The problems came from backward compatibility with the SMS, limiting bandwidth and colors to 15 per plane, or 61 onscreen. Money spent on the Z80, 8KB of RAM and chips could've been used for a 12MHz 68000, capable of driving an audio CD-ROM in the Sega CD, as well as the full 128KB of VRAM and larger color palette. That would've cost $300 to make in 1989, but the games wouldve been only $1 to make, and SEGA wouldnt have suffered from the Sega CD, 32X, Mars, Jupiter, Neptune fiasco. Attachment rates were 7-10 games, but you have to have 15-20 games in stores per console, so SEGA had to have about $500 in inventory per customer. Starting with a C-2 with a CD-ROM, that amount would be $400, and the machine could've handled perfect arcade ports and sold far more units.
Sega Lord X had an interresting take recently on what he would have done with the 32X and the Sega CD if he had been the CEO of Sega in 90's. I would have still released the Genesis as-is in 1989, but released a slightly updated model mid-cycle around 1993 with some of improvents from the system C-2 board to allow a bigger color palette whilst retaining SMS compatibility. In 1989 it would have been expensive to put more VRAM in the Genesis but by 1993 it would have been feasible as 128K of VRAM would have been cheap enough. Around that time Sega (together with Yamaha as their chip design partner) where consolidating the hardware more into an ASIC design allowing the Genesis 2 to be cheaper to manufacter. Extrapolating from this I would have opted for putting the C-2's exteral color DAC on the ASIC to match the system C-2's color output. I would have still kept the Sega CD as-is, with all of it's hardware, and pushing for more CD based software and have a product life span until late 1997. CD games have the benifit of lower duplication costs over cartridges, allowing for mid-price releases like Playstation Platinum range. In europe the SNES lasted commerically until 1998 so having CD-enhanched games until that time would have allowed Sega to take more time with the development of the Saturn. I've always felt the 32X was a waste of resources, that could have been better spent on the Saturn and the Sega CD.
@@dykodesigns I wish I could double-like your comment. People forget that a new console must have about $500 of console hardware, accessories, and games on store shelves before it can sell. With almost $200 of that tied up in cartridge costs, consoles have to be cheaper with less VRAM, fewer features, a cheaper CPU, and a smaller color palette. SONY clearly nailed it by using a CD-ROM only approach, allowing them to spend over $400 building a powerful PS1 and selling it for just $299 with retail stores keeping almost $100 of that. Obviously, stores were going to push that PS1 display right out in front of mall shoppers. Now imagine a C-2 CD system, still costing almost $400 to make but selling for $199 and having a much larger library of games and SMS game bundles on shelves. What a monster of a system that would be, and 4,096 out of 98,000 colors with more than double the bandwidth and more than 3x the CPU horsepower out of a 16.67 MHz 68010 and 56001 DSP, powerful enough to do software scaling, rotation, MPEG decompression, and even flat-shaded polygonal graphics from the Virtua series. Such a beast would've dominated until the late 1990s.
Во времена когда Genesis была актуальной она считалась абсолютным победителем над SNES, поэтому мысли об улучшении цветовой палитры или улучшения характеристик не приходили боссам SEGA в голову.
I was a bug SEGA kid, but the SNES had it beaten on audio, color pallette, and Mode 7. The Genesis/Megadrive only beat it on bandwidth and CPU, then later larger cart size.
Agente só tá vendo o poder do mega drive só nos dias de hoje e na época ninguém imaginava o poder que o genesis da sega era capaz de fazer
The problems came from backward compatibility with the SMS, limiting bandwidth and colors to 15 per plane, or 61 onscreen. Money spent on the Z80, 8KB of RAM and chips could've been used for a 12MHz 68000, capable of driving an audio CD-ROM in the Sega CD, as well as the full 128KB of VRAM and larger color palette. That would've cost $300 to make in 1989, but the games wouldve been only $1 to make, and SEGA wouldnt have suffered from the Sega CD, 32X, Mars, Jupiter, Neptune fiasco. Attachment rates were 7-10 games, but you have to have 15-20 games in stores per console, so SEGA had to have about $500 in inventory per customer. Starting with a C-2 with a CD-ROM, that amount would be $400, and the machine could've handled perfect arcade ports and sold far more units.
Sega Lord X had an interresting take recently on what he would have done with the 32X and the Sega CD if he had been the CEO of Sega in 90's.
I would have still released the Genesis as-is in 1989, but released a slightly updated model mid-cycle around 1993 with some of improvents from the system C-2 board to allow a bigger color palette whilst retaining SMS compatibility. In 1989 it would have been expensive to put more VRAM in the Genesis but by 1993 it would have been feasible as 128K of VRAM would have been cheap enough. Around that time Sega (together with Yamaha as their chip design partner) where consolidating the hardware more into an ASIC design allowing the Genesis 2 to be cheaper to manufacter. Extrapolating from this I would have opted for putting the C-2's exteral color DAC on the ASIC to match the system C-2's color output.
I would have still kept the Sega CD as-is, with all of it's hardware, and pushing for more CD based software and have a product life span until late 1997. CD games have the benifit of lower duplication costs over cartridges, allowing for mid-price releases like Playstation Platinum range.
In europe the SNES lasted commerically until 1998 so having CD-enhanched games until that time would have allowed Sega to take more time with the development of the Saturn. I've always felt the 32X was a waste of resources, that could have been better spent on the Saturn and the Sega CD.
@@dykodesigns I wish I could double-like your comment. People forget that a new console must have about $500 of console hardware, accessories, and games on store shelves before it can sell. With almost $200 of that tied up in cartridge costs, consoles have to be cheaper with less VRAM, fewer features, a cheaper CPU, and a smaller color palette.
SONY clearly nailed it by using a CD-ROM only approach, allowing them to spend over $400 building a powerful PS1 and selling it for just $299 with retail stores keeping almost $100 of that. Obviously, stores were going to push that PS1 display right out in front of mall shoppers.
Now imagine a C-2 CD system, still costing almost $400 to make but selling for $199 and having a much larger library of games and SMS game bundles on shelves. What a monster of a system that would be, and 4,096 out of 98,000 colors with more than double the bandwidth and more than 3x the CPU horsepower out of a 16.67 MHz 68010 and 56001 DSP, powerful enough to do software scaling, rotation, MPEG decompression, and even flat-shaded polygonal graphics from the Virtua series. Such a beast would've dominated until the late 1990s.
Во времена когда Genesis была актуальной она считалась абсолютным победителем над SNES, поэтому мысли об улучшении цветовой палитры или улучшения характеристик не приходили боссам SEGA в голову.
I was a bug SEGA kid, but the SNES had it beaten on audio, color pallette, and Mode 7. The Genesis/Megadrive only beat it on bandwidth and CPU, then later larger cart size.