Unlike virtually every other 3D console (aside from the 3DO) or computer ever made, the Saturn used quadrilateral (rectangular) shapes in its 3D rendering rather than the more traditional triangles. The graphics card itself had technical issues that prevented developers from exploiting its full processing power. It was literally just individual processors with very little cross-talk between them. Back in the mid 90s, however, having entirely separate units just jacked-up the cost and the complexity of developing for the console. Not without precedent or prescience, because CPUs with multiple cores are the norm in video game consoles and PCs today multiple CPUs were nothing new to veteran arcade developers like Sega, who had already been utilizing multiple processor units in their arcade games, and subsequently adapted the paradigm into the Saturn hardware and subsequently into the Saturn derived Titan Video (ST-V) arcade board. Depending on which account you believe, Sega either slapped on a second CPU and graphics card, or planned the design from the start in order to be capable of both 2D and 3D, the former of which the PlayStation was notably less competent at. The irony is that those "two 32-bit processors" made the system far more difficult to develop for and played a major role in third-party companies favoring the PS1. Once the North American ads ( finally) started promoting it as a gaming system, one of them boasted about how the Saturn had two 32-bit processors while the PlayStation only had one. But the Nintendo 64 and PlayStation would hardly be the only thorns in the side for the Saturn. A new contender, and one with loads of cash and third-party goodwill? Surprisingly, a big problem. Facing off against one major competitor, Nintendo, was one thing, and one they could surmount by once again beating them to the market. Fast forward to the release of their next stand-alone console, the Saturn. They had major performance issues and not a lot of good games on them, so many faithful Sega customers got burned. It ultimately wound up being one of the many reasons they left the console market, although the company wouldn't succumb to its illness until 2001.ĭuring their heyday, Sega promoted some add-ons for the Genesis/Mega Drive, namely the Sega CD and 32X. Launched on Novemnote In Sega's native Japan, the Sega Saturn was Sega's entry into the fifth console generation.
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