The Sega Saturn is a 1995 games console made by Sega.
The Sega Saturn System
Classic Game Room[]
Mark said that it was a wonderful game console. He said that American games don't cost that much, but imports do. He also said an Import RAM cartridge was important. He noted that even though it was short lived, it had a lot of games and accessories. He said it looks good and even has a window. He likes both the controllers. He recommends it.
Despite what most prognosticator's (on Wikipedia) say about the Sega Saturn, Sega of Japan never actually released any real data or sales numbers to suggest how well the console preformed until the first quarter of 2001 when the console was officially discontinued in Japan. In that report in Sega Saturn Magazine issued in December 2000, the final numbers were in. By February 1997 the Sega Saturn had sold 10.2 million worldwide but its main stronghold was in Japan. By the end of the first quarter 2001 the Saturn managed to sell 8.8 million units in Japan alone, where as its predecessor the Genesis only sold 5.68 million units in Japan in the same time frame. The Saturn is considered a commercial failure due to being to hard to program for and no clear sense of direction in that regard. The high price tag of $399.99 possibly was another factor but most fans and even some critics say no to this claim. If Sega of Japan had listen to Tom Kalinsky (CEO of Sega Of America 1990-1996) advice on the architecture of the console and the marketing strategy of Kalinski the Saturn's fortune would have been different. Overall the Sega Saturn sold a modest 17.4 million units worldwide. I personally believe the Sega Saturn was not hard to program for, no one just took the time to understand it and as of now is widely misunderstood due to this fact. The PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, PlayStation vista, Nintendo 64, Wii U, were all very hard to program for but with a little time and patience any problem can be solved. A Japanese game developer once said in 2002, I'd rather program for the Sega Saturn and the PS2 was impossible. But with time, things got better and developers found a way around the difficult architecture. Right now there is a dedicated and strong Sega Saturn community out there putting in the time, sweat and grit to make something happen, to pick up the slack Sega and Bernet Stollar left behind and proving them both wrong, sometime to go forward you have to take a step back, to know where we came from, so we could possibly chart a new path, the one Sega didn't take. The one where everyone got a together in the spirit of unity to show the nay sayers they were wrong about Saturn. Fan translations, mods, and yes even brand new games and hopefully to god they go for retail, I will be the first in line to pick up a new Sega Saturn games. The Saturn is our future.
In the United States- May 11, 1995- September 22, 1998. 4.1 million units In Japan- November 22, 1994- March 5, 2001. 8.8 million units In the E.U. and U.K. combined- July 10, 1995 to January 25, 1998. 3.6 million units
