SEGA SATURN

[~ ひかり ~]

On May 11, 1995, SEGA released the SEGA Saturn (with Virtua Fighter), SEGA'S first console CD that wasn't an add-on. It used two 32-bit processors and preceded both the Sony PlayStation and Nintendo 64.

Notable titles include several exclusives for the Japanese market, such as Radiant Silvergun and Sakura Taisen, fighting games like The Last Bronx, and shooting games like Panzer Dragoon and The House of the Dead, and some well-regarded RPGs; Panzer Dragoon Saga, Grandia, Albert Odyssey: Legend of Eldean, Shining Force III, Dragon Force, Shining Wisdom, Shining the Holy Ark, and Magic Knight Rayearth. Tomb Raider was initially developed with the Sega Saturn in mind, but was quickly ported to the Sony PlayStation.

I really want to buy SEGA SATURN for my collection. You have SEGA SATURN? you have favorite games and dearest memories because of this console?

The thread to talk everything about SEGA SATURN, thank you.

 

[KiddMarine]

As someone who loves shmups, fighting games, quality sprite-work and early 3D, the Saturn is my favourite system of all time. It's just an endless list of quality arcade ports, I can go from After Burner II to Street Fighter Zero 3 to Vampire Savior to Virtua Fighter 2 to SEGA Rally to Elevator Action Returns etc etc etc, the list just goes on and on. And that's without getting into the original games for the system! God I love the Saturn.

 

[9dragons]

Another console I did not get into before 2017 when I got my japanese Saturn. It is now among my favorite systems of all time. The Japanese line up is really neat. I just love the Saturn and keep getting games for it and play them until the end.

I knew about the Saturn back then when it was thing but I was just a dumb kid back then and took the words of the so called gaming press as gospel. The German Gaming press was not very nice to Sega. Did not say anything nice about the Saturn or Sega in general. In the early days they were more pro Nintendo and later more pro Sony than Sega. So I went with the N64 in 1997 and later in early 1998 I got my playstation. They were great purchases but I still regret that I did not gave the Saturn a chance back then.

But the pal gaming market was rather pale compared to japanese games. I had no means getting imported games back then in the pre internet game shop days so maybe it is good that I was late to party. Maybe my initial impression of the Saturn would have much worse if I could just play the pal games.

 

[ShinChuck]

I adore the Sega Saturn; it's in my top three with the Dreamcast and the SNES. When I was a wee lad, I sold my Nintendo 64 to GameStop in order to get a Saturn. The clerk told me repeatedly not to do it, because "the Nintendo 64 is a better system". He might have been objectively correct, but subjectively wrong: I knew what I wanted, and I knew which system was right for me. I had actually been preparing for the purchase for months, having bought a copy of Christmas NiGHTS months ahead of time from Blockbuster. I bought SFA2, BAT Remix, Virtua Fighter 2, and Daytona USA to go with it.

Alpha 2 was brilliant, vastly superior to the lacking (but impressive) SNES version. I played BAT so much that I actually knew certain characters's dialogue by heart. I still listen to the VF2 and Daytona soundtracks, even though I was terrible at the former.

My love just increased from there. My writing to this day pulls tons of inspiration from Dragon Force. Shining Force III was brilliant (and it's a crime we've never seen an official English release of the second and third scenarios, let alone newer ports). Guardian Heroes is still one of the standard bearers I compare every beat'em up to. Fighters Megamix is to me what MvC2 is to a lot of people. Burning Rangers is another one that's criminally overlooked and deserves a modern port to go alongside the newer versions of NiGHTS.

It's also the first system where I played Resident Evil, starting a nearly life-long love affair with the series (I've beaten RE Village six times already, along with multiple playthroughs of every mainline title, and even most of the spinoffs).

There were also a ton of second-tier games that filled in the gaps between the big ones: Die Hard Arcade, Mystaria, Legend of Oasis, Albert Odyssey (wonderful soundtrack; another one I still enjoy), Shining Wisdom, Shining the Holy Ark, Street Fighter Collection, Powerslave, Duke Nukem...

I still replay NiGHTS almost yearly, usually around Christmas. It's one of my all-time favorite games, regardless of the system, and one of the few games I've gotten 100% achievements on--on every system it was released on.

My only regret is that I sold many of my Saturn games to buy Dreamcast games, including games like Burning Rangers, Dragon Force, the English version of Shining Force III, and all of the second-tier stuff I listed. I've since recovered Dragon Force, BR, and the Japanese version of SFIII, but with prices skyrocketing, it'll be a while before I can my hands on the second-tier stuff again. Alas, the folly of youth!

Whew, that was a long one. Sorry about that: I simply love the Saturn. The trio of the SNES to the Saturn to the Dreamcast marked the pinnacle of my love of gaming, coinciding with some good times in life and offering much-needed solace during some really bad times in life.

 

[the_phoenix_mirror]

Panzer dragoon saga is close to 2000$ now on ebay from what I saw. While of course the JP one is around 50$ lol.

 

[9dragons]

@ShinChuck Have to agree. The Saturn RE is really nice. Although I grew up with the Playstation Version and have never played the Saturn RE for the first time until 2 years ago the Saturn Version is my favourite now. The battle mode is fun and I think the controls with the Saturn pad are better than the controls with the PSX controller.

 

[ShinChuck]

Panzer dragoon saga is close to 2000$ now on ebay from what I saw. While of course the JP one is around 50$ lol.

What really stinks is that I had a chance to buy it with Shining Force III, but I passed at the time, not realizing it was an RPG more than a rail shooter. It's the one "big" US Saturn title I've never owned, and probably never will at this rate!

@ShinChuck Have to agree. The Saturn RE is really nice. Although I grew up with the Playstation Version and have never played the Saturn RE for the first time until 2 years ago the Saturn Version is my favourite now. The battle mode is fun and I think the controls with the Saturn pad are better than the controls with the PSX controller.

I've always been super bummed that the Saturn port has never gotten a re-release. I mean, it makes sense to use the Playstation base since it's probably easier to port, but it's still a bummer.

 

[RyoHazuki84]

My brother got a Saturn as a present when he graduated from elementary. This was May 1997, so it was really cheap to get now. However, we started to see its true potential when around that time, a store that specialized in selling Japanese games opened and it was full of stuff we never thought was possible. I remember around Xmas of 97, we got X-Men Vs. Street Fighter and that is what ultimately sold me on it. Eventually, we found a lot of Japanese games that were unique, regardless of the language barrier, and felt that Saturn was truly a unique system.

 

[the_phoenix_mirror]

Posted my Dreamcast collection on the other thread about a week ago, so it's a good idea to also post my Sega Saturn collection.

The long boxes:



Jewel cases:

 

[Seaman]

I was just a dumb kid back then and took the words of the so called gaming press as gospel.

Thats hard on yourself mate. Whats the blame for a 10something kid back at early internet days? In Spain there was that SEGA reject among the press too and part of the audience, to be fair deserved by those years behaviour at the company (Game Gear, Nomad, MegaCD, 32x... is not like that hardware failed, they didn't even tried and bordered scam being that unsupportives with their clients)

 

[ShinChuck]

Posted my Dreamcast collection on the other thread about a week ago, so it's a good idea to also post my Sega Saturn collection.

Just seeing those gives me that warm nostalgic feeling! I mean, I feel that way anytime I see comes from two generations or more past, but the unique look of those long boxes and the golden trim of Japanese games are just something special.

 

[Shmoopy]

I would like to ask how likely a Saturn and Dreamcast mini are. Okunari-san went on record to say that cause of the semiconductor shortage making new mini hardware is harder than ever and would be expensive. Do you see these coming out eventually? Or will SEGA just give up on the mini thing even though it's been successful?

 

[RyoHazuki84]

I would think it is possible once the circumstances allow it. From the way it was phrased, it's more of a question of "when" as opposed to "if."

 

[Tomato Convenience Store]

I would like to ask how likely a Saturn and Dreamcast mini are. Okunari-san went on record to say that cause of the semiconductor shortage making new mini hardware is harder than ever and would be expensive. Do you see these coming out eventually? Or will SEGA just give up on the mini thing even though it's been successful?

I think it's more than that, though. The specs on a Saturn or Dreamcast emulation box would have to be much better than any of the 8 and 16 bit consoles, let alone a USB Dreamcast controller would probably cost a bit more to produce as well (analog stick + triggers). I can't imagine a Dreamcast mini coming out for anything less than $150, if not closer to $200, so there's a point where it probably outprices itself to be a viable product.

In this article, Yosuke Okinari mentions as such:

Sega producer says high costs are preventing a Dreamcast or Saturn mini console | VGC

Sega has said in a new interview that a Dreamcast or Saturn Mini may be too expensive to produce.

www.videogameschronicle.com

“Some of you may say ‘this isn’t a Sega Saturn Mini’ or ‘I wanted a Dreamcast mini’, it’s not that we didn’t think about that direction”, Okunari said of the new Mega Drive console.

“The development of new boards has been stagnant due to the Coronavirus and, of course, it would be a fairly expensive product in terms of cost.”

I think it would have more to do with hardware getting more powerful and cheaper in the next few years, which means it'll be cheaper to produce a system that can play Dreamcast games.

 

[Shmoopy]

I think it's more than that, though. The specs on a Saturn or Dreamcast emulation box would have to be much better than any of the 8 and 16 bit consoles, let alone a USB Dreamcast controller would probably cost a bit more to produce as well (analog stick + triggers). I can't imagine a Dreamcast mini coming out for anything less than $150, if not closer to $200, so there's a point where it probably outprices itself to be a viable product.

In this article, Yosuke Okinari mentions as such:

Sega producer says high costs are preventing a Dreamcast or Saturn mini console | VGC

Sega has said in a new interview that a Dreamcast or Saturn Mini may be too expensive to produce.

www.videogameschronicle.com

I think it would have more to do with hardware getting more powerful and cheaper in the next few years, which means it'll be cheaper to produce a system that can play Dreamcast games.

I tweeted at him congratulating him on the Mega Drive 2 mini and that I hope he makes a Dreamcast someday. He liked the tweet so I guess there's hope

 

[9dragons]

Thats hard on yourself mate. Whats the blame for a 10something kid back at early internet days? In Spain there was that SEGA reject among the press too and part of the audience, to be fair deserved by those years behaviour at the company (Game Gear, Nomad, MegaCD, 32x... is not like that hardware failed, they didn't even tried and bordered scam being that unsupportives with their clients)

That's a good point. But i still find it cringworthy how one sided the press worked back then and how easy it for them to manipulate the public opinion.

Sega was not pefect during the Saturn days. On the contrary they made many mistakes. Especially Sega Europe did not much PR that makes sense for the Saturn and later the Dreamcast.

It is the duty of the press to uncover this shortcomings but at least the german gaming press did not do that. They masked all the negative stuff that was going on with Sony and just focused on the negative aspects of Sega.

They did not even try to praise Sega for the good things they did.

The only execption of that was the offical sega Magazin of course but they were too pro Sega which was not the best thing either.

 

[Shmoopy]

That's a good point. But i still find it cringworthy how one sided the press worked back then and how easy it for them to manipulate the public opinion.

Sega was not pefect during the Saturn days. On the contrary they made many mistakes. Especially Sega Europe did not much PR that makes sense for the Saturn and later the Dreamcast.

It is the duty of the press to uncover this shortcomings but at least the german gaming press did not do that. They masked all the negative stuff that was going on with Sony and just focused on the negative aspects of Sega.

They did not even try to praise Sega for the good things they did.

The only execption of that was the offical sega Magazin of course but they were too pro Sega which was not the best thing either.

So game journos have always been paid by Sony. Not just in recent times. huh.

 

[9dragons]

Is that so today? If you ask me game journos are always more pro Microsoft than pro Sony. The journos say rental games like the game pass is the future blabaa. Cloud gaming blabaa. Sony is labbeled as old-fashioned and so forth.

Back then Sony did not had the brand power to bribe jornos. Nobody believed in Sony. They came on the top because they hadae better strategy. In the first year,s they were ridiculed by the press, and Nintendo was seen as the next big deal with the n64.

The reason Sega had nothing to say in Europe was that Sega of Europe did not care about Europe at all. Especially the Sega responsible for the german speaking world did nothing to make advertising for their products.

The TVs and magazines were full of PS1 ads but no ads for the Saturn at all. Sega Germany tried better the Dreamcast but the adds were a mess. They were not related to gaming at all.

Sony had the better marketing. But that had nothing to do with bribes. Sega was just nonexistent in Europe

 

[Seaman]

Is that so today? If you ask me game journos are always more pro Microsoft than pro Sony. The jornos say rental games like the gamepass is the future blabaa. Cloud gaming blabaa. Sony is labbeled als fashioned and so forth.

Back then Sony did not had the brand power to bribe jornos. Nobody believed in Sony. They came on the top because they had the better strategy. In the first years they were rediculed by the press and Nintendo was seen as the next big deal with the n64.

The reason Sega had nothing to say in Europe was that Sega of Europe did not care about Europe at all. Especially the Sega responsible for the german speaking world did nothing to make advertising for their products.

The TVs and and magazines were full with PS1 ads but no ads for the Saturn at all. Sega Germany tried better the Dreamcast but the adds were a mess. They did had anything do with gaming at all.

Sony had the better marketing. But thad nothing to do with bribes. Sega was just non existant in Europe

Exactly, journos are journos but the bribe thing its more a myth when it comes to ps1 success and sega demise. It was more decisive the dev-pipelines choosen for their hardware. Ps1 was rad to code for, you talked in c to libps and that to gte -render vs Saturn parallel architecture, different PUs with different instruction sets. Dev docs where thicker and official support was better at Sony. I love Sega and certainly Saturn was undermined but yes, Sony had its merits without conspiracies involved.

It is the duty of the press to uncover this shortcomings but at least the german gaming press did not do that. They masked all the negative stuff that was going on with Sony and just focused on the negative aspects of Sega.

They did not even try to praise Sega for the good things they did.

The only execption of that was the offical sega Magazin of course but they were too pro Sega which was not the best thing either.

Ah the duty of the press, yes i saw old docus about that Thats annoying and I remember same here at a lower scale, depending on the reviewer. Maybe they bought a failed Sega console.

 

[Bambi]

I don't have nearly as many Saturn games as I wanted, I stopped collecting right around the time that prices started to skyrocket. Nowadays almost all of my physical media is boxed up in my loft waiting for the day when I have a bigger house.




Saw this on Reddit.

This was definitely me before I had kids.