What if Sega....

[kedawa]

And all of three people evre heard of Darxide..

If anything made the Saturn look bad, it was the fact that 32X got a better port of VF, at least in terms of features and lack of glitches.

[RoleTroll]

Agree with Dyne. Although I personally believe the 32x was nearly as powerful as the Saturn, the games (for the most part) certainly didn't show it. The 32x looked like an SNES w/ SuperFX chip.

If Sega released a cheap, small powerbase-type plug-in with just an SVP chip and extra RAM, it would have been better off.

[Melf]

And all of three people evre heard of Darxide..

Doesn't change anything if we're talking results obtained. Sales is another matter entirely.

If Sega released a cheap, small powerbase-type plug-in with just an SVP chip and extra RAM, it would have been better off.

Think of the possibilities!

I got a million of 'em!

[Yoshi]

That's an awesome article, Melf. The mix of nostalgia and what could have been brings a tear to my Sonic blue eye.

[Diff-chan]

300-500 polygons... what a beast!

[kedawa]

Doesn't change anything if we're talking results obtained. Sales is another matter entirely.

Ah, Right. I was thinking about peoples' impression of the systems and not just what was possible.
Honestly, Sega would've been better off aborting the whole 32X/Saturn mess and releasing the Neptune instead.
Sure, it would have gotten trashed by the PSX eventually, but it could have found a niche and done alright based on its BC and headstart on Sony.

[Kev]

I always understood that the Saturn was more powerful that the PlayStation, yet far harder to make games on.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sega_Saturn

[kedawa]

PSX and Saturn were roughly equal in raw computing power, but very different in architecture. As far as advabtages go, the Saturn had more RAM(and it was expandable) and a faster CDROM drive, while the PSX had a very efficient graphics architecture that used some clever tricks and shortcuts to get better results with less computing power.

[Jeremy]

300-500 polygons... what a beast!

[Daitokuji]

This was in direct opposition to a proposal that was already on the table from Tom Kalinske and his staff from over at Sega of America. They had contacted Silicon Graphics, one of the companies behind the PlayStation's 3D graphics capabilites, and had come up with an alternative, single-chip simplistic design that they were convinced could compete with PlayStation on its own terms. To their surprise, Nakayama overruled them in favor of the Away Team's proposal. He had been unimpressed by a demonstration of the technology arranged by Kalinske, remaining convinced that Sato's dual-processor concept was actually the more flexible choice of the two. His decision left a bad taste in Kalinske's mouth, who sensed even at this early point that Saturn was going to be a doomed venture. "The Japanese are making the decisions for the U.S. market," he later grumbled, "and they do not know what they are doing."

That is what i read and it was on Sega Base. Had SoJ picked that one would they still be making consoles now?