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12 REASONS WHY YOU SHOULD GIVE THE SEGA SATURN ANOTHER CHANCE

27/11/2018

18 Comments

 
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It's unlikely that even Sega would suggest its Saturn was anything less than an embarrassing failure, the console equivalent of having your trousers fall down just as you reach the check-out in Lidl... Oh no! And you forgot to put on any underwear to boot!

We've all been there.

Over the years, the reasons given for gaming's biggest folly have included a botched launch, underpowered hardware, the lack of an original Sonic The Hedgehog game, bee reasons, and - most significantly - aggressive competition from the PlayStation.

Whereas the Mega Drive/Genesis had been driven to success by the passionate and confident leadership of Sega of America, the Saturn was kneecapped by internal divisions within Sega.

And yet... does the Saturn really deserve its feeble reputation? Surely it can't have been all smelly? Get a load of this, sweaty: it wasn't', and here are 12 very good reasons why you should give it another chance. 
NiGHTS INTO DREAMS
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I'll be honest... I've only put this in here to avoid loads of people going "Muhhhh... why wasn't Nights Into Dreams in the list?".

Frankly, whingers, I've got a load of issues with this weird game. Sega tried to position it as the Saturn's Sonic The Hedgehog - but it was too esoteric, too wafty, and the supposedly "gorgeous" graphics that everyone bangs on about were, to my eyes, ill-served by the Saturn's hardware. Too many unstable  polygons made it an uncomfortable playing experience.

Whatever. I put it in the list to shut you up. Now let's move on.
VIRTUA FIGHTER 2
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Obviously, the Saturn launched with the original Virtua Fighter - a loud, brassy, statement of intent which should've succeeded in getting the machine off to a solid start. Yes, the graphics occasionally struggled to match those of the arcade original, but in terms of gameplay... it was spot-on.

I mean, we were all blown away at the time. Oh, how history gets revised...

The sequel fixed most of the graphical issues, and - for my money - was far better, cleaner, and more approachable than the PlayStation's try-hard Tekken ever was.

"Oooh, look at me - I'm all edgy because I've got a leopard's head!"

That doesn't make you edgy, idiot. That makes you a chimera. You're a perversion of nature. 
SEGA RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP
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Thanks to the technical powerhouse/glorified demo that was Ridge Racer on the PlayStation, the Saturn's version of Daytona USA got something of a bad rap. And by "bad rap" I mean "everyone pointing and laughing at you because your trousers fell down at the check-out in Lidl".

Daytona is nowhere near the disaster that history has it labelled as, but... Sega Rally Championship would receive universal acclaim. It was quite unlike any other driving game, with the handling offering a solid grittiness - all power-slides through mud and that - which was far more satisfying to get to grips with than Ridge Racer's slick but sterile gameplay.
GUARDIAN HEROES
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Though best known for its 3D arcade conversions, the Saturn was equally adept at more traditional 2D games. Arguably, Guardian Heroes was the pinnacle of the form; a side-scrolling beat 'em up with RPG-like depth.

Developed by Treasure - who had squeezed so much juice out of the Mega Drive that its teats ended up looking like discarded johnnies - there was a ton of replay value too, with branching paths, and multiple endings. It was dismissed by some at the time as looking out-of-sorts in a 3D marketplace, but the graphics - 2D or not - are so gorgeous that I wanted to smear my chest across them. 
PANZER DRAGOON SAGA
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I loved the first two Panzer Dragoon games. The prog rock album cover-aesthetic successfully ripped-off Roger Dean decades before James Cameron did the same, and the lock-on missile feature managed to bridge the awkward gap between the best of 3D and 2D shoot 'em ups.

Panzer Dragoon Saga reworked the gameplay and setting into an RPG, with a hybrid real-time/turn-based combat system which succeeded in not entirely betraying the spirit of the series. For my money, it's a better, more cinematic, role-playing experience than Final Fantasy VII. 

"Oooh, look at me - I'm all cool because I've got spiky hair and a big sword, and I'm crying!"

Yeah, well I've got a dragon. Dragoon. Who cares?
EXHUMED
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An Egyptian-themed first-person shooter, Exhumed might not have been the most original game, but it was a solid, playable, entry into the genre - which demonstrated that the Saturn could out-Doom the original Doom.

More importantly, the PlayStation release was the weaker version - adding much fuel to Saturn owners' argument that theirs was the more powerful hardware (I mean, it wasn't - but that didn't stop them making the point... such is the lurid prance twixt brand loyalty and cognitive dissonance).
DARK SAVIOR
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Landstalker was one of my favourite Mega Drive games - an unjustly overlooked isometric RPG, with some beautifully bold graphics.

Sequel Dark Savior built on all that made Landstalker great, but also succeeded in feeling even more like an update on Ultimate's mid-80s isometric games. The platforming and puzzles were a refinement of a classic idea, though audiences were more divided over its introduction of a beat 'em up element to the combat. Regardless, it serves as an example of the diversity of the Saturn's catalogue, and a criminally overlooked gem.
RADIANT SILVERGUN
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Another game from Treasure, and proof that the developer was as cockily adept at shoot 'em ups as it was platform games. Radiant Silvergun toyed with the staples of the genre by allowing players to approach each level differently, depending on their equipped weapons.

​True to Treasure's form, it was also visually stunning - proof that the Saturn was far from the anaemic humiliation that critics had it pegged as. Arguably one of the finest, most diverse, and approachable shoot 'em ups ever. 
VIRTUA COP 1 & 2
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Perhaps the Saturn's greatest strength was in its ports of Sega's arcade titles; something no other system could offer. At least until Sega's hardware game went tits-up and it started hawking itself around to anyone who'd have it.

"Wheee! Look at me, Nintendo! Can I come and play on your Wii? Me trousers fell down in Lidl!"

"Please... please, just close your legs and we'll talk about it."


The two Virtua Cop games - just like Virtua Fighter and Sega Rally - played exactly like their arcade counterparts, helped in no small part by the available Virtua Guns. It's also worth remembering that without the influence of Virtua Cop there would've been no Goldeneye on the N64. 

I want this: a cop game where instead of a light gun you get a "light badge", which you flash at bad guys, convincing them to "come quietly".
BURNING RANGERS
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A third-person shoot 'em up without any killing, Burning Rangers turned the genre on its head by placing players in the role of a cyber-suited firefighter. The core mechanic required you to extinguish fires across a variety of futuristic environments, and ferry The Victims of The Flames to safety.

It suffered a few polygon wobbles, but the lighting effects would once again demonstrate precisely what the Saturn was capable of. And that something was this something: some nice lighting effects.

More importantly, it was a far more accessible game than Yuji Naka's previous Saturn release, the aforementioned inscrutable and frigid Nights, while remaining quite unlike anything else. 

Look, you can argue with me about Nights, but in terms of doing what it set out to do - shift hardware in the same way that the original Sonic had - it failed gloriously. I mean, it was like you'd accidentally been cast in Cirque du Soleil when you'd only applied to work on the hotdog stall. 
DIE HARD ARCADE
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With only the most tenuous links to the movie which inspired it - like a game based upon, I dunno, The Lorax, where you have to go round pooing on belts - Die Hard Arcade was a quirky beat 'em up which blended the polygons of Virtua Fighter with the gameplay of a Streets of Rage or Final Fight.

​The real joy of the game came through your ability to use items found in your environment as makeshift weapons; almost anything you see can be grabbed and smashed over the head of an enemy. Like many of the Saturn's arcade ports, it was short-lived and a little on the easy side, but it was - once again - a near-flawless conversion.
TOMB RAIDER
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Given its 90s ubiquity with the PlayStation brand, its easy to forget that Tomb Raider began life on the Saturn. Arguably one of the most ground-breaking and influential video games of all time, there's not much to add to the Tomb Raider legend which hasn't already been discussed at tiresome length. Except to once again say this: IT CAME OUT ON THE SATURN FIRST.  

Though developed concurrently with the PlayStation version, Sega had secured a window of exclusivity for its machine. The one downside is that, by the time it was released on the PlayStation, developer Core Design had fixed many of the glitches that remained in the Saturn version. 

​Regardless, Tomb Raider arriving on the Saturn first means that Sega should be given more credit for its part in gaming's redefinition as The New Cool. 
18 Comments
cheneyheadshot
27/11/2018 10:34:17 am

Saturn Bomberman deserves inclusion, mainly for the frankly insane ten players possible if you've somehow got two multitaps. This was on a standard def telly too.
You could still do seven players with a single multitap though. Its mainly why I own more Saturn controllers than for any other console...

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Larry Bundy Jr link
27/11/2018 10:36:47 am

And it was designed for HDTVs before HDTVs even existed in the West.

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Larry Bundy Jr link
27/11/2018 10:35:33 am

I loved Daytona USA great launch title, the only reason it's so choppy is because Sega rushed it out the door to meet the Saturn's launch.

But it's still vastly superior to the Champion Circuit Edition, "let's remake Daytona, but using the Sega Rally engine, what could possibly go wrong?"

Oh Decathlete is awesome on the Saturn too, great party game, even if Sega went a bit neurotic on the censorship on the characters in the west, cutting one out entirely.

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John JTM
27/11/2018 10:44:51 am

I'm sold, or at least, if I can find some old working hardware in the console bins round the back of CEX I am. Having that epic ad for a soccer game at which you can have a good chuckle if you want to online - just look for Segata Sanshiro Soccer ; plus the jump up in specs from the MD - always had me wondering if it was any good.

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Grembot
27/11/2018 12:27:44 pm

The Saturn was also the 2D fighting aficionados console of choice. Street Fighter Alpha 2, Darkstalkers, Marvel vs Street Fighter, King of Fighters 97, Cyberbots, others!

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bombjack
27/11/2018 12:29:05 pm

The Saturn was always my favourite machine of that generation, after its wobbly start Sega and Capcom just kept churning out the hits, then of course there's a ton of quality Japanese exclusives.

I'd agree with you that Nights is too blocky, low-res and zoomed-in to be enjoyable, but I'd say similar things about Burning Rangers also - it looks and runs like a dog's dinner and would have been better off saved for the Dreamcast.

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Craig from the 80s link
27/11/2018 12:33:18 pm

Nobody ever mentions the fact that the Saturn could play Karaoke Discs. Pop in a KCD and your Saturn becomes THE ULTIMATE drunk party machine, displaying those fancy graphics and animated words, just like all the best 90s pub karaoke machines.

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Grembot
27/11/2018 01:12:20 pm

What? I didn’t know this!

The internet also says there was a karaoke attachment from Hitachi. The Mega CD and Dreamcast had them too! Amazing stuff.

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Kelvin Green link
27/11/2018 01:57:09 pm

Guardian Heroes was lovely; I'd love to see a new version of that.

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Meatballs-me-branch-me-do
27/11/2018 04:18:40 pm

I went a bit mental in university and bought several used consoles just to have a complete set... one of these was the Saturn, which is only ever rented before. My Saturn came from eBay complete with grass clippings (“it’s been in the garage next to the lawnmower” claimed the seller)

I should note that in my scummy student house, Saturn Sega Rally proved far more popular than the Dreamcast sequel.

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Voodoo76
27/11/2018 04:25:55 pm

"Mother can I borrow £500"
"Here you go son"
Goes into town and spends £300 on a Saturn, £60 on Virtua Cop with gun and £140 on a portable Matsui TV. Didn't have to worry about high res and the blackest blacks in those days.
Jesus Christ what was my mam thinking, I didn't even have a job. Although I did pay her back eventually.

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Rich
27/11/2018 05:35:46 pm

When the Saturn launched, I rented one from Blockbuster along with Virtua Fighter & Daytona USA. What followed was three days off work and a lot of fun. All whilst sat in just my boxers. Good times.

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Marro link
27/11/2018 08:30:12 pm

You should do a follow up about how the Dreamcast is inexplicably overrated.
It's regarded as Sega's last hurrah that was too good for this harsh world. For me, the whole console reeked of meh. I remember buying one in 2000 and it mostly gathering dust while I continued to play my N64 & PS1 (apart from Shenmue, which I loved).

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Spiney O’Sullivan
27/11/2018 11:17:38 pm

Though it hurts me a little to admit that one of the Saturn’s few notable games isn’t perfect, most of the bosses in Nights into Dreams are miserable experiences that completely stop the free-flying fun dead in its tracks.

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Geoff Pastie
27/11/2018 11:42:32 pm

I had a friend at school who had a Saturn, and it was the only console he ever owned. Those of us whose parents knew about video games, knew to give it a wide berth, at least until it proves itself. Being the only kid who had one made him quite popular, which went straight to his head: “Well, I’d like to let you play it but it’s new, and state-of-the-art - but you can watch me...”. It lasted about 2 weeks before we lost interest and stopped going round, and that’s largely the reason I never liked the Saturn.

I did really like a game called The Horde, but it also came out on the 3DO (which was much worse).

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James Walker link
28/11/2018 01:11:15 am

I bought a Saturn for about £35 in about 1997.

It was shit.

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AcidBeard
29/11/2018 11:02:31 pm

I didn't really get Nights either. Thought it was turd.

I'd add Dragon Force to this list as well. Absolutely amazing game and gutted the sequel didn't ever leave Japan.

Also some of these games are worth a fortune now, which makes me cry as last time I found my panzer dragoon saga box it only had one of the discs in and I chucked it in a box somewhere with a shrug.

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liana link
8/11/2022 02:51:45 am

thanks for info

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