Was X-Men Vs Streetfighter...

[eastyy]

I have a few copys of the sega saturn magazine the one with vampire saviour on the cover just thinking about it if they did not cover the imports they would have nowhere near enought to fill up a magazine.Reading it now its obvious why i got into importing.If i wanted new great games for the saturn i had to
i never really like the alpha series i just found combos to restrictive but thats just a personal preference

[IcePak]

Indeed I was dismayed when it turned out the PAL version of XMen vs SF was not going to be released. Sega Europe certinaly did botch up the chances the Saturn had. They may blame it on the Mega CD and 32X, and whilst that may have had a small effect on the Saturn, if they had actually pulled their fingers out and properly supported the Saturn then the console would have sold truck loads more. They went and did the same thing with the DC. ****ing dumbasses.

Having only limited funds back in the day, and still today, I've not yet imported a single game for any system, but I have been dying to for some time, and I can't wait until thte day I am able to afford to.

[sj33]

To be honest, I find it difficult to get too annoyed at Sega Europe for the Xmen Vs. SF debacle... in fairness, it was game over by that point, the only people buying Saturn software anymore were the 'hardcore' fans, who could easily obtain the game import. Considering the cost of bundling the cart, and the fact that Capcom wanted the package to be sold for more than the 49.99 Sega wanted to sell it for, it probably wasn't worth the hassle when it would have little impact.

And to be fair, with the exception of Courier Crisis, Sega Europe did good in 1998, snapping up the likes of Riven, World League Soccer '98, NHL Powerplay '98 (under the NHL All-Star '98 moniker), and the translation of titles like Panzer Saga, Shining Force III Scenario 1 and Deep Fear, not to mention the obvious stuff like Burning Rangers, they certainly made more effort than SoA, and for the most part gave us a quality line-up considering the non-existant audience.

[Team Andromeda]

To be honest, I find it difficult to get too annoyed at Sega Europe for the Xmen Vs. SF debacle... in fairness, it was game over by that point, the only people buying Saturn software anymore were the 'hardcore' fans, who could easily obtain the game import. Considering the cost of bundling the cart, and the fact that Capcom wanted the package to be sold for more than the 49.99 Sega wanted to sell it for, it probably wasn't worth the hassle when it would have little impact.

And to be fair, with the exception of Courier Crisis, Sega Europe did good in 1998, snapping up the likes of Riven, World League Soccer '98, NHL Powerplay '98 (under the NHL All-Star '98 moniker), and the translation of titles like Panzer Saga, Shining Force III Scenario 1 and Deep Fear, not to mention the obvious stuff like Burning Rangers, they certainly made more effort than SoA, and for the most part gave us a quality line-up considering the non-existant audience.

I blame both SOA and SOE for the Saturn screw up. It could have sold much better if they backed it from the start (not the 32X).

The 32X was so bloody pointless it didn't save users money at all (thanks to being on Carts) and what with SEGA Japan (the main Software house for SEGA) backing the Saturn
Game like VR, Doom Star Wars would have looked better and helped with the western launch of the Saturn.

The 32X sent out a mixed message to the consumer and eat into to SEGA budget, and was wasting 3rd partys time, when they should have been working on Saturn stuff

A launch line up of... VF Star Wars, VR, Doom wouldn't have been half bad for the Saturn. Look at all those canned 32X games that could have helped bost the Saturn line up of games.
It mad me mad when SOA/SOE went on about the 1 and half million pounds cost of translating Grandia.

Well if SOE/SOA weren't going to bring games like that to the West one could hardly expect people to buy the Saturn, or those poor sods that did To stick with the platform.
After the hype that game got it could and should have been one of the better Saturn sellers. You need to bring games that show off the Hardware at the end of the day

What was the point in bringing KOF 95 and the ROM to the West ???. When SOE knew already SEGA Japan was bringing out a new 1 RAM card

Much better if they brought KOF 96 so that would gives hopes that some 3rd party or even SOE ect Might port some of the other 1 Meg Ram games like Metal Slug.
Sega Europe promised us that it was going to pack ClockworkNight 1&II on the same disc (as the 1st one was too short) only to go back on thier word, They said they were bringing the netlink to the UK, again only to go back on thier world They said the 4 Meg Cart and X-Men was coming, only to go back on thier world
After the Mega CD, 32X and all the Saturn mess ups its no wonder nobody gave SEGA Europe the time of day, or would trust them

There were so many screw ups its not even funny.
The Saturn would never have out sold the PS in the West. But it could have sold a hell of a lot better and maybe could have been #2 in the West

[Duddyroar]

To be honest, I find it difficult to get too annoyed at Sega Europe for the Xmen Vs. SF debacle... in fairness, it was game over by that point, the only people buying Saturn software anymore were the 'hardcore' fans, who could easily obtain the game import. Considering the cost of bundling the cart, and the fact that Capcom wanted the package to be sold for more than the 49.99 Sega wanted to sell it for, it probably wasn't worth the hassle when it would have little impact.

And to be fair, with the exception of Courier Crisis, Sega Europe did good in 1998, snapping up the likes of Riven, World League Soccer '98, NHL Powerplay '98 (under the NHL All-Star '98 moniker), and the translation of titles like Panzer Saga, Shining Force III Scenario 1 and Deep Fear, not to mention the obvious stuff like Burning Rangers, they certainly made more effort than SoA, and for the most part gave us a quality line-up considering the non-existant audience.

Totally agree.

In hindsight it would have been both costly and foolish to release a game that had to be bundled with a piece of hardware at that point in the Saturn's life. It was, as you so rightly put it, 'game over' for Sega by this point. Plus, I don't see X-Men Vs SF as a 'triple A' title, at least not in commercial terms. 2D fighters have failed to grab a mainstream audience since the early 90's. Although there was a hardcore group of Saturn owners that were annoyed by the non-release of the PAL version, it will have been a very small group indeed. And as you say, most hardcore Saturn owners would have started importing by that point anyway.

[Team Andromeda]

Totally agree.

In hindsight it would have been both costly and foolish to release a game that had to be bundled with a piece of hardware at that point in the Saturn's life. It was, as you so rightly put it, 'game over' for Sega by this point. Plus, I don't see X-Men Vs SF as a 'triple A' title, at least not in commercial terms. 2D fighters have failed to grab a mainstream audience since the early 90's. Although there was a hardcore group of Saturn owners that were annoyed by the non-release of the PAL version, it will have been a very small group indeed. And as you say, most hardcore Saturn owners would have started importing by that point anyway.

Point is why even bloody say you're going to bring it out. Also if you don;t bring games like Grandia ect to the West one can't exepect the Saturn to sell. What was the point in paying for 3rd rate PS ports ???.
Hardly the way to attract people to buy a Satrurn.

You needed to bring games that used the Saturn, and stuff like the Netlink which the PS just could do. So by making the machine stand out and offer features that the PS couldn't do. Also the twats should have brought the white Saturn over here. Looked a hell of a lot better than that black mess in the shops.

[Duddyroar]

Point is why even bloody say you're going to bring it out

True, they shouldn't have said anything. But you never know, Sega might have been prepared to release the game, but when Capcom said they wanted it to retail for over ?50 Sega had to pull the plug. I suppose SOE could have had some good intentions, but then the facts and figures probably told them that they simply couldn't afford to release the game, as much as they wanted to.

[Kongster]

Also the twats should have brought the white Saturn over here. Looked a hell of a lot better than that black mess in the shops.

Totally agree mate. Also the joypads on the 1st models of the pal machines were horrible!!

[Baseley09]

Shame but who cares, the last days of the pal Saturn was the best gaming days of my life, the games i hold dearest fo sho. Panzer, Rangers.....oh boy.

[Team Andromeda]

.

the translation of titles like Panzer Saga, Shining Force III Scenario 1 and , not to mention the obvious stuff like Burning Rangers,

OH Yeah , we only got them in part becasue SOA were going to translate them.
And what was the ****ing point in bringing SF III , onlt to leave scenarios 2 and 3 Japan only.
What a waste if everybody time and a way to look after the users base. ****ing tossers

[Team Andromeda]

True, they shouldn't have said anything. But you never know, Sega might have been prepared to release the game, but when Capcom said they wanted it to retail for over ?50 Sega had to pull the plug. I suppose SOE could have had some good intentions, but then the facts and figures probably told them that they simply couldn't afford to release the game, as much as they wanted to.

But it just shows you what idots they really were.
X-Men 4-Meg cart bundle was going to cost ?50 at the end of the day. An gold fish could have worked that one out.

[Team Andromeda]

Totally agree mate. Also the joypads on the 1st models of the pal machines were horrible!!

Tell me about it , And they change the Jap Saturn amazing start up sequence (which looked awesome).
And even the lovely front end. In to this back and yellow check mess.

You go into Dixons and the Saturn would just look a mess , horrible colour which just showed up dust like nobody business . At least the white model would have looked a hell of lot better in the shops

[Duddyroar]

And what was the ****ing point in bringing SF III , onlt to leave scenarios 2 and 3 Japan only

Sales didn't set the world alight, so Sega didn't bother the other two. Simple as that really!

I can sense a huge degree of bitterness towards SOE here, but to be painfully honest the Saturn's failure (and Sega's demise as a hardware producer) wasn't their fault completely. Sega of Japan made some bad choices at the start of the Saturn's life and the fact that the PSX was so strong made it hard for Sega to compete. To be fair any company would have had a hard time going up against Sony (with their huge pockets) at that point, the mighty Nintendo also failed (although not as badly) but they had Pokemon to fall back on to some degree.

You have to put yourself in SOE shoes - you've got a console that's dying in the water, sales are down and you've got a limited budget as a result. You can only throw your cash at so many releases - would you seriously risk releasing a 2D fighter that costs over ?50? Of course you wouldn't.

Just be happy we got Panzer Dragoon Saga, Burning Rangers, House of the Dead, etc! We could have easily missed out on those, too.

[IcePak]

Also the twats should have brought the white Saturn over here. Looked a hell of a lot better than that black mess in the shops.

I have to disagree with you there - all Sega consoles, nay ALL consoles, should be black in my honest opinion.

[Duddyroar]

Black does end up looking a grubby and cheap though (even though it actually costs more to create a console in black, production-wise).

The white Saturn is a thing of beauty.