Sega Saturn 25 Years Later

[ggallegos1]

The Sega Saturn was released by surprise in the US 25 years ago as of yesterday. Anyone get it on release?

I got mine only a few years ago with some games, so I never had much nostalgia for it. Radiant Silvergun and Panzer Dragoon Zwei are awesome though

 

[Lastblade]

I did, $400 large and added Daytona so it was pretty much $500 out the door.

 

[terry.330]

Got mine a few months early while in Japan with Panzer Dragoon, Daytona and Virtua Fighter. It cost a fuckton.

Just got a modded US one a couple days ago and need to burn some games and find a controller.

 

[HornheaDD]

I didnt get a Saturn until Walmart was clearancing them out for like $15 in 98 or so. I had it modded by some dude on Ebay to play imports, got me a 4mb RAM cart, and all the capcom fighters, then finally got a 1mb to play the Neo games. Even had KOF95, or 96, whichever one had the ROM cart. Also remember the time when Panzer Dragoon Saga was 'expensive' at $100 on GameTZ.

Great console. Still have the one my bro in law gave me. I recently discovered that the Blockbuster Saturn case that was used to transport rental units are hard to come by. I always thought it was some random case job that Blockbuster made. So I guess I'm not gonna sell mine for a while.

 

[NeoSneth]

25 years later, and this is the only console on my office desk outside of handhelds.
(tbf, i rotate consoles but the Saturn has been there for the longest.)

I got into Saturn pretty late into the cycle. I was still too young to afford new shit, and I was actually enjoying far too many clearanced 3DO stuff at the time.

 

[LoneSage]

Bought mine from BIG here in December 2004. It was modded, came with X-Men Vs SF and two other games I think, but they were Japanese and I had no idea, for $100. It's why I joined the forum, for the scoops. Buying games here, at the shmups forums and wolfgames.com was great, I'm gonna sound gay here but it was cool finding those games.

I think right now I wouldn't mind playing the Chase HQ pack (got that from neorichieb1979) and MSX Collection.

Mid 2000s Saturn buying was king. I don't even want to know what prices are like now.

 

[HornheaDD]

Bought mine from BIG here in December 2004. It was modded, came with X-Men Vs SF and two other games I think, but they were Japanese and I had no idea, for $100. It's why I joined the forum, for the scoops. Buying games here, at the shmups forums and wolfgames.com was great, I'm gonna sound gay here but it was cool finding those games.

I think right now I wouldn't mind playing the Chase HQ pack (got that from neorichieb1979) and MSX Collection.

Mid 2000s Saturn buying was king. I don't even want to know what prices are like now.

In a word, retarded.

Much like Arcade cab prices being inflated because of bro-'collectors', saturns are now selling for like $100+ alone, and games like Panzer Saga are like 1800. Like I said, retarded.

 

[kahel]

I bought mine in 1995 when i saw it in a store . It was totally unexpected. It the only console in my collection that is the original from back in the days. I kept the console and the game Guardian Heroes, i played the fuck out of that game back then.

 

[DevilRedeemed]

Got the Japanese one a bit after release and it cost a shit load.
Was it worth it? Not really. But I came round after a while

 

[Dr Shroom]

Emulation still crap or nah?

 

[HornheaDD]

Emulation still crap or nah?

It's not perfect, but better than it was. I use one called Yabause, or Yaba Sanshiro, i cant remember the name. I use it on my NVidia Sheild and it works pretty well. Locks up sometimes, other games have issues, but it cleans up the graphics quite a bit. Makes em nice and sharp.

 

[wataru330]

Matt from wolfgames was that dude!

Still have my CyberBots box set from him.

Those were the days, ‘sage.

 

[100proof]

Emulation still crap or nah?

Significantly better than a few years ago. SSF is good for most folks but there's a Mednafen core in Retroarch that's great too if you have the horsepower to run it.

I remember playing one for the first time at a frat party in the summer of '95. Got my own in '96, modded it and then bought two more (a black skeletal one in '98 and another American one when they were being clearanced out because my original ate shit). Wish I hadn't sold all of my 100+ original games back in the mid 00s to pay bills but meh... I've got a Rhea with a full set and no house clutter so probably better off.

 

[LoneSage]

Matt from wolfgames was that dude!

Still have my CyberBots box set from him.

Those were the days, ‘sage.

Shit man I had the Cyberbots big box too. Bought it from shir0 here, iirc. Yeah bro those were the days. But, better days lay ahead.

 

[titchgamer]

I never even played one until after it and the DC died, Think I was on PS2 when I first played a Saturn and didnt think much of it at the time.

Never owned or knew anyone who had one new, We all went down the PSX route instead as the library looked so much better and no Sonic or SOR games to really keep me loyal to sega then.

I did get this one last year I think it was, And I only got it because I liked the box art!

Having since played one though I think my earlier judgements of it were harsh and getting a ODE allowed me to find some good games I had never played or heard of.

 

[andsuchisdeath]

I didn't own one in the 90's, but buying one in the early 2000's is "what got me back into video games".

The console was so cool to me then, and my appreciation has only grown from there, year after year.

I also still have some games from wolfgames.

 

[HawkJ229]

I remember seeing the Sega Saturn in action for the first time at Toys R' Us. The game in action was Fighters MegaMix. I was so blown away by it because I only knew of NES, and Genesis around that time. Sonic Adventure on the DC, with Sonic running away from the killer whale also blew me away. Sega consoles made quite an impression on me as a kid. I now own them all.

 

[jro]

By far my favorite retro system. I got one around '97 or '98, and bought Panzer Dragoon Saga, Burning Rangers, and Shining Force III off the shelf at Toys R Us for normal retail price.

Eventually sold it all probably around the time the PS2 came out.

Went a little overboard on collecting in the mid-2000s (played everything I bought but bought way too much), then sold off all of my retro stuff, including a Japanese and an American Saturn.

Finally picked up another one a year or two ago from pixeljunkie and I've slowly picked up games I used to love or ones I've been curious to try. Still adore the system.

 

[Neo Alec]

Got mine less than a month after the US release. I still have it and it still works.

 

[HDRchampion]

I got the Saturn when they gave the 3 pack title Virtua Cop, Virtua Fighter 2, & Daytona USA. At that time, i didn't know that was going to be the greatest party console of all time. Sega Bomberman, Guardian Heroes, and X-men vs Street Fighter. So many long nights gaming with friends.

 

[Dr Shroom]

How's Street Fighter Alpha 3 on the Saturn? Never seen it in action, how does it compare to the CPS2 version?

 

[@M]

I got a used one from Funcoland for about $70 when it was nearing the end of its life. KOF '96 was my first import buy along with a 4-in-1 RAM cart/converter. Also later got KOF '97, SS3, SS4, X-men vs. SF, Tokimeki Memorial, Pocket Fighter, DOA, Magical Drop 3, Columns Arcade Collection, Sentimental Graffiti, Vampire Savior, FF:RBS, and a bunch of other imports. Last Gladiators, Nightwarriors, Magic Carpet, Sega Ages, Warcraft 2, Skeleton Warriors, Shining the Holy Ark, Quake, Powerslave, Darius Gaiden, BAT Remix, Galactic Attack, Hexen, Sonic R, X-men: COTA and Super Puzzle Fighter 2 Turbo were my favorite US games.

Still got all that shit collecting dust. I love that thing, but haven't played it in probably at least a decade.

 

[DevilRedeemed]

Good memories of when I was collecting saturn imports some 15 years back and hidden gems where actually hidden, no over exposure to every nook and cranny, we paved the way and sought the knowlege. Some of the coolest things was finding half decent cheap unknown games. Was kind of like that across the board. Pains me a little to know that the joy has been sucked out of it all by what became of the "scene". Collecting was just a biproduct of digging into the games themselves for what they where

 

[fake]

I was super excited about the Saturn. I loved playing Virtua Fighter in the arcade and was all over Sonic X-Treme and Nights. The local Toys R Us got a demo unit with Fighters MegaMix and eventually Nights, and they blew me away. I'm not sure if I had played a PlayStation at that point. I remember seeing the import ads in the back of EGM and really wanting a white Saturn. I'd also read all the names of these weird games that the magazine never even mentioned. In 2006 I finally got a white Saturn and have built a solid collection over the years.

In 2011 I didn't have much money, but I found a seller on Craigslist who was having a baby and needed cash. He was selling a ton of great import Saturn games, so I snatched those up, but passed on Panzer Dragoon Saga. I regretted it so I texted him a week later and bought a mint copy off of him for $175. A few years later (after beating the game) I sold it in order to buy Psychic Killer Torumaru. I'd like to say "no regrats" - I do like having Torumaru more than PDS - but oof. That one hurts.

 

[GutsDozer]

I did. And I imported tons of games. It had the only home versions of Capcom Fighters worth playing. And in my opinion the best home version of Alpha 3. It was also a good and cheap way to play SNK Fighters. I loved Saturn. I even enjoyed the Resident Evil port in all of its rainbow colored smoke glory. And Night's is still is the shit.