"I think that Sega has some vulnerability in the baggage that it's carrying with all five of its platforms because, gee, the consumer and retailer won't let you do that... Some number of these gaming platforms have to die, and in trying to support that many platforms Sega's advertising dollars and marketing support will get thinner and thinner and thinner."
- Steve Race, Next Generation April 1995
|
| Sega's plethora of hardware platforms would ultimately prove unsustainable. |
Electronic Arts 16 megabits EA's latest soccer/football offering received excellent reviews upon release. The Genesis and SNES versions use the FIFA 95 software engine, while the Saturn and PlayStation versions feature 3D graphics and "Virtual Stadiums". "EA has improved the gameplay and come up with another winner. Any fan of the original FIFA will find '96 a perfect game to add to their collection. With its new graphics, added gameplay elements, and new training mode, beginner and expert players alike will find FIFA '96 a worthy sequel." |
||
Sega 24 megabits With the success of Nintendo's Donkey Kong Country and its pre-rendered graphics, doubtless Sega felt the need to compete. The result was Vectorman, a well-received run and gun game that pushed the limits of what the Genesis system was capable of, featuring a cast of appealing pre-rendered robot characters. A sequel was released in 1996, but its launch was somewhat lost in the shuffle of the next generation console war between the Saturn, PlayStation, and Nintendo 64. Since then, the Vectorman games have reappeared from time to time in various Sega compilations, as well as on the Wii Virtual Console service. "Vectorman is not only the most original platformer of the year, next to Jim, but also the year's best in the area of special effects. Blue Sky has the Genesis doing just about everything it can, effect-wise, in one game." "I'm glad Vectorman could be the last farewell for my Genesis, and the maiden voyage for my Nomad. It truly is one of the few Genesis titles worthy of the honor." |
||
|
Parting Thoughts...
"Obviously Sega has done very well and I think we have gotten back and regained the momentum we had lost at the end of 1993. I feel very good about this and I think the days of "Gee, Sega is cleaning Nintendo's clock in the U.S." are long gone." "We'll be at around 700,000 [32X units sold] by December. It's not bad. There will be more 32X machines in homes than either PlayStation or Saturn by this Christmas." "Those horrible consoles are finally out of the window. We can now use them as the door-stops they should have been years and years ago. I've always disliked the SNES and Genesis. As a designer I've despised them. Thank God they're going." |
