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Sega Saturn Appreciation and Emulation Thread
- Thread starter Seik
- Start date
Genesis Knight
Member
I've tried to enjoy it several times but it just doesn't gel for me. I always end up turning the racing off. It's a neat idea though.
IrishNinja
Member
picked up Legend of Oasis & Dark Savior for $40, feel good about that one. bummed that I keep missing cheaper copies of Die Hard Arcade & Three Dirty Dwarves (really fun now that i got a chance to play it!), but they won't elude me forever.
today should bring one package with Clockwork Knight 1 & 2, and hopefully another with Fighter's Megamix, Alpa 2 & Shining: The Holy Ark, taking at least one RPG off the expensive end of the list, if it pans out. i caught Sega Ages & a few others, as well as recent auctions for Dragon Force (ended up @ $70 after the seller refunded a bit for not having the RAM sticker), and Sonic Jam which should be about $45 once my ebay bucks cash in today.
Panzer Saga at $200 seems a distant goal at the moment; god knows if i could turn this $150 best buy gift card towards it i'd prolly bite at $250, and i was recently offered Saturn Bomberman + Albert Odyssey for $200 which strikes me as fucking high/ebay prices, so prolly gonna pass on that...seller wants $85 just for Albert which seems to be close to what it goes for, honestly not sure if that's much of a deal right now. Shining Force III at leas than $100 & Rayearth at @ $125 are also gonna take some searching, especially including inserts/etc. gonna try to space these out & be patient, hoping for the best! if 2 kids caught Burning Rangers last month for $20, anything can happen.
today should bring one package with Clockwork Knight 1 & 2, and hopefully another with Fighter's Megamix, Alpa 2 & Shining: The Holy Ark, taking at least one RPG off the expensive end of the list, if it pans out. i caught Sega Ages & a few others, as well as recent auctions for Dragon Force (ended up @ $70 after the seller refunded a bit for not having the RAM sticker), and Sonic Jam which should be about $45 once my ebay bucks cash in today.
Panzer Saga at $200 seems a distant goal at the moment; god knows if i could turn this $150 best buy gift card towards it i'd prolly bite at $250, and i was recently offered Saturn Bomberman + Albert Odyssey for $200 which strikes me as fucking high/ebay prices, so prolly gonna pass on that...seller wants $85 just for Albert which seems to be close to what it goes for, honestly not sure if that's much of a deal right now. Shining Force III at leas than $100 & Rayearth at @ $125 are also gonna take some searching, especially including inserts/etc. gonna try to space these out & be patient, hoping for the best! if 2 kids caught Burning Rangers last month for $20, anything can happen.
sixteen-bit
Member
Albert Odyssey is like a C- tier RPG at best and absolutely not worth that price. I guess you're getting it for collector purposes?
IrishNinja
Member
i mean, ive heard that about it, but...ive got a fondness for WD RPG's, and the hour or so i played that one seemed interesting. i'm not expecting Lunar 2 here, kinda gave me more like a B tier SNES JRPG with better music/voice etc. i genuinely want to play it.
but you're right, that's not a great price and i'm not on forums to catch ebay deals, so dude can go fly a kite, hopefully i can manage better in a bundle some other time. Likewise, i spent about a half hour with Rayearth and it seemed appealing but there's not many games i'm willing to go $150 on (PDS seems to warrant the price for many, and ive heard about it as the saturn's FF VII/swan song for too many years now honestly).
but you're right, that's not a great price and i'm not on forums to catch ebay deals, so dude can go fly a kite, hopefully i can manage better in a bundle some other time. Likewise, i spent about a half hour with Rayearth and it seemed appealing but there's not many games i'm willing to go $150 on (PDS seems to warrant the price for many, and ive heard about it as the saturn's FF VII/swan song for too many years now honestly).
Sixfortyfive
He who pursues two rabbits gets two rabbits.
Debating on whether good games are "worth" $200+ prices or not is an exercise in futility.
I can't really find much of anything bad to say about PDS (other than crude 3D visuals that you just kind of have to accept for games of that era), and I'm not really an RPG guy in the first place, so I'm pretty comfortable with endorsing it. On the other hand, it's for-sure going on my for-sale list when I finally clear out my Saturn backlog and determine which other games in my collection are expendable, simply because my days of hoarding RPGs that I'll never dust off for another playthrough are behind me now.
I can't really find much of anything bad to say about PDS (other than crude 3D visuals that you just kind of have to accept for games of that era), and I'm not really an RPG guy in the first place, so I'm pretty comfortable with endorsing it. On the other hand, it's for-sure going on my for-sale list when I finally clear out my Saturn backlog and determine which other games in my collection are expendable, simply because my days of hoarding RPGs that I'll never dust off for another playthrough are behind me now.
sixteen-bit
Member
Lol, I feel that same attitude exists with vireland's new company localizing shit like Class of Heroes 2 on PSP instead of stuff like 7th Dragon series and Grand Knight's History.
When it comes down to it it's probably just cost vs ROI though, and I doubt there's any malicious intent lol.
Im still hurting from Grand Knights History not being brought over.
I mean just look/listen to this!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADeEAdQt0lE
I mean just look/listen to this!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADeEAdQt0lE
A Black Falcon
Member
We probably would have gotten Lunar SSSC too if he hadn't canned all in-progress-but-not-announced Saturn games at E3 '97 because of Bernie Stolar killing the system off and treating him badly.
Also, hasn't he said that Albert Odyssey was kind of a mistake (ie, not the best choice for localization)?
Genesis Knight
Member
/edit: wrong thread
IrishNinja
Member
really wish i knew what other saturn games WD had lined up - any guesses past Lunar? i guess the stuff PSX got is likely a safe bet?
ss_lemonade
Member
A Black Falcon
Member
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=17557062&postcount=94
Here he says it was Lunar SSSC, Hyper Duel, Blast Wind, and the two Thunder Force Gold Packs.
In other threads though, some other stuff was also mentioned:
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=31218
Here it says:
-Lunar SSSC
-Sakura Taisen
-Super Shooter Pack - Soukyugurentai + Sengoku Blade + Hyper Duel
-Thunder Force Gold Pack 1 + 2
-Thunder Force V
And here http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=36144115&postcount=17 he says a third thing:
Technosoft - Hyper Duel + Blast Wind + Thunder Force Gold Packs collection
IrishNinja
Member
Hyper Duel for less than $200? Thunder Force Gold Packs...hnnnghhhh
cj_iwakura
Member
AO is a solid game. Amazing music, good story, fun combat. It's not amazing A+++ like Dragon Force, but not every game is.
cj_iwakura
Member
Here you go.
I'm playing it in Japanese on the PSN/PS2 version, but I've beaten it like 10 times. Without that knowledge, it can be TOUGH, but doable.
You are missing out, though. The localization was stellar.
IrishNinja
Member
CJ i know ive asked this here but what about Saturn Bomberman, are the modes you lose with the import worth it? cause damn is the US one expensive
cj_iwakura
Member
I've never played it.
Irish probably meant to direct that question to sixfortyfive.
That list of potential WD localizations makes me sad for what could have been.
Sixfortyfive
He who pursues two rabbits gets two rabbits.
The JP version is missing Netlink support and 25% of the battle stages. I'd be surprised of more than a dozen people on the planet still cared about Saturn dial-up netplay, and I don't think the cut content is really a deal-breaker unless you're a Bomberman nut like I am.
The PAL version has all of the stages, but I haven't checked to see if it runs at the proper speed or not.
Yeah, I was having the same issue with Christmas Nights - dropping back a release or two fixed it.
Agent Unknown
Member
Dang, Hyperduel, Soukyugurentai, and TF Goldpacks were in the works to come over from WD? That's crazy, never knew that. I own Souky and play TF games on Genny so no huge losses there, but imagine a cheap way to get Hyperduel, wow.
Me said:
Genesis Knight
Member
I mean, there's no guarantee that Blast Wind or Hyperduel would be cheap b/c of a WD release. Cheaper, possibly. But no promises.
Agent Unknown
Member
Well yeah, I guess "more readily available" at least would be a better way of putting it.
Man, Saturn and PCE were such beasts for shmups.
Octorockin'
Member
Just last month, I mistakenly confused one Sega Saturn game for another and made an unintentional purchase!
So I wanted to play some Bomberman games after reading through this thread, which led me to buy a game that I thought was the fan-favorite Saturn Bomberman. It turns out the game I bought is called Saturn Bomberman Fight!!, a sequel to the game I intended to play. I feel pretty silly about buying the wrong game, but I thought I'd give it a try.
From what I've played, Saturn Bomberman Fight!! is...actually somewhat hard to explain. Instead of navigating through stages blasting away obstacles and enemies, each arena has only one enemy to fight. I suppose it can be likened to a boss rush mode with an emphasis on multiplayer. The objective is to defeat your opponent by draining their life bar, and there are all sorts of wacky items that can help or hinder your goal. It doesn't take long for the arena to become a mess of chaotic happenings.
Each stage is presented with an isometric view, which I honestly think complicates the gameplay a little. It's hard to tell what is going on sometimes, and even harder to react. It looks pretty cool though, with colorful artwork, cute polygonal characters, and cool explosion effects. An interesting game to be sure, but certainly not what was expecting!
I also played a bit of Astal tonight. It's pretty fun, and its visuals and music are very impressive so far. The song that plays on stage 2 is great!
Astal himself has some neat attacks and animations, and the helper character adds another good dynamic to the action. I look forward to playing more of this game.
So I wanted to play some Bomberman games after reading through this thread, which led me to buy a game that I thought was the fan-favorite Saturn Bomberman. It turns out the game I bought is called Saturn Bomberman Fight!!, a sequel to the game I intended to play. I feel pretty silly about buying the wrong game, but I thought I'd give it a try.
From what I've played, Saturn Bomberman Fight!! is...actually somewhat hard to explain. Instead of navigating through stages blasting away obstacles and enemies, each arena has only one enemy to fight. I suppose it can be likened to a boss rush mode with an emphasis on multiplayer. The objective is to defeat your opponent by draining their life bar, and there are all sorts of wacky items that can help or hinder your goal. It doesn't take long for the arena to become a mess of chaotic happenings.
Each stage is presented with an isometric view, which I honestly think complicates the gameplay a little. It's hard to tell what is going on sometimes, and even harder to react. It looks pretty cool though, with colorful artwork, cute polygonal characters, and cool explosion effects. An interesting game to be sure, but certainly not what was expecting!
I also played a bit of Astal tonight. It's pretty fun, and its visuals and music are very impressive so far. The song that plays on stage 2 is great!
Astal himself has some neat attacks and animations, and the helper character adds another good dynamic to the action. I look forward to playing more of this game.
cj_iwakura
Member
It's easy to forget, but Atlus showed the Saturn a lot of exclusive love too, at least for a little while. Devil Summoner & Soul Hackers came out for it first.
I played some Devil Summoner earlier. A janky game, but it has a solid story, and... well, as old-school SMT games go, you could do worse.
Great music, too.
I played some Devil Summoner earlier. A janky game, but it has a solid story, and... well, as old-school SMT games go, you could do worse.
Great music, too.
Armoured Priest
Member
Yeah, no...I like Albert Odyssey, myself, but its not worth that. i could see maybe spending $75 for it at most, and that's only because of Saturn price inflation (I just looked at ebay and amazon...there was a time you could get that game for $25, $40 in case...smh).
IrishNinja
Member
brought my list down a bit - hit-japan (ebay seller) has a 15% off sale going, and takes offers on nearly everything. dude doesn't bargain; if you offer like half, you get declined; offer 60-70% and he tends to accept. worked with me bundling the shipping together too & ended up almost half as much as the original quote...i'm sure i won't see that stuff for a few weeks but i'm still pretty hyped!
MKR, PDS, SFIII, AO and such are gonna be tricky...even the discover reward money i get that amazon takes doesnt help because of the markup there (those titles are often tehre for the price i want, but only loose). gonna keep digging!
goddamn, Meguro never disappoints
you're killing me here
really hoping it's a bubble but part of me worries that as that gen gets further, these lower-printed games aren't gonna go back down...although i do expect some stuff to level off; even if copies of Panzer Saga can net $350 sometimes on ebay i don't expect too much trouble catching mine for about $100 or less, if not more. i just gotta keep lookin'
MKR, PDS, SFIII, AO and such are gonna be tricky...even the discover reward money i get that amazon takes doesnt help because of the markup there (those titles are often tehre for the price i want, but only loose). gonna keep digging!
goddamn, Meguro never disappoints
you're killing me here
really hoping it's a bubble but part of me worries that as that gen gets further, these lower-printed games aren't gonna go back down...although i do expect some stuff to level off; even if copies of Panzer Saga can net $350 sometimes on ebay i don't expect too much trouble catching mine for about $100 or less, if not more. i just gotta keep lookin'
cj_iwakura
Member
It was Tsukasa Masuko and Toshiko Tasaki. I'm not sure Meguro even worked on DS.
IrishNinja
Member
cj_iwakura
Member
Also, you get your guns in style.
Octorockin'
Member
This song is real smooth. I haven't played these Shin Megami Tensei games, but I do like their sense of style.
ResidentDante
Member
Somebody posted this on Reddit, thought I'd share:
IrishNinja
Member
man, i'dve bought one of those Neptunes, too. I love my genesis but the 32X is all kinds've trouble, would've been more convenient i think
ResidentDante
Member
The absolute best would have been if the Saturn had supported Mega Drive/32X games in it's cartridge slot and Mega CD games in the cd-rom!
IrishNinja
Member
^haha idve loved that, but it'dve been $500 and nearly twice as big!
ResidentDante
Member
True xD
sixteen-bit
Member
Someone should sell Neptune shells. I've seen 32X modded into Gen 2 shells, so I'm sure it would fit and you could make your own makeshift one, lol.
ResidentDante
Member
I actually never have played with a 32X before, but does it accept Mega Drive cartridges into it, or do you need to remove it, then insert the Mega Drive games straight into the original console?
What modes were removed I have the game so I can try them out. Also I really enjoyed Albert Odyssey but its price has gotten inflated to crazy ranges. Now MKR is an excellent game even if you should only ever use Fuu but I can't imagine the prices that gets to since those stickers are so tempting to put on stuff I am lucky enough to have bought it new and not messed with them.
You can just put the MD games into the 32x sadly it doesn't improve anything so it is solely for ease of use.
sixteen-bit
Member
Yeah, it has a pass-through mode. IIRC the only Genesis game that doesn't work properly is Virtua Racing, but there's a better version of that game on 32X anyway.
IrishNinja
Member
man i would find shelf space for a Neptune mock-up like that, damn
yeah, i almost bit at $88 or so on Albert but got talked out of it here; gonna hold out for something better since i'm in no hurry, and honestly since i just got Dragon Force without it, id like one of my WD titles to have that insert of their merchandise, even if i am just gonna drool over it & drunkenly message Vic here @ GAF about it.
MKR looks awesome, it goes for like $150 but ive seen it around $125 complete once in a while (it seems on the rise again lately but its hard to tell), at this point the closer i can get to $100 with said stickers id prolly just pick it up & be done with it...some stuff is getting really jacked up, like Shining Force 3 < $100 is getting trickier too.
yeah, i almost bit at $88 or so on Albert but got talked out of it here; gonna hold out for something better since i'm in no hurry, and honestly since i just got Dragon Force without it, id like one of my WD titles to have that insert of their merchandise, even if i am just gonna drool over it & drunkenly message Vic here @ GAF about it.
MKR looks awesome, it goes for like $150 but ive seen it around $125 complete once in a while (it seems on the rise again lately but its hard to tell), at this point the closer i can get to $100 with said stickers id prolly just pick it up & be done with it...some stuff is getting really jacked up, like Shining Force 3 < $100 is getting trickier too.
Canadian Psycho
Banned
Saturn prices are not coming back to Earth (pun intended). At least not for premium items like the Working Designs releases. Heck, even Sega Ages sells for a pretty penny. I got MKR with the stickers and all in MINT condition last February for $150. Minty fresh like it is, I could spin it no problem for $200 but I won't do it (third time I have gotten the game over the years, lol). If you spot a very clean/complete one for $150, you should go for it.
I have been searching info regarding compatibility problems with King of Fighters '96 and Samurai Spirits IV (stand alone version - not the twin pack including SS III) when using the AR 4 in 1 cart but couldn't find a definitive answer. So I'm asking here: are there or aren't there graphical glitches when using the Action Replay cart for booting those two games on a US Saturn? (FYI, I have an all black AR+ cart purchased from the UK last summer/fall).
I have been searching info regarding compatibility problems with King of Fighters '96 and Samurai Spirits IV (stand alone version - not the twin pack including SS III) when using the AR 4 in 1 cart but couldn't find a definitive answer. So I'm asking here: are there or aren't there graphical glitches when using the Action Replay cart for booting those two games on a US Saturn? (FYI, I have an all black AR+ cart purchased from the UK last summer/fall).
Sixfortyfive
He who pursues two rabbits gets two rabbits.
The only KOF-related compatibility issues I'm familiar with are those related to the KOF95 specific ROM cartridge.
I've also heard of issues where certain early models of the PAR w/ 4MB RAM don't function correctly with games that expect a 1MB RAM cartridge to be present. Supposedly the later revisions of the PAR that can switch between 1MB/4MB modes avoid this issue. I believe the presence of this function is what separates the "Pro Action Replay 4-in-1 Plus" from the standard "Pro Action Replay 4-in-1," but I'm not 100% sure.
I've also heard of issues where certain early models of the PAR w/ 4MB RAM don't function correctly with games that expect a 1MB RAM cartridge to be present. Supposedly the later revisions of the PAR that can switch between 1MB/4MB modes avoid this issue. I believe the presence of this function is what separates the "Pro Action Replay 4-in-1 Plus" from the standard "Pro Action Replay 4-in-1," but I'm not 100% sure.
JPeeples83
Member
I was shocked to see how much Sega AGES was going for. I sold mine for about $100, and while it was tough to part with since it was one of my best gaming pickups ever at an old local store called Replay, it was easy to justify since it was so much money and I'd rather sell it than it wind up getting broken during a move or stolen or something like that.