 Journalists and fans have speculated about the impact a completed X @-@ treme might have had on the market . David Houghton of GamesRadar described the prospect of " a good 3D Sonic game " on the Saturn as " a ' What if ... ' situation on a par with the dinosaurs not becoming extinct . " IGN 's Tavis Fahs called X @-@ treme " the turning point not only for Sega 's mascot and their 32 @-@ bit console , but for the entire company " , although he also noted that the game served as " an empty vessel for Sega 's ambitions and the hopes of their fans " . Dave Zdyrko , who operated a prominent website for Saturn fans during the system 's lifespan , offered a more nuanced perspective : " I don 't know if [ X @-@ treme ] could 've saved the Saturn , but ... Sonic helped make the Genesis and it made absolutely no sense why there wasn 't a great new Sonic title ready at or near the launch of the [ Saturn ] " . In a 2007 retrospective , producer Mike Wallis maintained that X @-@ treme " definitely would have been competitive " with Nintendo 's Super Mario 64 . 
