No matter any field or anything, ultimately nothing can escape the torrent of renewal and change of the times, and only the cold decisions of time are terrifying. Even the heyday of the Tang Dynasty was ultimately just an obvious speck of dust in the long history. Maybe this is fate. Some people believe in fate, while others resist in a corner. This is how the world is at the macro level. If all things are divided into complex individuals, then these individuals are not a world. Just like the game industry, it seems simple and vigorous, but everyone knows that this field is also experiencing the impact of time all the time. If manufacturers are not careful, it will be shattered into nothing in an instant, no matter it was a behemoth or an ant. "Sega", once stood at the top of the gaming industry, was known to everyone in the industry, but it eventually became a tragic event in the history of gaming, which makes people feel sad. However, Sega does not need everyone's pity for it. Even if it fails, it still exudes the courage of a king to resist, facing the torrent of the times head-on, and has never been timid. In this issue of "Electronic Games, a closer look from the beginning", we will talk about the story of this down-and-out game console that was abandoned after its game concept caught up with the times - Sega.
Although Sega is now a Japanese company, it was originally founded by Americans. Its history can be traced back to the Service Games company established in Hawaii in 1940. After the end of World War II, which affected the world structure, a large number of U.S. troops were stationed in Japan. After the war, people needed entertainment to forget the tragic pain. Raymond Lemaire and Richard Stewart, the founders of Service Games, saw business opportunities and actively chose to move the company to Japan and sell jukeboxes and investment machines imported from the United States to the US military stationed in Japan. Coin machines and other entertainment equipment. On the other hand, "David Rosen", an Air Force officer stationed in Tokyo, Japan, established Rosen Enterprises, which also engaged in the business of importing coin-operated games to Japan.
As time progressed, hundreds of game companies were equipped with Rosen Enterprises products after 1965. At this time, the only competitor of the company in Japan was "fellow company" Service Games. See clearly After the formalization, David planned the merger with Service Games. The name of the merger was taken from the first two letters of Service Games, "Sega", and David became the CEO. At this point, Sega was officially born and sprouted in Japan and the United States. .
Since the official merger of Sega, it has set up its own factory in Japan to independently develop entertainment products. Their first pinball machine called "Periscope" was an astonishing success upon its release and was even exported to North America. Having tasted the benefits, Sega had already planted the seeds of "focusing on hardware". Then commercial arcade machines began to flourish in Japan and quickly became an indispensable entertainment facility for people. Naturally, Sega did not let go of the popular arcade market. Now you can still see various "claw machines" and "slot machines" in electronic game arcades. This is what Sega invented at this time. With a variety of arcade machines that have unparalleled status in the market, Sega is really making a lot of money. It was at this time that the Japanese entrepreneur "Nakayama Hayao" took a fancy to Sega's development potential in Japan and joined forces with other companies. Investors purchased Sega's assets in Japan for US$38 million.
As we all know, the good times of the arcade era did not last long, or in other words, the gaming industry in the 1990s was too turbulent. The famous "Atari Shock" spread to the entire gaming industry, instantly destroying the American gaming market. Almost no home console or arcade manufacturer was spared, including the Sega headquarters in the United States. However, Japan, which was relatively weakly affected, only suffered some damage. Sega (Japan), which has independent finance, is much better off than the US headquarters. Nakayama Hayao did not miss this golden opportunity and took the opportunity to acquire Sega's shares in the United States. Hayao Nakayama, who held the largest shareholding, became the president of Sega. The first thing he did when he took office was to move Sega's headquarters to Japan. From this moment on, Sega began to embark on the road of becoming a king.
Today's players who have opened the God's perspective are naturally familiar with Sega, which has been fighting with major game console manufacturers. In terms of hardware, it has almost suffered repeated defeats. Sega, which focuses on hardware development, actually has a very unique vision. They put away arcade machines and started thinking about what kind of entertainment people in the next era would need, so they thought of TV games. In 1983, Sega's first video game console, the SG-1000, was born. What's interesting is that Sega chose to challenge Nintendo, which was already well-known in the industry. As we all know, 1983 was the first year of the Nintendo FC’s debut. Sega’s carefully prepared SG-1000 decided to release it on the same day as the Nintendo FC to compete on the TV game console. With the color saturation and appearance design of SG-1000 being superior to Nintendo FC, this newborn calf was able to compete with Nintendo for a while, and the early fight was fierce.
However, problems eventually emerged, and the Sega SG series was almost completely defeated. Now it seems that the reason is very simple. The handle design of SG-1000 still maintains the lame configuration of joystick + single button, while Nintendo FC is the pioneer of the era of cross key + AB key, and the cross key is a unique patent of Nintendo. Sega takes it Why fight against this behemoth? In the final analysis, Sega's biggest failure was simply a lack of experience. They had been making traditional entertainment equipment and could not well grasp the needs of players at the time. However, it is undeniable that Sega's unique vision. Today, consoles and handheld controllers are equipped with joysticks. It has become a fixed pattern. Does this mean that Sega is ahead of the trend of the times and is not recognized? I'm afraid only people of that era know about it.
The battle between Sega SG and Nintendo FC ended with Nintendo's victory. Today, when we think of the first video game console we came into contact with, FC or domestic derivatives (Small Overlord) are still the big ones. Answers from some players. This is like the law of losers. People often only remember the first place but ignore the second place. However, what Sega shows to everyone next is a proud defeat. In 1988, Sega's second-generation console Mega Drive (MD) came out. The first defeat did not defeat Sega. Instead, it became more and more courageous as it fought. Sega, which focuses on hardware research and development, forcibly dragged game consoles to the 16-bit machine battlefield, telling the times that the 8-bit machine era has become a thing of the past. Sega is at the forefront of the times and has become a challenger of the times, accelerating the update and iteration of game consoles. speed. Just like the slogan Nakayama Hayao once shouted, "I live to make Nintendo uncomfortable!" This time Sega MD won a big victory. With its super functions, "Yu Yu Hakusho", "The Age of Discovery" and other super popular games The work was able to be presented on home consoles, and Sega also launched for the first time their future mascot character "Sonic". All kinds of praises poured in made MD famous all over the world, and it once touched the throne of the king: "the world's number one game manufacturer".
The good times did not last long. Only two years after the release of the Sega MD, Nintendo was forced to launch the Super Famicom (SFC). Without too much explanation, the success of SFC has almost forced the Japanese game industry, and even the global game industry, back from the climax of MD. "Mario", "Zelda" and other Nintendo super IPs you can name have exploded on SFC, with sales of 6 million units in just one year. The war horn between Nintendo and Sega sounded again, and then Sega launched MDCD in order to compete with SFC. The concept of hundreds of megabytes of capacity was so far ahead of the times that game manufacturers did not know how to deal with this excessive capacity space, resulting in In the end, MDCD didn't have many games to play. There is no doubt that Sega "failed" again due to the super popular sales of SFC, but this was a proud defeat. Looking at the historical trend of the times, it can even be said that Sega is the winner.
Although Sega MD "lost" to Nintendo, Hayao Nakayama is not a man who gives up easily. Next, Sega became more and more courageous. Sega, which focused on hardware development, still wanted to create the most powerful console at the time. This time it made a comeback with the "Saturn" game console.
This time, Sega changed the world's view that they can't make controllers. The controller of the Saturn game console is known as the best-feeling fighting game controller, and Sega, which has learned from the experience of software failure, came up with the first 3D fighting game "VR". "Warrior", the legendary RPG "Grantia" and other popular works, and even China's "Legend of Sword and Fairy" have been transplanted to Saturn. However, this time it seems that it will beat Nintendo. Who would have thought that a Sony PlayStation would appear halfway! The younger and more energetic PS joined the struggle in the console world and its first battle was between the Sega Saturn and the Nintendo N64. Of course, everyone already knows which company the goddess of victory will favor in the end.
Sega’s last console, the DreamCast, was Sega’s last stand on the hardware road. The Sega DC, known as the “Demon Knife”, was like the MD that forced the console era to 128 bits. This It can be regarded as Sega's last resort. Which one has the best graphics? Sega DC is not in the same era. How can you compare Sony and Nintendo? The brilliance of Demon Sword is about to bloom, with sales of 150,000 in Japan on the first day, and even more exaggerated in Europe and the United States. However, it can be regarded as a fateful fate. The first-generation god machine Sony PS2 was born. This game console with a cumulative sales of 170 million units became the last straw to crush Sega with the honor of becoming a god. From then on, Sega, the tough guy, said goodbye to hardware and focused on the research and development of "hardcore games". The story of "Shenmue" and Sega's "hardcore games", we will meet again another day.