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Sega Saturn Appreciation and Emulation Thread

Wereroku

Member
So, out of all the famous English Saturn RPGs, the one I'm missing is Albert Odyssey... and holy shit is it just me or did that game shoot up in price??? Last I remembered it was pushing $70... but nowadays it's hard to find under $140.
Yeah it and shining in the darkness shot up really quickly. Luckily I had Albert since I bought it brand new and I got shining complete for 25 dollars.
 

cj_iwakura

Member
So, out of all the famous English Saturn RPGs, the one I'm missing is Albert Odyssey... and holy shit is it just me or did that game shoot up in price??? Last I remembered it was pushing $70... but nowadays it's hard to find under $140.

That's how it goes, eventually people realize their worth too late. I still have my launch copy. It's a true gem.
 

driver116

Member
Got this one today from ebay £4.

QeL7jBs.jpg
 

Teknoman

Member
Yeah im glad I got Shining in the Holy Ark early on. I know I want Albert Odyssey. Kinda iffy on Shining Wisdom. Everyone sleeps on Dark Savior ; ;
 

StevieWhite

Member
Yeah im glad I got Shining in the Holy Ark early on. I know I want Albert Odyssey. Kinda iffy on Shining Wisdom. Everyone sleeps on Dark Savior ; ;

Dark Savior will always have my vote for most under-appreciated game of all time. Its combat is objectively complete garbage, yet it is still one of the most compelling and interesting games I have ever played. It's the definition of a cult classic.
 

Teknoman

Member
Yeah I still wish they went all out with the 1 on 1 fighting game combat. You know what, that'll be the next game I tackle. I got lost in the game as a kid (but really liked it nevertheless). I was going to go in on Shining in the Darkness after Xenogears, but Dark Savior will probably be next. Or at least at the same time.
 

StevieWhite

Member
Yeah I still wish they went all out with the 1 on 1 fighting game combat. You know what, that'll be the next game I tackle. I got lost in the game as a kid (but really liked it nevertheless). I was going to go in on Shining in the Darkness after Xenogears, but Dark Savior will probably be next. Or at least at the same time.

Dark Savior is also great because you can play through most of it in under 20 hours. Definitely a game that's fun to revisit. Which is great, because revisiting is its core mechanic.
 

StevieWhite

Member
I've always skipped this game because of the isometric view/questionable combat and god awful box art. Its still relatively cheap.

If you're skipping Saturn games because of their box art, you're skipping most of the NA and EU library.

The isometric bit isn't bad at all. The combat is serviceable but completely unimpressive.
 
The box art doesn't ever sway my decision. I just generally don't enjoy isometric games on consoles for some reason. No problems playing those types of games on the PC though.
 

Morrigan Stark

Arrogant Smirk
I remember renting Dark Savior back in the day and absolutely hating it. Combat was terrible and I couldn't think of a redeeming value. So why is it good, again?
 

StevieWhite

Member
I remember renting Dark Savior back in the day and absolutely hating it. Combat was terrible and I couldn't think of a redeeming value. So why is it good, again?

Plot and premise alone. The platforming isn't bad once you get the hang of it. The plot always starts the same, but your actions during the first 5 minutes of the game drastically alter the scenario. Things that were unclear neatly fall into place during subsequent replays. It's not high art or anything like that, but it was extremely novel back in 1996.
 

Khaz

Member
I remember renting Dark Savior back in the day and absolutely hating it. Combat was terrible and I couldn't think of a redeeming value. So why is it good, again?

The gameplay is identical to Landstalker but better because you can move the camera a bit, so you don't have to make blind jumps any more. Combats are an acquired taste though.

The story is great, with much replayability. When you make certain choices, you don't just change the ending like most games, you change the whole story, with completely different locations to explore.
 

StevieWhite

Member
Finally finished Dragon Force II. Great game but soo time consuming. Wish we got it back in 1998 when I had so much more free time... getting old is a bitch.
 

StevieWhite

Member
How'd you deal with the demon strongholds?

The endgame ones or the caves?

The caves you don't have to clear out, but they give you all that good stuff for crafting . The trick is to have plenty of archers or ghosts on deck to take care of the Chimeras from level three on... They are the big time sink though. Once I had enough Dragon crests, I pretty much stopped the caves altogether.
Also: the generals have a level equal to your party leader. So if you put a scrub in charge, it is a little easier. The bottom level rewards aren't so hot, so backing out earlier isn't so much of an issue.

The endgame ones... they were easy, because of all the Dragon crests.
 
Many pages back someone posted about a modder who discovered a possible way to add a large SRAM memory block to the system which if workable would create virtually unlimited system memory and eliminate the need for batteries and save carts. Anyone know if there was ever any update from that guy?
 

Khaz

Member
Many pages back someone posted about a modder who discovered a possible way to add a large SRAM memory block to the system which if workable would create virtually unlimited system memory and eliminate the need for batteries and save carts. Anyone know if there was ever any update from that guy?

Maybe you are talking about this? http://www.db-elec.com/home/lab-posts/segasaturninternalmemorymodwithfram-nobatteryrequired
db managed to replace the battery-backed save chip with one of identical size which doesn't need a battery. I enquired about upgrading the size as well but according to him, along with wiring difficulties the BIOS needs to be modified to use the expanded space.
 

StevieWhite

Member
Maybe you are talking about this? http://www.db-elec.com/home/lab-posts/segasaturninternalmemorymodwithfram-nobatteryrequired
db managed to replace the battery-backed save chip with one of identical size which doesn't need a battery. I enquired about upgrading the size as well but according to him, along with wiring difficulties the BIOS needs to be modified to use the expanded space.

Seems like it would just be easier to put a post it on your Saturn that says "remember to swap your games to the A/R."
 
Dark Savior will always have my vote for most under-appreciated game of all time. Its combat is objectively complete garbage, yet it is still one of the most compelling and interesting games I have ever played. It's the definition of a cult classic.

Dark Savior is a flawed masterpiece which had the potential to be one of the best RPGs of its generation.

StevieWhite said:
Dark Savior is also great because you can play through most of it in under 20 hours. Definitely a game that's fun to revisit. Which is great, because revisiting is its core mechanic.

I actually think this is one of the game's biggest weaknesses. Not because short RPGs are inherently inferior, but because Dark Savior's plot has so many loose ends and its characters are so complex that they simply can't be adequately developed in the amount of time it takes to finish the game. This is compounded by the fact that the story arc effectively 'resets' itself after a few hours of play due to the parallel world mechanic.

It's an extremely short game (I can complete all parallels in around 6 hours, never mind 20) and it just feels a little rushed and incomplete.

Khaz said:
The gameplay is identical to Landstalker but better because you can move the camera a bit, so you don't have to make blind jumps any more.

The camera movement is definitely an improvement. However, Landstalker had some of the best dungeon design I've ever seen and can easily stand toe-to-toe with most Zelda games for that. Dark Savior's is pretty mediocre by comparison and is mostly too easy (with the exception of that memorisation fest minecart sequence). It's still a good game in its own right and does many things better than Landstalker, mainly story and characters. Soundtrack is awesome too.

Lonesome Soldier
Snarling Bounty Sword

Finally, what about that alleged hidden 'Parallel 6' in the Japanese version? Surely one of gaming's weirdest and most intriguing unsolved mysteries.
 

goldenpp72

Member
So I am slowly starting to take pictures of my various collections, or rather ones I have officially finished collecting for. I don't believe I will ever purchase another Saturn title outside to replace something that was lost/stolen/damaged, so here is my fully bounty for that. Funny enough the last game I purchased for it was Hang on, took awhile to find it for the right price in the right shape. A fun but challenging console to collect for due to the fragility of the cases, but I thank the users here for directing me to a few games I was missing a long time ago. I didn't forget, just took awhile to find :)

20150726_104032_zpsf59keho0.jpg

20150726_112344_zpsqxk64qti.jpg

20150726_113056_zpsham9qcwv.jpg
 

oneida

Cock Strain, Lifetime Warranty
So I am slowly starting to take pictures of my various collections, or rather ones I have officially finished collecting for. I don't believe I will ever purchase another Saturn title outside to replace something that was lost/stolen/damaged, so here is my fully bounty for that. Funny enough the last game I purchased for it was Hang on, took awhile to find it for the right price in the right shape. A fun but challenging console to collect for due to the fragility of the cases, but I thank the users here for directing me to a few games I was missing a long time ago. I didn't forget, just took awhile to find :)

20150726_104032_zpsf59keho0.jpg

20150726_112344_zpsqxk64qti.jpg

20150726_113056_zpsham9qcwv.jpg
beast!
 

InfiniteNine

Rolling Girl
Was at Classic Games Fest yesterday and picked up Tengai Makyou 4 and Shining Force. :)
6Cz9waPl.jpg


Really small amount of Saturn representation there. >;
 

goldenpp72

Member

Thanks lol, I began collecting for it about 7 years ago i'd say, seeing what the prices have become in recent time makes me pretty proud I got on board before it became too ridiculous. Magic Knight Rayearth, Panzer Dragoon Saga and Mega Man 8 were probably the most valuable things I had to pay a premium on personally, but it would seem I got a pretty decent price on them relative to their current day values :/

I also finished collecting on Sega CD specifically because of the cases being about the same as the Saturn, just wanted to get those things out of the way. They do make for nice things to display though. I recently setup a 'light gun' section in my area and the Virtua Cop games get a lot of play even these days.
 
So I am slowly starting to take pictures of my various collections, or rather ones I have officially finished collecting for. I don't believe I will ever purchase another Saturn title outside to replace something that was lost/stolen/damaged, so here is my fully bounty for that. Funny enough the last game I purchased for it was Hang on, took awhile to find it for the right price in the right shape. A fun but challenging console to collect for due to the fragility of the cases, but I thank the users here for directing me to a few games I was missing a long time ago. I didn't forget, just took awhile to find :)

20150726_104032_zpsf59keho0.jpg

20150726_112344_zpsqxk64qti.jpg

20150726_113056_zpsham9qcwv.jpg

Good for you, I bet that feels good. I'm probably about 3/4 done collecting US games and most of the expensive stuff is out of the way.
 
So I am slowly starting to take pictures of my various collections, or rather ones I have officially finished collecting for. I don't believe I will ever purchase another Saturn title outside to replace something that was lost/stolen/damaged, so here is my fully bounty for that. Funny enough the last game I purchased for it was Hang on, took awhile to find it for the right price in the right shape. A fun but challenging console to collect for due to the fragility of the cases, but I thank the users here for directing me to a few games I was missing a long time ago. I didn't forget, just took awhile to find :)

Awesome...kind of jelly that you have Shinobi Legion and House of the Dead. Though have to ask, is that a custom box for Christmas NiGHTS?
 
I like that shuriken is decoupled from slash (tho apparently Shinobi 3 has that too) and for a digitized game it controls well and has pretty good hit detection.
 

goldenpp72

Member
Awesome...kind of jelly that you have Shinobi Legion and House of the Dead. Though have to ask, is that a custom box for Christmas NiGHTS?

Yeah that's a custom box I made a few years ago. It was one of my earlier attempts to photoshop. I got lucky when the lady at the kinkos allowed me to print out the copyright stuff because she turned out to be a Saturn fan. Running into one in the wild was in itself pretty unheard of for me, she asked if she could take the art for the Astal spine I made and I was on my merry way. I had planned to do one for Virtua Fighter Remix too because I only ever thought it came in those little sleeves, but apparently they did release it in limited fashion in a long box variant, so I tracked that down. All of my games are legit cases outside of X-mas nights though.

Here's a closer shot of it.

IMG_2397_zpsc707cfdf.jpg

IMG_2399_zps5b3e6ccd.jpg
 
So I am slowly starting to take pictures of my various collections, or rather ones I have officially finished collecting for. I don't believe I will ever purchase another Saturn title outside to replace something that was lost/stolen/damaged, so here is my fully bounty for that. Funny enough the last game I purchased for it was Hang on, took awhile to find it for the right price in the right shape. A fun but challenging console to collect for due to the fragility of the cases, but I thank the users here for directing me to a few games I was missing a long time ago. I didn't forget, just took awhile to find :)

20150726_104032_zpsf59keho0.jpg

20150726_112344_zpsqxk64qti.jpg

20150726_113056_zpsham9qcwv.jpg
Congrats that is a fantastic collection!
 
Started playing Soukyugurentai again last night, love the mix of manic gunplay plus Rayforce'esque lock on shooting. Also the soundtrack is soooooo good. Really gritty with a nice booming sound and moody too. You know a soundtrack is good when you want to just sit and listen to the music that plays on the high score leaderboard. Whatever happened to Raizing/8ing anyways? Did they work on much after the Bloody Roar series? Shame we never got a collection of their shmup lineup.

Maybe you are talking about this? http://www.db-elec.com/home/lab-posts/segasaturninternalmemorymodwithfram-nobatteryrequired
db managed to replace the battery-backed save chip with one of identical size which doesn't need a battery. I enquired about upgrading the size as well but according to him, along with wiring difficulties the BIOS needs to be modified to use the expanded space.

Thanks for the clarification, very interesting mod. Shame expanding the memory isn't possible or viable but I'm still jealous he at least doesn't have to use a battery anymore.
 

Mzo

Member
Shenmue looked impressive as hell on the Saturn.

Was that last one the Sonic game that got screwed when Yuji Naka was like, no you can't use the NiGHTS engine?

I would've tried it. I wanted like ANY 32 bit Sonic game so bad.
 
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