Sega Neptune!

G

Gamegear

CAG Veteran
The Sega Neptune was a two-in-one Mega Drive/Genesis and 32X console which Sega planned to release in 1994 or 1995. The proposed retail price for the unit was US$200.
Sega had admitted how expensive and problematic the 32X was,[14] so it decided to make a combined version of the Mega Drive/Genesis and 32X; however, by the time a prototype came out, the Sega Saturn was ready for release. Sega felt that the console could have replaced the Sega Mega Drive, but consumers would not be interested in the Sega Neptune, so the project was scrapped. There are several prototypes, and at least one was declared to work.
if this was a system it would have been popular!
 
The whole 32X concept was stupid and hurt the company big time. They should've just kept backwards compatibility in the Saturn. The Saturn was the console of missed opportunities.
 
The Neptune could have been a good idea, if it were released earlier and if it was a replacement for the Genesis and low cost option to the saturn. But, by the time the 32X was released, the Saturn was right around the corner, and even sooner that most people thought given the Saturn hit the market without any real notice to some retailers. The Saturn was underpowered compared to the PS1, and just couldn't compete in the new era of polygons.
 
[quote name='dafoomie']The whole 32X concept was stupid and hurt the company big time. They should've just kept backwards compatibility in the Saturn. The Saturn was the console of missed opportunities.[/QUOTE]

someone told me this when the saturn was released and thought it was pretty cool if this was the case. but it wasn't, so it was uncool.

sega should have definitely made the saturn backwards compatible with the sega cd games and the sega genesis cartridge games. it would have been a big incentive for people to buy the saturn as you'd not only get to play sega saturn games but you'd also have access to the huge backlog of sega genesis and sega cd games. i would have definitely bought a saturn if this was the actual result. but it was not.

the 32x is the biggest garbage. i don't know what sega was thinking but there is little reason to even consider of owning a 32x. the games made for this upgrade add-on is garbage. what games are there that says, you must own a 32x?

neptune would not have saved them. it would just kill them faster it if was released. sega hardware died with the dreamcast. if the neptune would have been released, sega would have died with the saturn. this shows that people don't like to upgrade their existing hardware. the 32x was released because it provided extra features that the genesis originally could not produce. for consumers, this means make a game that will be made playable with the genesis as opposed on having to upgrade existing machines.

look at the super nintendo with the add-on chips implemented. that is what sega should have done with the genesis. having to release new hardware upgrade was a stupid thing to do because it was expensive for the consumer and lacked reason for the purchase. comparing the snes with the genesis, the snes was a better investment as it had cartridge upgrades through added chip design. with the genesis, you had a hardware upgrade, which was more expensive and limited. if sega wanted to make 3d games, they should have used their virtua chip from virtua racing on the genesis. nintendo did this with the super fx chip and if nintendo can do it, so can sega. the 32x was a bad idea from sega, just as how the virtual boy was a bad idea from nintendo.
 
Regarding the Saturn - The Saturn had the capability to push great polygon-based games, it was more a flaw in the console's architecture that made it harder to program for. The Saturn had a total of something like 11 different processors working together. Nights looks as good as anything that was out on the N64 or PSX at the time. There's also the case of Lobotomy Software porting very capable versions of both Quake and Duke 3d to the Saturn. Perhaps most importantly, fighting game ports on the Saturn crapped all over anything on the PSX or N64. I just wish Capcom/SNK had been able to release their RAM expansions in the US along with their ports.

Regarding the 32x - There are several games that I enjoy playing on the 32x but by and large, it was unnecessary. Doom was fine if you didn't have a computer to play it on. Star Wars Arcade was fun but became brutally difficult. Mortal Kombat 2 and WWF Wrestlemania the Arcade Game were both great ports that benefited from the Genesis' excellent 6 button, 1st party controller. My biggest complaint with the 32x was that it didn't last long enough. I would've loved to see the Castlevania game for it get finished and the Darkstalkers port could have been great.
 
Tom Kalinske (ex President of Sega of America) tells a story about how SGI approached them with a chipset they thought would be great for a video game console. Kalinske called Japan, they sent their team over, didn't like it, and not long after, that hardware became the Nintendo 64.

Then they designed the turd that became the Saturn, and replaced Kalinske with Bernie Stolar because he wasn't ruining the company enough.

http://www.sega-16.com/feature_page.php?id=214&title=Interview: Tom Kalinske
 
[quote name='dafoomie']Then they designed the turd that became the Saturn, and replaced Kalinske with Bernie Stolar because he wasn't ruining the company enough.[/QUOTE]
Hell, at that time period, they wouldn't let Kalinske do anything. He was nothing but an image for them before they replaced him. Wouldn't let him make any decisions.
 
[quote name='Halo05']Regarding the Saturn - The Saturn had the capability to push great polygon-based games, it was more a flaw in the console's architecture that made it harder to program for. The Saturn had a total of something like 11 different processors working together. Nights looks as good as anything that was out on the N64 or PSX at the time. There's also the case of Lobotomy Software porting very capable versions of both Quake and Duke 3d to the Saturn. Perhaps most importantly, fighting game ports on the Saturn crapped all over anything on the PSX or N64. I just wish Capcom/SNK had been able to release their RAM expansions in the US along with their ports.

Regarding the 32x - There are several games that I enjoy playing on the 32x but by and large, it was unnecessary. Doom was fine if you didn't have a computer to play it on. Star Wars Arcade was fun but became brutally difficult. Mortal Kombat 2 and WWF Wrestlemania the Arcade Game were both great ports that benefited from the Genesis' excellent 6 button, 1st party controller. My biggest complaint with the 32x was that it didn't last long enough. I would've loved to see the Castlevania game for it get finished and the Darkstalkers port could have been great.[/QUOTE]

The Saturn did have the ability to push polygons but not as well as the PS. It was underpowered when compared to the PS and I think the added chips were a reaction to that news. The Saturn could push the sprites out. Sega did figure out how to get more out of the Saturn and re-released Virtua Fighter, and Daytona with better graphics. I like those games a lot, but those games weren't as smooth as Tekken or Ridge Racer.

I read that the 32X was basically one big miscommunication between the different Sega groups - there was supposed to be more of a time gap between the 32X and the Saturn, but Sega rushed the Saturn to market in basically a surprise launch, and we know the rest of the story.
 
[quote name='Friend of Sonic']Sega historically had a problem with not allowing Sega of America equal input and often had ideas that made sense (and some did not make sense)[/QUOTE]

I'm not sure the 32X made sense but given the Saturn's surprise launch, it never had a chance. I think an argument can be made that Sega should have bit the bullet and never released the Saturn as it was. Basically, I think Sony caught the other console makers napping.
 
[quote name='Friend of Sonic']Sega historically had a problem with not allowing Sega of America equal input and often had ideas that made sense (and some did not make sense)[/QUOTE]
This is especially true with the Sega CD. Sega of Japan's primary target was the PC Engine and wanted the Mega CD to compete against it. Sega of America was more or less kept in the dark about it for a good while and given incomplete models to work with. Because the TurboGrafx-16 wasn't as big of a competitor as the Japanese version, the PC Engine, Sega of America was more or less left to have it shifted towards Nintendo.

It would also explain why exactly there were so many American-made point and click, FMV games.

SoJ was ALWAYS fighting with SoA over the tiniest shit. From flipping out to wanting to pack Sonic in with the Genesis to not telling them any info about the Sega CD, etc.

[quote name='bsesb2003']I'm not sure the 32X made sense but given the Saturn's surprise launch, it never had a chance. I think an argument can be made that Sega should have bit the bullet and never released the Saturn as it was. Basically, I think Sony caught the other console makers napping.[/QUOTE]
In a way, the 32X kinda made sense. The execution was all sorts of full retard, though.

The Genesis was still selling well in the west. The Mega Drive never caught on in Japan and was severely outdone by the Super Famicom. Whereas the Genesis/Mega Drive in North America and PAL regions was pretty much neck and neck with the Super Nintendo. To upgrade the Genesis to keep its life going where it was still doing well made some sense.

The real problems stem from a complete rush in making the thing a stand-alone piece that cost more than the system did by itself at the time (the same mistake made with the Sega CD), developers not really being on board at the time and having to work with incomplete versions, and having to rush it out before the Saturn launch.

Going back to Sega of Japan constantly doing things without caring about SoA's input, they were actually the ones who decided to pull the infamous "Saturn is out NOW" at E3. It was SoJ who wanted to beat out the PlayStation in release date. And when they realized that it also meant sales were low because NO ONE expected it, the price tag or the lack of games available, they figured the best way to resolve the issue was to axe everything but the Saturn.

This meant Genesis, Sega CD, 32X, Game Gear and Nomad were all discontinued so Sega could put more resources into the Saturn. Doing this resulted in Sega losing out on money where it DID matter, since the Genesis was doing well in North America and Europe. If they had just chilled the hell out and not released the Saturn when they did, but instead when they INTENDED TO, it might have been better.

Then came the problem with keeping Tom Kalinske from doing his job, him leaving the company and then them hiring the recently fired from Sony Bernie Stolar...
 
[quote name='bsesb2003']I'm not sure the 32X made sense but given the Saturn's surprise launch, it never had a chance. I think an argument can be made that Sega should have bit the bullet and never released the Saturn as it was. Basically, I think Sony caught the other console makers napping.[/QUOTE]

nintendo and sega weren't worried about sony. sony managed their ps1 because nintendo and sega were busy with each other in competing for markets. during the 16bit console war, those who entered the video game market would often leave because it was a very tough market. you had the panasonic 3do, philips cdi, turbo graphics 16, atari jaguar, and neogeo. none of them took major markets as opposed to sega and nintendo. so when sony released their console, sega and nintendo expected sony to follow the same fate as the others who entered.
 
[quote name='pochaccoheaven']nintendo and sega weren't worried about sony. sony managed their ps1 because nintendo and sega were busy with each other in competing for markets. during the 16bit console war, those who entered the video game market would often leave because it was a very tough market. you had the panasonic 3do, philips cdi, turbo graphics 16, atari jaguar, and neogeo. none of them took major markets as opposed to sega and nintendo. so when sony released their console, sega and nintendo expected sony to follow the same fate as the others who entered.[/QUOTE]
Actually, Sega WAS worried about Sony. Why do you think the Saturn is such an overcomplicated system from the way it's built? Sega freaked when they heard what the PlayStation was capable of and changed their plans of a souped up 2D machine. They freaked out yet again when they decided to push the North American release several months ahead of schedule WITHOUT telling customers, retailers and even game developers.

Remember that the markets varied by region. In Japan, Nintendo and NEC were doing much better than Sega was during the 16-bit days. In North America, Nintendo and Sega were neck and neck. In Europe, Sega had a slight lead over Nintendo.
 
[quote name='Tsukento']Actually, Sega WAS worried about Sony. Why do you think the Saturn is such an overcomplicated system from the way it's built? Sega freaked when they heard what the PlayStation was capable of and changed their plans of a souped up 2D machine. They freaked out yet again when they decided to push the North American release several months ahead of schedule WITHOUT telling customers, retailers and even game developers.

Remember that the markets varied by region. In Japan, Nintendo and NEC were doing much better than Sega was during the 16-bit days. In North America, Nintendo and Sega were neck and neck. In Europe, Sega had a slight lead over Nintendo.[/QUOTE]

i find it hard to believe that sega was worried about sony's playstation console because you had the 3do, which was more capable than sony's playstations console and was released a year before the saturn and playstation. what i feel is that sega was likely pressured because they spent a huge amount of money on development of the saturn and 32x that they were likely burned out on money. so they simply released the saturn as soon as possible to gain sales. also, the playstation console was nothing more than an enhanced super nintendo.
 
[quote name='pochaccoheaven']i find it hard to believe that sega was worried about sony's playstation console because you had the 3do, which was more capable than sony's playstations console and was released a year before the saturn and playstation. what i feel is that sega was likely pressured because they spent a huge amount of money on development of the saturn and 32x that they were likely burned out on money. so they simply released the saturn as soon as possible to gain sales. also, the playstation console was nothing more than an enhanced super nintendo.[/QUOTE]

The 3DO was $700 at launch. Way out of the mainstream.

Sega threw additional chips on the Saturn and released the console early to get a jump on Sony. Neither worked. While there are some Saturn games that do polygons almost as well as the PS, there aren't many. It was a sprite machine, albeit a good one, but still a sprite machine at heart.

The PS was much more than an enhanced SNES. True, Sony was to partner with Nintendo, but when that fell through, Sony decided to go it on its own. I'm not a Sony fanboy, I actually thought the Saturn and Dreamcast were more fun than the PS and PS2, but the PS was a game changer.
 
[quote name='pochaccoheaven']i find it hard to believe that sega was worried about sony's playstation console because you had the 3do, which was more capable than sony's playstations console and was released a year before the saturn and playstation. what i feel is that sega was likely pressured because they spent a huge amount of money on development of the saturn and 32x that they were likely burned out on money. so they simply released the saturn as soon as possible to gain sales. also, the playstation console was nothing more than an enhanced super nintendo.[/QUOTE]
[youtube]WrjwaqZfjIY[/youtube]

Holy cow, is that wrong on several points. Sega was STILL MAKING MONEY from the Genesis/Mega Drive in the western portion. It was far more successful outside of Japan. It wasn't about money at that time. They only started losing money DURING the Saturn's life, which triggered them to nix everything prior to it.

The whole purpose of making the Saturn overly complicated internally was because they were feeling the pressure of the PlayStation. The early US launch further supported this.

And to claim the PlayStation was a souped up SNES? Wow...
 
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