The new forums will be named Coin Return (based on the most recent vote)! You can check on the status and timeline of the transition to the new forums here.
The Guiding Principles and New Rules document is now in effect.
Sega Saturn appreciation thread
cj iwakura
The Rhythm RegentBears The Name FreedomRegistered User regular
The Rhythm RegentBears The Name FreedomRegistered User regular
Shamelessly capitalizing on the fond nostalgia for Sega's golden days inspired by Lewie's Dreamcast thread, here's a little something dedicated to Sega's 32-bit wonder.
Thanks to a ill-received starting price point of $399, the Saturn was doomed to an eventual failure by the release of a much cheaper little console called the Playstation.
That's a sadder story for another thread, however.
Let's think of happier things, like what made the system so great.
(If you really want info on the many factors that lead to the system's untimely demise, feel free to peruse the ridiculously thorough wikipedia article.)
Much like its Dreamcast successor, the Saturn had a wide variety of awesome games, but it mostly shined with games in the RPG, platforming, fighting, and shmup genres.
Here's a few choice examples.
Shining The Holy Ark
A traditional first-person dungeon crawler/RPG created by the Sonic Team. Classic goodness.
Shining Wisdom
Never a company to let the opportunity to show Sega some love pass them by, this was Working Designs' first release for the Saturn.
Pretty much a by-the-numbers Zelda clone, but still worth a play, if nothing else.
Burning Rangers
The very last Sonic Team Saturn game that made it to the states, and they went out with a bang.
A third person platformer with firefighting-action gameplay, and some epic scenery.
It had a laughably infamous [vidurl=
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FsfRCPclhdM]English opening[/vidurl], but it's still worth a listen every now and then.NiGHTS Into Dreams
A game that needs almost no introduction. The title that helped make analog control a console standard, and showcased one of Sonic Team's finest works.
For most people, this is the game to get a Saturn for. Three-dimensional dreamlike flight platforming from the Sonic Team. Play as either Elliot or Claris, and rescue the world of dreams with the help of NiGHTS.
A beautiful game, so it should be played at least once. Same with the Christmas version. It's short, but sweet.
Guardian Heroes
A classic beat'em'up from the mad geniuses at Treasure.
Lots of replay value, and multiplayer co-op mayhem.
Street Fighter Alpha 2
The second in a classic series, and one of my favorite fighters ever, this port was flawless at the time until the recent PS2 Anthology port came around.
The Saturn version is still unique for having an exclusive art gallery with assorted sketches and marketing designs.
Shining Force III
Reputedly an excellent strategy RPG, even though only a third of it made it to the states.
This leads to one my favorite strategy RPGs on the system. A game so nice, it got localized twice.
Mystaria: The Realms of Lore / Blazing Heroes
AKA
Due to a certain clash with a famous adventure game's title, Mystaria was later rereleased with the safer, generic title of Blazing Heroes.
A grid based strategy RPG with upwards of a dozen original characters, and an epic storyline.
The graphics are dated, but the rest has aged pretty well.
Albert Odyssey: The Legend of Eldean
Up there with the finest games Working Designs ever localized. Another traditional RPG, with great music and visuals backing it up.
It also had some hilarious dialogue, care of a great localization effort.
Panzer Dragoon / II / Saga
I've never been the biggest fan of this series, but since I loved the fourth game(Xbox's Orta), I have to respect the game's origins on the Saturn.
The four-disc epic Saga is also considered the priciest US Saturn game in existence, since it had a low print run, and is highly sought after.
Which leads to the definitive strategy RPG on the Saturn, and of any console around.
Dragon Force
(No relation to the band, I swear)
The definitive Working Designs Saturn release.
One of the best Strategy RPG games ever, with hours upon weeks upon months of replay value.
Play as one of eight kingdoms to save the continent of Legendra from the Dark Lord Madruk, and unite the other seven kingdoms under your rule.
I wasn't able to put this game aside until I'd done all eight campaigns, and they're all awesome.
On a side note, this got a PS2 remake not long ago as part of the Sega Ages collection.
We'll almost certainly never see it released here.
And last, and absolutely not least... the final US Saturn game, almost ignored by every retailer around when it was finally released long after the console was all but dead.
Magic Knight Rayearth
Of course, it was Working Designs who saw the Saturn through to the bitter end.
At least they also went out with a bang.
Based on a fairly classic anime, MKR is about three girls who get transported from Tokyo to the land of Cefiro to rescue it and the Princess Esmeraude from her former aide, Zagato.
Another action RPG like Shining Wisdom, except it has three main leads: Hikaru, Umi, and Fuu, each with a unique elemental magic fighting style, and fully voice-acted diaries. It's a small touch, but a nice one.
If you're a fan of the series, it's also a pretty faithful retelling of the story.
It had three disc printings: Hikaru, Umi, and Fuu. I've yet to see any proof of the Hikaru and Umi discs' existence.
The Saturn had a lot of great games, and the above samples still only scratch the surface of them.
Aside from the variety of US released games, it also had some excellent import titles, but that's also another story.
But it wouldn't be a Saturn thread if I didn't mention
Sakura Taisen at least once.
A hybrid of a mecha strategy RPG and a dating sim that was never released in America because then-Sega of America President Bernie 'RPGs won't be successful in America!' Stolar was a complete idiot.
Also, you've probably heard of this game at some point or another: the Panzer Dragoon Saga of Saturn imports.
Radiant Silvergun
The most expensive Saturn game of them all, the spiritual predecessor to Treasure's Ikaruga.
I've never played it on account of how stupidly expensive it is, but I imagine it's awesome.
In parting, I can only offer the wisdom of a legendary icon, who saw the Saturn through from the beginning to the end.
The one, the only.
Segata Sanshiro.
The legendary Japanese Saturn mascot.
If you were not playing the Saturn, Segata Sanshiro would beat you senseless until you saw the light.
[vidurl=
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nST2cgeXOwQ]He was a lover.[/vidurl][vidurl=
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SanWyvMQunI]He was a fighter.[/vidurl][vidurl=
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2QRIWdNtxY&feature=related]He even had the holiday spirit.[/vidurl][vidurl=
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nXz_1mTZCUI]And he was there until the very end.[/vidurl]So if nothing else, in honor of Segata, show your Saturn some love.
cj iwakura on
0
Posts
apparently you eat your parents at the end of the game or something
Retronauts did an awesome Saturn podcast last year, anyone interested in the history of the system should check it out.
XBL |Steam | PSN | last.fm
I always forget one.
Yes, D is also great. And the plot twist at the end is nuts.
It's not quite like that, but close.
Don't read this if you ever plan on playing it:
I did manage to beat Rayearth before that though. It was pretty fun I have to say.
Also you forgot Symphony of the Night. Come on man.
I never actually finished either MKR or Albert Odyssey, both because of the final bosses.
I sure didn't expect MKR to turn into a shmup at the very end.
And you actually made it through that dungeon in Albert Odyssey? I wasn't sure it even had an end. I wandered around there for hours and all that happened was I think I discovered that the things that look like boulders were actually treasure chests or switches or something.
The Saturn also has the best version of Earthworm Jim 2, and that makes it worth owning right there. CD quality music! Lots of animation! Both win and awesome on one disc!
I'll try to add some content on the obvious absences.
I'm pretty sure I did, but I had no luck with the final boss.
Switch: 6200-8149-0919 / Wii U: maximumzero / 3DS: 0860-3352-3335 / eBay Shop
A soccer RPG? Really?
(He also did one for [vidurl=
Steam ID : rwb36, Twitter : Werezompire,
Guardian Heroes HD on Live Treasure. More people need to see this gem.
Tumblr
I would appreciate enlightenment on what this is.
Guardian Heroes is a 2d beat em up with multiple classes, 4 player multiplayer and multiple paths in the game set in an anime-esque world. There are RPG and levelling elements and its quite simply a joy to play. Multiplayer deathmatch has a HUGE list of characters to play as.
Tumblr
The Gameboy advance version should never have been made, I'm still in the process of tracking down and killing everyone that was involved in the creation of that abomination.
The panzer dragoon games are amazing, also played them to death
I remember Athlete kings was so much fun to play due to the button mashing goodness
Also Alien trilogy was a great looking game but hard as fuck, maybe I wasn't use to fps at the time but I could never get past the third level or something, would love to play that one again to see if I still suck as hard.
Most of my Sega Saturn games had a replayability factor that I just don't have with alot of games now.
Unfortunately I was young and foolish and sold my Saturn to some stupid gaming shop years ago.
I remember someone from the G&T Chat thread had hacked DF2 and replaced all the character names with regs. It was very silly and hilarious all around.
XBL - Follow Freeman
NEVER FORGET!
I never asked for this!
ASTAL
Also, Shining Wisdom and NiGHTS are both incredible.
Damnit, I want to get my saturn running again. But then I'll want to get my sega CD and dreamcast running again, and then...
Damn these appreciate threads. I need to find dragon force too, that game looks awesome.
3ds friend code: 2981-6032-4118
Nothing's forgotten, nothing is ever forgotten
Ohh and Sonic Jam that was great.
and Christmas NiGHTS
And now i have to go change my pants.
Celeste [Switch] - She'll be wrestling with inner demons when she comes...
Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age [Switch] - Sit down and watch our game play itself
Tumblr
Fighters Megamix is epic too, and in need of a remake/sequel.
The original Grandia on the PSX is the best of the series hands down. It looked basically the same as the saturn but with nicer cutscenes i think. But whatever, the game trumped all of its sequels by far.
Fighting Vipers! I'd forgotten about that one.
Nothing's forgotten, nothing is ever forgotten
wow, completely forgot about Sega rally, I was amazing at that game on the Saturn but sucked really hard when playing it with the steering wheel in the arcade.
Sonic jam was good because of all the original games you got to play but I always thought the 3d world section was unneeded since it was tiny and the 3d levels where pretty samey and boring, Sonic R on the other hand was top class.
Can trade TF2 items or whatever else you're interested in. PM me.
I imported the whole Langrisser series, because I loved Warsong (on the Genesis) so much.
One of these days I'll actually play through them all.
Hardcore Gaming 101's article on the series
I used to watch him play that and it looked awesome. Games like that are rare on consoles, and it looked as if they did a good job. Can't wait to sit down with that.
I enjoyed playing Sega Rally and Panzer Dragoon, and have always been intruiged by the word of mouth on Panzer Dragoon Saga, but alas, the Saturn was the one Sega system this huge Sega fan never owned. When I inherit his Saturn, I'll finally have them all. And that shall be cool.
But I will not spend insane prices for Panzer Dragoon Saga. No, I won't.
Hell yes.
This thread feels like a once-a-year vigil to remember an old friend who died. I never would have sold my Saturn. My mom felt differently while I was at school one day. In my opinion, she totally raped the dog on that one.
Sega was Harvey Dent, and Sony was the Joker. I'll let you decide if the analogy is apt, but just remember one thing:
Sonic games didn't suck until Sony started competing with Sega.
Fortunately, Saturn prices appreciated pretty decently since I bought all this stuff soon after the Saturn's death.
Good going.
Nothing's forgotten, nothing is ever forgotten
This would also have been acceptable.
I WILL NOT BE DOING 3DS FOR NWC THREAD. SOMEONE ELSE WILL HAVE TO TAKE OVER.
Spoiler contains Friend Codes. Won't you be my friend?
More Friend Codes!
Mario Kart Wii: 3136-6982-0286 Tetris Party: 2364 1569 4310
Guitar Hero: Metallica: 1032 7229 7191
TATSUNOKO VS CAPCOM: 1935-2070-9123
Nintendo DS:
Worms: Open Warfare 2: 1418-7870-1606 Space Bust-a-Move: 017398 403043
Scribblenauts: 1290-7509-5558