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Sega Saturn Appreciation and Emulation Thread

G

Gyrian

Member
So I tried Nekketsu Oyako tonight, and I was not prepared!
I thought, sure, a little crazy. Look, quirky enemy design, I think I get it.
Then stage 1 ends and the transition into stage 2 blew my mind! Completely unpredictable!
Fantastic first impression, from this little first taste. I like that it's full of arcadey animations & sprite effects. There's even a Saturn item pickup! I presume this is a PlayStation in that version...

Loving it so far! :D
 
T

Teknoman

Member
Gyrian said:
So I tried Nekketsu Oyako tonight, and I was not prepared!
I thought, sure, a little crazy. Look, quirky enemy design, I think I get it.
Then stage 1 ends and the transition into stage 2 blew my mind! Completely unpredictable!
Fantastic first impression, from this little first taste. I like that it's full of arcadey animations & sprite effects. There's even a Saturn item pickup! I presume this is a PlayStation in that version...

Loving it so far! :D
Click to expand...

Told ya. The music there sounds closer to an action adventure game or maybe a racer... Man a Technosoft racing game would've been amazing.
 
G

Galdelico

Member
Timu said:
Are you impressed by the quality of my videos?=O Ha, funny how we both ordered from the same seller.

I had to use cysnc or else GBS 8200 will hate it.=O
Click to expand...
I think your RBS video looks fantastic, whereas I spot a little bit of blurriness in your previous ones at 720p - i.e. your Fatal Fury/Fatal Fury Special playthroughs - which I believe is deliberate? Never used a Framemeister, and I'm a CRT freak, for anything until the original XBOX. :p

And yeah, that guy is awesome. I had a bit of a hard time with RetroGamingCablesUK, before finding out about him - as in, I bought a CSYNC RGB cable for my Saturn from them, didn't work, got a replacement one, didn't work... Never actually understood if it was a bad stock or (as I've been told in the end) 'some Japanese Saturn boards just aren't CSYNC capable' - and he gave me tons of useful informations about all the different sync options on RGB leads, on top of providing solid cables for both my Saturn and Mega Drive.

Gyrian said:
You guys might still have slight system differences even if they're both white Japanese Saturns. I think this model was around long enough to exist with more than one BIOS version, for example.

Random sad fact: I thought I had a defective copy of In The Hunt, only to find out it simply wouldn't work on my model 1 grey HST-3210 Saturn. Worked perfectly on a white model 2 Saturn. And all this time it's Outrun I was watching out for!
Click to expand...
Yeah, that's true! I can play In the Hunt just fine with my unit too, yet I still have to catch a safe copy of Out Run.
That said, this whole RBS sync issue doesn't really bother me, as in the console and the games all work nicely. Guess I'll find out what's causing this, the very day I'll change my setup, throwing in a new system, different cables or a PVM monitor instead of a Trinitron TV.

Gyrian said:
So I tried Nekketsu Oyako tonight, and I was not prepared!
I thought, sure, a little crazy. Look, quirky enemy design, I think I get it.
Then stage 1 ends and the transition into stage 2 blew my mind! Completely unpredictable!
Fantastic first impression, from this little first taste. I like that it's full of arcadey animations & sprite effects. There's even a Saturn item pickup! I presume this is a PlayStation in that version...

Loving it so far! :D
Click to expand...
Ouch, sounds like another game I criminally overlooked until today. And another wallet-hitter to add to my - well long already - wishlist.
 
M

Morfeo

The Chuck Norris of Peace
Timu said:
"Silhouette Mirage was initially released on the Saturn, but was ported to the PlayStation shortly thereafter. The differences between the versions are minimal - the Saturn version has extra background layers and various other details in certain stages that are missing from the PlayStation version, but that's about the only major change. To make up for this, there's an extra boss fight - the Reaper - at the end, as well as an additional ending for beating it. Considering how badly a lot of other ports got butchered back in the 32-bit era - especially 2D games for the PlayStation - Silhouette Mirage turned out pretty damn well.

However, when it was localized into English, there were a number of gameplay changes implemented by Working Designs, the American publisher. Working Designs was known to tinker with gameplay elements, usually to make them more difficult, but they really went overboard with this one.

The very essence of the power draining mechanics have changed. Previously, you could use any of the weapons as much as you wanted - now, all weapons drain spirit power as you use them. To make up for this, when you attack enemies with the same class, you'll replenish your own Spirit meter in addition to depleting theirs. This is actually really useful in certain boss battles when your spirit is depleted, since you can just suck the strength back out of them. Additionally, some of the weapons in the Japanese version were pretty unbalanced, and this seems to be a way to keep players from abusing the more powerful attacks.

Ultimately, however, the changes do more harm than good. Most of the weapons drain way too much power to be useful. It also pretty much forces you to drain every enemy before killing them, and potentially you can expend more energy than you replenish. It also forces you to use the weakest weapons in most cases, since that usually expends the least amount of Spirit. Quite simply, the game is already complicated enough trying to deal with the different classes - keeping track of ammo conservation just isn't fun.

Furthermore, Working Designs upped the difficulty by increasing the damage inflicted by enemies, as well as making all of the items in the shops more expensive. The latter solves nothing - having to stop and cash bash enemies to be able afford upgraded weapons and health replenishments was already somewhat tedious in the Japanese release, but this just makes everything worse."

PS1 version more challenging confirmed!
Click to expand...

This makes me so mad to read, of course the PS1-version is the affordable one (and thus the one I have). That Working Design-magic indeed.
 
W

Wereroku

Member
Morfeo said:
This makes me so mad to read, of course the PS1-version is the affordable one (and thus the one I have). That Working Design-magic indeed.
Click to expand...
To be fair they did that because of the return market at the time. But I think Vic has admitted they did to much but I can't remember.
 
Bar81

Bar81

Member
Wereroku said:
To be fair they did that because of the return market at the time. But I think Vic has admitted they did to much but I can't remember.
Click to expand...

The rental market (they didn't want people renting a game and beating it over a weekend) and to give "value" for money. Both lame excuses since WD aren't game designers so they had no idea what they were doing.
 
W

Wereroku

Member
Bar81 said:
The rental market (they didn't want people renting a game and beating it over a weekend) and to give "value" for money. Both lame excuses since WD aren't game designers so they had no idea what they were doing.
Click to expand...

No I believe at the time it was more that you could purchase a game and return it for a full refund. They made many of the changes to increase game length and difficulty to counteract this. I can't find the post now but I believe that was his defense of the changes.
 
IrishNinja

IrishNinja

Member
Celine said:
EAR is a worthy choice.

So is Bubble Symphony. <3 Taito
Click to expand...

damn, still gotta play that one!

Wereroku said:
No I believe at the time it was more that you could purchase a game and return it for a full refund. They made many of the changes to increase game length and difficulty to counteract this. I can't find the post now but I believe that was his defense of the changes.
Click to expand...

that's absolutely his claim on gaijinworks (his company/forum), but i really don't know how large a market that was

MikeMyers said:
Secret best dev.
Click to expand...

Taito Classics 1 & 2 agree! love Rastan & so many others
 
T

TeaJay

Member
I've been spending so much on my Saturn collection last year it's not even funny. But it's my major system to collect on these days, and I always tell myself if I don't get these games now, next year they'll be more expensive...

.. last year I picked up such titles as D&D Collection, Radiant Silvergun (which was from a friend so no eBay prices luckily), Shining: The holy ark, Rayearth, Elevator Action returns and Battle Garegga. And not to mention lots of others.

I'd really, really want Hyper duel. I've played it a bit and it seems like a really good game, which is not always true with the most expensive games on a system.
 
T

Timu

Member
Galdelico said:
I think your RBS video looks fantastic, whereas I spot a little bit of blurriness in your previous ones at 720p - i.e. your Fatal Fury/Fatal Fury Special playthroughs - which I believe is deliberate? Never used a Framemeister, and I'm a CRT freak, for anything until the original XBOX. :p
Click to expand...
The blurriness is due to youtube compressing at 720p which uses lower bitrate, if I had used the 1440p option they would look crisp like Real Bout Fatal Fury Special.

You know, I really should do a video on that, showing how to get the best quality of gaming footage, which means 1440p and 4k are the only options. Avoid 720p and even 1080p for 3D games.
 
O

oneida

Cock Strain, Lifetime Warranty
tumblr_np3atlCjaL1slig2vo1_400.gif
 
cj_iwakura

cj_iwakura

Member
Teknoman said:
Is it? Yes, its the best Real Time SRPG ever. I'm surprised CJ hasnt shown up yet, since he does no matter where Dragon Force is mentioned.
Click to expand...

I can't be everywhere. :p

And I fixed your post slightly.

It has eight campaigns of wonderfulness. Well, seven and one mediocre one. Nothing's perfect. The final two are unlockables, and wildly challenging for different reasons: in one you get the weakest team in the game, but everyone joins you. In the other, you get the most OP army in the universe, but you have to crush everyone. Even Teiris tells you to go kick rocks.
 
C

Conezays

Member
Zello said:
I've been spending so much on my Saturn collection last year it's not even funny.
Click to expand...

Haha, I know the feeling.

Thanks for the recommendations for Dragon Force, folks; waiting to hear back on some decent offers. I did find some great ones on complete copies of Shining Force 3 and Albert Odyssey though.

Been having a lot of fun with the 1942 and MSX Collections. While definitely very old and archaic, Super Cobra is one of my favourites on there; lots of other gems as well.
 
M

Movalpolos

Banned
MikeMyers said:
Alpha 3 got lucky in where none of its ports are bad, but ironically the Saturn version still reigns supreme anyway.
Click to expand...

The only version I own is the PSP (digital) one. Definitely an amazing port.
It technically works with the PS TV even though it isn't listed in the store. Had to transfer it through PS3. It doesn't seem like it's actually supported though and I'll explain why:

There were some weird bugs occasionally with the menus.
Like as opposed to the normal art and grid display of all the options and game modes, I would get just a black background with a generic list of the modes.
The game eventually got corrupted and became unplayable. It might have also lead to corrupting my entire memory stick because not long after that most of my digital games were getting errors. Had to reformat.

EDIT: Dammit now I'm just convincing myself to get the Saturn version so I can play it on a big screen with the best controller.
 
T

TeaJay

Member
I have Guardian Heroes, Die Hard Arcade and 3 Dirty dwarves and I honestly can't imagine needing anything else on beat-em-up front. Maybe the aforementioned Nekketsu oyako?
 
D.Lo

D.Lo

Member
Movalpolos said:
Yup, Zero 3 goes for a pretty penny. Best of the series though. I might bite on it.
Click to expand...
Nooooooooooooope
In my [double spoiler]correct[/double spoiler]opinion. Zero 3 is a flashy, nice looking, cool characters... busy, noisy mess far too influenced by the vs series. Far worse music, worse announcer, worse stages, much worse gameplay. And I have the Saturn version
.

Zero 2 fo life yo. Second best Street Fighter game after 3rd Strike.
 
cj_iwakura

cj_iwakura

Member
D.Lo said:
Nooooooooooooope
In my [double spoiler]correct[/double spoiler]opinion. Zero 3 is a flashy, nice looking, cool characters... busy, noisy mess far too influenced by the vs series. Far worse music, worse announcer, worse stages, much worse gameplay. And I have the Saturn version
.

Zero 2 fo life yo. Second best Street Fighter game after 3rd Strike.
Click to expand...

On this we are in complete agreement.

apart from 3rd strike being better.
 
N

NDPsycho

Member
Saturn Memories said:
I'd recommend getting Three Dirty Dwarves while it's affordable. The Saturn's library of beat-'em-ups is very small, and this is one of the few good ones that can still be had at an affordable price.
Click to expand...

I agree, it's a fun game, certainly unique premise. Hard to believe that this is considered affordable, but I haven't bought a Saturn game in a long, long time. Damn....

edit: I guess some completed auctions aren't terrible, particularly disc only, but what's available to buy right now isn't all that cheap.
 
S

Saturn Memories

Neo Member
NDPsycho said:
I agree, it's a fun game, certainly unique premise. Hard to believe that this is considered affordable, but I haven't bought a Saturn game in a long, long time. Damn....

edit: I guess some completed auctions aren't terrible, particularly disc only, but what's available to buy right now isn't all that cheap.
Click to expand...

Compared to stuff like Nekketsu Oyako, Crows, D&D, Tenchi wo Kurau 2, and PuLiRuLa, it's a bargain.
 
M

MikeMyers

Member
Will check it out.

I can't seem to find any sources that say VF2 Arcade ran at 57fps and Saturn at 60fps. Could you link me? The only one I found was Sega Retro, but I that's a wiki.
 
O

oneida

Cock Strain, Lifetime Warranty
MikeMyers said:
Will check it out.

I can't seem to find any sources that say VF2 Arcade ran at 57fps and Saturn at 60fps. Could you link me? The only one I found was Sega Retro, but I that's a wiki.
Click to expand...

Don't have an official source, and I'm not sure where I heard it first. I think it's pretty well known though. The Saturn version and XBLA/PSN versions do run at 60fps, dunno about the PS2 version.
 
M

MikeMyers

Member
oneida said:
Don't have an official source, and I'm not sure where I heard it first. I think it's pretty well known though. The Saturn version and XBLA/PSN versions do run at 60fps, dunno about the PS2 version.
Click to expand...

Didnt know the PS360 version ran at 60 too.

The Saturn version looks worse to the arcade one but Im so used to the Saturn version it just feels more natural to me.
 
O

oneida

Cock Strain, Lifetime Warranty
MikeMyers said:
Didnt know the PS360 version ran at 60 too.

The Saturn version looks worse to the arcade one but Im so used to the Saturn version it just feels more natural to me.
Click to expand...

There's some gnarly VF2 combos in that vid being done on the Saturn version!
 
M

MikeMyers

Member
A shame Fighters Megamix has worse graphics.

Dem VF3 moves though.

I wonder what the tier list is like. The kid characters have to be at the bottom.
 
S

Sixfortyfive

He who pursues two rabbits gets two rabbits.
MikeMyers said:
Will check it out.

I can't seem to find any sources that say VF2 Arcade ran at 57fps and Saturn at 60fps. Could you link me? The only one I found was Sega Retro, but I that's a wiki.
Click to expand...

IIRC, all Model 2 arcade games run at 57.5fps. Some PS2 ports even had a toggle option for 57.5/60.
 
I

Ivan Amiibo

Banned
Gyrian said:
So I tried Nekketsu Oyako tonight, and I was not prepared!
I thought, sure, a little crazy. Look, quirky enemy design, I think I get it.
Then stage 1 ends and the transition into stage 2 blew my mind! Completely unpredictable!
Fantastic first impression, from this little first taste. I like that it's full of arcadey animations & sprite effects. There's even a Saturn item pickup! I presume this is a PlayStation in that version...

Loving it so far! :D
Click to expand...



I've heard the PS1 version is kinda shit compared to the Saturn version, which is apparently more fleshed out.

I wonder if there are differences like that in Kyutenkai Fantastic Pinball.
 
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