History of Backwards Compatibility

Saturn and Dreamcast

The next wave of systems represented a setback for backwards compatibility. When early pictures of the Saturn surfaced, rumors abounded that it was backwards compatible with the Genesis because of the cartridge slot. I personally recall hearing (uninformed) grumblings that the Saturn was a Genesis/Sega CD/32X combination or at least backwards compatible with them.

The Sony Playstation and Nintendo 64 weren't backwards compatible either. The Playstation one goes without saying I guess. Nintendo already established with the Super Nintendo that they weren't interested in consoles being backwards compatible. I'm sure some saw the d-pad on the controller and experienced a fleeting hope that Nintendo made some kind of dream system that played it all. Keep the faith, I'm sure some pirate system that does is in the works.

What if the Saturn was backwards compatible with the Genesis/Sega CD/32X? In my estimate, it would not have changed the Saturn's fate one bit. Less than a year into their releases, it was clear the Playstation had bested the Saturn.

Sega had severely damaged their reputation beyond repair in the previous year. Gamers who dropped hundreds of dollars on Sega CD and 32X attachments felt burned by the release of the Saturn. They thought they had already purchased the "next-gen" hardware from Sega only to find that they were short-term gimmicks to try and slow down a Super Nintendo surge. Being able to play the games on the "real next-gen" system would have been no consolation for the expensive paperweights bought only months ago.

The next major system release was the Sega Dreamcast which was not backwards compatible with any previous systems. Like the Sega Genesis, backwards compatibility with the Saturn might have actually helped the system. The Saturn was a pretty distant second to the Playstation but had a few high profile games, like NiGHTS Into Dreams or Panzer Dragoon, that would have offered some nice padding to the launch library. Sega opted to try a fresh start and pass on any sort of backwards compatibility.

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