Lots of games most were shit. Best game they had was hydro thunder. Only game I really enjoyed on that system anyway. Like everyone above said. They overloaded their software support with shit!
Hydro Thunder was a perfect port of an awful game. The naomi arcade hardware was pretty much the exact same thing as a dreamcast but with faster disc/hard disk access and much more memory.
The problem they had was really simple : They lost the trust of game developers and gamers with the saturn fiasco . So when the dreamcast came out a lot of people weren't interested in taking the same risk and end up with a disapointment like with the sega saturn . And also one very important thing that can make or break a console , they didn't have easports games .
Sega's history pretty much lends itself to failure.
My take on the entire history up to dreamcast's failure:
SNES vs Genesis:
The super nintendo was an exceptionally slow system that cost an arm and a leg to maintain a decent software library. Nintendo always screws themself royally with their hardware and storage decisions, even to this day. The SNES could output a higher color palette so the screen was always vivid.. but in the european market the PAL conversion always killed the framerate even further because of the higher resolution. Chips had to be kept in the game cartridges to assist the slow, pathetic processors inside the SNES. Sega genesis was a very speedy system right off the bat. But the legacy of awful Sega consoles followed AND trailed. Remember the Sega Master System? A pretty lame showing compared to the NES, SNES and Genesis.
Also, the Genesis had a pisspoor sound system. Very rarely was the sound any better than an 80's arcade game. AKA Bad. SNES could at least emulate decent sound with samples and more sound channels to pump 'em thru. FF6, Crono Trigger and Super Mario 2: Yoshi's Island are excellent examples of this.
While SNES tried to develop the Playstation with Sony.. Sega went absolutely nuts with their add-ons. Sega CD, 32X.. Saturn.. Dreamcast..Shoddy Web Browsers that often lacked Java, Shockwave, proper webpage decoding/formatting.. coupled with a low resolution so we could read text on a TV screen.. it was pretty much a different version of ANOTHER failed product: WebTV. The 32X was a quick'n'dirty solution to an urgent problem. More storage, more performance. The sega CD was an excellent system plagued with the usual problems of those early adopters of technology: Slow CD-rom at 1x (150 KB/s) and they were too dependent on Full Motion Video when neither the access speed nor the consumer were ready for widespread acceptance. Full Motion Video games soured the public's opinion for many more years.. like how Vanilla Ice is thought to be the reason why we have no white rappers. lol
The saturn was a marvelous system for games. Panzer Dragoon, Tomb Raider, Clockwork Knight and NiGHT's Into Dreams among other gems.. went largely unnoticed because early Saturn systems were rushed to stores and had numerous problems. Broken out of the box, rust issues, slower-than-advertised CD drive issues, etc.
Also, the Saturn was exceptionally difficult to program for. Several different processors made it more like an arcade board, and much tougher for developers to create mirror-image games on the saturn that performed.. and looked.. the same as the PS1 which came out shortly after.
The N64 came out later.. as usual nintendo chose a pisspoor storage choice, and as a result of space constraints and overused filtering techniques.. the graphics were exceedingly blurry.. but that was easily overlooked considering the N64 was a speedy beast. The public had never experienced such fluid 3d graphics before that point. Going back to the PS1 and Saturn was difficult.. but inevitable after seeing the next gen graphics of the N64.
Quick fact: The PS1 was actually capable of rendering twice the polygons as the N64.. but at half the screen resolution(320) and without any filtering. And.. at the time perspective correction was a huge issue in 3D games. Remember running thru a game on PS1 and the ground gets zig-zagged right at the edges? Very notable in ..ohh.. Tenchu 1 pops to mind, along with the wipeout series. The N64 only really exhibited Z-sorting issues with wall textures and overlapping images. Windows in Quest64.. multiple bullet holes on the wall in Goldeneye, etc.
Anyway, it was inevitable that we went back to the PS1 because N64 games were expensive and the system scared developers off.. where they stay to this day, in some instances. Square Enix with Final Fantasy.. Capcom with their 2D fighting games.. etc.
The dreamcast entered the arena as a STRONG competitor. It is actually a higher performer than the PS2.. but that point was never catered to because of disk space issues and low sales on the system.
As stated before, the memory card isnt very useful for saving multiple games if you played any of the best sellers the system had to offer: Sports 2K games, the RPG's.. etc.
Piracy cut a huge loss into sales for the system. Boot discs were created months after release and decent-quality CD burners were finally into the mainstream computers of the time. (Yeah, the PS1 could play pirated discs, but CD burners were still 200-400 dollars at that time!)
Games were easily converted to use with 700 meg discs by cutting the quality on the FMV's and sometimes background music. Very rarely was it necessary to take that a step further, but one notable case was the release of Shenmue 1: Where loading was already an issue with the GD-rom version.. textures were cut in size/quality to accomodate the huge amount of those.. and there werent so many FMV's in Shenmue like so many other DC games. (Beautiful graphics, btw. Still holds up even today!)
The system performed great. At least 640 res on any game.. lovely antialiasing with little performance hit.. fast 12x GD-drive and most games could be downloaded in hours to see just how good.. or mind-bendingly awful they were.
Games that stand out:
Marvel vs Capcom 2 (dont forget Vs. SNK!)
Sonic Adventure series
Skies of Arcadia
Grandia 2
Phantasy Star Online series
Soul Calibur!
Resident Evil: Code Veronica! Thank you Capcom!
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Things that made you want to kill Sega for their choices:
Crazy Taxi 2
Rez
Alien Front Online
Making the broadband adapter impossible to get!
Not bringing out Shenmue TWO!
Being impossible to find a bleem for DC disc. (Gran Turismo, MGS)
Cosmic Smash
Only putting a few games on their greatest hits Sega Genesis/Arcade disk! Furthermore the code for their version was based on the workings of people in the emulation scene! WTH! FURTHERMORE, just how damned long does it take to release a perfect port of Virtua Cop?!? The game is ancient!
Never releasing the awesome shooters they made over in Japan!
Wetrix+
The control scheme for Rainbow Six.
Do you know how difficult it is playing R6 WITHOUT worrying about what button reloads, or calls for bravo team to advance?!?
