An Inconvenient Truth

An Inconvenient Truth

It is my unfortunate duty to try and help Angsty Gaijin end his own personal fairy tale. In his latest review, a pan, he is sorry that the company that he had to pan for phoning in a Wii-make was Sega. Well, I’m sorry to report this, but anyone who believes Sega is the same company as it once was is wrong. Sure, the name is the same, and they have a blue hedgehog, but more on them in a minute.

My point is that believing that Sega produces quality products is a lie you tell yourself because of the past. It has not produced a completely viable hit in a long time, longer than any development house currently still in business. They rely on brand cache, and unlike Nintendo or Square Enix they do not foster quality so much as shortcuts. This isn’t a shame. It is simply business, and whatever love you have of that house, it comes from the branding alone.

Sega once produced some great games, but now they cash in on remakes or innovative extreme versions. This doesn’t work.

Once recently I read on IGN that Mario’s shape and color scheme were made to fit the very basic constrictions of the game cabinet that would become Donkey Kong. Just think about that, this fat fuck of a plumber became the most recognizable icon in gaming, and it was created simply out of creativity.

Sonic was the product of marketing. Ok, ok. We need a Mario game, and uh, we need it to be MORE EXTREME! So what’s cool? Animals! What’s cooler than that? An animal in SHOES, fighting in levels of dramatic scope and zinging in and out. And it will be our mascot! We need a mascot to combat the plumber.

Sonic was birthed as an alternative, and the character was designed with the stated purpose of being cool.

The first thing about being cool is being yourself, and that is something that Sega only accomplished once, with the Genesis. Over 15 years ago.

The company had gone with the angle of “Let’s be the more extreme company”. The games were faster, Mortal Kombat was bloodier, the Xmen and Ninja Turtle games were better, and in Aladdin the title character carried a scabbard (whereas in the Super Nintendo version he was relegated to jumping and throwing apples).

And to top it all off, Sony soon decided to scream at consumers. SEGA!

The Sega Genesis was indeed an extreme system. Its brands worked, and its losers-don’t compromise approach to game design approach was in direct competition with Nintendo’s conservative mindset.

Now here’s where things get a bit tetchy for Sega. We grew up. And games demanded a certain level of quality.

As a person who has played many Sonic games and many Marios, well, let’s look at the list.

Altered Beast

Sonic games

Ecco the Dolphin

Nights

House of the Dead.

These are all common examples of what Sega is truly capable of. This perplexes me, because it is a list with holes.

Altered Beast is a short game with limited replayability. It was an early and heavily marketed bundle, but its length and gameplay wears thin.

Sonic holds a special place for many, but one has to let the story go. Mario games hold up better, they sell better, and the brand quality control is far more reliable. The level design, which punishes you for things not yet seen, is a staple that Sega never gives up. They like that “Aha!” even today. Gamers, I’ve found, are turned off.

Ecco- great idea, but looking at it now most gamers wouldn’t give it the time of day.

Nights- notwithstanding a mediocre sequel, this wasn’t a perfect game then, it wasn’t a perfect game now. Compared to the heavyweight titles that usually garner geek nostalgia, it’s merely ok. It’s fun and somewhat innovative, but the heart strings of geek gamers don’t pay bills. It didn’t the first time, it won’t on the Wii. The brand had a lot of marketing potential, but ultimately…meh.

House of the Dead is actually a fun game with a fair amount of universal appeal. The first problem is that arcades died. And somehow, inexplicably, playing Dam Dar Re Ram on Dance Dance Revolution was going to ensure you more female interest than headshotting a zombie. The second problem is a fairly weak peripherals. From the NES Zapper until the Dance pad, nothing caught on to an extremely marketable degree. That has since changed, but not for shooting games.

So right from the beginning, I would argue Sega had produced games that were fun, innovative, but stubbornly average. And as gamers got pickier, they would pick up on more nuance, see more seams. We were once gamers who played about 50 games. Now we have played hundreds. Small flaws then are unforgivables today.

And business happened to Sega too. The teams that designed these games are not the same, the company is not the same. This is perfectly natural, but somehow they never forgot to stop pushing the extreme angle. Even the system with the most sanguine and romantic name of all the consoles, the Dreamcast, was marketed and is still beloved by the hardcore gamers. Shenmue and Marvel Vs Capcom notwithstanding, the system and its games are niche items that need to stand on their own. The fans weren’t necessarily with them back then, there is little inclination for them to fall in line now.

So the company, needing cash, will pump out more Sonic sequels, and hope that the internets is right and more people will flock to their games. And they do this well, but the reason you see more mediocre products with the name Sega is because they are impatient, they go through cash too quickly, and if they ever asked gamers what they truly wanted fixed during game development, it doesn’t show.

The brand is done, guys. The company has churned out lots of innovation with no polish. Their old games don’t hold up. Their upper tier titles are decidedly mediocre (in sales and gameplay).Their filler titles do nothing more than pay some bills. This is not an impressive company. Wishing for that one perfect sequel won’t make it happen. Playing, rending, buying, hell, paying them any attention at all isn’t going to help. The brand needs to die, because they can do nothing but disappoint. Maybe the team will choose the Atari route and march on their way to becoming a failed license, or maybe overwhelming pride and arrogance will mean they’ll take their Sonic ball and go home.

Either way, I am of the opinion that Sega has not done anything good for gaming in quite a while. When your brands are more important than quality control, it is the gamers who lose. It’s the nerds who have fun memories clutching at foil. When we were kids, how it glowed in warm gold. But now, we can feel the material, hold it in our hands, and rip apart the magic. We were the element that made games like Sonic good, because we invested awe, and a need for some fast-paced, innovative fun. Then we changed, and Sega stayed the same. Relying on brands forever doesn’t win you any favors: Nintendo may bank on their big franchises, but they never rest on them. The company introduces a new and winning IP about every 6 years. When was the last time you could say that about any other company. The only other company that comes to mind is Blizzard, and again, quality breeds loyalty AND new customers.

Sonic was never for me, anyways. I preferred my games to let me react, let me explore. A few years ago there was this show that took Loony Toon characters like Bugs Bunny and made them into super anime-fied action heroes from the future. They were our same old lovable cartoon characters, but they needed to be extreme, in your face, and action packed for a more jaded viewership. Horseshit I say. They’ll never beat the happy accidents, the “Final” game with infinite sequels, the plumber whose pixels fixed on, the soldier who was created to explore a strategy game who got a paint job and a sexy computer program. You can’t create cool. You can only rehash and hope something sticks. And that’s where Sega is. And until gamers finally accept this, this will continue indefinitely.