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[doncale]

it's all on that assembler website's forum

http://www.assemblergames.com/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?t=1310

Yakumo
Head Moderator:

I spent 5 hours today looking through 50 odd video tapes for the early Saturn footage that I have. Believe it or not, the fist video I checked was one of the two which I own. Sadly I haven't found the second tape yet but I will continue my search on Monday. Anyway for your viewing pleasure we have a photo of a Daytona USA without textures on background objects and a photo from an early build of Mansion Of Hidden Souls. I also took a few movies with my brothers cybershot camera. Unfortunately I don't have the equipment on my mum's PC to rip the movies from the video tape. So the cybershot 15 second jpeg movies without sound was the best I could do. Enjoy!!

Daytona USA - BETA (Notice the missing slot machine?)

I was showing my brother the Saturn tape that I have found so far when I noticed a better glimps of Daytona USA in it's beta form. The picture below shows that the Sonic wall has no textures plus many other stuff is missing such as trees, traffic cones and the starting line. From this screen shot it looks as if the early beta of Daytona had some really bad pop up issues.

Anthaemia:

It's hard to tell from that last image (because of the distortion), but I'm fairly sure that this is from the same early demo once shown in an issue of Sega Saturn Magazine. AM2 apparently had a full conversion of Daytona USA running on the final Saturn hardware in the system's high resolution mode, though course textures had yet to be added. The cars looked absolutely brilliant, but to get the game out on shelves in time for the Saturn's advanced release date the programmers had to make some major sacrifices - the display mode was an obvious loss, along with the speed. I'm sure that anyone familiar with Daytona on the Saturn will know just how bad the PAL version was, and the increased borders were added to prevent any further speed loss (it was supposedly either the speed or screen size that would be affected, and AM2 wisely chose not to slow the game down any more than was necessary)!

Thanks for sharing this amazing footage with us - who needs the televised VF3 tech demo now? I sure don't, as these give much more insight into the earlier stages of the Saturn's life. If only someone could find that clip of Panzer Dragoon taken from a Silicon Graphics workstation...It's hard to tell from that last image (because of the distortion), but I'm fairly sure that this is from the same early demo once shown in an issue of Sega Saturn Magazine. AM2 apparently had a full conversion of Daytona USA running on the final Saturn hardware in the system's high resolution mode, though course textures had yet to be added. The cars looked absolutely brilliant, but to get the game out on shelves in time for the Saturn's advanced release date the programmers had to make some major sacrifices - the display mode was an obvious loss, along with the speed. I'm sure that anyone familiar with Daytona on the Saturn will know just how bad the PAL version was, and the increased borders were added to prevent any further speed loss (it was supposedly either the speed or screen size that would be affected, and AM2 wisely chose not to slow the game down any more than was necessary)!

Thanks for sharing this amazing footage with us - who needs the televised VF3 tech demo now? I sure don't, as these give much more insight into the earlier stages of the Saturn's life. If only someone could find that clip of Panzer Dragoon taken from a Silicon Graphics workstation...

Johnny
Moderator

Like i promised:
- Daytona USA : Saturn (early build)

32X Daytona? I don't believe it.. looks more like that early Saturn build we saw in U.S. magazines like EGM. but who knows?

 

[doncale]

32X Virtua Racing - Panzer Dragoon? - Clockwork Knight

pre-production silver Saturn

Saturn Ecco the Dolphin

 

[BeOnEdge]

thats definately not daytona 32x. thats an early saturn shot. i remember that same shot from EGM and gamefan.

 

[Lazy8s]

Saturn software development inside of SEGA was really interesting. Because of the system's especially high learning curve and because of the chaos and political infighting within the company at the time, development had more than its share of experimental prototypes, alternate versions, projects moved between systems like 32X and Saturn, and abandoned projects.

That Clockwork Knight build is intriguing and a little more reminiscent of Toy Commander.

 

[jarrod]

Panzer 32X?! Wow, good thing it got bumped up to Saturn... I wanna see that SGI version too!

Dynamite Headdy 32X would've been nice. Capcom was working on a 32X DarkStalkers port and Konami on a 32X Castlevania (which eventually became Symphony of the Night) but both projects were moved early on (when SOJ made it clear Saturn was their focus). I'd like to see some shots of Scavenger's 32X X-Men game & Virtua Hamster show up some day...

 

[Evenball]

I used to have a trailer for Shenmue on the Saturn, but I deleted it a long time ago. got any info on that?

edit: oh, I just found out it's an easter egg on Shenmue II

 

[mightynine]

Good god, I'd forgotten all about Virtua Racing. I loved that game at the arcade.

 

[FortNinety]

All those screens are old... except for the Panzer one. Good God, what we got in the end was a miracle in comparison!

 

[LuckyBrand]

damn, woulda loved dynamite heady 32X and Panzer dragoon 32X!!!

I still have my 32x, gotta hook it up... that system ruled....

it is worth its weight in poo if nothing more than for the only T-MEK home conversion...

i loved that game in the arcades, and had a hell of a time tracking it down for 32X; but it was well worth it!


EDIT:

man this whole thread makes me sad.. i remember when I got 32X, it was on clearance, and SEGA was still a big name... and I remember at the mall they still had the virtua fighter "pack" that had a coupon for virtua fighter 32x, a t-shirt in it and a preview disc or something.. and it was only $10 or something and I didnt get it

virtua fighter 32X went on to become one of my favorite and most played games ever...

i wish i could relieve my childhood/early teenage years

 

[LuckyBrand]

just so you know, this thread has forced me to pull down my ole JVC X'Eye (aka: genesis/segacd combo by JVC) and 32X and rehook it up..


going to be tough to find space alongside my xbox, dvd player, and sega saturn, but i must be able to play knuckles chaotix, sega CD and t-mek!!!

also, my search for rare 32X/segacd games is once again.. on.

 

[Lazy8s]

I was looking forward to Virtua Hamster a lot, too. And Kolibri at the time, which did come out.

 

[ourumov]

It doesn't look that bad PDS 32 X !

 

[Shinobi]

If 32X had received VF1 from the jump, I think things would've been a lot different. It's still nuts playing it on the 32X emu, realizing that what was essentially the Genny with a couple extra chips was powering that thing.

 

[Doc Savage]

I remember seeing the Panzer Dragoon shots, jeez it's been awhile. I also remember scavenger was creating an x-men game for 32x that looked amazing. It showed a 3-d model of wolverine walking around some buildings.

 

[dark10x]

Interesting...

Those Ecco pics have to be CG, though, as they seem to look better than the Dreamcast game which was released...

I gotta wonder how that mag came up with "Although the game looks chunkier, it's hard to tell the two versions apart!" after looking at the Saturn version. The framerate problems alone prevent them from looking even remotely close to one-another...

 

[drohne]

i think those panzer dragoon and clockwork knight shots are mislabeled. afaik they were always saturn games, and i remember seeing those shots or very similar ones in egm.

 

[mightynine]

If 32X had received VF1 from the jump, I think things would've been a lot different. It's still nuts playing it on the 32X emu, realizing that what was essentially the Genny with a couple extra chips was powering that thing.

I thought VF did come out for the 32X.

 

[Vgamer]

Yes VF did come out for 32X. In fact im looking at my copy of it as I type this on the shelf.

 

[ge-man]

What Shinobi meant was that VF should have been a launch title for the 32X. It came out way after the fact.

Man, all of this talk of the 32X makes me want to pull out the machine when I get home.

 

[goodcow]

I thought VF did come out for the 32X.

But not at launch.

 

[Shinobi]

Interesting...

Those Ecco pics have to be CG, though, as they seem to look better than the Dreamcast game which was released...

I gotta wonder how that mag came up with "Although the game looks chunkier, it's hard to tell the two versions apart!" after looking at the Saturn version. The framerate problems alone prevent them from looking even remotely close to one-another...

That was going on A LOT back then. MK2 and Super SF2 were reputed to be near perfect on SNES when they didn't even touch the arcade versions. Genny MK1 was even worse. Ridge Racer looked nice on PSX, but it wasn't nearly as hot as the arcade version. It's pretty funny seeing how forgiving people were when it came to arcade conversions back then...then we moved to the DC era, and suddenly games like VOOT weren't good enough cause it was only like 98.7% exact.

 

[Culex]

Virtua Racing Deluxe is still an awesome game on the 32X!

 

[jarrod]

There's a lot Sega could've done differently for 32X. VF at launch really would've helped (especially in Japan), keeping Chaotix as a Sonic title rather than a Knuckles spinoff, mining their library of excellent System 32 games for ports (Golden Axe RODA, Out Runners, SegaSonic Arcade, etc). Keeping Capcom & Konami on the platform would've helped a lot too.

It might have been better for Sega in the long run to delay Saturn a year or two also (maybe giving it an actual 3D GPU architecture with either NEC/VideoLogic or Lockheed Martin) and rework some Saturn games like Panzer Dragoon and Shining Wisdom into 32X releases.

 

[Shinobi]

Heh, there's a long list of could'ves for Sega. Going with SGI would've been interesting, and if nothing else might've drastically changed the courses taken by Sega and Nintendo.

The big one for me though is Daytona. This was the game that almost everyone wanted a Saturn for, and in my view was the definitive next generation game of that time. Had they worked on it another six months, made it look even similiar to Sega Touring Car Championship (which looked bad as a later gen Saturn game, but it had little pop up and is still one or the two or three fastest conventional racers I've ever seen), and launched the Saturn on that fabled Saturnday (September 2nd '95) along with Daytona and VF Remix for $299, it would've seriously altered it's early course. In fact it's my belief Sega could've beaten Sony that Christmas. And with Saturn still leading in Japan at that point, who knows what could've happened after that?

As for 32X, I agree...it could've had a nice couple of years being a machine laced with System 16 and 32 ports.

 

[op_ivy]

i think those panzer dragoon and clockwork knight shots are mislabeled. afaik they were always saturn games, and i remember seeing those shots or very similar ones in egm.

yeah, i remember seeing both sets in an old gamefan as saturn shots

 

[Yusaku]

That Panzer Dragoon shot is physically painful to look at.

 

[FortNinety]

I was looking forward to Virtua Hamster a lot, too. And Kolibri at the time, which did come out.

Oh what could have been...

As for Kolibri, I loved that game despite it being not that great really.

 

[op_ivy]

virtua hamster? never heard of that one... what was that about?

 

[FortNinety]

There was a really awesome texture mapped polygonal shooter which may or may not have come out in Europe... it had an X in the name..... it looked really amazing.... but I can't remember the name. Anybody know what I'm talking about?

 

[Culex]

There was a really awesome texture mapped polygonal shooter which may or may not have come out in Europe... it had an X in the name..... it looked really amazing.... but I can't remember the name. Anybody know what I'm talking about?

You would be referring to Darxide, from Frontier Development.

 

[FortNinety]

You would be referring to Darxide, from Frontier Development.

Oh yeah, you're right! I played it only once, for just a few minutes, but was really impressed by the graphics at the time.

 

[mightynine]

Wait just a minute here, Virtua Racing came out for the 32X? I never had a Genny, but this news almost makes me want to seek out some used equipment to play it. But then, isn't it really hard to find 32X games?

 

[BenT]

Darxide did come out in Europe and 32X Virtua Racing Deluxe is pretty common. Only a few games are hard to find.

A highly upgraded version of VR just came out for import PS2, though, so that might be a better choice.

 

[Guileless]

My brother paid $75 for Virtua Racing on the 32x. I think it had 3 tracks.

 

[Shinobi]

It had five tracks in total, including the original three...you could also drive a sports prototype or stock car in addition to the open wheeler. Try and grab the roms for Gens along with VF1, then buy VR and VF2 for PS2!

 

[levious]

also, my search for rare 32X/segacd games is once again.. on.

My local starland has the largest selection of 32x cd games I've ever seen... which ones are you looking for specifically, I'd be happy to take a look for you.

 

[Warm Machine]

Kolibri did come out and was actually pretty fun. I managed to get a copy.

Best games I played on the machine were...

After Burner
Space Harrier
Shadow Squadron
Virtua Racing
Virtua Fighter
Knuckles Chaotix

The rest were all pretty weak. I heard the version of World Series Baseball for it was good. The machine should have been given a load of Sega arcade ports. The machine could easily do versions of OutRun, Super Monaco GP, GP rider, Golden Axe II, etc.

 

[neo2046]

hahahaa!
that Panzer Dragoon for 32X really surprises me!!

 

[btrboyev]

yeah the space harrier 32x is pretty much arcade perfect....I only wished they released more classic sega arcade games on it.

 

[Apharmd Battler]

Great post!! Good info <hugs 32X in secret>......

 

[jarrod]

Heh, Virtua Hamster reminds me of F-Zero X.

 

[Acosta]

This reminds me how much I love the previous phase of every new system, with the new games, new graphics, new hopes...I love it.

 

[doncale]

That was going on A LOT back then. MK2 and Super SF2 were reputed to be near perfect on SNES when they didn't even touch the arcade versions. Genny MK1 was even worse. Ridge Racer looked nice on PSX, but it wasn't nearly as hot as the arcade version. It's pretty funny seeing how forgiving people were when it came to arcade conversions back then...then we moved to the DC era, and suddenly games like VOOT weren't good enough cause it was only like 98.7% exact.

man, I agree 1,000,000%





oh, and I forgot all about Virtua Hamster, that would've been the shit.

 

[LuckyBrand]

T-Mek is a really fun 32X game if oyu enjoyed the arcade version, but pretty rare..

SpiderMan for 32X is also extremely rare, I believe it was the last commercially released game for 32X.

and Virtua Racing for Sega Genesis had the 3 arcade tracks and launched at $99..

the Virtua Racing for 32X had some added stuff and was like $50-60 at launch.

I remember having Virtua Racing for Genesis, I think I paid $20-30 for it used, and I loved it.. I thought it was amazing at the time.

Virtua Fighter for 32X is one of the best fighting games ever made...

 

[Chittagong]

I want to see the early Saturn prototypes once more. Especially the pyramid one.

 

[LuckyBrand]

man seeing those virtua hamster pics remind me how pissed i was to hear that the game was cancelled and not coming out..

and i am getting angry all over again..