PTE62: Saturn Twenty

[Soundwave]

I never got a Saturn at release my mate had a Jpn PS1 so I went that route instead.

I did however get one from my brother for my 21st Birthday (4 years later) it was a PAL model which within the week had been sent off to an importer (can't remember who now) who did me a Region switch & 50/60hz switch & I ordered my first import at the same time in the form of the slightly splendid Castlevania & I have adored it ever since (I still have that same machine along with a White Jpn unit)
I use the PAL machine for the slightly large collection I still have of PAL titles, but it's the Jpn that easily gets the most love for obvious reasons.

I did at one time own a fair chunk of all the 2D shooters on the system but sold them all to fund some Collectable stuffs instead & looking at prices now to buy them back I wish I hadn't
Still I have a good selection of games & I'm pretty sure I've said it before but out of everything I own I don't think I could ever part with it.

I honestly can't believe it's been 20 years though, it's gone way too quickly for my liking.

Neil

[Atticus]

I remember the day I bought mine. Spent all morning at work thinking about it, then at lunchtime I drove to my bank at and drew out ?600. I then drove to Dreamware in Hartlepool and bought a launch Saturn with VF and an extra controller. I then raced back to work at warp speed. I think my lunch hour was slightly more than an hour ... and had all the intensity of the last 20 mins of Goodfellas. Still, Saturn in boot I then spent the afternoon daydreaming about getting it home and getting it hooked up. It didn't disappoint.

Lots of happy times ... great to read other people's memories in this thread too

My highlights include discovering shmups via Soukyugurentai, the sheer awesomeness of Panzer Dragoon Saga, the Sega Rally demo disc on the cover of SSM (best freebie ever - at the time), seeing Radiant Silvergun for the first time, all the quality Capcom arcade games like the SF Alphas and Darkstalkers, the 'big three' ... and even very recently playing Batsugun for the first time (finally got round to picking it up a couple of months back - the console can still blow me away with a new surprise after all these years).

[Team Andromeda]

The Saturn version of VF2 was massively cut down visually. Lets not pretend anything else. Yes Model 2 was more powerful than the Namco board but neither machine could reproduce that accurately anyway.

No one is , but you need to bare a couple of things in mind System 12 was based on PS hardware and just a slightly speced up System 11 board with 1.5 times the power . So for starters that makes any porting to the PS with Tekken easier . VF 2 run on Model 2B Power - massive more power and polygons handling and high Ram - So from the get go AM#2 had a much harder task in trying to get VF 2 on the Saturn,
Not only did AM#2 do just that, They did it running at the same speed as the Coin , running in the Saturn High Res and crammed in every single move in 1995 , some 3 years before Tekken 3 and AM#2 even had the Saturn scale multi backdrops to Tekken lame 1 .

. I then drove to Dreamware in Hartlepool and bought a launch Saturn with VF and an extra controller

Haha I still remember getting mine from Lee and all my mates thinking I was nuts for spending some ?640 on the Import Saturn Remember it coming back and being draw dropped at seeing and hearing VF running . Some others would be... phoning Lee to see what Virtual Cop played like and Lee saying 'Its the Arcade in your home' Playing Panzer Dragoon amazing 1st stage for the 1st time , the endless Multi Player drunken battles in Decathlete , Saturn Bomberman and picking my jaw off the floor the after seeing the Grandia intro fly over and the 1st time you see RSG Backrounds swirl around and rotate

SEGA best console and the console that got the best out of GameArts, Treasure, AM#2, AM#3, TA and the mighty RAIZING . Good times

[Asura]

Funny you mention Decathlete/Athlete Kings, because it's one of the few Saturn titles I think is genuinely peerless.

I guess what I mean by that is yes, the Saturn Daytona is awesome, but the PSN version pretty much replaces it for me. Nights, Guardian Heroes; these games have very good modern ports, titles like Virtua Fighter and Sega Worldwide Soccer are great for nostalgia but ultimately better titles have come after them...

Yet Athlete Kings is still, hands-down, the best Olympics game in existence. I really mean that. If it had been 4-player it would've been pretty much perfect.

Sega really need to do a sequel to that. Forget all this "Sonic & Mario at the games" bollocks (though those games have some measure of charm); do another Athlete Kings!

[speedlolita]

I need to get Athlete Kings.

[ShadowDancer]

1st ever loan I took out was in my late teens for a Sega Saturn on release. Best ?400 I ever borrowed.
I had a Phillips CRT and bought the official scart on advice, Sega Rally was wow then, I must of phoned about 20 people saying, you gotta come see this. Amazing day that was.

[Nu-Eclipse]

Funny you mention Decathlete/Athlete Kings, because it's one of the few Saturn titles I think is genuinely peerless.

Yet Athlete Kings is still, hands-down, the best Olympics game in existence. I really mean that. If it had been 4-player it would've been pretty much perfect.

Sega really need to do a sequel to that. Forget all this "Sonic & Mario at the games" bollocks (though those games have some measure of charm); do another Athlete Kings!

Not for me.

Athlete Kings has an undeniable Sega coin-op charm to it, but International Track & Field on the PS1 plays the better game for me - and it had the multiplayer that Athlete Kings lacked.

That said, I wouldn't mind a sequel. Unlikely though.

[Neon Ignition]

Can't remember if this first one is fake or not but the first holy grail was always Saturn Virtua Fighter 3





Then Sonic Xtreme





And of course, I remember watching the footage that came with the DC games of this, Saturn Shenmue

[Yakumo]

This. Light years ahead of anything else around during that time, and I include Edge in that. Wonderful magazine.

Is it going too far to suggest that Maximum was, in my personal opinion, the closest we've ever had to a UK Famitsu?

Not at all. Maximum was a fantastic mag and it's a shame that it was EDGE (never liked that mag) became the people?s choice. Maximum was a real gamers mag. They weren't stuck up their own arse like EDGE, they showed stuff that really interested and best of all the layout was fantastic. I really can't understand why the mag failed in the end. Was it too expensive or something? I really don't remember.

[Yakumo]

Can't remember if this first one is fake or not but the first holy grail was always Saturn Virtua Fighter 3

Then Sonic Xtreme

And of course, I remember watching the footage that came with the DC games of this, Saturn Shenmue

VF3 shots are from an early Model 3 emulator and the Sonix Extreme shots are from a PC build. I could never understand why anyone in their right mind would have thought those VF3 shots were from a Saturn. They're just way too clean even for a PlayStation. Saturn Shenmue though, man, that really did look impressive. It's a crying shame we'll never get to see more of it.

[nakamura]

I never got to read Maximum but it sounds a great mag.

[Nu-Eclipse]

Not at all. Maximum was a fantastic mag and it's a shame that it was EDGE (never liked that mag) became the people?s choice. Maximum was a real gamers mag. They weren't stuck up their own arse like EDGE, they showed stuff that really interested and best of all the layout was fantastic. I really can't understand why the mag failed in the end. Was it too expensive or something? I really don't remember.

It bombed commercially - plain and simple, which was a tragedy given that it was clearly a very time-consuming labour of love. Ahead of its time in many ways. Would've probably survived longer had it debuted 5-10 years later.

Very much worth reading the insight's into Maximum's creation and demise given by Gary Harrod and Richard Leadbetter, the two main guys behind the magazine (Leadbetter's take on it is far more detailed).

http://www.meanmachinesmag.co.uk/interview/2/gary-harrod.php

http://www.meanmachinesmag.co.uk/interview/3/richard-leadbetter.php

[Yakumo]

Yep, I remember those guys well from Mean Machines. Didn't they also do CVG when the new age of the consoles were starting to come in?

[sj33]

They also did Sega Saturn Magazine. Well, mainly Rich. I think Gary Harrod moved to Japan by then.

Rich Leadbetter of course now does Digital Foundry at Eurogamer.

[Nu-Eclipse]

Yep, I remember those guys well from Mean Machines. Didn't they also do CVG when the new age of the consoles were starting to come in?

Yep. They both started on C&VG back at the start of the 90s when the 16-bit era emerged.

EMAP really did spearhead a golden-age for gaming magazine coverage. I despise the fact that Nintendo Magazine System was allowed to devolve into the garbage now known as Official Nintendo Magazine.