Written by Lance Lasheras

In our first part we explored how Sega overtook Nintendo in the early 90’s to become the biggest video game company on the planet. It was through attitude, marketing, and more importantly defining themselves as better than Nintendo. Regardless of the Super Nintendo’s better video card and superior sound board, the Genesis took an early lead in the console wars. It had not been to last however, as Sega’s odd obsession with the Genesis forged the start of its downfall.?

Part 2: The start of the End

When you’ve something good it’s natural to want to hold onto it. George Foreman has his grill, Harley has its motors, and Sega had its Genesis. The issue with technologies are that it’s ever evolving, and Sega seemed determined to hang onto its success for as long as possible.

Bloated, thy name is Sega.

In 1992 they introduced the Sega CD. An add on to the Genesis that gave it massive storage capacity, orchestral sound, and blurry full motion video. There is a sizable bet in the market that full motion video was going to take off, and Sega gambled big. The issue with this expensive add-on was the atrocious load times coupled with an average fall into line of games.

Look on my small works, ye mighty, and despair!

In the fog of those disasters was Sonic CD. Widely considered to be the best 2-D Sonic bet on all time and for good reason. It featured time traveling worlds, introduced Mecha-Sonic, and had an attractive finale worthy of its name. Sonic CD continues to be greatest game with this ill-fated attachment to the Genesis.?

Preceded?Five Night’s At Freddy’s gameplay by nearly ten years, but was also complete bollocks.

At the same time frame the Sega CD brought enormous controversy towards the industry using its title ‘Night Trap’. It featured scantily clad girls escaping from vampires throughout a house party. In conjunction with Mortal Kombat, Night Trap were able to spark a senate committee hearing on game titles that eventually created the ESRB.

Then in 1994 Sega released Sonic and Knuckles. It was a significantly beloved game that had the opportunity to attach other Sonic games in to the cartridge either to enhance Sonic 3 or add Knuckles to Sonic 2. Its innovative technology was truly novel for its time, allowing you to play as new characters in older games.?

Nintendo was hot at the heels of Sega, gaining huge sales in the console market with the release of massive games like Donkey Kong Country. Sega was still determined to squeeze life from the Genesis and released another attachment to the system: the 32X.?

The 32X would be a cartridge attachment to the Genesis that will provide vector graphics and 32-bit processing. It had been a monstrous plug-in that required another power chord, bringing the grand total to 3 should you owned a Sega CD. Few consumers were thinking about shilling enough money to purchase a new console for a mere add-on, particularly with the Sega Saturn on the horizon.

Almost as frustrating an event as tether ball was during your childhood.?

While the 32X had an amazing port of Mortal Kombat 2, and a sub-par Sonic spinoff called Knuckles Chaotix, it didn’t generate a substantial library of games. Knuckles Chaotix was a Knuckles based platformer with a tethering gimmick that caused played to be locked in with another character at all times. While considered a cult status now, Knuckles Chaotix was poorly received at the time.?

The Octomom would be proud.

Still not satisfied with kicking its deadbeat child out of the house, Sega released a mix of the Genesis and the Sega CD known as the Sega CDX. Then they released a transportable form of the Genesis known as the Nomad. They released two more versions from the original Genesis. All these devices were met with mediocre sales, since many consumers had already begun saving for the next generation consoles.?

In part 3, Sega goes head-to-head with Sony and Nintendo because the war between your Saturn, Playstation, and Nintendo 64 gets hotter. Promised as a savior to the now confusing Sega brand, the Saturn would face a whole new set of obstacles that would alter the face of the company.?

Previous Article: The Fall of Sonic: Sega’s Last Breath – Part 1