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Sega Saturn Appreciation and Emulation Thread

Sonic Jam is great and I will not hear otherwise.

Sure, I guess there's slowdown, but it's infrequent and it's not like the Genesis Sonics ran full speed 100% of the time anyway.

Also, any classic Sonic game that doesn't have a spindash is not a Sonic game you want to play. Sonic 1 might as well be unplayable without a spindash as far as I'm concerned.
 

Sixfortyfive

He who pursues two rabbits gets two rabbits.
Sonic Jam has some other noteworthy perks. The included Japanese manual scans were what first clued me in to just how much better JP packaging was in general at that time, and the extra visual effects for Sonic 1 that were ported over from the JP Mega Drive release were much appreciated. The museum bonuses were a great touch, too.

The alternate modes were somewhat disappointing. You could play easier versions of the original games if you wanted, but not harder ones. Kind of lame for those of us who had already cut our teeth on the original games (which I assume was the target audience for this compilation in the first place...)

I sold my copy recently because I also prefer to just play the original versions at this point (and have bought a JP Sonic 1 since then), but Sonic Jam was alright.

bubububut spin-dashing in sonic 1
Not a positive.

Also, any classic Sonic game that doesn't have a spindash is not a Sonic game you want to play. Sonic 1 might as well be unplayable without a spindash as far as I'm concerned.
The lack of spindash is a large reason why Sonic 1 my favorite game in the series. It's the only one that you have to play like a Sonic game!

I just feel that that mechanic led to lazy stage design and lazy play. Things don't have as much consequence when you can just rev up from 0 to max from a standstill.
 
It is NO good.

tumblr_inline_mmpzl3lILi1qz4rgp.gif


Sonic Jam has some other noteworthy perks. The included Japanese manual scans were what first clued me in to just how much better JP packaging was in general at that time, and the extra visual effects for Sonic 1 that were ported over from the JP Mega Drive release were much appreciated. The museum bonuses were a great touch, too.

The alternate modes were somewhat disappointing. You could play easier versions of the original games if you wanted, but not harder ones. Kind of lame for those of us who had already cut our teeth on the original games (which I assume was the target audience for this compilation in the first place...)

I sold my copy recently because I also prefer to just play the original versions at this point (and have bought a JP Sonic 1 since then), but Sonic Jam was alright.

Yeah. There are worse Sonic and Genesis compilations out there.
 
I think my biggest gripes with Jam are:

  • The badnik-busting sound for S3&K is really weird, with its pitch-shift being highly exaggerated when it should sound exactly the same as the one in Sonic [1] and Sonic 2.
  • This cool ramp in Lava Reef Zone Act 2 has a misplaced tile in my copy (and apparently others, given it's in this video too), which, for me, actually causes the ramp to break entirely, meaning I can't launch from it like I'm supposed to.
  • Time Attack forcibly uses Normal Mode, which is easier than Original Mode.
  • Because it's a port and not emulation, and because they insisted on streaming audio, grabbing speed shoes causes it to switch from the normal music to a "faster music" stream, with a notable pause.
Otherwise, it's a pretty faithful port for my standards.
 
Yeah, it definitely could have been worse. We have seen worse Sonic compliations. I like Sonic Jam a lot. And it is noteworthy to be a port and not a poor emu job, though unfortunately they didn't nail it all the way for reasons listed above
 

piggychan

Member
I just tried Shining The Holy Ark. HUGE

yX9GD.png


Man its been a while since I played, its so good, dat battle theme!



Better buy it sooner than later, prices will raise with time since...*gasp* *sob, manly tear, etc* MM is dead.

That battle theme sounds as good today as it did back in 1997 !!

my saturn rpgs PAL and USA releases.

They just been sitting in a box all these years and I just decided to take them out for a breather... I should play them again someday...
P1020295.jpg
 
Name some guys(I don't know which ones were bad).
Sonic Mega Collection is a decent collection, but it lacks saving where the original games lacked it (YMMV on how big a deal this is) and you have to "unlock" titles in it by playing the games you start off with in it a whole bunch (or repeatedly starting and exiting them, if you're impatient). Sonic Mega Collection Plus fixes the former issue, and adds extra games, so that's nice. Still have to unlock 'em though.

Gems Collection isn't awful, but it uses the PC version of Sonic CD, which had low-quality sound effects, and makes it even worse by breaking all of the palette effects the game had. I believe the Mode 7 special stages also run doubly-fast - not merely smoother, literally faster, which makes them even harder than they were to begin with. The Japanese version also includes Bonanza Bros. and all three Streets of Rage games, but all of them were cut from the western releases to avoid a T-rating from the ESRB (which strikes me as horseshit, since all the games in question were rated E/E-10+ upon rerelease on VC). On the bright side, it has good ports of Sonic the Fighters and Sonic R, I guess, and it has Tails Adventures, which is underrated.

Sega Genesis Collection on the PS2 and PSP is actually a pretty decent compilation, but it only has Sonic [1] and Sonic 2.

Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection is a good collection if you're after Genesis games as a whole, but is a pretty awful Sonic collection simply because Sonic & Knuckles lock-on doesn't work at all.

The XBLA rereleases are okay, even including achievements, but they replaced the saving mechanism in Sonic 3 and Sonic 3 & Knuckles with their own implementation. Their own implementation doesn't save when you finish the game, meaning the New Game+ mode that existed in the original flat-out doesn't here, so if you want to see Doomsday Zone, you have to get all the emeralds in a single run, not after beating the game like you could in the original. That leaves a sour taste in my mouth.

Sonic Classic Collection on the DS uses a homebrew emulator to get the job done, but because homebrew accesses certain chips on the DS that official software is forbidden to touch, it has slowdown issues on stock DSes. DSis and 3DSes are better about this. All have squished screens, because the DS screen is 256x192 instead of 320x240.

That's the problems with all of the collections that I can think of.
 

kimtish

Neo Member
Replaying "Johnny Bazookatone" and I'm just baffled at the amount of shade this game gets thrown.

This soundtrack is fucking sweet.
 

Timu

Member
Sonic Mega Collection is a decent collection, but it lacks saving where the original games lacked it (YMMV on how big a deal this is) and you have to "unlock" titles in it by playing the games you start off with in it a whole bunch (or repeatedly starting and exiting them, if you're impatient). Sonic Mega Collection Plus fixes the former issue, and adds extra games, so that's nice. Still have to unlock 'em though.

Gems Collection isn't awful, but it uses the PC version of Sonic CD, which had low-quality sound effects, and makes it even worse by breaking all of the palette effects the game had. I believe the Mode 7 special stages also run doubly-fast - not merely smoother, literally faster, which makes them even harder than they were to begin with. The Japanese version also includes Bonanza Bros. and all three Streets of Rage games, but all of them were cut from the western releases to avoid a T-rating from the ESRB (which strikes me as horseshit, since all the games in question were rated E/E-10+ upon rerelease on VC). On the bright side, it has good ports of Sonic the Fighters and Sonic R, I guess, and it has Tails Adventures, which is underrated.

Sega Genesis Collection on the PS2 and PSP is actually a pretty decent compilation, but it only has Sonic [1] and Sonic 2.

Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection is a good collection if you're after Genesis games as a whole, but is a pretty awful Sonic collection simply because Sonic & Knuckles lock-on doesn't work at all.

The XBLA rereleases are okay, even including achievements, but they replaced the saving mechanism in Sonic 3 and Sonic 3 & Knuckles with their own implementation. Their own implementation doesn't save when you finish the game, meaning the New Game+ mode that existed in the original flat-out doesn't here, so if you want to see Doomsday Zone, you have to get all the emeralds in a single run, not after beating the game like you could in the original. That leaves a sour taste in my mouth.

Sonic Classic Collection on the DS uses a homebrew emulator to get the job done, but because homebrew accesses certain chips on the DS that official software is forbidden to touch, it has slowdown issues on stock DSes. DSis and 3DSes are better about this. All have squished screens, because the DS screen is 256x192 instead of 320x240.

That's the problems with all of the collections that I can think of.
Thanks for the info, I'll keep it in mind when I decide to pick up some in the future.
 

baphomet

Member
I have some extremely cool Saturn related stuff coming in the mail soon. Can't wait to show it off in here. Unfortunately the coolest part won't be here for another month and a half, but it'll be well worth it.
 
He's found 5 containers full of brand new Panzer Dragoon Saga's, plummeting the prices in a month or two on ebay. Sell your copies now!!!!!!!!!!!!
 

Jamix012

Member
Tails Adventures is fucking awesome and was like the only game I really enjoyed on the game gear.

For sure! I'm actually glad they got the emulation right for Gems collection because you can unlock the game on Sonic Adventure DX on the 'cube but on that version the game is way too dark (to the point that you really need to turn up the brightness on the TV.)

Uh, which Shinobi was the one they put on the Eshop?
 

kimtish

Neo Member
On shirts, let me put forward http://1cc.storenvy.com/.

They do one shirt a month. Sales end on the 20th and the reveal the new one of the first.

High quality shirts, but you have to keep an eye on the site.

I got a X68000 and the GAZELLE shirt from them. Nice stuff. They also give you a 5$ coupon when you buy, so if you buy twice in a row it's 20 for the second.


ALSO

I finally modded my saturn yesterday. Mad proud of myself.
 
Oh hell yea, I loves me some Saturn. I actually dug mine out the "vault" a few weeks ago to get some X-men vs Street Fighter and Guardian Heroes action going. Still trying to track down a copy of Street Fighter Alpha 2 Gold and Street Fighter Collection Capcom Generations 5 .

DSCN1627-640x480.jpg

DSCN1630-640x480.jpg
 

Mercutio

Member
Oh hell yea, I loves me some Saturn. I actually dug mine out the "vault" a few weeks ago to get some X-men vs Street Fighter and Guardian Heroes action going. Still trying to track down a copy of Street Fighter Alpha 2 Gold and Street Fighter Collection Capcom Generations 5 .

DSCN1627-640x480.jpg

DSCN1630-640x480.jpg

It's not the gold version, but I've got a spare copy of Alpha 2 lying around, if you want it. I think it was only like $10. JP version, of course.
 

IrishNinja

Member
On shirts, let me put forward http://1cc.storenvy.com/.

They do one shirt a month. Sales end on the 20th and the reveal the new one of the first.

High quality shirts, but you have to keep an eye on the site.

I got a X68000 and the GAZELLE shirt from them. Nice stuff. They also give you a 5$ coupon when you buy, so if you buy twice in a row it's 20 for the second.


ALSO

I finally modded my saturn yesterday. Mad proud of myself.

man, i bought the MUSHA one (and jacked their design for the Treasure one, should prolly do the same for Hudson one day) but yeah, i check them every month!

also congrats on your mod!

Nahh, its much cooler than that in my opinion. Its not a Saturn per say, but its definitely related and very cool.

ah, there goes my THIS IS COOL model saturn vote
 

Khaz

Member
Oh hell yea, I loves me some Saturn. I actually dug mine out the "vault" a few weeks ago to get some X-men vs Street Fighter and Guardian Heroes action going. Still trying to track down a copy of Street Fighter Alpha 2 Gold and Street Fighter Collection Capcom Generations 5 .

I'm so confused by the many versions of Street Fighter. I just bought Street Fighter Zero 2 for a dime, and now I'm reading it's not a cool one and there was a revision of it?
 

Mercutio

Member
It's a cool one, but there was a revision of it; IIRC only included with Street Fighter Collection.

Which I think only came out in Japan? Great set though. It includes II Super and II Super Turbo. I got it for around $9 in an auction a few weeks ago, and it has lived in my Saturn since.
 
A company called Cospa makes licensed game shirts from time to time. They typically have a limited run. I believe there are new Dreamcast and Playstation ones coming out next month.

Damn, looks like I missed the boat on the Saturn one. Will have to pick up a Dreamcast one, though.
 
Which I think only came out in Japan? Great set though. It includes II Super and II Super Turbo. I got it for around $9 in an auction a few weeks ago, and it has lived in my Saturn since.

Street Fighter Collection for the Saturn did indeed release in the US. It's kind of pricey though, of course.
 
Pretty sure every Capcom fighter on the Saturn is superior to whatever PS1 version. At worse you'll miss out on the lack of transparencies.

This is easily the case with titles that use the RAM expansion.

For those that do not, it's not always the case. Super Puzzle Fighter for example is better on Playstation as it doesn't suffer the same slowdown as the Saturn version.
 
The lack of spindash is a large reason why Sonic 1 my favorite game in the series. It's the only one that you have to play like a Sonic game!

I just feel that that mechanic led to lazy stage design and lazy play. Things don't have as much consequence when you can just rev up from 0 to max from a standstill.

Bleh. It's like playing Super Mario Bros. without the fireflower. Possible, sure, but not a lot of fun. It has been almost universally cited that the worst part of a Sonic game is when you screw up and lose momentum. The Spindash was the first great step in helping alleviate that.

I'm sure there's great pleasure in knowing you're good enough at a game that you don't need a "crutch" like the Spindash, but you'd be in quite the minority. And it's not even that Sonic 1 is worth the effort - it is the weakest game in the Genesis trilogy. Definitely more of a test bed for concepts than anything especially refined.
 

Mercutio

Member
This is easily the case with titles that use the RAM expansion.

For those that do not, it's not always the case. Super Puzzle Fighter for example is better on Playstation as it doesn't suffer the same slowdown as the Saturn version.

Apparently some games like SOTN got around the PS1's iffy 2D capabilities by using polygons for everything. The whole game is flat polygons on top of each other with sprites mapped onto them. I'd be really curious if other titles do this as well... it'd explain the Saturn versions being slightly worse.
 
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