NeoGAF Official SEGA SATURN Community
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Daniel Thomas MacInnes
GAF's Resident Saturn Omnibus
Here's a great video essay on Deep Fear, Sega's answer to Resident Evil. Give it a listen, you'll enjoy it.
Daniel Thomas MacInnes
GAF's Resident Saturn Omnibus
I can't remember (again) if I have shared this video before, but Enemy Zero is such a magnificent, wonderful Sega Saturn horror videogame that it deserves all the attention it deserves. This is one of the system's finest hours, thanks to that brilliant maverick, Kenji Eno. How I miss his brilliant, inventive mind. Had he lived to the present, he could have become as famous as Kojima-san.
Daniel Thomas MacInnes
GAF's Resident Saturn Omnibus
Oh, look, YouTube channel Dungeon Chill also made a video essay on the masterful Baroque. Oh, how I love this one. It's one of the greatest horror videogames ever made: spooky, moody, and filled with very complex themes that videogames of the 90s rarely even touched.
Don't forget that an English translation now exists for Baroque. You can play through farily easily in Japanese, as the plot remains incomprehensible in any language. But doesn't that add to the sense of PKD-inspired dread? Of course. Just turn off the lights, find some way to plug in some headphones, and immerse yourself in this deeply unsettling world.
Daniel Thomas MacInnes
GAF's Resident Saturn Omnibus
Here's a complete playthrough of the English translation of Baroque on Sega Saturn. Ooh, what a perfectly spooky videogame! Watch these videos in the dark after midnight, I dare ya.
Daniel Thomas MacInnes
GAF's Resident Saturn Omnibus
I wanted to share this video essay of Linda Cube for Sony PlayStation as its was given an English translation, which means we should see a Saturn translation in the near future. This was one of the top-rated titles in the 2000 Sega Saturn Magazine JP readers' poll. If you have heard of this fascinating RPG, this video will be very illuminating. Enjoy.
Daniel Thomas MacInnes
GAF's Resident Saturn Omnibus
The Sega Saturn 3D Multi Controller now has a USB adapter that allows it to be used with any PC, Mac or modern videogame system. How awesome is that?
Daniel Thomas MacInnes
GAF's Resident Saturn Omnibus
I wanted to share a gameplay video of the magnificent Duke Nukem 3D on Sega Saturn, one of the system's finest hours and the second installment of the hallowed Lobotomy Trilogy. And did you know that you can still play online matches today via NetLink? That's true! All you need is a peer-to-peer connection via traditional phone line, which I would assume should be free as everyone is using smartphones...at least until the backlash finally hits and kids return to the old-fashioned plug-into-the-wall phones again. Hah! We're all allowed crazy dreams every now and then.
Anyway, here's Duke on Saturn. It's fan-freaking-tastic, absolutely essential with the analog 3D Multi Controller, endless fun and very challenging.
Daniel Thomas MacInnes
GAF's Resident Saturn Omnibus
Sega Saturn fans have been suffering abuse at the hands of critics for the past 30 years. Now it's finally time to change the narrative of Sega's "failed console." The Sega Guys have a new video arguing in favor of Saturn and highlighting its many successes. Give it a watch, pass along and share.
Daniel Thomas MacInnes
GAF's Resident Saturn Omnibus
Fans of Hideo Kojima will enjoy this feature-length documentary on his sci-fi epic Policenauts. Enjoy!
Daniel Thomas MacInnes
GAF's Resident Saturn Omnibus
YouTube channel Pixxellie takes us on a road trip to visit Tokyo videogame stores in search of Sega Saturn videogames. Prices are compared to their current Ebay prices, which is very interesting and reveals some interesting surprises. Well worth watching and sharing. Somebody send this video to the SegaSaturnShiro guys!
StereoVsn
Gold Member
This is an amazing thread and reminds me why Saturn became one of my favorite consoles.
Although now days I emulate more than I use real hardware. I am looking forward to grabbing a MiSTer though with much improved Saturn core.
I still collect physical games though, mostly Japanese ones.
Although now days I emulate more than I use real hardware. I am looking forward to grabbing a MiSTer though with much improved Saturn core.
I still collect physical games though, mostly Japanese ones.
cireza
Member
That's pretty nice.
Soft Museum in Nights has real time deformation, it was incredible back then.
Tongara
Neo Member
Oh, for sure NiGHTS was always impressive, but I think the video I posted is impressive for an amateur lone dev. Either way, both things are cool!
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xpresstuning
Member
Princess Crown (English Patched)
Current status
- all story events and names translated using a fixed-width font
- make some lines shorter to reduce pauses: #1
- use a bigger monospaced font: #3
- some symbols in the font still missing
- items translations missing (HELP NEEDED): #2
- needs play testing for bugs
Alexios
Cores, shaders and BIOS oh my!
I'ma wait for patches, it seems they're test versions atm. Also wait on impressions on the actual translation quality of course.
What a roller coaster that project has been, the dude (not the translator but the tech guy I suppose) had to finally give up after a decade (and some folks still denied it) before someone released it.
I really hope it proves good enough to play through and not have sme stupid/missing stuff people notice later on. I'll be getting it as soon as it's been somewhat tested/verified by the community.
Praise the new guy doing this in like days with the material leftover from aeons ago on the gitbhub.
What a roller coaster that project has been, the dude (not the translator but the tech guy I suppose) had to finally give up after a decade (and some folks still denied it) before someone released it.
I really hope it proves good enough to play through and not have sme stupid/missing stuff people notice later on. I'll be getting it as soon as it's been somewhat tested/verified by the community.
Praise the new guy doing this in like days with the material leftover from aeons ago on the gitbhub.
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Daniel Thomas MacInnes
GAF's Resident Saturn Omnibus
Princess Crown (English Patched)
Current status
Fuckin finally.
- all story events and names translated using a fixed-width font
- make some lines shorter to reduce pauses: #1
- use a bigger monospaced font: #3
- some symbols in the font still missing
- items translations missing (HELP NEEDED): #2
- needs play testing for bugs
CORRECTION: This is NOT an official patch.
Turns out that an unaffiliated person leaked a patch based on earlier work by the official duo who have been working on Princess Crown for the past decade. They publicly denounced the move today and stated this is not an official release.
Sorry, kids. Talk about your plot twists.
Alexios
Cores, shaders and BIOS oh my!
Official, lol, it's all fan works, come on. I saw it on segaxtreme.net, I had no idea you thought it's CyberWarriorX releasing it based on your post. He released his work under GPL then proceeded to release nothing for a decade but somehow has fans over three screenshots from way back and now is pissed someone kept the GPL work and actually does something with it. If he wants to work on his project he can, but for some of us without the best health/age this is the only chance we can get to play it acceptably. I guess I should download it even before the patches/verification I hoped will be coming if he's gonna bully him into deleting it/quitting the project cos he wants to retroactively retcon his GPL release. He didn't even contest his own (12 years old) romhacking.net project thread getting locked on March 2023 but decides to come back to bully someone doing nothing wrong, sad. Well, I guess this can be the new excuse for not releasing anything for another dozen years, because people "stole" GPL work and they lost morale, lol. It's fine to not release anything ever, leading people on and trying to gatekeep and keep a game ransom for a dozen years is not cool if you ask me.
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Daniel Thomas MacInnes
GAF's Resident Saturn Omnibus
Oh, yeah, I hear that. I got into an online tussle with them a few years back over this project. I can certainly relate to fans' frustration.
xpresstuning
Member
No idea, I don't care
i read some info. 5 minutes ago regarding the situation that i wasn't even aware of, and them bitching about it is a puerile mess of no self-accountability for the radio silence and no self-responsibility for letting their project die. It's all fan work, for fuck's sake. As far as i'm concerned, this is a win-win. The game is getting a proper translation and the original creators are getting a kick in their assess.
Daniel Thomas MacInnes
GAF's Resident Saturn Omnibus
No idea, I don't care
I'm gonna print out this paragraph and hang it on the wall.
Daniel Thomas MacInnes
GAF's Resident Saturn Omnibus
The newest episode of Pandamonium has dropped: Cave's excellent mountain racing game Touge: King of Spirits, released in North America as High Velocity: Mountain Racing Challenge. It's a relatively short video at 90 minutes (certainly compared to the epic lengths of NBA Jam TE, Virtua Cop and Sega Rally Championship). There are some nice surprises to be found, including an early build of a scrapped 4-player mode, bonus vehicles including a "Porsche" (ahem) and semi truck, and a hit song by Japanese pop singer Linda Yamamoto, which is very nice to see.
I always loved this game, thanks to its unique mountain course designs that reminded me so much of Duluth's winding hills and trecherous roads. It's a brilliant idea for the genre that remains all too overlooked, and demonstrates why Generation Five is a peak for racing track design.
This is a true hidden gem in the Saturn library. It received little attention from gaming magazines, only a couple print ads, and it almost immediately fell into obscurity. In Japan, the series continued on Saturn, Playstation and Xbox across four sequels, and fans are highly recommended to check those out.
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RetroGamingUK
Member
I take it games like Burning Rangers, Saturn Bomberman and House of the Dead were produced in limited units considering how expensive they are.
IbizaPocholo
NeoGAFs Kent Brockman
Daniel Thomas MacInnes
GAF's Resident Saturn Omnibus
Here's a great video compilation of Sega Saturn RPGs, including a large number of Japan exclusives that still await translations. Give this a spin and see if anything inspires you.
Daniel Thomas MacInnes
GAF's Resident Saturn Omnibus
For Thanksgiving, here is another Sega Saturn compilation from the same folks responsible for the previous post, this time a collection of 54 action and adventure games. It is an interesting selection of good, bad and ugly, and hopefully you might find one or two new titles to check out. Have fun and don't overeat on turkey!
Daniel Thomas MacInnes
GAF's Resident Saturn Omnibus
I have posted this video somewhere in the past, but thought today would be a good chance to look at Tunnel B-1 once again. This is an excellent showpiece for Sega Saturn's 3D polygon graphics that has fallen deeply into obscurity. If you enjoy first-person shooters, this is an excellent romp. A bit on the repetious side, yes, but excellent nontheless.
This video not only shows you how smoothly this videogame runs on a CRT display, but the composite cables allow for the blending of the infamous "mesh transparencies," which is how these visuals were intended to be seen. As we know, Saturn had a number of hardware design issues that made alpha-blending polygons somewhat difficult. Those challenges could be overcome, but when budgets and production times were severely limited, programmers went for the mesh effect, which effectly cost the CPUs nothing. Ironically, that art style has since come into fashion, as evidenced by the likes of Super Mario Odyssey on Nintendo Switch.
In any case, Tunnel B-1 is a great shooter on Saturn that everyone should experience. It's fairly affordable so it's easy to collect.
Daniel Thomas MacInnes
GAF's Resident Saturn Omnibus
The crew at Yo! Videogames! have a new video in celebration of Sega Saturn's 30th birthday, and they pull out Dead or Alive. Yay! Such a fantastic 3D fighting game, and as we all know, the Saturn version stomps all over its PlayStation cousin.
This video does a great job showing the 480/60 high resolution and buttery smooth gameplay. Much thanks for uploading, enjoy!
Daniel Thomas MacInnes
GAF's Resident Saturn Omnibus
The SHIRO! Community Challenge for January 2025 will be Winter Heat. There will be prizes for best scores in all events. Maybe it's a new sports car, maybe a set of steak knives, who knows? Better start practicing and get ready to send in your best efforts.
Daniel Thomas MacInnes
GAF's Resident Saturn Omnibus
Yo! Videogames! continues their Sega Saturn celebration with the most excellent Street Fighter Zero 3, one of the last commercial games released for the system. Enjoy some fun 2-on-1 action.
Daniel Thomas MacInnes
GAF's Resident Saturn Omnibus
Mad Panic Gaming has a new video listing his eight favorite arcade shoot-em-ups for Sega Saturn. This is a nice video with a few interesting surprises, which is always good to see. This system is blessed with so many great shooters, and if you're a fan of the genre, you'll never turn your console off.
Daniel Thomas MacInnes
GAF's Resident Saturn Omnibus
Here's a new video that goes into depth on Street Fighter Zero 3, one of Sega Saturn's absolute finest hours and arguably the best home 2D fighting game of its time. And it's all presented on a 27" Panasonic CRT which looks glorious. No surprise that we never saw this version in the West, as it was released in the year 2000, after the Sega Dreamcast/Naomi version.
Obviously, I would love to see an English translation patch for this game. It feels long overdue and would be welcome for all fighting game fans who have no interest in spending hundreds of dollars for an import copy.
Daniel Thomas MacInnes
GAF's Resident Saturn Omnibus
Now here's one that doesn't get enough love, Mortal Kombat Trilogy. Released on Saturn, PlayStation and Nintendo 64, it combines Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3--possibly the peak of the original series--with a complete roster of all MK characters to that point. As the series would move into fully polygon models for the next sequel, this serves as a capstone to the original trilogy and became something of a fan favorite in the 90s.
I have read some reviews that issued some vague complaints, but I honestly don't know what's wrong or broken with MK Trilogy. Perhaps more dedicated fans could enlighten us. All I remember is that this game was praised highly on N64, where it earned the honor of being the console's best fighting title almost by default.
One interesting thing about this video (along with the previous SFZ3 post): this video shows a Sega Saturn connected to a 27" Panasonic TV via composite cables. This shows you how the console's infamous "mesh transparency" effect looked to most players in the 90s. It's not as buttery smooth as PS One's alpha blending, but the effect is there and most kids at the time probably never noticed. Pay attention to the rainbow banding, which adds a touch of unintended color. Sony Trinitrons had the best picture displays, and so Saturn w/composite would show a smooth transparency effect. Which style you prefer, as always, is a matter of personal taste.
Oh, and were you aware that the new Donkey Kong Bananza on Switch 2 actually uses mesh transparencies, just like Super Mario Odyssey on Switch 1? Yeah. This issue should be formally closed. It is now officially a desired aesthetic for videogame software developers.
Daniel Thomas MacInnes
GAF's Resident Saturn Omnibus
It's here and it's finally complete! At long last! Princess Crown is now fully playable in English! Huzzah! Time for everyone to reshuffle their Greatest Saturn Games lists once again. What a sensational adventure and showpiece for the system's legendary 2D superpowers. Huge thanks to the translation crew for finally taking the reins and putting in the work to make this happen.
Just look at all the amazing Sega Saturn Adventure/RPGs we now have in English: Shining Force 3 Trilogy (including the most excellent Premium Disc), Grandia, Sakura Wars 1 (with Sakura Wars 2 on the way), Dragon Force 2, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (featuring many improvements over the JP release), Baroque, Policenauts, Ogre Battle, Tactics Ogre, Arcana Strikes, Dungeon Master Nexus, Revolutionary Girl Utena, Death Mask, JB Harold: Blue Chicago Blues, Linkle Liver Story, Phantasmagoria, Prisoner of Ice, Valhollian, Vandal Hearts, Yumimi Mix Remix.
Wow! What's next for fans of the genre? Tengai Makyou IV: The Apocalypse? Solo Crisis? Snatcher? Suikoden? The Lunar series? Dinosaur Island? Seven Winds Island Story? Machi? That Soccer RPG made jointly by Sega and Enix? Are we missing any others? Are there any favorites on your wish list?
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IbizaPocholo
NeoGAFs Kent Brockman
Daniel Thomas MacInnes
GAF's Resident Saturn Omnibus
Ah, you beat me to the punch! Thanks for sharing this comparison video.
Sega Saturn and Nintendo DS versions of Resident Evil are interesting. It is a bit apples-and-oranges because we're dealing with a small portable screen, but both systems generate polygons from quads and have comparable capabilities. Gamers always thought of DS as N64 without the overuse of filtering effects, and this is a good example of that. The bottom line for gamers is that they can enjoy a classic videogame on either platform and be happy.
It's funny how Saturn Resident Evil was largely dismissed when released in 1997. Partly this was due to Saturn effectively being dead by that point (Bernie Stolar, if anything, was being too generous in his infamous EGM E3 interview), partly this was due to the vastly superior Resident Evil 2 arriving on PlayStation just when that console was taking off, partly it was due to the overall bias against Sega on multi-platform titles. Yet as we can see, the software team behind this port did an outstanding job, making it a fine addition to any Saturn library. Kids back then were spoiled rotten.
Daniel Thomas MacInnes
GAF's Resident Saturn Omnibus
All this talk of Wipeout being brought to Sega Saturn made me really, really want to play the Sega Saturn version once again. This has always been one of my personal favorites or the era, a techno-futurist racing videogame with wonderful roller coaster designs, thrilling twists and turns and a relentless sense of speed. Compared to its more famous Sony PlayStation cousin, this translation is a little more rough--a slightly lower framerate, rougher textures on the billboards, mesh transparencies instead of those lighty-glowy effects everyone obsessed about. However, in its favor, I say this Wipeout has better steering, especially when you hit the side rails, where you skate or bounce along, instead of grinding to a near-halt on PSX. Best of all, the game supports analog steering via the Sega Arcade Racing Wheel, which is a sublime experience that every fan needs to try. The digital steering is fine, but analog is just so unbelievably sublime.
For most gamers, this is one of those "you just had to be there" experiences. Today's gamers might find Saturn Wipeout a little too rough for their liking, but I always loved it, and prices for US retail discs remain very affordable.
And now we come to the spectacular sequel, Wipeout XL, often regarded as the peak of the series. Released in Japan and the PAL territories, this game never arrived in the States, and to this day remains largely unknown among Saturn fans. I'm not sure if most of them even know it exists, or if they confuse it with the original. Who knows? It's their loss, for they are missing out on one of Sega Saturn's finest hours.
Australian software house Tantalus once again handled this port, using a custom graphics engine they developed for their arcade translation of Manx TT. The results are a notable improvement over the original Wipeout, smoother, more vibrant, more responsive. Its framerate is locked in at 20fps, and while this is lower than the 30fps of the PSX version, that game suffers from frame rate drops when things get hectic. As always, Generation Five is all about compromises.
Once again, analog steering is available via the Racing Wheel, but the real addition is the 3D Multi Controller support, which gives you buttery smooth analog steering a year before Wipeout 64 on the Nintendo 64 dropped. I cannot emphasize enough how great this game plays with analog, and it's a game that Saturn fans should be cheering and praising as often as possible.
Prices on the used market remain very high, starting at nearly $100 and climbing steadily from there. However, I have noticed an interesting development this past year, as I was trying to sell some of my Saturn games on Ebay: the kids aren't buying anymore. I found it difficult to sell almost anything for more than $20, including a number of titles that would have easily sold for twice that amount (or more) a few years ago. I wonder if the new wave of cartridges that play Saturn games on SD card is making an impact. Honestly, if you were beginning to collect videogames for this console, I'd probably recommend one of those options instead of spending hundreds of dollars on the used market. Heck, I have a drawer full of CD-Rs that I've burned over the years, so I can definitely relate.
This brings us to our next problem: Can WipeOut XL be successfully played on SD card? Few gamers are aware that a handful of Saturn games actually used two layers of copy protection, which made the traditional option of burning to disc impossible. One of those games is the original Wipeout. Is Wipeout XL another? I honestly don't know. That would be very unfortunate if you cannot, for that would place you at the mercy of those greedy retro gaming merchants. Prices for retro games have skyrocketed in recent years, and there is no justification for any of it.