DF Retro: Sega Saturn vs Sony PlayStation - The Driving/Racing Game Face-Off

Ridge Racer Type 4 and WipEout 3, two absolutely gorgeous and technically impressive PlayStation racers from 1999

What these games achieve is far out of the reach of Saturn.

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This is the best content from DF, the Retro series is a blast and shows Johns strengths in his writing and editing. The best part of this one is that there's more to come.
 
Early on in the Saturn's lifespan there were many games that mixed polygonal scenery with sprite characters

Most are regarded as some of the worst games on the system

Sega itself had several quality games and did not bring them to the system.
If Sega wanted to, nowadays, make a compilation of games that only remained in arcades, it would be possible to make about 10 volumes.
 
Found a 96 game they must have missed, it'd probably be a tie too (I don't see it in the results at least, maybe it's name dropped somewhere in the video though).
 
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Looking forward to the fighting games comparison, specially the SNK and Dead or Alive ports
SNK ports side could be pretty one sided due to Saturn's RAM pack which was pretty much required for those. As to 3D side games like Tobal no 2/Tekken 3/Bloody Roar 2/Street Fighter EX 2 etc. are clearly out of Saturn's reach. Dead or Alive case is pretty peculiar, it almost feels like two different games with different technical approaches.
 
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I sometimes feel like I've been transported from a parallel universe to this Earth where the Saturn existed. I didn't even know there was a third competitor in the PS1/N64 era. It might have to do with me being European as it seems to have been having a really hard time here so now one I knew had one. I wonder what the console games landscape would look like today if Sega kept going after Dreamcast. I think we'd have more fun and arcadey games.
 
I sometimes feel like I've been transported from a parallel universe to this Earth where the Saturn existed. I didn't even know there was a third competitor in the PS1/N64 era. It might have to do with me being European as it seems to have been having a really hard time here so now one I knew had one. I wonder what the console games landscape would look like today if Sega kept going after Dreamcast. I think we'd have more fun and arcadey games.

Yeah, on reflection, I can't think of a single person who had one when I was at school. Virtually everyone gamed on a Playstation or a PC.
 
Dunno, comparing multiplatforms is interesting and all but you always know most of the time there's a target platform and a port that doesn't necessarily use the system as efficiently.

IMO, comparing the best looking exclusives for each system gives more reliable results in a "which system is more powerful" scenario.

Either way it's an interesting watch though.
 
Dunno, comparing multiplatforms is interesting and all but you always know most of the time there's a target platform and a port that doesn't necessarily use the system as efficiently.

IMO, comparing the best looking exclusives for each system gives more reliable results in a "which system is more powerful" scenario.

Either way it's an interesting watch though.
No matter the metric, the PS1 has had better looking games since launch and to be honest, games like Crash, Need for Speed 2, Porsche are beyond anything the Saturn has done. the only advanced fighting game with lighting was Fighting Vipers, PS1 makes equally beautiful but totally polygonal games.
 
I sometimes feel like I've been transported from a parallel universe to this Earth where the Saturn existed. I didn't even know there was a third competitor in the PS1/N64 era. It might have to do with me being European as it seems to have been having a really hard time here so now one I knew had one. I wonder what the console games landscape would look like today if Sega kept going after Dreamcast. I think we'd have more fun and arcadey games.

You didn't miss much
 
Dunno, comparing multiplatforms is interesting and all but you always know most of the time there's a target platform and a port that doesn't necessarily use the system as efficiently.

IMO, comparing the best looking exclusives for each system gives more reliable results in a "which system is more powerful" scenario.

Either way it's an interesting watch though.
If you compare the best looking exclusives for both, the PSX still comes out ahead though.
 
This feature was a reminder of how mesh transparencies were a Saturn speciality, and that unless you knew the insides and out of the Saturn from the get go, you would struggle to match the competition.
 
Saturn put up a good fight, I expected it to struggle big time with third party titles. I did play the Saturn version of Wipeout recently and it was more on par with the DOS version on a Pentium, one thing they didn't mention was the sound effect processing. The PS1 version gives an echo for both the ship engine and the music when you enter a tunnel, its a nice effect and shows off what the PS1 can do, but I'm surprised the Saturn wasn't capable of that with it's SCSP.
 
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