It would be an understatement to say that the Saturn is enjoying a retro renaissance just now. In fact, as someone who first picked up and played the Sega Saturn almost 30 years ago, it feels like the console is finally now being given a chance by gamers thanks to a thriving retro gaming community.
However as more and more people discover Saturn, it’s natural that they’ll turn to YouTube for information on the system and it’s games, and for me that’s where there’s a breakdown in the experience.
When it comes to Saturn content on YouTube, there’s a wealth of videos on why the Saturn failed and look, we get it … negativity sells. The Saturn’s failure is part of its a story, and we aren’t trying to rewrite history. We know that SEGA messed up and made bad business decisions; we were there, we lived through them and felt the brunt of them, but in 2024 it’s not what we should be focusing on when discussing the Sega Saturn.
The Saturn may well have been a commercial failure, but it wasn’t a failure to us, where it mattered: as our games console of choice.
For us, it was a success. It succeeded in giving us hundreds of hours of fun. It succeeded in strengthening friendships and making new ones. It succeeded in creating memories that would go on to last a lifetime. It succeeded in living on in the hearts and minds of Sega fans who are just as passionate about it 30 years on.
And so, in our latest SEGAGuys video, I cast aside the talk of commercial performance and focus on the positives, telling you exactly what the Sega Saturn got right while mixing in some personal memories and stories along the way.
The era of “Why Saturn Failed” is dead. It’s over. It’s been done to death. It’s irrelevant.
It’s time to help educate a new generation of Saturn fans on what makes this system so special without weighing it down with legacy YouTube content built on the foundations of commercial disappointment.
I’m James, The SEGAHolic, and in our brand new video I tell you why the Saturn didn’t “fail,” and tell you everything our beloved 32-bit powerhouse did right.
See you on the SEGA side!
You can say for us a million times doesn’t change the facts and the facts are it was a failure. I love the Saturn a lot it was the first console I played tomb raider on and re 1. last Bronx A fighting game I loved to play way back. If I’m not mistaken this game was a console exclusive. The Console still failed and because of that it didn’t get a huge amount of games not that it doesn’t have many but it could have been bigger had it not failed. Say what you will but it was a console that in my opinion was great. You can’t call it a success if history has been written and it didn’t do well at all. Yes it is getting a return which is a great retro gaming thing. So are many other consoles from 30+ years ago.
You’ve completely misunderstood or missed the context of the video.
I made sure within the opening segment of the video that I stated no attempt is being made to rewrite or deny history, and that while Saturn was a commercial failure, it wasn’t a failure to us where it mattered the most; as our games console of choice.