Today is the Sega Saturn's birthday.

[oliverclaude]

I hadn't forgiven sega for ... in particular the 32x...

Yet, the 32X has two things, the Saturn hasn't: A great Sonic game & a great/best Virtua Racing port.

 

[Tron]

HBD to the saturn,good thing i never sold my collection given how valuable it's games have become.By the way segata sanshiro ! Beside what other console had a mascot like this.

What's great about the saturn still it excel so well at 2D.

 

[alphagamer]

HBD to the saturn,good thing i never sold my collection given how valuable it's games have become.

I bought Panzer Dragoon Saga for 50 Euros and Deep Fear for 33... look at that shit now... Retro game collecting in general has become ridiculously expensive in the last 3-5 years.

 

[Tron]

I bought Panzer Dragoon Saga for 50 Euros and Deep Fear for 33... look at that shit now... Retro game collecting in general has become ridiculously expensive in the last 3-5 years.

Sure has i know the english version of panzer dragoon saga has become insanely expensive.

 

[bloodycelt]

Sure has i know the english version of panzer dragoon saga has become insanely expensive.

PDS I can sort of understand, especially since many come in those paper sleeves where the sleeves eat into the discs. It started going up in price the day it was released.

Panzer Dragoon and Zwei... I do not understand, those games are common, they used to go for $5, or $6 used.

 

[cat]

One of my favourite consoles of all time, its an ugly looking beast, but never judge a book by its cover as the old saying goes.
I waited untill the very end of its lifespan before i got one and boy was i sorry, a whole bunch of great games and for me hands down the best console for a shooter fan from that generation.
Nowaday's you really need a chipped machine as the games fetch ludicrous amounts, wish i could turn back the clock, i remember panzer dragoon saga being a tenner in the bargin bins

 

[Tron]

PDS I can sort of understand, especially since many come in those paper sleeves where the sleeves eat into the discs. It started going up in price the day it was released.

Panzer Dragoon and Zwei... I do not understand, those games are common, they used to go for $5, or $6 used.

Yup PDS did have a limited run in north america after all.Odd how the other two panzer games have gone up in price.Still the saturn for it's time a console that didn't have much interest,different now with it's demand for it.

 

[alphagamer]

Odd how the other two panzer games have gone up in price.

I think it is a halo effect of PDS going up in price, increasing demand for the other titles in the series, because people recognize the name, or for sake of collection completeness.

 

[FilthyRear]

It has a fantastic FirePro Wrestling game.

 

[famicommander]

Yet, the 32X has two things, the Saturn hasn't: A great Sonic game & a great/best Virtua Racing port.

It also has a kickass version of MKII.

My favorite part of the 32X is the fact that it acts as a pass-through to play JPN Mega Drive carts on my US Genesis with no physical modification required. Chaotix, Kolibri, and VR are just icing on the cake.

 

[RAZO]

It also has a kickass version of MKII.

My favorite part of the 32X is the fact that it acts as a pass-through to play JPN Mega Drive carts on my US Genesis with no physical modification required. Chaotix, Kolibri, and VR are just icing on the cake.

Yea the MKII 32x version is pretty solid.

 

[Alpha Skyhawk]

burning rangers is still a really cool game and it's unfortunate there haven't been any other games like it.

In concept.

God, what a cluster foul-up. Someone said they were pissed to have paid $75 for Guardian Heroes. I'm pissed I paid more than that for Burning Rangers.

 

[Electric Grave]

Best system of all time, great peripherals, excellent button layout, excellent system for the time. Playing arcade ports for the most part was a dream come true. I love the DC as well but just not as much as I love the Saturn, same thing for the playstation and any other console for that matter. A library so massive and so good that I have all the titles I want and yet there are still some missing titles I should get my hands on.

 

[StevenK]

Yet, the 32X has two things, the Saturn hasn't: A great Sonic game & a great/best Virtua Racing port.

This is all well and good as 30 year olds with jobs, but 20 years ago when I was living off a maximum of 3 new games a year, this piece of shit taking up the resources of 2 of those 3 didn't feel like a good purchase.

In fact, save for a second pad/joystick and the odd memory card, I don't think I've bought a single console peripheral since.

 

[oliverclaude]

This is all well and good as 30 year olds with jobs, but 20 years ago when I was living off a maximum of 3 new games a year, this piece of shit taking up the resources of 2 of those 3 didn't feel like a good purchase.

Excellent argument, but considering your back then financial situation... why did you even bother to buy it in the first place? The "next-gen" craze was rather about the Jag & 3DO, PS1 & Saturn were released the very same year as 32X, and with all those ingenious SNES releases of '94/'95 (Hagane, Rockman X series etc.) you had a broad range of great alternatives to choose from. Not to mention all those outstanding Mega Drive titles of that time like Hard Cops, Bloodlines, SoR 3 or Alien Soldier...

 

[StevenK]

Excellent argument, but considering your back then financial situation... why did you even bother to buy it in the first place? The "next-gen" craze was rather about the Jag & 3DO, PS1 & Saturn were released the very same year as 32X, and with all those ingenious SNES releases of '94/'95 (Hagane, Rockman X series etc.) you had a broad range of great alternatives to choose from. Not to mention all those outstanding Mega Drive titles of that time like Hard Cops, Bloodlines, SoR 3 or Alien Soldier...

Because I was 13 and masturbating so frequently that my brain was little more than a sperm distribution hub.

Edit - To add, I sold my entire megadrive collection in return for £100 off the ticket price on a playstation not long after, it was an all round bad decision year.

 

[Alpha Skyhawk]

I'm thinking about loading up the Saturn BIOS in SSF and playing music CDs from it through my home theater setup. I was playing Worldwide Soccer via SSF, and the music quality was phenomenal. It was like I went back to 1999 when I really sat down and listened to CD quality music for the first time when I got my Saturn that summer.

 

[oliverclaude]

...it was an all round bad decision year.

Well, we all had some of these... at least it's a cool, depressing story you have now to pass on .

 

[tacoguy]

I had a low opinion of the Saturn before I bought a Japanese Saturn with a small collection of games for it.
Back then, the only person I knew who had a Saturn was my friend that lived across the street and he had the 3 pack demo that came with the system and he occasionally would rent games for it. But I was really unimpressed by all those early 3d games. Virtual Fighter 2 was too floaty, Daytona USA had mad popups, and House of the Dead was bad playing it with the regular controller. What made it worse is that both the PS1 and the N64 were released within about a year and both those systems were just miles ahead when it came to 3d games. I guess there were some good games for it released here in the states but they were too few of them. And it wasn't long before even Sega said they were giving up with the Saturn.

After that, I never looked back at the system. And whenever anyone mentioned the Saturn I would think failure. Fast forward almost 20 years to now and my opinions of the system has changed. When I started with the whole retro gaming all over again, that's when I discovered the Japanese Saturn and its vast library of 2d games. The system was a beast when it came to 2d gaming. Simply unrivaled. Not just shmups, but fighting games and other arcade ports. I still like the Genesis and Dreamcast better, but I do have some new found respect for the system. And I'm having a blast with it.

 

[andsuchisdeath]

I still like the Genesis and Dreamcast better, but I do have some new found respect for the system. And I'm having a blast with it.

Yeah right

 

[wataru330]

The arcade 3d triple pack includes virtua cop, not HotD.

No future in your frontin' and no fun reading long assed posts.

I generally don't like 3d...and every 3d arcade port for Saturn is fun, and excellent. Powerslave? Shouldn't even be possible except on PSX! Right, guis?!? Smoooooth on Saturn.

And news flash-not all Saturn 2d is ace, Ace. See: In The Hunt/Donpachi/Silhouette Mirage.

I'd rather play ^ on PSX, and Gunners Heaven and Geppy X and the Tatsunoko games too.














*my long assed posts are fun to read
*my entire future is built around frontin'

 

[100proof]

The Saturn is a fine piece of hardware that just got fucked over and over again by Sega's US office from the botched launch to the constant delays and refusing to bring over most of the best games.

I still would probably take the PS1 just for the breadth of games but I spent just as much time playing Saturn back in the day for the superior arcade ports and shmups.

Hats off to Sega's red-headed stepchild.

 

[voltronbadass]

Best system of all time, great peripherals, excellent button layout, excellent system for the time. Playing arcade ports for the most part was a dream come true. I love the DC as well but just not as much as I love the Saturn, same thing for the playstation and any other console for that matter. A library so massive and so good that I have all the titles I want and yet there are still some missing titles I should get my hands on.

I feel the same way.

I feel silly saying this but I really didnt ever give the saturn a chance until this year. I had one as a kid but only ever had about ten of the american titles for it, it always went ignored then was sold. A few years ago I picked one up and modded it but again it just sat on the shelf getting dusty a few more years. This year I made it a point to give it more of a chance especially after discovering the crazy library of arcade ports available in Japan and after having sold off such a large portion of my arcade stuff.

I can now say it is easily in my top three consoles of all time. It deserves to be there and its nice to discover the saturns awesomeness this late in life when I thought I knew everything there was to know about the classic consoles. Turns out I didnt know shit, the saturn rocks!

 

[tacoguy]

The arcade 3d triple pack includes virtua cop, not HotD.

No future in your frontin' and no fun reading long assed posts.

I generally don't like 3d...and every 3d arcade port for Saturn is fun, and excellent. Powerslave? Shouldn't even be possible except on PSX! Right, guis?!? Smoooooth on Saturn.

And news flash-not all Saturn 2d is ace, Ace. See: In The Hunt/Donpachi/Silhouette Mirage.

I'd rather play ^ on PSX, and Gunners Heaven and Geppy X and the Tatsunoko games too.














*my long assed posts are fun to read
*my entire future is built around frontin'

Sorry I cant remember something that happened almost 20 years ago when I was around 10 years old. Whatever, I told you my experience with the Saturn and what I can remember from my time spent playing the system. Not my fault I can't fondly look back a the system like many of you did. Blame Sega of America for that.

At least I'm finally starting to pick up on the system and I'm discovering all the Japanese games that were never released here in the states.

 

[bloodycelt]

The Saturn is a fine piece of hardware that just got fucked over and over again by Sega's US office from the botched launch to the constant delays and refusing to bring over most of the best games.

I still would probably take the PS1 just for the breadth of games but I spent just as much time playing Saturn back in the day for the superior arcade ports and shmups.

Hats off to Sega's red-headed stepchild.

There's a book out called console wars IIRC, the Saturn got fucked over by Sega of Japan, because Kalinske offended them by doing better in the states than Japan. (In Japan a lord's vassal does not outshine his boss).
Had Yuji Naka not pulled a bitch-fit, Saturn would have had a sonic.
Has SoJ not forced SoA to release the Saturn early with no third party launch titles, and offended stores into not carrying it.

Had Kalinske stayed, and not that asshat Bernie Solar step up, we would have had Lunar on Saturn in the US, and possibly Grandia.

Kalinske had a good relationship with Working Designs, so its also possible more Japanese titles would have come over.