaning on 8 and 16 bit machines. SO many games looked like a bag of ass when they didn't need to because of what I can only assume was deadlines because some of the developers would indeed scan or photograph their art into the machine, but took the extra step to clean it up by hand. It didn't matter so much on 32 bit machines with a higher color depth and range, but when you're dealing with a limited palette, banding and noise dithering is ugly compared to proper ordered dithering and tighting up any banding so it looks natural in a good way instead of ugly in a bad way.

[Sebastian-jkkk]

my biggest let down was the overall US Saturn library. In hindsight I wish Sega would have brought over many of the Japanese games. As a 15 year old, I really wasn't in a position to import anything. I didn't even know about a lot of the Japanese games until way way later.