Tom Kalinske: What did SEGA of America’s famous adman REALLY do for SEGA back in the 1990s?

Tom Kalinske has re-emerged in recent years thanks to the popularity of the book “Console Wars” by Blake J. Harris. Now SEGA of America’s former president and CEO has been popping up in virtually endless interviews and public appearances in order to tell his side of the story about how SEGA trounced the Nintendo juggernaut for a period of about three years from 1991 to 1994. But is that story really true? And is Tom Kalinske really responsible for SEGA’s success at the time?
In brief, we think yes, but we also think NO, because lost in the conversation are a litany of mistakes and oversights that not only didn’t help SEGA win the Console Wars, but ultimately led to the company’s meteoric collapse in the late 90s and early 2000s.
So what DID Tom Kalinske REALLY do for SEGA in the 1990s? And was ALL of it actually a good thing? Join us, Creative Cat Productions, on our latest adventure through the magical realm of historical revisions and twice told tales that is the Console Wars……
- CCP Management
____________________
There are a lot relevant sources that informed our perspective here, obviously none more important than Console Wars, which inspired this video….However, it is worth mentioning an incredible Interview that Tom Kalinske did with Mark McAvoy at Next Generation magazine around the launch of the 32X. In 2014 Defunct Games published a reenactment of that interview on their channel called “Tom Kalinske: The Sega 32X will outsell PlayStation and Saturn”. Briefly, this video demonstrates that Tom Kalinske not only defended the 32X, but stood behind the 32X as being what he saw as the most viable product being produced by SEGA going into the latter half of the 90s. His wrongness here is so profound that it reveals, perhaps, a man that was out of his element.
Here’s the link to that video:
• Tom Kalinske: The Sega...

[@creativecatproductions]

I just want to point out that we are wrong about Green Dog being developed by STI. Green Dog was actually developed by Sega Interactive Development Division, which was formerly known as Interactive Designs until SEGA of America acquired the studio in 1992. So, yes, technically Green Dog was developed under the managerial authority of SEGA of America (and Tom Kalinske) but not as a part of STI. SEGA Interactive also developed Eternal Champions, the terrible Star Wars game for the 32X, and Garfield Caught in the Act. Prior to being a SEGA subsidiary, Interactive Designs also contributed artwork and music for Darkwing Duck on the Turbografx-16, which might be the worst Turbografx-16 game ever made…..Green Dog was a huge improvement to say the least. 😀

[@iwanttocomplain]

Yes, Interactive Designs never made a good game. Although, full disclosure, I play Garfield a fair bit after looking up how to beat the vampire boss. It’s serviceable and Green Dog is kind of charming, like a village idiot.

[@EmmanuelLopez-ij7sf]

Glad I'm not the only one seeing Tom rewrite all the stupid stuff everyone was calling out SoA for

[@creativecatproductions]

Thanks for watching dude! 😎

[@AirZonkWorldChamp]

I remember tripping over my 32X cord a lot since I had to plug it across my old room. Great vid and I need a ketchup pop now.

[@creativecatproductions]

Ketchup popsicles are the best! Thanks for watching champ😎

[@adamdenardis5438]

Tom was right about one thing, Genesis did have a little life left in it by the mid 90s. It would have held everyone over until Saturn. No weird add ons that needed extra plug outlets or handhelds with short battery life required.

[@creativecatproductions]

Yeah, I think it’s often forgotten that most successful consoles in 1995 weren’t the PlayStation and the Saturn, but the the Genesis and the SNES. The Donkey Kong country series ensured the Super Nintendo was basically dominant at that time even though a lot of people were starting to to move on. What an amazing time in gaming though, it was so awesome 😎

[@Nostalgia9478]

Not sure Genesis wouldve been able to compete with Playstation like the Snes did for a year till the N64 came out

[@creativecatproductions]

I believe it still sold relatively well in 1995. Not was well as the snes but people still preferred the 16 bit games 1995. The consoles were so much cheaper. Sony won the long game though.

[@MaxAbramson3]

Tom and SoA wanted to keep the Genesis and Sega CD going, adding the $49.95 SVP Lock On cart that everyone I knew was excited about. SEGA had already developed Daytona USA, Star Wars Arcade, Virtua Fighter, and Virtua Racer, and the SVP was the perfect complement to the Sega CD. SONY and Kalinske even had a deal to go halfsies on the PlayStation, which SoJ rejected!

[@creativecatproductions]

@MaxAbramson3 I’ve never heard of this SVP lock on cart, but thank you very much for bringing it to my attention. I was pretty aware of the gaming scene back then but I missed this possibility. I believe Sonic 3 was originally supposed to be an SVP game as well! Would this have utilized the SVP lock-on cart? Thanks for watching dude! 😎

[@ThatsJustLikeYourOpinionMan]

This made me feel very old, but also grateful I got to love through the golden era

[@creativecatproductions]

Indeed, I am very old 😆 Thank you very much for watching dude! 😎

[@ShmupJunkie]

Great watch dude and well put together. My background with his involvement mostly comes from what's out there, as I never took the time or thought to analyze how much of it is accurate versus exaggerated. And while his 4 point plan did seem to help usher in the biggest sales success Sega ever experienced, it makes sense his influence was mostly felt on the marketing side. It's interesting to think how Sega would have fared if he never was involved. Whether it would have ever become the sales success if the lower price point and bundle never happened. It almost seems like his one home run plan that resulted in that success goes a long way to cover the other missteps and failures.

[@creativecatproductions]

I think Sega’s failure probably mostly falls on the shoulders of Sega of Japan, but I think it’s plainly true that Sega didn’t have to fail. I think that if they spent less energy spreading themselves so thin across so much hardware, that they could have survived the next generation. I’ve always thought it would have been great if at least one company had decided to ignore the 3D revolution. I can’t help but wonder what it would have been like if 2D Sega IPs were developed for the Saturn but with next level graphics and presentation. Imagine streets of rage 4 but in 1996. Or a Shinobi with high end pixel art and tons of sprites on the screen. Better shooters, etc. if Sega had focused on their strengths instead of attempting to completely reinvent themselves at the expense of their fan base then maybe they would still be with us today. Instead of Sega-Sammy. Thanks for watching dude! 😎

[@sonicecho5235]

@@creativecatproductions It still pisses me off that we got robbed of potentially the best Shinobi game ever for a game that looks like the SNES Batman Forever game

[@creativecatproductions]

Are you talking about Shinobi X for the Sega Saturn? Because that game was weak! Thanks for watching dude! 😎

[@sonicecho5235]

@@creativecatproductions Yeah that game disappointed me so much when I started digging through the Saturn library lol. Keep up the good work, you and shmup junkie make the best retro game content on here now

[@creativecatproductions]

Thanks dude!

[@deku812]

RE: Game Gear - Funny thing is that former Nintendo R&D 1 engineer who worked on the Game Boy shed some more light on the shenanigans around it's development and it involved Citizen offering Nintendo a color screen and a B&W screen. The contract was signed to use their B&W screen but SHARP had a direct line to Yamauchi, and Yamauch order the team to rescind the contract and to go with SHARP instead. Instead of telling them directly, R&D1 told Citizen they are still totally going to work with them , but on the color screen and they drew up a bullshit spec for a Color DMG device. Jilted, Citizen offered the screen (and allegedly Nintendo's BS specs for the color Game Boy to Sega) ; They found this out when the Game Gear releases, R&D1 engineers popped open the Game Gear to find it used the same Citizen screen they were offered and realized the Game Gear used the same BS specs they provided.

[@creativecatproductions]

Wow! 😮

[@phdays]

It kinda feels like you're missing Nilsen in all of this. Agree a lot of the stories told now have elements of spin. But Kalinske seemed to know he was just an ad-man and not a gamer and that's why he relied on people like Nilsen to fill in his gaps.

[@phdays]

Should add I love your videos. ♥️

[@creativecatproductions]

I think you’re right, Al Nilsan’s perspective is definitely important and missing here and he really does get gaming. He would probably be worth an entire video actually, because he’s really interesting. Thank you very much for watching dude! 😎

[@3venFl0w]

SOJ mandated the 32x as they were concerned about the Jaguar. At this time SOA were talking to Silicon Graphics to produce their next console but SOJ kept rejecting it due to cost and went with the Saturn. SOJ and SOA were basically having a civil war.

[@creativecatproductions]

I believe that SOJ mandated a 32-bit console to compete with jaguar and 3DO and their proposal was to utilize their new Hitachi chips with a standalone device. Like a saturn without a CD rom drive….cheaper. Meanwhile, SoA’s Joe Miller and Kalinske were both committed to extending the life of the Genesis and producing as many accessories for it as possible. They believed the Genesis had indefinite potential as the low cost video game console of choice….so the 32X add on was proposed instead. Either would have been a terrible idea. How can you release a console not strategically built around actual games? Anyway, thanks for watching dude! 😎

[@demetriusnp49]

Your Sega videos just keep getting interesting. I like your viewpoints on the SOA side of things. Makes me wonder has anything changed from between then and now with current SOA and Japan.

[@creativecatproductions]

Thanks for watching dude! 😎 Im not really sure what the dynamic is like between SOA and SOJ today. Technically SOA is a subsidiary of Sega-Sammy just the same. I’ve read bad things about SOA on glassdoor, but that’s par for the course on that site. It’s an interesting question though!

[@demetriusnp49]

@@creativecatproductions Makes me wonder how they survived this long with all their mismanagement. The fans helped of course, but they also lost tons of them.

[@creativecatproductions]

I must admit that they lost me with the 32X fiasco. I skipped the Saturn, and didn’t pick up a Dreamcast until it was already too late. Great console though.

[@demetriusnp49]

@@creativecatproductions The Dreamcast was definitely a swan song for that company. Nowadays most of that company is known for is bad Sonic games, Atlus and mobile games. But people are starting to figure out Sega’s company methods and how it hinders their IPs.

[@creativecatproductions]

@@demetriusnp49 I’m worried about this sonic origins release. People already hate it and it hasn’t even been released.

[@supersexysega]

Greendog wasn't done by STI. It was done by Interactive Designs, which was shortly later purchased by Sega becoming Sega Interactive. I think it was incredibly important and wise for Sega of America to put an emphasis on Western game development. It was also a huge success from a sales perspective (Eternal Champions, Sonic Spinball, Ecco, ToeJam & Earl, Jurassic Park, Vectorman, Tazmania, Holyfield Boxing, World Series Baseball, Montana NFL Series etc etc.) I think you focused a little to specifically on STI and not the meat of the issue which was an emphasis on Western development in general and the relationships that were built (Aladdin via Virgin etc.) As far as the 32x goes there are differences of opinion. Some camps say SOJ wanted an add-on for the Genesis and commissioned SOA to make one and others say it was SOA's idea. As far as hardware goes during that time Game Gear, Sega CD, Saturn and Nomad SOJ made those decisions so.... leaning towards SOJ commissioned the add-on for Genesis which became the 32x. Something that isn't up for debate is SOJ foricng the early launch of the Saturn in North America. Absolutely wreckless decision for a multitude of reasons. Lastly, In 1998 the Sega Genesis outsold the Sega Saturn 12-1. This is according to available sales online sources so take it with a grain of salt. It sums up their American market performances pretty well though. The system they kept trying to get away from with the (Sega CD, 32x and Saturn) kept selling long after their demise 🤷🏼‍♂️ As far as price goes. Nintendo pretty much price matched step for step with the Genesis. So getting a console that was 2 years older having to sell at or around the same price speaks volumes. Great video. Always good for someone to come along and poke holes into what has become "accepted fact" so to speak for a lot of people.

[@creativecatproductions]

Thank you for the clarification! The sources I used erroneously listed Green Dog as an STI game and not a Sega Interactive game. I should have been more careful and I will create a note about this. I think I focused on STI because they were under Sega of America’s managerial authority, but I suppose Sega Interactive was too. And I guess it’s true that western developed games were a big part of Sega’s commercial success in the 90s, but I think it’s also true that this same success wasn’t necessarily well deserved….I pretty much hate almost all of the western developed games Sega produced in the 90s….except toe jam and earl. I get in trouble for this, a lot, because games like eternal champions and Ecco sold very well and have large followings of people nostalgic for them, but even as a kid I thought they were really bad. I think western game developers in the 90s were very interested in the graphical design work, and the technical aspects of what they did, but it was pretty clear that they weren’t gamers or interested in good game design. Even virgin interactive and shiny entertainment don’t impress me much. I remember getting Aladdin as a kid and being incredibly let down by the hype. Sure, the graphics were amazing, but it wasn’t very fun or interesting. It was a mediocre platformer. I thought the same with earthworm Jim. It had amazing graphics and yet the level design seemed so slap dash and haphazard. Yeah I’ve heard the conflicting 32X stories as well. I do find it amazing that Kalinske was given so much freedom to make major decisions, such as cost cutting the Genesis, but then allegedly had his hands tied every time that it was convenient to his legacy. If it was a success for Sega, then he was somehow behind it. It if was a failure, then somehow he was forced to do it. It just seems like blame shifting to me, and I’ve seen interviews where Kalinske very plainly defends the 32X over and against the Saturn. I think Kalinske was spooked by the $400 price tag and that he thought the 32X would be a low cost alternative. If Nakayama wanted to beat the Jaguar or 3DO then I doubt he thought Sega of America engineering had a solution. I’m sure he just wanted to expedite the Saturn. I’ll give him credit for that 😆 Thanks for watching dude! 😎

[@BubblegumCrash332]

I miss the 90s. I was a HighSchool freshmen in 95 It felt like every couple months a new console would release.

[@creativecatproductions]

I was a high school freshman in 1996! I think? The 90s was a wild time for sure. I’ll loved that wars games and the old magazines too. I was a little underwhelmed by the “next generation” until the Dreamcast came out. Thanks for watching dude! 😎

[@BubblegumCrash332]

@@creativecatproductions crazy to think early 90s we had Super Mario World in just a couple years we had Mario 64 then a couple more years Dreamcast. I don't think we will ever see a generational leap in graphics like that agian.

[@creativecatproductions]

It was nuts! I started off with the Commodore 64, and by the time I was in college I was playing Jet Set Radio….but diminishing returns have set in and I can, honestly, hardly tell the difference between the PS3, PS4, and PS5. I guess there is one, it just doesn’t wow me or interest me. Plus, I’m not interested in photo realistic graphics or art.

[@BubblegumCrash332]

@@creativecatproductions You mean Ray Tracing isn't the second coming lol. 👍👍 I love the old Tile based graphics

[@jordans4827]

2 videos in 24 hrs? Awesome!

[@creativecatproductions]

Thanks for watching twice dude! 😎

[@oi6915]

Hayo Nakayama was the Gman and that's why he found Tom in some beach

[@creativecatproductions]

It all makes sense now! Thanks for watching dude 😎

[@kuklama0706]

This reminds me of modern "effective managers" coming and burning longtime financial and human reserves of declining companies for short period increase in profits that they can feature in their CV, hiring more such managers aboard, and then leaving a sinking ship.

[@creativecatproductions]

Yes! This is an old corporate trick that really sucks. The president of Disney parks once did this in the late 90s, leading to the first ever Disney ride accidents that were disneys fault. He cut corners and downsized to maximize the bottom line and create the impression that his tenure created value….then he jumped ship. He did the same thing at GAP, cutting back on the quality, increasing profit as a result, and declaring victory as he continued to fail upward in corporate America.

[@adamdenardis5438]

He left during the Saturn era sooooo. 😂

[@creativecatproductions]

I think I would have left during that time too!

[@adamdenardis5438]

I think Sega of America merely existed to advertise for Sega of Japan, the same reason it exists today.

[@creativecatproductions]

True!

[@adamdenardis5438]

I just realized, the plot to Greendog is exactly the same plot as Maui Mallard. 😂

[@BobbyHo2022]

I got the Altered Beast Genesis pack in the "Genesis does" era. Somic wasnt even a thing yet. I was lucky the Genesis continued to get more popular as the years went on.

[@creativecatproductions]

I was the same! I actually never liked Sonic all that much to be honest. But it was good to see the Genesis get more attention. Thanks for watching dude! 😎

[@nathleflutiste]

I can't agree to the fact that the 32X was a bad idea. The way it was handled with the launch of the Saturn so soon after its own, associated with the early end of support of the platform on the contrary, sure was. If this has to be reminded, the sells of the add-on were good at the beginning. It's the end of support so soon that made people feeling so frustrated and betrayed. They should had given the platform the support it deserved. Because when you had games like Virtua Fighter or Virtua Racing Deluxe, you can't possibly think it was bad.

[@mr.milehi9883]

So I have a question about an unreleased Sega Genesis game RAMPART 2 remember seeing a coming soon clip in egm magazine in 1992 or so. Developed by Vic Takai. Was it ever finished, do you know anything?

[@creativecatproductions]

I actually don’t know anything about that game! I love Vic Tokai though. I really ought to investigate this.

[@adamdenardis5438]

I love the Console Wars book. It's a little biased, but Nintendo barely lets out any of their own secrets so you gotta take Tom's word for it.

[@creativecatproductions]

I really just wish it wasn’t dramatized with dialogue and all that. I would have preferred a non fiction format, but the book is a gold mine of insight. It’s definitely enjoyable. Thanks for watching dude! 😎

[@FrogTony]

Great video!

[@creativecatproductions]

Thank you very much for watching dude! 😎

[@FrogTony]

@@creativecatproductions No worries man, it's quality. I'd love to see you interview Tom.

[@creativecatproductions]

Interviewing Tom Kalinske would be both a great challenge and an honor. Im actually stunned by how many KZbinrs have already interviewed him. It’s kind of amazing. I’d like to ask him about what he’d do differently with Sega the way it’s going. I’d also like to know if he sincerely thought the 32X had a strong enough game library to launch? Did he really like that version of Doom or was all that just obligatory bluster from a marketing executive?

[@adamdenardis5438]

Tom didn't know video games, his expertise was marketing toys. That did help sales.

[@creativecatproductions]

Sega was certainly great at marketing. He was right, I think, to focus on an alternative demographic than Nintendo. I remember that it really was the preferred console for teens and young adults!

[@2023snow]

Radical Ketchup Popsicles! I thought the Console Wars book was mostly entertaining, but often corny, and it seemed to ignore the business performance of the Game Gear and Sega CD, which I would have liked to have learned more about. I think Sonic 3 was a big mistake too. Why did they do that goofy connector thing?

[@creativecatproductions]

Indeed! Sonic 3 really needed to be one game. Thanks for watching dude! 😎

[@kuklama0706]

Can we be sure that Kalinske indeed had a say in running all these failed consoles? I had an impression that board of Japanese directors overseas pressured Kalinske ever since his Genesis success and he was forced to sell what he was given.

[@creativecatproductions]

I don’t think he had any say in any of the hardware except the 32X, which was a Sega of America product. Supposedly Nakayama wanted it because he felt like development on the Saturn was too slow? But I sort of think it really existed in order to show Sega of Japan that Sega of America was just as capable of producing great games and hardware……that was no so. That’s just my thought though. Thanks for watching dude! 😎

[@ludicrousfool7953]

I think what made people like Satoru Iwata and Reggie Fils-Aime great leaders was that in their hearts, they were gamers first and foremost. The former said as much at the 2005 GDC and the latter was a big fan of Zelda, saying his favorite game in his tenure was Breath of the Wild. Kalinske wasn’t, and I think it had huge ramifications of the quality of games coming from SOA. They seemed to prioritize quantity over quality and, to my knowledge, few if any of them ever received continuations. I’m also not a big fan of the “look at me, I’m cool with an attitude!” marketing during his tenure. In the long term, I think it hurt more than anything because they simply came off as too try-hard and condescending when the smarter approach would’ve been to do something more down to earth while still demonstrating what’s unique about the systems they produced. It especially bit them hard in the Saturn era, with confusing promos that came off as weird rather than exciting and, in several cases, insulted its competitors. Speaking of Saturn, I have this pervasive feeling SOA (including both Kalinske and his successor, Bernie Stolar) didn’t care about it very much. From the 32X and poorly run advertising campaign to the lackluster games they offered for Saturn owners, not bringing over most of the system’s best games from Japan (usually under the untrue notion they wouldn’t sell or Westerners had no interest in them) and the infamous ‘Saturn is not our future,’ they just sent the system out to die in Western territories. (I know this part may be nitpicking, but when a system logo (www.deviantart.com/blueamnesiac/art/Sega-Saturn-Logo-592822934) and its box art look this bland and boring (www.mobygames.com/game/sega-saturn/panzer-dragoon/cover-art/gameCoverId,15282/), it doesn’t give me confidence they believed in their own platform. The JPN Saturn art and cases (www.pinterest.com/pin/568579521690071640/) are astronomically better in every way. Looks more stylish, unique and uses jewel cases over those big, awkward and tacky ones in other regions.) Long one, but those are my thoughts on the matter

[@creativecatproductions]

Wow, this is one of the best comments we’ve ever received about a topic. Thank you very much for watching and for this thoughtful and informative comment. 😎

[@creativecatproductions]

I 100% agree about Panzer Dragoons art being generic and poorly chosen. Personally, the heavy emphasis on that game was a major turn off for me. It was a rail shooter, and a fairly ugly looking one. I think you have to almost pretend to love that game. I played it at a Toys R Us after the launch and was like, “nope….I’m going with tekken and ridge racer”

[@creativecatproductions]

I remember reading a bit in Console Wars where SEGA needed to replaced their VP of marketing, or something like that, because the former executive left to be part of the Sony PlayStation launch team. Anyway, even the book raises the question as to why the job didn’t go to Al Nielsen, who had been with SEGA of America for years, knew the Genesis well, understood video games, and was an actual gamer? Because instead the job went to some former dog food executive at someplace like Purina. Why? Why would Kalinske bring on some guy from a dog food company to help him develop and sell SEGA games? Im guessing the guy and Kalinske were connected (same frat or whatever) or that the Kalinske saw some kind of political gain to made in it. Maybe promoting Al Nilsen was a threat to his own position? Who knows. On thing’s for sure, it wasn’t for the sake of the company or for the sake of producing a better more competitive product.

[@ludicrousfool7953]

@@creativecatproductions A dog food company? For real? Did Kalinske believe his position would be threatened by Nielsen or what? Didn’t Nakayama already trust Kalinske by that point despite disagreeing with his three-pronged approach? When did this even happen?

[@creativecatproductions]

His name was Ed Volkwein and he came in 1992. He worked at “general foods” pet food division from the 60s through the 70s. He’s just another MBA type with academic credentials….but not the right kind of concrete experience with games. You have to understand your product to make it or sell it. These guys just didn’t. Ketchup popsicles, games, tobacco, dog chow. It’s all the same to them.

[@Mittens_Explains_It_All]

Great vid 😄

[@creativecatproductions]

Thanks for watching dudes 😎

[@HellsChef45]

Cannot wait for the Ketchup Popsicle® sponsorship!

[@creativecatproductions]

I sure hope the ketchup popsicle corporation notices us 😂 Thanks for watching dude! 😎

[@randallscott4581]

Michael Katz only had a year-long tenure as SOA's president, I wonder what he could have done if they kept him on longer?

[@creativecatproductions]

That’s a good question. If he had waited out for the release of sonic then maybe it would have been a part of his legacy? What a world! Thanks for watching dude! 😎

[@Ifalvarado]

​​@@creativecatproductionsSonic wouldn't be well recognized compare to today, and perhaps his design would be very different

[@hbrant]

What Tom Kalinske will always be most known for: *Genesis does what Nintendon't *SEGA PlayStation in partnership with Sony that got rejected by the board in Japan by SCSK Corporation and Sega's old-guard, higher-up executives. His bosses in Japan were delusional and stubborn.

[@creativecatproductions]

I totally agree, but what’s ironic is that while Kalinske is always associated with the Nintendon’t commercial, I’m almost certain that the creation and release of that commercial predates Kalinske’s arrival. Thanks for watching dude! 😎

[@RWL2012]

@@creativecatproductions yep that was still under Katz. Welcome to the Next Level was under Kalinske.

[@creativecatproductions]

Indeed!

[@cabbusses]

Hey, want me to add some thoughts based off my own research/beliefs? 1) The idea that the celebrity endorsements/games and "Genesis Does" campaigns didn't do well was rubbish. Genesis consoles may not have hit Sonic levels at that time, but they made a dent, generated goodwill, and got Sega deals to be on TV including the Video Power and Nick Arcade shows where they had major representation. Plus, Moonwalker is considered a classic and is even liked by the Japanese side of Sega! Kalinske was riding off the back of Michael Katz's ground work, no matter how much he'd deny it. 2) Kalinske famously treats the Sega Pico like his little baby project that Sega of Japan never liked... even though Japan was getting Pico games before we were, and was the Pico hardware's best selling region. (it's final sales numbers MATCH the Mega drive!) Kalinske probably likes the narrative he pushes because when he left Sega, he eventually went to VSmile to sell products similar to the Pico. 3) Sonic was always edgier in the West than in Japan up until the Sonic Adventure era when they went with a merged, united canon. The very existence of SatAM and Sonic the Comic in the UK as well as the "grimy" artistic and musical tone of Sonic Spinball prove this. The idea that Kalinske would ever dismiss any particular Sonic design in the way his own story describes is utterly ridiculous even at face value. He'd probably have thought Shadow the Hedgehog to be hot stuff if he was involved in that. 4) As for Genesis profitability, going in terms of raw financial statistics, it does seem like most of Sega's profits were from that time, and most of the LOSS of Sega's profits came from the Late Saturn->Dreamcast era, which I can presumably blame on SoJ not reining in Yu Suzuki's pet project, Shenmue. Most of the profit certainly came from Sonic in particular. 5) Kalinske is probably the guy who signed off on Sega games on the Game.com - make of that what you will.

[@creativecatproductions]

I really have no way of measuring the success of SEGAs early ad campaigns. In hindsight, as part of nostalgia, the ads have become noteworthy, but my memory of them at the time was that just about everyone was indifferent to them. Im skeptical about the effectiveness of ads in general outside of raising awareness of a product’s existence. It’s one thing to know Gillette sells blades, it’s entirely another to be specifically persuaded to buy them because of that same awareness. The early SEGA ads, with all the celebrities, were just so far off base. It was all really old white guys that none of us had ever heard of….Arnold Palmer? Tommy Lasorda? That guy from the 49ers? What demographic were they aiming at? Until Sonic I don’t think the Genesis ever cracked a million sold in the US. Maybe a quarter million? And then there’s the cost/ benefit analysis that comes into play….was it worth 10 million dollars to sell far less than a million consoles? Im not so sure. The ads were really well made though. But kids knew the NES was where it was at. Shoot, I wanted an NES, not a Genesis. I wanted Mike Tyson’s punch out, Mario 2, Zelda, Contra, Duck Hunt, not Tommy Lasorda Baseball and Altered Beast. Im pretty sure our family mainly got an NES because my dad went out to get one and couldn’t find them anymore 😆 I like Moon Walker too but its a pretty mediocre game and I don’t think anyone actually bought it. It was weird, like everything else about Moon Walker. But there’s no doubt in my mind that Kalinske’s early success was built almost entirely on the foundation laid down by Michael Katz. I think he was eventually going to be successful, especially if Sonic was the pack in game and all that. Yeah its interesting that Kalinske seems to have launched a new career entirely on the edutainment concept he gleaned from the Pico. That’s a weird console dude! Agreed, Kalinske’s Sonic story is weird, but it is corroborated by Cerna. It seems to me that they were just trying to shove ideas back at SEGA of Japan in order to show that SEGA of America was not going to be weak or submissive in their relationship. There was a lot of anti-Japanese animosity in the US residual into the early 90s…. and a lot of business types were fearful that Japan was pushing for a corporate take over of American companies. The crash of the Japanese credit and real-estate markets in 1990 put an end to that, but I think people were still thinking that way for a while before it became clear Japan had overspent and over lent itself into an inescapable economic catastrophe. I wish I knew good sources regarding SEGA profits and such. Do you know where I can find that information? Im always trying to make that sort of thing a part of our videos but I know of no reliable sources that I can explore. But yea, the failure to put a cap on Suzuki’s Shenmue game was a huge disaster for the company. How much did they spend on that thing? Hundreds of millions of dollars or something? It’s a neat game, but its not THAT good 😛 You’re probably right about the Game com….oh man Thank you very much for your thoughtful comments and for watching our video dude! 😎

[@creativecatproductions]

I think the biggest sale any adman can land is the necessity for advertising. Like I’ve said before, advertising is necessary insofar as brand awareness is vital for survival, but it’s not really the commercials that compel people lean on a particular brand but rather fondness for the product. I live in Texas and people absolutely love chic-filet. The line at lunch time is basically unmanageable, the place is so damn packed. Yet outside of a few clever billboards about cows and chickens, I’ve never paid much attention to or noticed much in the way of advertising for the company. People go because they have a earned rep for good service and they do make good chicken sandwiches. On the other hand I am inundated daily with commercials for cars and insurance, two products I already have and do not want. Perhaps that’s what ads are really for then? Making you aware of products you wouldn’t want by virtue of their intrinsic merits as a product?

[@joaogrrr]

As a fan of Tom, I like this unbiased very critical analysis of many of his key points. Indeed, he wasn't a Messiah brought down to Earth but he sure as hell was the right guy in the right moment. Also, 19:10 I was! Don't you dare shit on Kid Chameleon

[@creativecatproductions]

Thank you very much for watching dude! I wish I loved Kid Chameleon but I just can’t get into that game. I love the concept though. A sequel would be amazing 😎

[@joaogrrr]

@@creativecatproductions KC was basically the Super Mario of the Mega Drive. Except you never knew when it was going to end or where the fuck you'd end up with the teleport system and lack of a map. It was really awesome as a child because it seemed like an endless game. It's one of those that a lack of save feature actually works for the best because you're driven to pick up and start fresh then see which route you'll find yourself in that specific run. But I doubt there'll ever be a sequel since all of those Mega Drive IPs basically died with the Saturn.

[@creativecatproductions]

Indeed, do you know how long I’ve been waiting for a sequel to ristar?! 😆

[@adamdenardis5438]

I saw a list of tv shows that the male teen demographic prefered from 1992-1993 from an issue of Wizard magazine. Sonic SatAM was in the top ten. But not the second season in 1994, which i thought was the better season. Anyway Sonic was in fact marketed towards the teen demographic. 🤔 Gotta wonder how well the comics did.

[@creativecatproductions]

I loved that sonic show!

[@eqastiseryigirogerteriso2605]

I'am not gonna say the video is wrong or right, but it's weird that Micheal Katz said in a interview on Sega-16, that he didn't really have any kind of in-fighting issues with the japanese division, Elaborating on that, it's funny how - when Sonic 06 (or Shadow The Hedgehog) released to negative reception convincing corrupt media to use "Sonic should like.....only bbbbb two-dee" fast-forwarding to Sonic 4 (which i personally consider just a HD 2D Sonic game like fans wanted) they decided to shift to an "Sonic was an glorified tech demo - and wasn't that good to begin with at all" as if they have their arm behind the neck indicting .........second hand........uhhhhhh and now, afterall that, the world is in a terrifying place right now - the "downfall of the franchise" was interpreted as a thing of "beauty" when in reality, I, Myself. interpret the mockery and forthcoming downfall of the Sonic Hate Fandom, as a textbook example of "Reaping what was Sow" or what is supposed to be similar in the vein of what happened to the Roman Empire

[@creativecatproductions]

It’s amazing how people tell the most convenient stories, but on second thought, it’s not amazing. It’s inevitable, as natural as an avalanche, as mundane as death and taxes. But we refuse to believe this is how things go down, I think because we’d like to believe in our own legend, the personal lie each and every one of us lives everyday. The world certainly is in a bad state right now, but I am very glad you took the time to watch our little video. Thanks dude 😎

[@Nostalgia9478]

Im still waiting to hear Sega of Japans side of the story

[@creativecatproductions]

I’ve never heard it and it would be amazing. I know some old interviews with Nakayama were translated this last year. I believe they can be found on the Sega-16 forums!

[@Nostalgia9478]

@@creativecatproductions Nice. I'll have to look into that. Thanks

[@creativecatproductions]

No worries dude! 😎 Thanks for watching

[@Nostalgia9478]

Just finished watching. Great job. This channel and Sega Lord X are the only ones I've seen actually push back on the very CONVENIENT narrative that CON MAN Kalinske has been spewing for years. Weve never gotten Sega of Japans side of how things went down The Barbie doll salesman was all style and no substance imho. I think Sega wouldve been better off in the long run under Michael Katz

[@creativecatproductions]

Thank you very much for watching dude! 😎 We really appreciate it. I also wonder how things might have been different if Michael Katz had stayed?

[@BobbyHo2022]

Genesis does! You cant do that on Nintendo!

[@Nostalgia9478]

@@BobbyHo2022 A Michael Katz invention! lol

[@adamdenardis5438]

What I would have done was push back development of the Saturn a year or at least the console's release date just to give it time to get some decent games developed for it. Virtua Fighter 2 for the Saturn took time and it was solid but Daytona USA got rushed. Dreamcast waited a year to come to the west and was better for it since it had a much better line up of games at launch compared to Japan's. I mean the rush job with Saturn to be Sony's Playstation even made some big name stores drop Sega altogether!

[@MarquisDeSang]

Tom Kalinske rimes with John Sculley

[@creativecatproductions]

Possibly the exact same kind of dude. 🧐 Thanks for watching….dude! 😎

[@GMMXX80]

CONSOLE WARS tells that Kalinske didn't have much to do with Sonic. Al Nilsen was over in Japan giving them pointers to help and Nilsen was known as the Gamer at SEGA so SOA valued his opinion and when he returned from Japan after seeing the game, having the reputation that he did, they believed him. So, neither Kalinske nor Cerney seem to be right, Al Nilsens story has the most credibility. But that's the part of documentary timeline that doesn't make sense because Kalinske goes to present his plan before Japan and tells them he wants the Genesis cheaper and a pack in game. Nakayama flips out about their lifeblood being given away for free. What, Altered Beast? Because according to Console Wars, Kalinske tells them he wants to take on Mario and then they imply that Sonic started development after Kalinske presented to Japan what he proposed to do so, Console Wars does a bad job with the timeframe. Like, had Al Nilsen already started CES and mall tours when Kalinske got there and Kalinske started buying boards? That part of the story is really confusing and needs clarification, but, yeah, as was said below me, Kalinske knew the secret to good business, focus and your strengths and what you're good at, but SURROUND YOURSELF WITH SMART PEOPLE and NEVER BE AFRAID TO ASK FOR HELP. The Japanese are geniuses as developing new tech, but Americans know how to market and Europe benefits from both but, it's a crying shame Nakayama was so conceded. He had it right at first and was a success, but let pride take over. SOA clearly knew what they were doing and Japan couldn't understand that marketing wasn't their strength, developing technology was so, Nakayama should have let his tech guys work and listen to SOA on selling it. Nakayama also blew it with letting Silicone Graphics go and rushing the Saturn, Kalinske knew the market, he knew how to research and listen to that research, Nakayama clearly didn't nor did Orikowa following Nakayama that made Bernie Stolar lose his mind and leave just like what happened to Kalinske and Nakayama. Sony clearly learned how to listen and get along with their other teams and allow America to do what America does best, SELL IT while Japan creates it

[@creativecatproductions]

Console Wars sets up the exchanges with SEGA of Japan as if it were something that happened around the time of Kalinske’s arrival. There’s a whole dramatic exchange where Kalinske is appalled and reacts to stuff like fangs, madonna. I think Console Wars is a “mostly fictionalized” dramatization based on some historical reality derived from interviews. The original idea was to make it into a movie that never happened. I think it’s largely bunk. Al Nielsen may be right. OH! You mean the documentary Console Wars….loosely based on the book Console Wars….that was based on interviews. That threw me off. Sorry! Its a different thing. I think the Japanese we’re historically geniuses at quality control and refinement….but innovation was a fruit born largely out of the United States. I think when it comes to the video game industry in the 80s, 90s, and even into the 2000s, the Japanese clearly had a better handle on how to develop quality products. Just comparing Sega Technical Institute games to SEGA games from Japan and the difference was night and day. I think Comix Zone was probably their greatest achievement, as a piece of interesting software, but it was never considered a great game. SEGA in Japan had a much better handle on that. I think SEGA lacked focus and long term vision. They were always so concerned about jumping the gun, buying heavily into the concept of the game industry being a kind of tech race, that they never took the chance to notice or get a grip on what was working. I suspect, largely, that’s because it wasn’t working. In hindsight the Genesis and certain key games like Sonic seemed like mega successes. But Sonic never resonated with the Japanese the way Mario did (I can’t blame them) and while Kalinske sold a LOT of Genesis’s in the US, Im not sure SEGA sold that many games. After 1993 or so, the Genesis was a budget console for gamers that preferred renting (Mortal Kombat, NBA Jam, etc). There were those of us die hards from 1989, but we were not the future of the company, because we were such a small demographic. We did get Phantast Star IV though! A great game…..that probably sold very poorly. It’s not the kind of game the bulk of Genesis owners were going to ever buy. I think the 32X idea and the development and launch of the Saturn killed SEGA. They split their resources, divided their market, and killed off interest in the product from 3rd parties. The last minute hardware changes to the Saturn by a panicking Nakayama were also a travesty. SEGA needed to have a clear goal, see it through to the end, and address the interests of their loyal customers. Instead they abandoned their loyal customers (which were marginal), attempted to reinvent themselves, and became direct competitors with SONY and Nintendo in an arms race they lacked the resources and know how to win. These are just “rough draft” thoughts. I appreciate your thoughtful comment, and thank you very much for watching 😎

[@LiveHedgehog]

I love NiGHTS, but I'd rather it have not existed and instead Sonic Team should have developed some form of Sonic Adventure game for it. That game did start out as a Saturn title after all. The biggest failure of SEGA in the 90s is to not have a proper 3D Sonic game on the Saturn. And Kalinske is part of the reason that didn't happen.

[@creativecatproductions]

I’ve always gotten the sense that Nights was a reskinned 3D sonic game that had to be aborted. I honestly think that game is pretty bad, and I think it controls like some sort of broken physics engine for another game. To me it looks like Naka tried to get a 3D model to run but couldn’t make it stay on the ground and so he gave up and tried to repurpose the whole thing as a flying game on rails. The nights character model even looks like a silhouette of sonic the hedgehog. I think this may have been the reason he lost his mind when STI tried to make a sonic game using the Nights game engine (he shut that project down and lost his temper over the issue). It would have been obvious that that’s what happened and maybe it would have been embarrassing if they had access to his original code. That’s just a speculative opinion that I’ve long favored. I completely agree. Getting sonic team to make a sonic game for the Saturn really should have been the top priority. Thanks for watching dude! 😎

[@LiveHedgehog]

@@creativecatproductions I should have said that I love the idea of NiGHTS, I think like Balan Wonderworld there's a nugget of a good idea. NiGHTS isn't Balan-levels of bad though. I definitely think there's something to that idea. It just makes too much sense to make a 3D Sonic launch title for the Saturn for that not to have been something they intended to do. So the options are (a) they failed and turned it into NiGHTS, or (b) they somehow didn't think making one was important. Maybe it's a coincidence, but Super Sonic in Sonic Unleashed (360/PS3) controls exactly like NiGHTS. That was the first mainline title that went into production after Naka left too. I wonder how different the gaming landscape would be if SEGA had handled the Saturn better. I think had the Saturn and Dreamcast succeeded, Microsoft wouldn't have entered the console market (or at least as early). I quite enjoy the Bungie Halo FPS games so I am glad they did though. I always enjoy your videos, thanks for making them!

[@creativecatproductions]

Thank you very much dude!

[@mr.milehi9883]

If that is so about Tom. Then I guess trip Hawkins saved the 3do? He still owes me a version of ARMY MEN FOR THAT SYSTEM

[@creativecatproductions]

The 3DO was solid hardware but it just cost on much and had too few good games. 😎

[@adamdenardis5438]

32X had decent arcade ports, but the hardware was so similar to Saturn that it would have just been smarter to have just the Saturn. The Saturn had the better Virtua Fighter games and a decent port of Virtua Racing, not to mention Sega Ages which had both Space Harrrier and After Burner. All of those titles were on 32X and didn't have to be since they were done better on Saturn. 🤔 Heck, Space Harrier and After Burner were in a colleciton for the Saturn! A much better deal since they also toss in OutRun, a cancelled game for the 32X!

[@creativecatproductions]

Agreed!

[@segaarcade_baby0888]

Sega of America pooped the bed. I expected better management for the company. We all expected quality software and more of them.

[@creativecatproductions]

Thanks for watching dude! 😎

[@segaarcade_baby0888]

@@creativecatproductions You're welcome! I will be back.

[@VirajKathwadia]

I actually liked Sonic Spinball and I don't recall any slowdown, but hey thats me. However yes it is a shame Sonic Xtreme never got completed, be nice when they launch a Sega Saturn mini if they completed Sonic Xtreme as a bonus title to help sell that Mini system that would be awesome. I recall watching an interview with Kalinske with him saying that Nakayama ordered Kalinske to make the 32X as an add on. He didn't wanna make one but he had orders to make it. I agree Sega would have been better off without the 32X as people were ripped off by it. Sega were seen as being greedy. I modded my MD mini and have the entire 32X library and it's just so weak. I disagree that Kalinske is to blame, yes he made mistakes but he brought EA in to make sports games for Sega he made fun of the competition with his agreesive ad compaigns, but Nakayama was to blame along with the in fighting between Sega of America and Japan, the Saturn was something Kalinske was sidelined on due to the jealousy and resentment SOJ had for SOA because the Genesis was a success in the states and the west but not so much in Japan. Kalinske was also ordered to give the Saturn the surprise launch in America which he knew was suicide and I recall in an interview he got a lot of heat from retailers for that which is why the Saturn was not stocked by a lot of them when finally more came in. I'm sorry but I think Kalinske did more good then bad. I place a lot of the blame for Sega's demise on the west to SOJ and Nakayama.

[@creativecatproductions]

That’s definitely a credible version of events! I will say this though: According to Kalinske and console wars he was given total control over Sega of America which allowed him to do outlandish things like cut the price of the Genesis over and over. That was a success….but when it comes to mistakes, it seems like the power is suddenly shifted entirely back over to nakayama who made Kalinske do this and that. I find it convenient wherever Kalinske had total control he was a success, and wherever total control was wrested away Sega failed. It seems too convenient to me, like shifting blame. Anyway, great points. Thanks for watching dude! 😎

[@zalternative1]

Really it's just cultural politics, cross culture communication failed between Sega of Japan and America which was essential for worldwide success of a business. Nintendo already did that fine, Sony does that even better. Microsoft is still successful in the industry, but I barely hear about the Xbox in Japan.

[@creativecatproductions]

We did a video last year about retro studios in Austin, Tx and the fact that they haven’t produced a new game in many years. One piece of the puzzle seems to be a cultural gap between Nintendo in Japan and the western staff at retro. Or, more accurately, Nintendo in Japan is a bit smothering when it comes to management of retro. But work culture and work philosophy seem to be a part of the issue. Thanks for watching dude! 😎

[@nikkihedged]

As a fan of SEGA do you think they’re more like Nintendo (family friendly) or Microsoft (Western, edgy)? Curious to hear your thoughts.

[@creativecatproductions]

I think as a brand that SEGA has always been a bit edgier than Nintendo, which has always marketed its videogame products primarily at children and families. I think, partly, this is due to the fact that SEGA had to fight to carve out their own unique niche among teenagers or people looking for an alternative to the baby faced Mario, but I also think it has a lot to do with the kind of people SEGA hired in the early CSK years that would go on to build the company into something really special. Ive been meaning to do research about this, but Im reticent since I think the key information is all locked behind the Japanese language, and probably undoable from a remote computer. However, its been my observation that starting in 1983, just as SEGA changed hands to CSK, SEGA went through a hiring blitz over a period of 2 or 3 years in which they brought on every individual creative member that would go on to make the company into what it is: Yu Suzuki, Reiko Kodama, Kotaro Hayashida, Taro Shizuoka, Yuji Naka, Naoto Oshima….the list goes on and on. For whatever reason, SEGA chose to rely almost exclusively on this one large generation of very young talent that they assembled within a relatively short period of time. And I meant these people were young, mostly in their early 20s, and all were part of that crucial generation of Japanese professionals born in the late 50s and early 60s. I think SEGA took on the cooler, more fashionable style that it did because it was directly reflective of this single generation of talented and young artists that were making their games for both the arcades and home consoles. They simply put what they liked into the games, and I think they did so because they were either explicitly encouraged to do so, or they simply had the freedom to do whatever they wanted. They made the sort of thing that they wanted to play, whereas Nintendo may have been more deliberately focused on making games that could be appealing to younger kids.

[@nikkihedged]

@@creativecatproductions That sounds like an interesting area of research. I never would never thought about that. Maybe SEGA relied on mostly young people due to Japanese culture. You could probably use Nintendo’s employees as a comparison, just another gaming company from that time. This is slightly unrelated, but I wonder if Japan’s lost decade starting in the 1990s effected SEGA in some way. That’s when the Japanese economy burst, and it’s lasted a long time. As a result of that economy disaster, many people in Japan weren’t able to find work, and have a career because companies stopped hiring. I’m not an economist though. So that’s a bit beyond my understanding exactly. I think SEGA was fortunate to have hired such talented and driven folks. Their creations would be what defined SEGA for a generation, maybe more. I wonder what it must have felt like working at SEGA during all the good and bad times. I don’t think there is another gaming company that has shifted gears as often or as many times as they did. I’m happy theses were young when in the 90s, since it means they’re mostly still alive and well. Can I recommend a video idea for your channel? It’s up to you if you want to do it. Thanks for answering my question!

[@creativecatproductions]

No worries dude! Sure, I’m open to any recommendations. We’ve got a few we’re in the middle of right now but I might be able to look into it down the road!

[@nikkihedged]

@@creativecatproductions thanks. Maybe a compare and contrast video SEGA vs Atari or SEGA vs Namco. They’re all arcade companies right. Could be interesting.

[@creativecatproductions]

That would be pretty cool! An arcade head to head battle

[@nikkihedged]

I think it’s interesting how the early marketing for Sonic still affects him. Many people say the game is shallow, flashy and poorly designed, even though it isn’t. I think the early ads may have helped and hurt Sonic’s image. If they didn’t focus so much on being “cool” and “fast”, I think people would think of Sonic differently. I think too much focus is put on the marketing, and not the game itself, when people talk about Sonic’s early success. So people walk away thinking Sonic was a cynical fad, and not a work of art.

[@creativecatproductions]

Yeah I think Sega of Japan and Sega of America plainly had two very different visions for what made a game (or a brand) successful. Japan was, rightfully, focused on the quality of the actual product…..which makes sense since they were mainly behind SEGA’s actual game production at the time. Sega of America was really all about the ads and the marketing. I don’t think that attitude works and I think, in the long run, giving too much deference and independence to Sega of America hurt Sega badly. Thanks for watching dude! 😎

[@nikkihedged]

@@creativecatproductions I think it’s wild just how quickly SEGA spiraled out of control in the 90s. In 1991 Sonic was born. But by his tenth birthday SEGA was near death. I think a lot of people don’t really understand how badly the American branch of SEGA was run in the 90s. People are nostalgic about that time. But don’t consider just how bad it really was. But I guess many people were kids back then anyway. Nowadays the internet is really popular, and anything SEGA bad or good can be known right away. But for a kid in the 90s SEGA must have seemed like the coolest thing ever! They wouldn’t have necessarily understood what was going on. I think there are a lot of lessons to learn from SEGA’s history, good and bad. Marketing is important, but game quality is even more important. Sonic had both quality and marketing and succeeded because of that. Also it’s important to not overspend or overextend resources. SEGA had way too much going on at once. On the bright side, SEGA is remembered for being incredibly ambitious and ahead of their time.

[@creativecatproductions]

I was 10 years old in 1992 and a lifetime Sega fan thanks to my older brother who was 20 around that time. I think we sort of knew something was up when we first encountered the Sega CD. Here was what seemed like an extraordinarily expensive ad on for the Genesis that didn’t do anything but allow you play a few crappy games that, other than snatcher and nighttrap, people really didn’t talk much about. Despite having a huge ad campaign that included tv commercials, and full page ads in all the game magazines, the Sega CD was barely supported and faded away quickly. Then when the 32X came out, we thought Sega had completely lost their minds. Everyone knew about the Saturn and were looking forward to it, but yet another add on to the Genesis? I was an early adopter of the 32X. It was not as expensive as the Sega CD and it appeared to have two killer apps at launch: Doom and Star Wars arcade. However, both of those games sucked…..and that’s how it went for most of the 32X games I eventually got. They were either only partially complete or missing major features (knuckles chaotic and Doom), or they were just trash (cosmic carnage, metal head). Soon it was apparent that the 32X would be quickly abandoned just as the Sega CD was. At that point I was done with Sega. They made great games from time to time, but their edgy ads made by marketers, who must have forced themselves to watch a lot of Grunge music videos, were condescending and stupid….and buying into their poorly supported consoles was a risk. I didn’t exactly love the PlayStation the way I did the Genesis, but it worked out a hell of a lot better than the poor Saturn!

[@nikkihedged]

@@creativecatproductions that’s sounds like you got ripped off haha. Kids can definitely notice a lack of games on their console. It makes sense that people were so mad by the time SEGA got to the Dreamcast. I would have been upset and distrustful too. Do you think SEGA ever fully shook off their bad reputation from that time?

[@creativecatproductions]

@@nikkihedged I think the Dreamcast created a lot of excitement and good will that lasted for a brief period until around Sonic ‘06. People were excited about the brand and there was more to love than hate. It was short lived 😆

[@SP95]

It was told despite all beliefs the 32X or the Mega CD did reasonably well. Let's not forget Nintendo starded doing the same thing with N64 Add ons

[@creativecatproductions]

I think it can be argued that the Sega CD did fairly well, and it produced a healthy library of games during its existence. But probably less than ten to fifteen percent of Genesis owners ever had a Sega CD, perhaps far less. The 32X on the other hand was unequivocally a monumental failure. I know this because I remember how incredibly quickly the console was relegated to the bargain bins in stores. It came out in the late fall of 1994, but seriously by the following summer they were in discount bins at stores like Walmart and toys r us. It was over almost as soon as it began.

[@creativecatproductions]

Thanks for watching dude! 😎

[@cabbusses]

The 64DD never even came out, which shows whatever amount of faith Nintendo actually had in it.

[@creativecatproductions]

True, but at least the N64DD had some good, console specific software. But it’s just too much to ask consumers to buy a console and then buy another console that plugs into that. And its too much to ask game developers to take that kind of risk on top of that which is why no one ever does this anymore. Thanks for watching dude! 😎

[@BobbyHo2022]

​@creativecatproductions I've never seen a friend owning a Sega cd til mid 2000s. $300 was alot in 1993.

[@mrshiver3241]

wasnt SOA forced to sell the 32z by SOJ. Wasnt Tom forced again by SOJ to Ship And announce the Sega Saturn Early

[@creativecatproductions]

My understanding at this point is that the 32X itself was proposed by Joe Miller, the head of R&D at Sega of America. SOJ was proposing an entirely separate console (backward compatible with the Genesis) in order to quickly compete with Jaguar and 3DO, and I believe the thought at the time was that it would a US exclusive, whereas the Saturn would be a Japan exclusive…..a strategy based on the fact that the Genesis and Mega Drive had such different markets in the US and Japan respectively. Miller believed an add on would be more expedient and he led the design of the 32X. Tom Kalinske regularly repeats the story that SOJ forced him to launch the Saturn early, and consequently some American retailers broke ties with SEGA of America, but in light of new information from Shoichiro Irimajiri (former CEO of both Sega of America and Sega of Japan) it seems plausible to me that SEGA of Japan forced Kalinske and Sega of America to cut ties with those retailers ahead of a Saturn launch since those relationships were costing SEGA a lot of money in buy backs of unsold merchandise. Thanks for watching dude! 😎

[@moisesberducido1248]

Another good video my feline friend. I have an ambivalent view in Tom Kalinske. For one side, the guy is pushing his own psycho-fart narrative created during the early 90's abuout a mytical videogame savior from the powerfull Nintendo fangs, a men whom solely carried Sega from a humble existance to a powerfull player in the videogame history, and yeah, he almost developed Sonic as a videogame icon. But it's easy being a cynical asshole with Kalinske, almost 30 years hearing his same complains and narratives, and after the highly biased "Console Wars" book. Even when Michael Katz actually build the ground for the Genesis in North America, the Kalinske strategy actually build a mindshare that put the Genesis in the map. His marketing campaing, his push for Sonic as a videgame icon, and the perfect quality arcade-type sports games were brillant ideas that were actually from the Kalinske strategy. Sadly, Sega, brillant at building magnificent arcades and deliver great games, are a bunch of moroons when it came in the administrative matters. Hayao Nakayama didn't understand his luck with Kalinske as a marketing genious, he give Kalinske free reign in choose the marketing affairs with the Sega CD (they went full in the FMV shitfest that plague the early MM atempts and went in a mediocre seller add-on), and even when it's questionable hardware/software decission. Sega, a company that didn't develope a properly mission or vision during this crucial era, went bankrupt and almost dissapear because they were a mess. Kalinske had have contributions to this dissaster incoming: The really bad take on the Sega CD (FMV games that sucked), the 32X, the mediocre developemnent studios created during his tenure. Thanks for the video, I think you should put some more info about "Console Wars". Thanks buddy, and good luck!

[@creativecatproductions]

Thank you very much for watching and for the very thoughtful comment dude! 😎

[@Kevin-uj4uu]

what did sega of america even really make. they say that their focus is software and soj handles the hardware. but soj also made all the good software.

[@creativecatproductions]

it’s true, when it came to software development and publishing, they really weren’t THAT prolific…..at least not when it came to quality games. I think at the time SoA had a few mega hits with their X-Men game, Spider-Man, and Ecco the dolphin. Eternal Champions was pretty popular as well….and they kind of take credit for Sonic 2 since that was developed at SoA in conjunction with STI….but the truth is that most of their games were very low quality compared to SEGA of Japan. They also produced a lot of excess hardware that went nowhere, like the activator, the light gun, the nomad, and of course the 32X. I think part of Tom Kalinske and SoA’s big NEW strategy starting in 1991 was to tailor make games for the American market, since it was manifestly obvious that Japanese and American gamers were so different. So they pumped a ton of money into STI and domestic development. That idea, actually, was already in motion just before Tom Kalinske even arrived. On paper, I think its a good idea, but SEGA management didn’t have a sound idea regarding how to budget their resources or how to ensure that all these expansive new ventures were going to actually make money. I think it’s crazy, for instance, that SoA even HAD their own R&D division starring Joe Miller….once they created that, he had the private incentive to start churning out ACCESSORIES and ad-ons for the Genesis without considering whether or not the market actually had a demand for such fluff. It was a mess. Thanks for watching dude!

[@Kevin-uj4uu]

​@@creativecatproductions ah ok it looks like they did make some titles for the genesis. but for saturn and above its looking quite barren on their end

[@creativecatproductions]

@@Kevin-uj4uu indeed!

[@Jenovi]

I really enjoyed this, but need to point out the 32x info you have is revisionist history and not accurate. There’s a ton to say about it and I even made two long videos discussing what really happened, who created it, Sega of America’s influence, and a crap ton more. I think it’s called, why did saga fail, followed by, what killed the Dreamcast.

[@creativecatproductions]

Thank you very much for watching dude! The thing I struggle with most, whenever we try to do these game documentaries, is trying make sense of all these conflicting sources. The only real material anyone has for this stuff are interviews with old employees of these companies and I find that they’re often contradictory. I struggled with this a lot with the Gamasutra article that interviewed everyone at NEC USA and Hudsonsofts US leaders….the only real information I know of that exists regarding the Turbografx 16s launch story. Everyone had their own version where they played the role of either innocent bystander, victim, or unsung hero while everyone else was either a greedy nefarious agent, a fool, or just grossly misinformed. I think that’s what’s happened with all these Sega interviews too. Tom Kalinske baldly places all the blame on Japan, citing jealousy. And I’m sure Japan is ready to hand all the blame back over to Sega of America. I’m definitely going to watch your 32X videos again! I know they’re awesome, but it’s been a while since I’ve seen them and this was all just based on Tom Kalinske interviews and my own experiences. 😎

[@creativecatproductions]

There’s some new information coming out about this topic that I know you’ll be interested in. A user on the Sega-16 forum, a guy called Gryson, has been reading old Japanese newspapers from a college server in Japan. He’s a westerner working at a Japanese university so I guess he has access to their library databases for personal research. Anyway, he’s uncovered old interviews and statements from guys like Nakayama that shed new light on this whole debacle (this is just a few days ago). I’m just getting acquainted with the thread now but there’s a bit where Nakayama explains that the original strategy was to essentially market the Saturn exclusively in Japan and the 32X/Neptune exclusively in the US explicitly because of how the 3DO was doing in either region. Since the 3DO was doing better in Japan, at the time, the Saturn was seen as the best antidote, and since the 3DO and Jaguar bombed in the US, the domestic 32X was seen as sufficient….I’m guessing they weren’t confident that the US market would support a $400 console. However, when the 32X stalled in the US, it seems that Sega panicked and that’s why they suddenly changed direction and tried to push out the Saturn in North America ahead of competition. Anyway, this dude keeps dropping all these amazing direct quotes and I’ve yet to read them all…. www.sega-16.com/forum/showthread.php?35945-Japan-execs-were-upset-that-Kalinske-was-allowed-to-resign-w-o-taking-blame-for-32X/page2

[@Jenovi]

​@@creativecatproductions There's a few folks from Sega of America that I don't exactly trust when it comes to being a reliable source. I'm also of the opinion that Michael Katz set up Kalinske for success.

[@Jenovi]

@@creativecatproductions I didn't know this thread existed, but will be reading it over. Thanks for the heads up. Yeah, I know Gryson, he assisted with those two videos. He's been phenomenal at uncovering new information from Japan. The things is, everything I read from over there usually supports other sources. Most of what I read from the American side seems contradict other sources and appears to be aimed at revising history and protecting reputations (looking at you . Speaking strictly of that thread and the top post, it's spot on. The entire system was designed in Japan and intended to replace the Mega Drive 2. It was Sega of America who wanted a breakout system to keep cost down. They convinced Japan doing this would help sell units as there was already a 10+ million user base. They should have just launched the all in one Genesis 32X replacement.

[@creativecatproductions]

@@Jenovi it seems like at one point they wanted Mars/Neptune in the US and Saturn/Jupiter in Japan. I wonder why they thought the US market was so different and who they thought was going to provide games for this schema? I guess they had a lot of faith in western developers.

[@rich213sal]

Wait wait wait, who do i believe, the youtuber or the salesman??

[@creativecatproductions]

You must follow your own path…. Surely there is some truth scattered round and about everywhere, but discerning it, and putting it all together in a coherent way is the challenge. Thanks for watching dude! 😎

[@Parmandur]

Honestly, the extreme 'tude advertising approach may have done long term damage to the brand, anyways.

[@creativecatproductions]

This is quite possible. Some people really love it for the 90s nostalgia, but a lot of those ads are pretty insincere and cringey. Especially the Saturn and 32X ads. Thanks for watching dude! 😎

[@cabbusses]

Hard to figure out how Kalinske thought he could sell the Sega Pico with that kind of brand imaging attached to Sega.

[@JCM217]

Someone has been busy. Edit: it’s you, you’ve been busy CCP.

[@creativecatproductions]

😂 we certainly have been very busy Thanks for watching dude! 😎

[@Acidonia150reborn]

Dint Tom Kalinske hate Rpgs and 2D games on Sega Saturn too which was most of the software made in Japan was. The 32bit Era was really bad for this in the west with Magazines at the time just rating games less just for begin 2D or Using sprites. Sony of America was the worsrt for this US missed out on so many games just because they was 2D that rest of world got. If it wasnt for Metal Gear solid the US might of never got Castlevania STON on PS1 just becasuse it was 2D. They was still just as Picky only in US region for PS2/PS3/PSP and Vita just ignoring games for really dumb reasons.

[@creativecatproductions]

I think that was Bernie Stolar who allegedly hated RPGs and 2D games. He was Tom Kalinske’s successor as president of Sega of America starting in 1996. I think the western bias against 2D was really lamentable at the time. You’re totally right! I looked up review scores for Ristar the other day and they were bizarrely low for such a great game. It was punished for being 2D and 16 bit. I think the Saturn could have succeeded if it emphasized quality 2D as an alternative to the ugly 3D consoles, and if Sega emphasized more of their own successful game series. It’s shocking that the Saturn had no real original Sonic titles nor a sequel to hit games like streets of rage. It’s like Sega was trying to completely reinvent themselves.

[@Acidonia150reborn]

@@creativecatproductions Well Sega US of Dreamcast Era cancled Street of Rage 4 as a Pitch demo saying they had never heard of the series. Sony got so had with the 2D hate on PS2 US missed out on alot of the under £15/$20 new budget price games like pretty much all of the Simple 2000 series titles which like half of them Europe got. They was fine with collections of older games on PS2 but not PS1 games onwards on them if they was nothing added to them. This was the case with PSP too which is why PSP version oif Breath of Fire 3 was never sold in US. US missed out on the standalone version of metal Slug 3 on PS2 which had new content over these rules so 4 and 5 had to be sold as a Double pack in us same with 2d King Of Fighters ports. They seem to hate Shumps with very few begin sold in US on PS2. This is why that whole genre moved over to Xbox 360 instead of PS3. PS3 Era for a while Sony US if a game had no English dub it had to be Digital only. Namco Bandai was like this with most anime games on ps3/Vita and a few PS4 too. But rest of world they was Digital and sold Boxed. Only Sony of America did these things,Nintendo of America did it a fair bit too with First Party games on Wii/Wii U DS and 3ds as well though.

[@kuklama0706]

Perhaps Sega should have never really go into gaming, maybe they would leave after Genesis if it wasn't Kalinske.

[@creativecatproductions]

I think Sega had an unfortunate tendency of throwing out too much without considering what was actually working for them. I think they wanted to blow up to Nintendo heights of success in a spectacular way and so they kept trying everything, anything to make it work. If they could have focused on just doing one thing at a time, well, then I think they could have carved out a great place for their company in the home console market. Everything about the 32X was a disaster, but so was the Saturn. Attempting to make it a 3D console at the last minute, jumping the launch date, having no recognized Sega games on hand at launch other than Virtua Fighter, which was already old hat by that time….it was awful. Sega had many great game designers and artists, but they had no singular vision and no conception of what it was that made anyone like their products in the first place.

[@samalton5837]

@@creativecatproductions Some corrections on Saturn; it was always planned to have 3D, tho at Model 1 quality. Model 2-esque 3D (with texture mapping and the such) wasn't added until later. Given the Genesis was already able to do crude 3D with just the CPU, there's 0% chance the Saturn was going to lack any 3D capability whatsoever. They made a big greedy mistake with initial VF on Saturn, because they had VF Remix pretty much ready to go as it was demoed behind closed doors at that same E3!

[@samalton5837]

If you mean *console* gaming then maybe, tho we probably would've never gotten Panzer Dragoon Saga, Shining Force III, Jet Set Radio etc. Then again, maybe those could've just became PS1 & PS2 games instead, which would've worked out for the better. Arcade gaming, tho? Most weren't able to touch Sega from '85 onward, especially when it came to 3D games. Only Namco and Capcom consistently were around that level (Konami was until maybe the early-mid '90s but by then they were scaling down their arcade presence massively).

[@creativecatproductions]

I really wish that at least one developer had the gumption to just say no to 3D altogether at the time. I loved Sega’s beautiful pixel art, but their 3D games weren’t very good looking until the Dreamcast. Thanks for watching dude! 😎

[@creativecatproductions]

Sega was THE arcade company for sure. They were untouchable!

[@iwanttocomplain]

Something went very wrong with the Sega CD. Games were very hit and miss. Superscaler arcade conversions really should have used the sprite scaling chip like Afterburner 3. Shiny Force 3 was not all it should have been. The Game Gear has a screen which was perfectly fine. It used up batteries if you had the brightness turned all the way up. I’d wager it managed a similar battery life to the GameBoy if it was turned off. Then the 32X was released and a few months later, it was announced it was to be discontinued after around a year. The rational was that if you were willing to spend $150 on a budget 32bit console then you were also in the market for a $400 console. Just three years after a $49 price drop (+the number 1 game for free) made all the difference between the Genesis being a success or not. Oh and you could buy ac adapters with three jacks (for a full tower of power) if you wanted, which were readily available. You only had to plug it in once, as the Genesis games would plug into it. But the press was excited about the 32X. It pre-sold 1.5mill unit’s although only a fraction were able to be honoured. It had a version of Rayman seen working at a game expo - the top selling PSX game in the UK. Konami has a new Castlevania game in the works. Capcom was nearly finished porting Alien vs Predator arcade, which some people say is the best best em up ever made. But when it was announced to be discontinued all those games failed to materialise. Three game’s I listed their would have been reason to own one on their own. You can’t say the hardware was bad if you’ve seen the Zyrinx tech demo or the recently released ‘Doom Resurrected’ port. But EA put out a FIFA game so woeful it’s almost unreal. So the decision to not make any good Sega CD games and let Digital Pictures do whatever they wanted, followed by killing the 32X on the vine combined to pretty much destroy Sega’s image. Then the Saturn released and nobody cared. For the most part because Sega apparently only spent $20mill on advertising. That might seem like a lot but it’s not. Nobody even realised the Saturn had been released. I know I didn’t. I’m sure the Saturn would have played a better version of GTA than the horribly choppy PSX version. But anyway. You restated what’s been said about all these consoles before with statements like “Sega’s endless list of failed consoles” which weren’t really failures but just not smash hits. The Genesis 3 sold 2.5mill in ‘98 and ‘99. Not bad really. The original model ran out of steam in 2001 with 1316 sales to the SNES just 14 sales, in the US. This is just the same stuff recycled from every other video on Sega in the 90’s. Kalinski came along and slashed prices, saving Sega. In another timeline no changes were made and Sonic was enough to sell consoles. Why? Because when Sonic was released it lit a fire underneath the whole video game industry. It’s the most significant video game ever released. Sega Technical Institute was a disaster though. Once again, Sega of America failed to do anything useful and ended up doing more harm than good. I mean, what is Kid Chameleon? A ropey Mario Bros rip off? The characterisation is cringingly awful and would have been so back then as much as it is now. The reason the Mega CD didn’t sell was because the games were, frankly, sub-standard. The fmv was extremely poor. And fmv isn’t isn’t useful in a game. You can’t make a game out of fmv, no matter how hard you try. It was the sprite scaling chip and extra storage that offered the potential for more impressive games. But it was just used for mostly budget soundtracks created on a Roland sound canvas for pennies. None of the charm or excitement of the original Genesis fm chip. If the 32X was just supported for a few years it could have been a powerhouse of amazing games. The first consumer console capable of playing 2D games which were equal to a NEO-GEO. Just think of the Capcom and SNK arcade poets it could have had. The Saturn was only on shelves for a couple of years on most places, some less. So wait a go Sega. You had it all then just decided to recall all your stock and call it a day because your consoles did not have the must have games, because you kept recalling them before anyone had a chance to make any. Even NEC and Hudson put up more of a fight than that with the PC Engine, although NEC really lost interest and left Hudson to do all the trying. Did you know that 75% of the Saturn library is Japan only? I honestly think this is one of the most epic implosions of a company ever. It’s a game console. You need to advertise it and keep it on sale so it can build a library. Most people wait at least two years to decide if they want the thing or not and see if it gets cheaper. But that’s only if they know it exists first.

[@creativecatproductions]

I agree, they didn’t use the sprite scaling capabilities of the SEGA CD well enough and when they did it was always on really lame stuff like Cliffhanger. I’ve only heard about special power strip adapters in recent years. I realize they made them to address the problem, but I find it odd that I am so unaware of that solution. I think with the 32X things flopped so fast that it was a solution I probably wasn’t interested in. My recollection was that the press was more skeptical and puzzled by the 32X. I recall review scores for games being very low, for instance, except Star Wars arcade which they over sold….and there were little editorials asking the same question: why not just the saturn? How can SEGA support both? Etc. The marketing for the 32X, however, was full force. TV spots, tons of magazine ads, it was inescapable. I think a port of Rayman may have helped, anything, but the thing lacked quality games that weren’t aging SEGA arcade conversions. The reason everyone mentions Kalinske slashing the price of the Genesis is because that’s literally the important THING he actually did to compete with Nintendo….that and the edgy commercials, which I never liked. But the real and only reason the Genesis moved past Nintendo in sales between 1991 and 1993 was the (1) everyone who wanted an older NES had already gotten one and (2) the genesis was a lot cheaper than the SNES. Once the SNES started getting a bigger library, it eventually overtook the Genesis. Sonic 1 was a smash hit and sold record sales, but even that was mostly because they count the games that were packed in with the cheaper Genesis. It’s not talked about much but there was a big class divide in the US when it pertained to the SEGA Genesis and the SNES…..the SNES was for wealthier suburban children between the ages of 6 and 14. The kind that came from families with 2 to 3 kids, a two car garage, two stories houses bought with a mortgage, and a big yard. The Genesis was for everybody else…..teenagers tired of the Mario image (spending their own money), and kids who got a Genesis simply because it was more affordable. SEGA was also an early supporter of videogame rentals, whereas Nintendo fought it. But while sega sold tons of consoles this way, as a consequence of their market demographic, and rentals, they were never going to sell anywhere near as much software as Nintendo. Kids with the SNES could afford these shelf sized libraries, everyone I knew with a Genesis, other than myself (an early adopter and SEGA fanatic), had like 2 or 3 games including Sonic, and rented everything else. I really don’t think Sonic was the most significant game ever released. It had a couple of cool mechanics, wonderful aesthetics, but it also had a lot of flaws. I have to admit that even as a kid I didn’t like the game. It was a good. As a mascot, he was a breath of fresh air, but not quite as innovative as all that. Yeah the SEGA Technical Institute was a disaster. I can’t imagine how much they invested in that project. At the end, when it was too late, they started turning out some more interesting games like ComixZone and the Ooze…..but again, too little too late. I think the reason the Mega CD sold poorly was that it was $300. By 1994 there were some really good Mega CD games, just not enough of them, and everyone was already looking to the future with the PSX. I think the 32X could have been awesome if and only if SEGA wasn’t also producing the Saturn. If they had focused on the 32X and Neptune and put all of their development and marketing strategies behind that one console, then I think things could have been awesome. But I also think it would have suffered from a lot of the business disadvantages the N64 endured around that same time period. I would have continued to be a SEGA supporter if thats how they did it. Like you said, it would have been like a NEO GEO people could actually afford….and with SEGA games. Even the 3D content made for the 32X was pretty good though: Virtua Fighter and Racing were great!

[@creativecatproductions]

Thank you for your very thoughtful and informative comment, and thanks for watching! 😎

[@iwanttocomplain]

The press was enthusiastic about the announcement of the 32X according to Wikipedia. But when the games arrived they were all rushed and were more or less atrocious. It’s beyond incompetent to advertise a console heavily then ditch it the moment it’s released. There’s no reasonable explanation for that. The explanation that the 32X would compete with the Saturn is weird. It was so much cheaper! If it was supported and the Saturn supported it (which would have been pretty easy and I think originally intended, along with the Mega Drive). It’s ancient history but in retrospect it wasn’t Sega being greedy. They were just bananas. I would’ve been all over it if it was advertised in the UK, and had a good library of course. Did you know AMOK, a submarine shooter was in development for it, using voxel graphics, by Zyrinx who made the tech demo, then soon after that a racing game about a ball called Scorcher fir the Saturn. I don’t know why you have to follow all the other you tubers when you cover the old Sega consoles and describe it as a long crazy mess of nonsense consoles that all flopped hard. Apart from the 32X, they all did kind of alright in sales. The Mega CD sold 6 million for instance. You know what would have helped sell the Mega CD? Light gun games. There were tons of fmv shooting games. Tragically, most of them didn’t support a light gun. I’m not happy that you described Sega as a mess. It’s not beyond the realms of possibility to support two systems at once - the 32X and Saturn. You get what you pay for and people would probably have been fine with a 32X for a time. It beggars belief honestly. I feel the 32X could have been so amazing. It’s not a stupid idea. With around 40mill Mega Drives, that’s a fairly large potential market. If it was allowed to mature of course. I find it so frustrating. Who spends only $20mill launching a console in the same year they are turning billions in Mega Drive game sales. For the record the Genesis/Mega Drive has an attach rate of an impressive 16, which is an average of 16 games sold per console whereas the SNES attach rate was 7.72. “In terms of wholesale software revenue in 1995, Sega generated $1.773 billion in the United States, compared to Nintendo's $1.486 billion.[69]” The Mega Drive sold 567mill games and the SNES 379mill. You’re a typical Nintendo bias revisionist history type. I don’t know why you have to carry on this tragic grudge just because Tom Kalinski hurt your feelings with a f*cking advert from 30 years ago. Oh and Sonic is the most important game ever made. Young, old, girls or boys. That game killed it and made everyone want a game console. The SNES would not have sold as well had it not been released. The SNES would also have flopped was it not for Street Fighter 2. It was readily available in the UK but got outsold 2:1 because the games are nowhere near as good. It cost the same.

[@creativecatproductions]

I love your comment, but where are you getting your data for these figures? Accurate videogame statistics from the 80s and 90s are hard to come by. Thanks again dude!

[@creativecatproductions]

I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone personally that had anywhere near 16 Genesis games. I guess all those dudes with 200+ game mega libraries bump up the figure? The biggest library outside my own was, like, 5 or 6 maybe? But I’m from El Paso which is pretty poor compared to most places.

[@DragonmasterDan]

Hey I wanted to congratulate you on another great video. Console Wars is way too much of a Kalinske propaganda piece. I haven't read through the book in years but I do recall it being mentioned that Tom wanted to do anything he could to keep the Genesis going by the later part of the 16-bit era. It then went over how the tech behind the 32x was developed at Sega of America, then claimed that Sega of Japan forced the 32x to be release (which launched the same time the Saturn launched in Japan). Wait.. didn't he just say he wanted to extend the life of the Genesis as long as possible? It's clear the book is a bit of a fluff piece and not enough sources, especially from the Japanese side were consulted.

[@creativecatproductions]

For sure! The entire thing was constructed around a few long interviews with former Sega of America staff. I was really disappointed in the dramatized format as well. I thought it was going to be a piece of nonfictional journalism but it turned out to be a prototype for a movie script for a movie that never got made. Sometimes I hear Kalinske was forced to do a 32X and that he didn’t even know about a Saturn, other times I hear, from his own mouth, about how it was going to be the industry leader, over taking the Saturn. I’m certain he knew about the Saturn all along. Just like he knew about all the other hardware. Thanks for watching dude! 😎

[@DragonmasterDan]

@@creativecatproductions Going back to that time frame what became the Saturn was being reported on in old gaming gossip columns in print publications as the "Giga Drive". If Quarterman in EGM knew about the Saturn so did Kalinske, the 32X was clearly an attempt by SOA to keep the Genesis alive a little longer and they did so at the expense of their future with the Saturn.

[@creativecatproductions]

@@DragonmasterDan I like the way the AVGN described it: “life support” 😆

[@diogorodrigues8265]

Looks like a Nintendo Widow commentaries. Tom is a Legend and He work changed the 90's game history plus He could go way further if Sega Japan was not high ego

[@creativecatproductions]

He certainly is an important figure from that era, but it’s not clear to me that he changed 90s gaming in any way. By the time he got to Sega the company had already created the Genesis, Sega CD, Game Gear, and Sonic the Hedgehog. None of the iconic IPs that define Sega from that period have anything to do with Kalinske: streets of rage, golden axe, phantasy star, shining force…..it was the games that made the console worth owning, not the stupid teenage-edge-lord commercials that Kalinske’s Sega of America was known for. And it’s not like they even really created those either, they were done by a San Francisco based advertising firm Kalinske hired. He just rubber stamped stuff and hoped that it worked…..stuff like the 32X, the worst decision Sega ever made as a company. He’s got amazing teeth and hair though, which is cool. Thanks for watching dude! 😎

[@diogorodrigues8265]

@@creativecatproductions in business, when you are the CEO, you are responsible for victory and fails because you run the business.He brought a millions to billion, if he is not a technical guy it is another history. The guy had Japan pushing him back all the time and he still made it happen. He tried to make Sony and sega a fusion. But it was denied by sega Japan. Have you imagine if that happen? It could imagine this power ? Tom was the first icon CEO in tech history in my opinion. Anyway your video was well made it and fun to watch, great job ! If I agree and disagree with everything, that is another thing. But different points make great debates ! Big hug to you and your family

[@wargameboy72]

SEGA is and always will be a cluster f**k of a Company. Lol. But I'll always love the DREAMCAST and think of it as one of the best Consoles ever. Some fanboy's take any unflattering info as a personal attack on them. Tom Kalinske is an interesting Dude, no doubt. But the guy definitely fell in love with his own legend. The myth of Tom kalinske is so deep and wide spread, I'm sure this video will have no affect on it. Long live nostalgic myth. Lol.

[@randallscott4581]

Meme is primarily pronounced "meem"

[@creativecatproductions]

I’m from the south 😅 We pronounce everything funny. That’s my best explanation 😎 My wife calls root beer RUT beer. No one knows why.

[@randallscott4581]

Okay. I'm sorry if I came off rude.

[@randallscott4581]

@@creativecatproductions I was actually born in El Paso Texas, but spent the majority of my life in Salem Oregon.

[@creativecatproductions]

You didn’t! I know I say some things funny. My daughter makes fun of the way I say “green”.

[@creativecatproductions]

That’s amazing! Was your family military? I lived in El Paso until I was about 21, then left to LA and I’ve lived all over the country since then. I’ve also lived in Eugene, Corvallis, and Portland so I’ve been to Salem a few times. My wife has family in Salem. She also lived in Tualatin for a couple of years as a kid. She’s lived in more places than even I have.

[@MaxAbramson3]

Damn, almost everything in this video is wrong. Other than the Nintendo 64, virtually every piece of hardware that NINTENDO put in stores was built to be sold at a profit--a strategy that allowed NINTENDO to continue making money even on less successful consoles like the Wii. Almost everything that Kalinske said was not only confirmed by other SEGA employees, but even by his rivals. In fact, if you take Kalinske's remarks out of Console Wars, the remaining interviews from SONY, NINTENDO, and game developers gives the same story. Sonic was based on a rugged Japanese character with a bimbo girlfriend that Kalinske's team insisted needed to be changed for America. Kalinske had no control over the release of the Sega CD and CDX, and he even opposed the release of the 32X and Saturn because the Genesis was still making money, growing market share, and there were great games still in the pipeline. He understood that the Saturn and 32X were too hard to develop games for, causing both to fail in the market.

[@creativecatproductions]

I appreciate the criticism and I may create a follow up video addressing your concerns here. We are 100% open to being wrong about this tale, and we disavow and claims to certainty because I don’t think certainty here is even possible on some points. I’m not sure that you’re correct that the NES and Famicom were sold at either cost or for a profit. My understanding is that the famicom was sold at a loss (perhaps a nominal loss) and that Nintendo’s business model was based almost entirely around licensing and printing cartridges. Now, this has become a contentious issue. Some sources now claim that it is myth that consoles like the NES were sold at a loss, but I’ve found a recent article in Forbes claiming that most Nintendo consoles are historically sold at a loss except the switch, which they cite as a rare exception being sold at cost. This is an issue with paltry evidence one way or the other, but it’s at the very least intuitive that, in the 1980s, a $200 8-bit computer capable of playing videogames, superior to the commodore 64, was being sold at a loss when you just compare it to the cost of analogous technology.

[@creativecatproductions]

I’m not sure what things were or are confirmed by sources outside of Console Wars, or which sources you’re referencing….the thing I really hate about console wars is that it’s not forthcoming about that information at all. It’s written as a dramatic piece of fiction based upon real life interviews with former Sega and Nintendo employees. I would have much rather had transcripts of the interviews. A while back Gamasutra shared a similar article about the Turbografx 16. The author interviewed as many people from NEC and Hudsonsoft as possible. What’s interesting is that those interviews often contradicted each other as the former employees scrambled to point fingers and save face when attempting to describe the events surrounding the monumental mishandling of the TG16 launch in North America. I suspect something similar would have occurred here, but instead of being allowed the opportunity to make my own conclusions, Harris has attempted to create something more dramatic….because the entire book project was an attempt to sell the story as a possible treatment for a feature film. A film that was never made, but instead turned into a documentary on paramount plus.

[@MaxAbramson3]

@@creativecatproductions After reading your comment and rethinking this, I realize that I may have been a bit too certain with my statements. Just because Kalinske's comments have been corroborated by his friends and business partners doesn't mean that they're not pushing an America-centric view. Even Kalinske didn't realize how much animosity there was toward SEGA of America in those days. It's also been repeated only by a few people that NINTENDO's strategy was to sell consoles at a profit. The Commodore 64 was being advertised for $149 in 1985 and was basically an NES with a keyboard, to be honest. I've always thought that the SMS would've done better as a Commodore 64 style computer with extra slots for 3.5 inch disk drive, etc, but that's water under the bridge. Others have stated that Kalinske was a marketing genius but made many mistakes with games--the same as you're saying--and I can't deny the main theme that you're getting at here. I'm just saying that there's one version of this story that is well corroborated. SEGA Tokyo ordered SEGA Atlantic to develop a Genesis 32 ("why not just make it an add on" --Joe Miller), and SEGA Atlantic responded with what they thought was a more cost effective 32X. It turned out that a swop-the-box (use your old power adapter, controller, games, video cord, etc) Genesis 32 console with one RISC processor would've cost about $100 instead of the $160 of the 32X. I can see where they were coming from thinking that the SVP card required no adapters and cost about $50. Neptune was slated to cost $149 and could've been done as a swop-the-box upgrade for about $120.

[@MaxAbramson3]

@@creativecatproductions Yeah, had NEC simply released the PC Engine CD as one unit in 1988, the less expensive games and early release would've made it a big hit here. Instead, both HUDSON and NEC botched the whole release and put out only a few really good games for the system. Sad because it put more colors onscreen than anything else for about five years.

[@creativecatproductions]

@@MaxAbramson3 totally agreed! Thank you very much for watching dude 😎

[@jonnyelpoiss7]

If Nakayama would have listen to Kalinske and let him do his job, the video game industry would be very different today and Sega would still be around today.

[@creativecatproductions]

We would have gotten the Sega 64X Thanks for watching dude! 😎

[@jonnyelpoiss7]

@@creativecatproductions nice video man, thanks to you!

[@creativecatproductions]

Well I wrote the script but my 13 year old daughter did all the artwork and editing for this video!

[@ordovicianscourge9520]

did any of what you said in this video at the time, ever struck you as Kalinske or whatever. sabotaging the company? but in all honestness, the video is just some weird bias for old sega and generic nostalgiatard talking points, don't get me wrong i had my issues with sega here and there, but it's weird to me that you 80s born or nostalgic gamers try to paint everything back then as a solid golden age, when in reality every era suffered from it's own issues but this is coming from a 90s kid whom realized that obsessing with childhood nostalgia to compensate on giving up is bull-dust

[@creativecatproductions]

I don’t think Kalinske ever sought to sabotage SEGA, but I do think he has worked very hard to curate the narrative regarding his career….so as to enhance his legacy. I think that’s how he and a lot of these top American executives really made it in the American toy and game industry….by schmoozing and posturing. They weren’t the creatives. They were marketing guys exalted to top decision makers. The toys and games themselves were made by salary level artists, engineers, and craftsmen. Im not sure what you mean by the weird “sega bias” or “nostalgiatard” talking points….I mean, it is definitely a video about SEGA in the 90s, so it’s going to fall squarely within the “nostalgia” genre. That’s generally what our audience wants from us. I don’t think at any point in this video we made the claim that the 90s was the “golden age of gaming”….though in many respects it really was a uniquely special of time. Living through the rapid technological developments of the late 80s and 90s almost can’t be conveyed in words. It was mind blowing. When I was a little kid, Donky Kong was in the arcades the NES was state of the art. By the time I was 12 people were playing Virtua Fighter with full blown 3D polygonal graphics. Buy the time I graduated high school we had the Dreamcast. Each new improvement was exponential. It was a total revolution every few years. I think that’s part of the reason for the hype. But, of course, everyone loves what they know. That’s the nature of nostalgia. Every generation has it. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that? Look at the Christmas Story. It’s boomer nostalgia! Anyway, thanks for watching dude! 😎

[@Sinn0100]

Okay...there are some real problems with this video. First, Sega absolutely beat Nintendo in the US until the beginning of 1995. Nintendo "won" the 4th generation by being the only company selling in the budget market. This was not Kalinski'a failure...it was Sega of Japans for ending the Genesis prematurely. Second, the Sega 32X was not a Kalinski failure...not entirely. You see, Kalinski and Sega of America knew a new console was coming but when asked Sega of Japan refused to give them any information accept a far off date. They didn't know the specs nor did they know when it was releasing so Sega of America did what they thought they had to. When the idea of the 32X was brought to Sega of Japan they knew it was a bad idea but did they share any pertinent information with Kalinski, no. They wanted Kalinski and USA Sega to fail. This is why people do not blame Kalinski for the 32X. You are the very first person I have ever heard do that. Third, I can get why someone would blame Kalinski for the 32X but the Saturn...that's crazy talk. Right from the very beginning Sega of Japan in their infinite stupidity cut the Saturn's legs out from under it with the forced "the Saturn is already out" nonsense. In one fail swoop the Saturn lost revenue space and developers. They also came in at a hundred dollars more as well while looking like absolute fools. Oh but it gets better...Sega of Japan not only refused to send dev kits they also didn't share important documentation making the launch a first class disaster. Fourth Saturn extended, when Sega of Japan finally sent development kits over, they only sent 2 (maybe 3). There are horror stories of development teams between multiple games working on several games while sharing a single dev kit. All while Sega of Japan was pushing out games like Panzer Dragoon. Launch games became mid year projects and some developers used Sony PlayStation tools to get Saturn games finished thanks to Japan. Don't believe me look up the story of NBA Jams and Ghen War for the Saturn then tell me you blame Kalinski for that mess. Lastly, the one and only true "failure" of Kalinski'a was the Sega CD and there was some definite extenuating circumstances going on. Remember the Congressional Hearings? Many American parents did at the time and while Kalinski creamed Nintendo good before the entire country at said hearings the Sega CD's image was horribly damaged by that point. Once the hearing was over Sega CD sales cratered and it never recovered.

[@creativecatproductions]

I really don’t think there is any way to actually prove that Sega REALLY “beat Nintendo” until 1995. I seems clear that SEGA sold more units of the SEGA Genesis (in North America) than Nintendo sold units of the Super Nintendo (in North America), but the actual numbers and the real important financial data for this time period is impossible to come by since companies generally keep information like this secret. Was the Sega Genesis, at $150 + Sonic the Hedgehog, then $50 cheaper the following year, actually more PROFITABLE than the Super Nintendo? And did it manage to sell a high enough quantities of games (with licensing/publishing fees) to make up for the losses on the reduced price of the Genesis? Im not so sure. Indeed, I highly doubt it. What does it matter if SEGA sold more units of a console if it didn’t actually make more money? That’s why Nakayama and SEGA of Japan were so mad at Kalinski’s proposal, because they were skeptical about its financial viability given the cost of production and so forth. Maybe SEGA won the “budget market” but the “budget market” doesn’t buy as many videogames and, in fact, it rents far more often than it buys. That’s a recipe for disaster.

[@creativecatproductions]

I know a big part of the story that’s frequently told about the 32X/Saturn debacle is this piece about how Tom Kalinske “didn’t know about the Sega Saturn” but I think there is no real evidence to actually believe that and I think its basically a preposterous notion. Kalinske, for instance, tells this story about visiting Japan and playing around in SEGA R&D lab with the SEGA CD and Game Gear….even before he was made the president of SEGA of America. Japan would have had no incentive to keep the Saturn secret from him, and they likely kept him informed about every step of development in preparation for the Saturns pending US launch date. However, new information from an old interview by Hayao Nakayama has come out (been translated) in recent months that reveals that the original plan seems to have been to push the $400 Saturn in the Japanese market and to go ahead with the 32X and Neptune in the US since the sales of the Genesis were so robust in North America. So if Kalinske wasn’t up to date on Saturn specs, then it may have been because the US wasn’t even supposed to get a Saturn in the first place. However, Kalinske was never a believer in the Saturn, and indeed, it was probably his input that persuaded Nakayama to go with their initial plan to make the Saturn a Japanese exclusive. The reason was the price. Kalinske’s strategy has always been built around undercutting the price of competition. That’s one of the key things he did for the Barbie brand at Mattel, lower cost versions helped re-vitalize the brand, and that’s what he did for the SEGA Genesis. To him, a $400 videogame console was crazy when there was no proof that Americans would ever pay that much. There is NO WAY SEGA of Japan actually wanted SEGA of American to fail. The US market was SEGAs biggest money maker, given the size of the US market, and it was their best hope for a prosperous future. For all the talk about jealousy and bad behavior from SEGA of Japan, which comes from Kalinske’s anecdotes, Ive never seen any real evidence that this is actually true. I think its more or less just an excuse and a way to skirt all blame for any mistakes that were made during this time period. I certainly don’t blame Kalinske for the existence of the Saturn. Nor do I think he is entirely to blame for the 32X. Nakayama, is just as guilty, as are the engineers at SOA who proposed the thing to begin with. The dual console model never made any sense whatsoever and even children and videogame journalists recognized this at the time. We were like, “how can they possibly have the resources to support 2 consoles? Aren’t people just going to buy a Saturn? Where are the games?” They ended up buying neither, overall. I don’t think Kalinske can be blamed for the SEGA CD at all. It was a failure everywhere it was sold (Japan included) and I don’t think it has anything to do with the congressional hearings, which were newsworthy but also hardly noticed at the same time. I think the SEGA CD failed because of its high price tag, total dependence upon ownership of a Genesis, and the lack of games from both SEGA and 3rd party developers. The add on was already on its way by the time Kalinske came to the company and he had no way to stop it. He just had to find a way to sell it. He never did, which is probably why he never talks about it. Thanks for watching dude! 😎

[@Sinn0100]

@@creativecatproductions I made it through halfway before posting this. I did this so I wouldn't forget my train of thought but I will go back and finish. Now, about Sega of Japan not wanting USA Sega to fail...there is substantial evidence that shows this to be true and from 3rd party sources no doubt. Forget what Tom said, I want you to focus on three things- 1. Sega of Japan's corporate structure and punishment for failure. 2. What 3rd party developers said about their jobs with Sega. 3. The launch of the Sega Saturn. 1. Sega of Japan was known to be a place where failure was met with harsh consequences. From belittling people in front of their peers to forcing employees to quit by sticking them in isolation rooms Sega did it all. Nakayama was said (by his own people) to treat his execs like children for failing to meet American standards. This is where and how the resentment grew. This is a well documented phenomenon that was very prevalent in Japan in the 1990's. They were tired of being humiliated and wanted Kalinski gone. 2. Western 3rd party developers suffered greatly under Sega of Japan's games. As I said in my earlier post proper development kits were available only to the Japanese. I'm talking in-house 1st party developers being told to basically deal with it while games like Panzer Dragoon were coming out of Japan. SOJ ignored please of help, they didn't care the American launch was going to be disastrous as they thought Japan by itself could carry them, they were wrong. 3. During the disastrous launch of the Sega Saturn nothing was done by Japan to alleviate issues cropping up everywhere. They couldn't even be bothered to send the necessary equipment to developers and publishers here in the states even though they had them. If that's not the final nail in this thing I don't know what is. It's like standing over you with a respirator while you suffocate and saying "I'd really like to help you out but then I would have to bend down." Seriously look up NBA Jams Tournament and Ghen War's development diaries right here on KZbin for some shocking information that really goes along with Kalinski's story. Now back to the rest of your post! ;)

[@creativecatproductions]

I think what you describe is basically Japanese corporate culture, at least it was. Japanese society harshly punishes failure, it’s highly stigmatized. I’m confused by Nakayamas wish for Sega to rise to western standards though, when western gaming standards were so low at the time period. Japanese companies were the gold standard of quality. Perhaps he thought western developers had some kind of creative spark?

[@creativecatproductions]

To be fair, I think even Sega of Japan struggled immensely with the Saturn launch and Saturn game development. The port of Daytona was mediocre, the port of Virtua fighter was so botched that they had to re-release it months later and give away free copies of the update via mail, and….personally….I think panzer dragoon sucks. I think Sega was in over their heads with that console on both sides of the pacific

[@SwitchRetroGaming]

Tom is a liar and the man to blame for the 32bit mess up.

[@creativecatproductions]

He is really handsome, tall, and an effective communicator. The recipe for corporate success. Thanks for watching dude! 😎

[@SwitchRetroGaming]

Still a lair

[@creativecatproductions]

I can’t deny that this is what I think as well. But….that’s the life of the adman!

[@SwitchRetroGaming]

​@@creativecatproductions We all know, Tom didn't do the EA deal right?

[@creativecatproductions]

Well I’m not sure about that. Was that deal done by Katz? And did he take credit for it? EA….the makers of Madden football, NHL hockey 94’, and some of the worst PC to console conversions on the Genesis. Ive never been a fan but I thought that the Haunting was at least interesting. I know everyone seems to love them though.

[@randallscott4581]

Virtua Fighter. There is no L.

[@creativecatproductions]

I make that mistake all the time. I think it’s because virtua isn’t a word 😆

[@creativecatproductions]

I saw an interview with yu suzuki where he explained that the original name was “virtual” but it was copyrighted (I guess trademarked) so they dropped the L

[@randallscott4581]

@@creativecatproductions Oh okay. My mistake then.

[@creativecatproductions]

😝 well I’m still wrong….even my wife (my muse, my love), who’s not a gamer, makes fun of me for constantly messing that up. She’s like, “it’s VIRTUA!” She is pretty good at Super Mario 3 though

[@randallscott4581]

@@creativecatproductions I guess that's why a good number of their sports titles have "Virtua" in their names.😄