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[koopas]

EAR was at $25 three years ago? I'd like to know where you bought it from. That game was consistently above $100 ten years ago.

Prikura, on the other hand? InfiniteNine and I were just laughing at that price the other day. No, it is not worth $550, it is not worth $50 IMHO either.

The pixel art's nice but the game's very ok and it's not one of the better shmups? Pick up a Taito shooter like Layer Section with that money instead, if you can't swing a Raizing game.

In the case of Prikura, it's the exclusivity that's driving the price. There are fewer and fewer games on the Saturn these days that are still the only place to enjoy them. Taito Legends and Xbox Live Arcade took a few exclusives out of the Saturn's library.

E: Preferable to own Galactic Attack over Layer Section though no?

 

[Nuts_On_Your_Tonsils]

EAR was at $25 three years ago? I'd like to know where you bought it from. That game was consistently above $100 ten years ago.

Prikura, on the other hand? InfiniteNine and I were just laughing at that price the other day. No, it is not worth $550, it is not worth $50 IMHO either.

The pixel art's nice but the game's very ok and it's not one of the better shmups? Pick up a Taito shooter like Layer Section with that money instead, if you can't swing a Raizing game.

I guess I got a deal on EAR. I cannot remember where I bought it but I do remember checking amazon and eBay when I was looking for it and LAUGHING at the prices. There are very few games I'd spend over $100 on. I'm a little lucky finding games...I found a complete copy of Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance for $10.00 a year ago, it was sitting in a pawnshop in Utah.

I won Layer Section btw. Just trying to finish the power instinct collection.

 

[Mzo]

Heyo,

Does anyone have Purikura Daisakusen? Is it worth the $550.00 its currently going for? I had that darn game in my amazon shopping cart 2-3 years ago and I swear it was only like $50.00.

What is going on with these prices as of late?

I love the power instinct games, especially Groove on Fight...but 550.00?

It's not currently going for $550.00, it's more like $50-$80. One idiot setting up a BIN doesn't equal the current going price, thankfully. Might even be a typo. Search for recent completed auctions if you ever want a better idea of what a game is worth.

For EAR, dunno about 10 years ago because I wasn't looking but it was definitely $30-$40 3 years ago or so. IrishNinja got his for $40 right before it blew up while I slept on it.

 

[IrishNinja]

EAR was at $25 three years ago? I'd like to know where you bought it from. That game was consistently above $100 ten years ago.

wait, how? i was watching this one like 2 years back i wanna say, and it was about $50+ while i was holding out for a $40 copy. Mzo's right, got mine from an EU forum and the seller must've had my address wrong, because it took forever bouncing back to him...but in that timeframe, ebay was already having it for $100+, yeah (though that wasn't regular before, from what i saw). then it just kept climbing & i saw fewer copies, again fortunately the seller was awesome and honored our original deal & just mailed it back!

 

[JonathanNemo]

Man I should have been buying Saturn games two years ago.

I think there were a few re-releases of EAR in Taito arcade collections that may have driven the price down for a bit, just like the XBL Radiant Silvergun pushed down eBay prices from its once glorious $600+ perch.

But I do remember EAR being one of the $100+ games on eBay, last decade-ish.

 

[StevieWhite]

Just snagged cyberbots... super pumped.

 

[Danny Dudekisser]

Man I should have been buying Saturn games two years ago.

I think there were a few re-releases of EAR in Taito arcade collections that may have driven the price down for a bit, just like the XBL Radiant Silvergun pushed down eBay prices from its once glorious $600+ perch.

But I do remember EAR being one of the $100+ games on eBay, last decade-ish.

I bought my copy of EAR new for about $100 in 2009. Didn't really start to shoot up until maybe 2011 or 2012, I think.


Either way, I think it's amusing that even with all the re-releases these days, prices for the original versions of games are largely unaffected. People know they want the real deal.

 

[koopas]

I bought my copy of EAR new for about $100 in 2009. Didn't really start to shoot up until maybe 2011 or 2012, I think.


Either way, I think it's amusing that even with all the re-releases these days, prices for the original versions of games are largely unaffected. People know they want the real deal.

I think for most digital releases the physical prices remain generally uneffected, yes. For example say a game like Super Mario RPG really saw no spike either way when it hit Wii VC.

However as someone mentioned above, Radiant Silvergun is an example which definitely took a price hit after the XBLA release.

Outliers are examples like Earthbound where the VC release actually may have contributed to dramatically increasing the price of the physical cart.

 

[Nuts_On_Your_Tonsils]

It's not currently going for $550.00, it's more like $50-$80. One idiot setting up a BIN doesn't equal the current going price, thankfully. Might even be a typo. Search for recent completed auctions if you ever want a better idea of what a game is worth.

For EAR, dunno about 10 years ago because I wasn't looking but it was definitely $30-$40 3 years ago or so. IrishNinja got his for $40 right before it blew up while I slept on it.

That 550.00 copy is sealed...never understood the whole sealed copy fetish. Too pricey for my blood, especially since I am going to open it so I can play it.

I can't find a copy for less than $100. I'm not willing to spend that much though, so I'll wait it out.

Thanks, boyo!


p.s. I remember getting a copy of magic knight rayearth for $37.50, I miss those days. Now every Saturn game is balls to the wall expensive. No thanks, Jeff!

 

[Teknoman]

wait, how? i was watching this one like 2 years back i wanna say, and it was about $50+ while i was holding out for a $40 copy. Mzo's right, got mine from an EU forum and the seller must've had my address wrong, because it took forever bouncing back to him...but in that timeframe, ebay was already having it for $100+, yeah (though that wasn't regular before, from what i saw). then it just kept climbing & i saw fewer copies, again fortunately the seller was awesome and honored our original deal & just mailed it back!

Yeah just a couple years back it was about 50-80 depending.

 

[Galdelico]

Nothing really new, here, but I just thought to report how well the Action Replay Plus seems to work as a multiregion adapter for the Saturn.
Even though I own the cart since ages, I've never actually tried it for that purpose - I had a Japanese only collection until now - but thanks to Duke Nukem 3D (and Albert Odyssey, coming up next by the end of the week), I finally had the chance to test it out. Not that I didn't trust you, guys, but you were right when saying US games on a Japanese system run just fine. Aside from a couple of messed up characters on the AR savedata screen, it really feels like using an NTSC-U console. No glitches, no sound issues, no odd loading times... That's pretty awesome.

Oh, and fuck you once again, Global Shipping Program, because you're forcing me to pass on a fantastic looking copy of US Saturn Quake. :/

 

[Rich!]

Having never owned a Saturn until a few months back, I'm definitely impressed with the build quality, near silent operation (compared to my ps1 for example) and menu system and load times

Better late than never

 

[Sapiens]

Having never owned a Saturn until a few months back, I'm definitely impressed with the build quality, near silent operation (compared to my ps1 for example) and menu system and load times

Better late than never

Sega built a really great system. They deserved more success with it. Shame about it's more classical programming requirements as opposed to Sony using well documented C out of the box (as well as being slightly less capable in the 3D dept).

Still an amazing system in every way. I need to buy another one.

Anyone selling a white japanese model in the box?

 

[Timu]

Looks like I won't be doing much more Saturn collecting until next year!

 

[Galdelico]

Anyone selling a white japanese model in the box?

Are you based in the US or in Eurozone? The guy I usually buy my Japanese Saturn games from has quite a few NTSC-J systems, right now, and I'm pretty sure he can ship in the EU.

 

[Nuts_On_Your_Tonsils]

Do you guys always buy Saturn games when you see them for a good price? Or do you try to keep the Saturn buying to a minimum?

 

[Timu]

Do you guys always buy Saturn games when you see them for a good price?

Yes,dear god yes!!! They're getting pricey nowadays.

 

[Nuts_On_Your_Tonsils]

Yes,dear god yes!!! They're getting pricey nowadays.

True, plus with everyone collecting retro stuff (especially Sega stuff) it's like a baron wasteland out there when searching for Saturn stuff in the wild.

 

[Galdelico]

Do you guys always buy Saturn games when you see them for a good price? Or do you try to keep the Saturn buying to a minimum?

Interesting question. I love collecting for the Saturn, but I try my best to stick with my wishlist. If I see games - especially those ones that start creeping over the 80/100 euros mark - that I'm not genuinely interested in, I don't feel too tempted to grab them anyway, even if the auction is most likely gonna end below the average price tag. I'm not easily fascinated by actual or potential rarity, so no, I don't impulse buy in general.

 

[Sapiens]

Are you based in the US or in Eurozone? The guy I usually buy my Japanese Saturn games from has quite a few NTSC-J systems, right now, and I'm pretty sure he can ship in the EU.

Nah - Canada. But thank you any way!

I'll be patient - they turn up here and there.

 

[D.Lo]

Sega built a really great system. They deserved more success with it. Shame about it's more classical programming requirements as opposed to Sony using well documented C out of the box (as well as being slightly less capable in the 3D dept).

Still an amazing system in every way.

Eeeh I"m a huge Saturn fan, much more than PS1, but it's not a great system from many angles.

It's a veritable cityscape of chips inside due to being a rushed hybrid. The complications go much further than documentation, as in order to get the best out of it you have to balance multiple processors.

With so many custom parts there was no way to reduce costs much over time, which is really something Sega should have known the advantages of since they sliced and diced down the Mega Drive so many times during its life, allowing them to drop prices quickly.

It also didn't produce nice FMV video quality out of the box, wasting a major selling feature of CD games. I hated all the garbage FMV back in the day myself, but that crap sold games and PS1 consoles, especially in Japan.

The Dreamcast on the other hand was a beautifully designed system. Simple and very powerful and thus scalable. They learned their lesson, it was just too late.

 

[StevieWhite]

Eeeh I"m a huge Saturn fan, much more than PS1, but it's not a great system from many angles.

Very true, and a lot of today's retro communities seem to forget this (about any flawed system really). The Saturn was a bit of a mess on the inside. Gotta learn to love it in spite of its flaws.

Owning one was extremely frustrating at times... mountains of inferior or cancelled ports.

 

[piggychan]

Eeeh I"m a huge Saturn fan, much more than PS1, but it's not a great system from many angles.


It also didn't produce nice FMV video quality out of the box, wasting a major selling feature of CD games. I hated all the garbage FMV back in the day myself, but that crap sold games and PS1 consoles, especially in Japan.

The Dreamcast on the other hand was a beautifully designed system. Simple and very powerful and thus scalable. They learned their lesson, it was just too late.

That is debatable. Sure a lot of them were not very nice and are quite small and pixellated but there are a few titles that produce some very good ones particularly from the smaller games developers.

Regarding the Dreamcast there was also the Sony propaganda machine which Sega couldn't overcome. I remember back in those days when all the gaming publications reported on the Sony tech demo presentations for the PS2 it just felt game over for the Dreamcast. There was one artlcle in a london free newspaper where some article reported that some of the intelligence officers were so worried about national security because the PS2 emotion engine was so powerful it could be used to overtake their computer systems. If only I had kept that clip. A few friends of mine also remember reading that article too.

 

[Cedric]

Saw Enemy Zero for 50$, any thoughts on the game?

 

[Galdelico]

That is debatable. Sure a lot of them were not very nice and are quite small and pixellated but there are a few titles that produce some very good ones particularly from the smaller games developers.

I thought the problems with Saturn's crappy FMV got pretty much solved once TrueMotion video codec was released. Fighters Megamix opening is very impressive, in that regard... Smooth, fullscreen and with no visible compression either.

 

[D.Lo]

That is debatable.

The Saturn had no onboard video decompression, the PS1 had native hardware H.261 video decompression. So Saturn games had to use software video compression, usually Cinepak or Truemotion.

Videos had to be carefully managed in their compression to avoid major artifcating with software decompression. You can usually do quite well with anime type stuff lots of flat colour. But anything with more detail, eg detailed CGI or real life video, would definitely show artefcating.

On PS1, you make any video and hit 'convert' and you now have perfect video for your game.

There's also the Video CD cards, which added MP1 hardware compression to the Saturn which some games supported for higher quality video.

It plays out in reality. 99.5% of video is better on PS1, and the few that are good on Saturn are carefully done and usually Anime (or use the Video card).

 

[gelf]

Obviously the Dreamcast was better designed as a system overall but purely in terms of build quality I'd definitely put Saturn above it and many other systems(dodgy cart slot aside). Mines still going strong with zero maintenance. The DC was always a bit flaky.

 

[MikeMyers]

Saturn hardware was a mess, but Sega''s internal developer pulled off some great feats on the system.

 

[Nuts_On_Your_Tonsils]

Regarding the Dreamcast there was also the Sony propaganda machine which Sega couldn't overcome. I remember back in those days when all the gaming publications reported on the Sony tech demo presentations for the PS2 it just felt game over for the Dreamcast. There was one artlcle in a london free newspaper where some article reported that some of the intelligence officers were so worried about national security because the PS2 emotion engine was so powerful it could be used to overtake their computer systems. If only I had kept that clip. A few friends of mine also remember reading that article too.

Don't forget Sony had Final Fantasy, Resident Evil, Silent Hill and Tomb Raider at the time...The next gen final fantasy was enough for people to want dat ps2.

 

[alf717]

Played some more Tomb Raider last night. I think the game is pretty good pick up for the Saturn. Not gonna lie though those frame dips can get horrendous especially in the Cistern level but still very playable.

 

[Skulldead]

Anyone know if Powerslave US version is that rare ? I've just check auction site and it goes for 100-150$... Any reason why the price explode like this ? Does the Ps1 version is better ?

 

[Teknoman]

Speaking of, what are some good platformer that are Saturn exclusive? I'm pretty much good on shooters, fighters, and racing.

 

[sixteen-bit]

Speaking of, what are some good platformer that are Saturn exclusive? I'm pretty much good on shooters, fighters, and racing.

Astal and Shinobi Legions are worth a try. I also own Tryrush Deppy and Keio 2 as well but I can't say they're worth the prices they command in 2016.

 

[Nuts_On_Your_Tonsils]

Speaking of, what are some good platformer that are Saturn exclusive? I'm pretty much good on shooters, fighters, and racing.

pandemonium (AKA magical hoppers).

2.5d like toomba 2

 

[BTails]

pandemonium (AKA magical hoppers).

2.5d like toomba 2

I enjoyed Pandemonium quite a bit, but it's definitely not exclusive, as I played it on PSX back in the day. It's been ported to a bunch of system, if I recall.

 

[Galdelico]

I enjoyed Pandemonium quite a bit, but it's definitely not exclusive, as I played it on PSX back in the day. It's been ported to a bunch of system, if I recall.

Yep, and to be fair, Saturn version isn't superior to the PS1 game either. One game I always recommend to pick-up for the Saturn - and ignore it also exists on the PlayStation - is Silhouette Mirage.

I second Astal and Keio Yuugekitai. Imo the latter is still kinda worth the price, due to its luscious, gorgeous 2D graphics and the smooth, simple gameplay.
Never tried Deppy, but I'm willing to add Super Tempo to my collection, as soon as I find a good deal on it.

 

[sixteen-bit]

docfuture's Super Tempo / Tryrush Deppy let's play is magical by the way
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLozGLUVfmDPGtq2WvJ8djkiZjP-7VQVHk

 

[Beer Monkey]

Anyone know if Powerslave US version is that rare ? I've just check auction site and it goes for 100-150$.

Death Tank maybe?

That doesn't make sense though as the superior sequel is in Duke 3D.

 

[IrishNinja]

Man I should have been buying Saturn games two years ago.

I think there were a few re-releases of EAR in Taito arcade collections that may have driven the price down for a bit, just like the XBL Radiant Silvergun pushed down eBay prices from its once glorious $600+ perch.

But I do remember EAR being one of the $100+ games on eBay, last decade-ish.

yeah i was buying 2-3 years back and it was starting to climb already, again i watched Mega Man 8 & Burning Rangers get stupid real fast

and damn, Silvergun went that high?!

Yeah just a couple years back it was about 50-80 depending.

exactly, looks like i was there at a good time - when these guys were talking (late aughts) i was still sour grapes about the system, haha

Do you guys always buy Saturn games when you see them for a good price? Or do you try to keep the Saturn buying to a minimum?

Yes,dear god yes!!! They're getting pricey nowadays.

this
last few games i bought were a copy of Warcraft for $20 (ill buy almost anything saturn for that price, haha) and when i lucked out & had a dude reply to a PM at SHMUPs from years back saying i could have his manual-less Konami MSX antiques for $20.

honestly, modding your saturn is the way to go, find out what you like & just keep an eye out. there's literally no reason to buy at high prices out of fear it's gonna get worse.

docfuture's Super Tempo / Tryrush Deppy let's play is magical by the way
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLozGLUVfmDPGtq2WvJ8djkiZjP-7VQVHk

always had fun with this one, will watch

 

[Galdelico]

docfuture's Super Tempo / Tryrush Deppy let's play is magical by the way
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLozGLUVfmDPGtq2WvJ8djkiZjP-7VQVHk

Gonna watch them, thanks!
And holy shit at Deppy's prices... It's up there with Tempo, now.

 

[Nuts_On_Your_Tonsils]

I enjoyed Pandemonium quite a bit, but it's definitely not exclusive, as I played it on PSX back in the day. It's been ported to a bunch of system, if I recall.

Dang. Darn. Damn.

I completely skipped over the word "exclusive."

You should checkout Hissatsu, its an action platform. I love the game, but you should checkout some play through vids to see if you'd like it.

 

[IrishNinja]

oh hissatsu
another affordable saturn title™

 

[Nuts_On_Your_Tonsils]

oh hissatsu
another affordable saturn title™

Ho Lee Fuk..Was not aware that this game shot up in price like that. I got it on the cheap a year or two ago.

Saturn games are the new gold. We better start locking our games away in vaults, boyos!

 

[Teknoman]

I have Astal and Shinobi, Tempo does look interesting.


On that note I accidentally won a bid for Magic Knight Rayearth. Dunno how I feel about it lol.

 

[Galdelico]

I have Astal and Shinobi, Tempo does look interesting.


On that note I accidentally won a bid for Magic Knight Rayearth. Dunno how I feel about it lol.

'Accidentally'.

Well, I guess you should feel good? Unless you 'accidentaly' paid way much more than necessary/you wanted to.

 

[Teknoman]

Well its complete for $270 heh. At any rate, it was the expensive NA titles aside from Burning Rangers, that I dont have. And it aint getting any cheaper lol. Accidentally since I just tossed in the last bid for the hell of it, didnt think I wouldnt get outbid.

 

[Galdelico]

Sounds like you grabbed it for an excellent price, man.

And yeah, after Duke Nukem 3D and Albert Odyssey, I only want US Powerslave, Quake and Rayearth, for my Saturn collection.
It's a shame I can't even look at US ebayers anymore, since everyone is using that Global Shipping Program, now, which adds ridiculous extra customs fees to pay upfront (more than $100 for Rayearth), on top of the price of the games and the actual shipping costs. Insane.

 

[D.Lo]

I keep forgetting which games I have

Like, I couldn't remember if it was Waku 7 or Galaxy Fight I was missing when I saw a W7 cheap.

Been collecting for Saturn for too long, hard to keep track of 200 games etc. Yes I have a spreadsheet but need to drag it out every time lol.

 

[Galdelico]

That's why I keep all my games listed in console-specific InDesign documents.
Seriously, it takes a bit of time and effort, when you decide to just do it, but then it's all there, and to keep them updated is super quick and easy.

And don't forget about Backloggery, if you want to have your lists always accessible online.

 

[Sapiens]

pandemonium (AKA magical hoppers).

2.5d like toomba 2

This game was the perfect rental - I wonder if it still holds up.