why did dreamcast go under

SaSSO · Post by **SaSSO** » Sat Feb 23, 2002 4:44 pm

I think the BIGGEST reason the DC failed was because of marketing, which led to low hype for the system. Many people in USA were waiting for the PS2, and there really werent a lot of Dreamcast commercial, except at launch. The ones they had were good too, and did sell a lot of systems (remember they had all the characters from all different games in the DC and stuff?). Anyway, it had to be marketing, because every Sega system with lackluster marketing did horrible (I don't ever remember seeing a 32X commercial...)

Veggita2099 · Post by **Veggita2099** » Sun Feb 24, 2002 11:37 am

If they made a Nights 2 I would go otu and buy a Gamecube right now!

Even though it had a kiddy story line and it actually made no sense I loved that game. I wish they had made a sequel to it. I mean the graphics and gameplay was great on the saturn, just imagine on the Gamecube?

As for the Virtua Figher Series, How can you stand those games? I have Virtua Fighter 1 for Sega 32X and Saturn. I also got Virtua Fighter 2 for Saturn. Both of those games sucks ass! I mean the controls are horrible! The only fighter games I like is:

Dragon Ball Z Ultimate Battle - Best Fighter game ever!!
Dead or Alive 2 - Its decent
Mortal Kombat 2 - My second best (used to be first)
Street Figher II - What more can I say?

SaSSO · Post by **SaSSO** » Sun Feb 24, 2002 5:39 pm

Are you kiddin me? Virtua Fighter is the best fighting series out there! It revolutionized the fighting genre by introducing fighting on a 3D plane with great graphics AND gameplay... the controls are the best part!!

Tails Prower · Post by **Tails Prower** » Sun Feb 24, 2002 5:44 pm

Well, um The dreamcast did have some good rpgs, and even though im a big nintendo hater, I might get a GBA just to see Tails in all his 2D glory. Maybe we can even get Tails his own game....or maybe I can just keep dreaming.

FarmerCuckoo · Post by **FarmerCuckoo** » Tue Feb 26, 2002 1:18 pm

I am from The Netherlands so I shall refrain myself from making guesses about the US and Japanese situation, but in the EU it was simple mismanagement. The three main reasons were: that Sega never lived up to its words, horrible distribution and the practically complete absence of advertising.

I don't think the illegal software really mattered that much. The ease with which you can copies of PSX-games is enormous and it never did much damage to the succes of the PSX.

First, the advertising for the dreamcast was simply horrible. Except for some features in games-magazines you would've never known it was released. Unlike the PSX. for which the advertising was close to a media-bombardment. The commercials broadcasted here didn't show too much of the games available for the PSX, but it did one simple thing: it got the word "playstation" in ones head. The commercials made the word "playstation" the equivelant of "game-console". Parents who wanted to buy a gift for their children's Christmas never asked for a gaming-console, they asked for a playstation. It wasn't much of a choice, it was the only thing they knew about. The shop-assistent could start about the dreamcast, but that wasn't what was being mentioned everywhere all the time. Playstation was known, the dreamcast was not. When the playstation2 was launched Sony pulled the same trick: they bombarded the name into people's minds. Sega never did any proper advertising.

Second the availability of the dreamcast was awful. I had to order mine via internet when it was released. Not that many people are eager to buy stuff via internet, many people prefer going to "good ol' store with actual people ready to help. I was lucky to get one of the VERY few available. It was sold out VERY fast. The amount of dreamcasts made available at the launch was ridiculous. If one really wants to play games and you can't get one console and it's unknown when you actually can get one, people will have the tendency and the time to think about buying another console. One that can be taken home straight away. Especially when the games are a pain in the ___ to get as well. Why get a console which is hard(er) to get and the games are hard(er) to get as well, while other consoles and its games are right there in front of you. Select, pay and play.

Third was that many games who did know about the dreamcast lost a lot of faith in Sega. 32X, SegaCD, Saturn were all released and never got proper support from Sega. They destroyed their own once good name gained with the megadrive(Genesis). I still remember going to my favourite toystore to ask about the Sega Saturn, only to hear that after the Megadrive(Genesis) they would drop support for Sega-products because, and I quote(!) Sega was "such a b_tch to deal with and who can not be relied on since they never deliver orders in time causing us to lose a lot customers."

Now however there was the dreamcast with which you could go online instantly. Instantly being more than a year after it's initial release. Zip-drivers, DVD-expansions, special webcams and more. Many promises and beautiful words came from Sega. None of which was realised. Apart from bad mouth-to-mouth-advertising preventing people from buying the dreamcast some people gave up on their dreamcast and sold it. Sega was able to alienate even it's closest fans. Apart from Sonic, Virtua Fighter and Sega Rally there were few other dreamcast-versions of their best franchises: Streets of Rage, Golden Axe, Panzer Dragoon to just name a few. Nintendo never made those mistakes. Mario is always there at initial release and Zelda & Donkey Kong are not far behind.

The dreamcast was a fine machine which, if handled properly, could've handled itself against the playstation2. It never would've gone up against the Xbox and Gamecube. By the time they were released the dreamcast could've made it into many people's livingrooms and have had a firm marketshare.

The quality of the hard- and software were never an issue. Pinhead executives caused their own product to fail.

drunkensailor · Post by **drunkensailor** » Tue Feb 26, 2002 1:43 pm

lol zei ze dat echt

It is true though I never saw any commercial 4 sega EVER!!if they did and they would've made a shenmue commercial with the graphics they could sell big time...Now I remember I saw a sonic adventure commercial a couple of times but really that was it a shame cuz sega have always made the best consoles after there genesis quite ironic that there worsed consoles(master systym,genesis)sold best :S

Chalavet · Post by **Chalavet** » Tue Feb 26, 2002 5:29 pm

It is all about the advertising. I completely agree with everyone's fine comments about this topic. I used to by a very staunch Nintendo supporter, but I always had a strange curiosity for Sega. Mario in my mind could never be super unless he went on a diet while Sonic was loud and disrespectful. The only thing that has remained true throughout the Sega's post Genesis history is that Sonic has appeared. Granted, Sonic 3d Blast or Sonic R weren't really full fledged adventures like the old days or the present, Sonic has always been there. Sony has done a fantastic job advertising their console without truly having a real mascot like Nintendo or Sega. They simply let the games sell for themselves. I was hoping that Sega would have done something similar to Sony with selling discs with demos at $5 a pop, but they tried to keep everything way to exclusive. If you wanted demos, you had to get the official Dreamcast magazine. Also, their demo units for stoor usage were so small, they could easily be missed while Sony's were at eye level and large. However, I do think it is true that Sega is rather wasteful of their franchises. How many years was it between Phantasy Star 4 and PSO? How long will it be between Shining Force 3 and Shining Force 4? If Nights 2 came out today, I would buy it and whatever system on which it would come out as well. There were just way too many good franchises developed or continued on the Saturn that never did see the light of day on the Dreamcast, such as: Nights, Panzer Dragoon, Shining (Force, Holy Ark, Wisdom), Bug, Riglord Saga/Mystaria, Virtua Cop, Burning Rangers, etc. I have nothing against the new face of Sega with Shenmue, Skies of Arcadia, Jet Set Radio, etc., but continutiy is imperative. Not to mention that, immitation is sometimes necessary. Imagine a "Super Smash Brothers Melee" type game but with all Sega properties. Perhaps Sega will see the light as a 3rd party game maker.

Veggita2099 · Post by **Veggita2099** » Wed Feb 27, 2002 2:09 am

I remember seeing commercials for Sonic the Hedgehog 1 for the Genesis/Megadrive. But shoot that has been back in 1992? Recently I have seen Sonic Adventure 2 Battle advertised for the Gamecube. I do agree many people woudn't even look at the dreamcast due to the Sega Saturn, Sega CD, and Sega 32X going under. I know my friend he went to the store one time (wal-mart I think) and he wanted a Nintendo 64. This was back when the n64 just came out and people was fighting just to get ahold of one.

Well he seen the Sega Saturn for 200 dollars and he bought it and several games which ranged from 20 to 50 bucks each. He didn't do this all at once but over a matter of about 3 months. Well needless to say the Saturn went out and he was pissed. I bet he spent 400 to 500 dollars on the system and the games. Well to this day he refuses to buy anything made from Sega. I have told him about all the cool stuff you can get for the Dreamcast and he still won't buy one.

Point being Sega has screwed a lot of people over on money. I know the way some people talk here money is not a object, but sorry it is. I know I myself was screwed on the Game Gear. I remember paying 130 dollars for the Gamegear, and then paying 30 bucks for Robocop vs Terminator. And it wasn't 2 months later the system went other and I ended up selling it for 50 bucks after investing almost 200 into it. When your 15 years old 200 dollars is a lot of money.

I think Sega themselves have some good games, but they just don't make enough good games to keep there systems going. I think making games for other companies is there best move yet. I just don't like the way there doing it.

I mean people who like Sonic games, and Virtual Figher games are forced to buy a ps2 AND a gamecube since they are only putting certain games on certain consoles. I own a ps2 and am dissapointed since all there sonic games are apparently going to Nintendo. I do own a GBA, but not a Gamecube.

Well I have wasted enough of your time so thats all for now.

drunkensailor · Post by **drunkensailor** » Wed Feb 27, 2002 7:31 am

actually those saturn titles wouldn't matter cuz saturn saold worse then dreamcast so would the good saturn title's make dc sell better??Probably not something I don't understand is why didn't they bring out vf4 4 dc I mean they made it 4 ps2 they screw their fanbase who supported sega 4 all those years!

FarmerCuckoo · Post by **FarmerCuckoo** » Wed Feb 27, 2002 2:49 pm

Exactly! I would be one of those people. I got myself a Playstation 2 this Christmas and hardly have been playing in on it. I'm just sitting back waiting for Virtua Fighter 4. Virtua Fighter 3 was one of the reasons why I got a dreamcast in the first place. After the Saturn-fiascos I was pretty irritated by Sega as well. It were the games that got me convinced.

catfishman · Post by **catfishman** » Fri Mar 01, 2002 2:33 am

Hmmm... I lived in a market where Sega actually decided to push the Dreamcast: Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
I saw Sega's "It's thinking" ("9/9/99") commercials at least twice each evening. I wanted one, but not many other people did - although probably more per capita compared to places where Sega failed to capitalize on the power of advertising.

drunkensailor · Post by **drunkensailor** » Fri Mar 01, 2002 2:19 pm

ironically is though that dreamcast sold best in usa

iam · Post by **iam** » Fri Mar 01, 2002 3:02 pm

catfishman wrote: Hmmm... I lived in a market where Sega actually decided to push the Dreamcast: Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
I saw Sega's "It's thinking" ("9/9/99") commercials at least twice each evening. I wanted one, but not many other people did - although probably more per capita compared to places where Sega failed to capitalize on the power of advertising.

youre joking right?? i live in calgary, and i saw those commercials maybe once every four or five days, and i watch a hell of a lot of tv. lack of advertising was definately a problem in calgary. i know like 50 people who didnt know what a dreamcast even was until a few months ago when i filled them in. the people who did hear about it were those damn sony obsessors who decided to wait until the ps2 came out a few years later. that was a major problem as well, which i believe was already discussed. but yeah, my opinion is that anticipation for the ps2 and past failures for sega, and lack of advertising are what killed the dreamcast...o well, whats dead is dead.[/quote]

b0nd · Post by **b0nd** » Sat Mar 02, 2002 2:00 pm

Just a correction..

Boogerman, the Sega CD and Dreamcast did not need to be modded to play burned games.

The Saturn DID.

SaSSO · Post by **SaSSO** » Sat Mar 02, 2002 3:50 pm

New News: Virtua Fighter 4 on XBox!!

Duras · Post by **Duras** » Thu Mar 14, 2002 2:41 pm

Poor DC, it had so much potental, so little in adv., and no 3rd party co. support, but i think it was a killer system i love mine.

404NotFound · Post by **404NotFound** » Thu Mar 14, 2002 7:37 pm

b0nd wrote:Just a correction..

Boogerman, the Sega CD and Dreamcast did not need to be modded to play burned games.

The Saturn DID.

How do you self boot Sega CD then? Like a DC?

az_bont · Post by **az_bont** » Fri Mar 15, 2002 1:31 pm

I think among the many reasons people have mentioned, the demise of the Dreamcast was lack of advertising and lack of discussion in games magazines.

The two biggest repsonses I got when I told people Sega were bringing out a new console were:

"Yeah, that's the Saturn, isn't it?" and "Sega are still around?"

OtherNash · Post by **OtherNash** » Thu Apr 04, 2002 6:27 am

Boogerman wrote:
Sega never made the best consoles.... they made the best games which used to sell the consoles... now watch how awesome all the consoles are with Segas support

I agree. As someone who went through the Genesis, Sega CD, 32X, Saturn, AND Dreamcast (some said I was a glutton for punishment), I followed thm because Sega has always made a different breed of game. They tried things nobody else would, and, in some cases, were ahead of their time. For that, I say to Sega: "Thanks for the memories".

Now...Bring on the new era

Great One · Post by **Great One** » Thu Apr 04, 2002 8:20 pm

i tried virtua fighter 3tb on dc and its pretty hard, the graphics arent too amazing but it is a game i would buy cause its challenging i would see myself master that game and beat the crap out of my causins at it! (i played dead or alive 2 for about two weeks than i showed it to my causins they lost the first time and than beat the craaaappppppp outta me) lol. and i loved the movie about virtua fighter history. and i think games like doa2 are awesome and good but you play for about 2 weeks and youve already beat it at hard and are waiting for a human player. and the dc commercial was wesome. if only it would play like 10 times everyday than maybe it would have increased the sells a little.