The thing probably most in the way of the Saturn recovering was its line up. I don't doubt it could have run something like MGS which is a good looking game for that gen but that's mostly because of the perspective it uses and how simple the geometry is, but it's mostly important that the Saturn didn't host games like it. Even if the system had had a solid launch I think it would have stumbled hard because it was mostly home to what Sega knew best and that was its arcade style experiences. I remember the reviews and coverage every time something like Virtua Cop 2 or Sega Touring arrived but these were a constant stream of arcade style experiences to a market that was already falling out of love with arcades themselves. The PS1 fed that new market of varied and meatier experiences frequently so could build on momentum easier.
The 32X and Mega CD were definitely brand eroders, they both carried one hell of a stink for Sega going into the next gen but Sony did have everything to prove coming in as a new starter also so both had their hurdles. Dreamcast was technically a solid hit for Sega, it may have only sold around 9-10m units but it always feels like people are unfair on the system classing it as a failure when that figure represents just 18 months of life the system enjoyed, its death having much more to do with the state of Sega than a reflection of the hardware. But even then, the system may have hosted arcade ports too but there was a much better marketing drive to it and more effort to push non-arcade experiences like Shenmue, Sonic Adventure etc.
The 32X and Mega CD were definitely brand eroders, they both carried one hell of a stink for Sega going into the next gen but Sony did have everything to prove coming in as a new starter also so both had their hurdles. Dreamcast was technically a solid hit for Sega, it may have only sold around 9-10m units but it always feels like people are unfair on the system classing it as a failure when that figure represents just 18 months of life the system enjoyed, its death having much more to do with the state of Sega than a reflection of the hardware. But even then, the system may have hosted arcade ports too but there was a much better marketing drive to it and more effort to push non-arcade experiences like Shenmue, Sonic Adventure etc.
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