An all-new look at the early years of E3 is being shown to the world courtesy of the Video Game History Foundation. This includes several new media kits, promotional material and digitized tapes from the show floor that the foundation published Wednesday. Not only do we get a close look at free Digital Pictures chocolate bars, orgasm jokes from Crystal Dynamics and Atari Jaguar field reporting — we are also getting new-to-us Saturn history.
If you are reading this, there is a solid chance you are aware of Sony’s “$299 Speech.” Since this is an article, I am obliged to assume you do not know, and type the following copy: At the debut E3 event in 1995, Sega of America CEO Tom Kalinske opened with a keynote presentation showing off the all-new Sega Saturn, boasting that it is launching that very day on May 11 despite the previously announced launch date of Sept. 2. It would retail for $399. Right after they wrapped up their presentation to the press, Sony began its address. Sony Computer Entertainment of America president Steve Race was asked to approach the podium for a “brief presentation.” Race walked up to the microphone, calmly said “299,” and walked away to roaring applause from the attendees.
This began the storied competition for fifth gen dominance in the Americas between SEGA and Sony. Though one started running early, the other sold a lot more consoles. Like, a lot a lot.
Sometime shortly after the 299 speech, Tom Kalinske took questions from reporters. Unless I am mistaken, the public did not get a glimpse of this press gaggle for the next 31 years. Now we can watch it thanks to Anthony Parisi, who provided recordings to the Video Game History Foundation.
Kalinske walks back to the podium where the keynotes took place. Someone from the Hollywood Reporter asks, “Is there a counter move now that Sony has announced the $299 price point?” As he asks this question, a lot of laughter is heard among attendees. Kalinske, through a number of stutters, responded with, “Well, we expected them… That’s $299 without software. So we are $399 with a $60 unit of software included.” He claimed they knew they would be a higher priced system, which was apparently the case in Japan where both consoles had already launched.
“Each company knows what their product is worth,” Kalinske said, followed by a handful of chuckles from attendees.
The CEO was asked what software was being packed with Saturn. Kalinske clarified that it is Virtua Fighter, “the best martial arts game. No blood involved, just pure fighting based on realistic, different fighting skills.” Remember, this is about a year and a half after the famous U.S. Senate hearings on video game violence, which raised a fuss over Mortal Kombat and the SEGA CD game Night Trap. Kalinske and his company had to answer to this moral panic leading up to and after the hearings. The SEGA exec next to Kalinske would later call Virtua Fighter “the No. 1 arcade game going right now.”
When asked about the rollout of the surprise Saturn launch, Kalinske said, “We are in every market in the United States in these 1,800 stores.” But a Sega press release via Business Wire that was recently taken off the internet seems to imply that it took multiple months for the Saturn to reach all major markets in the United States.
Another journalist asked about their response to Nintendo delaying its next generation console. SEGA leadership called back to the 16-bit market wars. “History has a way of repeating itself,” said Mike Ribero, standing next to Kalinske. He said at the time of the 16-bit battle, SEGA was first and “wound up being the best.”
Someone asked about the then-upcoming Neptune platform, which was supposed to be a standalone console that could play both Genesis and 32X cartridges. The reporter noted that Neptune was postponed and wondered if it will be canceled given the poor performance of the 32X. Kalinske conceded that the 32X was not meeting their expectations, but said they are still planning “great software” for the Genesis add-on. He went on to say not everyone will want to pay hundreds of dollars for a Sega Saturn, so they still want to keep the lower cost solution available. As of this press gaggle, they had yet to cancel Neptune.
They touted then-upcoming Saturn peripherals like the Arcade Racer, the Mission Stick, an arcade stick controller and the 6-player multitap. Ribero said this would allow for 12-player 6-on-6 games in NHL All-Star Hockey and upcoming basketball games, telling reporters they “think this will create a whole new social phenomenon.” They failed to mention the Virtua Gun light gun peripheral. Take a moment to watch the clip below to see how Kalinske gesticulates the upcoming peripherals.
Another reporter asked if the Sega Saturn will have a similar service to the SEGA Channel. Kalinske pointed out that the capabilities of internet infrastructure did not make it a viable option given how large CD-based games are. This notion would of course change over the next few decades.
We will continue to look for more Saturn history bits in the trade show materials recently released by the Video Game History Foundation.
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