The Coolest Console You Never Played: Sega Saturn (1994) Review and Retrospective
The year was 1994. After Sega achieved success with the Mega Drive/Genesis in North America, even upstaging Nintendo’s monopoly on the market, they were now preparing to release their next major system - the Sega Saturn - in Japan. However, even despite a fairly successful launch in their home country, little did anyone at Sega know that this would mark the beginning of the end of the company’s role as a console manufacturer. Development and History With Sega still riding high off of the Mega Drive/Genesis’ success, development of Sega’s 32-bit console began in 1993 - the same year systems like the 3DO and Atari Jaguar were entering the market. They had formed an agreement with the electronics company Hitachi to develop the Saturn’s CPU, which the Saturn would support… two of, actually. The plan was to build up the Saturn as a 2D powerhouse, but in late 1993, word had spread about the Sony PlayStation providing fierce competition and with the onset of 3D games, Sega had chosen to begin