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[Falxix]

How long did this take to write up, or do you write little reviews of every game you play and rank them as you get to them?

I'm dying to get back into Saturn gaming, so I might just keep your list handy.

 

[Shadow Hog]

You're making me want to do the same thing with my library. :E

Oh, what the hell.

• Astal: It's short and linear, but oh so pretty. Worth at least one run-through, although it gets pretty damn hard toward the end of the game. Not so sure about repeat play-throughs.
• Baku Baku Animal: First played this game as a GG title. A little disappointed that the Saturn version lacks the Story Mode of that version with all the cute blurbs between stages, but it's still solid puzzle fun.
• BUG!: Amusing little platformer that gets way too hard way too fast. Stages are of insane length with checkpoints a bit too sparse to make the journey particularly enjoyable. Still worth a look if you don't mind replaying the same segments a lot.
• Burning Rangers: Pretty cool little action game. Combat's a bit awkward at times, and it's really short considering it clocks in at only 4 stages. It's supposed to be inherently replayable by randomizing what areas are open to you, what hostages are located where etc. I've played through the first stage a couple of times, and I can vouch for some rooms being open in some runs but closed in others, but the overall path is still fairly samey. Still, I like it. Need to give it another go sometime.
• Clockwork Knight: Actually played the second first, based on the demo disc mentioned by the OP, but it's still okay. Really, really easy, though. Like, even Hard is a joke. Add on how short it is, and you can understand why people were disappointed when this was the launch title instead of a new Sonic game. It's charming, though, and quite fun all the same, so I recommend it.
• Clockwork Knight 2: Much better title. Non-boss stages now have 4 cards to run past, and grabbing all 32 gives you a cheat code, as I recall. Also added a boss rush mode (including the bosses from the first game), a secret minigame collection (which are adorably rendered as if drawn by a 4-year-old), and even a secret character to play as (available from the start in the boss rush, available via Konami Code, with L and R subbed in for left and right, in the main game). Difficulty's harder than the first game, which is appreciated (although it's a bit too hard in the second boss's case, IMO).
• Croc: Legend of the Gobbos: Very solid port. Sure, in the grand scheme of things the PS1 or PC versions would likely be better choices, but I can't really complain about this version, beyond complaints that apply to all versions of the game (why is it that the buttons for turning and strafing swap with each other when you're in mid-air?).
• Darius Gaiden: Seems pretty good. Not a huge shmup person, though, and the game is relentlessly difficult. There's a cheat code to let you have an obscene amount of lives and lower the difficulty below what it normally would be, but it doesn't matter; the limited continues still gets me before I can reach an ending. Still seems fairly solid, though.
• Daytona USA: Love this game, and this is probably the only version of the game where you can play as a horse. However, at this point I'd have to give the XBLA/PSN version the nod instead - better framerate, better resolution, no draw-in, online play... a better-than-arcade perfect port, honestly.
• Daytona USA: Championship Circuit Edition: I'm not intimate enough with Daytona's quirks to notice the handling differences. The soundtrack isn't as good as the first title's, but the remixes are serviceable, and you get two extra tracks (and a 2P mode!). I'd like to try the JP version sometime, though, see the extra features it added. There's also a PC version of this with a sixth track...
• Some Japanese Digimon game: I've never even put the disc in my Saturn. I imagine whatever it is, I'd have plenty of time to read the text boxes, which is good, because I was never very fast at reading Japanese. However, it's been so long since I took Japanese classes that I can only read the hiragana/katakana, and not really parse it, so even that would be of little use to me. Oh well.
• Doom (JPN): It's Doom. A bit on the sluggish side, admittedly. I've heard this version has it better than the US version; I'm afraid to ask just how bad that version is, then, because this isn't really anything worth writing home about. You want to play Doom? Buy this, download this, this, this or even this, put the WADs from the former into the folder of whichever of the latter options you chose, and play. Much improved experience all-around.
• FIFA '97: I'm not a soccer fan. This game does nothing for me.
• Gex: Beat the first two worlds, haven't touched since (most likely lost my password, too, and will have to start over). Solid platformer, though bouncing off of enemy heads seems a bit more finicky, control-wise, than it should be (IIRC you have to hold down when landing on them, and then press up to get the desired ascent - why? Wouldn't holding the jump button suffice?). I turn the voices off, but YMMV on whether that's necessary or not.
• Guardian Heroes: Good beat-em-up, but honestly, I'd recommend the 360 version over this one, if only because it makes figuring out which paths you've not taken much easier. Also sometimes feels like too much is going on at once; I never feel particularly in control of a situation like I do with Streets of Rage 2, often finding myself ganged up on and having my ass handed to me. You could let the Undead Warrior do the fighting for you, but then you'll never level up, which is required if you want to beat the final bosses without dying a ridiculous number of times... The branching paths feature is awesome, though.
• Magic Knight Rayearth: The very last US Saturn game, it's something of a Zelda-esque Action RPG. I'm not familiar with the manga (and this apparently only covers the first arc of it), but it's a very solid action game. Hate the stealth segment about halfway into the game, though.
• MechWarrior 2: I don't get this game. Admittedly I haven't tried too hard, but I recall it being incredibly easy to fail the tutorials, which wasn't really confidence-inspiring. Still, jumping into a quick deathmatch was pretty fun, as long as I didn't pretend to have any idea what I was actually doing.
• Mega Man 8: Anniversary Edition: Best version of the game, period. Two extra bosses, notably, but also an added sound test, and there's even a gallery of fan art submitted to Capcom as part of their Japan-based Robot Master design contests. Tengu Man's theme is different for some reason, but it's still good. Not sure why this game gets a mediocre rap, I love it.
• Mega Man X4: Brilliant, and probably my favorite in the series (that or the first SNES one). Music loops, unlike the other versions, and the fiery backgrounds (Sky Lagoon 2, Magma Dragoon) warp with a heatwave effect. Polygonal transparencies are mesh, however. Other than that, it's the same game as on the PS1.
• NiGHTS: Brilliant little title that's pretty much unlike anything else out there. Recommended for sure. Gotta say, though, once I blew through it, I didn't find myself particularly compelled to improve on my times that much; not really a score attack kind of guy, and this is unabashedly a score attack kind of game.
• Panzer Dragoon: This is actually my most recent purchase - mostly to complete the set - and I haven't put much time into it. It's good, though incredibly difficult. My main gripe with this series is how annoying dodging projectiles gets; you can only move around when you're facing forward, but you're often attacked from behind or to the sides, making said movement impossible. Granted, a lot of these projectiles can be shot down, but still, sometimes it feels like too much is going on at once to properly handle. Worse, die, and you're back to the start of the stage. Limited continues, too. Plus the game ends at Level 4 on Easy. Great.
• Panzer Dragoon Zwei: Much more refined than the first game; smoother framerate, and the addition of Berserk Mode (basically a smart bomb that automatically shoots everything in sight) really helps with the gameplay. Still brutally hard. This was actually my first entry into the series (happened to come with the copy of Clockwork Knight 2 I was ordering). Plot is a bit more expanded from the first game, but it doesn't make a whole lot of sense when you play it, unfortunately. Fortunately, it's expanded in...
• Panzer Dragoon Saga: Probably the crown jewel of my collection, I really adore this game. An RPG that plays very unlike any other RPG I've tried, feeling at times more like an action game that has an Active Time Battle tossed on top of it. Panzer Dragoon's strongest asset, in my opinion, was always its unique world, and an RPG was the perfect venue to explore it from. Downsides are that it's short, kind of easy, and absurdly expensive, but man, what a ride. Need to give it a second run through sometime soon.
• Pebble Beach Golf Links: It's golf. The graphics are pretty lousy; it takes two seconds to render a given frame with texturing, and you can feasibly count the frames per second for the Ball Cam, which doesn't have texturing. I adore the music, though. Granted, it's elevator music, but it's remarkably soothing elevator music that helps me not care that I just missed the shot for the umpteenth time because the only way to sink the putt was for me to hit the ball in an angle the game won't even let me choose because angle selection is entirely digital. There's apparently another version of this game set in a more fantasy-inspired setting than the real-world golf course of Pebble Beach, Valora Valley Golf, but the asking price on eBay is pretty high and I'm not that tied to this game as it is.
• Powerslave: Great title. Deceptively small levels; there are powerups in some levels that make returning to earlier ones mandatory, and then suddenly that really small level you ran through gets a whole lot bigger, revealing exits to further levels, etc. Also available on PS1 and PC, but the PC game is completely different, while the PS1 version only has some differences here and there.
• Rayman: Very similar to the PS1 version, although there are added visual effects for stage transitions. Highly recommend either version of the game, on the condition that you don't even bother with the life/continue system and just enter the "reset my continue counter to 10 when <2" code all the time. Trust me, you'll have much more fun just focusing on clearing the game than you will trying to clear it on its terms.
• Sega Rally: Fun little racer. Haven't spent much time with this one, honestly; I was always more into Daytona. Better port job, certainly.
• Shining the Holy Ark: Much improved from Shining in the Darkness (from what little I've played of the latter). The addition of an automap is much appreciated, and the actual gameplay is pretty solid (if you don't mind grinding a fair deal). However, the framerate can get obscenely sluggish. Granted, this is a first-person dungeon crawling RPG, not something real-time where slowdown can kill you, but it gets kind of glaring after a while.
• Sonic 3D Blast: The Traveler's Tales Sonic games get a bum rap, honestly. I quite like them, and this is probably the best version of this particular one. It doesn't play anything like the original Sonic games - more like a hybrid between those and the Sega arcade game, Flicky - but it's still a fairly solid isometric platformer. It's just a shame that we got this instead of Sonic Xtreme, but that game was troubled from the start, so better this than nothing. Plus Richard Jacques's soundtrack is amazing; greatly prefer it to the Genesis version's.
• Sonic R: Another guilty pleasure of mine. It's obscenely quick to get all the characters, provided you know what you're doing, and horrendously imbalanced, but it's a fun little mascot racer otherwise, with an incredible amount of exploration tossed into a genre not particularly known for it. Turn the lyrics off, though, they're cheesy beyond belief.
• Sonic Jam: Decent compilation. Having played the Genesis titles to death on an actual Genesis, though, it doesn't do a whole lot for me; a Hard Mode would've been nice, considering they went and tossed in Easy and Normal modes (the original versions are apparently the "Hard" versions, and considering they're not particularly hard to begin with, that's kind of silly).
• Street Fighter Collection: Honest to God, this was my first taste of Street Fighter, and I didn't buy it until I was in college in 2006. Nevertheless, it's fun. I can't really comment on its arcade perfectness, though; I'm not that into Street Fighter. It is really fun, though. Games are Super Street Fighter 2, SSF2 Turbo, and Street Fighter Alpha 2 Gold, so it's really like 2-3 games in one (hence the name "Collection", of course).
• Tomb Raider: I only got as far as St. Francis's Folly, honestly. I rather like the aesthetics, but the controls really kill it for me. Like, they work, but they're so different from what became the accepted standard that it's hard to play through in modern times. Combat in particular feels awkward when it's hard to properly face the opponent, and near impossible to circle-strafe them, but at least there's auto-aim to work around that.
  
  Fun factoid I recall hearing: apparently the Saturn version was the lead development version, but Sony paid for exclusivity for the next two entries in the series (PC versions notwithstanding). Not sure how true that is, but it'd explain the boxy level design; it's designed to play to the Saturn's strength in quads.
• Virtua Cop: I'd really like to try this with the light gun one of these days (and the sequel, at that), but it's a fun (if short) light gun title. Really like the music, and how you get an extra boss you get for doing the stages in order.
• Virtua Fighter 2: Pretty much the only fighter I owned for the longest time. It's okay, but I definitely prefer Street Fighter, looking back on it. Still, it runs exclusively in 480i at 60 FPS, which makes it one pretty Saturn title.
• wipEout: For a good while, I thought this was the greatest crashing simulator I'd ever played, based on how incredibly easy it was to scrape against the walls, outright killing your momentum. I've warmed up to the game, though. It's certainly a solid racer. Not sure how it stacks up to the PS1 version, as I've never owned the latter; however, it's a Sony-owned franchise, and it's a 3D game, which the PS1 generally did better than the Saturn, so I can hazard a guess.
• Worms: I prefer Worms 2 or Armageddon, but this is still a solid strategy title, for what it's worth. Kudos to NeoGAF's DECK'ARD for making the original, of course.
• X-Men vs. Street Fighter (JPN): Barely played. Seems good, if a bit barebones. Haven't really gotten the feel of the team mechanics, though, compared to a standard Street Fighter game, and it's a shame I can't read the trash talk after each round.

Phew, I think that's everything. Took like an hour and a half to write all that, too.

 

[Katzii]

Very impressive idea for a thread and apparently you did ones for other consoles - would you possibly be able to put links to those as well, please?

Kind of inspired to do the same with my consoles, but I have to shamefully admit that I have too many games that I've not played enough to review.

 

[Grayman]

While I never owned a saturn the list was a nostalgia flashback to demo kiosks, PSX and PC games, and game magazines of the day. Sega Rally is one of these games I actually owned with a 5 dollar jewel case rack style cd rom that i played on my 486 or win 98 celron. I can only remember 2 of the courses now.

 

[Krappadizzle]

Ya know, I always wanted a Saturn especially after I learned about Enemy Zero from Kenji Eno, but I couldn't afford one at the time, so I went, PSX-->Dreamcast-->PS2--> etc. That game sounded terrifying as hell. Still might look into getting one now, for nostalgia sake. Thanks for the write up!

 

[Anticitizen One]

The Saturn was a great under appreciated system. It's unfortunate sega made so many mistakes with it (abrupt launch, overpriced, poor hardware compared to n64 and psx, no sonic, etc.)

I was actually considering buying astral the other day but if is as simple as op claims I may have to reconsider. I enjoyed the clockwork knight games and was hoping for something similar but with a bit more depth.

 

[Shadow Hog]

The Saturn was a great under appreciated system. It's unfortunate sega made so many mistakes with it (abrupt launch, overpriced, poor hardware compared to n64 and psx, no sonic, etc.)

I was actually considering buying astral the other day but if is as simple as op claims I may have to reconsider. I enjoyed the clockwork knight games and was hoping for something similar but with a bit more depth.

Astal's definitely worth running through at least once, but yeah, depth isn't really something you ought to search for here. Although it does have a surprisingly complex two-player setup, since only 1P can be Astal; 2P gets to be Bird instead, who plays completely differently. Worthwhile to practice as Bird, even; she

Spoiler

has to fight one of the bosses in single-player when Astal gets incapacitated, which might throw you for a loop if you're not used to how she plays

.

 

[ResidentDante]

Great thread OP, I enjoyed reading up about games I remember but almost had forgotten!

Tunnel B-1 - One player, has saving. Tunnel B-1 is a first-person vehicular combat game. In the game, you control a vehicle of some kind and have to drive through tunnels, cleansing them of a plague of evil robots and such. Yeah, it's a fairly generic concept, and is generic in execution too; there are plenty of other games that do something similar to this, and often a bit better than this one too. However, it's not a bad game, just average. If you like vehicular combat games, you well might enjoy this one. Drive around, shoot stuff, collect better weapons, try not to die, and make your way through the increasingly complex tunnel networks. You start out with only basic weapons and in tunnels with only a branch or two, but it gets more interesting farther in. Still the game never reaches greatness, but it is average shooting entertainment, at least, and can be fun to play. I enjoyed it just enough to buy this Saturn version even though I already have it on PS1, but I do enjoy vehicular combat games. Also on PS1.

I had this on my PS1! Never beat it though, was too damn hard.

 

[Rentahamster]

My favorite Saturn games, of the ones I own:
1. NiGHTS
2. Panzer Dragoon
3. Bug!
4. Daytona USA
5. Galactic Attack
6. Panzer Dragoon II: Zwei
7. Sega Rally Championship
8. CrimeWave
9. Bug Too!
10. Star Fighter

I guess that means you don't own Dragon Force. Or Guardian Heroes. Or Saturn Bomberman.

*checks*

yep

Also...VF and FV, but no Fighters Megamix?

 

[Lumpy Onion]

Amazing and informative thread! Makes me kind of depressed because my Saturn died last year though. I have a really soft spot for the Saturn. I bought one at launch and played through many, many imports. Magic Knight Rayearth, Lunar remake, Riglord Saga (lol), Shining Wisdom, Albert Odyssey. Oh the memories!

Anyone ever play Air's Adventure? Without a doubt the worst JRPG I have ever played for any system. It truly boggles the mind how bad it is.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhxMkr_pqwQ

 

[Krappadizzle]

Amazing and informative thread! Makes me kind of depressed because my Saturn died last year though.

How did it die?

 

[Lumpy Onion]

How did it die?

It just suddenly stopped reading all discs. Kind of sad, because it turns on just fine. I guess I could try an emulator to play my games, but I haven't any idea if they work well. Might just buy another one.

 

[Phat Michael]

X-Men vs. Street Fighter (JPN): Barely played. Seems good, if a bit barebones. Haven't really gotten the feel of the team mechanics, though, compared to a standard Street Fighter game, and it's a shame I can't read the trash talk after each round.

Its a fantastic game. Light years ahead of UMVC3. Its the best of the "vs" street fighter games. Its not barebones at all - give it more time its very very good.

 

[Krappadizzle]

It just suddenly stopped reading all discs. Kind of sad, because it turns on just fine. I guess I could try an emulator to play my games, but I haven't any idea if they work well. Might just buy another one.

Sounds like your CD-drive burned/shit the bed. Do you have any hardware experience? It's more than like and easy fix if you have a screwdriver and a proper replacement.

 

[Lumpy Onion]

Sounds like your CD-drive burned/shit the bed. Do you have any hardware experience? It's more than like and easy fix if you have a screwdriver and a proper replacement.

Most I have done is a little soldering. Just checked Amazon and they seem to average $50 used. I would rather pay that than tinker with the one I have. This is actually the second one that has broken down on me. Fortunately they aren't hard to replace like the Turbo-duo or something.

 

[Soul_Pie]

I never knew anyone with a sega saturn, I saw one in the shop one time and thought it had a cool name and played sega rally on the demo unit and had a blast. Then I saw the price on it and it was something like 700 australian dollars and I knew I had no hope of ever getting one.

 

[Tiktaalik]

Black Falcon you seemed like such a big N64 fan I'm surprised you own a Saturn!

 

[Quackula]

Sad to not see Saturn Bomberman. One of my all time favorite multiplayer games.

 

[A Black Falcon]

Very impressive idea for a thread and apparently you did ones for other consoles - would you possibly be able to put links to those as well, please?

Kind of inspired to do the same with my consoles, but I have to shamefully admit that I have too many games that I've not played enough to review.

The other one I've posted at NeoGAF is my N64 list here: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=473262 Thread was bumped recently, too.

 

[Tiktaalik]

Your list makes me embarrassed because I have a bunch of Saturn games I bought forever ago for ultra cheap in Japan and I've barely played them. I wouldn't even be able to write a short review for most.

 

[Krappadizzle]

Most I have done is a little soldering. Just checked Amazon and they seem to average $50 used. I would rather pay that than tinker with the one I have. This is actually the second one that has broken down on me. Fortunately they aren't hard to replace like the Turbo-duo or something.

I'll take it off your hands for a fair price? I have a lot of experience with hardware and can fix almost anything down to the PCB.

The other one I've posted at NeoGAF is my N64 list here: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=473262 Thread was bumped recently, too.

You should link this in your OP my friend. Your 64 thread is better than this one, and I didn't think it could be.

My only criticism, and it's small, is maybe pictures or covers for each of the games you review. Other than that, this is an absolutely joy of a post.

 

[Parallacs]

Awesome! Great work.

I think it was just a few weeks ago where you announced that you would be starting a Saturn collection. And now there are 67 reviews...

Are you a machine?

 

[Dresden]

Are you a machine?

He's a head floating in a jar. Manipulates controllers and keyboards via telepathy.

 

[A Black Falcon]

How long did this take to write up, or do you write little reviews of every game you play and rank them as you get to them?

I'm dying to get back into Saturn gaming, so I might just keep your list handy.

Spent a while writing here and there over a couple of days.

Black Falcon you seemed like such a big N64 fan I'm surprised you own a Saturn!

I didn't before a few years ago, while I've owned an N64 since the '90s, if that's what you mean, but I have a quite sizable classic consoles collection now... but while I never really cared about the Saturn back while it was alive, and didn't know anyone who owned one either, I didn't hate Sega; it's Sony I hated, not Sega. I always loved Sonic the Hedgehog, for instance, as well as Mario. I always liked Nintendo a bit more than Sega, but thought Sega, though second place for me, made good games too. Always liked the Genesis, it's one of my favorite consoles right up there with the SNES. So yeah, it's the Playstation that I dislike. I still do have a bias against Sony, I must admit. I like some games on their consoles, but not their consoles themselves.

Your list makes me embarrassed because I have a bunch of Saturn games I bought forever ago for ultra cheap in Japan and I've barely played them. I wouldn't even be able to write a short review for most.

I have piles of PS1, PS2, Xbox (original), and PC games that I haven't even played once...

You should link this in your OP my friend. Your 64 thread is better than this one, and I didn't think it could be.

Maybe I will, that would make sense. As for why that one's better... well, the N64 is my favorite console... I like the Saturn, but the N64 is my favorite console, period.

My only criticism, and it's small, is maybe pictures or covers for each of the games you review. Other than that, this is an absolutely joy of a post.

People complain about this regularly in my threads, but I like writing stuff, not looking for and linking images, so I rarely put in the effort to find pictures... particularly in a thread like this where I'd need images for scores of games. Ugh, that'd be no fun. Just go to Gamefaqs if you want some pictures of the games, or Youtube for video... I'm sure they're all there.

Oh, I've also done a bunch of threads for various individual games for older systems; do a search of threads I've made to find them, if you're interested.

Awesome! Great work.

I think it was just a few weeks ago where you announced that you would be starting a Saturn collection. And now there are 67 reviews...

Are you a machine?

You're thinking of someone else. I've owned a Saturn for a few years, and don't think I made a post announcing when I bought it back then...

I guess that means you don't own Dragon Force. Or Guardian Heroes. Or Saturn Bomberman.

*checks*

yep

I commented on Guardian Heroes near the bottom of the last page, so I won't repeat myself. Same for Dragon Force, though yes, that one at least I definitely want. Saturn Bomberman, though... I know it's often mentioned as being the best traditional Bomberman game, so I'd like to get it sometime, but at the price the US version usually goes for, I don't know...

As for the Bomberman series in general, my favorite ones are Bomberman 64 (N64) and Bomberman GB (Game Boy). Bomberman 64's great, it's too bad they never made another full-on 3d platformer with Bomberman. But as for the second one, yeah, I like Bomberman GB more than Super Bomberman, which I do also have... I don't know, I just have more fun with it. I have some other Bomberman games too (the two Gamecube games, Pocket Bomberman, Bomberman Tournament, Bomberman Hero...), but those ones probably are my favorites.

Anyway though, I don't think any of the Bomberman games are in my top 10 lists for the consoles I have them on, so Saturn Bomberman would have to be amazing in order to make the list. My guess is that it'd be more like an honorable mention title, I don't know.

Also...VF and FV, but no Fighters Megamix?

Haven't seen any copies of it, and I very, very rarely buy individual games on EBay. I usually prefer to get stuff I find locally, unless I get a good deal on ebay or something... I got this one big lot of Saturn stuff on EBay for a really good price, and got the system there too (with one game), but I've also gotten a bunch of games locally. The import games are from ebay of course though, which is a good part of why there are so few of them. I really do prefer to buy games in stores when I can, it's more fun...

Its a fantastic game. Light years ahead of UMVC3. Its the best of the "vs" street fighter games. Its not barebones at all - give it more time its very very good.

I haven't played any of the Saturn Marvel Vs. games, but I have Marvel Vs. Capcom for Dreamcast and pretty much hate it, so I can't imagine actually liking those either. I like 2d fighting games to be more like Capcom vs. SNK or Last Blade, and the Marvel Vs. games are pretty much the polar opposite of that... I find MvC pretty much impossible, and have never succeeded at beating the final boss, even on the easiest setting.

 

[Kilrathi]

i do have a bunch of saturn games (about 50 US and 30 japanese) as well a US Model 1 and a japanese white saturn mainly for KOF 95 which pretty much ran off a rom cart. Look back at many of the 3d games It makes me wonder what if the industry had adopted quadratic rendering that nvidia and sega pushed instead of triangles and polygons.

Side fact the first nvidia video card had a saturn controller port built in

 

[Shadow Hog]

Saturn Bomberman, though... I know it's often mentioned as being the best traditional Bomberman game, so I'd like to get it sometime, but at the price the US version usually goes for, I don't know...

As for the Bomberman series in general, my favorite ones are Bomberman 64 (N64) and Bomberman GB (Game Boy). Bomberman 64's great, it's too bad they never made another full-on 3d platformer with Bomberman. But as for the second one, yeah, I like Bomberman GB more than Super Bomberman, which I do also have... I don't know, I just have more fun with it. I have some other Bomberman games too (the two Gamecube games, Pocket Bomberman, Bomberman Tournament, Bomberman Hero...), but those ones probably are my favorites.

Anyway though, I don't think any of the Bomberman games are in my top 10 lists for the consoles I have them on, so Saturn Bomberman would have to be amazing in order to make the list. My guess is that it'd be more like an honorable mention title, I don't know.

People like Saturn Bomberman for its 10-player mode, IIRC. The single-player, apparently, isn't exactly anything worth writing home about - more of the same from the SNES titles.

Also, I know you reviewed Bomberman Hero in your N64 list. Weren't it and Bomberman 64: The Second Attack 3D platformers, too?

 

[evilromero]

Awesome impressions. I have a much smaller collection but a few crossovers with you here and there. I really want to get Sonic Jam just for that hub level.

 

[A Black Falcon]

Awesome impressions. I have a much smaller collection but a few crossovers with you here and there. I really want to get Sonic Jam just for that hub level.

Yeah, I'd like to play that hub level, but I have all of the Genesis games, so I don't know how much it'd really be worth...

People like Saturn Bomberman for its 10-player mode, IIRC. The single-player, apparently, isn't exactly anything worth writing home about - more of the same from the SNES titles.

Ah. So yeah, that wouldn't be on my top 10, I don't think. I get few opportunities to play something like that multiplayer anyway.

Also, I know you reviewed Bomberman Hero in your N64 list. Weren't it and Bomberman 64: The Second Attack 3D platformers, too?

You're right, Bomberman Hero's pretty much a 3d platformer, albeit a linear-path one. What I meant was that Bomberman 64 is the only Bomberman game with large, Mario 64-esque open-world levels; the others that do have 3d platformer elements, namely Hero, 64: The Second Attack, Generation, and Jetters, all have you going through linear stages. Those four are certainly different, and Hero is a good game (I'm not so fond of Generation and Jetters), but they're not Bomberman 64, or Mario 64, style big open levels -- you're always going forward along a path. Of course you do that some in 64 too, but it's got a different feel to it.

 

[SmokedMeat]

I'm happy to see Baku Baku Animal among your games. It was definitely one of my favorite Saturn games from when I owned the system, and a true gem that gets ignored in the face of the familiar NiGHTS and Panzer Dragoon titles.

 

[Cafeman]

I read most of this, its been a while to read some new Saturn gaming thoughts.

Sega Rally Championship - . . . The game is the best looking Sega Saturn racing game of that year, probably, and has the gameplay to back up its solid visuals. . . . Sega Rally is a fast and fun game that's got gameplay that's hard to match in its genre. However, the extreme lack of content really is an issue -- the default mode here is a 1-lap-per-race, 3-race long circuit. There is a fourth track, but you'll only ever see it if you somehow manage to finish the first three in first, a task I've never managed to accomplish; it's simply too hard. . . . I don't know if I'll ever get good enough to finish the first three races at first, it's simply too hard -- but still, the game has a ridiculously minimal amount of content.

Can't argue that I didn't want more content back in the day, but the point of SRC is you replay it, to the point you have memorized every curve and road surfuace, to get good enough to place first and earn the bonus Lakeside course.

You never placed first, thus never played (or saw?) the Lakeside Track? Lakeside is beautiful. Don't Youtube it, play this game for a few hours , trying either of the 3 different cars whichever works best for you. First-person perspective camera, and 3-lap races, and manual shifting might make it easier to win for you. You'll get to Lakeside eventually - the game isn't really THAT difficult.

I always kind of liked Bug!, and Clockwork Knight 1 and 2 (you don't have part 2? get it!)

 

[Cafeman]

V.R.: Virtua Racing - ... Virtua Racing is an outsourced port of the Sega arcade classic. While Sega itself did the earlier Genesis and 32X versions, Time Warner Interactive made this one. It also seems to have a somewhat mixed reputation. However, this is a fantastic version of the game, and indeed is probably the best overall version of Virtua Racing. I love other versions of the game too, but the Saturn version has more features, and better wheel support, than the other versions.

For a long time I was a Sega Saturn Virtua Racing naysayer, but not too long ago, I sat down and replayed the whole thing and loved it. I think the 32X version has the best instant gratification and arcade feel, but the Saturn version is pushing much more detail and has (as you say) much more detail/content. The worst thing on Saturn version (other than the "bouncing letters" load screen) is the first couple 10-lap races with slower vehicles seems too long; but the laps go by a lot quicker as you get faster cars so it becomes more fun , in fact I found myself enjoying the 10-lap races.

 

[A Black Falcon]

I read most of this, its been a while to read some new Saturn gaming thoughts.



Can't argue that I didn't want more content back in the day, but the point of SRC is you replay it, to the point you have memorized every curve and road surfuace, to get good enough to place first and earn the bonus Lakeside course.

I know that some people use this excuse, or a very similar one for Daytona USA, but I just don't agree. I think the idea that because they're great, highly replayable games it shouldn't matter that they have such a minimal featureset isn't right. Yes, they're great games, but the serious lack of features and modes and content definitely does hold them back. I mean, there are plenty of racing games with good track designs, and timetrial modes, and such... it's not that which makes Sega Rally or Daytona so special, it's the gameplay and controls. The new tracks the later versions of Daytona add are all just as good as the original three, I would say. As I said in my reviews here I don't think that the controls quite hold up in the later versions, unless you use a wheel, but that's a different issue.

But yeah, I've heard variations on this comment elsewhere, about what I said on those two games, but no, I absolutely think that that "just play the tiny amount of content over and over and get better at it" design of those games, while fun, isn't something that can be considered a full-featured home console release. People expect more than that from a console game, and better home ports of arcade games always added such things. Look at Virtua Racing for Saturn, or San Francisco Rush's N64 port, or many many more. That's what I want to see.

Sega Rally and Dayona are amazing games despite their extremely limited content, but I do think that it's unfortunate that Sega didn't realize that home console games needed to be more than just straight arcade ports. Of course, even many of their Saturn exclusives like NiGHTS or Burning Rangers are really short games... it wasn't until the Dreamcast before Sega was consistently making more fully-featured console games again, in the platformer and racing genres particularly.

You never placed first, thus never played (or saw?) the Lakeside Track? Lakeside is beautiful. Don't Youtube it, play this game for a few hours , trying either of the 3 different cars whichever works best for you. First-person perspective camera, and 3-lap races, and manual shifting might make it easier to win for you. You'll get to Lakeside eventually - the game isn't really THAT difficult.

Manual shifting and first person view, to make the game EASIER? That's quite the reverse of how I'd think of either of those things. Manual is much more difficult than automatic and I'd never use it unless I was being forced to, and first-person views in racing games don't give you enough visibility to really figure out where I am... I mean, you can't see the sides and behind at all.

Also, I've certainly played the game for more than a few hours. I think I managed top five or seven at best, but could never get any better than that. Eventually playing the game over and over without improving at all gets very old, so I gave up.

I always kind of liked Bug!, and Clockwork Knight 1 and 2 (you don't have part 2? get it!)

It's certainly on my list of games to get eventually.

For a long time I was a Sega Saturn Virtua Racing naysayer, but not too long ago, I sat down and replayed the whole thing and loved it. I think the 32X version has the best instant gratification and arcade feel, but the Saturn version is pushing much more detail and has (as you say) much more detail/content. The worst thing on Saturn version (other than the "bouncing letters" load screen) is the first couple 10-lap races with slower vehicles seems too long; but the laps go by a lot quicker as you get faster cars so it becomes more fun , in fact I found myself enjoying the 10-lap races.

Yeah, those 10-12 lap races are a bit long, but as you say you do get used to them... and I love all the tracks too, more of a good thing is better. The Saturn version has so much more stuff in it, and a better framerate too, and great analog (wheel) support. I like it on 32X, sure, but there's so much less to do... though I do still want an import Japanese copy of the 32X game, so that I can play a decent version of 32X Virtua Racing (that is, one which actually saves your times, something important given that playing for times is all you do in the game). It's region locked, but there are ways to get past that. But even though the 32X version is great, the Saturn version's the best one. I really do think that it was mostly ignored at the time because of its flat-shaded polygons, which as I said were considered out of date on 5th gen consoles...

 

[Boerseun]

I have a Saturn (PAL) system set up in the corner of my office. It's hooked up to a small CRT TV through a Scart-RGB cable. Close-by I keep about 60 games for easy access, though I have more stored elsewhere, including NTSC titles (US and JPN).

Disregarding boot cartridges for a moment - in my opinion, if back then you as a Westerner owned a Japanese machine and were willing to import games, then Saturn likely became one of the top five consoles you would ever own (before or since). But if you owned only a NTSC-US or PAL system, then you were dealing with a fairly mediocre platform including a fairly limited library of games.

Of course this has a lot to do with Sony moneyhatting the carpet out from under Sega. The latter simply couldn't compete and so lost out on Resident Evil 2, Tomb Raider 2, Croc 2, Destruction Derby 2 (though Psygnosis was bought outright by Sony), no more Wipeout, Pandemonium 2, and the list goes on. Even EA succumbed and stopped putting games on Saturn despite fantastic early support. (Return Fire is 100% finished and can be played on a modded Saturn but was never officially released.) And on top of this you had the thick as a brick Sega management, pointless infighting, and many great games being released in Japan that never even came close to a Western release.

In terms of the hardware, Saturn is more powerful than Ps1 on paper. (In the same way that Ps3 is more powerful than Xbox 360 on paper.) I don't see how this can be contested. However, unlike Sony Sega never had enough money to throw at the system in order to convince developers to learn its tricks and push it for top performance.

If a multi-format game had Ps1 and Saturn releases, I still tended (and tend today) to buy the Saturn version, because it was a sure bet that it would have much shorter loading times, much more responsive controls, and vastly improved image quality. The Ps1 version would likely have one or two token visual effects that would be built into its hardware and easy to pull off, but taken as a whole there is no logical reason why it should automatically have pulled ahead of Saturn in the sales race. Above all I blame Sega's bumbling executives who tripped up their own company, leading to its near-demise (a theme which appears to be repeating itself right now as Sega prepares to pull out of retail and focus on digital-only). At this point the best thing for Sega-Sammy would be Nintendo buying them, but I guess that's a post for another thread.

 

[Cafeman]

Manual shifting and first person view, to make the game EASIER? That's quite the reverse of how I'd think of either of those things. Manual is much more difficult than automatic and I'd never use it unless I was being forced to, and first-person views in racing games don't give you enough visibility to really figure out where I am... I mean, you can't see the sides and behind at all.

Although at first manual shifting seems harder, it doesn't take long to get used to it. Manual gearbox allows greater control around corners (downshift before corner! Actually, downshift 2 gears before sharp corners, then immediately shift back up after the corner). You don't need to brake, the downshift usually does it for you. Plus you go faster on straightaways. I'm not sure I could come in first place EVER using automatic.

It's been many months or longer since I played the Saturn version, but putting on 1st person mode usually means to me that I won't be bumping another car or walls as much. And your car graphic doesn't get in the way of seeing ahead and reading the curves. Just my 2 cents.

 

[kunonabi]

Its a fantastic game. Light years ahead of UMVC3. Its the best of the "vs" street fighter games. Its not barebones at all - give it more time its very very good.

Damn straight. I've been playing this the last couple days and I'm seriously wondering why I play anything else. So many great memories and one of the few fighters that actually had a good competitive scene that I managed to be a part of.

The saturn release is barebones though. I'd kill for a training mode right now.

 

[djtiesto]

Nice writeups, ABF! Yes I read the whole thing I had no idea that there was so much western support for the Saturn (relatively speaking, of course)... most of what I've paid attention to on the platform has been US releases of Japanese games or Japanese imports, naturally. It's really rare you see people mentioning stuff like Ghen War or Black Fire.

Have you played Mr. Bones? That seems like an interesting and surreal minigame collection. Also you need to track down some of the more expensive games, price willing - Guardian Heroes, Dragon Force, Shining Force III and of course Panzer Dragoon Saga being some of the best games on the system!

Also, I'm gonna have to track down Steamgear Mash, the writeup makes it sound like my kinda game... as well as Willy Wombat, which IIRC features the Famitsuu mascot.

 

[meppi]

Love the topic, but it would be so much more incredible if every game had 2 or 3 screenshots underneath the text.
That would really hit the nostalgia spot and make it one of my favourite threads ever on gaf.

 

[A Black Falcon]

Nice writeups, ABF! Yes I read the whole thing I had no idea that there was so much western support for the Saturn (relatively speaking, of course)... most of what I've paid attention to on the platform has been US releases of Japanese games or Japanese imports, naturally. It's really rare you see people mentioning stuff like Ghen War or Black Fire.

Yeah, one of the things I was hoping people would take away from this list was that some of the cheap Saturn games that people always overlook and fail to even mention are in fact good, fun games. Now, those two you mention there aren't among my favorites on the system for sure, but they're not bad games, anyway, and can be fun sometimes...

In addition to "some of those lesser-known, 3d Saturn games actually are decent", the other thing I ended up focusing on on this list is, of course, that I like the Mission Stick (and Arcade Racer) and think more people should get them. And that certainly applies to both of those games there for sure, for the Mission Stick. The best examples of games to get the Arcade Racer for would be Virtua Racing and Hang-On GP, I think (the latter not being one I have, but I've read that its digital controls aren't that good and it requires the wheel for analog, but if you do have the wheel the controls are good).

Have you played Mr. Bones? That seems like an interesting and surreal minigame collection. Also you need to track down some of the more expensive games, price willing - Guardian Heroes, Dragon Force, Shining Force III and of course Panzer Dragoon Saga being some of the best games on the system!

Someday I will, but price is a factor... and anyway, I own some pretty good Saturn games.

Also, I'm gonna have to track down Steamgear Mash, the writeup makes it sound like my kinda game... as well as Willy Wombat, which IIRC features the Famitsuu mascot.

Both games are good and are worth picking up, yeah.

But This guy's the Famitsu mascot? Somehow I doubt it...

 

[A Black Falcon]

I have a Saturn (PAL) system set up in the corner of my office. It's hooked up to a small CRT TV through a Scart-RGB cable. Close-by I keep about 60 games for easy access, though I have more stored elsewhere, including NTSC titles (US and JPN).

Disregarding boot cartridges for a moment - in my opinion, if back then you as a Westerner owned a Japanese machine and were willing to import games, then Saturn likely became one of the top five consoles you would ever own (before or since). But if you owned only a NTSC-US or PAL system, then you were dealing with a fairly mediocre platform including a fairly limited library of games.

The library's fine for 1995-1996, I think. It's after that that the Western Saturn library really falls apart. I mean, yes, there were software droughts versus the PS1, and people liked the PS1's library more, but the Saturn did have a quite decent game lineup during that time. Look at my reviews here for instance... I review 60 US-released Saturn games. They're all released between 1995 and 1997, and most are from 1995-1996. There are only 4-5 1997 US releases in my collection, including Resident Evil, Last Bronx, MechWarrior 2, and Mass Destruction, and maybe Arcade's Greatest Hits: Atari Collection 1 (not sure if that was '96 or '97). The Saturn did have an okay library, its problem was how it pretty much died by mid '97 due to Sega mismanagement and its lack of success.

Of course this has a lot to do with Sony moneyhatting the carpet out from under Sega. The latter simply couldn't compete and so lost out on Resident Evil 2, Tomb Raider 2, Croc 2, Destruction Derby 2 (though Psygnosis was bought outright by Sony), no more Wipeout, Pandemonium 2, and the list goes on. Even EA succumbed and stopped putting games on Saturn despite fantastic early support. (Return Fire is 100% finished and can be played on a modded Saturn but was never officially released.)

This part isn't entirely accurate. I mean, yes, Sony did moneyhat some games away from Sega. Most obviously, Tomb Raider 2 was moneyhatted away and that is why it's Sony-exclusive on consoles. However, for EA, they stopped supporting the Saturn because it died. I mean, yes, EA's best support on the system was 1995-1996, that is true. But EA did support the Saturn in 1997, and did release a full lineup of sports games that year, and some other titles too. It was disappointing that Need for Speed 2 was a PS1/PC exclusive though; that game released in early '97, so it could have been on Saturn too. Too bad. But after the end of '97, of course they weren't going to be supporting Saturn anymore -- not one single third party released a Saturn game in the US in 1998 except for Working Designs' release of MKR that November.

As for Croc 2, that was a 1999 release, of course it wasn't going to be on Saturn. It was supposed to be on Dreamcast, though. It's unfortunate that that release was cancelled, that'd have been great. Oh, and Croc 1' s a great game... probably my favorite PS1 3d platformer in fact.

For Destruction Derby 2 and Wipeout, Sony changed Psygnosis in 1998 and removed their independence. Before that point Sony allowed them to make whatever they wanted, which resulted in those Saturn ports and Wipeout 64, and them also sticking around as a PC game developer too, but after '98 that was over. Psygnosis' last two PC game releases, Lemmings Revolution and the PC version of Rollcage Stage II, had to be published by other publishers, and their in-progress N64 works were cancelled.

As for Destruction Derby 2, though, perhaps the Saturn version of the first one didn't do well enough for them to work on the sequel too? Because Wipeout XL did get a (JP/EU only) Saturn port.

And on top of this you had the thick as a brick Sega management, pointless infighting, and many great games being released in Japan that never even came close to a Western release.

This is much more the heart of the problem than the above part, the mention of infighting and stupid Sega management particularly. Sega well earned its failure that generation, pretty much...

I will say though, I can't think of any Japanese-only Saturn releases that would have made any difference at all to the Saturn's success in the West. Most of the major Saturn games they skipped were later releases after all ('97 and later), and the Saturn's doom was sealed in the US by the end of '95 pretty much. Releasing more of the import titles would have made those few Saturn diehards happier, but it'd have done nothing for the system's overall success, I don't think.

In terms of the hardware, Saturn is more powerful than Ps1 on paper. (In the same way that Ps3 is more powerful than Xbox 360 on paper.) I don't see how this can be contested. However, unlike Sony Sega never had enough money to throw at the system in order to convince developers to learn its tricks and push it for top performance.

The Saturn has some advantages over the PS1, but the problem was that no one was used to parallel processing then, so most Saturn games simply turn off the second CPU and just run on one. Also as you suggest, the PS1 is far better in visual effects such as transparencies, and that matters. Are there any games that really get everything out of the Saturn, push both CPUs hard, etc? That Shenmue video maybe? That is about as good as most anything on the PS1, sure.

So yeah, I'd put the PS1 and Saturn in the same class graphically for sure. The PS1 is generally regarded as better, and certainly is better on visual effects, but it's hard to say how the Saturn would have turned out had it been more successful... there's certainly more power there that few developers ever touched.

If a multi-format game had Ps1 and Saturn releases, I still tended (and tend today) to buy the Saturn version, because it was a sure bet that it would have much shorter loading times, much more responsive controls, and vastly improved image quality.

Saturn versions don't always have shorter load times, though... that's only the games that use the ramcarts. Other games have pretty comparable load times, versus PS1 releases, I think. Also, much improved image quality, really? How so?

The Ps1 version would likely have one or two token visual effects that would be built into its hardware and easy to pull off, but taken as a whole there is no logical reason why it should automatically have pulled ahead of Saturn in the sales race.

People liked the games available on PS1 better, and didn't like Sega's launch price, hardware (that "Saturn has worse graphics" thing took hold early on and stuck), launch game drought, etc. I don't know if there was any way the Saturn as is could have beaten the PS1 in the West... not with Sony's library of titles and much easier to develop for hardware (and lower dev fees, too). But yeah, Sega's mistakes took a bad hand and made things much, MUCH worse. Maybe they couldn't have won, but they didn't have to basically kill any chance they had through their own mistakes, which is exactly what they did!

As for Japan, the Saturn did much better there from 1994-1996, but faded badly there after that, thanks to the JRPGs mostly going to the PS1 most notably.

Above all I blame Sega's bumbling executives who tripped up their own company, leading to its near-demise (a theme which appears to be repeating itself right now as Sega prepares to pull out of retail and focus on digital-only). At this point the best thing for Sega-Sammy would be Nintendo buying them, but I guess that's a post for another thread.

Yeah, Sega failed because of its own mistakes, that's for sure. And I agree, they do seem to be going downhill again now. Sad to see.

 

[Lijik]

I find it interesting you liked Bug! so much. To me it felt like the first 3-4 levels and the first boss were meant to be the whole game, because everything after that felt incredibly lazy and uninspired. Bug 2 is an improvement but still generally just "ok" imo.

The Saturn was a poor system for 3D platformers in general, but if you can you should import Ninpen Manmaru. Really fun game based off of an even more obscure children's anime. It controls kind of like Croc but its focused on pure A-B traversal platforming. Some really great level designs especially near the end of the game!
Bosses are a bit bunk though

 

[djtiesto]

But This guy's the Famitsu mascot? Somehow I doubt it...

My bad, he's not the Famitsu mascot, but just done by the same artist (Susumu Matsushita) as Necky the Fox from Famitsu. Also designed the mascot for the Orix Buffaloes pro yakyuu team among other things!

http://www.segagagadomain.com/saturn6/willywombat.htm

 

[SmokedMeat]

If you're still looking for new Saturn games I'd like to suggest Acclaim's Alien fps. I think it's called Alien Trilogy. I only owned a Saturn at the time it released, so that was the version I played. It really wasn't bad at the time. Not sure how it's aged, but you don't seem to mind playing older games so you might like it.

The only terrible Saturn game I played was Gran Chaser. Never waste your time with that one.

 

[speedline]

I've put a ton of time into Galactic Attack back when I was actively playing Saturn. Think I will dig it out soon and fire it up along with Sega Rally, VF2, Fighting Vipers, D, Last Bronx, Daytona, NiGHTS, Night Warriors: Darkstalkers Revenge-- damn I don't know what else you could want from a system if you were into arcade games back in the 90's. It was an arcade lovers dream (as was Dreamcast).

 

[Danielsan]

Amazing. If anyone would care to do something similar with the SNES, I would greatly appreciate it. I recently dug up my SNES and I'm trying to acquire a few games so that I can organize a retro game night with friends. As of right now I only have Super Mario All Stars + Super Mario World and Super Ghouls and Ghost. I also have F-Zero and Yoshi's Island on the way. The latter was rather expensive. Hoping to at least get my hands on Super Mario Kart before said game night.

 

[A Black Falcon]

If you're still looking for new Saturn games I'd like to suggest Acclaim's Alien fps. I think it's called Alien Trilogy. I only owned a Saturn at the time it released, so that was the version I played. It really wasn't bad at the time. Not sure how it's aged, but you don't seem to mind playing older games so you might like it.

I have that for the PC, but only ever played a few minutes of it. Didn't interest me much...

The only terrible Saturn game I played was Gran Chaser. Never waste your time with that one.

That's Cyber Speedway in the US. I review it in the OP; it's a bit too easy, but otherwise was fun. It's not one of the best racing games around, sure, but it's okay, sometimes good. At least, for futuristic racing game fans anyway.

My bad, he's not the Famitsu mascot, but just done by the same artist (Susumu Matsushita) as Necky the Fox from Famitsu. Also designed the mascot for the Orix Buffaloes pro yakyuu team among other things!

http://www.segagagadomain.com/saturn6/willywombat.htm

Ah, yeah, clearly the same artist. Also, I like the game a bit more than the guy in that link, I think.

Amazing. If anyone would care to do something similar with the SNES, I would greatly appreciate it. I recently dug up my SNES and I'm trying to acquire a few games so that I can organize a retro game night with friends. As of right now I only have Super Mario All Stars + Super Mario World and Super Ghouls and Ghost. I also have F-Zero and Yoshi's Island on the way. The latter was rather expensive. Hoping to at least get my hands on Super Mario Kart before said game night.

I will definitely do more of these eventually, but they take a while of course.

I find it interesting you liked Bug! so much. To me it felt like the first 3-4 levels and the first boss were meant to be the whole game, because everything after that felt incredibly lazy and uninspired. Bug 2 is an improvement but still generally just "ok" imo.

I don't know, the game may not add lots of stuff later on, but the levels certainly do get even more complex and challenging. Of course that's probably more of a bad thing than good given the crazy difficulty level, but still, it doesn't just stay the same. Also, even if they do reuse ideas from the first world, the basic game concept was so original that how is that so bad? Most platformers aren't much different on that score anyway... I wish Bug wasn't as hard and was more forgiving, but I think it's very well designed despite that.

The Saturn was a poor system for 3D platformers in general, but if you can you should import Ninpen Manmaru. Really fun game based off of an even more obscure children's anime. It controls kind of like Croc but its focused on pure A-B traversal platforming. Some really great level designs especially near the end of the game!
Bosses are a bit bunk though

Hmm, might have to look that one up.

 

[djtiesto]

Amazing. If anyone would care to do something similar with the SNES, I would greatly appreciate it. I recently dug up my SNES and I'm trying to acquire a few games so that I can organize a retro game night with friends. As of right now I only have Super Mario All Stars + Super Mario World and Super Ghouls and Ghost. I also have F-Zero and Yoshi's Island on the way. The latter was rather expensive. Hoping to at least get my hands on Super Mario Kart before said game night.

You should definitely check out the legendary RPG library: FF4-6, Chrono Trigger, Earthbound, Lufia 2 (this even got a Dutch localization), Secret of Mana, Super Mario RPG, SoulBlazer, Illusion of Gaia, Terranigma (only available in English in PAL-land), EVO The Search for Eden, Ogre Battle, Breath of Fire 1-2

Other games: Super Metroid and LTTP (duh), Contra 3, Space Megaforce, Hagane, Run Saber, Gradius 3, FireStriker, Skyblazer, Actraiser, Sim City, DKC series, Kirby Super Star

Don't really know what would be good for multiplayer SNES gaming apart from Mario Kart and Rock n Roll Racing (and the various fighting game ports, SSF2, MK2, Killer Instinct)
I'd like to do a writeup for my SNES library one day but it might take a while.

 

[A Huge Battleship]

Glorious thread. Reading through all this inspired me to get a replacement Saturn (my old modded one died fairly recently) and I just spent half the day on a new Dragon Force campaign. Probably gonna follow it up with SFIII, Shining the Holy Ark, Dark Savior and/or Mystaria when I'm done.

 

[A Black Falcon]

NEW 12/12 - Having fewer reviews to write seems to lead to longer reviews. Hey, at least they're more detailed! Oddly enough, four of these five games are from 1997; the exception is Sonic 3D Blast, from '96. Also, Lunacy and Soviet Strike were added to the "Honorable Mentions" category in the first post of the thread.

Jurassic Park: The Lost World - One player, password save, has not-actually-analog 3D Controller and Mission Stick support. . The Lost World for PSX and Saturn is a 2.5d platform-action game. In the game, you play as five different of characters, including two humans and three dinosaurs, each in their own dedicated levels. There are 30 levels total; each character type does not have the same number of stages, and you play all levels with each character successively, so you do not switch back and forth. This concept is interesting, and I like the variety. You can't choose which to play as, unfortunately; it's all entirely linear. Too bad. Still, the game's okay, though it could have been a lot better. Each character type plays differently, but the controls are decent. Some things are hard to figure out, as the game does not do a good job of explaining things unless you read the manual, though. Make sure to Eat things with the dinosaurs if you want to heal! Mission objectives are usually simple, but this game is occasionally confusing, and level designs are not always great. Also, the controls can be slippery depending on dinosaur type. As with Sonic 3D Blast, you can use the analog stick in this game, but don't expect proportional analog controls; they're digital. Still, better than nothing, and you can't do that on PS1 for sure. The game has decent-quality 3d graphics and overall looks nice for a polygon game on the system. The game does not have amazing graphics, but it looks solid, and better than plenty of polygonal games from the era. Still, overall this is a just slightly above average game. While the parts all work, none are outstanding; the controls are okay but could be better, the polygon graphics are alright but not the best, and the basic gameplay simple and standard, varied characters and occasional confusion aside. Overall, this is a mediocre to okay platform action game with some interesting elements, but also some issues. Try it if you like the genre, but it deserves the moderate to low scores it got. Note that while the game does not have saving, it does have cheat codes that go straight to each of the five characters' sections of the game, and also codes for image galleries of the various dinosaurs and such too. There's also an Easy mode code. I'd recommend using the codes as a save system replacement. Also on Playstation.

Lunacy - One player, has saving. Lunacy is a good first-person, CG-rendered graphic adventure game from System Sacom, the developers of the two Mansion of Hidden Souls games for Sega CD and Saturn (and yes, they are different games; the Saturn one is not a port). There are even some references to those past games in this one, which is cool. With good enough graphics, an interesting story, and great music, the title impresses for its time. The game was brought to the US by Atlus, in one of only two US Saturn releases, and is one of Atlus's few, and perhaps first, graphic adventure releases. Unfortunately, the Atlus name also means that this game sells for more than either Mansion of Hidden Souls title does. In this two disc adventure, you explore around a thinly populated city solving puzzles and getting involved in a complex mystery. The game is somewhat pricey, but I was lucky to find a slightly-below-ebay-value copy locally for $30. And yes, it is complete -- and that's a good thing, because the manual is very helpful, and the map that comes with the game invaluable. Either use the one that comes with the game, or find one online. You'll need it. The game has good graphics for a Saturn FMV game; it has the usual pixelization, but the CG is good quality, as expected from the Mansion of Hidden Souls team. The game has simple controls, much like those gmaes -- left or right to rotate to points you can move to or interact with, forward to move or interact. Forward again on a zoom-in screen will pick up an item, if there's one to pick up. X opens your inventory, so that you can try using use items on the current screen. Yeah, no pixel hunting here, as with their previous adventure games, just streamlined controls. While that makes the game easier than it would be, there is still enough challenge here that it will take a while. One oddity is that you often need to be told you can do something before it will work, so talk to everyone before giving up on a puzzle. You do have a real inventory this time after all, and the resulting inventory puzzles; even if all you have to do is use the correct item on the correct screen, it will not always be obvious. The story can be confusing for sure, but given the title, that should be expected. I don't want to spoil much, but your character is on a quest to find his lost memory, and a mysterious city as well. You can re-watch video clips you've seen, which is helpful. The game starts out easier, but gets tougher by disc two. While disc one is linear, disc two also has more branching paths, and the game has multiple endings depending on your actions. Overall, this game is the best of the three US-released System Sacom CG FMV adventure games; Mansion of Hidden Souls for SCD is a good game, but it's short and simple, and it moves much slower too. The Saturn sequel moves quicker, but still is short. Lunacy is a longer, more challenging game with no visible loading, and a very good sense of atmosphere too particularly thanks to that great, lulling music. Lunacy is a pretty good game definitely recommended for any adventure game fans! Saturn exclusive.

Maximum Force - Two players, has saving, has 3D Controller and Stunner (light gun) support. Maximum Force is a mediocre port of the Midway arcade game. The game runs in the Area 51 engine, but with new visuals and enemies to shoot, so like that game, this one has prerendered video backdrops with live-action actors inserted on top for you to shoot. It has an over-the-top crime-fighting theme, like a light-gun take on NARC or something (but slightly sci-fi). The enemy descriptions in the manual are silly stuff; it's worth reading. Maximum Force is an average at best game. The shooting is okay, but nothing great; there are a lot of enemies and destructible things to shoot, but the bland visuals, issues described below, and dated graphical style have not aged nearly as well as the Virtua Cop games, for instance. The game is short, too, with only three levels to fight through, and the first two don't even have bosses! There are 35 bonus rooms to find, by destroying the right things in the environment, but still, the game is short. Still, the game is okay, even if it's definitely not good. Maximum Force is great with the lightgun of course, if you have one and a compatible TV. The game also has 3D Controller support, though the box and manual don't mention it anywhere; the analog cursor is slightly better than the digital one, but it's still no match for a gun. Still, as the PS1 version doesn't have analog gamepad support, it is one advantage over it. Also, I'm not sure, but the PS1 version does not have a save icon on the case, so I don't know if it saves. The Saturn version, however, does support saving your scores and settings. However, in terms of visuals, the PS1 version is better. You see, the Saturn version runs in a window, just like with the Saturn version of Area 51. This time the border is smaller than Saturn Area 51's border was, but it is still there, and sizable. It is annoying, but you get used to it; the bigger issue is the blocky Saturn-quality video. The PS1 version has clearer video thanks to its better video encoder. Also, the Saturn version costs more to buy than the PS1 version; it's at least $15. It's unfortunate that Midway didn't put more effort into its (few) Saturn ports, but still, this is better than nothing at least, and it is nice that Midway released it considering its fall '97 release date. Also, it is something more to use with the gun; as good as they are, and they are good, Sega only made three light gun games itself for the Saturn. Considering the game's issues, it's probably not worth getting, even though it is stupidly amusing while it lasts. only get this if you find it cheap, are wanting more to play with your Saturn light gun, or are a Saturn fan. I got it because I just can't resist, and would rather play Saturn than PS1 anyway. And I don't have the PS1 version, so it's not a duplicate. I do like the analog support and saving. Also in arcades and on Playstation.

Sonic 3D Blast - One player, has not-actually-analog 3D Controller and Mission Stick support. A somewhat controversial game ever since its release, Sonic 3D Blast for the Saturn is a port of the Genesis game of the same name that Sega quickly made when Sonic X-Treme slipped out of 1996 and thus sadly was cancelled. I think I like the original Genesis game more -- and yes, I do like it -- but this is a fine version, with improved graphics and nice Sonic 2 style but polygonal 3d bonus stages. There's one key problem though: they didn't put in a save system! Idiots... Apart from that though this is a good port of a good game. The game is an isometric platformer, and while it has the usual pitfalls of the genre, most notably that jumps can be hard to judge, the game does not have pits of death, so the design was made with the constraints of the isometric viewpoint in mind, which is good. The controls are the same as the Genesis version, except as I listed above, you can use the analog stick on the 3D Controller if you wish; though actual control is still digital (no proportional movement, 8 directions only), but in this kind of game a stick can help even so. In each level, you have to find five Flickies in each half of the level, then fight the boss. Most flickies are found by defeating enemies which are holding them, which means that the enemies are spread out. The game is slow paced, and not as fast as most Sonic titles, but still, exploring the levels, avoiding obstacles, navigating the stages, and looking for killable enemies. There's some good challenge here, and also good level design as well. I know many people dislike the perspective and speed, but the level designs are good regardless. The main issue is that things are spread out a bit, but I think it's a challenging enough game as-is, considering the challenges of the viewpoint. This Saturn version's improved graphics look nice as well, and those bonus stages, while they play quite differently from the Genesis ones (and I did like those bonus stages), do look great. This is the only version of 3D Blast with polygonal bonus stages. However, the PC version, while it's got 2d sprites in the bonus stages (they play like the 3D Blast ones, but aren't polygonal), and some serious issues running on many modern PCs, has one thing this version doesn't have: saving. Yes, you can save your progress in that version, finally. With how long and slow paced this game is, it's really inexcusable that Sega and Traveller's Tales force you to play the whole thing in one sitting; this game is too long for that. There is a level-skip cheatcode, but that's not quite the same, and doesn't save crystals of course so you would need additional codes for that. Really there's no defensible reason for this Saturn version to not let you save, except for that Sega, when this game came out in 1996, still hadn't grasped the idea that games should all actually have saving in them, at least in password form, better on-cart or in-system. Nintendo had gotten that back in about 1992-1993, but for Sega, I'd say it wasn't until '97 or '98 that they finally got the hint... it's annoying. Also, this really is a 16-bit up-port, and not a fully new game. Still though, it's decently good, even if it's definitely not the Sonic platformer I wish we had on the Saturn. I mean, I like 3D Blast well enough, but at its core its' a Genesis game, while X-Treme would have been something new... and with how the videos of X-Treme remind me of Bug!, and as anyone who read this thread probably remembers I love that game, I think it'd have probably been great, too. Oh well... Also on Genesis and PC.

Soviet Strike - One player, has saving, has 3D Controller and Mission Stick support. Soviet Strike for Saturn is an enhanced port of the Playstation version of this fourth game in EA's Strike series of helicopter combat/sim games. As with all Strike titles, the game is played from an overhead perspective. This time the graphics are polygonal, but you still move on a flat plane above that 3d world, so it's effectively 2.5d. The game has nice graphics for 3d visuals from 1996; the game does look ugly, with the usual texture issues and pixelated textures you expect, but still it looks better than some other 3d games did in 1996-1997. The controls are good, and are the most improved thing versus the Playstation original -- while the PS1 version was digital control only, this one adds both Mission Stick and 3D Controller analog support, and both work great. Honestly I think that the game controls a bit better with the 3D Controller than the Mission Stick, since with the Mission Stick you have to push it so far to move at all that it gets a little annoying, but at least it is analog, and the feel of playing it with a joystick is hard to match. But for the easiest controls, use the 3D Controller in analog mode. It's great that they added analog controls in. The other major addition is that the game has several Saturn-exclusive enemy and weapon types to use. Not bad. It did release after the PS1 version, but at least EA put some effort into this port. I never liked the first three Strike games all that much, but this one is better. It's similar, and still has some of the issues that I disliked the originals for, but it is improved enough that I somewhat like the series this time. The most important thing to know about this game is that while the combat is actioney, as you fly around, shoot enemy tanks, soldiers, towers, or what have you, and pick up hostages, you need to be prepared, so make sure to spend a lot of time in the pause menu. The pause menu in this game has a large amount of information in it, and learning a lot of it is vital. First, because this game was on a CD, there are of course live-action video FMVs. Some come between stages, or at mission objective points, but there are also live-action or CGI FMVs in the pause menu, one for every single item there. Every objective, enemy type, weapon, what have you has a short video explaining it. They are not all required, but it's amusing to watch at least some of them. Beyond that though, the pause menu also has a great map of the level, explanations of what to do for each of the many objectives on each map, and various displays you can put on that map. Displays include showing the locations of all enemies by type, showing where mission objectives (hostages, buildings you have to destroy, what have you, sorted by type) are, where allied soldiers and refueling stations are located, and more. Memorize this information! It is quite hard to tell enemies from allies apart while in the game, so know which ones are your friends. Also make sure to know where the refueling station(s) are, because you will periodically need a refill. And the mission objectives are not always easy or straightforward, so learn that stuff too. And while you have a couple of extra lives (replacement helicopters), if you mess up and fail a critical objective, it's game over, start from the beginning of the map again. Yes, this is a complex game, as usual in the series. There's no saving between checkpoints in each campaign, either, as usual in the franchise. Sure, there are only five maps, but it will take quite a while to get good enough at each one to be able to beat the whole thing in one try, so there's plenty of play value here if you have the patience to stick with it. It is quite frustrating when I lose several missions into one of the maps, but the game is well designed and good enough that it is worth playing, I think. This is the better version of a pretty good game. While the series started on the Genesis, this was the last Strike game for a Sega platform because Nuclear Strike was released for PS1 (1997), and N64 and PC several years later, but not Saturn or, of course, Dreamcast given EA's refusal to support that system. Pick this one up; it's overlooked, not too expensive, and worth it, particularly if you want a challenge and a game that requires some thought mixed in with its action, and have an analog controller. Also on Playstation.

 

[A Black Falcon]

In addition to those five new reviews, I also rewrote this review because of some new information about the game I found that affects it significantly.

Fighting Vipers - Two player, has saving. Fighting Vipers is one of Sega's many mostly-2.5d fighting games for the Saturn. It is mostly 2.5d because like in Virtua Fighter 1 or 2 and others, in most game modes there is no 3d movement with the dpad, unlike fully-3d fighting games, though some moves can slightly shift the fight in the 3d plane. It is not strictly side-view 2.5d like SFIV, but it is not a fully 3d experience like Soul Calibur, either. It's in between. I prefer having 3d movement control, myself. Fighting Vipers, unlike the others on the system, does have a hidden 3d-move move in the Saturn mode, but this move is very hard to find any mention of online; I only found it after someone pointed it out. Also, it ONLY works in that mode, not in the main mode, and the game does not seem to save any scores in Saturn mode, only the Original and Arrange modes which do not have 3d movement. Why bother with that score table when it won't save scores in the mode that's the most worth playing of the three? That's just stupid. Still, of the polygonal Saturn fighters I've played, this is my favorite one. Yes, I legitimately enjoy this game, unlike, say, VF. It's faster paced and more fun, I think. I like how they made it more than just a VF game. The arenas are all walled cages, too, which is different. This does frustrate in Original and Arrange modes, though, because it can be so hard to maneuver the computer against the wall, 3d movement would make that much simpler. Oh well. The graphics are pretty average for the Saturn. The character designs are a bit silly and look very '90s, but are okay. As with many 3d fighting games rounds, and games, are pretty short, which I've never liked; I prefer longer rounds in fighting games, like you find in the King of Fighters or Last Blade games. Too long isn't good, but games like this go too far the other way. Still, at least it's not as short as games like Tekken; it'd have been nice if Fighting Vipers rounds were a bit longer, but I don't mind them too much as they are. It is a short game though, unless you get into it and want to get good. They try to make up for it with the higher, harder difficulty levels, and plenty of depth in the move system of course. Whether that's enough or not is something that's a matter of opinion. Still, for a 2.5d Saturn fighter, this game's pretty good. Saturn and arcade exclusive.