What Sega Did and Didn't Do

One of the greatest match ups in the history of gaming was Sega Vs Nintendo. The story tells of how the Genesis nearly destroyed the Nintendo stronghold. Ad’s like Genesis does what Nintendon’t appeared, and proved that a cooler older crowd was moving into games. In fact, if it wasn’t for Sega making so many peripherals it would have won hands down. After losing out, Sega eventually left the market, and never sold another piece of hardware again.

The problem is that none of this is true. Sega never had a strong advantage, and it wasn't the peripherals that destroyed it. In fact, the peripherals simply proved that Sega was trying something they really shouldn't.

Before we go in, lets debunk the first, and obvious stereotype. Sega and Nintendo were competing companies, but the people involved were not against each other. In fact, Yuji Naka -the programmer for Sonic the Hedgehog- respects Shigeru Miyamoto -the creator of the many Mario series. The people saw each other at various events, and talked to each other. It was a friendly relationship.

Then we have the game selling idea. The basic idea is that Sega sold a bunch of B games in one year, while Nintendo made one A+ game. The problem is that the sales do not show this.

Let’s looks at the hardware sales first. Nintendo sold nearly 20 million more systems than Genesis. When we look at the Sega Genesis sales numbers for games, there is a pretty obvious pattern to see. Between 1992 and 1994 the Genesis sold it’s absolute best. In fact, the only games that sold over one million were in these years. After this, the games drop off quickly. Twelve games sold over one million, and then it drops down to Virtual Racing at 260,000 or a quarter of a million. That is really bad sales numbers.

The Super Nintendo sold 48 games over one million sales. They lasted from the release of the system in 1990 to the release of the Nintendo 64 in 96’. Many of the top selling games were from Nintendo, but there were also third party titles from Capcom, Squaresoft, Enix, and Konami. In other words, by its own numbers, the Super Nintendo dominated, and never let go.

If you want odd, the last million seller for either system was NBA Jam Tourament Edition. Though they place on the list very differently. The game is nearly 50th in sales for SNES, while it is 12th for the Genesis.

So what about peripherals? Didn’t they cause a lack of enthusiasm in the market for sales? It doesn’t appear so. Sega CD released in 92’, which is the beginning of the good market for Sega. The 32X was right at the end in 94’, so neither of these add ons was the reason for the Genesis not doing as well. In between that time, even at the height of power, the games don’t sell well enough. We are left with an odd problem, with no really good explanation.

We do know that Sega promoted itself in the US, as the more edgy adult system.

In fact, during the same years as the Genesis selling well, it went through a congressional hearing. It was basically about Mortal Kombat and Night Trap. Mortal Kombat was a game like Street Fighter, only with filmed actors as characters. Once an opponent was defeated, you could perform a killing move on them, called Fatality. Night Trap was a game that played videos, and let you choose out what should happen next. It was a really badly designed game. The game had girls in bras, and nightgowns being hunted by vampire creatures. Your job was to save the girls.

The Congressional Hearing is a really big chapter in videogame history. In fact, it is a chapter in the best book on videogame history. If you want to read the entire chapter, buy the book. Senators, and Congressman interviewed, and chewed out various members of the videogame industry on these two games. The claim was that these were games being sold to children.

Sega disagreed, and said that they meant the game for older players. The problem was that the video for Mortal Kombat, specifically promoted the game to players under the age being said. In fact, the one thing that Nintendo and Sega really disagreed on was how to promote a game. Howard Lincoln then President of Nintendo of America attacked Sega at the hearing very loudly. The man Lincoln argued with was Bill White, who moved between several companies including Nintendo.

There were two hearings, one in 93’, and one in 94’. The very same years that Sega began to lose numbers, and prominence. A ratings system was implemented between all of the companies. In fact, after the ratings system, Mortal Kombat II was released on the SNES with fatalities. In fact, Nintendo backed off from their own self censorship after that.

Basically, to get a foothold in the console industry Sega promoted violent games to young gamers. To get away with it, they claimed it was for older games, and not kids. With all of the coverage on the NEWS, the entire scheme had backfired. To this day, many people who worked at Sega believe that Nintendo set it all up. Oddly enough, Lincoln says that he never got a single thank you note for taking out the blood in the SNES port of Mortal Kombat. He got a ton of complaints though.

So why was there so much coverage of Sega? There is likely an alternative reason. Many of the third parties did not enjoy being under Nintendo. Electronic Arts famously made games for the Genesis before they had permission, or even specifics. The company had reverse engineered the system to make the game. They were going to make games for the Genesis with or without permission. Yes, this was the same EA that wanted complete control of sports for the Sega Dreamcast.

The Saturn did not sell well, and then the Dreamcast was the last system sold. Sega never made a piece of hardware again.

This is of course another myth, Sega continues to make arcade games. In fact, they are the leaders in arcade hardware. In fact, get ready for a double myth breaker, Sega was originally an American company. It was called Service Games, and it moved various pieces of equipment to Japan. This job slowly brought up the idea of making and selling arcade games, even before videogames existed.

After the fall of the Dreamcast, Sega continued to make, sell, and distribute arcade games. Not only that, they have gotten into themed events. So, the idea that Sega no longer makes hardware is incorrect, the company still makes hardware, they simply stopped making their own consoles.

When we retell the history of Sega, we tend to get things in a special slant. The reality is that the Genesis never really sold that well. The best selling games were limited. It wasn’t the Addons that destroyed it, but the bad form of promotion. They weren’t even destroyed, and continue to make great arcade games today.