N64 vs PS1 vs Saturn

Most of the Saturn's best games were never even released in the Western world. The Saturn had a lot of great RPGs, fighters, shooters, side-scrollers, brawlers, strategy games, adventure games, etc. that never saw the light of day in the West. That's why the Saturn failed in the West, because Sega of America/Europe never bothered to localize most of the Saturn's Japanese library, which was full of quality gems.

Same could be said for Playstation. A lot of gems on all systems in that time were never released in the west.

It was also priced at $400, and it launched out of the blue during E3. I was the only person in my circle that had one, and it was only because my dad had bought it as a surprise present when he came home from a business trip. SEGA was really lax with advertising in general too, because most didn't know what a Saturn was until they started to air some later life cycle commercials, like the NiGHTS into Dreams one, and the commercial where the old man destroyed an N64 with a shotgun for target practice.

N64, even though I do think overall the PS1 was a better console.

I just had way too much fun with the games on N64 during my day to go with anything else.

go ahead and make a list. youll see the best of he best in almost all genres is not on psx.

my thoughts exactly... PS1 is a good system but N64 was so freakin fun!

N64 had the most daring game design. There was no preconception of what 3D gaming really was then, and Nintendo truly went into development with no hesitation in terms of what fans wanted. To this day games like Mario 64, Wave Race, and Fzero X are unparalleled.

Most of the PS1's best games were at least localized for the West, whereas many of the Saturn's best games were never localized for the West.

Ironically, around that same time, Sega of Japan went all-out with advertising the Saturn in Japan, with the most badass marketing campaign in gaming history...

Seriously, dude was like the Japanese version of Chuck Norris...

PS One, by a mile. The N64 was good only for its first party games (and Rare titles), and the Saturn was great for import games like shmups and fighting games, but its American games mostly sucked.

I owned all three upon their releases, and always preferred the Saturn to the N64 and PS1. The quality of silky smooth 2D Capcom fighters available on the system was unparalleled. I'd give my personal second place to the N64 due to the high quality party co-op experience it offered with games like Goldeneye and Mario Kart 64. PS1 comes in third for me, and I never really spent too much time with it despite having many games (had mine modded).

PS1 blew them away..if N64 would have had a decent controller..it MIGHT would have done better. The carts werent that bad..Saturn was ok..bought one at launch. Only bought like 8 games..all decent consoles,but PS1 was untouchable.

Ps1 hands down was the best. Yeah, N64 had the graphics but the sound department sucked. Saturn didn't get picked up by the masses due to Sega releasing so many console additions.

PS1 > N64 > Sat

PS1 had an incredible library of games coupled with good tech.

N64 had some fun games.

Saturn was the arcade machine.

This. Saturn had some hidden gems on it and is very underrated.

N64 > PS1 > Saturn

I would rank them as follows:

Hardware:

N64 > SAT > PS1

Software:

PS1 > SAT > N64

I agree for sure. It even has good games like Galactic Attack, Fighters Megamix, Children of the Atom, Darius Gaiden, etc that don't break the bank. Anyone buying a Saturn for RPGs needs to be willing to spend big though.

PS1 is the best answer. FFVII, FFVIII, FFIX, MGS, Chrono Cross, Symphony of the Night, Resident Evil 2. Those seven games alone are unquestionably among the best of all time.

N64. No bs load times. Best use of audio when not attempting digitized music sountracks. Best graphics-- console draws the most accurate polygons. Only console in existence to really push three dimensional gameplay.

I am going with this.

I played more games on the PS1, but I still like the N64 better.

Tough question to answer. I liked all three of these consoles.

I'd say that, ultimately, the Nintendo 64 and the PlayStation both had a greater overall influence on games than the Saturn did. The Saturn had some great games, and there were some good ideas executed there, but it really didn't have the volume of heavy-hitters and straight-up revolutionary games that Nintendo 64 and PlayStation had.

In terms of Nintendo 64, the innovations (and their influence on the video game industry) are almost too many to name. Everything from the first mainstream force feedback in gaming (N64 Rumble Pak), to the N64 Control Stick (first mainstream 360 degree analogue stick), to games like Super Mario 64 (which revolutionised 3D game design in general) and The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (which really set new standards in terms of world and interaction design) - it's hard to argue with the Nintendo 64's pedigree.

But the PlayStation was a remarkable console for other reasons. With the PlayStation, I think we really witnessed the birth of the "triple A game" - that is, games with really huge production values, where game and film concepts come together. Final Fantasy VII is the obvious example of where this really began, but there are many great games that dramatically expanded video game presentation and production value.

I also think that with the PlayStation, we saw an increasing sophistication in games - an acknowledgement that games could be made for older players, and could appeal to a more sophisticated audience. Take something like Silent Hill 2, which I think is a masterpiece, and which (for me) really sits at the pinnacle of survival horror game design.

There was also a ton of experimentation on PlayStation, especially later in its lifecycle. Early on with PlayStation and Saturn, there was a big emphasis on translating arcade experiences to the living room - that had been kind of the big argument in favour of the next-gen consoles for a long time. It had been a big reason for them to exist.

But we started to see crazy stuff like Point Blank and PaRappa the Rapper, which were really inventive games in their own right.

I would say that I don't think there's much competition here in terms of the Saturn - as great as it is, and as much as I love it and have nostalgia for it, it just doesn't hold a candle to the Nintendo 64 and PlayStation.

But between N64 and PS? It's impossible for me to choose a "winner", in all honesty. I love both, and both have been really important to the video game industry as a whole. The entire industry would have been a lot poorer without either one of these great platforms.

Hum the N64 had the most powerful consol of the three. Very few title but those great really have bested the test of time. People still talk about Mario64, Ocarina Of Time, Mario Kart 64, Golden Eye 64 and Smash.

The PSOne was also named Playstation during the first year before they rebranded the consol and release a new controller for it. It had a massive library of game but nothing really stood out. We still talk about 3rd party like Final Fantasy VII, Metal Gear Solid, Resident Evil, Tekken.

Saturn didn't have a very long life but was the leader for a short time. Both Saturn and Playstation were one year ahead of the N64 and for a while with Virtual Fighter, Daytona USA and Nights ... it was way better than Ridge Racer, Mortal Kombat 3 and Battle Arena Toshinden.

The Saturn died a quick death not so long after the N64 came out and the N64 lost a lot of follower because it lost SquareSoft and so many choose to go with Sony instead.

Difficult.

While the PlayStation is undoubtedly my number one pick, I think that both the N64 and Saturn were major screw ups compared to their predecessors, each in their own way. I'm slightly leaning towards the N64, because of the fact that in Europe the Saturn was a complete mess, and utterly underwhelming in terms of game releases - you just had to import games for it.

PlayStation ruled most living rooms and bedrooms in the late 90s. PlayStation won in many categories. Coolyfett didn't even game much during Gen 5 but lots of people had the PlayStation.

The Playstation has the overall strongest library with many all time classics in the RPG, Fighting, Platforming, Action-adventure and racing genres. However, much of its library is showing its age.

The Saturn aged the most gracefully out of all 3 due to the focus on 2D games and genres which stopped being explored with the advent of 3D gaming such as Shmups, 2D fighters, time-based arcade racers, etc.

The N64 was the most powerful machine, but it had the smallest library and arguably the smallest variety. Its main strenghts were Platformers and FPS games. However, I feel its FPS games have all aged rather poorly. Perfect Dark, Goldeneye and Turok are pretty plan and basic by today's standards and haven't aged as gracefully as raycast FPS games such as Doom or Rise of the Triad.

Over all I'd say: PS1 > Saturn > N64

These systems were out during Coolyfett high school years 94-98. Most people had PS1. If Coolyfett remembers correctly of all the Gen 5 systems 6 friends had PS1 and 2 friends had N64. The most remembered games were.

Madden 98

Mortal Kombat Trilogy

Goldeneye 007

NBA Live 95 96

Donkey Kong 64

Tekken 3

@Eikichi-Onizuka: I highly agree with you on this! I have the most nostalgia for the N64, but I love the PS1 aesthetic, and how influential how all the games were (its funny to think that a lot of the most popular game series were spawned from it). Finally we have the Saturn which I actually have only gotten to play last year but I can tell it is quite the fun console. The Saturn has a lot of great games even though it didn't get the shelf life it wanted.

Sega had been doing force feedback in arcades long before the N64. The Saturn also had the 3D Control Stick (which it pioneered years earlier) around the same time. Games like Virtua Fighter and Nights were revolutionary.

The PS1, obviously, specially in 1998 through 2000. Developers had finally arrived at a look that was good enough for the system.

Agree that PS1 was the best at the time. It just had so many blockbuster games from '97 onwards. The games were also cheaper and you could get the magazines with demo discs every month.

Having said that, I owned an N64 first and it's big name titles were just as good. Unfortunately it relied totally on Nintendo and Rare to release games, which were always fucking delayed.

A top 10 for each system would be too close to call. A top 25 would be PS1 hands down.

Ironically the Saturn holds up best today. The 2-D games are an obvious reason. Another is that a lot of top titles have arcade style gameplay, so they focus on pick up and play.

N64 > saturn brah.

Panzer Dragoon Saga > your hopes and dreams.

It's overrated :P

Ps1 had a total of 1850 games

N64 had a total of 388 games

Saturn had a total of 255 games

(Numbers not exact as different sources vary, however there in the ball park)

Comparing ps1 to it's rival consoles was like comparing current generation consoles to PC in terms of games availible.

PS1 and PS2 were standard issue for all gamers, period. People were still choosing between Nintendo and Sega during both, and you really needed to be a fan to get either. Of course N64 had some exclusives that were amazing, mostly Rare, but yeah I got it cause I was still a fan of Nitnendo/Rare games.

Gran Turismo, Grand Theft Auto, Final Fantasy, Metal Gear Solid, Castlevania, Resident Evil, Tekken, Tony Hawk Pro Skater, Tomb freaking Raider, Silent Hill, Twisted Metal, Spiderman, Need for Speed, Street Fighter Megaman and even more franchises that went AWOL on Nintendo and ditched their bullcrap for greener pastures.

Releasing a load of Shmups and 2D JRPGs in the West would not have made the Saturn popular. The most exciting games at the time were 3D, as it had never been done before.

Also, games like WipEout, Tomb Raider, Resi, MGS and Gran Turismo were marketed by Sony to adults to make gaming more socially acceptable to them. The Saturn's marketing was 'rad', but as an extension of the Genesis being for older, cooler kids.

My perspective is blurred as I'm from the UK, where Sonys marketing was ridiculously good. I've seen the American URNotE commercials on YouTube and they don't follow this logic. Apparently Americans weren't all popping pills and playing WipEout in abandoned warehouse raves in the 90s.

As far as impact in console design I'd go with N64. I'd also go with playstation for overall games legacy.

As far as standing the test of time in terms of playing the games I'd go with Saturn first(most top games are 2D) then N64, then PS1. Most of the PS1 games are unplayable today.

This is why I said "first mainstream force feedback in gaming". Truth be told, many of these technologies existed in some form many years prior, but I think that's less relevant than the question of who introduced the technology to the mainstream.

I mean, Sega had the 3D Controller for Saturn, but it was hardly revolutionary; it was nothing like what Nintendo did with the Nintendo 64. It made games like Nightsfeel smoother and more natural, but Nights was nowhere near Super Mario 64 in terms of setting major industry standards. And I say this as a crazed Sega fan (I've actually probably collected more weird Sega gear than Nintendo gear at this point).

PS1

I guess PS1 since it had more games. N64 had some classics to be sure. And I'll always have a soft spot for the Saturn. Nice little machine SEGA mangled.

PS1 due to the overwhelming nature of its library > Saturn, which should have won and I would argue was better during its active period of 1995-1997, especially if you include imports. If only they had put out more documentation on how to use it properly. If only their competing international divisions could have gotten on the same page. If only the game press wasn't dominated by a bunch of insecure people who were desperate for acceptance from a "real" grown-up company like Sony, rather than a toy maker like Nintendo and Sega. > N64, which is simply missing good games from too many genres and sub-genres, and if you don't appreciate the at-the-time over-rated Rare, is really lacking; though admittedly a well designed machine for a 1996 cartridge system, and admittedly is well represented if you consider only the top ten or twenty games of the generation.

Idk all three were excellent.

Build quality n64 by far since it is Cart based but ps1 was cheaply made so Saturn is number 2

Power n64 with Saturn being number two

Software ps1 by sheer brute force and RPGs are a soft spot for me. Saturn is number 2 and while I loved many n64 games it is missing some support in genres.

Two of my top three games come from these machines ; Bomberman 64 and Digimon World (I grew up playing this on PlayStation)

the third is RE4 for those wondering.

Controller ps1 wins with Saturn a close second. N64 is funnily good for 2d games and mischief makers is comfortable to play.

Saturns analog controller feels nice in the hands.

Dual analog is the best to come from a controller since Ralph Baer conceptualized the joystick pad

@n64dd: Idk all three were excellent.

Build quality n64 by far since it is Cart based but ps1 was cheaply made so Saturn is number 2

Power n64 with Saturn being number two

Software ps1 by sheer brute force and RPGs are a soft spot for me. Saturn is number 2 and while I loved many n64 games it is missing some support in genres.

Two of my top three games come from these machines ; Bomberman 64 and Digimon World (I grew up playing this on PlayStation)

the third is RE4 for those wondering.

Controller ps1 wins with Saturn a close second. N64 is funnily good for 2d games and mischief makers is comfortable to play.

Saturns analog controller feels nice in the hands.

Dual analog is the best to come from a controller since Ralph Baer conceptualized the joystick pad

I don't think Saturn should even be in the discussion. Their funky architecture made it difficult for developers to port games to their console and so a lot of big titles never made their way to the Sega. This puts N64 and PS1 in the mix. And it's not an easy choice really.

I remember the first time I seen a commercial for the N64, in gradeschool and when I seen the 3D in Mario 64 my jaw fucking dropped. I knew it was next level shit and gaming wouldn't be the same again. That was the first console I got, but then I got exposed to PS1 from friends who had that one. I played some games like Road Rash, Twisted Metal, and more that got me into that system.

N64 games that had an impact. Mario 64, Ocarina of Time, Smash Brothers, Mario Kart, but also other games like Pilot Wings 64, Bomberman 64, Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon and probably my most played game on N64, Perfect Dark. Turok 64 and Rage Wars were good too.

PS1 I played FF7, FF8, Final Fantasy Tactics, Twisted Metal, Critical Depth, Road Rash, Resident Evil, 1, 2, and 3. Parasite Eve 1 and 2, Test Drive 5. The Baldur's Gate and Champions of Norrath series. Discworld 2, the Medieval series, Saga Frontier, Star Ocean: Second Story, Tactics Ogre, and the first few in the Legacy of Kain series.

I think I have to give it to the PS1.

I should also note that around this time, Nintendo started getting a reputation as being a "kid's" console. And playstation was the one you went to if you wanted games with more adult content, such as more realistic games, more gore, etc. And honestly, today, I still view Nintendo consoles as a bit more of a kid/family console than I do Playstation or Xbox.

The Saturn is the best for 2-D games, especially its awesome selection of shmups like Radiant Silvergun, and perfect conversions of 2-D arcade fighters, like X-Men vs. Street Fightet and Street Fighter Alpha 2.

For all around selection, The PS One could not be beat. It had everything from Resident Evil to Fishing games.

N64 was only good for Mario 64, Zelda and Rare titles.

I was always a big fan of the Shining Force series of RPGs. I almost bought a Saturn just for Shining Force 3.