Sega's fourth generation successor to the Master System, the Sega Genesis (also known as the Mega Drive), became a smash hit after its 1988 introduction in Japan, which beat fellow rival, the Super Nintendo Entertainment System and became a commercial success in the United States, thanks to its 1989 "Genesis does what Nintendon't." launch.
However, their moment of awesome happened in 1991, when the first Sonic the Hedgehog video game became a commercial and critical success, which made Sega a household name. Sales of the game and Genesis was extremely high, which meant that Sega overtook Nintendo in early 1992.
Plus, Sega's handheld the Game Gear (which was launched at the same year as the first Sonic game in North America) was a success despite mixed reviews and Game Boy still was the number one handheld.
With speculations of the fifth generation occuring, Sega launched a slim redesign of the Genesis in mid 1993, which continued the successful sales of the Genesis. At the same time, Sonic had become Sega's official mascot and followed up the footsteps of Nintendo rivals, Super Mario Bros. and The Legend of Zelda by venturing into TV with syndicated-run Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog.
After the fifth generation started with the 3DO Interactive Multiplayer in October 1993, Sega began developing the fifth generation console successor to Sega Genesis. However the concept became the Sega 32X add-on, which was launched in 1994. Like the Sega CD, the 32X was a commercial failure.
After the failure of the Sega CD and 32X, Sega launched a successor of the Sega Game Gear, called the Sega Nomad in 1995, but it too failed despite positive reviews. The handheld was discontinued alongside with the Game Gear in 1997.
Sega introduced a hybrid console called the Sega Neptune in 1995, which was going to be a successor to the Sega 32X and going to be released during Christmas 1996.
Luckily enough, Sega's obscurity soon ended when they announced the discontinuation of Sega CD and Sega 32X and officially unveiled the successor of Sega Genesis, the Sega Saturn. The Saturn became Sega's first console to have CD-ROM as their media unit. was going to be launched on September 9, 1995 in the USA, but soon rescheduled to May 11, 1995 in order to become an successful console.
However, the Saturn failed to outrival the then-new Sony PlayStation and the Saturn was quietly discontinued in the USA on August 10, 1998 and Europe on November 1998. A redesign of the Saturn, titled Sega Pluto was made as a prototype in mid 1998, but never made into production. The Saturn continued to be sold in Japan, where it became Sega's most successful console until finally discontinued in 2000.
The Genesis continued to be in production until it was discontinued worldwide in 1998, however Sega signed a deal with Majesco to re-release Genesis alongside with the Game Gear in 1999. The Genesis 3 model (which was launched in 1997) became the last Sega Genesis model before the official discontinuation of the Genesis in 1999. The Genesis maintained a strong following in Brazil as Tectoy continued to release games until 2001.
After the discontinuation of the Saturn, Sega decided to scrap the Sega Pluto redesign in favour of a new console, called the Dreamcast. The Sega Dreamcast officially launched the sixth generation in November 1998 and despite being a flop in Japan, it became a commercial success worldwide.
The Dreamcast became a top seller in 1999, but soon after that, PlayStation 2 was launched during late 2000 and outrivalled Dreamcast. On January 31, 2001, Sega officially announced the Dreamcast would be discontinued on March 30, 2001, causing a strong outcry from fans.
The discontinuation was not because of PlayStation 2 outrivalling the console, but because the new head executive decided that Sega would now concentrate on creating video games, officially ending the company's 18 years as a video game console manfacturer. However, a bulk of unsold Dreamcasts were finally sold from 2002 to 2007, officially ending Dreamcast's nine-year tenure.
Despite its three-year production, Dreamcast maintained a very strong fanbase and the Xbox is considered a spiritual successor of the console as several Dreamcast titles lived on in the Xbox, plus the controllers are influenced by the design of the Dreamcast controllers.
Sega still continues to make video games and arcade game consoles, while a Dreamcast 2 remains unlikely. However, Sega Genesis is still popular as AtGames launched a fourth model of the Genesis called the Firecore in 2009, alongside with Tectoy launching the Mega Drive 4 in Brazil. AtGames and Tectoy continues to make retro versions of the Genesis since then.
The closest thing to Sega's return to handheld gaming is the Sega Vision which was launched in 2009. However, it is more of a media player and it is only sold at Sega's UFO catchers.
What Could Have Been if Dreamcast continued production:
- Sega would have launched a DVD add-on for the Dreamcast, rivalling with Sony PlayStation 2.
- Xbox would have backward compatible with the Dreamcast.
- The Dreamcast would be succeeded by the Dreamcast 2 in 2006.
- The Dreamcast 2 would allow DVD-ROM as their media unit, plus would be backward compatible with the Dreamcast itself.
- Dreamcast 2 would have a virtual system containing titles from previous Sega models.
- The Dreamcast 2 would have a handheld spin-off that would surely rival against the Nintendo DS and PlayStation Portable.
Here's a concept design from The Escapist magazine for the Dreamcast 2:
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