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Sega Saturn Appreciation and Emulation Thread

cj_iwakura

Member
He was against releasing any 2D games in the US market. He also was against peripherals like the ram cart used for perfect Neogeo and Capcom ports. It took a lot of effort for developers to get approval to release 2D games on the Saturn, which was what the system was made for. Neogeo said F-it for later ports. Even when Capcom gave him an ultimatum for there games requiring a ram cart, he simply said the Saturn was better off without it.

He also thought RPGs were a waste of time, and had no market in the US.


I would have loved to have seen his face when Final Fantasy VII came out.
 

Jazzem

Member
To give a bit of a counter-opinion on Clockwork Knight, I played through it for the first time a week back and actually really liked it. Granted I am a huge fan of platformers but I thought the controls/design/etc were all solid. Visually it's a bit dated in places (the sprites have a prerendered low-res look to them, plus the 3D is definitely showing images), but I still found it charming and fun.

It's also quite surreal how much the cut scenes remind me of Toy Story, but the game actually pre-dates the film!

I'm still eager to get more games for the Saturn. It's quite exciting to collect for, having missed out on it back in the day. Not to mention being eager to try all these interesting gems that fans praise. Am currently trying to get a 3D controller for a decent price, don't want to play through my copy of NiGHTS with the dpad!
 

Credo

Member
Thank you, Jazzem, Genesis, and Goofster for more opinions.

I guess Clockwork Knight and Fighters Megamix are the kind of games that I won't put high on my priority list, but I'll pick them up if I see them at a really good price.

The prices for Shining Force 3 are a lot higher than what I'm willing to pay, but Shining the Holy Ark is in the low-40 to high-50 range depending on quality, so I'm thinking about picking that up.
 

Suairyu

Banned
Fighting Vipers and Fighters Megamix are kind of tough to play when VF2 looks and runs so much better.
With Model2 emulation at near-perfect levels, these days it's much better to play them on MAME instead. You'd be amazed at how much better looking they are compared to the Saturn ports (which for home consoles were still quite delicious).
 
With Model2 emulation at near-perfect levels, these days it's much better to play them on MAME instead. You'd be amazed at how much better looking they are compared to the Saturn ports (which for home consoles were still quite delicious).

Oh, indeed. But a lot of these comparisons aren't fair if you bring in emulation. :p

I love the hell out of Last Bronx; I just wish it didn't have all the polygonal flickering. Still, my second favorite 3D fighter after VF2 on Saturn.
 

Suairyu

Banned
Oh, indeed. But a lot of these comparisons aren't fair if you bring in emulation. :p
Well, of course not. It's just that in a thread talking about playing Saturn games we should talk about whether the arcade ports are better elsewhere. 99% of the time the answer is "yes, emulate the arcade game itself".

I think if someone was to say "I just got a Saturn - what games should I get?" and someone says Street Fighter or Virtua Fighter they're doing a disservice to the question.
 

Sixfortyfive

He who pursues two rabbits gets two rabbits.
ebay - sure the majority are bootleg, but the bootlegs are just as good as the real thing :D
You shouldn't spread that kind of lie. Most of the bootlegs have awful build quality.

Best bet is to buy the original controller and a USB converter of some kind.
 

Fox

Banned
nice thread.

this is my saturn collection. work in progress, of course.

YtJ5j.jpg
 
Is it possible to use a regular s-video with RCA audio cable like this to hook up the saturn or do I need the special saturn cable like this one

You have to use a Saturn cable because the end that connects to the console is its own special jack. That said, you should be playing on SCART RGB (with a converter if you're in the USA like me) if you're using an HD screen.
 
You have to use a Saturn cable because the end that connects to the console is its own special jack. That said, you should be playing on SCART RGB (with a converter if you're in the USA like me) if you're using an HD screen.

Yeah, I looked into those they're just a bit more than I'm willing to spend.
 
You have to use a Saturn cable because the end that connects to the console is its own special jack. That said, you should be playing on SCART RGB (with a converter if you're in the USA like me) if you're using an HD screen.

Most of the ~$50 converters have no way of passing audio, no? I think I looked into them but I would've had to do some wire splicing to pass audio.
 
The JP Model 1 I picked up is now clean and it has a new backup battery. I'm going to use it as my primary Saturn for awhile. I finally had some time to head to the store and grab a can of compressed air and a CR2032. Damn, those batteries are hard to find. Everyone was sold out. I had to go to 2 different stores.
 

Fox

Banned
Welcome in the club!

Fox- Great collection! How is the Cotton series? I always was interested but never tried it in order to know. Great shmup overall?

i'm playing a lot with cotton in these days. i'm loving it, but to be honest, this is my only game of the saga. great gameplay and level design, graphics and music, anyway.
 
Here's my collection. I go for US longboxes wherever possible. Started collecting Saturn again in August after selling off my collection some years ago. Prices have gone up. :/






Those Japanese guide books are for Legend of Oasis / Thor: Seireiohkiden.
 
Astal pisses the hell out of me, even more than Doom 32X.

I mean seriously, what the shit:


BTW LastWindow, your copies of RS and Gunbird say hey. They say they hope the cash is treating you well.
 

5amshift

Banned
Only game I have of value for Saturn is Doom. I don't own much Sega Saturn games, but it is a system I do want a nice collection for in the future.
 
Oh yeah, you were saving for that Vita. And thanks. :) I'm focusing on imports for the next bit - shmups and fighters and such. Got DoDonPachi coming in the mail and I hope to pick up TFV soon. Otherwise I'm working my Dreamcast import collection (CvSNK2, Fighting Vipers 2) and my Dreamcast shmup collection (Mars Matrix, Gunbird 2).
 
Soukyugurentai related:

Also posted on shmups and Racketboy in hopes of finding more people to test.

I noticed something very odd while playing Soukyugurentai Otokuyo tonight on my newly acquired Model 1 Japanese Saturn. I was playing on Arcade Difficulty (5) as I usually do on my Model 2 US Saturn and the game was noticeably more difficult. More enemies, the enemies were more aggressive, there were more bullets and the bullets were faster. Even bosses were starting patterns they normally don't unless I have the difficulty set to 6 or 7.

I erased any saved data from the Action Replay 4 in 1 menus and tried again with the Action Replay unplugged. I thought maybe I was experiencing some kind of cheat device deterrent. >:) But that wasn't the case. It was still much more difficult than what I had experienced when playing on AC difficulty in the past on my US Model 2 Saturn.

So I hooked up the Model 2, erased all saved data and started on AC difficulty. Just as I suspected, the game was quite a bit easier.

Can anyone else test this? Is it a difference between Japanese and other region systems, or a difference between Model 1 & 2 Saturns and not region specific at all? Is non-Otokuyo affected?

I have experienced little differences in loading and game play between Models 1 & 2 with other games in the past, but this is the first time I have seen differences this extreme.
 
Soukyugurentai is one of the few Saturn games that was programed Dual language, when you play it on the US Saturn your getting the planned US version of the game. On the Jap Saturn you're playing the Japanese version as intended.
 
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