LogFAQs > #944002344

"This new Golden Axe game looks bad. Better make the characters descendants of the originals so as not to hurt the marketability of Axe-Battler and Tyriss-Flare."

1) If you release a bad Golden Axe game, that hurts the Golden Axe IP. That hurts everyone in the franchise by default.
2) If the fans are already on the fence about the game, the lack of returning characters is more likely to hurt its chance of selling.

Also, Golden Axe II (home console version) was criticized as being additional levels to the original without changing up the gameplay. So Golden Axe III tried to copy the acclaimed arcade game The Return of Death Adder by adding branching paths. All they needed to do to accomplish this was sacrifice the graphics. Golden Axe III looks a half-step up from the 8-bit era. It's the first and only 12-bit video game.


(Golden Axe I on the left, Golden Axe III on the right)

The real kicker? The game wasn't even released outside of Japan. They threw away a franchise by downgrading a game in order to copy one aspect of an arcade game... in response to criticism that the last game was too much like the first one. (What?)

"Streets of Rage? What's that?"

One of the most popular beat 'em up franchises of all time -- Streets of Rage 2 heralded by many as the greatest beat 'em up -- and Sega of America's chief doesn't know what the game is and won't allow it to have a game on the Saturn.

"Needs more consoles."

The ideal customer, according to Sega, sounded something like this: "I know Sega Saturn didn't even have a proper Sonic game, but I'll be first in line to get a Dreamcast. Its graphics are gonna be better than the PlayStation!"

They had so many peripherals, add-ons, and aborted consoles that they lost consumers' trust. If within a span of a few years, the Sega CD, the Sega 32-X, and the Sega Saturn have all come on the market and have gone off the market, why would anybody trust you that your next console was worth investing in? My guess is it'll be discontinued within 18 months.

"Americans? Pfft. What do they know?"

Anything Sega of America tried to do, Sega of Japan intentionally thwarted as a power game. Considering that Nintendo was always Number 1 in Japan, you might try listening to what Site B has to say about the international market. You might last longer.

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2020 going to be a CE kind of year ~ Panthera