Wonder Dudes in Gamesoft World Appreciation Thread

I have played it. I didn't say it was good. ;) I suppose percentage-wise, there aren't a lot of beat 'em ups if you want to exclude the games in my first sentence. I always felt like those were the same genre.

no, those are platformers like Contra.
:p

A easier explanation might be Japanese gamers wanting RPGs and adventure games for their new CD tech (Mega CD went through the same it seems) and especially with the system 1.0 and 2.0 developers seemed embattled to pull anything of merit with the dinky RAM.

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Originally Posted by Finch

How much did Nintendo have to do with it though? I'm asking a genuine question. 80s NoA was slimy as hell, but PC Engine did great in Japan and Genesis didn't have much trouble getting its foot in the door in the U.S. Konami made everything for everything too (except Master System), but it didn't change much in any country besides having cool MSX games.

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Retailers expected the TurboGrafx to eat the Genesis alive. NEC was a lot larger than Sega and had a ton more cash, and the PC Engine was doing very well in Japan, while the Mega Drive struggled. A lot of retailers who stocked the Genesis at launch told Sega they would be returning the unsold merchandise the day after Christmas because they expected the TG-16 to do so well.

Sega got a foothold with the licenses and direct attacks against Nintendo, but I think what really helped it was the Atari vs. Nintendo anti-trust case. Nintendo won the actual case, but the writing was on the wall, and it desisted from restricting third party publishers before the case was even resolved. Once that started, Capcom, Konami, and everyone else began to make games for the Genesis. By the time the court decision in Nintendo's favor came down in May of 1992, the floodgates had already been opened. Nintendo lost that Christmas and the next two consecutively to Sega.

What really helped it was that the Genesis had the best, most diverse first and second party lineup we're likely to ever see. It was great to get Capcom and Konami on board, but how many games did they release? 10? How many other consoles could have five classics packs worth of first and second party games that are almost all actually good? Sega had pretty much every genre covered competently by themselves.

Sega was like that in the 8-bit era, too. They just didn't have the advertising then.

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Originally Posted by Yoshi

What really helped it was that the Genesis had the best, most diverse first and second party lineup we're likely to ever see. It was great to get Capcom and Konami on board, but how many games did they release? 10? How many other consoles could have five classics packs worth of first and second party games that are almost all actually good? Sega had pretty much every genre covered competently by themselves.

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This is a very good point. At the peak of the Genesis days, even when I flip-flopped and went diehard Nintendo, I admitted that I liked Sega's first party games more than I did Nintendo games. But.. again, sound chip and Street Fighter 2 won the day. I was a stupid child.

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Originally Posted by Low

PCE Batman is actually decent

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Let's not get ahead of ourselves.

Interesting that they kept the color palette in common with the Genesis game.

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Originally Posted by Yoshi

What really helped it was that the Genesis had the best, most diverse first and second party lineup we're likely to ever see. It was great to get Capcom and Konami on board, but how many games did they release? 10? How many other consoles could have five classics packs worth of first and second party games that are almost all actually good? Sega had pretty much every genre covered competently by themselves.

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The funny thing is, I sold off almost all of my Genesis collection and only kept the very best, maybe 20 titles. Despite Konami's low volume of games on the system, I still have a lot of Konami games.

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Originally Posted by Yoshi

What really helped it was that the Genesis had the best, most diverse first and second party lineup we're likely to ever see. It was great to get Capcom and Konami on board, but how many games did they release? 10? How many other consoles could have five classics packs worth of first and second party games that are almost all actually good? Sega had pretty much every genre covered competently by themselves.

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Sega always had that quality, and it couldn't get more than 5% of the market. The arrival of third party publishers and major franchises like Castlevania, Street Fighter, and others convinced consumers that the Genesis was really a viable option and not just another short-lived competitor.