The Official Sega Saturn Thread!

[Austin]

Saturn Nocturne is disappointing, but even a lazy conversion of Symphony of the Night is still better than most games out there.

[Steven Pendleton]

6 hours ago, Austin said:

Saturn Nocturne is disappointing, but even a lazy conversion of Symphony of the Night is still better than most games out there.

Yes, it is absolutely still a good game, even with all of the problems that it has, and I'm glad that I bought it. There are versions of it that run better than the Saturn version, but it is still a good game and it has stuff that no other version of the game has.

[Steven Pendleton]

Well, it seems it's been almost a month since the last post in here, and we were talking about Dracula X. Well, it's time to talk about it again since it now has a WIP English patch:

 

https://www.retrorgb.com/castlevania-sotn-english-patch-released-for-the-sega-saturn.html

 

It seems that whoever made this is also considering making some transparencies actually transparent instead of dithered, which is good.

[Mikebloke]

Oh cool, don't have the Saturn out right now but will be worth checking out next time I do. 

[imstarryeyed]

I love that project, I hope one day it can be closer to the version it was always supposed to be.

[+Black_Tiger]

On 11/2/2020 at 1:46 AM, Steven Pendleton said:

Well, it seems it's been almost a month since the last post in here, and we were talking about Dracula X. Well, it's time to talk about it again since it now has a WIP English patch:

 

https://www.retrorgb.com/castlevania-sotn-english-patch-released-for-the-sega-saturn.html

 

It seems that whoever made this is also considering making some transparencies actually transparent instead of dithered, which is good.

If the only issue is that overlap between transparencies turns solid it would be a big improvement and still look nice.

[NinjaWarrior]

I wish I got more Games on Saturn 

 

The Last Game I got was like 7 Years ago Midway Presents Arcade's Greatest Hits: The Atari Collection 1 on eBay, I forgot how much I paid for it

 

I got it for Tempest

 

I want Tempest 2000, But the Game is like $200

[Hwlngmad]

Fortunately I recently got a 2tb external drive that has Saturn games on it, so hopefully the emulation will be good as I have seen some videos from ETA Prime and it look good to me.  Still, Saturn games are good fun.  To bad the console just never really caught on outside of the success they had in Japan.

[+-^CrossBow^-]

Well, I've had the earlier translations but only this past week did I finally apply the latest translation patches to actual images of my Grandia discs I made and finally started to play the game. I own and have played quite a few of the RPGs on the system in the past but Grandia might be the first one that really makes me excited to see what the next areas of the game will look like. They story isn't anything special but the translation makes the character interactions pretty entertaining and I've been having a blast playing the game.

 

[cedropoole]

Unless you don't own a PS1, is there any real advantage to the Saturn English patched version over the already English language version that was released in 1999 on the PS1? I realize that this is a Saturn thread but come on, how many AtariAge users don't have both systems. I have both and the differences are minimal to me.

Edited February 12, 2021 by cedropoole

[Steven Pendleton]

7 hours ago, Hwlngmad said:

Fortunately I recently got a 2tb external drive that has Saturn games on it, so hopefully the emulation will be good as I have seen some videos from ETA Prime and it look good to me.  Still, Saturn games are good fun.  To bad the console just never really caught on outside of the success they had in Japan.

From what I understand, Saturn emulation is in a good place right now. Not sure what the best Saturn emulator is, but I think that most of the games should run well if you get a decent emulator. I've heard that Dracula X runs way better on emulation than it does on the actual Saturn, so if you want to play the Saturn version of that game, maybe try using something like the Retro-Bit USB or 2.4GHz wireless Saturn controller and an emulator.

[imstarryeyed]

17 hours ago, NinjaWarrior said:

I wish I got more Games on Saturn 

 

The Last Game I got was like 7 Years ago Midway Presents Arcade's Greatest Hits: The Atari Collection 1 on eBay, I forgot how much I paid for it

 

I got it for Tempest

 

I want Tempest 2000, But the Game is like $200

 

I have to say I love Tempest 2000 as well, I forgot if it supported analog, as I was hoping to make a saturn spinner one day.

 

I hope you can find more Saturn games they are so close to my heart personally and I really love to play that system over every other one.

 

Saturn has a charm to me that is just hard to explain, I enjoyed buying games back in the late 90s, 2000s, 10's etc..

 

Of course gone are the days where I can go to circuit city and buy 10 saturn games for 5 bucks a piece.

 

Do any of you have a game(s) list of Saturn games that you regret not buying for your collection when you had the chance?

For me its Mizubaku Diaboken (Liquid Kids), Battlesport, Arcade Gears Collections, Marvel Super Heroes, I had a chance to buy all of those but passed on it.... ugh...

 

I just need Marvel Super Heroes, Battlesport and 14 Sports games to a complete USA collection.  However Battlesport is crazy expensive.. well not the sports ones..haha.

 

 

[+-^CrossBow^-]

8 hours ago, cedropoole said:

Unless you don't own a PS1, is there any real advantage to the Saturn English patched version over the already English language version that was released in 1999 on the PS1? I realize that this is a Saturn thread but come on, how many AtariAge users don't have both systems. I have both and the differences are minimal to me.

I actually do have PS1 but only like 3 games for it as I've never really had an interest in collecting the original PS. The Saturn on the other hand I do enjoy playing quite a bit and I've owned the actual Grandia game for about 2 years now waiting on the fan translation to mature. I will do the same when Princess Crown eventually gets a full translation.

 

I will do the same with Symphony of the Night as well as I see there is a full english patch for that game too. But yeah while I know that many of these games exist on another platform, they may NOT be on the platform I would rather play them.

 

[cedropoole]

Viva le difference! I enjoy every system for one reason or another and love experiencing the nuances of the same game between platforms. Silhoutte Mirage and Grandia are two that come to mind. For the Saturn I have English Translated versions of Policenauts, Dragon Force II, Linkle Liver Story, Shining Force III Scenario 1, 2 & 3 that I believe are exclusive to the Saturn.

[Steven Pendleton]

11 hours ago, imstarryeyed said:

Do any of you have a game(s) list of Saturn games that you regret not buying for your collection when you had the chance?

Honestly, all of them, as I skipped the entire 5th gen consoles when they were new in favour of the Genesis and Mac because I thought that 3D graphics on 5th gen consoles were super ugly and the entire USA was in that ridiculous 2D = bad phase so most of the best 2D games never made it out of Japan. Everyone laughed at me then, but now they agree with me~ Glad that whole 2D = bad thing is gone, even if it took a while.

 

My mindset at the time was basically Sega = Sonic, Saturn = no Sonic = do not want, so I never got a Saturn and never wanted to get a Saturn at the time. Now that I have one, I wonder why I didn't do this 20 years ago because there are a lot of awesome games on the Saturn that I missed because I was young and stupid. My parents would have bought me one if I'd asked for it and I could have saved whatever money I got for my birthday or whatever to buy software, but I didn't. So far all of my Saturn games are Japan-exclusives aside from Panzer Dragoon and Panzer Dragoon Zwei, but even as a child I would have liked both of them.

Edited February 13, 2021 by Steven Pendleton

[+-^CrossBow^-]

17 hours ago, imstarryeyed said:

Do any of you have a game(s) list of Saturn games that you regret not buying for your collection when you had the chance?

I think I've mentioned this once before. It isn't just a Saturn game I regret buying but my greatest regret in all of my collecting honestly. Many years ago in the early 2000s when I got back into collecting more, my then wife and I were visiting an old 2nd hand junk/thrift type store in a rural part of the state while visiting relatives. As we were leaving, I noticed sitting ontop of a table between some book ends, a few Saturn games. One of them was Panzer Saga and it was priced at $45 as I recall at that time. There was no way back then that my wife would have allowed me to spend that much on an old game so I let it go. I also didn't know the value the game would command just a few years later. 

 

Naturally over the years I've tried to go back to the place on a whim, but honestly I can't recall what the place was called or where it was located exactly. I do remember thinking that the place was going to fall in on us at any time as it was a converted chicken farm building thing and had been around a long time as the floor inside it was very uneven in places and the the whole structure had lots of sags and whatnot along it.

 

So yeah... because of that I made it a point that any other  games for the collection I wanted, I would buy them if I had the means to afford them so as to not miss something like that again.

[NinjaWarrior]

21 hours ago, imstarryeyed said:

Do any of you have a game(s) list of Saturn games that you regret not buying for your collection when you had the chance?

All the Capcom Generation Games except 5, I have that, Panzer Dragoon 1 & 2 Pocket Fighter, Most of all the Shooters on Saturn

Edited February 13, 2021 by NinjaWarrior

[NinjaWarrior]

I found Pocket Fighter 

[Steven Pendleton]

I found the Saturn version of Sonic 3D Blast (well, Sonic 3D Flickies' Island) in a store the other day. It's apparently rare here, as the store wanted 19800 yen for it. The Mega Drive failed pretty badly here and they didn't release the game on the Japanese Mega Drive, so this is the only version that's available in Japan. I'm one of maybe 2 people on the entire planet that actually likes this game, but I'm not sure I want to pay that much cash for it when I can just play the Genesis version or the Director's Cut version instead. Sonic was never as popular in Japan as he was in the USA from what I understand, but it's still surprising to see a Sonic game that's so expensive. I've never played the Saturn version, but I'd like to try it eventually.

[cybercylon]

The Saturn version of Sonic 3D blast has some cool sound tracks. It badly needs a save feature though. I believe the PC version does.

[+Cafeman]

I love the Saturn version's 3D halfpipe bonus stages and associated music.   Overall the game rates around 6/10 to me though.  Its worth playing through once. 

[NinjaWarrior]

22 hours ago, Steven Pendleton said:

I found the Saturn version of Sonic 3D Blast (well, Sonic 3D Flickies' Island) in a store the other day. It's apparently rare here, as the store wanted 19800 yen for it. The Mega Drive failed pretty badly here and they didn't release the game on the Japanese Mega Drive, so this is the only version that's available in Japan. I'm one of maybe 2 people on the entire planet that actually likes this game, but I'm not sure I want to pay that much cash for it when I can just play the Genesis version or the Director's Cut version instead. Sonic was never as popular in Japan as he was in the USA from what I understand, but it's still surprising to see a Sonic game that's so expensive. I've never played the Saturn version, but I'd like to try it eventually.

If it's not Mario, It won't sell like hot cakes in Japan

[NinjaWarrior]

Game Pro only gave RAM it only 3 Pages

 

[Hwlngmad]

On 2/13/2021 at 6:21 AM, Steven Pendleton said:

My mindset at the time was basically Sega = Sonic, Saturn = no Sonic = do not want, so I never got a Saturn and never wanted to get a Saturn at the time.

Unfortunately not having a Sonic title at launch was another nail in the coffin for the 'ole Saturn.  Don't know how much a dedicated Sonic game would have helped the system, but it sure would have been a positive.

[Steven Pendleton]

On 2/17/2021 at 2:07 PM, NinjaWarrior said:

If it's not Mario, It won't sell like hot cakes in Japan

Dragon Quest, Final Fantasy, and Monster Hunter do just fine...

On 2/19/2021 at 3:29 AM, Hwlngmad said:

Unfortunately not having a Sonic title at launch was another nail in the coffin for the 'ole Saturn.  Don't know how much a dedicated Sonic game would have helped the system, but it sure would have been a positive.

Yeah, it hurt the Saturn a lot in North America. That was during the time period where Sonic was more widely recognized than Mickey Mouse and stuff, so not having a new Sonic game on the Saturn was not good for Sega. Normally I would say that they should have focused really hard on getting a Sonic game out for the Saturn early in its life, but the Saturn launched the same year as Sonic 3 (& Knuckles). They definitely needed something, though.

 

After Sonic 3 got delayed and Sega decided to also make Sonic & Knuckles, I'm not sure if having something out on the Saturn for its launch would have been the best thing to do since they'd have to have Sonic Team rush another game to market, have another team do it, or have Sonic Team immediately start work on a new Sonic game as soon as they shipped Sonic & Knuckles. Sonic CD and Sonic Spinball were both done by different dev teams and I think Ohshima's team that did Sonic CD could have done something good for Saturn, assuming they were not working on other projects at the time.

 

If the Saturn had... well, Sonic Mania, it would have been great for the system. Sonic Mania is supposed to basically be a Saturn game anyway, and that's the kind of game that the Saturn needed. It does make me wonder if it's possible to port Sonic Mania to the Saturn with only minor compromises, as I don't think there is anything in Sonic Mania that the Saturn shouldn't be able to do aside from the 16:9 aspect ratio, which I'm pretty sure the Saturn can't do.