Question about the Genesis Launch

[SEGA.GENESIS1989]

As someone who lived through the era, I totally agree with DaddyMulk. Although people criticize the visuals of Altered Beast, it was a game that captured alot of people's attention. Personally, I think SEGA was very smart to include this game with the console. Sure the game is short. But you have to remember, that the games from that era were not simply tossed away after you completed it. The game had high replay value. If you played it on normal and beat the game, you ramped the difficulty again. If you beat on the hardest difficulty, the next challenge was to beat the game without getting hit. This is exactly what I got the game. I can bet that my experience was similar to what other kids experienced in the cafeteria or on the palyground. When a kid found out you owned a SEGA Genesis in 1989/1990, they always brought up how awesome Altered Beast was. Now as games got released over the next year or two and visuals got better, this title slowly drifted from people's memory. But it served it's purpose: The release of Altered Beast demonstrated that you experience an arcade game in the comfort of your own home.

Alot of people argue that a better title should have been packed in with the system but I disagree. For a company to introduce a console to a new market, sales were very good for SEGA. So why would SEGA throw additional revenue away by packing in a better title?

It would be interesting to hear what other members perceptions are about that particular time in gaming and what impact the game Altered Beast had on people's perceptions at the time.

[SEGA.GENESIS1989]

On a side note, Sheath thanks for posting that video. Although I am very familiar with the game, there are some animations in Altered Beast's sprites that faded from my memory.

Now that I think about it, although the level's design is somewhat bland, I can remember that what caught my attention were the stage bosses and the level of detail and color!

There were times where I would pause the game and admire the design of some of those bosses and invariably I would find myself drawing them on a blank piece of paper! Wow! Now that is a blast from the past!

[kool kitty89]

As someone who lived through the era, I totally agree with DaddyMulk. Although people criticize the visuals of Altered Beast, it was a game that captured alot of people's attention. Personally, I think SEGA was very smart to include this game with the console. Sure the game is short. But you have to remember, that the games from that era were not simply tossed away after you completed it. The game had high replay value. If you played it on normal and beat the game, you ramped the difficulty again. If you beat on the hardest difficulty, the next challenge was to beat the game without getting hit. This is exactly what I got the game. I can bet that my experience was similar to what other kids experienced in the cafeteria or on the palyground. When a kid found out you owned a SEGA Genesis in 1989/1990, they always brought up how awesome Altered Beast was. Now as games got released over the next year or two and visuals got better, this title slowly drifted from people's memory. But it served it's purpose: The release of Altered Beast demonstrated that you experience an arcade game in the comfort of your own home.

The visuals/sound (including speech) were the strong points . . . it was a good tech demo to be sure, but the limited (arguably mediocre) gameplay is the real issue. (and not appealing to a broad enough audience, and arguably not beign family-friendly enough -especialy in some parts of the US -albeit, they could have changed the pack-in on a regional basis)

Any of the shooters (2D SHMPUS or rail shooters) probably would have been bad ideas due to the limited appeal there too (they weren't the most mainstream genres of the time -beat em' ups were a bit better in that regard, but not as good as having a solid platform/action/action-adventure game).

Alex Kidd would be bad due to the generally mediocre quality of it . . . but in terms of mainstream gameplay of good quality as well as reasonably impressive technical qualities, Ghouls n' Ghosts was probably still the best very-early example. (though it's now questionable whether that was an actual launch title in the US)

And for alternate releases for 1990, there's some significantly better possibilities. (in the case of a change for the holiday season, Castle of Illusion would have been among the best options -obviously with some alternate bundles too . . . and Sega also had some special rebate and additional free-game options in 1990 too, effectively extending bundled options)

In 1989, you already had...what? 4 years to buy an NES? I think I got mine a year or two prior to that (from my parents...man they started me early...I was like 3-4 and only ever had like 5 games for the thing which is why Genesis is where most of my memories are). So really, most people who wanted an NES had one. I don't think Sega was really competing with another console in terms of "buy a Genesis not an NES!" I think it was more a mater of "Your NES is old now. Let it go. This is the new thing. Upgrade!" as most of their customers in the US would have been NES owners, or those new to gaming entirely. The Master System really didn't do well enough here (or even close to well enough) for the primary market in NA to have been upgrade your master system. They wanted those NES owners, which is why the Genesis Does what Nintendon't campaign started.

Actually no . . . even for sales through the end of 1989, you still had a huge chunk of the overall hardware sales still to come on the NES. 1989 and 1990 were the peak years of sales (and the years Nintendo owned over 90 percent of the market share), but 1991 was still very strong for the NES, and it transitioned well into the budget market niche too. (ie for people interested in a cheap system who didn't have an NES -or possibly ANY console- at that point -like people buying PS1s around 2000-2002 or PS2s around 2006-today . . . and even for the non-budget buyer of the time, the NES's huge back library was something significant too)

Looking at the big picture, there's a number of circumstances to consider:
- the NES gradually built up popularity/presence throughout the US: it wasn't until the end of 1987 that Nintendo was close to being an easily recognized household name nationwide (ie in every single region of the continental US), so many people would still be just getting to know about it.
- once it was well-known, there was still the issue of people/families being compelled to buy one, and that would depend on available software (and consumer knowledge of said software), available budget of said consumers, etc. (one significant issue would be kids being too young to care initially, but coming of age by late in the system's life . . . another factor would be investing in another platform -7800, SMS, or 2600 for that matter- and focusing on that more before finally getting an NES later on -same for computer gamers -especially C64- who later took more interest in the NES rather than sticking purely to computer platforms)
- Systems with very long lives (and sustained strong popularity) tend to attract many more late-adopters than systems that die off early. (sure, you get a few budget-buyers of used consoles for some of those, but the long-lived platforms with huge libraries are almost always more attractive and more readily available, obvious choices) And for someone in the budget market wanting to buy new, those long-lived older systems are usually the only options.

In my family's case, it was a combination of factors that led to my dad getting an NES in late 1990. I was still too young to really play video games (barely more than a year old) and my dad had mainly played computer games up to that point (a few old TRS-80 games, but more Amiga/ST and some DOS games -mostly on work computers, being a programmer/software engineer), but several of his friends got him interested in the NES and (I believe) got him one for Christmas that year. (and he played it a lot, though we never had a huge library of games back in the 90s . . . and he stayed interested in PC games too -namely graphics adventures and flight sims, and later-on FPSs too -all on home-built rigs)

[tisurame]

I think Altered Beast is a GOOD game by 1989's standards. And that's why it was ported for MANY others systems. The arcade version was well-received and the Genesis version was released (in Japan) in the same year, featuring the same gameplay quality and almost the same graphics and sound of the arcade version.

I don't think most people noticed the graphical difference between the Genesis and Arcade version. It's a small gap.

Altered Beast is an easy game to pick up and play, more than any other Genesis game at that timeframe and there is nothing broken with it. What it does, it does well. It is a short, but a fun game, mainly when playing with 2 players (and I think a two player mode was also very important). At the time I think it leaved a good taste in your mouth, to make you want more games.

It was not the perfect pack-in game, like Mario or Sonic, but there was nothing really better at the time.

[kool kitty89]

I think Altered Beast is a GOOD game by 1989's standards. And that's why it was ported for MANY others systems. The arcade version was well-received and the Genesis version was released (in Japan) in the same year, featuring the same gameplay quality and almost the same graphics and sound of the arcade version.

I don't think most people noticed the graphical difference between the Genesis and Arcade version. It's a small gap.

Altered Beast is an easy game to pick up and play, more than any other Genesis game at that timeframe and there is nothing broken with it. What it does, it does well. It is a short, but a fun game, mainly when playing with 2 players (and I think a two player mode was also very important). At the time I think it leaved a good taste in your mouth, to make you want more games.

There were actually a few small enhancements over the arcade, like the added parallax in the first stage.
And yes, if nothing else, Altered Beast at least looks and sound impressive, and has 2 player simultaneous support.

It was not the perfect pack-in game, like Mario or Sonic, but there was nothing really better at the time.

For launch, quite possibly . . . but heaving it as the standard pack-in for nearly another 2 years is the bigger issue.

[Bastardcat]

I always found it humorous to find my, at the time, local GameXchange rife with "Not for Resale" cartridges. Because the rules are for pussies, that's what!

[SEGA.GENESIS1989]

I don't think so. Here you have a new console introduced into a market and trying to garner as much attention as possible. The times were different then: we were just about to enter the information age. The internet was still in it's infancy and we did not have the volumes of information (nor the online marketing campaigns) that we have today. Sure we had quite a number of game magazines but alot of the time it was simply word of mouth and the few advertisements that appeared on the television.

I believe that at the beginning, SEGA was trying to establish it's console as a recognizable product and different from it's competition. Did the NES have anything comparable? It can be argued that SEGA was not only trying to market it's console to kids but to a more mature crowd. Nintendo, on the other hand, sought to establish a clean image.

Considering the period in question:

The NES's specs could not compare with their product. And SEGA used every opportunity to argue this point.

Every kid wanted a NEO GEO but it was just too expensive. The SEGA Genesis' price point was middle of the ground.

And finally, the Turbo Grafx-16's marketing campaign was non-existent. SEGA, however, did invest in marketing.

Everything was clear on the horizon until ... the introduction of the SNES!

With this in mind I see no problem with SEGA packing in Altered Beast with the console for 2 years+.

[Black_Tiger]

I don't think so. Here you have a new console introduced into a market and trying to garner as much attention as possible. The times were different then: we were just about to enter the information age. The internet was still in it's infancy and we did not have the volumes of information (nor the online marketing campaigns) that we have today. Sure we had quite a number of game magazines but alot of the time it was simply word of mouth and the few advertisements that appeared on the television.

I believe that at the beginning, SEGA was trying to establish it's console as a recognizable product and different from it's competition. Did the NES have anything comparable? It can be argued that SEGA was not only trying to market it's console to kids but to a more mature crowd. Nintendo, on the other hand, sought to establish a clean image.

Considering the period in question:

The NES's specs could not compare with their product. And SEGA used every opportunity to argue this point.

Every kid wanted a NEO GEO but it was just too expensive. The SEGA Genesis' price point was middle of the ground.

And finally, the Turbo Grafx-16's marketing campaign was non-existent. SEGA, however, did invest in marketing.

Everything was clear on the horizon until ... the introduction of the SNES!

With this in mind I see no problem with SEGA packing in Altered Beast with the console for 2 years+.

Every kid hadn't heard of the NEO GEO. It's marketing campaign was non-existent.

[StarMist]

Everything was clear on the horizon until ... the introduction of the SNES!

And the SNES came out with the worst pack-in ever. SMW is the reason I didn't buy a Super NES: slow, hideous, pointless, dubiously 16 bit fetch questing in lvs of no design, the total opposite of super in every way. Nintendo should've hit up Sega for the licence to Altered Beast.

[MN12BIRD]

I'm not a huge AB fan but I agree with Christuserloeser the game has big sprites and voice that shows off the Genesis to a degree. I also agree Golden Axe would have been a much better choice though. But Space Harrier II no way. The game is too simple or plain looking, not enough sprites and too repetitive looking. AB is like a tech demo. It's neat to look at for awhile but not as fun to play as Golden Axe. I think Golden Axe would have been the best choice.

[Bastardcat]

And the SNES came out with the worst pack-in ever. SMW is the reason I didn't buy a Super NES: slow, hideous, pointless, dubiously 16 bit fetch questing in lvs of no design, the total opposite of super in every way. Nintendo should've hit up Sega for the licence to Altered Beast.

SMW a terrible pack-in? If you would have said SMW2: Yoshi's Island I would agree. That game was one long escort mission, and totally shat on Mario's roots as a New York plumber. But SMW is one of the best games in the franchise. I'm starting to think some of the Sega diehards here can't stand a game that requires to you double back and think outside the box from time to time. SMW's secrets are part of what made it so replayable.

[Cornholio857]

SMW a terrible pack-in? If you would have said SMW2: Yoshi's Island I would agree. That game was one long escort mission, and totally shat on Mario's roots as a New York plumber. But SMW is one of the best games in the franchise. I'm starting to think some of the Sega diehards here can't stand a game that requires to you double back and think outside the box from time to time. SMW's secrets are part of what made it so replayable.

Even having preferred the Genesis over the SNES BITD, I can honestly say that SMW was a great pack-in for the SNES. And even I, the "Sega Guy" as my friends said back then, had a blast playing SMW. As Bastardcat said, the secrets are what kept me hooked. Especially Star Road.

[Black_Tiger]

SMW a terrible pack-in? If you would have said SMW2: Yoshi's Island I would agree. That game was one long escort mission, and totally shat on Mario's roots as a New York plumber. But SMW is one of the best games in the franchise. I'm starting to think some of the Sega diehards here can't stand a game that requires to you double back and think outside the box from time to time. SMW's secrets are part of what made it so replayable.

SMW is awesome, but I really didn't like SMW2.

Even without secrets, SMW has actual content. Anyone can walk through the Genesis version of Altered Beast the first time through and it takes very little time and has very little replay value.

[Bastardcat]

I'll never understand the thought behind SMW2. Its like "What do the kids like these days? Escort missions, and annoying child characters?" Its one of those games that you hope someone got fired set on fire over.

[StarMist]

SMW a terrible pack-in? If you would have said SMW2: Yoshi's Island I would agree. That game was one long escort mission, and totally shat on Mario's roots as a New York plumber. But SMW is one of the best games in the franchise. I'm starting to think some of the Sega diehards here can't stand a game that requires to you double back and think outside the box from time to time. SMW's secrets are part of what made it so replayable.

I'm one of these? You did see my resurrection of and contributions to the SMS vs NES thread? For anybody who hasn't I can summarise by stating that to me the competition's about as close as that Playstation vs N64 idea, except replace 'N64' with 'toaster'.

@SMW = I detest it because it has none of the features that I loved about the first three, whereof only the first was really harmed by Sonic--the speed value depreciated, making it quite flat. Backtracking for secrets is fine in lvs I enjoyed playing the first time, not in lvs I couldn't stand once through. The castles are particularly tedious. Plus, again, it's hideous, both graphics and sound. And Mighty Bomb Jack wants his cape back.