The first fifth-generation consoles were the 3DO and the Atari Jaguar. Although both consoles were more powerful than the fourth generation systems, neither would become serious threats to Sega or Nintendo. The 3DO initially generated a great deal of hype in part because of a licensing scheme where 3DO licensed the manufacturing of its console out to third parties, similar to VCR or DVD players. Unfortunately, that very structure meant that unlike its competitors who could sell the console at a loss, all 3DO manufacturers had to sell for profit. The cheapest 3DO was more expensive than the SNES and Genesis combined.
Atari cancelled their line of home computers, their Atari Portfolio, the Stacy laptop, and their handheld Atari Lynx when they released the Jaguar. It was an all or nothing gamble that ran the company into the ground. The Jaguar had three processors and no C libraries to help developers cope with it. Atari was ineffective at courting third parties and many of their first party games were poorly received. While games like Tempest 2000, Rayman, and Alien vs Predator showed what the console was capable of, the vast majority of releases underwhelmed. Many of the Jaguar’s games utilized mainly the slowest (but most familiar) of the console’s processors, resulting in titles that could easily have been released on the SNES or Genesis.
To compete with emerging next gen consoles, Nintendo released Donkey Kong Country which could display a wide range of tones (something common in fifth-generation games) by limiting the number of hues onscreen, and Star Fox which used an extra chip inside of the cartridge to display polygon graphics. Sega followed suit, releasing Vectorman and Virtua Racing (the latter of which used the Sega Virtua Processor).
Sega also released the Sega 32x, an add-on for the Genesis, while their Sega Saturn was still in development. The 32x hardware was popular the first year it was released, and the 32x port of Star Wars was well-received, but sales for other titles were sluggish. Sega announced that they would replace the Genesis with the Neptune, a combination 32x and Genesis, and sell it as a budget console alongside their upcoming Saturn. Despite public statements from Sega claiming that they would continue to support the Genesis/32x throughout the next generation, Sega of Japan quietly killed the Neptune project and forced Sega of America to abandon the 32x. Many feel that the 32x’s brief and confusing existence damaged public perception of the coming Saturn and Sega as a whole.
Over the course of the fifth generation, Sega saw their market share rapidly shrink. Sega released several highly regarded titles for the Saturn, but a series of bad decisions alienated many developers and retailers. Sega’s Saturn was also physically difficult to write 3D games for. The console had started out as 2D machine, and had sprite handling abilities on par with the Neo Geo. However, it’s 3D capabilities were expanded late in its development as Sega realized the market was transitioning to 3D games. Partly because of this late decision, it used quadrilaterals, rather than standard triangles as its basic polygon. This meant that any cross platform game would have to be completely rewritten to see a Saturn port.
Born from a failed attempt to create a console with Nintendo, Sony’s Playstation would not only dominate its generation, but become the first console to sell over 100 million units by expanding the video game market. Sony actively courted third parties and provided them with convenient c libraries to write their games. Sony had built the console from the start as a 3D, disc-based system, and emphasized its 3d graphics that would come to be viewed as the future of gaming. It’s optical discs not only made games cheap to distribute, but gave developers room to add cinematic cut-scenes, soundtracks, and voice acting that made more serious storytelling possible.
Nintendo was the last to release a fifth generation console with their Nintendo 64, and when they finally released their console it came with only two launch titles. Partly to curb piracy and partly as a result of Nintendo’s failed disc projects with Sony and Phillips, Nintendo used cartridges for their console. The higher cost of cartridges drove many third party developers to the Playstation. The Nintendo 64 could handle 3D polygons better than any console released before it, but its games often lacked the cut-scenes, soundtracks, and voice-overs that became standard on Playstation discs. Nintendo was able to sell tens of millions of consoles on the strength of their first party titles alone, but their constant struggles against Sony would make the Nintendo 64 the last home console to use cartridges as a medium for game distribution.
