Why did the SuperGrafx fail so miserably?

[reson8er]

Does anyone know of a definitive article or info as to why the SuperGrafx failed so badly and quickly? 5(7) games  total for a console is horrendous (even the Jaguar had more games), especially after coming off such success with its PC Engine. 

Its unbelievable how little effort went into the system to keep it alive (at least that's how it appears).  I understand it had a poor sales at launch, and the system itself was not a huge step up technically from the PCE but would not more games have helped? It's was like they just didn't care.

I've read info, speculation, conjecture  throughout the years from a multitude of sources but I don't really recall seeing anything that detailed what NEC was going through at the time. If anyone can shed some light I would really appreciate it. This thought was bothering me all weekend (and on and off for years).

[Necromancer]

I can't say it failed in terms of meeting their expectations (what expectations?), and I wouldn't say it died quickly seeing as the few games it did get were spread out over 28 months.  Just didn't care sums it up, I guess.

They must not have seen it as absolutely necessary to compete with the MD and upcoming SF, so they let it die and instead pushed the Super CD.  I agree that it wasn't needed, but they should've made that determination long before it made it to production.

[Trenton_net]

I think they had the Sega syndrome. They push too many iterations out with too little differences. If they made them to have a little more punch and reason to own, I think it would have done much better. I think the form factor also was kind of off-putting as now you need to spend more money on an adapter just to use it with your existing CD-ROM setups.

[touko]

My two cents opinion lol ..

Because you need a least a scd-rom² for a real use of SGX hardware .
Hucard format,is too limited in space storage i think .

I think the good combo is scd²+AC, and this combo were too expensive to be viable .

[seieienbu]

It's a shame no supergrafx cdrom^2 games were released.  I've always kinda wondered what a Supergrafx game designed specifically for use with an Arcade Card could be capable of.

[reson8er]

I can't say it failed in terms of meeting their expectations (what expectations?), and I wouldn't say it died quickly seeing as the few games it did get were spread out over 28 months.  Just didn't care sums it up, I guess.

They must not have seen it as absolutely necessary to compete with the MD and upcoming SF, so they let it die and instead pushed the Super CD.  I agree that it wasn't needed, but they should've made that determination long before it made it to production.

This is the part that keeps bothering me when I think about it. They positioned this as the successor to their hardware line and probably put a lot o money into promotion, r&d etc. yet they were content to just let it die. 5 games!! NEC itself couldn't even be bothered to make more games. Depressing.

[Black Tiger]

I don't think that CD games were needed. It could toss around so much that it was more in the class of arcade hardware or the X68000. SGX HuCards could have featured more parallax than any MD or SFC game or more sprites than any console game at the time did, without any flicker. Think about the kind of shooters we could have got and if developers really needed two tile layers to make platformers, then we could have seen way more than thr PCE received.

Take any intense PCE HuCard and imagine it with twice the sprites and an extra layer of background or what games would look like in 512 pixel wide resolution.

[Necromancer]

I doubt they spent all that much on R&D.  It's not all new architecture, just more memory (intended to be in the PCE before cost cuts), a second video chip, and a controller to coordinate the two video chips.

[reson8er]

I doubt they spent all that much on R&D.  It's not all new architecture, just more memory (intended to be in the PCE before cost cuts), a second video chip, and a controller to coordinate the two video chips.

Sure granted, but even now, it's just so disappointing. 5 dedicated games in 28 months is absurd. doubly so coming off the success and fan base you built up during the PCE's life.

At some point they cared enough to make the thing, but didn't seem to give two shits once it was released.  Makes me sad and a little angry that the system never had a chance even realize its potential even from NEC.

[pulstar]

My opinion is that it was a response to the new systems already out and coming out (MD & SFC) but with the CD/SCD still performing well and the initial poor sales NEC decided, to hell with it, and let it die. It would have been awesome to have a DUO with SGX hardware as well. Probably would have been insanely expensive at the time but it would have made the system more appealing, to developers at least (and by extension, consumers).

[Nando]

I don't think that CD games were needed. It could toss around so much that it was more in the class of arcade hardware or the X68000. SGX HuCards could have featured more parallax than any MD or SFC game or more sprites than any console game at the time did, without any flicker. Think about the kind of shooters we could have got and if developers really needed two tile layers to make platformers, then we could have seen way more than thr PCE received.

Take any intense PCE HuCard and imagine it with twice the sprites and an extra layer of background or what games would look like in 512 pixel wide resolution.

Would be cool seeing a mock up of something like this. 

[toymachine78]

Answer: Just 5 games.

[reson8er]

My opinion is that it was a response to the new systems already out and coming out (MD & SFC) but with the CD/SCD still performing well and the initial poor sales NEC decided, to hell with it, and let it die. It would have been awesome to have a DUO with SGX hardware as well. Probably would have been insanely expensive at the time but it would have made the system more appealing, to developers at least (and by extension, consumers).

It was most certainly that, however I don't think the addition of the CD Rom add on was a factor in the SG's early demise. NEC was never shy about releasing add on's or iterations to hardware, had the SG been successful, I think they would have probably made a proper add on to match the aesthetic of the SG, if not an all in one or both

[reson8er]

Take any intense PCE HuCard and imagine it with twice the sprites and an extra layer of background or what games would look like in 512 pixel wide resolution.

Exactly, they had, at the very least a way to make some amazing games, yet, from Hudson itself all they produced was Granzort, Battle Ace, and Aldynes 3 games in 28 months. Only one of which was actually good in my opinion.  Hell they could have taken some earlier catalog games and gave them the "SuperGrafx" treatment.  They never even made a real effort 

[Black Tiger]

Hudson made 1941 CA.

I doubt they spent all that much on R&D.  It's not all new architecture, just more memory (intended to be in the PCE before cost cuts), a second video chip, and a controller to coordinate the two video chips.

Sure granted, but even now, it's just so disappointing. 5 dedicated games in 28 months is absurd. doubly so coming off the success and fan base you built up during the PCE's life.

At some point they cared enough to make the thing, but didn't seem to give two shits once it was released.  Makes me sad and a little angry that the system never had a chance even realize its potential even from NEC.

Nintendo hyped the crap out of the Super Famicom early on. When the final product began to emerge, it turned out to be weaker than other consoles and just had some neat special effects that the SuperGrafx didn't anyway. Also around that time, developers were already pulling off advanced parallax in PCE games like Super / Darius / Plus, while still having more available sprites to toss around than the average SFC game. The Mega-CD was overkill and the main draw was still the CD medium.

It made sense for them to begin putting together the SuperGrafx when they did, but it was redundant by the time it came out. It still should have been built into all Duo machines though. They could have also taken the risk of discontinuing CoreGrafx units and made the more expensive SuperGrafx the new core hardware.