Don't forget this is me posting. I thought Hell Yeah looked like garbage and SASASR was Blue Mario Kart. I also probably thought Yakuza 5 and PSO2 would never EVER get translated (this one has kind of come true if it weren't for Sony fishing for brownie points).
I also acknowledged JSR port as a highlight as well as other games on the list.
Also years later we can now look at ports of old games as 'HOLY SHIT BEST THING EVER BASED SEGA', but maybe that's because we are so used to FREEMIUM APP Sega that it seems much better now than it did three years ago when it was just 'Kinda cool, I guess'.
I think the main trigger point was always Sega dumping Bayonetta 2 and Nintendo saving it. It's happened again with Sony.
Nintendoes what Sega won't? 
Well for one we knew PSO2 was coming to the West in 2012 before SEGA decided that it'd be smart to invest PSO2 localisation budget on Gearbox's latest get rich scheme. Though I can see where you are coming from Hell Yeah (Although a capable platformer, it does miss the mark) it wasn't an extensive list. Here's a breakdown of all their titles;
New Games (Core)
- Rhythm Thief
- Binary Domain
- Total War: Shogun 2 - Fall of the Samurai
- Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 2
- Super Monkey Ball: Banana Splitz
- Phantasy Star Online 2
- Anarchy Reigns
- Hell Yeah!
- Sonic & Allstars Racing Transformed
- Yakuza 5
New Games (Mobile)
- Total War: Battles
- Virtua Tennis: Challenge
- JACK LUMBER GAME OF THE YEAR EDITION IGN 10/10
- Zaxxon Escape
Ports
- Sonic the Hedgehog 1/CD
- Crazy Taxi (mobile)
- The House of the Dead 3 & 4
- Virtua Fighter 5: Final Showdown
- Monster World IV
- Jet Set Radio
- NiGHTS
- Sonic Adventure 2: Battle
To me, between Binary Domain, Yakuza 5 and Virtua Fighter 5: Final Showdown, it's hard not to say SEGA didn't have a good year. When you throw in the announcement of Phantasy Star Online 2 and the quality of Sonic & Allstars Racing Transformed, 2012 was a really great year for SEGA I felt, some poor titles but overall very good.
I disagree about the ports bits though. I was excited about The House of the Dead 3/4 getting a console release for PS3 and I was damned excited for Virtua Fighter 5: Final Showdown. This was the first Western release for Monster Land IV too, I don't look back at it and think how good 2012 was from *now* I was thinking in 2012 how awesome the year was for SEGA. (Also as someone that likes FREEIMUM APP SEGA I do not see how this would effect me :3 )
Like I said, the future assessment was mostly true but it'd be like striking at something that performed better than they ever did but had a slightly gloomy future. At the time Sonic was on an upswing, SEGA announced localisation of major Japanese titles and had a hotly anticipated sequel to Total War lined up, it all bellied up in the following year but 2012 was a great year. Only 2002 beats it in the third party era and 2003 is probably on par.
And now, Nintendo does what SEGA does, ignore any plans on making a Bayonetta 3 :3 :3 :3 :3
