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Sega Saturn Appreciation and Emulation Thread
- Thread starter Seik
- Start date
DracoBlade
Member
For some reason I read this in a tone of wistful nostalgia with provocative innuendo connotations...
sixteen-bit
Member
That's interesting. Are your Wachenroder, Grandia, and Princess Crown guides online anywhere?
This is a great idea. I've got Magic School Lunar waiting to start right now, and I've been going through the translation online on my iPad to see if it'll be a viable way to play.
My other thought was to try a few of those "camera translation" apps on mobile that claim to be able to translate text picked up by the camera (in this case pointing the camera at the TV). Obviously I'm not expecting wonders, but it may work for menu screens and other small, brief bits of texts.
Not in any one spot, no. I pieced them together with various bits of the internet and scanned bits of Sega Saturn Magazine.
For grandia, I used PSX Let's play video and went through and took screencaps of all the menus in the game. That way, if I ran into a screen in the game and couldn't follow along, I could just look up the corresponding screenshot and have the menu in english.
Obviously this doesn't work with games without an english release, though.
This is exactly what I'm planning on doing when I get around to playing Deep Fear (I have the Japanese release).
Thats a good game to do that with, too, since all the voice acting is in english.
I can try and throw it together again. It is like 400 pages, though. It cost me about $40 to print out.
EDIT: Found a screenshot I took when I was putting it together:
Just a screenshot, though. The thing is in 3 volumes, the first volume is a straight up guide from Sega Saturn Magazine (along with the review) plus a list of every weapon, item, armor, etc and their translation (with pics) and a battle/menu guide (as pictured above).
The second and third books are the actual game script, taken from the PSX version of the game, split by disc.
Each volume, at the back, includes a translation guide for all the item shops in the game. This way, you can have multiple things open at once - the first volume telling you what field items are, another volume to translate the disc you're currently on, and a third volume open to the shop guide so that you don't have to flip back and forth.
Sega Retro has tons of actual box scans.
Morrigan Stark
Arrogant Smirk
Any chance to see your Wachenröder guide? I actually have that game and never played it, hah. I should play it on the computer using SSF and GameFAQs open some time. Wish there were a patch like for SF3.2 and 3.3!
My wachenroder guide actually comes straight from gamefaqs:
http://www.gamefaqs.com/saturn/574646-wachenroder/faqs/25258
the game is super straight forward and linear so just follow that guide and you'll be fine. Wachenroder is a pretty good SRPG, too.
I second this suggestion: I printed off a back cover for Panzer Dragoon from Sega Retro to fit in an empty Saturn case and it fit perfectly.
Did you use legal sized paper? Also any tips on printing manuals accurately?
sixteen-bit
Member
I remember hearing the 3DO version of Horde takes a large amount of internal storage to save your file, and early versions of the disc delete other game data without prompting you. I'm not sure how to tell the pre-patch and post-patch disc releases apart, but it's something to consider if you end up going with the 3DO version.
Yeah, you can print a full back cover on legal sized paper. I printed it at work (whoops, hehe), and just made sure that there was no scaling on the image.
I can't think of a single game that is better on 3DO.
The primary reason is due entirely to the way 3DO outputs video. It only outputs in 480i (interlaced mode) despite internally rendering at 240p. The circuitry which handles this conversion also modifies the image before it reaches the output with some nasty interpolation (basically moving pixels around to "smooth out" lines or something). The end result is that pixel art is turned into blurry mush on 3DO. It's quite nasty even on a CRT.
Furthermore, most 3DO games operate at very VERY low frame-rates even when the games themselves seem simple. GEX was kind of a mascot for 3DO but that version topped out at 30 fps while often running slower. It was a 2D platform with minimal parallax and couldn't even hold 30 fps. Of course the Saturn and PSX versions are 60 fps without slowdown.
What I'm saying is that you should avoid 3DO versions of games. I only got into it out of curiosity but I've certainly found this to be the case across the board. Every game which received a port elsewhere ran much faster and looked much cleaner on the other platforms.
That said, with The Horde, the FMV sequences were seemingly replaced with slide-shows on Saturn. I don't view this as a significant loss, though, as the video was not of great quality.
A friend of mine just posted this on her Facebook.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMQU2SJ02iI&feature=youtu.be
I'm going to buy this game, put it in my system, and hot glue the drive door shut.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMQU2SJ02iI&feature=youtu.be
I'm going to buy this game, put it in my system, and hot glue the drive door shut.
FaintDeftone
Junior Member
Just wanted to share a little video I made discussing one of my favorite Saturn titles. I always try to spread the word on this game:
http://youtu.be/bGULO_2-BvA
http://youtu.be/bGULO_2-BvA
Kinda regret not keeping that one. The level in the sky was pretty awesome.
I've really enjoyed Landstalker, which I just got on Genesis. This one will have to be on my list at some point.
Gex on the 3DO saves using SRAM. The Saturn version uses passwords.
A Black Falcon
Member
Star Fighter is far better on 3DO than it is on PS1 or Saturn (or even PC) because the game has great draw distance with distance detail reduction on 3DO, while all of the ports have a wall of grey fog just a few feet in front of your ship, instead of just reducing detail on things farther away as you have on 3DO. It's one of the last and most impressive-looking 3DO games, for sure.
Yeah, for some reason the PS1 and Saturn ports of Gex had the save file feature removed and use passwords instead. Quite odd.
Yeah, for some reason the PS1 and Saturn ports of Gex had the save file feature removed and use passwords instead. Quite odd.
Thanks for the answer. Shame about the loss of FMVs but I'll live. The video quality is bound to be better on the Saturn in every game I suppose, especially since I output RGB.
I am curious as to which had the better version of Street Fighter 2 Turbo, as I heard good things about the 3DO version. Like someone said above, I also heard Lucienne's quest is better on the 3DO, it's also only in English on the 3DO though too.
Without a doubt the saturn version of ssf2t is better. Even at a glance, the 3do version has flat backgrounds. The ms dos version is also better than the 3do version.
Piston Hyundai
Member
Not only that, but the 3DO version has some bonus secrets thrown in, too.
Will watch later. I also Loved Dark Saviour.
sixteen-bit
Member
3DO version od ST was nice for the time but I don't recommened it today. Unfortunately there still hasn't been a truly arcade perfect home version of ST (Dreamcast was closest), of the two I'd go with Saturn over 3DO.
Not to sidetrack, but was Ladystalker any good? I've got Land, Dark Savior (awesome battle music) and Time Stalkers.
EDIT: On topic, does Clockwork Knight still hold up? I never played the second.
Morrigan Stark
Arrogant Smirk
I love Landstalker and all but... what were they thinking with that title, lol. Still laugh every time I read it (yes, I'm immature).
I didn't think those games were any good when they were new, TBH.
sixteen-bit
Member
I concur. Not a fan of the CK titles.
FaintDeftone
Junior Member
I didn't get to play too much of Ladystalker because I'm pretty sure there isn't a fan translation of it so I have no idea what to do while playing it. I honestly cannot judge it from the little I've played.
Thanks for watching the video guys, I appreciate it. While it isn't the most professional, I worked very hard on it. My most recent entry is for Streets of Rage which is on my channel as well.
Nah lol i'm sure everyone has the same mindset when it comes to a name like that.
I'll admit, i've got some nostalgia attached to the first one.
Hey, its a good video, doesnt have to have a bunch of pro bells and whistles.
Shadow Hog
Member
I liked 'em. I mean, they're both beatable in a sitting each, which is presumably why there's no save feature whatsoever, and the first Clockwork Knight is so easy as to border on pathetic, but I found them enjoyable games. Nothing stellar, but I'm glad to have them in my collection.
CK2 is by far the better of the two, at any rate. Does more interesting things with the polygonal nature of the levels, like letting you move in and out of the background, or having the level bend in a Klonoa-esque fashion (albeit far more rudimentary than Klonoa does it). I'm assuming it's still pretty cheap, so, y'know, why not? At worst, you'd buy a game that's unremarkable, but still decent.
The Sega Saturn will always have a place with me. To be honest, when I was thinking of what sort of indie game I'd make if I were to make one, one of the ideas I had was to imitate the style of Sega Saturn games.
I may as well mention that for my birthday last year my family got me a shiny (Not new. Just nice and shiny condition) copy of Burning Rangers. I still haven't gotten around to firing it up.
I may as well mention that for my birthday last year my family got me a shiny (Not new. Just nice and shiny condition) copy of Burning Rangers. I still haven't gotten around to firing it up.
Such a short but sweet game. Sonic Team were magicians on the Saturn. The engine they were developing when they quit the saturn that eventually became the Sonic Adventure engine looked very advanced for the saturn in Sonic World.
Clockwork Knight is my most recent Saturn pickup. I've only played to the end of the first boss, haven't dedicated the time to beat it yet. I found it pretty good so far, though it is VERY easy, at least from what I've played.
I need more Saturn time! That's the curse of packing and moving - no time for retro gaming. Though I must say, the activity in this thread is one of the few things that's kept me sane during an extremely stressful day at work.
Aquarazorda
Banned
Great overview, enjoyed that. Will keep an eye out, it looks like a great game.
Is the game any good? I have had this game forever, but I didn't know any Japanese at the time. I have been wanting to finally plow through some Saturn games lately. I remember playing this game for a few minutes when I first bought it. It seemed like a Resident Evil clone.
Well, yeah, but that barely matters when the 3DO version runs at sub-30 fps most of the time.
I'd much rather play the game with improved, sharper visuals at 60 fps with a password system than the blurry, choppy 3DO version. Would you really be willing to play a platformer at 20 fps just to use a save system?
I don't think SF2 is that great on 3DO. The options for proper 6-button play are slim and don't always work and the visuals are marred by the poor interpolation. It's also missing a lot of parallax scrolling. It's better than most 2D 3DO games simply because it actually hits 60 fps while most other 2D games on the system struggle to hold 30 (which is just shameful).
The system seemingly couldn't handle the traditional tile based 2D visuals we were seeing on older systems and instead used bitmaps which require more processing power to move smoothly. The 3DO wasn't fast enough to do it and, as a result, could not properly handle high frame-rate 2D games with lots of parallax scrolling.
sixteen-bit
Member
Shame it never got localized. I think it would have done OK in a post-FF7 world, but the writing was already on the wall for Saturn in the west.
This is so disingenous. No, it doesn't run sub-30 most of the time, nor does it run at "20 fps." It runs at 30 fps with occasional slowdown when things get intense, just like the saturn version (for example, the saturn version slows down when the rockets explode in toon land).
I'd much rather play a game with more content and a save system than a system that runs at a marginally crisper resolution.
FaintDeftone
Junior Member
Thanks man.
The game wasn't very well received, and it does have some glaring flaws, but I still adore it. I started making these videos because I wanted to promote games like this. I've always loved Dark Savior and I always find folks have never given it a fair chance.