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Sega Saturn turned 29 today

Crayon

Member
I didn’t get a Saturn until the price dropped to $199, and I went hog wild buying every Sega arcade port they put out. I knew that the original Daytona port was complete trash (by comparison), but still loved it. Others like Sega Rally, the Virtua Cop games, and Virtua Fighter (Remix and 2) were awesome though.

Daytona wasn't that bad. Graphics were really rough but it plays great.
 

bumpkin

Member
Daytona wasn't that bad. Graphics were really rough but it plays great.
Yeah, it was the visuals that were awful compared to its arcade counterpart. Championship Circuit Edition was a little better, but still not as pretty as the arcade.

Was I the only one who played Daytona with the “3D Controller” that came with NiGHTS?
 

Crayon

Member
Yeah, it was the visuals that were awful compared to its arcade counterpart. Championship Circuit Edition was a little better, but still not as pretty as the arcade.

Was I the only one who played Daytona with the “3D Controller” that came with NiGHTS?

I can't remember any of this stuff for sure but I could check if you are interested since I have everything hooked up right now and have all the stuff.

1) I remember daytona cce playing kinda weird.
2) I think games that had wheel support could work with the nights controller.
 

bumpkin

Member
I can't remember any of this stuff for sure but I could check if you are interested since I have everything hooked up right now and have all the stuff.

1) I remember daytona cce playing kinda weird.
2) I think games that had wheel support could work with the nights controller.
No worries. I used the 3D Controller with both Daytona games and Sega Rally, but I’ll be damned if it was any better than the stock controller. I just liked the feel better.
 

Crayon

Member
No worries. I used the 3D Controller with both Daytona games and Sega Rally, but I’ll be damned if it was any better than the stock controller. I just liked the feel better.

It's not great for partial tilting, sadly. Nights mostly needed it for the 360 degree action and that worked great. But I know I've played sega rally with it and I don't bother. I try to use it for manxx tt and a few things besides nights though.
 

Alan Wake

Member
I just bought another Saturn. It's such a cool looking console and I have some fond memories of it. Nice to have two different models as well as Virtua Cop 1-2 with guns. But such a shame it's way too expensive to collect for.
 

Alexios

Cores, shaders and BIOS oh my!
Wow, these Saroo cartridges for Saturn look legit. Not even just for playing games on your original hardware without disc swapping but look at how speedy the loading is, not even the (good/accurate) Saturn emulators do anything like this (yet) as far as I know (Mednafen/Beetle/SSF).

Check out Die Hard Arcade here, which to me was always annoyingly slow with the loading between every scene, then another random video which somewhat explains what these devices are (another video made me think it has to be a whole Saturn mod but apparently not, just a cart).
 
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RAIDEN1

Member
It's like whatever Sega learnt from the mid 1980's when building the Mega Genesis went out the window come 1993/94 with the release of this console, that being said though it did fair somewhat better than the competition....ie 3DO, CD32, and Atari Jaguar...and in some respects it was the cheapest Neo Geo you could get..
 

Crayon

Member
It's like whatever Sega learnt from the mid 1980's when building the Mega Genesis went out the window come 1993/94 with the release of this console, that being said though it did fair somewhat better than the competition....ie 3DO, CD32, and Atari Jaguar...and in some respects it was the cheapest Neo Geo you could get..

That's so weird. Just thirty minutes ago I told my wife the Saturn was my cheap neo geo. Totally off the cuff thing.

Anyway I came to say these ram carts are potent. Im playing metal slug rn and it's so fucking plush. Luckily, I never played these games out so I can really enjoy this perfect port.
 

Crayon

Member
I've got a new 4-1 cart. KOF97 only works with it in the 4mb setting. :/

Works fine, but it's bugging me. Played a Capcom 4mb game, fine. Metal slug only runs in 1mb setting; fine.

Also, I searched online and people were saying KOF97 will run with a 4mb cart, but it's not recommended. Wtf.

Everything works. I got better things to worry about. :lollipop_grinning_smiling_eyes:
 

Trogdor1123

Gold Member
Still waiting for that Sega Saturn mini 😔.
Backstreet Boys 90S GIF
 

Trogdor1123

Gold Member
By virtue of being a 2D powerhouse, I'd argue that more Saturn games still look beautiful & timeless today in 2023 than the PS1 library with its 3D dominated line up, which just looks awful and dated in every way.
While I agree, it’s 30 year old 3d. It’s ok it looks dated in every way.
 

nkarafo

Member
Daytona wasn't that bad. Graphics were really rough but it plays great.
It's not just the graphics. Frame rate was 20 fps. It's still a playable frame rate for some genres but not so much for a racing game. Playability took a huge hit from this.
 

RAIDEN1

Member
It's not just the graphics. Frame rate was 20 fps. It's still a playable frame rate for some genres but not so much for a racing game. Playability took a huge hit from this.
....That and the fact that it was a rushed release, literally from the look of it, it needed more "time in the oven" but what with Sega adamant that they wanted to get out the gate earlier than Sony, it didn't show the Saturn in great light, especially when you saw Ridge Racer...the irony being that Daytona was planned for the 32x as well it would have looked even worse on there..
 

RoboFu

One of the green rats
Shining force 3 still hold up,
any of the 3d fighters.
Panzer dragoon zweii is god tier gaming
Saga isn't bad either.
Guardian heros is still fantastic
Die hard as well.
All the capcom fighters ( with ram card )
Shining holy ark
Gun griffin 1 /2
Nights is peek pure old school gameplay
Still my favorite version of radiant silver gun.

There's lots to still love about the Saturn.
 

RAIDEN1

Member
Shining force 3 still hold up,
any of the 3d fighters.
Panzer dragoon zweii is god tier gaming
Saga isn't bad either.
Guardian heros is still fantastic
Die hard as well.
All the capcom fighters ( with ram card )
Shining holy ark
Gun griffin 1 /2
Nights is peek pure old school gameplay
Still my favorite version of radiant silver gun.

There's lots to still love about the Saturn.
Well Japan loved it, and it remains Sega's only smash hit console there, they could only dream of that success with the Dreamcast and Genesis..(though Genesis was a hit in the West so there is that..)
 

clarky

Gold Member
Don’t care what the nostalgic rose-tinted fanboys say, but that console was garbage.

PS1 and N64 were better consoles in every aspect.
LOL how on earth you are not banned for trash comments like this is beyond me.

Saturn was the king of 2D at the dawn of the 3D age that's all.

System had some awesome titles.

Sega Rally, Virtua Fighter, Burning Rangers, Radiant silver gun, loads of peak street fighter titles, Panzer Dragoon, Shining Force, die hard, virtua Cop, I could go on.

Obviously you have no taste.
 
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clarky

Gold Member
Shining force 3 still hold up,
any of the 3d fighters.
Panzer dragoon zweii is god tier gaming
Saga isn't bad either.
Guardian heros is still fantastic
Die hard as well.
All the capcom fighters ( with ram card )
Shining holy ark
Gun griffin 1 /2
Nights is peek pure old school gameplay
Still my favorite version of radiant silver gun.

There's lots to still love about the Saturn.
Yo this dude has taste.

Also correct on Nights being peek gameplay, awesome.
 

Crayon

Member
It's not just the graphics. Frame rate was 20 fps. It's still a playable frame rate for some genres but not so much for a racing game. Playability took a huge hit from this.

Pretty rough but not terribly uncommon back then. And for me, racing games are actually more tolerant to low fps. Relative motion is mostly on the slow side, despite staying down the track.

That said, 20fps is pretty bad no matter how you cut it. I have a Saturn hooked up rn so maybe I should spin that and the ce to refresh my memory.
 

Crayon

Member
K I just played about 45 minutes of Daytona. It's been a long time but it's crazy how accurate my memory of games is.

This game is officially ugly. All the trackside detail of the arcade is obliterated. The frame rate is 20 and that sucks, but it is set around 20 and not struggling all over to do 30.

I tried the nights controller and it picks up as a steering wheel. It controls pretty awful, reminiscent of Sega touring car. With the regular pad, it controls nicely.

Model 2 did so much more than any console at the time, it would make even a great port of Daytona look like shit. Now, compared to what was available at home around that time, it's pretty good if you ask me.

The obvious comparison is ridge racer and this wipes the floor with it. This is ten times to game. Three full tracks (one more would have went a long way), the traffic, ai, collisions, and most of all car handling. This had me engrossed pretty quick. I can tell you that if I popped in ridge racer right now, it would be 20 minutes going around trying to get back "the trick" to drifting then mindlessly sliding around and passing drones one at a time. This games feels like you are wrangling a pretty nasty car and negotiating traffic is legit sketchy.

Then there would be like need for speed on 3DO and this runs at least as good as that. That was a pretty sweet game, though. Then some oddball stuff like ESPN Xtreme and hi octane. Daytona compares favorably with all of them.

Destruction Derby and Wipeout dogged everything else. Both of those were out of nowhere and blew everyone away.
 

SHA

Member
LOL how on earth you are not banned for trash comments like this is beyond me.

Saturn was the king of 2D at the dawn of the 3D age that's all.

System had some awesome titles.

Sega Rally, Virtua Fighter, Burning Rangers, Radiant silver gun, loads of peak street fighter titles, Panzer Dragoon, Shining Force, die hard, virtua Cop, I could go on.

Obviously you have no taste.
I meant no discrimination to other consoles, I was just stating the obvious back then, I actually knew these consoles were special.
 

Blood Borne

Member
LOL how on earth you are not banned for trash comments like this is beyond me.

Saturn was the king of 2D at the dawn of the 3D age that's all.

System had some awesome titles.

Sega Rally, Virtua Fighter, Burning Rangers, Radiant silver gun, loads of peak street fighter titles, Panzer Dragoon, Shining Force, die hard, virtua Cop, I could go on.

Obviously you have no taste.
Cry more.
I’m simply stating my opinion like everyone else. Saturn was trash.
 

RAIDEN1

Member
K I just played about 45 minutes of Daytona. It's been a long time but it's crazy how accurate my memory of games is.

This game is officially ugly. All the trackside detail of the arcade is obliterated. The frame rate is 20 and that sucks, but it is set around 20 and not struggling all over to do 30.

I tried the nights controller and it picks up as a steering wheel. It controls pretty awful, reminiscent of Sega touring car. With the regular pad, it controls nicely.

Model 2 did so much more than any console at the time, it would make even a great port of Daytona look like shit. Now, compared to what was available at home around that time, it's pretty good if you ask me.

The obvious comparison is ridge racer and this wipes the floor with it. This is ten times to game. Three full tracks (one more would have went a long way), the traffic, ai, collisions, and most of all car handling. This had me engrossed pretty quick. I can tell you that if I popped in ridge racer right now, it would be 20 minutes going around trying to get back "the trick" to drifting then mindlessly sliding around and passing drones one at a time. This games feels like you are wrangling a pretty nasty car and negotiating traffic is legit sketchy.

Then there would be like need for speed on 3DO and this runs at least as good as that. That was a pretty sweet game, though. Then some oddball stuff like ESPN Xtreme and hi octane. Daytona compares favorably with all of them.

Destruction Derby and Wipeout dogged everything else. Both of those were out of nowhere and blew everyone away.
 

Spukc

always chasing the next thrill
Oh for fuck sake for a second i thought it was a mini version announcement
 
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StereoVsn

Member
Pretty rough but not terribly uncommon back then. And for me, racing games are actually more tolerant to low fps. Relative motion is mostly on the slow side, despite staying down the track.

That said, 20fps is pretty bad no matter how you cut it. I have a Saturn hooked up rn so maybe I should spin that and the ce to refresh my memory.
Didn’t the subsequent versions generally resolve these issues?

Ahh, like the first Reddit link delivers. Championship and Circuit Editions were pretty great.



 
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....That and the fact that it was a rushed release, literally from the look of it, it needed more "time in the oven" but what with Sega adamant that they wanted to get out the gate earlier than Sony, it didn't show the Saturn in great light, especially when you saw Ridge Racer...the irony being that Daytona was planned for the 32x as well it would have looked even worse on there..
3d in general needed a little more time in the oven. All 3 consoles had caveats that compromised their abilities, even if less so than the other(s).

Dreamcast and PS2 were the first 2 solid 3d consoles. (DC was a sort of petri dish for GTA 3 before the game was moved to PS2.)
 
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