Is the Sega Saturn superior to all PlayStation 1 ports?

[Breetai]

Sorry mate, I couldnt resist.

As much as I wish people could resist, I've accepted the fact that A) I had lots of mental issues, on top of being a 14 year old and B) I'll never live that down. So its all good. It's the internet. There's been even more stupid shit said.

Come on man, you are better than that. After all, you have built several PC's, and taken classes. You said it yourself.

[RyaNtheSlayA]

Sorry mate, I couldnt resist.

As much as I wish people could resist, I've accepted the fact that A) I had lots of mental issues, on top of being a 14 year old and B) I'll never live that down. So its all good. It's the internet. There's been even more stupid shit said.

Come on man, you are better than that. After all, you have built several PC's, and taken classes. You said it yourself.

One was enough Breetai.

[Breetai]

One was enough Breetai.

I don't think I was involved in that first thread. Anyway, I'm just poking fun. Have fun with it!

[Soldier Blue]

No. PS1 trumped the Saturn in 3D game ports like Resident Evil and Tomb Raider.

Grandia is much better on the Saturn, however, it's in Japanese.

Darkstalkers 3 is also much better on the Saturn (Vampire savior).

[AdamGomez1987]

No. PS1 trumped the Saturn in 3D game ports like Resident Evil and Tomb Raider.

Grandia is much better on the Saturn, however, it's in Japanese.

Darkstalkers 3 is also much better on the Saturn (Vampire savior).

I believe all Capcom games are better in the Saturn ports because they're 2D action games at that time, I noticed that RE2 never came out for the Saturn which is a bit of a surprise for me. Came out late for the Dreamcast.

[Original_Name]

On the other hand the Saturn was severely lacking in the 3D department. There were a few games that held their own such as Sega Rally, Panzer Dragoon Zwei, Sonic R and Fighters Megamix, but they don't look nearly as good as many PlayStation games. Take the Spyro series for example. They really couldn't produce large levels with tons of geometry and detail like that on the Saturn without major pop-in. Though, I've always found that PlayStation games have this weird "paper cutout" look. The polygons typically have tons of seams and just don't look quite as nice as they could.

Actually, "Sonic World" in Sonic Jam is a large, open environment with extremely high visual detail for the time, and very little pop-up. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRj9snhjjrg Although you're right about there not being a large amount of open-world 3D environments on the Saturn (Sonic R, Panzer Dragoon Saga, Burning Rangers, Bulk Slash, and GunGriffon all have gorgeous 3D for the time, but the draw distance would have been considered average by PlayStation standards). That said, however, there are a number of Saturn games which are to the standards of high-quality PlayStation 3D, including every one of the aforementioned games as well as Grandia, Dead or Alive, Virtual On: Cyber Troopers, NiGHTS into Dreams, Shining Force III, Quake, and Sega World Wide Soccer '98, which all hold their own compared to even upper-tier PlayStation titles.

The pinnacle of PlayStation visuals would probably be around the quality of Metal Gear Solid, Vagrant Story, Crash Bandicoot 3, Tekken 3, Gran Turismo 2, and the Spyro the Dragon series, as you mentioned -- all of which came out by the time the Dreamcast was already out in Japan. If Sonic World, Panzer Dragoon Saga, and Dead or Alive are anything to go off of, the Saturn could have continued to keep up with the PlayStation's 3D graphics had Sega been so inclined to support it for another year. Virtua Fighter 3, SCUD Race, and Shenmue were in development for the console, after all.

That's not to say that it was not, indeed, a nightmare to program for, but I think that your post undermines the Saturn's 3D potential a great deal.

[RyaNtheSlayA]

As I said, I don't think any of us know truly how capable the Saturn could have been in 3D though. Sega made it nearly impossible to get all the power out of. Just as soon as games that were beginning to use the second processor were getting developed (like Shenmue), Sega pulled the plug on the system. That's about the worst thing they could've done, as the Saturn was building up some minor momentum and had a decent install base at that time. It would've been cool to see what it would have been able to do with the right developer and the right set of tools.

Sonic World in Sonic Jam did look nice, but it's not the sprawling levels you'd see in a Spyro game, and is definitely lower resolution.

Also, just as a side note, I really don't understand people that use NiGHTS as a graphical example for the Saturn. The art style is incredible and I won't dispute that, but the actual graphics are terrible IMHO. The draw distance is bad even by Saturn standards, and I remember quite a lot of distortion and lack of refinement. I love the game though. It's been a while since I've booted it up.

On the other hand, Quake is perhaps one of the best examples of 3D on the Saturn. Lobotomy knew what they were doing. Fairly large levels with a decent amount of geometry, as well as real time lighting, which was an extreme rarity on the Saturn. Up until Powerslave's release I believe it was thought to be impossible on the system. In fact, all 3 of the Lobotomy ports are amazing. Too bad they only did one FPS game and 2 ports of FPS games. They clearly knew how to use the system.

[lisalover1]

Generally, on the off chance that a 2D game is better on the PlayStation, it is a result of shoddy programming on the developer's part. The Saturn is a 2D powerhouse; even more so with the 4MB RAM cart expansion, which allowed for a version of Street Fighter Alpha 3 that was actually superior to the Dreamcast release.

[Original_Name]

I mean, the draw-distance is low, but the fine detail in the texturing, use of dynamic lighting, and relatively complex geometry and warping were very impressive for the time. The draw-distance issues may hold it back from being awe-inspiring for you, but that's the only complaint I would have for the graphics -- what's depicted on screen is very impressive.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFxH6-g8FGQ

[wip3outguy7]

Bulk Slash, while not a port, is an excellent 3D showcase on the Saturn. Hudson used a lot of trickery to get it to work and the draw distance is a bit short (though no worse than Tenchus 1 & 2), but it is an incredible looking game.

A lot of people seem to think that the Saturn's Loaded is the better version. It may be missing the Playstation version's lighting effects, but the game runs smoother and it is easier to tell what is going on.