Sega Saturn Games Worth Owning?

I got a new white Japanese one the other day with three games and a 4mb RAM cartridge. I also got a second gen UK one with a AR cartridge.

I know about the great Panzer series and have already ordered the second game, but want to know what you think is worth owning, even just for the novelty factor as games are dirt cheap.

( Edited 17.01.2009 20:00 by Linkyshinks )

Erm, NiGHTS? Apart from Panzer Dragoon, that's all I can think of.

Yeah, definitely NiGHTS. Again other than that and Panzer Dragoon..not sure. My Saturn collection isn\'t very big...used to have loads more, but traded them in for my N64 when I was about 10 years old, so I don\'t remember whether the games were that great or not. I remember most of the best ones being on PS1 too. I liked Pandemonium, Croc, Theme Park, Rayman and Lemmings 3D and Earthworm Jim 2.

( Edited 24.11.2008 10:11 by Ikana )

The games that you should own on a Saturn are the original KniGhts game and Sonic R

Games I loved on my Sega Saturn were:

-Tomb Raider
-Athlete Kings
-Virtua Fighter
-Virtua Fighter Kids and:
-Sega Rally

Sonic R was highly under-rated. Even if it was shit.

Yeah, Nights is a must have, for any owner. Seeing as though the Wii game is dodgy/fucked up.

I have seen Virtua F for £2 (jap), so will get that on Friday.

VFkids sounds like a cool game to have, never seen that ever though, but I will look out for that.

I hear one SEGA rally has system link, if I could get two copies

I reckon I could find a 3rd party link cable easy.

Any Sonic gets bought now. I bought the shit-Shuffle not long ago DCast

( Edited 28.11.2008 21:05 by Linkyshinks )

TheStratMan said:
Sonic R was highly under-rated. Even if it was shit.

Oh yeah, I love Sonic R. Sonic Jam is cool too. Even if it is just ANOTHER Sonic retro game compilation.

Linkyshinks said:
Any Sonic gets bought now. I bought the shit-Shuffle not long ago DCast

Burning Rangers & Guardian Heroes
Not cheap round £30 - £40 each but quite good

Sonic R is and was an awesome game! Others: NiGHTS, Sonic Jam (the 3D part was neat!), Virtual Fighter 2, Fighters Megamix, Loaded.

Dunno really, didn't have the most amazing line-up unfortunately.

After getting quite a few games I mostly ended up playing the arcade racing ports. Sega Rally, Daytona, Manx TT etc. They\'re cheap and common as your mum.

( Edited 25.11.2008 00:48 by Grumbler )

Duke Nukem 3D: It's the most interesting version of that game, as it is the only official version with a proper 3D engine (the SlaveDriver engine from Exhumed/Power Slave). If you only count the official releases, it's probably still the best-looking version in many respects, today.

Quake: It's a crap game by today's standards, and you won't play it much. But, if you're a Saturn enthusiast, you might be interested in seeing one of the few games (like DN3D above) that supports the theory that the Saturn was indeed a more powerful console than the PlayStation- even at 3D. Quake was deemed "undoable" on PlayStation. Never mind the heavily abridged version of Quake II that the PSX got, as that doesn't really count.

Martin_ said:
Duke Nukem 3D: It\'s the most interesting version of that game, as it is the only official version with a proper 3D engine (the SlaveDriver engine from Exhumed/Power Slave). If you only count the official releases, it\'s probably still the best-looking version in many respects, today.

Quake: It\'s a crap game by today\'s standards, and you won\'t play it much. But, if you\'re a Saturn enthusiast, you might be interested in seeing one of the few games (like DN3D above) that supports the theory that the Saturn was indeed a more powerful console than the PlayStation- even at 3D. Quake was deemed \"undoable\" on PlayStation. Never mind the heavily abridged version of Quake II that the PSX got, as that doesn\'t really count.

Yea, a copy of Duke would be awesome. I\'ve seen a copy of DN3D around, but I think it was expensive, although I may be wrong.

The Saturn\'s 2D Vampire Savior animation is awesome, it\'s just a shame the resolution on the Dreamcast game is better. The DC version is arcade perfect but this is a awesome effort. The RAM makes it feel almost arcade quality, but the DC version has greater polish.

The only reason I bought the saturns

( Edited 28.11.2008 21:05 by Linkyshinks )

My Duke and Quake came with my Saturn. I think I bought the whole lot of eBay a few years ago for like £30 or something. The whole lot being:

Saturn (plus pad, etc)
Virtua Fighter 2
Duke Nukem 3D
Exhumed
Quake
Alien Trilogy
Athlete Kings

Not a bad deal. As for the price of Duke, I don't know. Mine is absolutely mint new condition, but came in a £30 eBay bundle. Maybe the seller just didn't know what he had. At the time I didn't know there was anything special about the Saturn version. When I played it a realised it was much smoother and more fluid than other versions. You get a sense of inertia as Duke's head bobs about slightly that you don't get in other versions.

Martin_ said:
My Duke and Quake came with my Saturn. I think I bought the whole lot of eBay a few years ago for like £30 or something. The whole lot being:

Saturn (plus pad, etc)
Virtua Fighter 2
Duke Nukem 3D
Exhumed
Quake
Alien Trilogy
Athlete Kings

Not a bad deal. As for the price of Duke, I don't know. Mine is absolutely mint new condition, but came in a £30 eBay bundle. Maybe the seller just didn't know what he had. At the time I didn't know there was anything special about the Saturn version. When I played it a realised it was much smoother and more fluid than other versions. You get a sense of inertia as Duke's head bobs about slightly that you don't get in other versions.

You clearly got a good deal there. I suppose the Saturn was in good working order. Was it the first or second version?

I bought two Japanese games today. Saturn Bomberman for £14, which has PC Kid, and is fucking awesome. And "Detana Twinbee Yahho Deluxe Pack", which is a equally awesome. It's 2 player cutesy-shmup. It cost £30 but boy is it worth it.

If I remember right, I think the Earthworm Jim games are supposed to be somewhat better on Sega Saturn. The main thing I hear about is the improvements in music.

It's mainly just more colours and Red Book Audio music, rather than the cheap sequenced MIDI of the Megadrive/SNES versions of EWJ2. This version is also available for PlayStation and PC, so it's not particularly "a Sega Saturn game worth owning", as it were. I recently got Duke Nukem 3D on Xbox Live Arcade, and while it looks great (in a retro kind of way) in 720p and at 60fps, it's still visually missing something that the Saturn version has. The SlaveDriver engine of the Saturn version gives the game a certain 'zing' in the way it moves.

Plus, looking up or down in these 2.5D games (Doom, Duke 3D, Hexen, etc etc..) sucks balls because everything distorts. The engines these games run on are actually 2D engines. They are just rendered in certain ways the give the illusion of moving around in 3D space. Specifically, certain vectors are given height values, and thus create 'walls' around the player. It really is only a step up from the rotating pixel 'Mode 7' of the SNES (used in Mario Kart, etc).

In these games, vertical lines can only be rendered as absolutely straight vertical (north-to-south if you like) lines. The illusion is very effective when looking at a 90 degree angle, but look up or down and things quickly distort in a very strange way. At the time, Duke was seen as very advanced, as it really pushed the '3D' envelope more than Doom etc had before it, since it had a more convincing simulation of 3D space in a 2D engine. Probably the most convincing.

Duke, unlike Doom, could handle rooms on top of rooms (Doom and all the games using the Doom engine could not), so long as both spaces were not visible at the same time. This is why the water in Duke is not transparent- the game has to treat the 'above water' and 'below water' sections of any given room as two separate rooms. Diving into the water causes the player to be warped to the other 'room', which is made to look like the underwater portion of the room you were just in.

I have no idea why I just wrote all that. Anyway, Saturn Duke is the tits, even if the controls are really crap and the frame rate is quite slow compared to the original version running on modern hardware. Playing Duke online on XBL really rocks, though. I've been playing it a lot. It's a right giggle in co-op.

Darius Gaiden is awesome, the Saturn seems to have the some of the best shooters out there.

If you like Bomberman and have a 360, you should check out Bomberman Live, Linkyshinks. I think it was only 500 points, too (however much pounds that adds up to).

Martin_ said:
If you like Bomberman and have a 360, you should check out Bomberman Live, Linkyshinks. I think it was only 500 points, too (however much pounds that adds up to).

Yeah I thought about getting it a couple of months back but instead opted for Bomberman Blast on Wii Ware, which has online and much more. (more expensive though) The Saturn game is the best ever though, no doubt an amazing MP game, I only wish I had 2 MP adapters. I only have one for now. I would love to be able to play 10 player.

Genius music:

I was listening to this very music in 93. It\'s funny to think the Japanese got hold of it in 98, remixed it and put it into a Bomberman game of all things.

Got these for my birthday, been looking for WakuWaku7 (-rare fighter) since I got my Saturn(s)

( Edited 02.01.2009 20:14 by Linkyshinks )

I've never been that into Bomberman, but I remember having one on my Megadrive and thinking it was fucking sic. It was the only one I knew of (at the time) that had coloured kangaroos in it. Excellent game.

Martin_ said:
I've never been that into Bomberman, but I remember having one on my Megadrive and thinking it was fucking sic. It was the only one I knew of (at the time) that had coloured kangaroos in it. Excellent game.

Yeah, Mega Bomberman is by far my favourite Bomberman. I had it when I was 7, and bought it again recently off ebay for under £5.

Martin_ said:
I\'ve never been that into Bomberman, but I remember having one on my Megadrive and thinking it was fucking sic. It was the only one I knew of (at the time) that had coloured kangaroos in it. Excellent game.

I remember those Kangeroos you could ride on . I am going to look out for that, if I do manage to get it it will mean I have every one created on a SEGA console. I bought the DC game recently. It\'s standard Bomberman fare, not as good as the Saturn game which feels like a distinctly special game.

Ikana said:

Martin_ said:
I\'ve never been that into Bomberman, but I remember having one on my Megadrive and thinking it was fucking sic. It was the only one I knew of (at the time) that had coloured kangaroos in it. Excellent game.

Yeah, Mega Bomberman is by far my favourite Bomberman. I had it when I was 7, and bought it again recently off ebay for under £5.

I hope I can get it at a similar price.

( Edited 03.01.2009 08:40 by Linkyshinks )

Duke Nukem 3D - PSX vs Saturn

This is the best I could do with regards to comparisons. The first 5mins is a run through of the first level on the PSX, and then the second 5mins is a run through of the same level on the Saturn. The PSX version uses the same Build engine as the PC version. The only difference graphics-wise is that it\'s rendered at a lower resolution, and has a choppier framerate. Notice the perspective distortion when he looks up or down on the PSX (you notice it near the beginning when he jumps on the box to get to the rocket launcher). The Saturn version is real 3D, has great dynamic lighting compared to the Build version, and has a much higher framerate than the PSX version.

Other than that, there are many little differences. There are no toilet doors on the Saturn version for some reason, the speech samples (Duke\'s one-liners, the monster screams etc) are a little shorter (perhaps to save on audio RAM?), and the pistol shoots much slower. Here\'s another good video of the Saturn version-

( Edited 06.01.2009 06:21 by Martin_ )