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[Thaedolus]

This doesn't seem true at all. It was still their best-performing console in Japan, the market they sacrificed the West for that very generation. Hell, they saw fit to release MegaCD and 32X add-on props for the MegaDrive Mini in Japan when that was the MegaDrive's smallest market out of the Big 3.

If they're willing to do that for Mega CD and 32X, there's not much reason for them to run from their Saturn legacy. Besides, it's seemingly gotten a lot more popular in internet circles and the retro gaming community the past decade; global sentiment towards it isn't the same was it was in the '90s.


That's the thing about anecdotal evidence; you can't fully use that as a widespread case. Like Saturn, Neo Geo also had a niche appeal (actually, a much narrower niche appeal), but again, that hasn't stopped SNK from releasing the Neo Geo Mini. Even if those Neo Geo ports are relatively easy to do, things from the costs of IC securement, motherboard design/prototyping/testing/manufacture, casing design, marketing, distribution etc....that stuff adds up. It's "cheap" compared to what Sony and Microsoft are going to be doing next year with their new systems, but it's not cheap.

They wouldn't need to aim the Saturn mini at the mainstream market. IMHO I don't see why they can't aim a bit upwards price-wise but make sure there's features present to make it worth it. Like the online connectivity that new Capcom plug 'n play seems to have (at least for firmware updates). Also I think a Saturn mini would actually generate more interest than a MegaDrive one, simply because unlike MegaDrive, SEGA hasn't exhausted Saturn through minis going back over a decade. Never mind that Japan in particular would be a pretty strong market for it.

That's the way I see it, anyway.

Eh, you’re right that I’m talking anecdotes, but throwing out a SoC system is fairly trivial at this point. A raspberry pi costs less than what, $40 retail? Get yourself that volume discount, a cheap plastic mold, and boom you have a mini console at probably $20-30 or so.

I might be underestimating how hard Neo Geo is to emulate vs Saturn and certainly Saturn was more mainstream, but I really hear like zero non-gamers nostalgic about the Saturn. My older brother is somewhere between mainstream and me and he forgot there even was a Sega console between Genesis and Dreamcast untok he saw my game room this year. Granted, he probably doesn’t know what a Neo Geo is either...but if putting out a Neo Geo is trivial, and Saturn is difficult (even if that’s just the perception), then I could see why one would get to market and not the other

 

[Tarin02543]

Exactly why I bought a Saturn in 2019.

 

[johntown]

Not trying to be mean but I don't think many ppl really care about the Saturn or the games. Sure there are some ppl but not enough for Sega to take any action or spend money or any emulation or porting development.

 

[Godzilla Emu]

Exactly why I bought a Saturn in 2019.

Congrats on your purchase mate . I bought my first Saturn three years ago (a minty fresh white Japanese model 2) and it's been one of the best gaming investments that I've made.

It's amazing how well the best of the Saturn's library has fared in modern times. The games on the platform complement modern, more long-form experiences (open world 60 hour games for example) really, really well. It's become a core part of my gaming diet.

 

[Werewolf Jones]

Every time I read that Sega lost the source code to Panzer Dragoon Saga I actually get angry. How could you fuck up that bad?

 

[thicc_girls_are_teh_best]

Every time I read that Sega lost the source code to Panzer Dragoon Saga I actually get angry. How could you fuck up that bad?

Source code may've been found

 

[Vitacat]

I know that some people keep holding out hope but it's been over 20 years. It's very unlikely we will ever see Saturn emulation until we have computers that have enough raw power that they can basically emulate any hardware which won't happen anytime soon. There have been multiple homebrew teams formed by dedicated fans that have all failed.

Actually Saturn emulation is quite good, and has been for a while now. Retroarch's Beetle Saturn core (ported from Mednafen code) for example runs the majority of games very, very well.

Another emulator, Yaba Sanshiro, runs pretty well on relatively modest hardware, and can even run nicely on a Shield TV and probably other Android devices as well. And, since the Switch is basically the same hardware, that suggests the reason for Saturn games not (yet) being marketed to modern platforms is no longer because of a technical emulation bottleneck.

 

[RAIDEN1]

Saturn is part of Sega's history that is never looked back on in a great way..., I didn't see them do anything in 2015 to commemorate its launch back in 1995...

 

[ManaByte]

Radient Silvergun, Nights and Gurdian Heroes didn't exactly set the world on fire in terms of sales when ported to modern systems, neither did the Dreamcast ports. Not enough people are interested.

And all three are playable on the Xbox One.

 

[Esppiral]

No source code for most of the games is the answer.

 

[Sephimoth]

I want Sega to do a Saturn classic mini console.

Doubt it'd ever happen for the reasons already stated, but let me dream..

 

[TheWanderingOgre]

Burning Rangers HD
Last Bronx HD
Deep Fear HD
Fighters Megamix HD
Nights HD
Dragon Force HD
Die Hard Arcade HD
Dark Savior HD

Gimme gimme

 

[Shifty1897]

I've yet to find a Saturn emulator with a functioning UI. Most are obscure command-line nightmares.

 

[Alexios]

I've yet to find a Saturn emulator with a functioning UI. Most are obscure command-line nightmares.

Mednafen can be used with Mednaffe or other gui (like Mame has Mameui and shit, though Mednaffe doesn't yet support the latest Mednafen there haven't been crazy changes), Retroarch includes it as the Beetle core with its PSP/PS3-like gui and SSF seems slightly tricky at first but is fine after.

Even the Giri Giri hacks back in the day weren't command line based so...

 

[alabtrosMyster]

I wish they gave us arcade games instead, they keep giving us Golden Axe, Super Hang On, altered Beast, etc. all on the Genesis... We need a Sega Arcade classics compilation for modern systems.

- Current consoles are ridiculously weak when it comes to IPC (the most important thing in emulation).

Nobody cares about IPC, what's important is raw power (IPC is a factor for it as you get more work done for each clock cycle, but its main use is CPU fanboys flame wars or academic discussions).

So the CPU is slower than some would wish, but given how the PS4 still performs in current games I would say that it was sufficient (everything else taken into account).

 

[StreetsofBeige]

I cant wait for the ultimate sports pack called:

Greatest Worst Hits.
NFL, NHL, WS and NBA.

 

[stranno]

So the CPU is slower than some would wish, but given how the PS4 still performs in current games I would say that it was sufficient (everything else taken into account).

Games are built around the APU architecture and multi-threaded performance. Saturn emulators definitely not (only a few emulators take full advantage of multi-core CPUs, like RPCS3). Jaguar APUs are just too weak. Maybe they could handle a really skippy HLE emulation but definitely not an accurate Saturn emulation like Mednafen.

Mednafen has been ported to Orbis recently but Saturn core doesnt work at all (atm). PS4 Linux payload would also run Saturn emulators, but definitely not a good test, it will be probably single digits performance.

 

[celsowmbr]

Sega hate us and money

/thread

 

[StreetsofBeige]

Sega hate us and money

/thread

Sega.

Voted the biggest waster of iconic franchises.

 

[Vitacat]

I've yet to find a Saturn emulator with a functioning UI. Most are obscure command-line nightmares.

Use Retroarch with the Beetle Saturn core (ported from Mednafen). Great GUI, superb emulation. Even auto-downloads box arts.

And if you have a fast Android device: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.uoyabause.uranus&hl=en_US

Saturn emulation is in really good shape these days, and has been for a while now.

 

[lock2k]

Use Retroarch with the Beetle Saturn core (ported from Mednafen). Great GUI, superb emulation. Even auto-downloads box arts.

And if you have a fast Android device: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.uoyabause.uranus&hl=en_US

Saturn emulation is in really good shape these days, and has been for a while now.

Does it run on pi3?

 

[Vitacat]

Does it run on pi3?

Unfortunately no raspberry pi is powerful enough for Saturn emulation.

 

[sn0man]

I'd rather just skip straight to the CAPCOM/Konami/Taito/CAVE/etc collections since the arcade ports are mostly what make Saturn such a good system.

There's even less of a chance of that so whatever.

Congrats on your purchase mate . I bought my first Saturn three years ago (a minty fresh white Japanese model 2) and it's been one of the best gaming investments that I've made.

It's amazing how well the best of the Saturn's library has fared in modern times. The games on the platform complement modern, more long-form experiences (open world 60 hour games for example) really, really well. It's become a core part of my gaming diet.

As Dun says above: I feel like the sega Saturn got worse versions of 3d multiplats at the time, some great arcade games, and some decent but ultimately lesser ports of sega arcade fair.

I presume there are maybe 10 games that stand out of the system. I want to be proven wrong though. not that you have to but I’m curious, do you have a recommended top 20 or so sega Saturn exclusives that justify collecting the console? I’ve already got all the Nintendo systems, a genesis, 32x, Dreamcast, and Xbox/PS systems (not xbone). What makes it stand out from the likes of an Atari Jaguar or neogeo?

 

[MrCunningham]

SEGA's being shit about it, that's all. There are tons of great Saturn titles (even excluding games that have better versions in the arcades or elsewhere since) plus so much Japanese goodness they could bring over to the rest of the world for the first time as the system did a lot better in Japan.

And yes Saturn emulation has been fine for like a decade, Mednafen (Beetle core in RA) and SSF are as accurate/playable/good as any PlayStation emulator.

Granted that's for faithful emulation and not huge visual enhancements (though SSF has allowed one to fix interlacing and convert mesh transparencies into real transparencies and such) but that's changing too as in the video above.

SSF is still the most accurate Sega Saturn emulator to date, the developer has been going for a hardware accurate emulation since the start of the project. But the Mednafen team is doing a great job with the Saturn Beetle core. Saturn emulation works better with native Mednafen than it does in Retroarch, though. But overall,Sega Saturn emulation has improved a lot.

here's a screenshot I took of Virtua Fighter 2 running in Mednafen using the Mednaffe front end. This is also running on Linux Mint 19.2.

Check out the progress the Sega Saturn 'xtreme" core for Mednafen has been making on the Playstation Classic:



This video was uploaded yesterday. The speed is still not 100%, but it has been making some improvements.

 

[EightBit Man]

The games need to be reverse engineered if they are to survive.

 

[Virex]

I hate that Sega pretends that the Saturn doesn't exist. It has some amazing games.

 

[alabtrosMyster]

What makes it stand out from the likes of an Atari Jaguar or neogeo?

If you found 20 games you liked enough on the Atari Jaguar to justify collecting it, there is no gaming console in this world that is not worth adding to your collection.

The Neo Geo is something else, I think its games are only arcade games, I get bored of them (all of them) pretty fast, but for someone into that kind of things they might see it as the greatest system of all time.

 

[lock2k]

SSF is still the most accurate Sega Saturn emulator to date, the developer has been going for a hardware accurate emulation since the start of the project. But the Mednafen team is doing a great job with the Saturn Beetle core. Saturn emulation works better with native Mednafen than it does in Retroarch, though. But overall,Sega Saturn emulation has improved a lot.

here's a screenshot I took of Virtua Fighter 2 running in Mednafen using the Mednaffe front end. This is also running on Linux Mint 19.2.

Check out the progress the Sega Saturn 'xtreme" core for Mednafen has been making on the Playstation Classic:



This video was uploaded yesterday. The speed is still not 100%, but it has been making some improvements.

The PS Classic can run Saturn? Is it more powerful than a Pi?

 

[thicc_girls_are_teh_best]

Sega.

Voted the biggest waster of iconic franchises.

How true is this anymore, really?

Just in the past few years there's been:

-A new Daytona (arcade)
-A new House of the Dead (arcade)
-A spiritual sequel to Scud Race (arcade)
-Panzer Dragoon remakes coming (Switch, PC)
-Best port of Virtua Racing (Switch)
-A new Sakura Wars coming (PS4)
-A new Streets of Rage coming (PC/consoles)
-A new Virtual On (PS4)

Could they be doing more? Absolutely. But that's something they seem to be acknowledging, bit by bit. The question is if they will stick with iterating some of these properties for the longer-term. And will they finally give Sonic a break to return to a consistent high-quality standard?

I genuinely think the biggest reason modern Sonic games have been so haphazard in quality and consistency is because they keep introducing game mechanics better served in other IPs. Sonic Lost World could've probably been a new Space Harrier. Sonic Unleashed should've probably been an Altered Beasts or even Golden Axe spinoff, etc.

As Dun says above: I feel like the sega Saturn got worse versions of 3d multiplats at the time, some great arcade games, and some decent but ultimately lesser ports of sega arcade fair.

I presume there are maybe 10 games that stand out of the system. I want to be proven wrong though. not that you have to but I’m curious, do you have a recommended top 20 or so sega Saturn exclusives that justify collecting the console? I’ve already got all the Nintendo systems, a genesis, 32x, Dreamcast, and Xbox/PS systems (not xbone). What makes it stand out from the likes of an Atari Jaguar or neogeo?

Off the top of my head?

-Panzer Dragoon Zwei
-Panzer Dragoon Saga
-NiGHTS
-Deep Fear
-Astal
-Shinobi: Legions
-Shining Force III
-Shining the Holy Arc
-Langrisser
-Langrisser 2
-Lunacy
-Enemy Zero
-Silhouette Mirage
-Burning Rangers
-Dark Savior
-Legend of Oasis
-Princess Crown
-Exhumed
-Assault Suit Leynos 2
-Psychic Assassin
-Bulk Slash
-Shining Wisdom

...also I'm not so quick to write off arcade games or ports either, because then I'd have to do that for other systems. I.e Tekken 3 on PS1 (arguably one of the Top 5 games on the system imo, probably also the most "well-rounded" fighting game package for any fighter that gen too), San Francisco Rush, etc.

 

[Alexios]

Panzer Dragoon remakes relegated to some no-name tiny studio isn't exactly a good thing. Hopefully they'll turn out okay. But that doesn't show a great investment on SEGA's part and it's similar for many other games they bring back. Much of their arcade output is similarly cheapening out.

They've been consistently good with the M2 retro output, it's just a shame they don't release on more platforms and that they still have whole eras of their output untouched (Genesis era stuff have been re-released over and over, Saturn not so much, Dreamcast only a handful of games, etc).

Sakura Wars being back is cool and it shows effort/investment but at the same time it also changes half the core of the series so we'll see how it'll turn out. I was hoping they'd do something like Valkyria Chronicles to keep the SRPG part while giving people more modern-gamer-friendly "action".

Something they really need to address is availability, last gen we finally got a GREAT Daytona USA port (enhanced even, draw distances, resolution, etc) and now it too is lost to those platforms like it never happened so back to Model 2 emulator it is. Since then much of it is locked to 3DS/Switch.

 

[thicc_girls_are_teh_best]

[/QUOTE]

Panzer Dragoon remakes relegated to some no-name tiny studio isn't exactly a good thing. Hopefully they'll turn out okay.

Much of their arcade output is similar cheaping out on production values and doesn't hold a candle to the classics.

Dunno, the remakes are looking really good right now. I don't judge a studio's work just because they aren't well known like, say, Naughty Dog. There was a time Blue Point was relatively unknown, too, but they had their breakout hit with the Last of Us port and now they might be working on some big-name remaster/remake for PS5. Devs start somewhere.

Arcade-wise, the new HoTD is actually very in-spirit to the original games, and they seem to have went out of their way for its budget (both the game and cabinets aimed at FEC markets). Same with SEGA World Drivers Championship. I think the new Daytona debuted pretty weak, but there's been a couple of updates since then (one of them specifically addressed the dead zone issue with the steering wheel).

Granted Scarlet Dawn and SWDC are relatively more recent efforts; for a while it did seem like their arcade efforts were coasting by on other stuff. In terms of arcade/FEC mindshare presence globally though they seem to be coming back on track (companies like Raw Thrills have seemingly made a big name for themselves the past few years, they seem to regularly license for IPs like Halo, TMNT and Injustice but it'd be nice if companies like SEGA and Namco did that more regularly, too. Just...not at the expense of their home-grown IPs).

 

[Alexios]

Well I don't think they look very good, just like any random if competent 3d modeler/texture artist would translate the original wonderful concept art is a very sterile, boring, not so artistic manner as the original games conveyed. But I'm hoping they'll still be decent.

I already thought Orta had lost some of that Panzer Dragoon spirit despite the much more modern visuals but in comparison it too was doing much more unique and creative things with its visuals most of the time (some areas are still boring though).

And yes some of their arcade output is good. Much of it wasn't is all I said. At least they're also keeping alive good older stuff like Border Break (arg yet another home release locked to one system).

 

[MrCunningham]

The PS Classic can run Saturn? Is it more powerful than a Pi?

In comparison to a Raspberry Pi 3B+...

Raspberry Pi 3 B+

1. SOC: Broadcom BCM2837B0, Cortex-A53 (ARMv8) 64-bit SoC
2. CPU: 1.4GHz 64-bit quad-core ARM Cortex-A53 CPU
3. RAM: 1GB LPDDR2 SDRAM
4. WIFI: Dual-band 802.11ac wireless LAN (2.4GHz and 5GHz ) and Bluetooth 4.2
5. Ethernet: Gigabit Ethernet over USB 2.0 (max 300 Mbps). Power-over-Ethernet support (with separate PoE HAT). Improved PXE network and USB mass-storage booting.
6. Thermal management: Yes
7. Video: Yes – VideoCore IV 3D. Full-size HDMI
8. Audio: Yes
9. USB 2.0: 4 ports
10. GPIO: 40-pin
11. Power: 5V/2.5A DC power input
12. Operating system support: Linux and Unix

Playstation Classic:

1. SoC: Mediatek 8167A Quad Core Cortex-A35 1.5 GHz / PowerVR GE8300
2. Audio Chip: Mediatek MT6392A
3. Motherboard: Sony LM-11 (1-984-020-11)
4. RAM: 1GB DDR3-1866 Samsung K4B4G1646E-BYMA
5. Sorage: eMMC 5.1 16 GB KLMAG1JETD-B041
6. Dimensions: 149 x 33 x 105 mm / Weight: 170 gr
7. Supported resolutions: 720p e 480p via HDMI
8. AC: 5V 1A microUSB

I think the quad core A35 might be a little more powerful than the A53 in the raspberry Pi 3. But I am unsure. The PowerVR graphics core in the PSC also seems to rank higher than the VideoCore GPU in the RBP3B+ as well.

Graphics Card Comparison - Head 2 Head

Broadcom VideoCore-IV vs PowerVR GE8300 - Benchmarks, Tests and Comparisons

www.notebookcheck.net

Also, the RAM in the Playstation Classic is actually faster. Aside from the lack of additional ports and built-in ethernet/ wifi, the Playstation Classic is actually higher spec. But in comparison to the Raspberry Pi 4, I would imagine that it is quite a bit weaker. The specs in the Playstation Classic are surprisingly high end, especially given for a device that costs $20 to $30 dollars. The modding scene has made it a good price. Also, the latest version of Bleemsync now has networking that can be enabled through the use of either a usb wifi stick or a usb Ethernet adapter. It is possible to update retroarch using the online component now.

 

[thicc_girls_are_teh_best]

To be fair, PS Classic commanded a slightly higher premium than the MegaDrive, SNES...certainly the NES Classic. $100 vs. $80/$70/$60. So I would hope the specs were a bit more than the typical mini.

Now if only they didn't botch the included emulation and used friggin' PAL versions for games like Tekken 3.

 

[MrCunningham]

To be fair, PS Classic commanded a slightly higher premium than the MegaDrive, SNES...certainly the NES Classic. $100 vs. $80/$70/$60. So I would hope the specs were a bit more than the typical mini.

Now if only they didn't botch the included emulation and used friggin' PAL versions for games like Tekken 3.

That's true, the PS Classic launched at like... $120 US. If the emulation wasn't botched, I don;t think it would have been a terrible deal on its own. The selection of games it comes with is respectable, for the most part. Even though it was missing some obvious classics. But the Playstation has a massive library of good games. It is a bit sad to see it being liquidated at $20 - $30 dollars. But at that price, it's a solid deal. Especially for those who are interested in soft modding.

It's actually kind of fun to tinker around with. And the non dualshock pads that it comes with really are quite good.

The developer working on the KMFDManic "xtreme" Core Set is doing a great job optimizing these cores for the PSClassic/ SNES Mini consoles. Dreamcast emulation is starting to look pretty good.

Sega Saturn emulation is still far from ideal for hardware like this. But even it is making progress.

I think a Sega Saturn classics collection is doable on consoles and PC. But it all comes down to whatever emulator Sega has available to them that could get the job done. Sega might not even have access to a Saturn emulator that they could package and sell. It might even be something that they would have to outsource development for.

But a Sega Saturn mini console might not be achievable at this point in time.

 

[Celcius]

Sega Saturn is one of the few consoles I've never owned and I'd be super interested in a greatest hits collection.

 

[FMXVII]

Because they've actually managed to fuck up the Genesis Collection for this gen.

Think about that for a second.

This gen marks the first where both main consoles and even Ninty are the closest they've ever been to streamlined low tier PCs (well, laptops, at least).

And yet the Genesis collections this gen are atrocity levels of bad.

The PS2 Genesis Collection? Aces.

The PS3 Genesis Collection? Joy.

The PS4 Genesis Collection? Lol. Nope.

...you cannot even remap buttons without dipping into the PS4's System and manipulating the Acessibility Options.

And the Switch was blessed with a pathetic, stinky dumpster fire of a port, that lags so bad, you'll think you're travelling back to 1988.

What the fuck, Sega. You were never this bad, before. Is the furry culture rubbing off on you?

 

[Alexios]

Because they've actually managed to fuck up the Genesis Collection for this gen.

Think about that for a second.

This gen marks the first where both main consoles and even Ninty are the closest they've ever been to streamlined low tier PCs (well, laptops, at least).

And yet the Genesis collections this gen are atrocity levels of bad.

The PS2 Genesis Collection? Aces.

The PS3 Genesis Collection? Joy.

The PS4 Genesis Collection? Lol. Nope.

...you cannot even remap buttons without dipping into the PS4's System and manipulating the Acessibility Options.

And the Switch was blessed with a pathetic, stinky dumpster fire of a port, that lags so bad, you'll think you're travelling back to 1988.

What the fuck, Sega. You were never this bad, before. Is the furry culture rubbing off on you?

It's pretty cool on PC, it even has Steam workshop support for romhacks and shit. But I'm tired of Genesis re-releases forever and ever anyway, they need to expand the retro catalogue more than they have. What do furries have to do with anything, lol, you seem obsessed.

 

[MrCunningham]

The PS4 Genesis Collection? Lol. Nope.

The issue with the Sega Genesis Classics collection that was released in 2018, is that it uses Unity as a front end for the emulation. Sega used Unity as a quick and easy way to make the collection portable to all current platforms. But it has some issues. Though, Sega and M2 did do great work with the current Sega Genesis/ Mega Drive mini.

 

[FMXVII]

It's pretty cool on PC, it even has Steam workshop support for romhacks and shit. But I'm tired of Genesis re-releases forever and ever anyway, they need to expand the retro catalogue more than they have. What do furries have to do with anything, lol, you seem obsessed.

I'm just sayin' - when there's an entire Sega collection loaded with great games, out on a great convertible/portable platform, but due to abysmal execution, the only retro Sega game that's actually tempting for purchase, is a stand-alone remaster of a Master System game, well... fuck.

 

[sn0man]

If you found 20 games you liked enough on the Atari Jaguar to justify collecting it, there is no gaming console in this world that is not worth adding to your collection.

The Neo Geo is something else, I think its games are only arcade games, I get bored of them (all of them) pretty fast, but for someone into that kind of things they might see it as the greatest system of all time.

Im guessing I probably couldn’t which is why I passed on collecting it

Sega Saturn is one of the few consoles I've never owned and I'd be super interested in a greatest hits collection.

same here. I’d pay a couple hundred if they focused on platform exclusive titles.

 

[Deft Beck]

With some exceptions, SEGA would prefer to pretend the Saturn did not happen.



The Saturn is a homonculus of a console. It was a machine designed primarily for 2D arcade games, but since SEGA saw the threat of the PlayStation, they decided to shoehorn 3D into the console at huge cost.

The two main Saturn graphics processors, VDP1 and VDP2, work together to produce sprites and screen effects. This is fine for 2D games, of which there are plenty that emulate fine on the Saturn. But 3D is the main challenge for Saturn games.

Any 3D games are actually just the VDP1 distorting a series of sprites to produce the illusion of polygons, which in reality are quadrilaterals. It was difficult for multiplatform and Western developers to create 3D games of the style popular at the time. Even SEGA's first party studios struggled to produce impressive 3D games with this architecture. Otherwise conventional racing games like Daytona USA and action games like Burning Rangers have to do a lot of obvious field of view rendering and unrendering to handle the graphical load. This challenging architecture made it difficult for Saturn emulators to make progress for a long time, never mind emulation appropriate for a retail collection akin to the Genesis and Dreamcast ones.

There are select Saturn games that got PC ports, such as Panzer Dragoon, VF2, Enemy Zero, and Sonic R. But those are few and far between.

Saturn emulation has come a long way, but the fundamental design of the console prevents some of its most important games from being emulated properly.

Sources: Gamehut, Lowscoreboy YT channels

Clarifying this post based on what I read from Sega Retro.

The VDP1 could render quads and the VDP2 could also draw them, but less of them. 2D games used the VDP1 for foreground sprites and the VDP2 for background quads and special effects. SEGA's internal studios were better at using the two VDPs in tandem. Western developers tended to only use the VDP1 to create their 3D games. 3D programs of the time could render models for all the consoles of the time, thankfully.

The two processors also proved difficult to optimize. Western developers at the time preferred to write code in the C language, but doing so was less powerful than writing in assembly. There were better tools and libraries later on but by then most Western developers had given up on the Saturn.

All this combined means ports are not going to be easy. The existing ones are either launch window titles, enhanced ports by wizards like Travelers Tales, or Enemy Zero, which is primarily a FMV game.

 

[Kazza]

What the fuck, Sega. You were never this bad, before. Is the furry culture rubbing off on you?

 

[TheSadRanger]

Radient Silvergun, Nights and Gurdian Heroes didn't exactly set the world on fire in terms of sales when ported to modern systems, neither did the Dreamcast ports. Not enough people are interested.

That's because Nights is trash and while the 360 version of Radiant Silvergun is awesome, MS didn't market it at all even though they published it. Also obligatory.

 

[cireza]

What the fuck, Sega. You were never this bad, before. Is the furry culture rubbing off on you?

Current Sega is perfectly fine but this compilation is garbage. Still, this is garbage that gets a pass from most buyers and reviewers that have absolutely no exigence in terms of mapping inputs or having a decent picture on their TV. So why even bother putting more efforts ? This actually validates the fact that Sega was right to put 100$ budget into this release.

 

[Voost Kain]

I have no idea why people are saying Saturn emulation is good in general. Some Mid-life games and late games for the console that aren't bare bones or shoot ems are very inconsistent; some run very bad, texture glitches, tearing, random slow down, missing assets, smooth background animations moving like a slide show, nothing indicating perfection.

As for why Sega pretends the console doesn't exist, I believe the reason is simply that when the Saturn was out they didn't have strong selling software outside a few sports titles, Daytona, and Virtua Fighter. Alternatively, Panzer Dragoon and Nights were the only cult games that had followings loud enough to grab Sega attention for 20 years, and that basically ends the majority of the Saturns nostalgia in Segas eyes.

Look at it this way, why would Sega bother re-releasing a game like The Last Bronx? That's not going to make them any money.

 

[Alexios]

I have no idea why people are saying Saturn emulation is good in general. Some Mid-life games and late games for the console that aren't bare bones or shoot ems are very inconsistent; some run very bad, texture glitches, tearing, random slow down, missing assets, smooth background animations moving like a slide show, nothing indicating perfection.

Like what games/emulator/settings/system?

Complex stuff that pushed the Saturn in different ways like Powerslave/Burning Rangers/Bulk Slash/Gungriffon II/SFIII/Dragon Force/Darkstalkers/Radiant Silvergun/PDS all work great for me. Maybe I had a crash or two in Dragon Force but that was several years and SSF versions ago.

The only problem I have with current SSF is the region selection sometimes doesn't stick so I need to re-select it for the game to boot. With Mednafen/Retroarch it's fine. Retroarch may randomly get slowdowns but it seems like a random bug as Mednafen proper doesn't get this at all.

Yeah there are other emulators that also offer resolution bumps and such but nobody said those were on the same level yet, still, you can definitely emulate and enjoy Saturn games as they were with these and slightly enhance them (deinterlacing, proper transparencies, filters etc).

No comment on your lack of knowledge about the system's regional success and overall condescending attitude about its wonderful library that you seem ignorant to.

Last Bronx could do fine as part of a fighting game compilation just as unknown/less popular Capcom games did fine in beat 'em up or whatever collections.