Could Sonic Have Saved The Sega Saturn?

I think a new Sonic would've definitely helped the Saturn's success. Starting that generation without their mascot made Sega look like they didn't know what they were doing.

I remember watching Sonic Xtreme being shown off and even then thinking how awkward it looked to play and how the fish eye lens looked horrific.

Sonic may not have saved the Saturn, but it should have been given a shot at least

If Sega had released a Sonic 2.5D game for Christmas 95 it would probably have been well received. Bear in mind that we didn’t see open 3D platforming until 96 with Tomb Raider and Mario 64. Crash Bandicoot also raised the bar for graphics if not gameplay. 95 was Sega’s best opportunity to capitalise on Sonic’s popularity on the Mega Drive. Sonic Team had seemingly done everything they wanted to do with 2D Sonic and were focusing on Nights. The obvious alternative would have been SoA putting its resources into its own Sonic game given how crucial he was to the success of the Genesis in North America. Couldn’t have been a bigger flop than the 32x.

I remember at the time, reading my Sega Saturn Magazine...Naka said several times he didn't wanted to make Sonic because he wanted a new mascot. He thought he was capable to do it again. Arrogance killed Sega...😢

I think one of the under-rated aspects of Sonic to appear on the Saturn was Mark Cerny leaving Sega. He was one of the few people who was fluent in Japanese and English and understood both cultures as he worked in game development in Japan and the US. Hes basically the reason why Sony's first party studios are as strong as they are.

If by “releasing a Sonic” we mean “actually give devkits with documentation to developers” then absolutely yes.

I think Sega of Japan never did realise that Sonic was basically the foundation of their empire. The Genesis wasn’t really anywhere before 1991, it was another also-ran like the TurboGrafix Sonic lifted that console into the stratosphere and was the app that gave the console a foundation for a lot of other killer titles: Eternal Captions, Ecco the Dolphin, the sports franchises, and so on. The fact that the Saturn not only neglected Sonic, but also all their other A list titles, shows how out of touch with reality Sega of Japan was. The Saturn may have been a neat console, but it was a console that was really never meant for the American or European market - it was a console by and for Japan. The absence of any triple A American market titles, any great sports titles alongside the deluge of arcade ports popular in Japan and quirky games like Nignts that appealed more to a Japanese aesthetic and mindset shows this.

A 2.5D Sonic in late ‘95 would’ve been perfect. A streets of rage sequel would’ve been great, too

A part of me wonders why wasn't Traveller's Tales hired to make an alternative if "Sonic X-Treme" couldn't make it? They've proven to be especially talented programmers and designers for their Mega Drive games, so that, mixed with input from Sonic Team, could have delivered something the Saturn needed.

Sonic X-Treme. A game that went to development hell, lots of things happened during it, ended up being cancelled. The whole story is completely insane. At this point, Sega was at war against themselfs (Sega of America vs. Sega of Japan).

I finally purchased a Sega Saturn last year and as of now I own 14 games for the console including Sonic Jam, Sonic 3D Blast and Sonic R. I wish Sega of Japan and America could of came to an agreement with making a Truly 3D Sonic The Hedgehog game for the Saturn.

Finally someone said what I thought for a long time: None of the ideas around Sonic X-Treme were good, and if radical changes were not made in the sense of starting the game from 0, the game would be horrible and have a chance to doom the whole franchise Sega should at the launch of the Saturn have ported Sonic CD to alleviate the demand for a Sonic game, with polygonal bonus stages.

It wouldn't save the Saturn. What could have saved not only the console, but the company as a whole happened before the launch of the 32-bit console. By not releasing addons in the 16-bit era, focusing on their next generation from as early as January 1993 planning on launching the Saturn with 20 to 30 titles, delivering proper development tools to third parties, ensuring they will earn more, by reducing costs from licensing and making exclusivity deals with them. Also, the Saturn has a decent library for Sonic fans, I myself played Sonic Jam and specially Sonic R for many years as a kid, Sonic R's main issue is that it features only 5 courses, where it could well have 20. The Genesis should have been supported up to late '97 as well, just like the SNES did, but they were too busy with their internal problems to make that really happen. True the Genesis received sports titles up to that point, but with 30 million users, you want to extend its life a little more. With more SVP chip games, like DOOM and even a CPS2 arcade port like the SNES got, the Mega Drive would have sold more software than either the Sega CD or 32X. Speaking of which, what could have made a huge impact on the Saturn, though, had SEGA ensured the 32-bit console was backwards compatible with Mega Drive/Genesis cartridges via an adapter, and obviously the Sega CD, and since they had the 32X, why not make it compatible as well, the Saturn has a X68000 variant and both SH-2 CPUs like the 32X, with the cartridge slot and 30+ million install base to migrate? Why haven't they considered this? People were still enjoying the 16-bit Sonic games, among hundreds of varied carts on the Genesis and almost no one played Chaotix, the Saturn would have launched with over 800 titles with this.

Your summary pretty much nailed it, IMO. Saturn was THE system for me as a high school senior in 1996, but I often wonder what might have been. Sega of America should have been jamming after the Genesis, but it just didn't go down that way. To me, the biggest letdown was the following: I was a major Sega arcade fan. I was primed for home released of Virtua Fighter and Daytona. When then Saturn appeared in 1995, they just looked SO BAD. I am a firm believer that a new system has to "wow" the new adopters; typically with radically better graphics and/or novel gameplay. And this sadly just wasn't the case here.

I'm disappointed in no mention of the Sonic into Dreams unlockable from the Christmas NiGHTs release. That was probably the greatest taste of Sonic on the Saturn.

If Sega had decided that the 32X was just not going to work, and had pushed all those projects to the Saturn for its launch, Knuckles Chaotix could have been reworked as a Saturn launch title. Sure its not a true Sonic mainline title, but it would have tied people over with its lush 2D graphics and new mechanics. Sega could have said this was the appetizer for the main course and then gone full tilt on the Sonic Worlds prototype to be a full game later on.

1988: Sega 6% market share 1993: Sega 60.0% market share 1998: Sega 6% market share

Yes, definitely. Sonic sold consoles back then. It was HOT. Not having a new Sonic game taking advantage of the neat hardware of the Saturn at the time at launch was plain suicide Sonic jam doesn't count since it is just (in official terms) a hub to access games that already appeared on the Genesis

It sounds like they really needed Sonic Team to help out with the Saturn launch before they started new projects