Retro's Blog: Sega Genesis: The Ultimate Arcade Console Part 1 · 6:41am Sep 2nd, 2022
A new edition of Retro’s Blog is up, and we talk about why Sega’s Genesis/Mega Drive was the Ultimate Arcade console. The Genesis/Mega Drive is the most iconic Sega console to see a release in its history. While the Saturn and the Dreamcast were great Arcade home systems, they didn’t have the same iconic appeal. It’s the reason they both sold ten million units each compared to the second console selling forty million. The reason is that Sega during the Fourth Gen was a legit competitor that for once took a good market share from Nintendo. It was also the time when they produced a home run inhouse lineup that fans still remember till this day. Then we factor in the quality third party support is why the Genesis is fondly remembered. The later consoles despite receiving third party titles was nothing compared to the competition in both the Fifth and Sixth Gens. You can list Shenmue, Virtua Fighter 3, Soul Calibur or Resident Evil: Code Veronica all you want. Those games didn’t help Sega sell millions of units due to reaching a niche audience.
The topic itself will be broken into two parts with the first one being about genres from Brawlers, tournament fighters and licensing. During the 90s, the beat 'em ups and tournament fighters were the genres to dominate both the consoles and the arcades. You couldn’t go a day without seeing either of these types of games at your local pizzeria or in a laundry mat. It was the same thing for home systems where Sega and the third parties brought them over to the Mega Drive. Another genre that did well as much as on the TurboGrafx was the shoot ‘em ups considering how many the Mega Drive received. Despite not being popular like its Arcade brethren, the shoot ‘em ups still gave the market a variety to choose from.
