The Life and Death of the Sega Saturn

Growing up as a kid, I always wanted a sega console. I had an NES, a SNES and when the next next generation of systems came out, I convinced my parents to get me a saturn for Xmas. When I got that system, I could not believe how great the graphics were. I felt like Iwas playingarcade quality games at home. My friends loved the saturn, and weplayed the hell out ofvirtua fighter 2,world series baseball, daytona usa and sega rally (Game over yeah!). Shortly after the Playstationcame out thought, the saturndeclined and the playstation took over.2 yearslater, Iwas picking upsaturn gameson a clearance rack / baragin bin with my birthday money.

I always felt the saturn was an underrated console at its time, sega didn't market the system right and 3rd party developers had trouble programinggames for the saturn. Asidefrom that, the saturn actually had some great games, andwas a blast to play.

Anyone else have a saturn growing up? What do you guys this of this system? What are your memories with the saturn? What are some of your favorite games?

sega saturn was my favorite console of all time. the memorys of panzer dragoon saga,burning rangers,shining force3,&many others. 2me the sega saturn had the best old school rpg that i wish existed today.

You don't hear much of the Saturn, btw what about the atari lynx. I never had that either.

I can't even tell you how many hours I put into Virtual On back in the day....such a good game.

When I was a kid my friend's older brother had a Saturn. That Saturn was well loved. She never could get past the 1st level of Bug Too! ...

I will use this thread to talk about both the Saturn and the Dreamcast as they both suffered similar fates.

I enjoyed my Saturn. I played a number of good games on it and it could have bested the PS1. However, it could not compete with the incredible games Sony was coming out with from 1997 onwards though. IMO, the Saturn and the Dreamcast are overrated, and the reason being is that both consoles had the potential to be so much more than they were, but both consoles failed and realistically let us gamers down.

Sega has always been eager to launch their consoles and come out with the newest tech. Honestly, any of us who payed full retail on a Sega CD or 32X should have caught on to the theme much earlier than we did. The only reason I can even think as to why we all have a place for Sega in our hearts is that they were able to come out with great games in such a short amount of time, thus the unrealized potential. I loved the Genesis immensely, but as far as longevity and staying power it was all downhill from there.

The Saturn was great for fighters and that is the only department that bested the PS1 early on. The PS1 however still got the majority of the same fighting titles and they were not drastically worse off then the Saturn counterparts. The average/casual gamer would not have noticed much difference IMO. I know I will get flamed, but trust me I had both the Saturn and the PS1, and the Dreamcast and the PS2. The only year I preferred my Saturn was 96 and the only years I preferred the Dreamcast were obviously 99 and 2000. The Saturn deserves a bit more credit than it gets, and the Dreamcast does not deserve the excessive love it gets at all. If anything, buying both consoles on launch for the full price was a mistake I made on an economic standpoint when they were both 1/3rd the price 1.5 years after launch.The only thing that buying the consoles on launch did for me was made sure I did not miss a beat.

Don't get me wrong I immensely enjoed the short time that I had with these consoles. In both cases it almost felt like a summer fling that abruptly ended and when I knew that it was over so soon it was very very sad. I credit Sega with getting the ball rolling on online console gaming, but ultimately, both consoles were a letdown.

Standout titles I would reccomend to everyone who has not played them. (I will only list the U.S. releases that most are familiar with since I didn't know back then that I was missing out by not importing some of the Japanese gems such as Dracula X, Radiant Silvergun, Burning Rangers, and Grandia (Did Grandia get a U.S. Saturn release? I know PS1 got an english translation, but I dont remember Saturn getting one.)

Saturn:

Virtua Fighter 2

Fighting Vipers

Fighters Megamix

Dead or Alive

Die Hard Arcade

House of the Dead

Lunar 2: Eternal Blue

Virtua Cop 1 & 2

D

Metal Slug

Nights Into Dreams

Sega Rally Championship

Shinobi Legions

Super Puzzle Fighter

Xmen Vs. Street Fighter

Panzer Dragoon

Panzer Dragoon 2 ZWEI

Panzer Dragoon Saga

Dreamcast:

Jet Set Radio

Metropolis Street Racer

Crazy Taxi

Soul Calibur

Dead or Alive 2

Sonic Adventure

Sonic Adventure 2

Space Channel 5

Seaman

Shenmue

Skies of Arcadia

Powerstone

Virtua Tennis

MDK 2

Rayman

Samba Di Amigo

Grandia 2

House of the Dead 2

Marvel Vs. Capcom 2

Phantasy Star Online

Street Fighter 3: The Third Strike

Ikaruga

Zombie Revenge

D2

A solid list for sure, but think of what could have been...........

i like the sega saturn..:D.. i just got one about a month ago, i dont have many games right now but im still trying to build my saturn collection... and BTW you were lucky to get your saturn games off the clearance rack:P

BTW you were lucky to get your saturn games off the clearance rack:Pkingdavid562

[QUOTE="kingdavid562"]BTW you were lucky to get your saturn games off the clearance rack:PEmerald_Warrior

We had a Sun's TV when they were still is business around that time. They used to clearance older games outall the time. I was able to pick up a few good games on their clearance rack. Mr. Bones (one of my favorite saturn games), Magic Carpet, Nascar 98, and Nights Xmas edition. Most of them were between 10 and 20 dollars.

I will use this thread to talk about both the Saturn and the Dreamcast as they both suffered similar fates.

I enjoyed my Saturn. I played a number of good games on it and it could have bested the PS1. However, it could not compete with the incredible games Sony was coming out with from 1997 onwards though. IMO, the Saturn and the Dreamcast are overrated, and the reason being is that both consoles had the potential to be so much more than they were, but both consoles failed and realistically let us gamers down.

Sega has always been eager to launch their consoles and come out with the newest tech. Honestly, any of us who payed full retail on a Sega CD or 32X should have caught on to the theme much earlier than we did. The only reason I can even think as to why we all have a place for Sega in our hearts is that they were able to come out with great games in such a short amount of time, thus the unrealized potential. I loved the Genesis immensely, but as far as longevity and staying power it was all downhill from there.

The Saturn was great for fighters and that is the only department that bested the PS1 early on. The PS1 however still got the majority of the same fighting titles and they were not drastically worse off then the Saturn counterparts. The average/casual gamer would not have noticed much difference IMO. I know I will get flamed, but trust me I had both the Saturn and the PS1, and the Dreamcast and the PS2. The only year I preferred my Saturn was 96 and the only years I preferred the Dreamcast were obviously 99 and 2000. The Saturn deserves a bit more credit than it gets, and the Dreamcast does not deserve the excessive love it gets at all. If anything, buying both consoles on launch for the full price was a mistake I made on an economic standpoint when they were both 1/3rd the price 1.5 years after launch.The only thing that buying the consoles on launch did for me was made sure I did not miss a beat.

Don't get me wrong I immensely enjoed the short time that I had with these consoles. In both cases it almost felt like a summer fling that abruptly ended and when I knew that it was over so soon it was very very sad. I credit Sega with getting the ball rolling on online console gaming, but ultimately, both consoles were a letdown.

Standout titles I would reccomend to everyone who has not played them. (I will only list the U.S. releases that most are familiar with since I didn't know back then that I was missing out by not importing some of the Japanese gems such as Dracula X, Radiant Silvergun, Burning Rangers, and Grandia (Did Grandia get a U.S. Saturn release? I know PS1 got an english translation, but I dont remember Saturn getting one.)

Saturn:

Virtua Fighter 2

Fighting Vipers

Fighters Megamix

Dead or Alive

Die Hard Arcade

House of the Dead

Lunar 2: Eternal Blue

Virtua Cop 1 & 2

D

Metal Slug

Nights Into Dreams

Sega Rally Championship

Shinobi Legions

Super Puzzle Fighter

Xmen Vs. Street Fighter

Panzer Dragoon

Panzer Dragoon 2 ZWEI

Panzer Dragoon Saga

Dreamcast:

Jet Set Radio

Metropolis Street Racer

Crazy Taxi

Soul Calibur

Dead or Alive 2

Sonic Adventure

Sonic Adventure 2

Space Channel 5

Seaman

Shenmue

Skies of Arcadia

Powerstone

Virtua Tennis

MDK 2

Rayman

Samba Di Amigo

Grandia 2

House of the Dead 2

Marvel Vs. Capcom 2

Phantasy Star Online

Street Fighter 3: The Third Strike

Ikaruga

Zombie Revenge

D2

A solid list for sure, but think of what could have been...........

SNESMaster420

You bring up some great points about the dreamcast. I avoided the dreamcast because I was still upset sega gave up on the saturn so quick. I waited for the PS2 and made that my next console.

All of the games you listed are solid. The saturn had some amazing 2D shooters

[QUOTE="SNESMaster420"]

I will use this thread to talk about both the Saturn and the Dreamcast as they both suffered similar fates.

I enjoyed my Saturn. I played a number of good games on it and it could have bested the PS1. However, it could not compete with the incredible games Sony was coming out with from 1997 onwards though. IMO, the Saturn and the Dreamcast are overrated, and the reason being is that both consoles had the potential to be so much more than they were, but both consoles failed and realistically let us gamers down.

Sega has always been eager to launch their consoles and come out with the newest tech. Honestly, any of us who payed full retail on a Sega CD or 32X should have caught on to the theme much earlier than we did. The only reason I can even think as to why we all have a place for Sega in our hearts is that they were able to come out with great games in such a short amount of time, thus the unrealized potential. I loved the Genesis immensely, but as far as longevity and staying power it was all downhill from there.

The Saturn was great for fighters and that is the only department that bested the PS1 early on. The PS1 however still got the majority of the same fighting titles and they were not drastically worse off then the Saturn counterparts. The average/casual gamer would not have noticed much difference IMO. I know I will get flamed, but trust me I had both the Saturn and the PS1, and the Dreamcast and the PS2. The only year I preferred my Saturn was 96 and the only years I preferred the Dreamcast were obviously 99 and 2000. The Saturn deserves a bit more credit than it gets, and the Dreamcast does not deserve the excessive love it gets at all. If anything, buying both consoles on launch for the full price was a mistake I made on an economic standpoint when they were both 1/3rd the price 1.5 years after launch.The only thing that buying the consoles on launch did for me was made sure I did not miss a beat.

Don't get me wrong I immensely enjoed the short time that I had with these consoles. In both cases it almost felt like a summer fling that abruptly ended and when I knew that it was over so soon it was very very sad. I credit Sega with getting the ball rolling on online console gaming, but ultimately, both consoles were a letdown.

Standout titles I would reccomend to everyone who has not played them. (I will only list the U.S. releases that most are familiar with since I didn't know back then that I was missing out by not importing some of the Japanese gems such as Dracula X, Radiant Silvergun, Burning Rangers, and Grandia (Did Grandia get a U.S. Saturn release? I know PS1 got an english translation, but I dont remember Saturn getting one.)

Saturn:

Virtua Fighter 2

Fighting Vipers

Fighters Megamix

Dead or Alive

Die Hard Arcade

House of the Dead

Lunar 2: Eternal Blue

Virtua Cop 1 & 2

D

Metal Slug

Nights Into Dreams

Sega Rally Championship

Shinobi Legions

Super Puzzle Fighter

Xmen Vs. Street Fighter

Panzer Dragoon

Panzer Dragoon 2 ZWEI

Panzer Dragoon Saga

Dreamcast:

Jet Set Radio

Metropolis Street Racer

Crazy Taxi

Soul Calibur

Dead or Alive 2

Sonic Adventure

Sonic Adventure 2

Space Channel 5

Seaman

Shenmue

Skies of Arcadia

Powerstone

Virtua Tennis

MDK 2

Rayman

Samba Di Amigo

Grandia 2

House of the Dead 2

Marvel Vs. Capcom 2

Phantasy Star Online

Street Fighter 3: The Third Strike

Ikaruga

Zombie Revenge

D2

A solid list for sure, but think of what could have been...........

TheRaiderNation

You bring up some great points about the dreamcast. I avoided the dreamcast because I was still upset sega gave up on the saturn so quick. I waited for the PS2 and made that my next console.

All of the games you listed are solid. The saturn had some amazing 2D shooters

[QUOTE="TheRaiderNation"]

[QUOTE="SNESMaster420"]

I will use this thread to talk about both the Saturn and the Dreamcast as they both suffered similar fates.

I enjoyed my Saturn. I played a number of good games on it and it could have bested the PS1. However, it could not compete with the incredible games Sony was coming out with from 1997 onwards though. IMO, the Saturn and the Dreamcast are overrated, and the reason being is that both consoles had the potential to be so much more than they were, but both consoles failed and realistically let us gamers down.

Sega has always been eager to launch their consoles and come out with the newest tech. Honestly, any of us who payed full retail on a Sega CD or 32X should have caught on to the theme much earlier than we did. The only reason I can even think as to why we all have a place for Sega in our hearts is that they were able to come out with great games in such a short amount of time, thus the unrealized potential. I loved the Genesis immensely, but as far as longevity and staying power it was all downhill from there.

The Saturn was great for fighters and that is the only department that bested the PS1 early on. The PS1 however still got the majority of the same fighting titles and they were not drastically worse off then the Saturn counterparts. The average/casual gamer would not have noticed much difference IMO. I know I will get flamed, but trust me I had both the Saturn and the PS1, and the Dreamcast and the PS2. The only year I preferred my Saturn was 96 and the only years I preferred the Dreamcast were obviously 99 and 2000. The Saturn deserves a bit more credit than it gets, and the Dreamcast does not deserve the excessive love it gets at all. If anything, buying both consoles on launch for the full price was a mistake I made on an economic standpoint when they were both 1/3rd the price 1.5 years after launch.The only thing that buying the consoles on launch did for me was made sure I did not miss a beat.

Don't get me wrong I immensely enjoed the short time that I had with these consoles. In both cases it almost felt like a summer fling that abruptly ended and when I knew that it was over so soon it was very very sad. I credit Sega with getting the ball rolling on online console gaming, but ultimately, both consoles were a letdown.

Standout titles I would reccomend to everyone who has not played them. (I will only list the U.S. releases that most are familiar with since I didn't know back then that I was missing out by not importing some of the Japanese gems such as Dracula X, Radiant Silvergun, Burning Rangers, and Grandia (Did Grandia get a U.S. Saturn release? I know PS1 got an english translation, but I dont remember Saturn getting one.)

Saturn:

Virtua Fighter 2

Fighting Vipers

Fighters Megamix

Dead or Alive

Die Hard Arcade

House of the Dead

Lunar 2: Eternal Blue

Virtua Cop 1 & 2

D

Metal Slug

Nights Into Dreams

Sega Rally Championship

Shinobi Legions

Super Puzzle Fighter

Xmen Vs. Street Fighter

Panzer Dragoon

Panzer Dragoon 2 ZWEI

Panzer Dragoon Saga

Dreamcast:

Jet Set Radio

Metropolis Street Racer

Crazy Taxi

Soul Calibur

Dead or Alive 2

Sonic Adventure

Sonic Adventure 2

Space Channel 5

Seaman

Shenmue

Skies of Arcadia

Powerstone

Virtua Tennis

MDK 2

Rayman

Samba Di Amigo

Grandia 2

House of the Dead 2

Marvel Vs. Capcom 2

Phantasy Star Online

Street Fighter 3: The Third Strike

Ikaruga

Zombie Revenge

D2

A solid list for sure, but think of what could have been...........

gokuofheaven

You bring up some great points about the dreamcast. I avoided the dreamcast because I was still upset sega gave up on the saturn so quick. I waited for the PS2 and made that my next console.

All of the games you listed are solid. The saturn had some amazing 2D shooters

I bought the import card about 5 years ago and got aholdo f some japanese titles. I completely agree with you, that japanese library was much better than the US library. And yes, I remember playing daytona USA all day long

I think the Saturn is great, but I think the way that SEGA delt with the Saturn was extremely wrong! Many games, such as House of the Dead, were released in their 70% complete states, plus their marketing of it was soo damned wrong, SEGA of Europes martketing of the console, to what I saw, was non-existant!

If only they had taken their time and not rush in getting it ready to compete with the PlayStation, with SoE marketing it right and bloody well given us the games that WE wanted, rather than the ones they THOUGHT we wanted... I mean, why wasn't Dead or Alive released in Europe for the Saturn? It made Sony a good fortune and is now one of the best beat-em-up series going! Or Grandia? Another game to make Sony a good amount of cash, yet with SEGA throwing it in the bin. Soo many ace games to come out for the Saturn and many made especially for the Saturn, just not where they were wanted :(

I now have well over a hundred SS games and many of the very cool peripherals (inc the Virtual-On dual control stick), even though I have almost all the recent consoles, I still find myself buying more Saturn games than for my more recent consoles.

SEGA Saturn forever!