I'd love to see a 3D SoR game made in Dragon Engine. I'm picturing the best elements of Lost Judgment and Fist of the North Star Lost Paradise (which actually uses the Kiwami engine, but I think the vehicle mechanics would be a good fit for SoR) in one game.
It's because of the times and Sega's marketing back then. The industry just wasn't as big, I don't blame the series tho it somehow would need to be updated for today.
Well technically they could've. Sega doesn't release accurate up to date sales numbers for most of their games. Also SoR4 actually sold 2 million but that wasn't published/developed by Sega.
Due to the series association with Nintendo, it can be hard to remember SEGA is the original publisher and owner of Bayonetta. But that first game is chock full of old school SEGA references! You can tell Kamiya was proud to be collaborating with them. It's a shame SEGA turned down Bayonetta 2.
@@SegaLordXI believe they still own the IP as well, and it has been licensed to Nintendo for all sequels and spinoffs so far. I wonder how much kickback SEGA gets for that.
You mentioned Skies of Arcadia. Man o man I wish they would come out with a remaster of that game for modern consoles. It's my favorite JRPG of all time
Valkyria Chronicles and Skies of Arcadia dev team probably were merged in 2018 into RGG Studio and Team Sonic, so there is no dev team in Sega Japan who could make remaster or remake SoA.
It’s so awesome to see that Sega continues to make great games over the years even though they haven’t released a console since the Sega Dreamcast. Long Live Sega
Sega is also as greedy a company as they come, make horrible business decisions to this day. one should hope for them to stay the path, not assume they are of greatness. Far from it.
@@blumiu2426this comment is far from greatness. SEGA releases lots of low priced compilations, numerous cheap PC ports, and makes games they know won’t sell huge that fans want. The greedy company you are thinking of is Nintendo and to a lesser degree SONY. They are the ones that make you buy the same games over and over at full price and limit supply.
@@darinherrick9224 What have you been sniffing? SEGA is known for putting out bad ports and heavily monetizing games if they can slip it in. I don't know what games you think they make they know won't sell well when that's actually just them making bad decisions. Phantasy Star Online's issues are because of SEGA taking away what worked and just trying to milk players, Sonic is always them not putting enough budget or not listening to fans and not listening to fans is a re-occurring issue with them. They've milked Persona hard and prioritize and compromise anything else SMT with trying to tilt things in the Persona direction, while charging crazy prices for anything connected. I can tell the difference between the three. You may be young or clueless to SEGA's known issues because they are very old and they go in a cycle with them.
@@darinherrick9224Sony is the most greedy of them all, Nintendo can be greedy don’t they Sega isn’t greedy either, they tried to charge us nearly $60 for Sonic Superstars which is blown away by Super Mario Bros Wonder. And Sega messed up with Bayonetta and if it wasn’t for Nintendo I wouldn’t have gotten the chance to own Bayonetta 3 for my Nintendo Switch.
Sega’s ratio of great games pales in comparison Nintendo’s now, especially now. I don’t have much interest in Sega’s games anymore outside of the 2D Sonic games or retro collections because I don’t like what Sega’s become, these days I’m team Nintendo with the Switch which is the better system in this generation.
If Zombie Sega released a Virtua Fighter 30th anniversary game, it will have no endings,no single player content, just 8 fighters and a congratulatory message saying: "Thanks for keeping us alive throughout the years, suckers! - Sega Team"
Sega still refuses to die to this day and i love it. Also Valkyria Chronicles does something right that Fire Emblem does wrong, and it's character development.
Valkyria Chronicles is still fun to play and I actually grew to really like the characters when I thought I wouldn't at first. Meanwhile with Fire Emblem, if I knew buying Fire Emblem Awakening would lead to the franchise turning into the shit factory it is, I would have personally destroyed every copy of the game.
@nr2676 Ah, you're right! I was in a rush when I typed that since I'm at work, so I didn't really consider that! ^^; the only post-Awakening game I've played is Conquest, so I suppose I'm just used to better character development, lol. I played basically a lot of the ones from Shadow Dragon and before, so I can't really speak on the new stuff.
Valkyria Chronicles is an awesome series. The first and fourth games are awesome, the second and third are PSP-only but still really good for that platform. I hope they make a VC5.
This a very cool and interesting video. Yes it's amazing how many games we have heard and played never sold millions but then (early 90s) games that didn't sold a million weren't necessary labeled as failures right away. Some of them even had sequels and an audience even with sales around the six-figures sales. Developments costs weren't as high as today where a game that doesn't sell a million is a failure. That changed when games became 3D and required bigger teams and budgets.
Miku is DEFINITELY a fun rhythm game, but gets VERY complicated as it goes. Great visuals I must admit. My sibling is stuck on the EXTREME challenge level lol. Like can pass it but wants over 95% on each song :0 I'm more of a Rhythm Heaven series from Nintendo and the recent SquareEnix Theatrhythm (the song library for that is huge too)
It's worth mentioning that the video game market is a lot bigger nowadays than it was in the 90s. New entries in dormant franchises like Mega Man, Metroid and Streets of Rage recently had some of the best sales in their respective series. Which is why I'm guessing Sega is even attempting so many franchise revivals at once to see how they might fare in the newer market.
I spoke about this in the video. Even considering todays market, there are franchises from Sega's time as a hardware maker that still didn't sell well compared to its competition. Setup a comparison between the SNES and Genesis and look at how many more games on Nintendo's platform broke a million units sold. Then do it with the Saturn and Playstation. So on and so forth.
I am always surprised when I go to the store how much Sonic merchandise there is. Toys, mugs, bed sheets, wall decor. Is Sonic really that popular with kids nowadays?
Sonic has never stopped being popular in that regard because of the constant flow of cartoons and of course the movies now. It's also a game series that parents know much like Mario that will be fine for their children to play.
Off topic (fun fact): Hatsune Miku was considered to be a playable character in Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed. That ended up not happening, sadly. She was top 3 in the voting poll, along with Ryo Hazuki and Bayonetta. (edited) I want Virtua Fighter 6 to be a thing, and for it to have sucess. But looking at Tekken 8, I can't help myself but to wonder. Sega needs to come up with something, anything. Or maybe I'm just thinking too much..
Honestly hoping for another new Sega success we haven’t seen the likes of yet. But also patiently waiting for that retro project they’re working on too. They truly are a bastion of very video game-y arcade inspired titles and I love it, I think they do it very well. This video proves that they still have their hitters out there and I’m happy for it.
Interesting that "Yakuza" being renamed to "Like a Dragon" is actually it's real original name! "Ryu ga Gotoku" means "Like a Dragon", and that was the Japanese name all along. So now, it finally gets its proper name.
It was only Yakuza in the West, but always Ryu ga Gotoku. the thing is them changing it to "Like a Dragon" instead of Ryu ga Gotoku as where Yakuza is just the Japanese word for gangster (though more specific) shows how it is leaning more toward the West. their reasoning was Yakuza name made it hard to make sales in Japan because of the association (over what the story was about and involved mind you), even though it was never called Yakuza there. If they lie like that, it's not for a good reason.
@@Marmite101 Did you mean Toshi-san? That was a weird way of writing that. Yes, that would be understandable from the beginning considering the story, not name of the game. It was a book the first game was based on. The game did well in Japan, so any stigma wasn't coming from gamers, but likely non-gamers perception of the series. Yakuza media is popular in Japan, despite the actual outlook on it and made many careers. Anything that could interfere with making money bothers SEGA no matter what, big or small.
@@Marmite101 Money should never compromise a body of work or the very basis the series was created on. You lose money then, not make it when it's corporate decision making over the creator's vision. Yakuza didn't become popular without the fanbase sticking with it for over a decade.
It's important to consider that numbers, while important for businesses and companies alike, they hardly represent good games from mediocre ones, true that many of the successful ones are great games, but the nature of the niche is to push as many games within a established series they possibly can. In a media in which encompasses actual talented people, from art designers, musicians, planners, programmers and more, there are so many great titles that went under the radar and are basically obscured, while many 'more-of-the-same', just because they're well known are highlighted constantly. SEGA, among other companies and consoles have unique titles that honestly, are amazing and should be explored by those who actually enjoy this media and like to discover and appreciate what's good and original. Heck, even Nintendo consoles suffer from this, let's go and discover these games.
Sega no longer has those talents it once has so they decide to buy studios because like Microsoft Sega can’t be bothered to develop their own in house titles, Nintendoes what Sega don’t. I’ve always wanted to say that 😂😂
I was totally surprised at Valkyria Chronicles...until I realized I own all of them and all DLC on my PS5. I always thought of it being more niche. Also looking at this list made me realize that despite me not really championing them, based on the games I own Sega is actually one of my favorite companies.
It is still niche franchise (like any non Fire Emblem and FF Tactics SRPG). Most of sales from this series are from big price cuts. All games from this series flopped outside of Japan (at release date) , because Sega dont even try advertise this series in US and EU.
It is niche, just like almost all jrpg(especially srpgs) franchises, but it's a large and diehard niche. We'll basically buy damn near everything that is seen positively
Fun fact: only 5 franchises from this video were developed in home by Sega, rest were developed by Sega Europe, licensed (Hatsune Miku, Puyo Puyo) or outsourced (Bayonetta).
@@SegaLordX yes but those 3 franchises was not developed by Sega. It is licensed franchise like Fist of The North Star. In Sega financial report all those 4 franchises are licensed, not in developed in home. And Bayonetta technicaly now is licensed by Nintendo.
Sega is a multinational company that publishes and funds lots of products. If you take out a game just because Sega didn't develop it internally, 3/4 of the software that has had their name on the box over the last 35 years wouldn't count. Sega still owns those games. Ands FYI, Sega has developed most of the modern Puyo games(Sonic Team) and helped develop most of the Hatsune Miku titles(AM2, CS3, Sega Interactive R&D 2).
I know but I also meant that only 5 of these franchises were invented by Sega (from oldest to newest): Sonic (1991, Team Sonic / CS2), Virtua Fighter (1993, AM2), Sakura Wars (1996, Overworks / CS3), Yakuza (2005, RGG Studio / CS1), and Valkyria Chronicles (2008, WoW Entertainment / CS3). Rest are as you say, borrowed or bought franchises from other publishers / developers like Compile, Crypton, Creative Assembly, Atlus etc. Without them Sega would have only Sonic and Yakuza in West, and probably would bancrupt or being focused only in Japan market company like Konami or Hudson Soft.@@SegaLordX
@@nr2676I’d say that Bayonetta is more of a Nintendo IP than a Sega now especially since 2nd and 3rd games being Nintendo exclusives and it’s for the best that they’re under Nintendo because Sega has proven that they don’t respect their own IPs let alone IPs by anyone else’s with some exceptions like Football Manager, Total War and of course their cash cow Sonic although Sonic games have varied wildly in quality while Nintendo has shown why they are still in the console market with their consistent quality and accessibility for people of all ages.
Like a Dragon Infinite Wealth is the top-rated Yakuza Game on Metacritic and Open Critic. I'm about halfway through, and it's spectacular. My only complaint is that RGG is taking an inordinately long time to fix some fairly obvious bugs (the missing permanent stat games and the line break glitch in the German localization, the latter of which doesn't affect me because I don't speak German lol). I'd love to see a 3D SoR game made in Dragon Engine. I'm picturing the best elements of Lost Judgment and Fist of the North Star Lost Paradise (which actually uses the Kiwami engine, but I think the vehicle mechanics would be a good fit for SoR) in one game.
@@AthosJosue 8 is better than Ishin and there's no reason to play it before 8 because it's a spin-off. 6, 7, and Gaiden are essential before 8. And you should probably also play 0 and Kiwami so that you least know who Daigo, Majima, and Haruka are.
Wow, Valkyrie Chronicles is a best seller huh? I remember when it dropped it was kinda considered a sleeper/hidden gem....ah yes Bayonetta, the franchise Helena claims that made almost half a billion....😅
Most of sales from this franchise are from VC1 Steam port (1M copies) and big price drops for VC1 and VC4 (VC1 and VC4 flopped at release, but sold 1M copies later thanks to price drops)
Very insightful, this is obviously what they've based a lot of decision making on over the last twenty years. I wonder if the sales of SoR4 is what prompted them into looking into their old IPs?
Great/informative video! Crazy to realize that Sega’s software sales in the 16-bit era were low compared to today. Surely part of that though is due to the huge growth in the games industry in general.
Not related to the video. But there is a garfield platformer on genesis that I'd reccomend it's called Garfield caught in the act I'm not sure if you've played it. As well as a taz platformer called taz escape from Mars
I actually played both of those! Can't say in retrospect if they were particularly stand out games, but I remember them being solid platformers, but I haven't thought of them for years...
I bet you probably weren't aware of this, but the Project DIVA series has some callbacks to past SEGA IPs such as Space Harrier and Afterburner, even some of the characters have costumes based on SEGA's own, such as Sonic for Miku and Luka as Sarah Bryant. Even some of the songs like Magical Sound Shower from Outrun got some remixes. For that alone, I think it's worth a second look. You'll see it's much more than "pressing buttons to music." lol
I think Alex Kidd is a franchise with good sales. The first one, bundle with the Master System, for example. If I have to make a guess, maybe 7 millions copies for all the games.
Alex kidd is garbage and only did well in Europe in the UK. Specifically amd Sega Lord X Definitely don’t like Alex Kidd He’s already trashed Alex Kidd and the enchanted castle, and Genesis countless times.
@@Adamtendo_player_1 I live In Brazil, and here the Master System is a huge success. Sold more than 7 million copies. And Alex Kidd is one of the most popular game around here. Because of that, I think Miracle World alone, sold very well.
@@Adamtendo_player_1Says you, while Enchanted Castle isn't one of Alex Kidd's strongest points. He's still a beloved mascot. SLX even praised the new one that came out.
My big 3 were Puyo Puyo, Virtua Fighter and Sonic. Out of all of my favorites, VF was a backseat to the two that are still popular in favor of other popular pillars like Like a Dragon and Championship Manager. I'm gladly the sales of the three don't hurt other competitors because they already made crossovers recently like Tekken in VF5, Tetris in Puyo Puyo and Mario in Sonic.
those are some crazy sales numbers from those series . we really do need a Virtua Fighter 6. Sega is sleeping on the fighting scene. Also there is like almost no if any, non stylized fighters. that alone would have be some kind of a draw today.
@@SegaLordX yeah SEGA's impressive arcade legacy has racked up amazing earnings numbers and some of their current titles operating in Japanese arcades today are among the top annual earners over there still.
@@Ashura96Sega’s arcade legacy is more impressive than their console legacy for obvious reasons and I’d like to see Sega Lord X do a Nintendo focused episode on how many franchises published by Nintendo have sold over the years.
I'm one of the Virtua Fighter fans who poney'd up the money for the digital release and the first DLC. Sega definitely got some money from those downloads before it was available or discounted via PS+.
Thanks for this. I have no idea where you found the numbers (I’ve tried in the past and couldn’t get good numbers) so my hats off to you. And yes, it’s crazy how the Genesis games didn’t sell as well as many of the SNES counterparts. Streets of Rage games never selling as many units as Final Fight 2 feels so wrong and surprising!!? Did a lot of Genesis games just rent games every weekend? The Genesis and SNES had a comparable number of hardware units and a comparable number of total games. It’s weird
1. Part of it is just a reporting issue. Companies like Nintendo frequently show off the sales of even their older games, whereas there is little official data for Sega Genesis era sales as a whole, especially from western publishers. The biggest example is Sonic 3 & Knuckles, which we barely have any data for. The exception is in Japan with its Famitsu weekly sales figures, but the Genesis was largely overshadowed there by the SFC and PCE. Even games from that era WITH known sales numbers often combined platforms. For example, we know Earthworm Jim sold at least a million copies, but have no idea what the console breakdown was like. 2. The allure for Nintendo consoles has almost always been Nintendo games. This was also true on the SNES, though Street Fighter and JRPG's were also strong contributors. The Genesis, conversely, was much more dependent on the sales of licensed games and third party releases. The best-selling Genesis games besides Sonic were Disney's Aladdin and Mortal Kombat. Even Sega's licensed games wouldn't appear on a list like this, since they are not the rights owners. 3. Regarding Rentals: Japan heavily restricted the renting of video games, so consoles more popular in Japan, like the SNES, would naturally have a sales advantage there. Furthermore, many of the more popular SNES games were much more tempting to buy instead of renting due to their long playtimes compared to big Genesis games. Streets of Rage, quality game or not, can be beaten in a single sitting. Meanwhile, the SNES was home to big RPG's that took 20+ hours to beat. Not saying that there were no beat em ups on SNES or RPG's on Genesis, but these were the genres popular on these platforms. 4. In the latter years of 4th gen consoles, the SNES's games post-N64 often became cheaper than those on the Genesis post-Saturn, at least in he USA. Sega was still pushing licensed Genesis games for $50 in 1996 and 1997, whereas Nintendo was selling new Mario games for no more than $35 by that point. Even if Sega made more money per individual cartridge (which they probably did in those latter years), that would improve SNES software sales. 5. The Sega Genesis's lineup was partially cannibalized by the Sega CD and 32X. Games for these platforms competed with the standard Genesis's lineup, effectively adding very few sales to the combined total. The lower cost of CD-ROMs COULD have helped push more software, but actual games on the Sega CD were still sold at prices of around $50.
One last thing: many of the bigger Sega games were more regionally successful than globally. The biggest Genesis games in Japan was Puyo Puyo, with Shining Force, Phantasy Star, Virtua Racing, and Langrisser making up another 5 of the Top 10 spots. Loads of those games never even got released outside of Japan. Likewise, the Joe Montana series was big in the USA, but those games were often American-exclusive.
@@Salnax While this has little to do with sales and more the company's actual profits, wasn't it recently revealed that SEGA entered some absolutely abysmal deal in the mid 90's with toy-stores that necessitated them to produce as many carts as the stores demanded, then buy back what wasn't sold? I think I saw that on news-sites / forums recently, some emails had been leaked from WAY back then discussing that, and as a result what actual profit they made from sales was utterly eaten because they had to buy back so much. I wonder, regarding what you wrote about SEGA charging more for their latter-day games, if that's all connected. If the games didn't sell well because they charged so much, or if they charged so much because they had to make more money to recover those losses... or a third possibility- maybe Nintendo, who didn't suffer from that poor deal, had more power to set the prices they wanted, whereas SEGA was also at the mercy of the toy-stores when they set their prices?
Thanks for this. These are really good facts that I wasn’t considering. It’s still a bit weird that a game like Final Fight 2 would sell so well compared to SOR2, but it could be that the SNES owner mentality was more likely to purchase vs rent (because so many SNES games as you pointed out were much longer) so maybe this benefited the shorter / arcade-inspired games released for the SNES. Thanks for the thoughtful response and take care
I'm going to challenge the idea that Streets of Rage never sold 1 million. No official source has ever commented on the sales, but VGChartz puts Streets of Rage 1 at 2.6 million. Sure, VGChartz are not the most reliable of sources but they're usually in the ballpark, so to declaratively states that there's no way the games has even done half that is almost certainly a mistake.
❗️1:19 I loved 'Valkyria Chronicles 4' and for a time, it was my favourite game on Switch (now taken over by 'The Outer Worlds'). I did try VC2 on PSP well before I played VC4 but got stuck on a mission so gave up. I had levelled-up the wrong units and couldn't progress but I liked what I had played. I have VC1 on Switch but yet to complete it or play thoroughly through it.
Virtua Fighter is my favorite Sega series of all time. Wish they would make VF6, or at least release VF5 for PC. Thanks Lordster! SEEEEEEEEEGAAAAAAAAAAA!
Man, if you look at the software sales alone, Sega never was a real competitor for Nintendo. Even Sony & Xbox dont come close. Imagine if Nintendo never had Miyamoto.
Because Sega was not that rich like Nintendo, and always had bad marketing outside of Japan. 4 of 10 franchises from this list are on Japan centred, and basically unknown outside of Japan, and this is TOP 10 best selling Sega franchises.
16:22 I believe this new initiative with revival of the classics can bring people back to them. Look at what Streets of Rage 4 did. People are more receptive to niche games now than they were back then. I am shocked that Streets of Rage games never broke a million plus. That's insane to me. Those games are some of the best games ever on any console. All three are repayable to no end. And it's a crime Sega let Virtual Fighter go by the waste side considering how big the fighting game scene is right now.
I'd say most of Yakuza's early success was based in Japan as well. Left to what it sold in the West for the first 10 years, the series would have died long ago.
Man would I like to see them try another Virtua Fighter. They did re-release VF5 recently, and since the only current 3D fighter around seem to be Tekken an alternative would probably do the genre good... but I do wonder. VF whole thing is it's lack of "flash", but will that sell these days? It's story is also very lackluster compared to Tekken- say what you will of how ridiculous Tekken gets, the fact there IS a story and rivalries and extreme stuff going on DOES capture the casual crowds eye. Making a new 3D fighter with all of VF's characters and roster would be very expensive these days, and I can only hope that if they do, they'll find a way to make itnprofitable for them. If they still have their dev team from back then I know they'll make a good game, but will it be a game that SELLS well... Oh well. I know I'll be there for their retro releases. Even if I was and remain a Nintendo kid back then, I can't just let the old rival rot if they're gonna release the big names from my past. I just hope they'll find ways to make us of the expanded videogame buying audience of today, and craft titles that sell to old-heads AND newbies.
Wellllllll, I wanna think that theyre more like building principle instead of living off of considering the Power Surge trailer. Im extremely hopeful for another big re-emergence from SEGA
The Persona series has only became really popular with the release of Persona 5. Up until then the series was rather niche and was not owned by Sega. Persona 5 was the first truly big numbers mover and the first under the Sega umbrella, but it still didn't sell enough to make it to this list.
Just imagine if SEGA had poured their millions into better support for Sega CD titles. That $300 add-on was a monster of its time and could have done justice to many of the top arcade titles of the mid-90s.
@@Marmite101 The Sega CD only died because SEGA dropped its support for it. However, it wast still being advertised in Spring of 1995--and then even after the $400 Saturn was released--at $99. Remember that so many games already looked or played as good or better on the Sega CD at 60fps with better audio than they did on the 32X. Had SEGA and developers just brought out the same 70 games for the Sega CD (using 320x448i with Shadow Highlight Mode, or 256 out of 3,375 colors), the system's limited 3D capabilities would've kept it alive to 1997-98, enough time to get the Dreamcast out without the loss of developers, gamers, and retailers.
Ultimate Showdown was a perfect example as to why Virtua Fighter should have remained dead. If they ever make a VF6, it's just going to be a worthless lightshow with cash-grab crossover characters like Tekken.
I am surprise that I didn't see the NBA 2K & NFL 2K series on your list. Sega owned those series until their final releases of ESPN NBA 2K5 & ESPN NFL 2K5.
I found some sales data on them but it didn't add up to anything significant. Units sold were usually in the 100's of thousands each year, instead of the millions you'd expect.
It sucks that Sega is trying to use 3D versions of Streets of Rage and Golden Axe to gage current interest in the franchises. They probably think we don't want another Shining Force game because we avoided everything post SF3.
The fact that Streets of Rage 4 looked like that ...and then the new Streets of Rage game looks like THAT...didn't these publishers learn their lessons in the 2000s?
If anything NOW more than ever would be the best time to resurrect Shining Force given the sort of mini-renaissance strategy RPGs have had in the past few years recently. And it wouldn't even require a huge budget for them to do. They could do a remaster of the originals to gauge interest if they wanted to, but I'd definitely want them to do more than just that.
@@ShadowEl Er...I'm concerned about the way the new SOR looks, but I thought SOR4's art direction was awful. Quality sprite work would have been way better than this bland hand drawn animation Lizardcube went with. Not to mention if you're gonna use hand drawn art style, SOR isn't the IP to use that approach with. A new Comix Zone would be a lot more fitting.
Good video! It always amazed me that Nintendo published Bayonetta 3 since it doesn't quite fit their family-friendly persona. 😅 I'm cautiously optimistic about Sega bringing back some of their old franchises as I just hope they don't drop the ball with it. Though, I wish Sega would bring back even more classics like Astal, Ristar, Ecco, Vectorman, Kid Chameleon, Billy Hatcher, Nights, Beyond Oasis, and Skies of Arcadia. I think there was supposed to be a Shining Force game in 2022 that was a compilation of remakes of 1, 2 and CD, but it got canned.
This idea of Nintendo being purely "family friendly" is at least a decade out of date. They published Devil's Third and Bayonetta 2 on Wii U. Nintendo EPD actively chooses to make games that appeal to players of all ages, but that doesn't restrict Nintendo as a publisher or a platform owner. Hell, Switch gets uncensored ecchi games that are censored on PS4.
That's why. They needed more mature games for their consoles and because of their image third parties refuse to put them on Nintendo hardware, so Bayonetta became their showcase to attract fans of such to pick up their consoles and show publishers that these types of games will sell on their hardware
I initially thought that, but then I had a proper look at a lot of the games that are on switch before I I bought a switch. OLED 20 years ago, Bayonetta would never of been on Nintendo systems especially with how sexualised she is. Nintendo is what Sega used to be creative and innovative in hindsight, I would say Nintendo has always been that more creative than Sega especially with their home, consoles with the switch, being the best system on the market with the best games, and not even Sega can compete with Nintendo’s own exclusives.
No one really knows the sales figures of the Master System, Genesis, Saturn or even the Dreamcast era. It's all just guesstimation and sporadic evidence. Sega has never released official sales figures, like Nintendo has done. No one even knows how many Genesis / Mega Drive consoles exactly were sold.
Sonic has been abysmal since SA2. Sonic Mania was excellent, but Superstars is lack luster. Sonic Team and Sega don't focus on quality any longer, Frontiers was just ok, it could have been better if they stop using boost which is lame, Sonic is Faster without it (Proven in SA1), the spin attack sound effect is annoying (whooshing/wobble noise) and Amy Rose, Knuckles, Tails, should not have the Homing attack, or boost...
My hopes are Like a Dragon series takes a hit in some way because the new director and Sega are heading in the wrong direction with it and localization is becoming more of a problem than it was prior, as remakes and remasters have removed elements meant for Japan, not to cater to Western sensibilities. If that changes to where Yakuza now has to suit the West because it sells more here, then it no longer fits Nagoshi's intent and becomes a pandering parody of itself. Sega will only milk Like A Dragon and do anything to make it sell more, spelling the demise of the series among it's fans, especially the Japanese if they can no longer relate to what's supposed to be cutural.
I'm very surprised VF was popular in Japan. Normally the Japanese like their light shows and stupid things like rage combos and VF didn't really have that.
Is Atlus franchise not Sega (Sega Japan, Sega America, Sega Europe). Total War & Football Manager are a part of Sega Europe, that's why are on the list.
@@retroinfo8000 but Atlus is not part of Sega Japan like Team Sonic (CS2) , RGG Studio (CS1), CS3, PSO2 Team, AM1, AM2 etc. Creativite Assembly, Two Point Studio, and Sports Interactive are part of Sega Europe, but Relic is not part of Sega America. Those franchises from this video were developed by Sega in home studio. Atlus and Relic is not like that, they are more indelendent, separateted dev teams / publishers from other Sega branches.
@@nr2676 Come on, Football manager is developped by Sports Interactive based on the UK, The Total War by another UK team The Creative Assembly. "They nonetheless remain subsidiaries of Sega and therefore belong to Sega in terms of ownership and distribution rights." The Pokémon games are developed by Game Freak, and do you really believe they're not Nintendo games, my friends?
@@nr2676 Atlus is a subsidiary of Sega. Atlus was acquired by Sega in 2013, which means Atlus is now a division of Sega Holdings Co., Ltd. Atlus continues to operate as a separate entity, but it is now under the control and ownership of Sega.
Respectfully disagree with the sentiment that the Sega fans of old should bear the weight of responsibility that any new-found success the old school Sega games may enjoy or may not obtain. Sega has had so many chances to really do good by their customers only to time and again ruin sega fans' good will. Example, how they handled Sonic Extreme on Saturn. Another example, the crap that Big Red Button had to go through when they were given the chance to make a fresh new Sonic title. Sega is lucky to even be in business at this point.
My wording was very deliberate. I did not mean that we are responsible for these new games, but rather we have the final word on how future Sega takes shape. if Sega does these games right, we have a choice to support them and show we care. If Sega gets it all wrong, we have the choice to ignore them and show Sega if they don't put in the effort there is no point in trying.
@@SegaLordX I absolutely agree. Love the content you've been creating for years now. You, Gamesack, Console Wars, df retro, and some others GameHut... Amazing content! Hope Sega gets things right.
dude i know what are you getting at , but sonic is not just their only IP , and it's not like sonic is the only franchise old school sega fans care about in the first place , nor the mishandling of one IP could ruin the good will of those fans , they have many different IPs that sold very good for decades , and that indicate that sega fans of old still buy and enjoy their games to this day
@@gregtom3272 It's the most important ip to me. The fact that we've had 30 years of mediocre Sonic trash is unbelievable. I mean Mario Galaxy was practically Sonic Extreme....or... at least it really felt that way. Hurts to see other companies taking advantage of some really cool opportunities that Sega could have had. The other ips are just as important...but...I guess Sonic was special to me. The reason I bought a Geni' in the first place.
It's criminal that SoR didn't sell 1 million+ copies
I'd love to see a 3D SoR game made in Dragon Engine. I'm picturing the best elements of Lost Judgment and Fist of the North Star Lost Paradise (which actually uses the Kiwami engine, but I think the vehicle mechanics would be a good fit for SoR) in one game.
It's because of the times and Sega's marketing back then. The industry just wasn't as big, I don't blame the series tho it somehow would need to be updated for today.
Streets of Rage 4 finally did it. 2.5 million sales worldwide. Too bad Sega didn’t develop OR publish it…
@@Harerazerthey sold like 40 million genesis consoles
Well technically they could've. Sega doesn't release accurate up to date sales numbers for most of their games. Also SoR4 actually sold 2 million but that wasn't published/developed by Sega.
Due to the series association with Nintendo, it can be hard to remember SEGA is the original publisher and owner of Bayonetta. But that first game is chock full of old school SEGA references! You can tell Kamiya was proud to be collaborating with them. It's a shame SEGA turned down Bayonetta 2.
Fun fact; Sega actually filed a copyright claim on this very video for the Bayonetta footage. They still own that first game lock, stock, and barrel.
@@SegaLordXI believe they still own the IP as well, and it has been licensed to Nintendo for all sequels and spinoffs so far. I wonder how much kickback SEGA gets for that.
Sega own Bayonetta welp
@@SegaLordX Wow, they never fail to impress.
Sega stilled owns the ip?
You’re doing great for supporting SEGA’s games, keep it up 👍🏻
You mentioned Skies of Arcadia.
Man o man I wish they would come out with a remaster of that game for modern consoles.
It's my favorite JRPG of all time
Valkyria Chronicles and Skies of Arcadia dev team probably were merged in 2018 into RGG Studio and Team Sonic, so there is no dev team in Sega Japan who could make remaster or remake SoA.
sega should release a collection of all the Yakuza arcade games for us to buy
@@Marmite101Indeed, the only reason I want the latest game is because of the arcade ports in it.
This is the difference between Nintendo and Sega, Nintendo respects their IPs and built on them over many console generations unlike Sega.
It’s so awesome to see that Sega continues to make great games over the years even though they haven’t released a console since the Sega Dreamcast. Long Live Sega
Sega is also as greedy a company as they come, make horrible business decisions to this day. one should hope for them to stay the path, not assume they are of greatness. Far from it.
@@blumiu2426this comment is far from greatness.
SEGA releases lots of low priced compilations, numerous cheap PC ports, and makes games they know won’t sell huge that fans want.
The greedy company you are thinking of is Nintendo and to a lesser degree SONY. They are the ones that make you buy the same games over and over at full price and limit supply.
@@darinherrick9224 What have you been sniffing? SEGA is known for putting out bad ports and heavily monetizing games if they can slip it in. I don't know what games you think they make they know won't sell well when that's actually just them making bad decisions.
Phantasy Star Online's issues are because of SEGA taking away what worked and just trying to milk players, Sonic is always them not putting enough budget or not listening to fans and not listening to fans is a re-occurring issue with them. They've milked Persona hard and prioritize and compromise anything else SMT with trying to tilt things in the Persona direction, while charging crazy prices for anything connected.
I can tell the difference between the three. You may be young or clueless to SEGA's known issues because they are very old and they go in a cycle with them.
@@darinherrick9224Sony is the most greedy of them all, Nintendo can be greedy don’t they Sega isn’t greedy either, they tried to charge us nearly $60 for Sonic Superstars which is blown away by Super Mario Bros Wonder. And Sega messed up with Bayonetta and if it wasn’t for Nintendo I wouldn’t have gotten the chance to own Bayonetta 3 for my Nintendo Switch.
Sega’s ratio of great games pales in comparison Nintendo’s now, especially now. I don’t have much interest in Sega’s games anymore outside of the 2D Sonic games or retro collections because I don’t like what Sega’s become, these days I’m team Nintendo with the Switch which is the better system in this generation.
Last year was the 30th anniversary of Virtua Fighter. Sega blew that opportunity. Hopefully something happens with VF in the near future.
There's been rumors that a new VF is happening. Though many don't know if it's a reboot or not.
If Zombie Sega released a Virtua Fighter 30th anniversary game, it will have no endings,no single player content, just 8 fighters and a congratulatory message saying:
"Thanks for keeping us alive throughout the years, suckers!
- Sega Team"
The Yakuza/Like a Dragon have some of my favorite games ever.
Still hoping Ristar gets some love one day :(
Yeah. Ristar is awesome.
Sega still refuses to die to this day and i love it.
Also Valkyria Chronicles does something right that Fire Emblem does wrong, and it's character development.
And also Sakura Wars
Characters in Ike's games (especially Elincia and Soren)?
@@ToshisGarden he probably means modern Fire Emblem with trash characters like Engage.
Valkyria Chronicles is still fun to play and I actually grew to really like the characters when I thought I wouldn't at first. Meanwhile with Fire Emblem, if I knew buying Fire Emblem Awakening would lead to the franchise turning into the shit factory it is, I would have personally destroyed every copy of the game.
@nr2676 Ah, you're right! I was in a rush when I typed that since I'm at work, so I didn't really consider that! ^^; the only post-Awakening game I've played is Conquest, so I suppose I'm just used to better character development, lol. I played basically a lot of the ones from Shadow Dragon and before, so I can't really speak on the new stuff.
Valkyria Chronicles is an awesome series. The first and fourth games are awesome, the second and third are PSP-only but still really good for that platform. I hope they make a VC5.
VC3 is best game in series.
This a very cool and interesting video. Yes it's amazing how many games we have heard and played never sold millions but then (early 90s) games that didn't sold a million weren't necessary labeled as failures right away. Some of them even had sequels and an audience even with sales around the six-figures sales. Developments costs weren't as high as today where a game that doesn't sell a million is a failure. That changed when games became 3D and required bigger teams and budgets.
Miku is DEFINITELY a fun rhythm game, but gets VERY complicated as it goes. Great visuals I must admit. My sibling is stuck on the EXTREME challenge level lol. Like can pass it but wants over 95% on each song :0
I'm more of a Rhythm Heaven series from Nintendo and the recent SquareEnix Theatrhythm (the song library for that is huge too)
Theatrhythm games are a must for any Square Enix music lover. Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory deserves a mention too.
It's worth mentioning that the video game market is a lot bigger nowadays than it was in the 90s. New entries in dormant franchises like Mega Man, Metroid and Streets of Rage recently had some of the best sales in their respective series. Which is why I'm guessing Sega is even attempting so many franchise revivals at once to see how they might fare in the newer market.
I spoke about this in the video. Even considering todays market, there are franchises from Sega's time as a hardware maker that still didn't sell well compared to its competition. Setup a comparison between the SNES and Genesis and look at how many more games on Nintendo's platform broke a million units sold. Then do it with the Saturn and Playstation. So on and so forth.
I didn't know Bayonetta was on PC. I looked it up on Steam just now and it's on sale for $6
And it's a steal.
The Switch version of the original Bayonetta is the definitive version.
I am always surprised when I go to the store how much Sonic merchandise there is. Toys, mugs, bed sheets, wall decor. Is Sonic really that popular with kids nowadays?
Maybe because of the movies?
Sonic has never stopped being popular in that regard because of the constant flow of cartoons and of course the movies now. It's also a game series that parents know much like Mario that will be fine for their children to play.
Blue fast guy is perrenial
Yes it is.
Put my little nephew onto the 16-bit Sonics and he can’t get enough. Even dressed as Sonic for Halloween
I wonder when will SEGA make a sequel for Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed
You mean like another cross over?
All we got now is Team Racing which is just Sonic stuff.
Most Sonic games pale in comparison to Mario and Sonic All Stars racing does not hold a candle to the legend that is Mario Kart 8 Deluxe.
i still find it hard to imagine that SEGA owns Miku. the moment i first heard it back then i was so surprised
Valkyria Chronicles ❤ thank you! Great game! I also love the Dutch city names on the map like Velsen or Assen.
And the Mario franchise is close to 900 million copies sold (Nintendo don’t reveal downloads only titles).
Well, there’s a reason why Nintendo is still around making consoles and Sega are not.
@@Adamtendo_player_1 Marketing
Off topic (fun fact): Hatsune Miku was considered to be a playable character in Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed. That ended up not happening, sadly. She was top 3 in the voting poll, along with Ryo Hazuki and Bayonetta.
(edited)
I want Virtua Fighter 6 to be a thing, and for it to have sucess. But looking at Tekken 8, I can't help myself but to wonder. Sega needs to come up with something, anything.
Or maybe I'm just thinking too much..
Honestly hoping for another new Sega success we haven’t seen the likes of yet. But also patiently waiting for that retro project they’re working on too. They truly are a bastion of very video game-y arcade inspired titles and I love it, I think they do it very well.
This video proves that they still have their hitters out there and I’m happy for it.
today is the day sega lord x talks about miku, ive been looking forward to this.
Interesting that "Yakuza" being renamed to "Like a Dragon" is actually it's real original name! "Ryu ga Gotoku" means "Like a Dragon", and that was the Japanese name all along. So now, it finally gets its proper name.
It was only Yakuza in the West, but always Ryu ga Gotoku. the thing is them changing it to "Like a Dragon" instead of Ryu ga Gotoku as where Yakuza is just the Japanese word for gangster (though more specific) shows how it is leaning more toward the West. their reasoning was Yakuza name made it hard to make sales in Japan because of the association (over what the story was about and involved mind you), even though it was never called Yakuza there. If they lie like that, it's not for a good reason.
@@Marmite101 Did you mean Toshi-san? That was a weird way of writing that.
Yes, that would be understandable from the beginning considering the story, not name of the game. It was a book the first game was based on. The game did well in Japan, so any stigma wasn't coming from gamers, but likely non-gamers perception of the series. Yakuza media is popular in Japan, despite the actual outlook on it and made many careers.
Anything that could interfere with making money bothers SEGA no matter what, big or small.
@@Marmite101 Money should never compromise a body of work or the very basis the series was created on. You lose money then, not make it when it's corporate decision making over the creator's vision. Yakuza didn't become popular without the fanbase sticking with it for over a decade.
It's important to consider that numbers, while important for businesses and companies alike, they hardly represent good games from mediocre ones, true that many of the successful ones are great games, but the nature of the niche is to push as many games within a established series they possibly can.
In a media in which encompasses actual talented people, from art designers, musicians, planners, programmers and more, there are so many great titles that went under the radar and are basically obscured, while many 'more-of-the-same', just because they're well known are highlighted constantly.
SEGA, among other companies and consoles have unique titles that honestly, are amazing and should be explored by those who actually enjoy this media and like to discover and appreciate what's good and original. Heck, even Nintendo consoles suffer from this, let's go and discover these games.
Sega no longer has those talents it once has so they decide to buy studios because like Microsoft Sega can’t be bothered to develop their own in house titles, Nintendoes what Sega don’t. I’ve always wanted to say that 😂😂
I was totally surprised at Valkyria Chronicles...until I realized I own all of them and all DLC on my PS5. I always thought of it being more niche.
Also looking at this list made me realize that despite me not really championing them, based on the games I own Sega is actually one of my favorite companies.
It is still niche franchise (like any non Fire Emblem and FF Tactics SRPG). Most of sales from this series are from big price cuts. All games from this series flopped outside of Japan (at release date) , because Sega dont even try advertise this series in US and EU.
It's also been really released a few times. I have it on my PS3/PS4 but also on switch and my Steam Deck
It is niche, just like almost all jrpg(especially srpgs) franchises, but it's a large and diehard niche. We'll basically buy damn near everything that is seen positively
Fun fact: only 5 franchises from this video were developed in home by Sega, rest were developed by Sega Europe, licensed (Hatsune Miku, Puyo Puyo) or outsourced (Bayonetta).
Sega owns the rights to Puyo, Project Diva, and Bayonetta.
@@SegaLordX yes but those 3 franchises was not developed by Sega. It is licensed franchise like Fist of The North Star. In Sega financial report all those 4 franchises are licensed, not in developed in home. And Bayonetta technicaly now is licensed by Nintendo.
Sega is a multinational company that publishes and funds lots of products. If you take out a game just because Sega didn't develop it internally, 3/4 of the software that has had their name on the box over the last 35 years wouldn't count. Sega still owns those games. Ands FYI, Sega has developed most of the modern Puyo games(Sonic Team) and helped develop most of the Hatsune Miku titles(AM2, CS3, Sega Interactive R&D 2).
I know but I also meant that only 5 of these franchises were invented by Sega (from oldest to newest): Sonic (1991, Team Sonic / CS2), Virtua Fighter (1993, AM2), Sakura Wars (1996, Overworks / CS3), Yakuza (2005, RGG Studio / CS1), and Valkyria Chronicles (2008, WoW Entertainment / CS3). Rest are as you say, borrowed or bought franchises from other publishers / developers like Compile, Crypton, Creative Assembly, Atlus etc. Without them Sega would have only Sonic and Yakuza in West, and probably would bancrupt or being focused only in Japan market company like Konami or Hudson Soft.@@SegaLordX
@@nr2676I’d say that Bayonetta is more of a Nintendo IP than a Sega now especially since 2nd and 3rd games being Nintendo exclusives and it’s for the best that they’re under Nintendo because Sega has proven that they don’t respect their own IPs let alone IPs by anyone else’s with some exceptions like Football Manager, Total War and of course their cash cow Sonic although Sonic games have varied wildly in quality while Nintendo has shown why they are still in the console market with their consistent quality and accessibility for people of all ages.
Like a Dragon Infinite Wealth is the top-rated Yakuza Game on Metacritic and Open Critic.
I'm about halfway through, and it's spectacular.
My only complaint is that RGG is taking an inordinately long time to fix some fairly obvious bugs (the missing permanent stat games and the line break glitch in the German localization, the latter of which doesn't affect me because I don't speak German lol).
I'd love to see a 3D SoR game made in Dragon Engine. I'm picturing the best elements of Lost Judgment and Fist of the North Star Lost Paradise (which actually uses the Kiwami engine, but I think the vehicle mechanics would be a good fit for SoR) in one game.
Im halfway yakuza 7 and lost judgement, then I need to play gaiden and ishin, so I think it's going to take me like a year to play 8.
@@AthosJosue 8 is better than Ishin and there's no reason to play it before 8 because it's a spin-off.
6, 7, and Gaiden are essential before 8.
And you should probably also play 0 and Kiwami so that you least know who Daigo, Majima, and Haruka are.
Any people remember the ADV-produced US release of the Sakura Wars OVA in the late 90s?
The one where they never pronounced sumire the same way twice
I remember watching Sakura Wars TV on Cartoon Netwoork
Wow, Valkyrie Chronicles is a best seller huh? I remember when it dropped it was kinda considered a sleeper/hidden gem....ah yes Bayonetta, the franchise Helena claims that made almost half a billion....😅
Most of sales from this franchise are from VC1 Steam port (1M copies) and big price drops for VC1 and VC4 (VC1 and VC4 flopped at release, but sold 1M copies later thanks to price drops)
In 00s there is a Russian official translation of two first Sakura games for PC
Somewhere there is a dimension where everything makes sense. A dimension where Shinobi and Sonic have their popularity switched.
Very insightful, this is obviously what they've based a lot of decision making on over the last twenty years. I wonder if the sales of SoR4 is what prompted them into looking into their old IPs?
Great/informative video! Crazy to realize that Sega’s software sales in the 16-bit era were low compared to today. Surely part of that though is due to the huge growth in the games industry in general.
In part. But also games didn't sell all that well on genesis/md, especially first party stuff aside from sonic.
gotta make sure to support and buy these ideally at full price when new so they keep em coming!
Not related to the video. But there is a garfield platformer on genesis that I'd reccomend it's called Garfield caught in the act I'm not sure if you've played it. As well as a taz platformer called taz escape from Mars
I actually played both of those! Can't say in retrospect if they were particularly stand out games, but I remember them being solid platformers, but I haven't thought of them for years...
I bet you probably weren't aware of this, but the Project DIVA series has some callbacks to past SEGA IPs such as Space Harrier and Afterburner, even some of the characters have costumes based on SEGA's own, such as Sonic for Miku and Luka as Sarah Bryant. Even some of the songs like Magical Sound Shower from Outrun got some remixes. For that alone, I think it's worth a second look. You'll see it's much more than "pressing buttons to music." lol
New outro is sick bro
I think Alex Kidd is a franchise with good sales.
The first one, bundle with the Master System, for example.
If I have to make a guess, maybe 7 millions copies for all the games.
Alex kidd is garbage and only did well in Europe in the UK. Specifically amd Sega Lord X Definitely don’t like Alex Kidd He’s already trashed Alex Kidd and the enchanted castle, and Genesis countless times.
@@Adamtendo_player_1
I live In Brazil, and here the Master System is a huge success.
Sold more than 7 million copies. And Alex Kidd is one of the most popular game around here. Because of that, I think Miracle World alone, sold very well.
@@Adamtendo_player_1Says you, while Enchanted Castle isn't one of Alex Kidd's strongest points. He's still a beloved mascot. SLX even praised the new one that came out.
8:50 sounds like a remix soundtrack for Berserk lol
Great video summary at the end. Sales drive behavior.
My big 3 were Puyo Puyo, Virtua Fighter and Sonic. Out of all of my favorites, VF was a backseat to the two that are still popular in favor of other popular pillars like Like a Dragon and Championship Manager.
I'm gladly the sales of the three don't hurt other competitors because they already made crossovers recently like Tekken in VF5, Tetris in Puyo Puyo and Mario in Sonic.
Oh yes, Virtua Fighter 4 is quite possibly my all-time fave traditional brawler.
those are some crazy sales numbers from those series . we really do need a Virtua Fighter 6. Sega is sleeping on the fighting scene. Also there is like almost no if any, non stylized fighters. that alone would have be some kind of a draw today.
I played all of them except the Total War and Football Manager series.
I realize that this episode is focusing on software sales, but arcade titles like Virtua Fighter made way more money than purely moving units.
Vastly different episode there. Arcade games make their money by a different metric entirely. Might make for a good future episode.
@@SegaLordX yeah SEGA's impressive arcade legacy has racked up amazing earnings numbers and some of their current titles operating in Japanese arcades today are among the top annual earners over there still.
@@SegaLordX Exactly
@@Ashura96Sega’s arcade legacy is more impressive than their console legacy for obvious reasons and I’d like to see Sega Lord X do a Nintendo focused episode on how many franchises published by Nintendo have sold over the years.
I'm one of the Virtua Fighter fans who poney'd up the money for the digital release and the first DLC. Sega definitely got some money from those downloads before it was available or discounted via PS+.
Great video! I've been falling down the emulation rabbit hole so this gave me some games to think about playing.
Thanks for this. I have no idea where you found the numbers (I’ve tried in the past and couldn’t get good numbers) so my hats off to you.
And yes, it’s crazy how the Genesis games didn’t sell as well as many of the SNES counterparts.
Streets of Rage games never selling as many units as Final Fight 2 feels so wrong and surprising!!?
Did a lot of Genesis games just rent games every weekend? The Genesis and SNES had a comparable number of hardware units and a comparable number of total games. It’s weird
1. Part of it is just a reporting issue. Companies like Nintendo frequently show off the sales of even their older games, whereas there is little official data for Sega Genesis era sales as a whole, especially from western publishers. The biggest example is Sonic 3 & Knuckles, which we barely have any data for. The exception is in Japan with its Famitsu weekly sales figures, but the Genesis was largely overshadowed there by the SFC and PCE. Even games from that era WITH known sales numbers often combined platforms. For example, we know Earthworm Jim sold at least a million copies, but have no idea what the console breakdown was like.
2. The allure for Nintendo consoles has almost always been Nintendo games. This was also true on the SNES, though Street Fighter and JRPG's were also strong contributors. The Genesis, conversely, was much more dependent on the sales of licensed games and third party releases. The best-selling Genesis games besides Sonic were Disney's Aladdin and Mortal Kombat. Even Sega's licensed games wouldn't appear on a list like this, since they are not the rights owners.
3. Regarding Rentals: Japan heavily restricted the renting of video games, so consoles more popular in Japan, like the SNES, would naturally have a sales advantage there. Furthermore, many of the more popular SNES games were much more tempting to buy instead of renting due to their long playtimes compared to big Genesis games. Streets of Rage, quality game or not, can be beaten in a single sitting. Meanwhile, the SNES was home to big RPG's that took 20+ hours to beat. Not saying that there were no beat em ups on SNES or RPG's on Genesis, but these were the genres popular on these platforms.
4. In the latter years of 4th gen consoles, the SNES's games post-N64 often became cheaper than those on the Genesis post-Saturn, at least in he USA. Sega was still pushing licensed Genesis games for $50 in 1996 and 1997, whereas Nintendo was selling new Mario games for no more than $35 by that point. Even if Sega made more money per individual cartridge (which they probably did in those latter years), that would improve SNES software sales.
5. The Sega Genesis's lineup was partially cannibalized by the Sega CD and 32X. Games for these platforms competed with the standard Genesis's lineup, effectively adding very few sales to the combined total. The lower cost of CD-ROMs COULD have helped push more software, but actual games on the Sega CD were still sold at prices of around $50.
One last thing: many of the bigger Sega games were more regionally successful than globally. The biggest Genesis games in Japan was Puyo Puyo, with Shining Force, Phantasy Star, Virtua Racing, and Langrisser making up another 5 of the Top 10 spots. Loads of those games never even got released outside of Japan. Likewise, the Joe Montana series was big in the USA, but those games were often American-exclusive.
@@Salnax While this has little to do with sales and more the company's actual profits, wasn't it recently revealed that SEGA entered some absolutely abysmal deal in the mid 90's with toy-stores that necessitated them to produce as many carts as the stores demanded, then buy back what wasn't sold? I think I saw that on news-sites / forums recently, some emails had been leaked from WAY back then discussing that, and as a result what actual profit they made from sales was utterly eaten because they had to buy back so much. I wonder, regarding what you wrote about SEGA charging more for their latter-day games, if that's all connected. If the games didn't sell well because they charged so much, or if they charged so much because they had to make more money to recover those losses... or a third possibility- maybe Nintendo, who didn't suffer from that poor deal, had more power to set the prices they wanted, whereas SEGA was also at the mercy of the toy-stores when they set their prices?
Thanks for this. These are really good facts that I wasn’t considering.
It’s still a bit weird that a game like Final Fight 2 would sell so well compared to SOR2, but it could be that the SNES owner mentality was more likely to purchase vs rent (because so many SNES games as you pointed out were much longer) so maybe this benefited the shorter / arcade-inspired games released for the SNES. Thanks for the thoughtful response and take care
I'm going to challenge the idea that Streets of Rage never sold 1 million. No official source has ever commented on the sales, but VGChartz puts Streets of Rage 1 at 2.6 million.
Sure, VGChartz are not the most reliable of sources but they're usually in the ballpark, so to declaratively states that there's no way the games has even done half that is almost certainly a mistake.
❗️1:19 I loved 'Valkyria Chronicles 4' and for a time, it was my favourite game on Switch (now taken over by 'The Outer Worlds').
I did try VC2 on PSP well before I played VC4 but got stuck on a mission so gave up. I had levelled-up the wrong units and couldn't progress but I liked what I had played.
I have VC1 on Switch but yet to complete it or play thoroughly through it.
To bad it's probably dead franchise, along with developer :(
I knew Football Manager would be on here, lol. It's been huge on PC for decades.
Virtua Fighter is my favorite Sega series of all time. Wish they would make VF6, or at least release VF5 for PC. Thanks Lordster! SEEEEEEEEEGAAAAAAAAAAA!
Sonic is my favourite Sega series but Sonic pales in comparison to Mario now.
Man, if you look at the software sales alone, Sega never was a real competitor for Nintendo.
Even Sony & Xbox dont come close. Imagine if Nintendo never had Miyamoto.
Because Sega was not that rich like Nintendo, and always had bad marketing outside of Japan. 4 of 10 franchises from this list are on Japan centred, and basically unknown outside of Japan, and this is TOP 10 best selling Sega franchises.
I'LL DO MY PART
16:22 I believe this new initiative with revival of the classics can bring people back to them. Look at what Streets of Rage 4 did. People are more receptive to niche games now than they were back then. I am shocked that Streets of Rage games never broke a million plus. That's insane to me. Those games are some of the best games ever on any console. All three are repayable to no end. And it's a crime Sega let Virtual Fighter go by the waste side considering how big the fighting game scene is right now.
I feel disappointed that Atlus was left out after Sega acquired it, it lead to the Persona Series rising to superstardom.
The Football Manager series always seemed like a random Sega game.
And 90% sales of Sakura Wars, Hatsune Miku, and Puyo Puyo is from Japan.
I'd say most of Yakuza's early success was based in Japan as well. Left to what it sold in the West for the first 10 years, the series would have died long ago.
Also half of sales of Virtua Fighter is from Japan.@@SegaLordX
Puyo puyo vs Tetris?
I hope football manager is surprisingly high. I remember that being a top played game steam at one point which shocked me lol
Zombie Sega: Sonic games just reached a billion sales!
Press 'X' to doubt.
Thanks!
the yakuza game are beyond amazing and that team makes some fantastic games
Sega Lord X and the best of the best for Sega
Man would I like to see them try another Virtua Fighter. They did re-release VF5 recently, and since the only current 3D fighter around seem to be Tekken an alternative would probably do the genre good... but I do wonder.
VF whole thing is it's lack of "flash", but will that sell these days? It's story is also very lackluster compared to Tekken- say what you will of how ridiculous Tekken gets, the fact there IS a story and rivalries and extreme stuff going on DOES capture the casual crowds eye. Making a new 3D fighter with all of VF's characters and roster would be very expensive these days, and I can only hope that if they do, they'll find a way to make itnprofitable for them. If they still have their dev team from back then I know they'll make a good game, but will it be a game that SELLS well...
Oh well. I know I'll be there for their retro releases. Even if I was and remain a Nintendo kid back then, I can't just let the old rival rot if they're gonna release the big names from my past. I just hope they'll find ways to make us of the expanded videogame buying audience of today, and craft titles that sell to old-heads AND newbies.
Great Stuff, as always.
Sega basically lives off Persona and Yakuza now.
I was thinking a similar thing
And sonic.
Wellllllll, I wanna think that theyre more like building principle instead of living off of considering the Power Surge trailer. Im extremely hopeful for another big re-emergence from SEGA
I mean... Total War is definitely a thing...
The Persona series has only became really popular with the release of Persona 5. Up until then the series was rather niche and was not owned by Sega. Persona 5 was the first truly big numbers mover and the first under the Sega umbrella, but it still didn't sell enough to make it to this list.
Another great video my ninja keep up the Lord's work. See what I just did there LOL
You missed persona, company of heroes, angry birds, Shin Megami Tensei, dawn of war. frogger
Those are Atlus franchises, not Sega. Atlus is not part of Sega Japan. And Relic is not part of Sega America or Sega Europe.
I explained this in the description.
Oh shoot, I didn't know that Sega owns Angry Birds now.
Just imagine if SEGA had poured their millions into better support for Sega CD titles. That $300 add-on was a monster of its time and could have done justice to many of the top arcade titles of the mid-90s.
@@Marmite101 They had the CD down to $99 by 1995.
@@Marmite101 The Sega CD only died because SEGA dropped its support for it. However, it wast still being advertised in Spring of 1995--and then even after the $400 Saturn was released--at $99. Remember that so many games already looked or played as good or better on the Sega CD at 60fps with better audio than they did on the 32X. Had SEGA and developers just brought out the same 70 games for the Sega CD (using 320x448i with Shadow Highlight Mode, or 256 out of 3,375 colors), the system's limited 3D capabilities would've kept it alive to 1997-98, enough time to get the Dreamcast out without the loss of developers, gamers, and retailers.
That would’ve been great, if the Sega CD had its own graphics chip instead of being held back by the Genesis’ limited colour palette.
Ultimate Showdown was a perfect example as to why Virtua Fighter should have remained dead. If they ever make a VF6, it's just going to be a worthless lightshow with cash-grab crossover characters like Tekken.
3 or 4 million across 3 or 4 Nintendo releases.
This is a beautiful gift.
This is off topic but I found a Metal Slug 2 fake Lego set at a connivence store in Shanghai today. Weird.
Was it any good or just cheap junk?
@@dilbertfish didn’t purchase but it actually looked quite decent
I’m burned out on the Yakuza series and I don’t even play them. I am with you on Virtua Fighter 6, what’s the delay Sega?!
Hey, VF4 is my favorite too!
I am surprise that I didn't see the NBA 2K & NFL 2K series on your list. Sega owned those series until their final releases of ESPN NBA 2K5 & ESPN NFL 2K5.
I found some sales data on them but it didn't add up to anything significant. Units sold were usually in the 100's of thousands each year, instead of the millions you'd expect.
Finally he talks about Hatsune Miku lol
because the topic forces him to do so lol
It sucks that Sega is trying to use 3D versions of Streets of Rage and Golden Axe to gage current interest in the franchises. They probably think we don't want another Shining Force game because we avoided everything post SF3.
The fact that Streets of Rage 4 looked like that ...and then the new Streets of Rage game looks like THAT...didn't these publishers learn their lessons in the 2000s?
If anything NOW more than ever would be the best time to resurrect Shining Force given the sort of mini-renaissance strategy RPGs have had in the past few years recently. And it wouldn't even require a huge budget for them to do. They could do a remaster of the originals to gauge interest if they wanted to, but I'd definitely want them to do more than just that.
@@ShadowEl Er...I'm concerned about the way the new SOR looks, but I thought SOR4's art direction was awful. Quality sprite work would have been way better than this bland hand drawn animation Lizardcube went with.
Not to mention if you're gonna use hand drawn art style, SOR isn't the IP to use that approach with. A new Comix Zone would be a lot more fitting.
has the new golden axe been released? what platform is it on?
Love this! Keep them coming!
Good video! It always amazed me that Nintendo published Bayonetta 3 since it doesn't quite fit their family-friendly persona. 😅
I'm cautiously optimistic about Sega bringing back some of their old franchises as I just hope they don't drop the ball with it. Though, I wish Sega would bring back even more classics like Astal, Ristar, Ecco, Vectorman, Kid Chameleon, Billy Hatcher, Nights, Beyond Oasis, and Skies of Arcadia. I think there was supposed to be a Shining Force game in 2022 that was a compilation of remakes of 1, 2 and CD, but it got canned.
Nintendo did fund the second game too.
Sega also filed new trademarks for
a couple of new games, including Kid Chameleon!
This idea of Nintendo being purely "family friendly" is at least a decade out of date. They published Devil's Third and Bayonetta 2 on Wii U. Nintendo EPD actively chooses to make games that appeal to players of all ages, but that doesn't restrict Nintendo as a publisher or a platform owner.
Hell, Switch gets uncensored ecchi games that are censored on PS4.
That's why. They needed more mature games for their consoles and because of their image third parties refuse to put them on Nintendo hardware, so Bayonetta became their showcase to attract fans of such to pick up their consoles and show publishers that these types of games will sell on their hardware
I initially thought that, but then I had a proper look at a lot of the games that are on switch before I I bought a switch. OLED 20 years ago, Bayonetta would never of been on Nintendo systems especially with how sexualised she is. Nintendo is what Sega used to be creative and innovative in hindsight, I would say Nintendo has always been that more creative than Sega especially with their home, consoles with the switch, being the best system on the market with the best games, and not even Sega can compete with Nintendo’s own exclusives.
@@dilbertfish Nintendo also funded the third game in the series and Bayonetta origins.
Sonic has also been a Pinball
Mario has sold over 800 million bro! Super mario series is at over 418 million but overall mario is the best selling game franchise
Miku is Love, Miku is life, wish I had a Vocaloid wife!
SEGA 4 EVER!
Most of their biggest successes seem to come after they left the console business behind, thus none of that money has to go into pushing hardware.
I'm really surprised that Yakuza wasn't higher on the list. And tied with Puyo Puyo...
Like A Dragon has been niche worldwide until very recently.
Why total war series requires a beefy pc
No one really knows the sales figures of the Master System, Genesis, Saturn or even the Dreamcast era. It's all just guesstimation and sporadic evidence. Sega has never released official sales figures, like Nintendo has done. No one even knows how many Genesis / Mega Drive consoles exactly were sold.
Thought you meant by the Sega owned games like sonic and street of rage good video either way
These are Sega owned games. Sega has many subsidiaries that make games for them.
@@SegaLordX oh ok gotcha
I had no idea that Champ Man became a Sega product. Never played it because all that side of the game bores me, just rather play an actual match.
Sonic has been abysmal since SA2. Sonic Mania was excellent, but Superstars is lack luster. Sonic Team and Sega don't focus on quality any longer, Frontiers was just ok, it could have been better if they stop using boost which is lame, Sonic is Faster without it (Proven in SA1), the spin attack sound effect is annoying (whooshing/wobble noise) and Amy Rose, Knuckles, Tails, should not have the Homing attack, or boost...
My hopes are Like a Dragon series takes a hit in some way because the new director and Sega are heading in the wrong direction with it and localization is becoming more of a problem than it was prior, as remakes and remasters have removed elements meant for Japan, not to cater to Western sensibilities. If that changes to where Yakuza now has to suit the West because it sells more here, then it no longer fits Nagoshi's intent and becomes a pandering parody of itself. Sega will only milk Like A Dragon and do anything to make it sell more, spelling the demise of the series among it's fans, especially the Japanese if they can no longer relate to what's supposed to be cutural.
VF6 would be SO HYPE
Just VF
Amazing!
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I'm very surprised VF was popular in Japan. Normally the Japanese like their light shows and stupid things like rage combos and VF didn't really have that.
Timing, probably. Japan was coming down off its Street Fighter II high and VF fit right in with being something very different.
Persona
Is Atlus franchise not Sega (Sega Japan, Sega America, Sega Europe). Total War & Football Manager are a part of Sega Europe, that's why are on the list.
@@nr2676 Persona is a subsidiary of Sega, and therefore it belongs to Sega
@@retroinfo8000 but Atlus is not part of Sega Japan like Team Sonic (CS2) , RGG Studio (CS1), CS3, PSO2 Team, AM1, AM2 etc. Creativite Assembly, Two Point Studio, and Sports Interactive are part of Sega Europe, but Relic is not part of Sega America. Those franchises from this video were developed by Sega in home studio. Atlus and Relic is not like that, they are more indelendent, separateted dev teams / publishers from other Sega branches.
@@nr2676 Come on, Football manager is developped by Sports Interactive based on the UK, The Total War by another UK team The Creative Assembly. "They nonetheless remain subsidiaries of Sega and therefore belong to Sega in terms of ownership and distribution rights." The Pokémon games are developed by Game Freak, and do you really believe they're not Nintendo games, my friends?
@@nr2676 Atlus is a subsidiary of Sega. Atlus was acquired by Sega in 2013, which means Atlus is now a division of Sega Holdings Co., Ltd. Atlus continues to operate as a separate entity, but it is now under the control and ownership of Sega.
Respectfully disagree with the sentiment that the Sega fans of old should bear the weight of responsibility that any new-found success the old school Sega games may enjoy or may not obtain. Sega has had so many chances to really do good by their customers only to time and again ruin sega fans' good will. Example, how they handled Sonic Extreme on Saturn. Another example, the crap that Big Red Button had to go through when they were given the chance to make a fresh new Sonic title. Sega is lucky to even be in business at this point.
My wording was very deliberate. I did not mean that we are responsible for these new games, but rather we have the final word on how future Sega takes shape. if Sega does these games right, we have a choice to support them and show we care. If Sega gets it all wrong, we have the choice to ignore them and show Sega if they don't put in the effort there is no point in trying.
@@SegaLordX I absolutely agree.
Love the content you've been creating for years now. You, Gamesack, Console Wars, df retro, and some others GameHut... Amazing content!
Hope Sega gets things right.
dude i know what are you getting at , but sonic is not just their only IP , and it's not like sonic is the only franchise old school sega fans care about in the first place , nor the mishandling of one IP could ruin the good will of those fans , they have many different IPs that sold very good for decades , and that indicate that sega fans of old still buy and enjoy their games to this day
@@gregtom3272
It's the most important ip to me.
The fact that we've had 30 years of mediocre Sonic trash is unbelievable.
I mean Mario Galaxy was practically Sonic Extreme....or... at least it really felt that way.
Hurts to see other companies taking advantage of some really cool opportunities that Sega could have had.
The other ips are just as important...but...I guess Sonic was special to me.
The reason I bought a Geni' in the first place.
I’m really shocked how Sonic can sell 100 million when most Sonic games are l 💩