Ridge Racer did run on superior hardware, System 22, and was 60fps in the Arcade I think. But despite RR being simpler than Daytona, the port was good.
That's silly.
The port was good
because the arcade game wasn't as advanced as Model 2 or superior boards, not
despite it (granted System 22 had some technology advantages but it's pretty obvious that the polygonal and texture complexity of games like Ridge Racer and Tekken was nowhere near Model 2 equivalents, RR is just flat and decidedly last gen looking vs Daytona USA and looks aliased to hell and back due to the interlacing, real transparencies be damned). And it was about as downgraded as Sega Rally still despite (proper use here) not being as advanced (and yes, System 22 was more powerful than PlayStation, we've been going over the downgrades the last few pages, the whole point of the conversation was that PS appeared better than Saturn for having less cuts in some ports than Saturn had for some Model 2 ports, which again is only natural when those arcades didn't hold a candle to Model 2 so it should never be used as such since Saturn also could/did get better ports ftom inferior to Model 2 hardware and PS could never match Model 2 either, circle jerk much, how did you ever agree with this idea of the PS if you don't even know what the cuts to RR were?!).
Or did people not care if the arcade games were impressive to begin with, just "solid arcade port" was enough to pump them? That's absurd, in that case all the great 2D game ports on Saturn and also the solid ports of the likes of Virtual On, Virtua Cop and VF should have gained way more ground rather than be trashed in the case of the last. Sega and other companies would have probably released more Super Scaler and 2D stuff in the West too, with more success in pushing back against Sony's hyping of 3D only at any cost.
I don't think Namco's ports had extras worth discussing before later games like Soul Blade and Tekken 3 (in the following post these are your main examples ignoring my points here), Ridge Racer games pre-4 were fairly light on content much like Sega racers, even when they were console specific games and not direct ports (I dunno if they stopped porting in order to avoid comparisons and talk of dowgrades). VF2 was super barebones compared to Tekken 3, sure, but also came way earlier and was more in competition with Tekken 2 instead (handily trumping it so as to be compared with Tekken 3 years later or until nowadays as showing Saturn off vs PS, it's just that good). Same for other third parties. I'd say all companies did on par on that front, gradually adding more and more in such games. By SFA3 even Capcom was doing lots of extras and I'd say STCC is on par with Rage Racer content. Of course not all arcade games can be adapted as such and not all companies could afford it (ie shmup ports can't have much content without basically designing more game from scratch, or SNK as a struggling company). Sega was evolving with trends just like any other developer and publisher, doing Final Fantasy level JRPGs and even MGS caliber cinematic games like Shenmue for Saturn would be, but they were running on fumes with the disparity in mind/marketshare unfairly established years before these trends so it didn't always materialise.
Saturn's fate was sealed long, LONG before people started expecting every racer to be Gran Turismo in terms of content/grind and for arcade games to constantly justify themselves with shit to do beyond the core gameplay that is what makes them desirable to have at home in the first place (let's be real, even with extras you just took a day or so to unlock characters and mess around in mini games, then just practiced in training or survival type modes for multiplayer meet ups or ditch the game as not really into fighters). Before then, it was other genres people expected length from, like JRPG (yes yes, we know about FFVII). Sega arcade ports were on par with any competition prior to these later developments, if not better, even with relative duds like Daytona or the original VF (which again wasn't even so bad, much like RR it's just a graphically downgraded 30fps version retaining the gameplay, so imo unfairly trashed much like VF3tb on Dreamcast which is way closer of a port than most assume by its rep - though I'll concede it was a less impressive game by then which as I say and you opposed does matter, but still Saturn had games showing it can for example do texture mapping beyond that game so it's not like people could think it would only have flat shaded untextured quads in 3D like Model 1 because of it, they'd have to be pretty brainless drones to fall for that idea).
Of course having cheaper arcade games is a solid duh, Sega also did that even before Namco, even before STV, they didn't for example stop making 2D/Super Scaler games as soon as they had Model 1 and 2 out or stop Model 2 as soon as 3 was in or anything and later they did Naomi etc. just like Namco had PS1 & 2 based boards but obviously "arcade perfect" doesn't mean shit if the "arcade game" is just on par with anything at home to begin with. At that point it's expected, Soulcalibur would have probably been trashed (maybe a bit less as the only home port since PS1 couldn't do it, it might still look PS1 style like Tekken 3 but the boards were considerably beefed up) much like VF Saturn if it was just arcade perfect, nevermind with minor downgrades, the complexity and impressive factor of the arcade original matters. Or rather mattered until about the DC gen where arcades altogether died/reduced to gimmicks no longer pushing the medium graphically, though there was still room for stuff like Naomi 2 and even their PC based arcades yielded some impressive games but now for sure it's all just contemporary visuals in arcades as anywhere). And yes, STV games/ports were fine too (if they were good games, not like that Final Fight fighting game). Not because wow, arcade perfect, that's expected for a lower end arcade game just as it is for a console only game, just the games were good, arcade ports or not. Nobody would be impressed if PS5 gets an arcade perfect port of a game that doesn't look special anyway, as welcome as it may be if it's a good game, and it should have been the same for PS back then. Hell, it was the same for Saturn as it got near arcade perfect 2D ports miles beyond the PS versions (even without RAM cartridges like SFA2) but clearly didn't impress folks who just went by the very occasional bad port from far superior hardware PS would never match either to trash it at any opportunity.
Saturn and PS were still the most advanced 3D (and 2D) home platforms yet at launch so impressed by that alone, even if they didn't hold a candle to the best arcades (not just Model 2 as Model 3 came soon after), but all due to PR/marketing (and bad moves like initial cost of Saturn) it was all twisted and that impression only applied to PS. It was quite unfair and clearly guided by the enthusiast media of the era trashing anything that appeared lesser as, well, trash rather than still with merits, ignoring most stuff on other platforms and elevating anything on PS with bs like "blue shadows".
But this is all circle jerking at this point. Edit: yeah and you continue in this manner. I already gave examples that weren't barebones. You just choose the best examples of Namco vs the worst of Sega not even caring about release dates or if they really represent their output. Yeah VF3tb was barebones, earlier on Saturn Fighters Megamix wasn't (same year as your Soul Blade, both before Tekken 3), Sega Rally 2 also had a ton of stuff added and FV2 was released on a dead platform, not even worldwide, so obviously they weren't gonna do much for that, it's a wonder it came out at all. As for later games, Tekken copied a lot of post-VF3tb content from VF4 and Evo which put their own spin on fleshing out the single player, not with character lore which isn't the series point but customization items, the whole touring arcades and winning tournaments deal, the grading system with the kyus or whatever for ongoing visible progression, etc., now you are just making it a VF vs Tekken deal with all kinds of elements that made it more popular worldwide rather than the general discussion of content additions to arcade ports (and contradict yourself mentioning it was more popular in arcades where it had none of the extras) which again Sega did do just like any company with tangible examples given, some better, some worse, all evolving over time, all with their own duds.
Tl;dr RR and its PS port were propped up, Saturn and Model 2 ports were trashed for having more cuts, yet PS too would have had more cuts if anyone attempted Model 2 ports in those days and hell, even still had with the inferior arcade game ports, so obviously the reasons for its hype trashing Saturn's weren't quite genuine. RR is downgraded in all ways, visual and fps, jus like Saturn ports like VO, VF2, FV, VC, VC2, MTT, etc., so a dud of two like Daytona or HOTD shouldn't be a big deal considering the gulf in power and the feat attempted would pose problems for PS too and considering Saturn also had ports with even less cuts from less advanced arcades (ie 2D where it also trumped PS by far, or, again the trashed VF port which merely has cuts comparable to RR) and non ports of less arcadey games, but ports are the topic.
. I don't think the team could have done any better with the graphics for any VF 3 port. 