As a Japanese gamer who grew up during that time, I can provide some insight into the gaming culture and market in Japan during that time. As you probably know, Japan is a small country, and the primary gaming demographic which consisted mainly of elementary and middle school students, attended schools within their local districts at that time. The district assignments were determined comprehensively, taking into account factors like population density and safety. In an area of 1 square kilometer, there were often several hundred children (this number varied by region and era), all attending the same school. In my case, just like everyone else, if I wanted to see a classmate, I could hop on my bike and be at a friend's house in about 3 minutes or less, 10 minutes tops. Because of this close proximity, when playing games with friends who shared common interests, there was no need to buy the same game ― having it on one side's hand was usually enough. If I wanted to play a friend's game at home, it was common to borrow it with a set deadline, and vice versa. However, to play games on a different console, we would need to lend the entire system, and this was often more challenging. This fact contributed to the dominance of a specific game console (in this case, Nintendo) in the market. Even when it comes to sports games, many of us were already involved in school clubs or could easily organize games in schoolyards or parks after class, just by rallying friends. So, there was hardly a need to play sports games on a console. Additionally, considering the graphics and controls of that time, sports games lacked the immersive experience compared to actually playing the sport. Unless it was an iconic IP like "Kunio-kun(a.k.a Alex from River City Ransom)" or "Rock Man(a.k.a Mega Man)", there wasn't much motivation to actively play such games. Another irony was that major fighting and action games were still available on arcade consoles at the neighborhood candy store or game center, so the only time we merely competed on the consoles together at a friend's house was on rainy days. I realize that behind the lack of success of the Mega Drive was the strong influence of the Japanese gaming culture and community customs of the time. But of course, there are also Japanese who spent their youth on Mega Drive, so to each his own.
Thank you for your insight. It is greatly valued and only adds to the history of the Mega Drive's struggles in Japan. It would be equally insightful if there was a history of Sonic in Japan. While Sonic 2 did lead to a boost in sales of the Mega Drive in Japan, it was nowhere near as big as Sega hoped. Would be fair to claim that Sonic is not and has never been as popular in Japan as he is and was in the rest of world?
that sports game concept of being less fun than actually playing the sport is part of why i think watching sports is boring. while i am truly terrible at sports thanks to cerebral palsy, i have a great time playing most except for running or walking long distances due to spastic heel cords. surprisingly, video games were literally prescribed for me to treat cerebral palsy.
It wasn't that bad, just US branch pushing blame away. Recent translations of Japanese interviews and leaked internal documents had shown the whole story much better. Like how SEGA America despite great sales still lost money.
It's hard for me to fathom that the Genesis/Mega Drive failed anywhere, but I guess it explains why Sega of Japan pushed the Saturn so hard while pretty much acting like the 32X didn't exist. The 32X was linked directly to what was at that point a failed console in Japan. In retrospect, they probably should have focused on the Genesis/Mega Drive's success in western markets and stuck with the 32X for at least a few years. They could have then released a more powerful Saturn down the road. It probably wouldn't have led to outstanding success, but at least they might not have faced the kind of crushing failure that drove them out of the hardware market. That failure was 100% due to a loss of consumer trust over the 32X/Saturn debacle.
Haven't watched the video fully yet, but it's safe to say that the Mega Drive failed in Japan because of the PC Engine's success there, which was well established when the Mega Drive launched. Worse, many of Sega's arcade games saw very competent PC Engine ports, which made the Mega Drive even less attractive. And by the time Mega Drive games started doing things the PC Engine couldn't (like Sonic). the Super Famicom already started taking over.
It feels like the Genesis/Mega Drive was focused on arcade-like experiences while the snes has a lot of games you couldn't play in arcades. The rpg offerings on the snes demolish those on the genesis. That's probably not the only reason, but Square and Enix only supporting Nintendo probably helped them keep their lead in Japan.
Nintendo's licensing restrictions put a dent on what the licensees could release for the Sega Genesis. In addition to the early five-game release limit per year per licensee, any licensee who had released a game for the NES could not release the same title on any other system for up to two years from the year the NES port was released.
In the U.S., the name "Mega Drive" couldn't be trademarked by Sega because it was already in use by another company (Mega Drive Systems, Inc.). However, other sources claim Sega co-founder David Rosen didn't like the name "Mega Drive" and therefore chose the name "Genesis" to signify "a new beginning" for Sega.
''Super Drive'' would have been better than ''Genesis'' it's too biblical and it's heavily contradicted by the fact that the Sega Master System came before it and already launched for a little while in the U.S.
@@Oysterblade84 June 1986 here for the Master System, around the same time the NES had been made available in all 50 states, and also the same time Atari launched its 7800. However, the Master System failed to outsell the NES here in the first three years it was available because of Nintendo's licensee restrictions at the time.
@@Oysterblade84 It can't use the name Super Drive cause it had the word super in the title thus could easily be mistaken for the Super NES. Back then when people refer to their consoles in marketing and journalist most just used these words to reference each console: Nintendo = NES / Famicom Master = Sega Master System / Mark III Mega = Sega Genesis / Mega Drive Super = Super NES / Super Famicom Turbo = Turbo Grafx-16 / PC Engine Pocket = Game Boy Gear = Game Gear Atari = Atari 2600 Lynx = Atari Lynx Coin-op = Arcade
It failed the worst in that market, one of the two key markets in the world, the other, the US, where it fared better, but was still outsold at the end. Sega did well in Europe, due to Nintendo's poor marketing in that region.
Everyone knows Sega failed almost everywhere. You were obviously not yet born when the Genesis dropped, and when they lost to SNES. And they never even beat Hudsonsoft/NEC. They were always 3rd place in Japan. Thats what happens when you let actual yakuzas have seats in your company.
Mega drive really didn't sell that well in japan because of lack advertising and and poor marketing which over here in America was the best at advertising and marketing plus the name had to be changed to make it sound awesome here and it worked
Not to mention(first party games aside), Sega didn't have Squaresoft and Enix making any FF/DQ games for the Mega-Drive over there either; which were hugely popular in Japan too!
@andrewmitchell3962 japan really didn't care for the mega drive you could tell they poorly advertised it and didn't even try to put all the games on it 🙄
@@damin9913 Didn't really seem like Sega of Japan at their best foot forward at the time back then the way Nintendo's and NEC's Japanese branches did at the time!
I am subscribed and always watching so many retro gaming and tech channels and only discovered your channel today. UA-cam needs to put you in their algorithm or whatever, because I only discovered you by chance looking up the PC-FX on a non-Google search engine. Very educational, funny, engaging videos. No weird off-putting sketches or just dully reading from a Wikipedia page. Love this, keep it up!
The mega drive failure lead to the early release of the saturn. Also, led to the sega cd and 32x add-on. The saturn hardware was not ready in 1994 to compete with the ps1 and n64.
@@darinherrick9224 Yeah, Sega was more reactionary with the CD and 32X. -The CD was in reaction to the PC Engine CD ROM initially and the Super Famicom (as Mode 7 was a not so secret feature). The Mega CD ended up adding scaling and rotation hardware, some feel that it bumped the price up too much as not many games really took advantage. -the 32X was a direct reaction to the Atari Jaguar, as Nakayama felt it would take market share from Sega before the Saturn arrived in the Western market.
darinherrick9224 Yeah thats true, but Nintendo released the DD64 and Disk System as Japan only products. And in the case of Disk System, because of chip shortage at the time. But Sega released a new add on or version of the Genesis almost every 2 to 3 years worldwide. And a new system afterwards starting with the Saturn.
By the time the Mega Drive was released in Japan, NEC’s PC Engine dominated the 16-bit console market. Not mentioned: Sega was considered to be an arcade company first and a console maker second; Nintendo wasn’t their biggest rival, it was the likes of Namco, Konami, Capcom, Taito, and SNK, among others; most of the companies were developing games for Nintendo and NEC/Hudson Soft’s consoles.
Not sure why the misconception of the PC Engine being 16 bit is still around today. It's an 8 bit console, much like the NES, the difference, by the time it came out, technology had taken quite the leap, and NEC knew it.
@@Bloodreign1 Its main cpu was 8 bit. It had 16 bit graphic processors (Video display controller and video color encoder). Companies back then would sometimes play weird promotional games with the number of bits: -The NEO GEO was marketed as a 24 bit console when its main CPU was a 16 bit Motorola 68000 and its co processor was an 8 bit Z-80. This was the same base setup as many arcade boards of the time including Sega's System 16. The Megadrive being based on the System 16 also uses these same processors albeit with a slower clock speed. -Atari summed all of the bits of the chips in their Jaguar to claim it as 64 bit.
One reason for the TurboGrafx-16 didn't sell well in the US was it's price and lack of any bundled games. It was $400, twice the price of the SNES & Genesis, and what it offered wasn't nearly enough to compete with the libraries Nintendo & Sega had, or the 3rd party support - ie controllers and basically no marketing that I can recall.
I think the TG-16 dropped its price immediately to match the Genesis. It certainly did not maintain that price when the SNES launched in 1990. For me it was the initial lack of well known titles. Both Nintendo and Sega had well established IPs: -Nintendo had Super Mario Bros, Metroid, Legend of Zelda, it had numerous 3rd party titles too, Contra, Ikari Warriors, Castlevania, Megaman, Ninja Gaiden etc... -Sega had its arcade titles, Afterburner, Outrun, Hang On, Space Harrier, Thunder Blade etc. The Turbographx 16 did not have these. I wasn't a bad system, I recall playing it for about an hour when there was a launch tour that hit the local mall. I played Bonk's Adventure mainly.
@@lazarushernandez5827At least around here it didn't drop in price for quite a while, and the game price didn't seem to drop at all. The number of releases that made it to the US was by comparison tinty, ans as you say not a lot of familiar properties.
They also hurt themselves with no second controller port(had to buy multi tap separate), very poor launch line up, offending American developers, had no money left for advertising due to over producing the console, no retailer network, bad box art
To think Sega started their life in Hawaii, so I really wouldn't call them a Japanese company. And western origin companies consoles don't do all that well in Japan, just ask Microsoft.
1:55 Why are you showing an image of a Mega Drive with Sonic the Hedgehog on the cover, while explaining details of its 1988 release? That didn't come out for four more years.
I've seen several people say that there was very little the PCEngine couldn't do compared to the MegaDrive as a result of its 8-bit CPU. Sure, it wasn't going to handle a port of Hard Driving or Steel Talons (the MegaDrive itself barely could) but it could move an insane number of objects with little slowdown while displaying more colors.
I think a large part of the problem was Sega's marketing in Japan. Sega ads here in the US had that very 90's-era in-your-face attitude that kids & teens found attractive at the time, but comparatively, Sega's marketing in Japan was VERY different. Due to the differences in Japanese culture compared to American culture at the time, Sega's ads & general marketing in Japan were much more subtle & much less "90's attitude" compared to what we got. Which is fine because Japan in the 90's was VERY different from America during the same era, and they probably wouldn't have LIKED the kind of ads we got, but still, the fact seemingly remains that what Japan GOT certainly didn't sell them on getting a Sega system, so I'd call their ads less effective. I wouldn't go so far as to say that marketing & advertising were the ONLY reasons much of Japan didn't buy a Genesis/Mega Drive by any means, but I'd certainly call it a major contributing factor for sure.
It is peculiar, because for the 32 bit generation, Sega of Japan went completely in your face with Segata-san. It was basically Sega's Genesis attitude marketing with a Japanese flavor, and it worked for the home market.
PC ENGINE is the most Japanese console ever. Loads of shooters and RPGs. Incredible color and music and speed. Loads of fully voice-acted anime cutscenes.
I also think the Megadrive (and after it the Mega CD) were promising super scaler conversions. One look at Super Thunderblade, Space Harrier II was enoughtto show this was baloney.
I remember seeing Arcade shots of Super Monaco GP in their magazine print ads, and being let down when the console version lacked all of the scaling trackside detail. The consolation was it included a full season campaign.
Like you said, I think for me after Sonic 2 and Street Fighter Special Champion edition I didn't really have a reason to prefer Genesis over Super Nintendo until the EA Sports games came out and seemed to play more smoothly overall than on SNES. That was a big factor for me in addition to that 6-button controller for Genesis rather than using shoulder buttons for Street Fighter. Oh. And my friends bringing their Mortal Kombat over with all the blood and uncensored fatalities!
Getting the Sonic Packin Model 1 in 1993 as a 4 year old was the "genesis" of my gaming life. I just assumed it did well in Japan and thought it was a typo when i saw the sales figures.
The PC Engine is an 8 bit machine, not a true 16 bit machine. It's impact in Japan though, was quite undeniable, it's game library is very, very solid.
To see the title card is hideous and disturbing, but in spite of it, looking that, I do like it, it's great work. It's like looking an Garbage Pail Kid.
I feel that sega was also divided on more fronts. where they were also trying to maintain an arcade division while also maintaining a console division and having to make sure that the two did not cannibalize each others business. The lack of 3rd party companies in the mix (compared to the snes) made that easier as they could control more what experiences came out, but they were still fighting with one hand tied behind their back. NEC had the same deal but with a very different result. They already had a large install base of computer users that were becoming adults during the console wars. The PC engine felt like the more mature system and many adults had a relation with the brand outside of gaming from work computers and such. your parents knowing the name of a company goes a long way in helping them buy into it as a console for their kids. Where sega was related to those arcades their kids wasted time or coin muncher games. Don't forget this is the beginning of the long economic deflation of the 80 boom, often called the lost decade (which u could argue has been more like 2 or 3 decades long). People where way less willing to take chances on systems that did not speak to them in the marketing right away.
The first perception is hard to change, and the exclusivity deals Nintendo had with the dev powerhouses left Sega with a real bad hand to play. It is sad that Sega balanced de pendulum to the complete opposite direction, even left the rest of world without games in the Saturn era. It was their second worst decision (the first were the add-ons for the mega drive), since the mid-late 90's were when the Japanese anime and manga got an explosive presence around the world, and the Saturn was the console that could capitalize more on that, IMO.
The Mega Drive has fun games to play simultaneously with a friend. Including the sports games mentioned here. Besides that, when playing alone, I think it's a highly overrated system, in my personal opinion. Most exclusive games like Streets of Rage, Golden Axe, Super Hang On, and even the Sonic series become repetitive and tedious. I have a MD, and I barely touch it. I think that Japanese were mostly "solitary videogamers", and, when focusing on the quality of the videogames, they weren't impressed by what the MD had to offer.
I really wanted to have a Mega Drive as a kid... Had a Master System and a Game Gear. Somehow my parents thought it was a better idea to give me a PC in 1991 instead. Well, in the end, it probably was a good decision, as I got into programming and the games also picked up a lot in the 90s on the PC. But still... Sega having that weak initial launch in Japan was one of the worst decisions they made. If they waited a little longer and at least had one or two sure-fire games on their hands, things might have turned out different. While I do think that the lack of "typical" japanese games on the Mega Drive initially might have been a problem, later on they had stuff going on that was vibrant in colors and pretty cute, but probably the damage was already done. Probably the japanese market isn't as "traditional" as one might think. They set importance on the fact that a company is from their own country, the rest depends on marketing and value. Because yeah... Take a look at the PlayStation and how it came into a market that was supposedly impossible to enter. I think it's success-story might hold answers into why the Mega Drive failed.
This was a fun watch i spent many years as a gamer was on purely sports games 80% of my library had a "sega sports" banner gawd who missed old school sega sports licensed/produced ganes? We didnt know any better theycwere good to us! Lol but i never considered the high sports focus of the "mega drive" cough gensis 😁 good vid
Action rpgs with anime chibi-like characters will help to sell in japan allot, something like legend of mana but more fast-phase, like a top-view alien soldier.
What a very clickbait-y headline. The Sega Megadrive(Genesis) didn't really "Fail" as your headline and others that say such statements ignore alternate perspectives and other info. The Megadrive was a moderate success that struggled yes but it built up it's own player base of hardcore gamers that loved Sega Arcade games and shoot em ups and arcade-style action games. At least TWO major magazines where published monthly ( BEEP Megadrive and MegadriveFAN) such magazines had sizable readership and would Have quickly ceased publishing if the console was "failing" to sell. Being in second or third place in console sales does not mean it's a failure. The release of SONIC 1~3, Streets of Rage I and then SoR 2, Thunder Force III, Revenge of Shinobi, Phantasy Star II, III, and later Ps IV, Shining Force 1 & 2 where HUGE draws to the Megadrive, further strengthened by the LUNAR rpgs on the Mega CD in Japan; and many other shoot em ups and action games released on Megadrive drew major support for the console in Japan. The Megadrive DID have a "foothold" with a portion of hardcore teenage gamers in Japan. The Megadrive being 2nd or "3rd place" in terms of console sales doesn't mean it was a "failure". A "failure" would be more like N-Gage. Game Dot Com, R-Zone, those were "Failures", Playdia were failures, and IMO Megadrive does NOT belong in the same catagory as the Playdia or the R-Zone or the Virtual Boy....
that gen 1 megadrive is fkn gorgeous - all things considered the pal snes and pce are nice, but the megadrive is just that bit better looking. also 1:51 - do you mea 1988?
Yup. People here will buy a console just to play the yearly Madden and nothing else. It's probably what accounts for about 20% of PlayStation and Xbox sales in this country. And back in the 90's the genesis was the sonic and sports games machine, that's what drove it, most owners here didn't care about anything else. All you have to do is look at the game sales.
And for me, it's the opposite, despite owning both consoles, and quite a large number of titles for both. It's all about what you grew up on, but for me, by the time the 16 bit market started, I was already in high school. My friends that had a Genesis, only 1 kept his, everyone else ditched them, and went with an SNES when it came out, one even went back to an NES. Of course as a collector, I have to think about both, the more games I own, the merrier.
I know people who lived in japan for decades, born there and the mega drive did not fail in Japan. You people need to stop spreading that lie. Not being the industry standard is not failure. Anyone who wants the real story, go watch Gtv Japan.
I find it very interesting that the home country(Japan) like even though the Nintendo Family Computer was very popular, even the Famicom Disk System, the Family Robot(R.O.B. in the US) and the Nintendo Light gun series was a failure as well… but a competitor failing because of the Nintendo Family Computer and the 1990 Super Famicom… but what failed in the homeland of creation is success in other markets!! 🤔🤔🤔🤔
It doesnt have jrpg software punlishers on it side. The Japanese love playing their jrpgs in japan. Genesis did well in america thiugh. It have a lot of sport titles over there.
@@Adamtendo_player_1 It all depended on which region the game came from, if it were western made, the shitty GEMS sound driver was used, and games sounded like farts, or nails on a chalkboard. In Japan, the devs used custom sound drivers, a majority of them sounding fine, but not really better than what the SNES could push out, unless it was from some small studio who didn't have someone talented doing a games music.
Mas foi um sucesso de venda nos EUA, Brasil, Argentina e America do Sul em geral Na Europa inteira foi um sucesso de vendas na Oceania principalmente na Austrália foi um sucesso de vendas e popularidade o Mega Drive.
I think the Mega Drive failed in Japan because of poor marketing and the fact that it didn’t have hardware sprite scailing, plus the Mega Drive’s launch in Japan was mediocre with Space Harrier and Super Thunderblade (one of the worst games on system), plus it didn’t help that the system launched at the same day as Super Mario Bros 3 which was the worst possible time for Sega along with Nintendo’s monopolistic practices in tying developers to exclusivity contracts. And also it was a cultural thing too.
Sega lacked games they needed more good games if sega ever came back to the console wars they need to have alot more games at launch they need to be one generation ahead at all times like example putting a a mega drive in stores but alread have a prototype of the saturn already made and have game developers working on saturn games
That same Motorola chip is in almost everything you can think off, Atari, Amiga, Macs, arcade boards, personal computers, workstations, at one point it was in the running for IBMs , imagine that alternate history.
Ooh I know why the Sega ‘Genesis’ failed in Japan!! It’s because no such console existed! There was a similar product called the ‘Sega Mega Drive’ though 😅😅👍
The games that should've had sequels, like Ristar didn't get one. Sega, outside of Sonic, and the Phantasy Star games, rarely did more than 2 games in a series. You can't do that when you start a series, grow a fanbase for that series, and when they yell for more, they got nothing more.
@@SomeOrangeCat no I wouldn't, in my neighborhood we had all three consoles (a TurboGrfx-16at one neighbor, a Super Nintendo with another, and a Genesis with another) and it was annoying when games were exclusive for any one of them. It's fine when it's your own property but when it's a third party, well that limits the third party sales potential. Most people aren't going to go out and get a console for just one game.
@@SomeOrangeCat besides that. They wanted that one because they would save money on not going to arcades. Cheaper in the long run, instead of death by a thousand quarters.
@@greenkoopa When fans have to go and fix the sound engine and color palette years later with a hack, I'd say Capcom truly never gave much in the way of effort on the Genesis, nor did Konami. It's the reason that even today, Sega fans despise both companies.
@@R1K4RD39 Just barely. But hey, despite the Mega-Drive having many great RPGs to choose from, even the N64 managed to outsell the Mega-Drive in Japan by more than 2 million unit!
@@GabePuratekuta That's right, the SNES, and SNES absolutely made sure Sega was stuck with that number 3 position in Japan. Looking back on the PC Engine library, it's an awesome one, the SNES library pretty damned awesome too.
@@Bloodreign1 I only believe Japanese people your not Japanese you don’t live in Japan the last time I went to Japan they got so many games for every console then any other country they even had a Sega store you can walk in Japan loves Sega more then an other country that’s why their Sega consoles got games that no other region got
I'm sorry, but I can't agree with Sega has failed in Japan. if Sega was a failure in there homeground, they would have never came back until they gave up the dreamcast.
The failure stems in part due to Sega of Japan, and Sega of America never being on the same page, and ultimately, with time, it was what started Sega on their downfall.
Americans took a lot longer to adapt to gaming and they had to essentially dumb down a lot of stuff to make it more appealing. So saying “known in more cultured reasons” is a fun joke, I laughed.
@@jc190782 Dungeons and Dragons was made in the west, we were playing tank sim games and real time strategy, sports titles, competetive arcade titles, etc. You're just parroting a biased viewpoint from arrogant and out of touch japanese game developers who thought we needed a steamer like Mystic Quest because they didn't know how to market to americans and figured we just don't like complex gameplay. Elite was released in the mid 80's from a western studio and was the first massive open world game, it was a trailblazer. Have you tried going back and playing those old Japanese games? Convoluted AF, it was a language and culture barrier. Which is why I have a lighthearted laugh when someone actually takes that trope seriously. Kind of a "bless your heart" moment.
@@fritzthecat8158 If Sega had released some of their Japanese software in the US, perhaps the Saturn might've sold better. When you go 6 months with only 3 games in a region like North America, you are absolutely asking for trouble. The western side of Saturn software, outside of something like Saturn Bomberman, maybe Sonic Jam, was absolutely piddling, but when you look at the Japanese software, it's amazing, and why the Saturn is my favorite Sega console (and why I have an Action Replay Plus for my US Saturn).
Join My Discord : discord.gg/KHMwcQryyt
Support the channel My PATREON : www.patreon.com/LadyDecade
You say 1998 at 1:52. It should be 1988. Sega Dreamcast was released in 1998.
go back to 2009
@@waff64
She learned this from her clickbait husband.
@@TheVampirePredator who is it?
@@waff64the thumbnail of Sonic looks horrifying
As a Japanese gamer who grew up during that time, I can provide some insight into the gaming culture and market in Japan during that time. As you probably know, Japan is a small country, and the primary gaming demographic which consisted mainly of elementary and middle school students, attended schools within their local districts at that time.
The district assignments were determined comprehensively, taking into account factors like population density and safety. In an area of 1 square kilometer, there were often several hundred children (this number varied by region and era), all attending the same school.
In my case, just like everyone else, if I wanted to see a classmate, I could hop on my bike and be at a friend's house in about 3 minutes or less, 10 minutes tops. Because of this close proximity, when playing games with friends who shared common interests, there was no need to buy the same game ― having it on one side's hand was usually enough.
If I wanted to play a friend's game at home, it was common to borrow it with a set deadline, and vice versa.
However, to play games on a different console, we would need to lend the entire system, and this was often more challenging. This fact contributed to the dominance of a specific game console (in this case, Nintendo) in the market.
Even when it comes to sports games, many of us were already involved in school clubs or could easily organize games in schoolyards or parks after class, just by rallying friends. So, there was hardly a need to play sports games on a console. Additionally, considering the graphics and controls of that time, sports games lacked the immersive experience compared to actually playing the sport. Unless it was an iconic IP like "Kunio-kun(a.k.a Alex from River City Ransom)" or "Rock Man(a.k.a Mega Man)", there wasn't much motivation to actively play such games.
Another irony was that major fighting and action games were still available on arcade consoles at the neighborhood candy store or game center, so the only time we merely competed on the consoles together at a friend's house was on rainy days.
I realize that behind the lack of success of the Mega Drive was the strong influence of the Japanese gaming culture and community customs of the time. But of course, there are also Japanese who spent their youth on Mega Drive, so to each his own.
I LOVE your comment, thank you so much!
Thank you for your insight. It is greatly valued and only adds to the history of the Mega Drive's struggles in Japan. It would be equally insightful if there was a history of Sonic in Japan. While Sonic 2 did lead to a boost in sales of the Mega Drive in Japan, it was nowhere near as big as Sega hoped. Would be fair to claim that Sonic is not and has never been as popular in Japan as he is and was in the rest of world?
that sports game concept of being less fun than actually playing the sport is part of why i think watching sports is boring. while i am truly terrible at sports thanks to cerebral palsy, i have a great time playing most except for running or walking long distances due to spastic heel cords. surprisingly, video games were literally prescribed for me to treat cerebral palsy.
Helps put some perspective in the Sega of Japan vs Sega of America feud that ended up being so costly
It wasn't that bad, just US branch pushing blame away. Recent translations of Japanese interviews and leaked internal documents had shown the whole story much better. Like how SEGA America despite great sales still lost money.
@@odinatra Shame it took sega's Japanese branch too long to share their side of the story.
This was the reason why the SEGA Saturn became Japanese centric, because it was to make sure Saturn was able to compete in their home market.
It's hard for me to fathom that the Genesis/Mega Drive failed anywhere, but I guess it explains why Sega of Japan pushed the Saturn so hard while pretty much acting like the 32X didn't exist. The 32X was linked directly to what was at that point a failed console in Japan. In retrospect, they probably should have focused on the Genesis/Mega Drive's success in western markets and stuck with the 32X for at least a few years. They could have then released a more powerful Saturn down the road. It probably wouldn't have led to outstanding success, but at least they might not have faced the kind of crushing failure that drove them out of the hardware market. That failure was 100% due to a loss of consumer trust over the 32X/Saturn debacle.
I think they should've made the Sega CD the main console in 91, using a form factor like the X'Eye
Haven't watched the video fully yet, but it's safe to say that the Mega Drive failed in Japan because of the PC Engine's success there, which was well established when the Mega Drive launched. Worse, many of Sega's arcade games saw very competent PC Engine ports, which made the Mega Drive even less attractive. And by the time Mega Drive games started doing things the PC Engine couldn't (like Sonic). the Super Famicom already started taking over.
Yeah, there were more players in the Japanese gaming market at the time than just Nintendo and Sega.
It feels like the Genesis/Mega Drive was focused on arcade-like experiences while the snes has a lot of games you couldn't play in arcades. The rpg offerings on the snes demolish those on the genesis. That's probably not the only reason, but Square and Enix only supporting Nintendo probably helped them keep their lead in Japan.
Plus, sega not marketing other ips like sonic and never expanding the sonic world.
Nintendo's licensing restrictions put a dent on what the licensees could release for the Sega Genesis. In addition to the early five-game release limit per year per licensee, any licensee who had released a game for the NES could not release the same title on any other system for up to two years from the year the NES port was released.
In the U.S., the name "Mega Drive" couldn't be trademarked by Sega because it was already in use by another company (Mega Drive Systems, Inc.). However, other sources claim Sega co-founder David Rosen didn't like the name "Mega Drive" and therefore chose the name "Genesis" to signify "a new beginning" for Sega.
Thats when the sega genesis was born😁
''Super Drive'' would have been better than ''Genesis'' it's too biblical and it's heavily contradicted by the fact that the Sega Master System came before it and already launched for a little while in the U.S.
@@Oysterblade84 Sega genesis sounds just fine
@@Oysterblade84 June 1986 here for the Master System, around the same time the NES had been made available in all 50 states, and also the same time Atari launched its 7800. However, the Master System failed to outsell the NES here in the first three years it was available because of Nintendo's licensee restrictions at the time.
@@Oysterblade84 It can't use the name Super Drive cause it had the word super in the title thus could easily be mistaken for the Super NES. Back then when people refer to their consoles in marketing and journalist most just used these words to reference each console:
Nintendo = NES / Famicom
Master = Sega Master System / Mark III
Mega = Sega Genesis / Mega Drive
Super = Super NES / Super Famicom
Turbo = Turbo Grafx-16 / PC Engine
Pocket = Game Boy
Gear = Game Gear
Atari = Atari 2600
Lynx = Atari Lynx
Coin-op = Arcade
The Sega mega drive failed in Japan? News to me.
I thought everyone knew that.
Luckily you have a great video to watch! 😊
It failed the worst in that market, one of the two key markets in the world, the other, the US, where it fared better, but was still outsold at the end. Sega did well in Europe, due to Nintendo's poor marketing in that region.
Everyone knows Sega failed almost everywhere. You were obviously not yet born when the Genesis dropped, and when they lost to SNES.
And they never even beat Hudsonsoft/NEC. They were always 3rd place in Japan. Thats what happens when you let actual yakuzas have seats in your company.
It sold less than 3.60 million units of hardware in the country!
Did you say mega drive was released in Japan in 20th October 98'?
Thankyou, I was scrolling through the comments and thinking I was going mad until I saw this
I even turned captions on to make sure i was not hearing wrong
Yeah she did
Some times you gotta leave in small errors to farm comments
I'm not upset, nothing was injured
her name is L decade
Mega drive really didn't sell that well in japan because of lack advertising and and poor marketing which over here in America was the best at advertising and marketing plus the name had to be changed to make it sound awesome here and it worked
Not to mention(first party games aside), Sega didn't have Squaresoft and Enix making any FF/DQ games for the Mega-Drive over there either; which were hugely popular in Japan too!
@andrewmitchell3962 japan really didn't care for the mega drive you could tell they poorly advertised it and didn't even try to put all the games on it 🙄
@@damin9913 Didn't really seem like Sega of Japan at their best foot forward at the time back then the way Nintendo's and NEC's Japanese branches did at the time!
They was all about nintendo over there in japan plus japan was really stingy about porting japanese games over to the U.S@G.L.999
I am subscribed and always watching so many retro gaming and tech channels and only discovered your channel today. UA-cam needs to put you in their algorithm or whatever, because I only discovered you by chance looking up the PC-FX on a non-Google search engine. Very educational, funny, engaging videos. No weird off-putting sketches or just dully reading from a Wikipedia page. Love this, keep it up!
Genesis does what Nintendon't. And that's sell in Japan.
Except the Mega Drive sold poorly, Nintendo had their claws in stone, an unmovable object till the Sony came in like a steamroller.
great video as always, but correction at 1:51. should be 1988, not 1998. Lady Decade is a decade ahead 😄❤
I noticed that too. Good catch!
The mega drive failure lead to the early release of the saturn. Also, led to the sega cd and 32x add-on. The saturn hardware was not ready in 1994 to compete with the ps1 and n64.
@@danwarb1 in truth it was what EVERYONE was doing. PC ENGINE, SNES, N64, Jaguar, PCs, everything had expansions.
@@darinherrick9224 Yeah, Sega was more reactionary with the CD and 32X.
-The CD was in reaction to the PC Engine CD ROM initially and the Super Famicom (as Mode 7 was a not so secret feature). The Mega CD ended up adding scaling and rotation hardware, some feel that it bumped the price up too much as not many games really took advantage.
-the 32X was a direct reaction to the Atari Jaguar, as Nakayama felt it would take market share from Sega before the Saturn arrived in the Western market.
darinherrick9224
Yeah thats true, but Nintendo released the DD64 and Disk System as Japan only products. And in the case of Disk System, because of chip shortage at the time.
But Sega released a new add on or version of the Genesis almost every 2 to 3 years worldwide. And a new system afterwards starting with the Saturn.
By the time the Mega Drive was released in Japan, NEC’s PC Engine dominated the 16-bit console market.
Not mentioned: Sega was considered to be an arcade company first and a console maker second; Nintendo wasn’t their biggest rival, it was the likes of Namco, Konami, Capcom, Taito, and SNK, among others; most of the companies were developing games for Nintendo and NEC/Hudson Soft’s consoles.
Not sure why the misconception of the PC Engine being 16 bit is still around today. It's an 8 bit console, much like the NES, the difference, by the time it came out, technology had taken quite the leap, and NEC knew it.
@@Bloodreign1 Its main cpu was 8 bit. It had 16 bit graphic processors (Video display controller and video color encoder).
Companies back then would sometimes play weird promotional games with the number of bits:
-The NEO GEO was marketed as a 24 bit console when its main CPU was a 16 bit Motorola 68000 and its co processor was an 8 bit Z-80. This was the same base setup as many arcade boards of the time including Sega's System 16. The Megadrive being based on the System 16 also uses these same processors albeit with a slower clock speed.
-Atari summed all of the bits of the chips in their Jaguar to claim it as 64 bit.
The music that kicks in at 7:30 gives me all the nostalgia that I was not prepared for. ❤❤❤
What game is it from? I can’t place it but I love it.
One reason for the TurboGrafx-16 didn't sell well in the US was it's price and lack of any bundled games.
It was $400, twice the price of the SNES & Genesis, and what it offered wasn't nearly enough to compete with the libraries Nintendo & Sega had, or the 3rd party support - ie controllers and basically no marketing that I can recall.
I think the TG-16 dropped its price immediately to match the Genesis.
It certainly did not maintain that price when the SNES launched in 1990.
For me it was the initial lack of well known titles. Both Nintendo and Sega had well established IPs:
-Nintendo had Super Mario Bros, Metroid, Legend of Zelda, it had numerous 3rd party titles too, Contra, Ikari Warriors, Castlevania, Megaman, Ninja Gaiden etc...
-Sega had its arcade titles, Afterburner, Outrun, Hang On, Space Harrier, Thunder Blade etc.
The Turbographx 16 did not have these.
I wasn't a bad system, I recall playing it for about an hour when there was a launch tour that hit the local mall. I played Bonk's Adventure mainly.
@@lazarushernandez5827At least around here it didn't drop in price for quite a while, and the game price didn't seem to drop at all. The number of releases that made it to the US was by comparison tinty, ans as you say not a lot of familiar properties.
They also hurt themselves with no second controller port(had to buy multi tap separate), very poor launch line up, offending American developers, had no money left for advertising due to over producing the console, no retailer network, bad box art
Its price was the same as the Genesis ($189.99) and it was packed with a game (Keith Courage in Alpha Zones). Maybe you're thinking of the Turbo Duo?
Great video as always! 🙂
I miss your videos. I’ve been slacking watching your stuff. Lemme sit down and watch it
It was no wonder that the Sega Genesis failed in Japan because basically Nintendo WAS Japan.
To think Sega started their life in Hawaii, so I really wouldn't call them a Japanese company. And western origin companies consoles don't do all that well in Japan, just ask Microsoft.
My beloved Genesis/Mega Drive. It definately won my most memorable gaming years.
Great Stuff. As always!
1:55 Why are you showing an image of a Mega Drive with Sonic the Hedgehog on the cover, while explaining details of its 1988 release? That didn't come out for four more years.
I played Golden Axe for Sega Genesis so many times as a kid 😂
I've seen several people say that there was very little the PCEngine couldn't do compared to the MegaDrive as a result of its 8-bit CPU. Sure, it wasn't going to handle a port of Hard Driving or Steel Talons (the MegaDrive itself barely could) but it could move an insane number of objects with little slowdown while displaying more colors.
I think a large part of the problem was Sega's marketing in Japan. Sega ads here in the US had that very 90's-era in-your-face attitude that kids & teens found attractive at the time, but comparatively, Sega's marketing in Japan was VERY different. Due to the differences in Japanese culture compared to American culture at the time, Sega's ads & general marketing in Japan were much more subtle & much less "90's attitude" compared to what we got. Which is fine because Japan in the 90's was VERY different from America during the same era, and they probably wouldn't have LIKED the kind of ads we got, but still, the fact seemingly remains that what Japan GOT certainly didn't sell them on getting a Sega system, so I'd call their ads less effective. I wouldn't go so far as to say that marketing & advertising were the ONLY reasons much of Japan didn't buy a Genesis/Mega Drive by any means, but I'd certainly call it a major contributing factor for sure.
It is peculiar, because for the 32 bit generation, Sega of Japan went completely in your face with Segata-san. It was basically Sega's Genesis attitude marketing with a Japanese flavor, and it worked for the home market.
I never was a Sega boy back in the day it was always Nintendo for me 😊
I know right! FX chip, super scope, mouse, multitap for 4 player to name some awesome things
I was the opposite though I had both
Where I was, everyone had a Mega Drive. Though at the time pirated games were sold in stores as well, so that probably helped.
I was the opposite but if I could turn back time I’d have been Nintendo first and Sega second.
Yous a long way from home, booooai
WOW, you did it again! Been wanting this topic for years and here you are covering it. Thanks, Lady Decade!
If it failed in Japan, I think it was because of that guy in the advertisements haircut.
PC ENGINE is the most Japanese console ever. Loads of shooters and RPGs. Incredible color and music and speed. Loads of fully voice-acted anime cutscenes.
Sonic did better on the master system in Japan it seems
How on earth do you crank out so many good episodes in so little time???
8:43-8:49 then who was in second?
The NEC PC Engine
I just wanted to say. I love your videos.
A lot*
Learn that.
I also think the Megadrive (and after it the Mega CD) were promising super scaler conversions. One look at Super Thunderblade, Space Harrier II was enoughtto show this was baloney.
I remember seeing Arcade shots of Super Monaco GP in their magazine print ads, and being let down when the console version lacked all of the scaling trackside detail. The consolation was it included a full season campaign.
Did you say the 29th of October 1998? Don't you mean 1988?
New subscriber, excellent video, keep it up 👍🏼
0:12 Your hubby's British hubris has rubbed off on you (Poe's law).
Lady Decade it came out in Japan in 1988 not 1998
its L decade very nice
Like you said, I think for me after Sonic 2 and Street Fighter Special Champion edition I didn't really have a reason to prefer Genesis over Super Nintendo until the EA Sports games came out and seemed to play more smoothly overall than on SNES. That was a big factor for me in addition to that 6-button controller for Genesis rather than using shoulder buttons for Street Fighter. Oh. And my friends bringing their Mortal Kombat over with all the blood and uncensored fatalities!
Getting the Sonic Packin Model 1 in 1993 as a 4 year old was the "genesis" of my gaming life. I just assumed it did well in Japan and thought it was a typo when i saw the sales figures.
I got an altered beast sega genesis pre sonic. I was pleased that the system grew into what it eventually became.
1:50 i think you meant to say 1988
The PC Engine is an 8 bit machine, not a true 16 bit machine. It's impact in Japan though, was quite undeniable, it's game library is very, very solid.
To see the title card is hideous and disturbing, but in spite of it, looking that, I do like it, it's great work. It's like looking an Garbage Pail Kid.
So the average Sonic OC 🤔
I feel that sega was also divided on more fronts. where they were also trying to maintain an arcade division while also maintaining a console division and having to make sure that the two did not cannibalize each others business. The lack of 3rd party companies in the mix (compared to the snes) made that easier as they could control more what experiences came out, but they were still fighting with one hand tied behind their back. NEC had the same deal but with a very different result. They already had a large install base of computer users that were becoming adults during the console wars. The PC engine felt like the more mature system and many adults had a relation with the brand outside of gaming from work computers and such. your parents knowing the name of a company goes a long way in helping them buy into it as a console for their kids. Where sega was related to those arcades their kids wasted time or coin muncher games. Don't forget this is the beginning of the long economic deflation of the 80 boom, often called the lost decade (which u could argue has been more like 2 or 3 decades long). People where way less willing to take chances on systems that did not speak to them in the marketing right away.
The first perception is hard to change, and the exclusivity deals Nintendo had with the dev powerhouses left Sega with a real bad hand to play.
It is sad that Sega balanced de pendulum to the complete opposite direction, even left the rest of world without games in the Saturn era. It was their second worst decision (the first were the add-ons for the mega drive), since the mid-late 90's were when the Japanese anime and manga got an explosive presence around the world, and the Saturn was the console that could capitalize more on that, IMO.
The Mega Drive has fun games to play simultaneously with a friend. Including the sports games mentioned here. Besides that, when playing alone, I think it's a highly overrated system, in my personal opinion. Most exclusive games like Streets of Rage, Golden Axe, Super Hang On, and even the Sonic series become repetitive and tedious. I have a MD, and I barely touch it. I think that Japanese were mostly "solitary videogamers", and, when focusing on the quality of the videogames, they weren't impressed by what the MD had to offer.
I really wanted to have a Mega Drive as a kid... Had a Master System and a Game Gear. Somehow my parents thought it was a better idea to give me a PC in 1991 instead. Well, in the end, it probably was a good decision, as I got into programming and the games also picked up a lot in the 90s on the PC. But still... Sega having that weak initial launch in Japan was one of the worst decisions they made. If they waited a little longer and at least had one or two sure-fire games on their hands, things might have turned out different. While I do think that the lack of "typical" japanese games on the Mega Drive initially might have been a problem, later on they had stuff going on that was vibrant in colors and pretty cute, but probably the damage was already done.
Probably the japanese market isn't as "traditional" as one might think. They set importance on the fact that a company is from their own country, the rest depends on marketing and value. Because yeah... Take a look at the PlayStation and how it came into a market that was supposedly impossible to enter. I think it's success-story might hold answers into why the Mega Drive failed.
This was a fun watch i spent many years as a gamer was on purely sports games 80% of my library had a "sega sports" banner gawd who missed old school sega sports licensed/produced ganes? We didnt know any better theycwere good to us! Lol but i never considered the high sports focus of the "mega drive" cough gensis 😁 good vid
Action rpgs with anime chibi-like characters will help to sell in japan allot, something like legend of mana but more fast-phase, like a top-view alien soldier.
1998? that can't be right.
I think they should have kept creating video games until the late 2000’s for the Sega genesis.
What a very clickbait-y headline. The Sega Megadrive(Genesis) didn't really "Fail" as your headline and others that say such statements ignore alternate perspectives and other info. The Megadrive was a moderate success that struggled yes but it built up it's own player base of hardcore gamers that loved Sega Arcade games and shoot em ups and arcade-style action games. At least TWO major magazines where published monthly ( BEEP Megadrive and MegadriveFAN) such magazines had sizable readership and would Have quickly ceased publishing if the console was "failing" to sell. Being in second or third place in console sales does not mean it's a failure.
The release of SONIC 1~3, Streets of Rage I and then SoR 2, Thunder Force III, Revenge of Shinobi, Phantasy Star II, III, and later Ps IV, Shining Force 1 & 2 where HUGE draws to the Megadrive, further strengthened by the LUNAR rpgs on the Mega CD in Japan; and many other shoot em ups and action games released on Megadrive drew major support for the console in Japan.
The Megadrive DID have a "foothold" with a portion of hardcore teenage gamers in Japan. The Megadrive being 2nd or "3rd place" in terms of console sales doesn't mean it was a "failure".
A "failure" would be more like N-Gage. Game Dot Com, R-Zone, those were "Failures", Playdia were failures, and IMO Megadrive does NOT belong in the same catagory as the Playdia or the R-Zone or the Virtual Boy....
that gen 1 megadrive is fkn gorgeous - all things considered the pal snes and pce are nice, but the megadrive is just that bit better looking.
also 1:51 - do you mea 1988?
Maybe the black color scheme wasn't as appealing back then? Famicon and PCE were both white.
I never thought about the sports games making up a good chunk in the U.S. the system was huge. Never thought about the cultural gap.
Yup. People here will buy a console just to play the yearly Madden and nothing else. It's probably what accounts for about 20% of PlayStation and Xbox sales in this country. And back in the 90's the genesis was the sonic and sports games machine, that's what drove it, most owners here didn't care about anything else. All you have to do is look at the game sales.
from Japan. Genesis failed here and the Turbo (PC-Engine) succeeded. but.. next gen.. the Saturn succeeded here but failed in the US.
Lady Decade!❤❤❤❤❤❤❤😄
To this day genesis games are more appealing. I really never think about snes games.
And for me, it's the opposite, despite owning both consoles, and quite a large number of titles for both. It's all about what you grew up on, but for me, by the time the 16 bit market started, I was already in high school. My friends that had a Genesis, only 1 kept his, everyone else ditched them, and went with an SNES when it came out, one even went back to an NES.
Of course as a collector, I have to think about both, the more games I own, the merrier.
Crazy thumbnail! LOL
I know people who lived in japan for decades, born there and the mega drive did not fail in Japan. You people need to stop spreading that lie. Not being the industry standard is not failure. Anyone who wants the real story, go watch Gtv Japan.
1988 not 98
Found this by chance on another website, You seem to have good content however
I find it very interesting that the home country(Japan) like even though the Nintendo Family Computer was very popular, even the Famicom Disk System, the Family Robot(R.O.B. in the US) and the Nintendo Light gun series was a failure as well… but a competitor failing because of the Nintendo Family Computer and the 1990 Super Famicom… but what failed in the homeland of creation is success in other markets!! 🤔🤔🤔🤔
It doesnt have jrpg software punlishers on it side. The Japanese love playing their jrpgs in japan. Genesis did well in america thiugh. It have a lot of sport titles over there.
Bonk's Adventure is a great game.
fucking that's a horrifying thumbnail don't fucking do that....
I was a SNES kid myself. SNES games sound better.
For the most part but there are some games that sound better on Mega Drive (that Genesis name is yuck).
@@Adamtendo_player_1 It all depended on which region the game came from, if it were western made, the shitty GEMS sound driver was used, and games sounded like farts, or nails on a chalkboard. In Japan, the devs used custom sound drivers, a majority of them sounding fine, but not really better than what the SNES could push out, unless it was from some small studio who didn't have someone talented doing a games music.
If you ask a Japanese person about "MD" 99% of the time they will think of Minidisc
That sonic thumbnail 😅, would look cool as a tattoo
If you're Lady Decade, let me get a 💚
Mas foi um sucesso de venda nos EUA, Brasil, Argentina e America do Sul em geral Na Europa inteira foi um sucesso de vendas na Oceania principalmente na Austrália foi um sucesso de vendas e popularidade o Mega Drive.
I think the Mega Drive failed in Japan because of poor marketing and the fact that it didn’t have hardware sprite scailing, plus the Mega Drive’s launch in Japan was mediocre with Space Harrier and Super Thunderblade (one of the worst games on system), plus it didn’t help that the system launched at the same day as Super Mario Bros 3 which was the worst possible time for Sega along with Nintendo’s monopolistic practices in tying developers to exclusivity contracts. And also it was a cultural thing too.
Sega lacked games they needed more good games if sega ever came back to the console wars they need to have alot more games at launch they need to be one generation ahead at all times like example putting a a mega drive in stores but alread have a prototype of the saturn already made and have game developers working on saturn games
Sonic was glitchy right out the box
but sega is cool
It failed in japan, but not me
The Sega genesis is better than the NES.
16 bit versus 8 bit, not rocket science here. The NES library though stood up well enough against the Genesis library.
I never knew Motorola helped out with videogame hardware
That same Motorola chip is in almost everything you can think off, Atari, Amiga, Macs, arcade boards, personal computers, workstations, at one point it was in the running for IBMs , imagine that alternate history.
No it didn’t fail. It didn’t sold more than nintendo‘s consoles but it had its niche. If mega drive is a failure than pc engine is complete disaster.
Ooh I know why the Sega ‘Genesis’ failed in Japan!! It’s because no such console existed! There was a similar product called the ‘Sega Mega Drive’ though 😅😅👍
You know it’s the same
Sega's lack of game's and nothing new did them in!
The games that should've had sequels, like Ristar didn't get one. Sega, outside of Sonic, and the Phantasy Star games, rarely did more than 2 games in a series. You can't do that when you start a series, grow a fanbase for that series, and when they yell for more, they got nothing more.
Encompass is pronounced en-compass, not encom-paas. 🙂
So Nintendo used contracts of exclusivity to take down Sega like a Ferengi with no honor.
@@SomeOrangeCat no I wouldn't, in my neighborhood we had all three consoles (a TurboGrfx-16at one neighbor, a Super Nintendo with another, and a Genesis with another) and it was annoying when games were exclusive for any one of them. It's fine when it's your own property but when it's a third party, well that limits the third party sales potential. Most people aren't going to go out and get a console for just one game.
@@SomeOrangeCatnaw dog
SF2 SCE on Genesis is the best version. The colors are a little washed but the controls are perfect
@@SomeOrangeCat besides that. They wanted that one because they would save money on not going to arcades. Cheaper in the long run, instead of death by a thousand quarters.
@@greenkoopa and it sounded like shit lol
@@greenkoopa When fans have to go and fix the sound engine and color palette years later with a hack, I'd say Capcom truly never gave much in the way of effort on the Genesis, nor did Konami. It's the reason that even today, Sega fans despise both companies.
I want the Turbo Grafx 16/PC engine, to come back, but I really want PC engine to come back.
Aren’t they the basically the same console?
You can buy one from Analogue for $250
That’s an awesomely gross thumbnail 🫣
Anyone to blame would be Sega of Japan because their were stupid old ppl running the company.
And why N64 failed in Japan?
Japan is weird.
The PS1 Steamroller had come out, and Square jumped ship in allegiance.
@@Bloodreign1
Yeah, PS1 was a monster.
But in Japan N64 was beaten even by Saturn.
Sad that earthbound 64 technically never came out 3d version of mother 3 sadly the gba version still isnt localized in the us of a@@SomeOrangeCat
@@R1K4RD39 Just barely. But hey, despite the Mega-Drive having many great RPGs to choose from, even the N64 managed to outsell the Mega-Drive in Japan by more than 2 million unit!
❤❤cool
Because the Super Nintendo was better???
It didn't fail, just sold less than the SNES due to the NES /Famicom impact in Japan
@@SomeOrangeCat What about #3, which is what Sega's position in Japan was.
@@GabePuratekuta That's right, the SNES, and SNES absolutely made sure Sega was stuck with that number 3 position in Japan. Looking back on the PC Engine library, it's an awesome one, the SNES library pretty damned awesome too.
Are you joking no console failed in Japan you mean outside of Japan
The Mega Drive was a flop in Japan, they were #3 in sales behind the SNES and PC Engine. I'd call that a failure.
@@Bloodreign1 I only believe Japanese people your not Japanese you don’t live in Japan the last time I went to Japan they got so many games for every console then any other country they even had a Sega store you can walk in Japan loves Sega more then an other country that’s why their Sega consoles got games that no other region got
I'm sorry, but I can't agree with Sega has failed in Japan. if Sega was a failure in there homeground, they would have never came back until they gave up the dreamcast.
The failure stems in part due to Sega of Japan, and Sega of America never being on the same page, and ultimately, with time, it was what started Sega on their downfall.
Your husband's negative ragebaiting is rubbing off you, apparently.
I always knew the Sega Genesis was absolute trash!!!
@@jabarijones9588
40 years and you still act like a tween tribalist.
@@jabarijones9588it was not
@@ChicagoMel23 it was so. The Genesis was hot garbage, along with that Sega CD and that 32X thing. The tower of power, more like the tower of junk!!!
@@jabarijones9588
If you were around in 91-93, you're in your 40s and still acting like an 8 year old. Pathetic.
"As it's known in more cultured regions" you only got so much salt to throw because you didn't use any on your boiled steak. Hush.
Great episode, btw.
Americans took a lot longer to adapt to gaming and they had to essentially dumb down a lot of stuff to make it more appealing. So saying “known in more cultured reasons” is a fun joke, I laughed.
@@jc190782 Dungeons and Dragons was made in the west, we were playing tank sim games and real time strategy, sports titles, competetive arcade titles, etc.
You're just parroting a biased viewpoint from arrogant and out of touch japanese game developers who thought we needed a steamer like Mystic Quest because they didn't know how to market to americans and figured we just don't like complex gameplay.
Elite was released in the mid 80's from a western studio and was the first massive open world game, it was a trailblazer.
Have you tried going back and playing those old Japanese games? Convoluted AF, it was a language and culture barrier. Which is why I have a lighthearted laugh when someone actually takes that trope seriously. Kind of a "bless your heart" moment.
The Mega Drive didn't fail. You have a misconception of how the console market works in Japan
Because Japan never got Sega Genesis. They got MegaDrive.
The MD failed too.
Fake news
No the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis was trash in Japan
@@fritzthecat8158 If Sega had released some of their Japanese software in the US, perhaps the Saturn might've sold better. When you go 6 months with only 3 games in a region like North America, you are absolutely asking for trouble. The western side of Saturn software, outside of something like Saturn Bomberman, maybe Sonic Jam, was absolutely piddling, but when you look at the Japanese software, it's amazing, and why the Saturn is my favorite Sega console (and why I have an Action Replay Plus for my US Saturn).