Essential Japanese Saturn games

[Kubrick]

I had Kyukyoku Tiger 2 a few years ago and didn't think much of it. I was spoiled by having Garegga etc at the same time though so I didn't play it too much. I might give it another look because of that, but from what I remember, it wasn't that "great".

Gradius on Acid is a fitting description for any of the Parodius games. They're all good if you like Konami shmups.

I'm looking forward to getting Dodonpachi again. Gave up trying to find the (apparently superior) PS version for a decent price, so I grabbed a Saturn copy on ebay the other day.

[gibbon]

Kyukyoku Tiger 2 is Ok but its not a patch on the big boys

Souky
Battle Garegga
Donpachi *cough* see for sale section *cough*
Dodonpachi


I really enjoyed Guardian Force which you should be able to get relatively cheaply

[lurch996]

I really like dodonpachi and think its far better than its (though still good) prequal.

[Geoff D]

Sega Rally is lots of fun & can be had for mere pence in its Japanese form, & I'm really enjoying X-Men Vs Streetfighter a lot as well.

If you're flush, get Radiant Silvergun - it has its fair share of detractors, but I think it's a truly sublime piece of software; at worst you'd get your money back if you didn't like it.

[lurch996]

Kyukyoku Tiger 2 is Ok but its not a patch on the big boys

Souky
Battle Garegga
Donpachi *cough* see for sale section *cough*
Dodonpachi


I really enjoyed Guardian Force which you should be able to get relatively cheaply

Battle garegga is excellent. I was a bit dissapointed when I first fired it up, but it gets better and better the further you get.

[Big Seany]

My faves:

Layer Section - absolutely brilliant Taito shooter with the "lock on" system, nice difficulty curve, and can be had for a good price

Decathlete - superb button bashing athletics fun - cheap too

Real Bout Fatal Fury Special - if you haven't got a Neo Geo, probably the best home conversion of an SNK fighter and a cracking, cracking game

Elevator Action Returns - a 2D platform shooter which, depsite it's colourful cartoon style and presentation, hides a dark and malevolent atmosphere. Truly superb.

Street Fighter Collection - the definitive home versions of the earlier SFII games, also includes the magnificent Zero II Dash. As well as this, well worth getting the Ghosts N Goblins disc of the Capcom Generations series for more old skool Capcom thrills.

Shin Shinobi Den - gets hated on, but I love this as I am a Shinobi nut. Great platformer with a hilariously camp FMV intro movie, shocking box art, and some dodgy digitised, Pit-Fighter-esque graphics at times. Brilliant.

All of the other Capcom fighters are great, i would say without exception, really. Guardian Heroes is ace, but I would personally go for the UK or US release. And if you have gaming mates, Bomberman is a great purchase - the Saturn version is easily the best ever released.

[S3M]

Are the Saturn truly a great console, have a large selection of UK/USA and JAP games.

Word of warning on the UK games a number of titles will not work at 60hz and they have more than just overscan issues, some UK games are total unplayable at 60hz.

The most notable of which is the UK version of Guardian Heroes so unless you get you NTSC Saturn fitted with a 50/60hz go for NTSC versions only.

I have done a list of which UK games work at 60hz and which have problems check it out here: http://www.geocities.com/shining3master/titles.html

Here are some of my import recommendations I'll leave out UK released games.

RPG's Japanese
Shining Force III Scenario 2,3 and Premium Disc
Vandal Hearts
Samurai Showdown RPG
Langrisser 3,4,5 and DM
Lunar 1 and 2
Riglordsaga 2 ( aka Mystaria 2)
Princess Crown
Grandia
Grandia Digital Museum
Ogre Battle
Tactic's Ogre
Shadows of the Tusk (Interesting SF clone with English menu's)
Dragon Force 2
Iron Storm (USA)
Albert Odyssey (USA)
Magic Knights Rayearth (USA)

Fighting Japanese
Any of the SNK or Capcom games.
Groove on Fight
Astra Superstars
Zero Divide
Dead or Alive

Platform Japanese
Megaman 8 and X4 (USA)
Astal (USA)
Super Tempo
Willy Wombat
Akumajo Dracula X
Shinrei Jusatsushi Taromaru
Mizubaku Adventure
Bubble Symphony
Elevator Action 2 -Returns-
Silhouette Mirage

Puzzle Japanese
Incredible Toons
Pastel Muses
Twinkle Star Sprites

Shooters
Cotton 2 and Boomerang
Thunder Force V
Stellar Assault SS
Gunbird
Soldivide
Shienryu
Battle Garegga
Donpachi
Dodonpachi
The Game Paradise
Layer Section II
Soukyugurentai
Kingdom Grandprix
Radiant Silvergun
Sonic Wings Special
Sengoku Blade
Fantasy Zone
Prikura Daisakusen
Night Striker S
Sexy Parodius
Jikkyou Osyaberi Parodius

Others's
Gun Griffon 2
Bulk Slash
Bomberman Wars and Fight
Vatlva
Choro Park Q
Fantasic Pinball
And a lot of very good retro games and packs.

Quite a few titles I haven't mentioned.

Also invest in Japanese versions of the following games as they had extra's removed from there UK versions

Daytona CE (To many extra's to list but better graphics and the original music are two of them not in the UK/USA version)
Last Bronx (Training Disc and a number of extra's were removed)
Fighting Vipers (Characters removed and censored for the UK/USA version)
X-Men COTA (Juggernaut playable in Japanese version)
Marvel Super Heroes (Anita playable in Japanese version)
Winter Heats (Extra character and bonus gallery mode in Japanese version)
Decathlete (Extra character in Japanese version)

Also a handful of games didn't have the region code on them, but these games are few and far between. Virtua Racing PAL works on both PAL and JAP Saturn's I believe it works on USA but haven't tested it.

[Yakumo]

Am I the only one fed-up of seeing these "What Saturn game to buy" thread every other week? I'm one of the biggest Saturn fans around so surely people not in to the Saturn as much as me must be getting a bit miffed off. Just use the search button There's got to be at least 5 topics like this made in the last few months.

Yakumo

[Il Postino]

Originally posted by: muse hunter
and the point is? the guy just wants us to reccommend him some jap sat games. I hate it when people moan that this topic has been done before, if we never repeated a topic then there will nothing to talk about. Under your logic the retro forum would probably only consist of a 'pc engine fx appreciation thread', and maybe a 'atari 2600 must buys' thread.

But it does get just a little bit annoying after a while, non?

Originally posted by: Yakumo
Am I the only one fed-up of seeing these "What Saturn game to buy" thread every other week? I'm one of the biggest Saturn fans around so surely people not in to the Saturn as much as me must be getting a bit miffed off. Just use the search button There's got to be at least 5 topics like this made in the last few months.

No, you're not the only one matey, those "best PlayStation games" threads are getting on my tits, also.


Back on topic, I reckon Silhouette Mirage is one of Treasure's best efforts. If you look about, you can pick up a copy for around ?10/15. The reworked US PlayStation version isn't bad, but if you can, get the Japanese Saturn original.

Finally, I'm not wanting to sound like a coont, but the Saturn never really did it for me, sorry and all, like.

[randombs]

surely the most annoying thing is not the creation of these threads, but people clogging them up with "why are you doing this" and "these sorts of threads really annoy me" posts?

if you don't like the threads, just don't read them!

[Baseley09]

surely the most annoying thing is not the creation of these threads, but people clogging them up with "why are you complaining about people complaining about these type of threads in these type of threads?"

[Il Postino]

Originally posted by: billy_dimashq
surely the most annoying thing is not the creation of these threads, but people clogging them up with "why are you doing this" and "these sorts of threads really annoy me" posts?

Originally posted by: Baseley09
surely the most annoying thing is not the creation of these threads, but people clogging them up with "why are you complaining about people complaining about these type of threads in these type of threads?"

Stop calling me Shirley!! Surely, you two should get a room and **** like rabbits. You've got so much in common.

Also, The Saturn version of Exhumed is notably better than the PlayStation port and is worth a look if ropey-looking, but good FPSs are your bag.

[randombs]

as my post but with extra features

go look at my pgr3 30/60fps thread. same thing happened in there, hence the post.

keeping on topic, what about saturn quake? that was pretty groovy

[MarkIII]

Am I the only one fed-up of seeing these "What Saturn game to buy" thread every other week?

Maybe you should start a 'What PC-FX / Playdia / Tandy VIS / Atari Jaguar / 32X game to Buy' thread.

The Saturn is a nice machine but there are too many games which are easier to play on MAME. Radiant Silvergun? $200? GTF! $40 STV cartridge? Right on! Some of the Japanese only games are a little more intresting to look at.

[Kubrick]

Where can you get the STV cart for $40? O_o

If anything, it's going for more money than the Saturn version now - Example