Post#1500 » Sun Dec 19, 2021 11:48 am
I definitely am in the camp that the Dreamcast should've waited one more year.
An international 9/9/99 launch not only could've made launching with NAOMI2-akin specs (like cloofoofoo said) but DVD drive manufacturing costs plummeted in between 1998 and '99, meaning they never would've needed to take the GD-ROM route. It also could've given Japan more time to warm up to the idea of a new Sega machine, since they were still down with Saturn for at least one more year. A year later launch just seems in hindsight like it would've been an infinitely better call.
Plus, If they did all that AND relented on the price range (letting it be $299) they could've probably afforded to do a little more, like add the mythical right analog stick like ol' Stolar used to go on about, and make a greater profit. I understand why they went for the "budget machine" angle, but it's not like it did them any good considering the Dreamcast still flopped and the PS2 selling at $299 sold gangbusters.
Anyways, I just don't think 1996 would've been a good time at all. That would've been three consoles Sega brought to market in less than three years; 32X in 1994, Saturn in 1994/95, and then this in '96. If you were to ask me, that just sounds like quickening the company's death! Not even to mention that the hardware wouldn't have been as good as even the DC we got by that time, and requiring an add-on to play next generation machines just makes this all seem like a perspective where neither we nor Sega learn anything from their biggest mistakes.