SEGA CD Follies

Conventional wisdom states that the 16-bit battle between Nintendo and SEGA ended in a draw, but final figures of the generation's sales indicate otherwise: The Super Nintendo sold approximately 20 million more systems than the Genesis, which was discontinued with over 29 million in sales. The reason why so many consider the Genesis and SNES on equal footing is due primarily to the success of Sonic the Hedgehog and the early victories of SEGA's 16-bit hardware, such as the lampooning of Nintendo in a series of clever ads. However, the causes of SEGA's lead ultimately turning into a deficit are varied. One could finger the excellent late-generation releases of Donkey Kong Country and Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island.

But I believe that it is the device that celebrates an anniversary today that pushed the Genesis into its slow spiral. On October 15, 1992, SEGA released the SEGA CD add-on for the Genesis in America. Now, rather than rattle off a bunch of factoids about the SEGA CD and its dismal run -- really, any add-on that hosts something called Wild Woody has questionable validity -- I'd rather look at the ripple effects of the SEGA CD on SEGA's fortunes and the problems of misapplying technology.

The SEGA CD was long rumored prior to its announcement in 1991. The change in storage medium was already making significant headway in the PC category. The shiny discs were also taking over music, especially since publishers saw an opportunity to sell their catalogs all over again on the new format. And so the videogame industry took enormous interest in the technology.

SEGA was not the first to market with a CD add-on, though. That honor goes to NEC, which had the TurboGrafx-CD on shelves earlier in 1991, but at a ridiculous price: $399. (Almost as silly: The huge box and plastic case the TurboGrafx-CD shipped inside. It was about the size of a mini-fridge.) But the SEGA CD, although late, did avoid one of the TurboGrafx-CD's worst mistakes. It came with a pack-in game.

The original SEGA CD model was a beast. It lurked beneath the Genesis, snapping into a port on the 16-bit console. The add-on accepted discs through a front-loading tray. Nothing about bulky appearance of the first SEGA CD said "sleek" or "advanced." Eventually, SEGA released a second model that was much smaller and sat next to the Genesis, which also underwent its own minimization. (SEGA also released a combo unit called the CDX in limited numbers. If you have a working unit in good condition with all packaging, you have a nice little collector's item.)

SEGA made noises prior to the SEGA CD launch that indicated the add-on would be some sort of wunderboost to the Genesis. Rumors about an increase to the Genesis's color palette lead the pack, which would combat one of the biggest talking points in favor of the Super Nintendo. The SEGA CD would also boost rotating and scaling effects which would also compete with the much-vaunted Mode 7 trickery on the SNES. The former never quite bore out, but the scaling/rotation promises were indeed delivered in titles like Sonic CD.

Night Trap

The biggest problem with the SEGA CD is that it did not offer any new experiences to justify the price tag... much less the entire existence of the add-on. The SEGA CD primarily offered additional storage space, which was often wasted on full-motion video (FMV). FMV gaming, exemplified by games like Night Trap and Sewer Shark, was hardly a new concept. In 1983, the flailing arcade industry had pinned resurrection hopes on Laserdisc-based games like Dragon's Lair and Space Ace (both of which appeared on the SEGA CD), but there were no lasting effects after the initial pop. Plus, the video looked wretched thanks to the limited color palette of the Genesis and some pretty weak compression software. Fast-moving images were blocky and blurred -- hardly impressive considering the $300 price of entry.

Quick: name your favorite SEGA CD game. Chances are, you said Sonic CD -- which is the only SEGA CD title worth remembering and replaying. And maybe some of you said Lunar, which remains one of Working Design's greatest achievements. Otherwise, the SEGA CD hosted a plethora of garbage. Many publishers did not put any effort into creating original software for the SEGA CD. Instead, existing Genesis games were just ported over to the SEGA CD with the addition of video sequences and new soundtracks.

Cliffhanger

Sony Imageworks' Cliffhanger and Bram Stoker's Dracula are two perfect examples of this. I remember playing these games when they came out -- I actually bought a SEGA CD fairly early in the cycle and regrettably plunked down my cash for Cliffhanger. The game is a rote side-scroller with some scaling sequences added for flavor. But the movie scenes wedged between the stages were awful. Old VHS tapes harbor better quality video. As much as I loved Sonic CD, Cliffhanger was the game that convinced me to abandon my SEGA CD -- and I sold it not long afterward.

SEGA completely misused the technology. What good is the extra storage space if there is nothing inventive to be done with it? No new gameplay concepts emerged from the SEGA CD -- it just offered more of the same. In fact, with few exceptions like Sonic CD, it often offered some of the 16-bit generation's worst games, like Demolition Man. The core of the technology at use in the generation was unchanged, unlike the constantly evolving graphics cards on PCs that actually allowed that storage space to be used for more than just an orchestrated soundtrack. It was not until the 32-bit machines -- the Saturn and PlayStation -- arrived in 1995 with significantly different hardware that the storage medium was put to good use.

And so the SEGA CD instead looked like a strange, desperate move -- something designed to nab some ink but without any real, thought-out strategy. Genesis owners that invested in the add-on were sorely disappointed, which undoubtedly helped sour the non-diehards on the brand. SEGA releases this allegedly incredible add-on and the best they can do with it is Kriss Kross: Make My Video? Meanwhile, Nintendo releases games like Star Fox without asking gamers to buy an entirely new piece of hardware.

The lessons of misusing technology extend well beyond the SEGA CD. While Sony was able to convince PlayStation 2 buyers of the necessity of a DVD drive, Blu-ray itself has not proven to be a boon to actual gameplay. Contrast that with the best examples of properly implemented technology that gives gamers a new experience: By smartly erecting an accessible online service with Xbox Live, Microsoft has taken excellent advantage of broadband technology. And consider the success of the Nintendo Wii and DS, both of which showed gamers why putting down the traditional controller would offer a different -- and in many cases, better -- gameplay experience.

Perhaps if the SEGA CD existed in a vacuum, the damage could have been contained. But the SEGA CD was followed up by the disastrous 32X add-on that suffered even less support than the SEGA CD. By that point, SEGA looked like a company without a plan, trying to support five pieces of hardware at the same time: Genesis, SEGA CD, 32X, Saturn, and Game Gear. And none received the due attention it deserved, disappointing fans.

Those fans have memories. Some took their business elsewhere, such as the PlayStation and Nintendo 64. Others stuck with SEGA through the Saturn days and eventually were rewarded with the Dreamcast, which remains a fantastic system loaded with power and potential. But by failing to properly use technology with the SEGA CD -- to give the gamer a real reason to invest -- SEGA set itself on its downward slide. And it never recovered... Which is why you see Golden Axe: Beast Rider on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 this week.