The Sega Saturn may have found an audience in its native Japan, but it struggled in North America and Europe, failing to recapture the incredible commercial success of its forerunner, the Genesis / Mega Drive.
This was despite a flood of quality games, including Virtua Fighter 2, NiGHTS Into Dreams, Panzer Dragoon II Zwei, Guardian Heroes, Sega Rally Championship, Shining The Holy Ark and more.
Mat Piscatella, Senior Director & Video Game Industry Thought Leader at retail tracking service Circana, has revealed the top 20 best-selling Saturn games in North America in terms of both units sold and revenue generated, and the top title in both lists might come as a surprise to hardcore Sega fans – but perhaps not to those who understand the amazing mainstream appeal of sports games.
As you can see, Madden NFL 97 tops the charts in both lists – which, when you consider the power EA's brand had back then (and, indeed, today), isn't all that shocking. Its sequel, released as the Saturn was circling the drain in North America, manages to come 13th.
This makes EA's decision to back away from Sega with the Dreamcast a little surprising; the company clearly found some degree of commercial success on Saturn, even if the games would almost certainly have made less money than they did on PS1.
It might also be a surprise to learn that NiGHTS was the best-selling first-party Saturn game in North America; not even the mighty Virtua Fighter 2 or Daytona USA could topple it. Meanwhile, Tomb Raider – which many people forget was a Saturn exclusive for a short period of time – comes sixth in both lists.