To what kind of gamer "being Sega-fan" appeals anyway?

[Foxysen]

Most of people got inspired to follow Sega based because of their Sega Genesis/MegaDrive success. That system had a great variety of library in pretty much every genre and that was all cool. Many stuff that appeals to many people, with strong 3rd party support.

But once you get to their other consoles, you come into niche territory. There are categories where they underdeliver. Like, Saturn had almost no proper 3D Platformers, it's pretty sad to be a 32-bit console which had Croc as the most fitting game. Game Gear didn't had much of awesome exclusives. Almost no exclusive FPS around either. Don't really have much of big adventures. Nothing like 3D Zelda either, it seems. And then, most things may be a ports. Or ported.

So, got me thinking. To what kind of person Sega appeals the most, outside of beloved Mega Drive? Clearly, it's not for the same kind as those into Sony and Nintendo.

[midnightrider]

Arcade gamers. Sega's consoles always had arcade, and otherwise unique titles. "No proper 3D platformer," but otherwise you still got something like NiGHTS into Dreams, which you weren't likely to get on the other consoles. When you get to the Dreamcast, you get stuff like Jet Grind Radio. Hell, even on the Genesis, there hasn't really been anything like Comix Zone since. That's on top of ports to their well known arcade games at the time of each console as well. Golden Axe, Outrun, Space Harrier, Crazy Taxi, Die Hard/Dynamite Cop, etc.

[Loggo]

To people who want a diverse library of challenging, mechanic-driven, games.

[zetastrike]

One of the reasons Sega's consoles are my favorite is that they aren't really direct follow ups to each other, in that they aren't spammed with endless sequels (for the most part). They all have their own unique feel to them.

[Qjimbo]

I think SEGA appeals to people who want games with personality, where you can see what the developers were trying to accomplish in a much more "raw" way than other platforms. Games which weren't afraid to break the mold, like Earthworm Jim, and games that are just completely off the wall, but still have solid mechanics like those made by Treasure. I think SEGA also appeals to creative people as well, as some of the greatest games are very artistic in their creativity, such as Castle of Illusion, and often had really great music too.

[Pixelepsy]

I've always viewed Sega as appealing to arcade / hardcore gamers. By hardcore, I mean the kind of gamer who won't be discouraged by new and unique controls, demanding mechanics, or a steep learning curve. Games that involve some of what I'm talking about are Nights, Gunvalkyrie (awesome game for the xbox), JSR or JSRF, and others.

They also appeal as others have mentioned to creative people or gamers who simply enjoy interesting visuals. Many of Sega's classic games had unique or groundbreaking art styles for the time, JSR being a prime example.

[Valkeerie]

It appealed to me because most games during the Genesis were a new level of hard, as in accessible and arcade-like. Much different than what NES had to offer, and not without the lasting value of a SNES game (which was longer than replayable, in my opinion, catering to the completion-ist). I skipped the Saturn generation, having owned a Dreamcast afterwards, and my impression (when looking in hindsight) is that it filtered out most 3D filler to embrace gameplay that was driven on the third dimension. Stuff like drawn out collecting quests in N64 platformers were nowhere to be found, because we had Rayman 2 and Super Magnetic Neo. Clunky controls were a thing of the past (almost) as we avoided getting Tenchu, Syphon Filter and Silent Hill, to embrace Headhunter and Soul Reaver. Not only that, SEGA always found a way to innovate in terms of technology and design, with online games like Phantasy Star Online, and the good looking Jet Set Radio.

After having rambled, these are the 3 points I consider important to our enjoyment of SEGA:
- challenging gameplay with high replayability;
- gameplay that is driven and to the point;
- innovative design and technology.

[Folco]

Sega Saturn for me.
Segata Sanshiro beat my ass so hard I had to like that console :-)


And of course, the obvious answer:

Arcade gamers.

[Dr Robotnik]

I guess I represent an offshoot of the arcade gamers.

The most memorable experiences I've had on sega consoles have been from playing local multiplayer games.

In the early days of the megadrive we had amazing games like golden axe, streets of rage and alien storm. The middle years started all the great sports franchises, many of which are still going today. WWF games, Fifa, NHL, Madden plus all the weird ones like speedball 2 and the mutant league series.

Then street fighter 2, mortal kombat and the 6 button pads came out, and we all went nuts for 1 on 1 fighting games. There were also so many random ones, like toejam and earl, mega bomberman, the micromachines series with the j-carts for extra pads. Pretty much all the games I have the best memories of were multiplayer.

I didn't play the saturn much, but all the games I did play were multiplayer. Virtua cop,virtua fighter, daytona, sega rally and die hard arcade were all amazing games.

I had a dreamcast when they were current and it was better than the ps2 for multiplayer games. It had so many good fighting and racing games, and 4 controller ports was definitely a big bonus.

[Obviously]

If Segata Sanshiro was still around today the definition of a Sega fan would be, "someone who isn't dead."

[kikenovic]

pretty much what the others said. Arcade ports and "attitude". Somehow it was about being different or even rebel against the established order. That was true for me during the Dreamcast days.

[gamevet]

I was a long time fan of Sega's arcade games, dating back to the 80s'. The consoles just sort of fit into my love of Sega arcade games, and that is why I consider the Saturn to be one of my all-time favorite consoles.

[Da_Shocker]

I know with the Saturn you have to go to Japan to check out the best titles. We got mainly mediocre western games and a bunch of arcade ports alongside terrible 3rd party support.

[gamevet]

I know with the Saturn you have to go to Japan to check out the best titles. We got mainly mediocre western games and a bunch of arcade ports alongside terrible 3rd party support.

Most of my Saturn collection is North American titles. My imports include Vampire Savior, Cyberbots, X-Men vs. Street Fighter and Wing Arms. Most of the Sega arcade ports were available stateside, though it would have been nice to have Power Drift available here.

[midnightrider]

If I had a Saturn, and knew what it had for games at the time, Guardian Heroes would have been my number one priority. Then stuff like Die Hard Arcade, House of the Dead, the Virtua Cop games, Panzer Dragoon(maybe not so much Saga), Three Dirty Dwarves, and I would have just had to have gone from there.