Sega Saturn - 20th Anniversary of Japanese launch

[S3M]

Today November 22nd marks 20 years since the release of the Sega Saturn. So let's discuss the wonders of the system, even if it didn't sell that well. Sega sure made some truly great games for it.

[Yakumo]

Yeah this time 20 years ago I was sitting in my bed room playing Virtual Fighter on a 26inch Toshiba Surround Sound TV in RGB. Man, I was 19 and it was magical!

[speedlolita]

Removed the 230V PSU in my Saturn and installed a fuse socket from a PlayStation power supply into the 100V blown PSU that it came with. Had previously installed a new varistor so it's all good to go now. It's funny, I've been playing Sega Rally Championship for 20 years now and it still doesn't get old. Definitely need to purchase some of the more obvious stuff like Panzer Dragoon and the Nights titles. I'm very much in the PlayStation camp but cross platform stuff can either be better on the Saturn or PlayStation and the Saturn had plenty of exclusives due to AM2 and other arcade ports.



My controller situation is pretty dire at the moment though, what you get buying faulty machine only auctions I guess!

[dave heats]

I've only recently started collecting for Saturn, and I've been blown away by it. If anything i'm tempted to sell my PS4 just to enable me to buy more saturn stuff. The games had soul, and you really can't beat the sega arcade games from back then. Sega Rally is utterly sensational.

I was 10 when the saturn and PSone war was happening, and like most kids in the UK I subconsciously went for Sony, and never experienced what the Saturn had to offer. Definitely to my benefit now however, as I have a whole world to discover.

[speedlolita]

You really ought to get yours modded to play imports. PAL stuff is eughh.

[dave heats]

Well I have an ST Key with it, and will be getting an Action Replay next week. But will most likely end up getting a cheap Jpn console, as I've already got a few ntsc-j games.

I must admit, the goal of a full PAL collection has got under my skin already.

[speedlolita]

Ah the Action Replay cart, my arch nemesis. Yuck.

[dave heats]

haha, it's far from ideal. Unfortunately I've got a couple of JPN games that need the RAM, and the ST key isnt any use for that. So AR is the cheapest option to get involved for now.

At the moment Sega Touring Cars is the only thing needed anyway. "ARE YOU F'ING AWAKE OUT THERE?"

[Yakumo]

My controller situation is pretty dire at the moment though, what you get buying faulty machine only auctions I guess!

Yuck! You said it. But at least you're playing in RGB on a nice screen

[S3M]

Amongst the hardcore gamers I think it's fair to say that the Saturn lost the battle but war in terms of gaming quality.

Sure the first port of Daytona looked pants compared to Ridge Race, but the later Sega Rally and Daytona ports took it apart. Ridge Racer has aged really badly compared to Daytona and the later sequels are all terrible, mind you Daytona USA 2 was a bit rubbish as well.

I have most of the PlayStation exclusive release from Japan, Europe and the USA and while there is hundreds of them they do suffer when compared to the Saturn titles of the same genre. To much time spent on graphics not enough on gameplay I feel.

Every time I see a youtube video where I see some recommend the Action Replay 4-1 cartridge I just face palm.

[Jaz]

What's wrong with the AR?

[speedlolita]

PCB is thicker than official carts, meaning over time you'll have poor contact with official carts. If you're using a PAL machine it won't switch your hardware to 60Hz. It has that horrible startup screen on boot.

Those are the reasons I know, I assume there's some game compatibility issues from what S3M said.

[Baseley09]

Was once going for a complete pal collection but got fed up at the idea of yearly sports increments, but had everything worthwhile except deep fear and dragon force, one of the greatest gaming timezone my life, thought I was keeping the pal market alive buying nearly every new release at the end of its life.

Saturn is magic.

Here's a selection of what I had, not sure when exactly this is from.

[dave heats]

That is a majestic sight

[VR46]

Here's a selection of what I had, not sure when exactly this is from.

Maybe the 20th Feb 2004 timestamp is a hint unless it's the default camera date, though pretty obscure.

Right clicking and then details or whatever on the actual photo file should tell you.