There was an article I ve read years ago but I cant dig it up which explained what happened.Is anyone willing to challenge Akumajou's ideas that 3D of the time was primitive and there wasn't too much wrong with Sega's thinking? It's not an area I'm really sure of and only say that conventional rasterisation on CPU was already a known quantity. Is there good reason for Sega to want to do it differently, or were they just being naive/stubborn/ridiculous in their choice?
Sega was going for a 2D dedicated next generation 32Bit console with some 3D capabilities which should explain why it was good with 2D games and the presence of the VDP1 and VDP2.
But while the console was almost done, Sony reveals its plans for their 3D dedicated 32 bit console and it was a beast. The president of Sega Japan went furious and wanted to make a more powerful console. According to the article, the meeting with the president was unforgettable and one of the worst experiences ever.
So the R&D team had to find alternatives fast because the change of plans came too late. So they made the design we know as the Saturn. If I recall Sega of America was worried and asked help from Silicon Graphics to provide them with a better option since they also helped with the design of the Playstation. That option was much easier to develop games on and was better suited for 3D but was rejected by Sega of Japan because it was considered weaker. So they went with the known Saturn architecture despite that it was a much complicated architecture. According to the article it was mostly off the shelf parts without too much thought for the overall design. It may explain why the Saturn was over-engineered with too many components, why documentation and tools were atrocious and why it was a nightmare to make games on. Too late, too hasty and too complicated.
In general the president of Sega Japan was not a very communicative person and he was making very disastrous choices for Sega of America and Europe.
It doesnt mean shit how great and innovative they were with 3D at the arcades. They didnt have the limitations of consumer products to consider and their arcade hardware came with partnerships with other vendors such as Lockheed Martin