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!
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