No matter in any field, nothing can escape the torrent of the times, only the cold choice of time is frightening. Even in the prosperous Tang Dynasty, it was only an obvious dust in the long history. Maybe this is fate, some people believe it, some people resist it, and the macro world is like this. If everything is divided into complex individuals, then these individuals are not a world. Just like the game industry, it seems simple and vigorous, but I don't know that in this field, it is experiencing the impact of time all the time. If the manufacturer is not careful, they will be shattered in an instant, whether it is a monster or an ant. Sega, the king who once stood at the peak of the game industry, is well known in the industry, but it has finally become a tragic stroke in the history of the game, which makes people feel sorry for it. However, Sega doesn't need everyone's pity for it. Even if it fails, it exudes the backbone of the king, resists the tide of the times, and has never been timid. In this issue of "Video Games, From the beginning", we will talk about the story of Sega's "Sega" game console, which was abandoned because the game concept surpassed the times.

Although Sega is now a Japanese company, it was originally founded by Americans. Its history can be traced back to the service game company established in Hawaii in 1940. After the end of World War II, which influenced the world pattern, a large number of American troops were stationed in Japan. After the war, people need entertainment to forget the tragic pain. The founders of service games, Raymond Lemaire and Richard Stewart, saw the business opportunity and took the initiative to move their company to Japan to sell American-imported jukeboxes, slot machines and other entertainment equipment to American troops stationed in Japan. On the other hand, the air force officer "David Rosen" stationed in Tokyo, Japan, established Rosen Enterprise Company, and also engaged in the business of importing slot machines to Japan.

With the development of time, after 1965, hundreds of game companies were equipped with Rosen's products. At this time, the competitor of this enterprise in Japan is just a "brother enterprise" service game. After seeing the form clearly, David planned the merger with the service game. The name of the merged company was Sega, and David was the CEO. At this point, Sega was officially born, and in Japan and the United States.

Since the formal merger of Sega, we have set up our own factory in Japan to independently develop entertainment products. Their first pinball machine called "Periscope" was a great success and even exported to North America. Sega, who has tasted the sweetness, has planted the seeds of "focusing on hardware" at this time. Subsequently, commercial arcades began to flourish in Japan and quickly became an indispensable entertainment facility for people. Sega, the popular arcade market, has naturally not let go. It was at this time that Sega invented all kinds of "doll catching machines" and "slot machines", which can still be seen in the video game concert hall. With all kinds of arcades in the market, Sega made a lot of money. It was at this time that Japanese entrepreneur "Sun Xiongzhong" took a fancy to Sega's development potential in Japan and joined other investors to acquire Sega's assets in Japan for $38 million.

As we all know, the arcade era didn't last long, or the game industry in the 1990s was too turbulent. The famous "Atari shock" spread to the whole game industry and instantly destroyed the American game market. Host and arcade manufacturers are almost spared, including Sega headquarters in the United States. Japan, which is relatively less affected, just hurts its vitality. Sega (Japan) with independent finance is much better than the American headquarters. Sun Yat-sen did not miss this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and took the opportunity to acquire the shares of Sega. Sun Yat-sen, who holds the most shares, became the president of Sega. The first thing he did when he took office was to move Sega's headquarters to Japan. From this moment on, Sega began to embark on the road of king's journey.

Nowadays, players who have opened their eyes to God are naturally familiar with Sega, which has been struggling among major game console manufacturers. Hardware is almost defeated and fought repeatedly. Sega, which focuses on hardware development, actually has a very unique vision. They set up an arcade and turned to thinking about what kind of entertainment people in the next era need, so they thought of video games. 1983 sega's first electronic game machine SG- 1000 was born. Interestingly, Sega chose to challenge Nintendo, which is already famous in the industry. As we all know, 1983 is the first year of Nintendo FC debut. Sega's carefully prepared SG- 1000 decided to release it on the same day as Nintendo FC, and really competed on video game consoles. With the color saturation and shape design of SG- 1000 superior to Nintendo FC, this newborn calf can compete with Nintendo for a time, and it was evenly matched in the early stage.

However, in the end, the problem still appeared, and the Sega SG series was almost a fiasco. There is a simple reason. The handle design of SG- 1000 still maintains the poor configuration of rocker+single button, while Nintendo FC is the pioneer of the era of cross key +AB key, which is a unique patent of Nintendo. What does Sega use against this behemoth? In the final analysis, Sega's biggest failure is lack of experience. They have been making traditional entertainment equipment, but they can't grasp the needs of players at that time. However, it is undeniable that Sega's vision is unique. Nowadays, it is a stereotype that the handles of the mainframe and the handheld are equipped with joysticks. Can this show that Sega is ahead of the times and is not recognized? I'm afraid only people of that era know it.

The battle between Sega SG and Nintendo FC ended with Nintendo's total victory. Today, we remember the first video game machine we came into contact with. FC or domestic derivatives (bullies) are still the answers of most players. It's like the law of losers. People often only remember the first place and ignore the second place. However, what Sega showed us next was a triumphant defeat. 1988, sega's second-generation mainframe Mega Drive(MD) came out. The first rout did not crush Sega, but it became more and more brave. Sega, which pays attention to hardware research and development, forcibly dragged the game console to the battlefield of 16-bit machine, telling the times that the era of 8-bit machine has become a thing of the past, Sega walked in the forefront of the times, became a challenger of the times, and accelerated the iteration of game machine update. It's like Sun Yat-sen's slogan "I live to make Nintendo uncomfortable!" This time Sega MD won a great victory. With its super-powerful functions, it has presented such super-popular works as "White Paper on Wandering Journey" and "The Age of Great Navigation" on the home computer, and Sega has also launched "Sonik" dedicated to their future mascot role for the first time. All kinds of praise made MD famous in the world, and once touched the throne of the king: "the world's first game manufacturer."

The good times didn't last long. Only two years after Sega MD was released, Nintendo, which was forced to do nothing, launched Super Duty (SFC). Needless to say, the success of SFC almost pushed the Japanese game industry, even the global game industry, back from the climax of MD, Mario, Zelda, and so on. Nintendo Super IP, which you can name, broke out in SFC and sold 6 million units in just one year. The war horn between Nintendo and Sega sounded again, and then Sega launched MDCD to fight back against SFC. The concept of 100 megabytes of capacity exceeded the times so much that game makers did not know how to deal with this excess capacity space, resulting in few games to play in MDCD. There is no doubt that Sega has once again "failed" under the super-popular sales of SFC, but it is a proud defeat. Judging from the historical trend of the torrent of the times, it can even be said that Sega is the winner.

Although Sega MD "lost" to Nintendo, Hayato Zhongshan is not an easy quitter. Next, Sega became more and more brave. Sega, which focuses on hardware development, still wants to build the strongest host at that time. This time, he came back with the "Saturn" game machine. This time, Sega changed the world's view that they can't make a handle. Saturn's game console is said to be the best fighting game console. Sega produced the first 3D fighting game "VR Warrior", court RPG《grandia "and other popular works, and even China's" Legend of the Sword and the Chivalrous Man "was transplanted to Saturn. However, this seems to have won Nintendo. Who ever wanted to kill a Sony PlayStation halfway! Sega Saturn and Nintendo N64 fought for the first time after the younger and more energetic PS joined the struggle in the host industry. Of course, everyone knows who the goddess of victory will care for in the end.

Sega's last host DreamCast is Sega's last insistence on hardware. Sega DC, known as the "demon knife", pushed the mainframe era to 128 like MD, which can be regarded as Sega's cross the rubicon. Which picture is stronger? Sega DC, this is not at the same time. Do you compare Sony and Nintendo? The light of the demon knife is about to bloom. On the first day, sales in Japan reached 1.5 million, which was even more exaggerated in Europe and America. However, it is also a fate. A generation of Sony PS2 was born. This game machine with a cumulative sales volume of 65.438+0.7 billion units has become the last straw to crush Sega, which has the honor of sealing gods. Since then, Sega, an iron-blooded man, has bid farewell to hardware and focused on the research and development of "hardcore games". The story of Sammu and Sega's "Bitter Fight", let's meet again another day.