To buy or not to buy: Saturn RPGs

[brunoafh]

You know, as much as I love the Saturn. It's becoming prohibitively expensive compared to other retro consoles. Even the cheaper first party games run around 20-30 dollars. With better games costing nearly as much as new games. Though, I've managed to play through most of the great games myself so I'm nearly done with it. I've still got Dragon Force, Saturn Bomberman, and Shining Force 3 to play though.

Yeah, it sucks.

For what it's worth though, the Japanese versions are usually 50% (at least) cheaper than the US releases. The cases aren't space hogs to boot, and I love the look of the manuals with the gold on the side.

There's almost no point in getting the English versions of the games you listed above (with the exception of Guardian Heroes, if you really want to follow the story that bad). Saturn Bomberman can easily be played in Japanese and is half the price of the US release CIB. I wouldn't bother getting Shining Force 3 US since there are excellent fan translations for all 3 scenarios, and we only got 1 part of the trilogy anyway. You can buy all three scenarios of Shining Force 3 CIB for like $20-30 less than you would pay for a CIB Shining Force 3 US.

[cookie monster]

I got lucky when i got my saturn rpg's at a yard sale for 5.00 each they were mint the only game i dropped a decent amount on was saturn bomberman i got it on ebay for 30. all i really need now is magic knight rayearth and the action replays will allow you to play burned games as well as imports i have both of them i may sell cause i got a jp saturn and spare carts

[Reprise]

There's almost no point in getting the English versions of the games you listed above (with the exception of Guardian Heroes, if you really want to follow the story that bad). Saturn Bomberman can easily be played in Japanese and is half the price of the US release CIB. I wouldn't bother getting Shining Force 3 US since there are excellent fan translations for all 3 scenarios, and we only got 1 part of the trilogy anyway. You can buy all three scenarios of Shining Force 3 CIB for like $20-30 less than you would pay for a CIB Shining Force 3 US.

Any chance I could get a link to those fan translations? lol. I thought I'd be able to get through the game (scenario 1) ok in Japanese, since I managed fan with Grandia, but it's freaking hard (or maybe I just suck). The translations I've seen only translate the dialogue, but I'm struggling to play the game without dying. The Grandia translation for example not only translates dialogue between the characters, but also helps those who don't know Japanese actually play through the game. It's a full blown translation guide. Something like that for Shining Force III would be awesome.

[Purkeynator]

I seem to recall a hack being released fairly recently that actually translates the Japanese text of Shining Force III trilogy to English. All you need to do is patch the rom, burn to discs, use your Saturn mod chip and bob's your uncle.

[brunoafh]

Any chance I could get a link to those fan translations? lol. I thought I'd be able to get through the game (scenario 1) ok in Japanese, since I managed fan with Grandia, but it's freaking hard (or maybe I just suck). The translations I've seen only translate the dialogue, but I'm struggling to play the game without dying. The Grandia translation for example not only translates dialogue between the characters, but also helps those who don't know Japanese actually play through the game. It's a full blown translation guide. Something like that for Shining Force III would be awesome.

http://sf3trans.shiningforcecentral.com/

You can play all three of the games in 100% English with these patches. Enjoy.

[pakopako]

You can play all three of the games in 100% English with these patches. Enjoy.

Aw. The first scenario (re-)translation requires the NTSC-U or PAL disc. I kinda dislike the goofy voice they gave to Synbios. (Although you can use your SF3.1U save with the SF3.1J game... it's annoying switching back and forth between battles.)

[Retrogamer0001]

Shining Force 3 is definitely on my list of games to buy. I've actually managed to pick up mint copies of Panzer Dragoon Saga, Dragon Force, and Magic Knight Rayearth already, but there is still a long way to go. Naturally, I'm hoping physical copies of Guardian Heros drops with the upcoming digital release, but of course, that may never happen.

[TEKTORO]

Probably wont cause I dont see people rushing to download it.And as far a Saturn goes with downloadable stuff I think microsoft worked something out with Treasure and have NOWAY of working out a deal to get those other RPGs.

[BoneSnapDeez]

I'm broke as hell and only own 2 Saturn games (incidentally, I also own 2 Saturn systems).

I want to starting collecting seriously in the near future. Since I can read some Japanese, I plan on importing everything. No reason to spend the big bucks on the American versions when you don't have to.

[pakopako]

I want to starting collecting seriously in the near future

Invest now while it's more affordable, or invest later when you can afford the inflated prices?