Yuji Naka "Very Much Against" Sega Exiting Console Business

Jared Rea

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Yuji Naka "Very Much Against" Sega Exiting Console Business

Former Sega designer and creator of Sonic the Hedgehog, Yuji Naka, reveals in an interview that he was against the shuttering of Dreamcast until its final moments.

Has there ever been a gaming device as dramatic as Sega's 1999 effort, the Dreamcast [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dreamcast]? From its incredibly impressive line of launch titles to its ultimate destruction at the hands of a superior competitor, gamers around the world tend to shed a tear ever year its anniversary rolls around. While many were upset at Sega's decision to cease production of the console in 2001, no one can argue that ultimately, they made the right decision, as a Sega heavily invested in Dreamcast would have led to certain financial ruin. Even if it did lead them to turning its best franchises into withered husks.

If Sonic the Hedgehog creator Kikizo [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yuji_Naka], the Probe founder reminisces about the last days of Dreamcast, saying that until its final moments, he was "very much against" Sega exiting the console business.

"In a way I feel that, had that decision not been made, Sega would have gone bankrupt," Naka points out. "So maybe it was a good business decision. But at the same time, I also feel like, what the hell - we should have given it a go, and we should have taken that risk."

"That is just my personal opinion, because I really enjoyed the hardware side of things at Sega."

While I would have greatly enjoyed seeing what crazy direction Sega would have taken their controller designs (Have you picked up a Dreamcast controller recently? Those things are ridiculous.), Sega indeed made the best decision for its business.


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rossatdi

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I was a Sega kid but they lost fair and square. I'd like to see a double team next generation: Sega Microsoft's Dreambox 720 vs. Sony Nintendo's Tweestation 4.
 

rossatdi

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Or I guess the Nintendo-Sega - Revolution Genesis.

First game would be a dual 2d extravaganza of a brand new 2d Sonic game & a new 2d Mario game, both in beautiful painted 2d with 20 hours of gameplay each. Bundled with Sonic, Sonic 2, Sonic 3, S&K, SMB, SMB3, SMB3 & SMB Land.
 

Somethingfake

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Even if it was a good decision to stay running, if the metric crap tonne of sonic games is any indication, they should at least of dropped sonic team.
 

Hiroshi Mishima

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It's sad that people just don't get it... Sega had lots and lots of really interesting ideas and concepts, and they're arcade machines were pretty much top of the line. It's just that their consoles had a bad tendancy to be hard to program for. I'll be frank when I said I enjoy my Dreamcast still, and am glad I got one. But I will also say that if I had known what would happen.. I might never have bothered with it.

But at the time, I hadn't known the full truth surrounding what happened to the Sega Saturn or the Sega CD. I was a Nintendo-guy growing up, occasionally flirting with the Sega Master System and the Sega Genesis. But I do admit that it came as a huge shock to me when the Dreamcast up and croaked. It definitely caught me by surprise, but I guess that's because I just wasn't looking at everything. I do admit I wish that Sega had gone out with a bang at the end, instead of a whimper. They might've been remembered more fondly, than being remembered for dragging Sonic slowly down the path he's been kicking and screaming for the last few years...