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Sega Saturn Appreciation and Emulation Thread

gelf

Member
Would Euro 96 count? Its basically an altered version of Actua Soccer but only the Saturn got that edition for some reason. I remember the dark days when that was probably the best 3D football game you could buy.
 
Are there any 3rd party exclusives on the Saturn from a western developer?

I guess UMK3 but its kinda a stretch.
Yes there are. UMK3 is one (well, it's exclusive for 5th-gen consoles only, but that counts for something), but there are more.

The one Western third-party Saturn-exclusive game that comes to mind for me is CrimeWave from Eidos. It's an interesting but flawed game, with some fun combat-driving gameplay but poor framerates and a high difficulty level. It also is a true exclusive for the Saturn, it isn't on any other platform.

Does Three Dirty Dwarves count?
First party published. Three Dirty Dwarves and Scud were published by SegaSoft, Sega's mostly PC game-focused division from the time.

But was developed by Zono which was based out of California.
Sega published the game in all regions though, which means they funded the development. I would not count something published y the first party studio, regardless of which team they contracted to make the game for them.

Talking about Western-made games published by Sega on the Saturn and not on other 5th-gen consoles, though, there are others beyond Mr. Bones, Three Dirty Dwarves and Scud: The Disposable Assassin; there's also Bug!, Bug Too!, Black Fire, Scorcher, AMOK, some sports games I believe, and more. Some of those games are also on PC (of the ones I just listed by name only Scud and Black Fire are Saturn-exclusive; the PC Scud game is entirely different), but they aren't on other consoles of the time. But they aren't third party. not really.
 
I say this as a huge fan of Metal Black (it is one of my favorite shmups): it's not for everyone. It isn't as pretty as many Saturn shooters as it was originally released in arcades in 1991. It doesn't have the scoring mechanics of a CAVE shooter or the gnarly art design of a Konami horizontal shooter.

I adore it for its atmosphere and its narrative, I think the game's mechanics work their way into the story in a really cool way, and I think the soundtrack is absolute gold. Even stuff like autofire has a bit of a twist to it. It's got very cool set-pieces and a tremendously good last stage. But for full disclosure, I really didn't like the game very much the first few times I played it.

I'm losing my shit at this guy's blind playthough of MB
https://youtu.be/wpzxqJ5bVwE

I can definitely see how initial impressions can grate on you, haha
 

Timu

Member
I'm tired of certain Saturn games switching between 240p and 480i, it's making it tough to record for AmaRecTV as I have to edit out the no signal messages. Daytona USA: Championship Circuit Edition is the worst though as it's 240p in the intro, 480i in the menu and finally 240p during gameplay. While Stream Catcher handles resolution switching better, it's worse when it comes to capturing and features.

Yeah I'll finally upload Saturn games on my youtube channel next year like Last Bronx and such. It's one of the main reasons I'm collecting Saturn games. That, and I need to get into Saturn more and the fact Saturn prices are getting insane right now.
 

Mzo

Member
I wouldn't say HOTD on Saturn is a BAD port. It plays well and looks close to the arcade, just not as great.

I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to a fan for under $20, but it's not the year 2000 anymore.
 

AmyS

Member
So I want to have a Saturn again. It's been a good 9-10 years since I've owned one. This time, I want to have a 1MB / 4MB RAM cartridge for playing the import games that use them. For starters, based on availability and prices on ebay, what would be the easiest / best Japan model Saturn to go with: White, Skeleton?

And which 4-in-1 Action Replay, or equivalent cartridge should I get, and what to avoid ?

Thanks Saturn-GAF.
 
I'm curious how well the old Saturn era PC ports run on modern systems if at all. Don't wanna pay too much to test something that may not even work though. Windows 95 games are usually a pain in the ass.

Sega released a lot of PC ports of Saturn and some of their major Genesis games in the '90s, but they always have been somewhat touchy, as far as actually getting them running goes. Some have some fan patches to help, but not all of them I'm pretty sure. Basically if you get them, good luck. It may or may not work well on a modern PC. If you find them cheap they might be worth trying, but I wouldn't spend a lot for one unless I knew it'd actually run decently...

Of Sega's '90s console-to-PC ports I have Sonic R, Sonic & Knuckles Collection (Sonic 3 & Knuckles), Sonic 3D Blast, Last Bronx, and Panzer Dragoon, though I've also tried demos of others -- Bug!, Sega Rally, Daytona USA, probably more. Some of these work better than others, though it'll surely vary from person to person.
 
I can personally vouch for Panzer Dragoon and Daytona USA Deluxe (pretty much Championship Circuit Edition) working fine for me on Windows 7. I heard certain releases of Panzer Dragoon PC might have issues, though. Something about an NV1 card, I think...?
 

jerry1594

Member
So I want to have a Saturn again. It's been a good 9-10 years since I've owned one. This time, I want to have a 1MB / 4MB RAM cartridge for playing the import games that use them. For starters, based on availability and prices on ebay, what would be the easiest / best Japan model Saturn to go with: White, Skeleton?

And which 4-in-1 Action Replay, or equivalent cartridge should I get, and what to avoid ?

Thanks Saturn-GAF.
Definitely not the Skeleton. Grey or white. You only need the 4M Plus as it works as a 1MB and 4MB ram cart and let's you play imports, along with some other stuff.

What fighters are still best on Saturn? I know there's a few like Cyberbots and the Marvel games, that weren't ported elsewhere, but it seems a lot of the fighters that people cite when talking about what a great arcade ports system it is have been released on something else, better.
 

MikeMyers

Member
Fighters Megamix.

Never left the console. Ever.
LOL I was gonna mention game.com too!

Yeah. Fighters Megamix is great and definitely one of the best games on the system.

Actually, X-Men vs. Street Fighter and it's sequel Marvel Super Hero vs. Street Fighter were ported to the Playstation, mainly because Sega didn't let Capcom bring those games to the west. However, the Saturn versions are so much better that they might as well be considered Saturn-exclusive.
 

IrishNinja

Member
I dunno if the JP version is cheaper but it's one of those weird releases where it's textually completely in English but they just dubbed over any speech, like Powerslave.

oh? damn, yeah now im kinda curious...i mean, i love US longboxes but i wanna say it's about $50 now and that's not a $50 game, so that might be an option
 

jerry1594

Member
LOL I was gonna mention game.com too!

Yeah. Fighters Megamix is great and definitely one of the best games on the system.

Actually, X-Men vs. Street Fighter and it's sequel Marvel Super Hero vs. Street Fighter were ported to the Playstation, mainly because Sega didn't let Capcom bring those games to the west. However, the Saturn versions are so much better that they might as well be considered Saturn-exclusive.
I actually totally forgot about Cyberbots and Marvel games on ps1 lol. But those ports are so inferior it doesn't really matter. I guess Puzzle Fighter and SF Collection are good on PS?
 

MikeMyers

Member
I actually totally forgot about Cyberbots and Marvel games on ps1 lol. But those ports are so inferior it doesn't really matter. I guess Puzzle Fighter and SF Collection are good on PS?

Not sure about SF Collection but I will tell you that the PSX pad is awful for SF while the Saturn pad is amazing for it.
 

Timu

Member
LOL I was gonna mention game.com too!

Yeah. Fighters Megamix is great and definitely one of the best games on the system.

Actually, X-Men vs. Street Fighter and it's sequel Marvel Super Hero vs. Street Fighter were ported to the Playstation, mainly because Sega didn't let Capcom bring those games to the west. However, the Saturn versions are so much better that they might as well be considered Saturn-exclusive.
Thank god my bro got the Saturn version of Marvel Super Hero vs. Street Fighter, I just need X-Men vs. Street Fighter which is quite pricey.
 

IrishNinja

Member
see that's crazy, X-Men VS SF was fairly cheap like forever...even when i went on my saturn binge i wanna say it was 20 something?

US X-Men COTA was already jumping up though
 

jerry1594

Member
Not sure about SF Collection but I will tell you that the PSX pad is awful for SF while the Saturn pad is amazing for it.
Agree, which is why I own like 10 of them lol. An EVO champ won with a PS pad though, have yet to see a Saturn pad winner.
God damn at XvSF. Wanted to get it but at this point it looks better to get the board.
 

IrishNinja

Member
it does, but people are still catching it for $20-30...i mean, that's cheap by current saturn standards. come talk to me when it's $100+
 

leroidys

Member
IMG_6001.png

Now this is how you play Bomberman. Gotta be jealous of those kids. Source (fr)

This picture is totally fucking with my head. In a gym that looks like my elementary school, one kid has a mullet, another kid has a bart simpson tshirt, playing a sega saturn... I know it's present day but it looks exactly like 1995 to me.
 

Timu

Member
it does, but people are still catching it for $20-30...i mean, that's cheap by current saturn standards. come talk to me when it's $100+
That's probably gonna happen a few years from now going by the increase of price in various Saturn games recently, lol. It could end up like US Street Fighter Collection and Mortal Kombat Trilogy which are over 100 bucks now.
 

Gyrian

Member
I found the Japanese version CIB for 10 bucks...maybe I should get in on that.

I've recently picked up VF, VF2, Kids, Megamix, and Vipers all around $10 each brand new! Many Saturn greats are still much more accessible than you might imagine nearly 20 years after...
 

MikeMyers

Member
I don't, sorry. :/

Also, this SF discussion made me realize that SF2 hit almost all of Sega's systems:

-Master System
-Mega Drive
-Saturn
-Dreamcast

That's kinda funny, actually.
 
I guess Puzzle Fighter and SF Collection are good on PS?

Not sure about SF Collection but I will tell you that the PSX pad is awful for SF while the Saturn pad is amazing for it.

For the Street Fighter Collection, the PlayStation ports of the Super Street Fighter II games are some of the best out there, and are apparently better than the Saturn versions, which have slowdown and I think slightly stretched sprites or something along those lines. There was discussion about it here like a year or two ago.

From what I read here and on other sites, it's basically Dreamcast > PlayStation > Saturn.

It's a bit hard to believe, because the Saturn is made for 2D, but it seems like the messed up a little bit on the Saturn version. It's still pretty good, though, but the PlayStation version is better.

I own the PlayStation version, and it's great. I play it on a PlayStation 2 with fast loading on, on a CRT with component cables and a MAS arcade stick, and it feels pretty much like playing the arcade version. I originally wanted to get the Saturn version when I bought it (sometime in the late '90s), but I guess it's good that I ended up with the PlayStation version instead.

Street Fighter Collection also comes with Street Fighter Alpha 2 Gold, but I never looked up how the two versions compare. I only played the PlayStation version a bit, since I have regular Alpha 2 on Saturn, but it seemed pretty good from what I can remember.


Stuff like X-Men vs. Street Fighter and its follow ups are missing a lot of stuff on PlayStation. No tag! Always go with the Saturn and Dreamcast versions of those.
 

MikeMyers

Member
From what I read here and on other sites, it's basically Dreamcast > PlayStation > Saturn.

And yet, the DC d-pad is even worse for SF than the PSX one!

IMO X-Men Vs. SF was the best crossover one. It genuinely feels like the SF characters are part of the X-Men 90s TAS universe.
 
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