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Sega Saturn Appreciation and Emulation Thread

M

Moor-Angol

Banned
Celine said:
How would you compare Sega's arcade teams to those of other companies?

There is no comparison, Sega's teams are the most powerful leading AM developers in the world! I think the reason Sega's arcade games are so successful and have such incredible gameplay, is because of the incredible developers such as AM2, who have such great foresight in leading the entire AM team. Sega's teams are the best!
Click to expand...

and so we do think !
 
S

sixteen-bit

Member
MikeMyers said:
Would you guys recommend Marvel Super Hero Vs. Street Fighter is it kinda redundant if I own X-Men Vs. Street Fighter?
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XvSF is a better game overall in my opinion, and you're right about it being a retread.

The SF side of the roster is a bit of a letdown (5/9 of them are shotos and I would have liked to see a bit more variety in play type). Lots of reused level assets from XvSF too. The character portraits are really expressive and fun to look at though, if that matters to you.

If it's cheap and you're a fan of the series go for it, but it's probably my least favorite of the VS series.
 
S

Seven Force

Banned
MikeMyers said:
Would you guys recommend Marvel Super Hero Vs. Street Fighter is it kinda redundant if I own X-Men Vs. Street Fighter?
Click to expand...

All of the stages are reused from XvSF, just slightly edited, and a good portion of the SF cast are shotos from the Alpha series. XvSF is probably the better game, but with that being said, I still think it's worth it, even if it is the weakest Vs. title. It's still pretty damned fun, actually has some optional boss challenges (Shadow, Dark Sakura, Mech Zangief) and a Survival Mode that's pretty neat along with an unlockable Cyber Akuma and a handful of other slightly altered secret characters (Armored Spider-Man, Blackheart recolored as Mephisto, etc.)

The soundtrack runs circles around XvSF, though. The SF cast has original themes made for this entry for whatever reason, and most of them are pretty great. (Has the best rendition of Spiderman's theme in the series, too.)
 
K

KC-Slater

Member
Seven Force said:
All of the stages are reused from XvSF, just slightly edited, and a good portion of the SF cast are shotos from the Alpha series. XvSF is probably the better game, but with that being said, I still think it's worth it, even if it is the weakest Vs. title. It's still pretty damned fun, actually has some optional boss challenges (Shadow, Dark Sakura, Mech Zangief) and a Survival Mode that's pretty neat along with an unlockable Cyber Akuma and a handful of other slightly altered secret characters (Armored Spider-Man, Blackheart recolored as Mephisto, etc.)

The soundtrack runs circles around XvSF, though. The SF cast has original themes made for this entry for whatever reason, and most of them are pretty great. (Has the best rendition of Spiderman's theme in the series, too.)
Click to expand...

XvSF feels more polished, and is without a doubt my favorite in the VS series. MSHvSF is probably my second favorite, though. They both play great, and have awesome presentation. Zero load times beyond the initial load on boot. Both have very fun rosters, (with XvSF's being more cohesive, thematically) and I was always more partial to the two-on-two versus the three-on-three of the later games in the series. You can find it affordable online. Worth it.
 
D.Lo

D.Lo

Member
I prefer MvSF. Spidey and Hulk!

Same goes for the standalone games (Marvel va COTA).

I actually think that basically every game in the series was worse than the last apart from that too. It just got too stupid in MvC.
 
K

KC-Slater

Member
MvC is not bad, but I can't stand the inconsistent art direction in MvC 2.

Don't even get me started on those 3D backgrounds. They look completely out of place aesthetically and don't look like they belong in either universe; like they were designed in a bubble.

I get that Capcom has to recycle sprites if players want a huge roster, but they need to keep the legacy-designs in mind when creating new assets. It looks like a mess of different styles.

I don't feel like XvSF nor MSHvSF suffered from these issues. XvSF in particular, perfectly embodies '90s X-Men.
 
M

Morfeo

The Chuck Norris of Peace
Received my japanese copy of Burning Rangers today, really looking forward to finally playing this! Hope the language barrier wont cause too much trouble.
 
M

MikeMyers

Member
Yeah the new SF games are kinda ugly. Seems like old-school SF died with the Dreamcast. :/

Will get Marvel vs. SF with my next paycheck then.
 
S

Shadow Hog

Member
It's definitely going to trip you up. If it helps: "hidari" means "left", "migi" means "right". If you can't remember that, say "hmmmmm" to yourself - and then think of the order the letters in that word come in (weird mnemonic, but it kinda works).
 
M

Morfeo

The Chuck Norris of Peace
piggychan said:
well there will be bits where they tell you to go right, go straight, turn left etc....
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Shadow Hog said:
It's definitely going to trip you up. If it helps: "hidari" means "left", "migi" means "right". If you can't remember that, say "hmmmmm" to yourself - and then think of the order the letters in that word come in (weird mnemonic, but it kinda works).
Click to expand...

Thanks, will memorize this!
 
P

piggychan

Member
sixteen-bit said:
any princess crown fans in the house?
http://www.amiami.jp/top/detail/review?scode=HOB-FIG-8283
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Yup a fan right here. That figurine looks nice too and so does the game.

IMG_0229.jpg
 
P

piggychan

Member
SevenDevils said:
This is totally playable without knowing Japanese, correct?
Click to expand...

You may need a guide but certainly it can be played without Japanese as long as you are familiar with japanese games. :p Again such a shame this never got an official translated release as there isn't that much text to be translated and neither does the game require any voice acting.

When you kill enemies they may drop meat but in order to use/eat it you have to take it to town and get it cooked and character control feels a bit clunky/quirky but I think you will definitely fall in love with the character sprites. Backgrounds look a little drab and samey tho and the game music is a little uninspired.

Overall a solid action JRPG which I certainly would say is better than dark savior.

4429
 
M

MikeMyers

Member
Actually, maybe I can get the Darkstalker games instead of MSH vs SF? What's the opinion of those? I don't think they are too expensive.
 
T

Teknoman

Member
Marvel Super Heroes vs Street Fighter has a better soundtrack than X-Men vs Street Fighter imo (dat Omega Red) and a more unique cast of characters. The best Marvel Vs is the first. 3 has points for featuring Zero, Dante, Virgil, Ammy, Chris, and Tron...but 1 has the best looking art style, focused gameplay (not 300 hit combo insanity plus 3 v 3) and the best introduction.

EDIT: I want to have at least one DS game on Saturn too.
 
T

TeaJay

Member
MikeMyers said:
Actually, maybe I can get the Darkstalker games instead of MSH vs SF? What's the opinion of those? I don't think they are too expensive.
Click to expand...

I can recommend Vampire savior. It's colourful and fun to play. It's probably my favourite fighting game for the Saturn, although I'm not an expert on those kinds of games. But it's either that or Fatal Fury: Real bout special me and my friends play. (the Saturn is nowadays the most modern console I own.)
 
D.Lo

D.Lo

Member
MikeMyers said:
What's that game meant to be? Fighter's Destiny?

It doesnt seem like DS2 is even on Saturn. Just 1 and 3.
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Yes it's Fighters Destiny. Basically the SFIV art style looks like B-grade 90s renders.

DS2 is on Saturn, DS1 is not. The games are:

Vampire (released in the US as Darkstalkers)
Vampire Hunter (released in the US as Night Warriors)
Vampire Saviour (released in the US as Darkstalkers 3)

There are also arcade releases called:
Vampire Hunter 2 (believe it or not a VS variation, not a VH variation)
Vampire Saviour 2

VS 1 and 2 and VH2 were sort of combined for the Saturn VS.
 
M

MikeMyers

Member
I actually remember Fighters Destiny. It was alright, but its no VF2.

Which DS would you recommend? I do have a Dreamcast if they are on there and cheaper.
 
D.Lo

D.Lo

Member
Hunter is the best, most fun game IMO.

Saviour is beautiful but kind of messy, gameplay wise. It plays a lot like a Vs game.

Get both.

There is a DC version of VS, but it's way more expensive.

There's a PS2 collection, but like the Alpha Anthology no 240p so it is a piece of garbage.
 
M

MikeMyers

Member
Hunter's pretty cheap. I'll get it. Still not sure to get MSH vs SF at a $30 price tag.

Also, as discussed the other day: Saturn > Dreamcast.
 
S

spyduh

Neo Member
Awesome thread, actually spent the last week slowly reading through it off and on.. I've managed to get a hold of a PAL Saturn (I'm in Australia so wasn't too difficult).

Got a few queries -

1) If I purchase a PAL version of a game (lets say Daytona USA), will it still play at the wrong 'speed'? As it's not optimised for PAL.. am I reading this right? From what I've read some games are optimised for PAL (like Sega Rally) - so that'd be fine.. but most others aren't? They run at 17.5% speed difference..?

My understanding is to get around this I'd need to mod my console to get the 50/60hz switch to solve the above problems.. or am I getting totally mixed up..

2) The other query relates to connecting it to my HDTV.. I realise this isn't ideal - but purchasing a Saturn suitable S-Video cable to connect to the HDTV would be a workaround? I do this for my N64 setup.

Apologies for the probably stupid questions, but I swear the more I read the more I get confused haha..

Any help appreciated.
 
IrishNinja

IrishNinja

Member
heh...that SF IV mockup box is on point

was just saying how for halloween horror month i think i wanna finally play D - ive read it's worth playing once & inevitably failing, then again with the gameshark on for infinite time & whatever. thoughts?

i know it's on the short side, curious if ill wanna go into Enemy Zero, D2 or maybe back to Mansion of Hidden Souls.
 
K

Khaz

Member
spyduh said:
1) If I purchase a PAL version of a game (lets say Daytona USA), will it still play at the wrong 'speed'? As it's not optimised for PAL.. am I reading this right? From what I've read some games are optimised for PAL (like Sega Rally) - so that'd be fine.. but most others aren't? They run at 17.5% speed difference..?

My understanding is to get around this I'd need to mod my console to get the 50/60hz switch to solve the above problems.. or am I getting totally mixed up..
Click to expand...

With SEGA, the framerate is locked at the console level, the game is played at whatever speed the console wants (unlike with Sony, where the game itself is locked regardless of the console origin and you need the NTSC edition). Playing a PAL optimised games in a 60Hz console will mess things up, and playing NTSC games or non-optimised games will have them play slower than intended and with a squished picture with black borders.

Here is a list of PAL-optimised games:
http://www.segasaturn.co.uk/games/sega_saturn_pal.html

Mind you "optimised" in "PAL-optimised" is a big word and doesn't mean what you think it means. Most of the time it will still play slower but with the soundtrack corrected and sometimes for 3D games the field of view is expanded. Sega Rally is I think* one of the few that had its speed corrected, the picture is still crushed but the field of view is expanded meaning you see more sky and more dirt instead of black borders.

*I have yet to test it myself, and I haven't seen conclusive evidence or a post from someone who actually compared the games with two consoles running simultaneously. Playing this game at 50Hz sure feels right though.
 
D.Lo

D.Lo

Member
You can't really ever completely optimise 2D games, because unless graphics are re-drawn with 288 lines of data there have to be borders in a PAL signal.

Many other Saturn games have the timings fixed to match the CD audio (e.g. Street Fighter Alpha intros), so to a certain extent many more games are partially optimised.

Really, 60Hz conversion (screw the switch), Action Replay and NTSC software is the only way to play the games correctly.
 
T

TeaJay

Member
I opted for the switch because I don't feel like selling and then re-buying my PAL library of games, many of which are PAL optimized.
 
S

sixteen-bit

Member
D.Lo said:
Hunter is the best, most fun game IMO.

Saviour is beautiful but kind of messy, gameplay wise. It plays a lot like a Vs game.

Get both.

There is a DC version of VS, but it's way more expensive.

There's a PS2 collection, but like the Alpha Anthology no 240p so it is a piece of garbage.
Click to expand...
No 240p in the DC release either. Same goes for DC version of Super Turbo.

I don't like how inconsistent Capcom was with resolution on DC. I mean, Alpha 3, SF3 Double Impact, SF3 3rd Strike, JoJo's and MvC1 all supported 240p. Shame the others don't.
 
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