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ElkinFencer10
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Re: Console of the Month (Jan 2022): Sega Saturn

by ElkinFencer10 Wed Jan 05, 2022 6:15 pm

I'd love to see more homebrew and ROM hacks for Saturn, but I know that even rudimentary 3D games are more than you usually see ROM hacks for let alone a system as complicated as the Saturn.
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alienjesus
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Re: Console of the Month (Jan 2022): Sega Saturn

by alienjesus Wed Jan 05, 2022 6:22 pm

Jumping back to an earlier post, I mentioned that the Sega Saturn didn't feel like a system full of must own games to me. However, I'd love to see what games people would recommend. Maybe we could share a 'must-own' saturn game, a game we think is underappreciated, and one to avoid for other people in the thread?


Here's me having a quick go:

A must-own Saturn title:

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Guardian Heroes is an absolute blast. As you would expect for a game from Treasure, this is frantic, eclectic and action packed, but it also feels like a real attempt to evolve the beat-em-up genre for a new generation thanks to it's special move system, and replayability due to branching story paths and a diverse selection of playable characters. The action is fast paced and keeps you on your toes, and the multiplayer mode lets you play as a super saiyan hamster vs a god and a little old lady who can't attack and just coughs when you press the attack button. It's great fun.

A 'hidden gem' for Saturn:

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Sticking with Treasure on this one, Silhouette Mirage is a game you'll need to import to play as it was Japan exclusive on Saturn. It's worth though for a weird hybrid run and gun platformer with the polarity system of Ikaruga and a whole set of weird setpieces such as a boss fight centred around soup. There was a PS1 version in America, but it was localised by Working Design who bought all of their 'game design' expertise to make a whole bunch of game design changes which make the experience worse. The Saturn version is the one to get (and hey, maybe we should discuss examples of games where the Saturn version is superior to the PS1 as well!)

One to avoid:

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If you saw my posts last year about Rayman, you'll know that this is a prime candidate here for me. Rayman looks great and has a lot of promise with fun level ideas and a lot of charm. Unfortunately, it hates players and has a difficulty curve that is basically just a wall after about stage 4. Limited extra lives, limited continues, blind jumps and lots and lots of one hit deaths and surprise enemy spawns make this one to skip in my eyes!
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Re: Console of the Month (Jan 2022): Sega Saturn

by o.pwuaioc Wed Jan 05, 2022 6:58 pm

Not surprised you mentioned Rayman, and I feel the same way. I really wanted to love Rayman for a long time.

As I mentioned earlier, the Saturn for me is pretty much a dedicated shooter (and to some extent a fighter) machine. Among my favorite Saturn shooters are Metal Black, Shienryu, Strikers 1945 II, Sonic Wings Special, Battle Garegga, Layer Section, Soukyugurentai, and Darius Gaiden. I mentioned the fighters earlier, but House of the Dead and Virtua Cop 1 and 2 are a blast to play with friends.

As far as big names go, Dragon Force, Magic Knight Rayearth, and the Panzer Dragoon series will probably get mentioned. I don't love PD as much as some people, and think that PDS is very overrated, but Panzer Dragoon Zwei is a very solid game. You also get excellent arcade translations of other rails shooters: After Burner II, Space Harrier, and Galaxy Force II, the first time those games got a proper port.

One genre I never really got into with the Saturn are racers. I've lately been playing more DC racers, and I was wondering if anyone had further suggestions for the Saturn, especially arcadey ones. I always eyed Need for Speed US, which is supposed to be better than the PS1 version.

--

I envy you folks who grew up with the Saturn. It was completely off my radar, despite being a big Sega fan. I wasn't reading a lot of gaming magazines when it was released, so maybe that's why, but even people I knew had either the PS1 or N64.
Last edited by o.pwuaioc on Wed Jan 05, 2022 7:00 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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PretentiousHipster
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Re: Console of the Month (Jan 2022): Sega Saturn

by PretentiousHipster Wed Jan 05, 2022 7:00 pm

Thanks for the recommendations. I'd appreciate a lot more for beginners being a saturn noob.

EDIT: Unless... one that really sticks out to me is Mr. Bones
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Re: Console of the Month (Jan 2022): Sega Saturn

by SpaceBooger Thu Jan 06, 2022 7:51 am

I play more RPG on the Saturns - I'm not much of a shooter fan. Here are the games I have played, beat and somewhat enjoyed:
Shining Force 3 (Scenario 1-3 all have been translated)
Shining the Holy Ark
Albert Odyssey
Magic Knight Rayearth (Un-Worked Design patch to remove the ramped up difficulty WD add to most games when translating for the US)
Shining Wisdom

I have never played PDS - like I said I'm not a fan of shooters and never really liked Panzer Dragon 1 or 2.

There are some great translations out there too. It seems that this scene has really ramped up recently:

I'm sure there is more, but this is a list of ones I have tried or tested. The patching and translation scene has seemed to have more activity in the last 4-5 years.
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Re: Console of the Month (Jan 2022): Sega Saturn

by alienjesus Thu Jan 06, 2022 8:49 am

SpaceBooger wrote:I play more RPG on the Saturns - I'm not much of a shooter fan. Here are the games I have played, beat and somewhat enjoyed:
Shining Force 3 (Scenario 1-3 all have been translated)
Shining the Holy Ark
Albert Odyssey
Magic Knight Rayearth (Un-Worked Design patch to remove the ramped up difficulty WD add to most games when translating for the US)
Shining Wisdom

I have never played PDS - like I said I'm not a fan of shooters and never really liked Panzer Dragon 1 or 2.

There are some great translations out there too. It seems that this scene has really ramped up recently:

I'm sure there is more, but this is a list of ones I have tried or tested. The patching and translation scene has seemed to have more activity in the last 4-5 years.



There's a lot of these fan translations I'm interested in trying. Bulk Slash, Sakura Wars, Policenauts for sure.

I'd love to her more about Linkle Liver Story if anyone has played it. I vaguely recall bonesnapdeez picking it up a few years ago but I don't know a lot about it.

Is there any translations that arent out there yet that people would love to see?
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Re: Console of the Month (Jan 2022): Sega Saturn

by SpaceBooger Thu Jan 06, 2022 5:53 pm

alienjesus wrote:I'd love to her more about Linkle Liver Story if anyone has played it. I vaguely recall bonesnapdeez picking it up a few years ago but I don't know a lot about it.

Linkle Liver Story is a Zelda-like action-adventure game. It's made by the developer of Crusader of Centy and some say it's the spiritual sequel to that game.
I played it for a bit just to try it. I will revisit it again but it wasn't one that I was able to pick up and get into with only 30 minutes of play.

Other games that I would like to have translated:
Princess Crown
Shadows of the Tusk
Langrisser IV
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Re: Console of the Month (Jan 2022): Sega Saturn

by Syndicate Thu Jan 06, 2022 7:26 pm

...for Saturn recommendations I find that it's very difficult to go wrong with the Capcom offerings on the Saturn. The fighters are all definitely very solid but other games like the Dungeons & Dragons Collection, Puzzle Fighter, and the Capcom Generations Collections are worth checking out imo. I think the SNK offering are worth a look as well, again the fighters are great ports but I really enjoyed having Metal Slug available w/o having to feed quarters into the machine in the university commons. The Sega Ages line up is worth taking a look into if you like classic Sega games, Fantasy Zone, Outrun, and the Castle of Illusion/Quackshot bundle are my faves here. There are some nice Taito offerings as well, Darius Gaiden is fun, but I really like Bubble Bobble, Bubble Symphony, the Puzzle Bobble/Bust-A-Move games, and my Taito grail Elevator Action Returns. I think that Beyond Oasis is an action RPG that gets sort of overlooked a bit and is a really good game.
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Re: Console of the Month (Jan 2022): Sega Saturn

by alienjesus Fri Jan 07, 2022 9:32 am

PretentiousHipster wrote:Thanks for the recommendations. I'd appreciate a lot more for beginners being a saturn noob.

EDIT: Unless... one that really sticks out to me is Mr. Bones


Mr. Bones is an odd one. I've only given it a short go, but it's a game wih interesting ideas and very inconsistent execution. It's cool to play through, but quite punishing with limited lives etc and seemingly no saves from what I played. I'd like to spend more time with it though!

o.pwuaioc wrote:
One genre I never really got into with the Saturn are racers. I've lately been playing more DC racers, and I was wondering if anyone had further suggestions for the Saturn, especially arcadey ones. I always eyed Need for Speed US, which is supposed to be better than the PS1 version.


I don't have a lot of suggestions here, really I only know the big name Sega games like Daytona and Sega Rally. I found the latter to be reasonably fun. I also played Manx TT Superbike which is flawed but kinda fun for a short blast here and there.

SpaceBooger wrote:
alienjesus wrote:I'd love to her more about Linkle Liver Story if anyone has played it. I vaguely recall bonesnapdeez picking it up a few years ago but I don't know a lot about it.

Linkle Liver Story is a Zelda-like action-adventure game. It's made by the developer of Crusader of Centy and some say it's the spiritual sequel to that game.
I played it for a bit just to try it. I will revisit it again but it wasn't one that I was able to pick up and get into with only 30 minutes of play.

Other games that I would like to have translated:
Princess Crown
Shadows of the Tusk
Langrisser IV


Thanks for the thoughts on Linkle Liver Story. I played Soleil, the PAL version of Centy, last year and quite liked it.

One I'd like to throw out as a game I'd like to see a translation of is nanatsu kaze no shima monogatari, just because it's so pretty I'd love to be able to play through it:

ImageImage

Syndicate wrote:...for Saturn recommendations I find that it's very difficult to go wrong with the Capcom offerings on the Saturn. The fighters are all definitely very solid but other games like the Dungeons & Dragons Collection, Puzzle Fighter, and the Capcom Generations Collections are worth checking out imo. I think the SNK offering are worth a look as well, again the fighters are great ports but I really enjoyed having Metal Slug available w/o having to feed quarters into the machine in the university commons. The Sega Ages line up is worth taking a look into if you like classic Sega games, Fantasy Zone, Outrun, and the Castle of Illusion/Quackshot bundle are my faves here. There are some nice Taito offerings as well, Darius Gaiden is fun, but I really like Bubble Bobble, Bubble Symphony, the Puzzle Bobble/Bust-A-Move games, and my Taito grail Elevator Action Returns. I think that Beyond Oasis is an action RPG that gets sort of overlooked a bit and is a really good game.


I think it's a good example of how the Saturn's library is bigger and better than people give it credit for that I actually personally don't like most of these. The Capcom stuff doesn't interest me much and I've thought the ones I've played were just OK. As someone who has Metal Slug elsewhere and doesnt care for 2D Fighters, SNK isn't interesting either. I also don't like many of the Sega superscrollers and have the other games elsewhere. Love me some Taito stuff though!

Despite that, I have found plenty on the system to interest me despite me not being a huge fan or arcade style stuff. It might have been best known for fighters and shmups, but other good options are out there!
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Re: Console of the Month (Jan 2022): Sega Saturn

by Jagosaurus Fri Jan 07, 2022 12:32 pm

I REALLY enjoyed the Saturn post life. I have 4 interesting memories of the Saturn during the release/active timeframe:

    - Seeing one of the early NHL games running at Wal Mart on a CRT. Thinking the polygons looked rough. Now I understand that was likely a polygon SS shape and port issue.
    - The games section was always smaller at big box stores compared to PS1 and N64. Now I realize that may have been due to the surprise launch ticking off retailers.
    - My older cousin was a huge Sega fan. He had the Genesis, 32X, and Sega CD. He decided not to get the Saturn after being disenfranchised the previous gen & spending a lot.
    - Being surprised it was $100 more than the PS1. Now I understand PS1 owners had to buy a game + memory card so it was really only a ~$10 difference. +1 to Sony marketing 3D chess move

Notice a theme? You hear all 4 of these things above on "why the Saturn failed" videos ... and I experienced them first hand :lol:

That said, I absolutely love the Saturn. The 2D games understood are amazing ... Panzer Dragoon rail shooters, Sega Rally, AMOK, Nights, Clockwork Knight, & Lobotomy Slave Driver FPS games were stand out 3D titles for me. I have to mention X-Men vs Street Fighter became a staple in my college house on weekends. I also bought a Dreamcast on launch.

Should note... Radiant Silvergun is free right now with Xbox Games with Gold. Go claim it. Also, Guardian Heros and Nights are on digital platforms.

Amazing to see SF3 and Policenauts translated, along with ODE options & Psuedo Saturn.

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