The Official Sega Saturn Thread!

[SlidellMan]

I thought I might as well mention Battle Garegga and Sokyugurentai/Terra Diver:

Both of which were seen in:

 

[Steven Pendleton]

I have Soukyuugurentai, and signed by one of the guys that made it. It's one of the best and cheapest (a very nice CIB copy will run only about 6000 yen) STGs on the Saturn, and the dude that signed my game specifically told me to only ever play the Saturn version because that's the best version. He made the damn thing, so he knows better than I do.

 

The only real problem with the game is that the way the rank system works is really stupid. Basically you should never power up you main shot at all or the game will start to get very difficult very quickly.

[DragonGrafx-16]

10 hours ago, Steven Pendleton said:

I have Soukyuugurentai, and signed by one of the guys that made it. It's one of the best and cheapest (a very nice CIB copy will run only about 6000 yen) STGs on the Saturn, and the dude that signed my game specifically told me to only ever play the Saturn version because that's the best version. He made the damn thing, so he knows better than I do.

 

The only real problem with the game is that the way the rank system works is really stupid. Basically you should never power up you main shot at all or the game will start to get very difficult very quickly.

Another problem with the original release of the game is that it glitches out on non-Japanese Saturns. It tries using English text and breaks the HUD and graphics FX using text. This happens even if you switch to Japanese in the BIOS settings. The special version works fine though.

[digdugnate]

It's here, it's here, hot damn it's here!

 

 

I had to remove my Action Replay cart initially to get it to boot and then I could flash the AR with new firmware that plays nice with the Satiator.  Everything works right off my SD card.  I couldn't be more thrilled.

Edited April 14 by digdugnate

[digdugnate]

so.. shooter (shoot-em-up) recommendations from you guys?  I'd prefer them on the easy side of the curve

 

I know about stuff like Batsugun and Radiant Silvergun but would like some other titles to check out- I was playing Battle Garegga this morning.

Edited April 15 by digdugnate

[Lost Monkey]

DonPachi and DoDonPachi are fun.

[Austin]

8 hours ago, digdugnate said:

so.. shooter (shoot-em-up) recommendations from you guys?  I'd prefer them on the easy side of the curve

 

I know about stuff like Batsugun and Radiant Silvergun but would like some other titles to check out- I was playing Battle Garegga this morning.

You're not going to find many from this era that are "on the easier side of the curve", haha. This was a point in time where the genre started shifting more towards what hardcore players wanted and most are going to be quite difficult.

 

I'd argue Galactic Attack/Layer Section can be on the easier side. Likewise with the first half of Darius Gaiden (though it ramps up pretty fast).

 

The Saturn version of Gun Frontier also had its difficulty heavily nerfed compared to the arcade game. I remember 1CC'ing it on my first try. Got cocky, went over to MAME and proceeded to get steamrolled by the arcade version. 🤣 It's a good time on Saturn though. Lots of extra lives dished out.

 

In the Hunt is much more memorization-heavy like a run 'n gun. It might seem challenging at first but once you figure out the flow of its stages you can consistently get through it with the right route/gameplan.

 

Salamander 2 on the Salamander Deluxe Pack is on the easier side of things, at least on its first loop. Cool game a lot of people overlooked.

 

Dodonpachi is fun, but is pretty tough and doesn't look particularly good on Saturn unless you play it in TATE mode.

 

Strikers 1945 II is a lot of fun, and is easier than its TATE mode version as the top of the screen is chopped off, making less bullets appear. I played that one a bunch when I was getting into the genre more heavily in the late '90s and was able to get pretty far on one credit.

 

Thunderforce V is one of the easiest ones from this era (at least when you know what you are doing).

 

Lots of others on the system. Check out the 'ole Shmups.com list to get an idea on what else there is (and don't be afraid to toss the games on their easier difficulties if you're looking for the easier side of things): http://shmups.com/xenocidefiles/saturn.html

[DragonGrafx-16]

Detana Twinbee is pretty beginner friendly (the whole series is to be honest, with Twinbee 3 being the first console shmup I ever beat).

[NE146]

7 hours ago, Austin said:

Lots of others on the system. Check out the 'ole Shmups.com list to get an idea on what else there is (and don't be afraid to toss the games on their easier difficulties if you're looking for the easier side of things): http://shmups.com/xenocidefiles/saturn.html

It amazes me that page still exists.. I remember checking them out quite a bit in the late 90's.. probably even around 1997ish and on.  Wasn't the xenocide/shmups page a subset of some other site (classicgaming.com... or something like that?)

[SlidellMan]

It's as old as Newgrounds and Kurt Kalata's old Castlevania and Contra sites.

[digdugnate]

I played Gunbird and Donpachi yesterday.   I finished a run through Gunbird and had a lot of fun.

 

 

[DragonGrafx-16]

11 hours ago, digdugnate said:

I played Gunbird and Donpachi yesterday.   I finished a run through Gunbird and had a lot of fun.

 

 

If you got a Dreamcast be sure to check out Gunbird 2.

[Austin]

19 hours ago, NE146 said:

It amazes me that page still exists.. I remember checking them out quite a bit in the late 90's.. probably even around 1997ish and on.  Wasn't the xenocide/shmups page a subset of some other site (classicgaming.com... or something like that?)

Oh man, Classicgaming.com! I haven’t heard that name in ages.

 

I want to say the shmups site was actually on it. I’d have to check the Wayback Machine to double check.

 

But yeah, shmups.com is still around. The shmups forum is what gets most of the activity these days, but the Xenocide Files is still pretty handy.

[NE146]

2 hours ago, Austin said:

 I’d have to check the Wayback Machine to double check.

Well you made me look and yeah it was definitely classicgaming.com http://web.archive.org/web/19990224183433/http://www.classicgaming.com/  ... as one of the "hosted sites"  http://web.archive.org/web/19990224234650/http://classicgaming.com/shmups/

 

That said.. I noticed it says right there at shmups.com at the bottom how old it is, granted it hasn't been updated in about 13 years.

 

[Steven Pendleton]

I have never played Saturn Garegga, Batsugun, Batsugun Special, DonPachi, or DoDonPachi, but I have played all of those on PCB except for DonPachi, which I played for like 30 seconds on MiSTer, so I can't really say how the Saturn versions of those are, but other than that you have Soukyuugurentai, Cotton 2, Cotton Boomerang (no, Cotton 2 and Boomerang are definitely not the same game), Guardian Force, X-Multiply, Darius Gaiden, both Thunder Force Gold Packs, and some other stuff. I have never played Metal Black, but I have heard that is really good. Kaitei Daisensou is awesome, but apparently that game likes to not work properly on Saturn sometimes or something like that. If you can get that to work, play that. If not, the arcade version is fortunately on ACA.

 

There is also Layer Section, which is not 100% accurate to RayForce, but if you are not looking for 100% accuracy, Layer Section is still good.

 

Absolutely play Soukyuugurentai. Just don't ever power your weapon up at all because the game can become significantly more difficult if you do. Arcade version's normal difficulty setting is one above the default Saturn difficulty if you want that. Apparently there are some differences in the Otokuyou budget reprint version, but I have the regular version and have never played Otokuyou, so I don't know what those differences are aside from the presence of a Battle Garegga demo in Otokuyou.

[DragonGrafx-16]

6 hours ago, Steven Pendleton said:

I have never played Saturn Garegga, Batsugun, Batsugun Special, DonPachi, or DoDonPachi, but I have played all of those on PCB except for DonPachi, which I played for like 30 seconds on MiSTer, so I can't really say how the Saturn versions of those are, but other than that you have Soukyuugurentai, Cotton 2, Cotton Boomerang (no, Cotton 2 and Boomerang are definitely not the same game), Guardian Force, X-Multiply, Darius Gaiden, both Thunder Force Gold Packs, and some other stuff. I have never played Metal Black, but I have heard that is really good. Kaitei Daisensou is awesome, but apparently that game likes to not work properly on Saturn sometimes or something like that. If you can get that to work, play that. If not, the arcade version is fortunately on ACA.

 

There is also Layer Section, which is not 100% accurate to RayForce, but if you are not looking for 100% accuracy, Layer Section is still good.

 

Absolutely play Soukyuugurentai. Just don't ever power your weapon up at all because the game can become significantly more difficult if you do. Arcade version's normal difficulty setting is one above the default Saturn difficulty if you want that. Apparently there are some differences in the Otokuyou budget reprint version, but I have the regular version and have never played Otokuyou, so I don't know what those differences are aside from the presence of a Battle Garegga demo in Otokuyou.

Otokuyou works on a NA Saturn without glitches but as I said the original version is very buggy. The text and HUD is a glitched. Gameplay wise I didn't notice much of a difference.

Edited April 18 by DragonGrafx-16

[SlidellMan]

Soukyuugurentai Otokuyou is the game that US and European Saturn owners should have gotten without turning to import shops.

[Austin]

2 hours ago, SlidellMan said:

Soukyuugurentai Otokuyou is the game that US and European Saturn owners should have gotten without turning to import shops.

I mean, it’s a nice thought and all, but let’s be real. Few cared about the Saturn in those regions, let alone shmups.

 

Don’t get me wrong, I would have loved to see more games like this released over here in the ‘90s. Galactic Attack, Darius Gaiden and In the Hunt were big games for me on the console before I learned how to play imports. They were all sitting at $10 new at big box retailers years after release. These stores couldn’t get rid of them.

 

The fact is, the interest wasn’t there and this genre (and honestly, Saturn games in general regardless of genre) were a financial risk for anyone ballsy enough to release them, especially in ‘97 when Soukyugurentai was released on consoles in Japan.

 

It’s OK to simply enjoy the games today without dwelling on some false alternate reality about what should and should not have released back in the day. The market landscape was what it was and we should be glad we got the games we got. Modern tools makes it easy to enjoy the library from all its regions.

Edited April 18 by Austin

[DragonGrafx-16]

3 hours ago, SlidellMan said:

Soukyuugurentai Otokuyou is the game that US and European Saturn owners should have gotten without turning to import shops.

The first release was planned to be released in the west... it's why it glitches out on a NA console. The game reads that it is a NA system and and uses the broken English version.

[digdugnate]

On 4/18/2023 at 6:15 AM, Steven Pendleton said:

I have never played Saturn Garegga, Batsugun, Batsugun Special, DonPachi, or DoDonPachi, but I have played all of those on PCB except for DonPachi, which I played for like 30 seconds on MiSTer, so I can't really say how the Saturn versions of those are, but other than that you have Soukyuugurentai, Cotton 2, Cotton Boomerang (no, Cotton 2 and Boomerang are definitely not the same game), Guardian Force, X-Multiply, Darius Gaiden, both Thunder Force Gold Packs, and some other stuff. I have never played Metal Black, but I have heard that is really good. Kaitei Daisensou is awesome, but apparently that game likes to not work properly on Saturn sometimes or something like that. If you can get that to work, play that. If not, the arcade version is fortunately on ACA.

 

There is also Layer Section, which is not 100% accurate to RayForce, but if you are not looking for 100% accuracy, Layer Section is still good.

 

Absolutely play Soukyuugurentai. Just don't ever power your weapon up at all because the game can become significantly more difficult if you do. Arcade version's normal difficulty setting is one above the default Saturn difficulty if you want that. Apparently there are some differences in the Otokuyou budget reprint version, but I have the regular version and have never played Otokuyou, so I don't know what those differences are aside from the presence of a Battle Garegga demo in Otokuyou.

 

I've got Soukyuugurentai on my SD card but haven't worked my way down to it yet.  I'll check it out!

[DragonGrafx-16]

4 hours ago, digdugnate said:

 

I've got Soukyuugurentai on my SD card but haven't worked my way down to it yet.  I'll check it out!

It requires a RAM cartridge btw. I hope you have one.

[Austin]

9 hours ago, DragonGrafx-16 said:

It requires a RAM cartridge btw. I hope you have one.

Soukyugurentai does *not* require the RAM cartridge.

[DragonGrafx-16]

Just now, Austin said:

Soukyugurentai does *not* require the RAM cartridge.

The game threw a fit when I tested it without it. Even if it doesn't require it it's better with it.

[Austin]

1 minute ago, DragonGrafx-16 said:

The game threw a fit when I tested it without it. Even if it doesn't require it it's better with it.

I mean, if you think it magically fixes problems for you, then cool, but the RAM cartridge doesn't do anything for that game specifically.

[DragonGrafx-16]

1 minute ago, Austin said:

I mean, if you think it magically fixes problems for you, then cool, but the RAM cartridge doesn't do anything for that game specifically.

I remember a warning screen without using it.