The Sega Saga

[Frogacuda]

So I've been talking about this for a while, and it's finally up. I think even hardcore Sega fans will learn a few new things from this.

http://retro.ign.com/articles/974/974695p1.html

[Hunter]

Awesome, been waiting for this.

[DarthArcturus]

excellent job frog....I learned a few things on the way too. Its a damn shame Japan and America could never get on the same page. This also brought back a lot of good/bad memories.

[ShinobiWan1]

Good writing Frog, thank you for sharing. You should get paid for stuff like this!

I miss the Sega glory days :(

[Frogacuda]

You should get paid for stuff like this!


I do... Maybe not enough, though ;)

[KANG the Crybaby]

wow, that is long as shit, i read the first page, will have to get to the rest when I have time. what page is the stolar interview on?

[Hunter]

It's spread out, and not the whole thing, just snippets.

I enjoyed it, and learned a lot of cool things I did not know. Quite a few things not how I remembered them, or maybe imagined them. Although, it still did have the feel of a lot these kind of articles, focusing heavily on the hardware. I'd love to see some in depth focus on the AAA games. I know you said it wouldn't be, but that's what I always see in History of SEGA articles, a heavy focus on retelling the console side of things. Still, all the unknown and surprising tidbits make this a unique and definitely worthwhile read.

[Frogacuda]

Although, it still did have the feel of a lot these kind of articles, focusing heavily on the hardware. I'd love to see some in depth focus on the AAA games.

Well, from a narrative perspective (as well as a logistical perspective) there's really no way to do that. I've written plenty of histories of specific Sega series, but the company has done thousands of games. There's no good way to really form a meaningful arc out of that that wouldn't just devolve into something that was incoherent and 500 pages long.

If you talk about the company itself, you have a storyline, characters, antagonists, a beginning, middle, and end. That's why people go that way.

[NeoZeedeater]

Although, it still did have the feel of a lot these kind of articles, focusing heavily on the hardware. I'd love to see some in depth focus on the AAA games. I know you said it wouldn't be, but that's what I always see in History of SEGA articles, a heavy focus on retelling the console side of things.
This is my issue with nearly every video game history book ever made. They focus almost entirely on the business side, and so only popular or highly influential games get mentioned. Systems like the SMS and SS become footnotes because they're not delving into the artistry of the games themselves.

That said, I also fully agree with what Frog just said, and don't think he really could have done it another way. There is no way to properly do both in an article. For a company history overview that has been done many times before, I'm quite happy at how much new info this has. Like he was saying, he has covered specific Sega series in depth so IGN Retro hasn't neglected covering the underrated games. If they only covered the business history side of Sega gaming, I would be certainly be complaining but that hasn't been the case.

As for books, I would love to see one on Sega's history that's half company history/interviews like this article and another half focusing on the games. Maybe if Melf from Sega-16 makes his book, we'll have that for the Genesis/Mega Drive at least.

[Frogacuda]

As for books, I would love to see one on Sega's history that's half company history/interviews like this article and another half focusing on the games.

I'm seriously considering doing exactly this, and I decided on a format much like that, either alternating chapters or just split up into two halves. I'm doing some preliminary/exploratory work right now. If I can build enough of a foundation of original research to justify it, I'll go for it. I'm not going to do it just relying on other people's work though, so that's going to decide if I attempt it.

[Bruhaha69]

Awesome article, Frog. Only issue I have is that by the end, I was depressed all over again, hahaha.

[Frogacuda]

Remember the good times, bru! Remember the good times!

[DarthArcturus]

early 90s and 9/9/99 :nod:


also I would love to see you do a book frog.

[NeoZeedeater]

I'm seriously considering doing exactly this, and I decided on a format much like that, either alternating chapters or just split up into two halves. I'm doing some preliminary/exploratory work right now. If I can build enough of a foundation of original research to justify it, I'll go for it. I'm not going to do it just relying on other people's work though, so that's going to decide if I attempt it.
That would be awesome although it would be a huge task. For original research, just thinking about what David Sheff did for his Nintendo book, the number of people he had to interview, including many Japanese speakers, must have been enormous.

[Frogacuda]

Yeah, I don't think I could do more than a select few major Japanese players without a partner to play interpreter. That's going to be my major handicap. If I make the ones I do talk to count, I might be able to pull it off.

[NeoZeedeater]

If you do end up writing a book and need someone to do a few write-ups on certain games, I'm interested if you want.

[Frogacuda]

If I get that far and I need the help, you know you're one of the first I'll go to.

[perfekchaos]

That was an amazing article Froggy. I had an issue of the Sega Visions magazine from the 90's that had a big history of Sega article. Your story matches up with my memory of that old magazine article.

Of course, that article left out any negative bits and any mention of Nintendo, but I wish I still had it...

[Luminous]

I will try to read this while at work, but now that I know it is there I will get through it real soon.

[Wildcat]

Awesome article, Frog. If you do go with a book, I'd be very interested in it. ^_^ Keep at it, man!

[superyen]

this article makes me proud to know you.

tnx for being you.

i'll tell you what i think of it when i'm finished reading.

[Conjoshus]

I will check it out when I get home tonight...

[Frogacuda]

So this article blew up, ended up being one of the biggest articles yet for the channel, even beating out the Zelda, Metroid, and GTA histories. I'm glad people still care about Sega after all.

[perfekchaos]

That's awesome. It was nice seeing it on the front page of IGN.

[Bruhaha69]

Congrats, Frog. It was definitely one of my favorite IGN articles.

[DarthArcturus]

So this article blew up, ended up being one of the biggest articles yet for the channel, even beating out the Zelda, Metroid, and GTA histories. I'm glad people still care about Sega after all.
awesome frog! Now maybe you can get more power at ign :p

[Conjoshus]

Was a good read :)

[Da_Shocker]

Yeah they are talkin about this over at SEga 16 rite now. I'm gonna read up on it and see if there is anything new on here.

[Luminous]

I finally read the entire thing. Great read.

It is really a shame the mistakes made with the Saturn's hardware and the missed opportunities with Sony and MS. What a different gaming world we might have.


Like Bru said, it is depressing as well. Overall just a great piece of gaming history that all gamers, especially Sega fans should read.

[Da_Shocker]

SHIT! I know what you should've asked him Frog why did SoA fuck up all the box art?

http://www.sega-16.com/forum/showthread.php?t=7253

And sometimes the art on box looked nothing like the in game characters. And how did they manage to put an F-15 on the cover of AB2 instead of a F-14?

[Hunter]

So what's happening with the interviews?

[Frogacuda]

Not allowed to publish them. They remain forever in limbo. If you want to read them I can send them to you privately, I suppose.