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Topic: Is the Sega Saturn worth buying?

Posts 1 to 20 of 21

Knux

I have been debating about buying a Sega Saturn for a long time, and now I am leaning towards buying one because of it's cheap price. But, I wanted to ask a few questions before I buy one [especially to anyone who owns or previously owned a Sega Saturn].

Has anyone who owns or preivously owned a Sega Saturn had any problems with their console? I heard that the Saturn has internal memory problems, but I plan on buying an Action Replay card to use as a memory card and a region coding breaker so I can play Japanese exclusive Saturn games.

Is the Sega Saturn worth buying and does it have a good enough library of games? This is coming from someone who owns all current generation consoles and handhelds, the Nintendo 64, the Playstation 2 [with PS1 backwards compatibility], the Sega Dreamcast, the FC Twin, and the GBA SP.

Which Sega Saturn games do you recommend buying? Games I was intrested in are Nights into Dreams, shumps, any exclusive RPGs, or platformers. But recommend any fun Saturn games, and that includes the Japanese exclusive ones.

Knux

LordJumpMad

I can't really say,
My Bro never let play with His Sega Saturn..........

For you, the day LordJumpMad graced your threads, was the most important day of your life. But for me, it was Tuesday.
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Crystalking18

The Sega saturn is pretty cheap, but the games for it are few and far between. I think that NiGHTS was pretty good, and then there are a couple of other good games, but the best games were Panzer Dragoon Saga and Burning Rangers, but those are expensive. Like in the hundreds for PDS. But if you have cash to burn, then get that game.

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The_Fox

The Saturn is usually pretty sturdy, so you shouldn't have problems with it breaking (unlike the Dreamcast). The library of games is solid, although some of the best ones cost a ridiculous amount.

Some good games I'd recommend:
Virtua Cop 1+2
Virtua Fighter 2
Fighter Megamix
Astal (a decent platformer, and quite the looker for its age)
Die Hard Arcade
In The Hunt
Guardian Heroes (Awesome but expensive. Also has some hilariously out of place music)
Mr Bones (A love it or hate it experience)
Nightwarriors
Panzer Dragoon 1+2
Street Fighter Alpha 2

I'm not much of a fan of JRPGs, so I can't help there. For shooters there are a number of great ones to import if you have the cash.

Edited on by The_Fox

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HolyMackerel

The Saturn is a great console. But beware - a lot of games have not aged well. Also, while the console may be cheap the games are often expensive.

The battery of the Saturn's internal hard drive can fail. Mine hasn't worked for many years now. The console will require you to enter the date/time each time you power on, and your internal saves will be erased. It's definitely best to get an external memory cartridge.

Apart from those listed already, here are some of my favourites. Many of the previous suggestions are great too.

  • Albert Odyssey: Legend of Eldean - Classic JRPG
  • Blazing Dragons - Comical adventure game made by Monty Python's Terry Jones
  • D - A good first-person horror adventure game, if slow-paced
  • Daytona USA - Daaytoooonnaaaaaaaaaaaaa
  • Dragon Force - One of my favourite games of all time, a role-playing strategy game
  • Grandia - Classic JRPG. This is on the PSX as well.
  • Radiant Silvergun - Actually, scratch that. You'll never be able to afford it.
  • Saturn Bomberman - One of the best Bomberman games ever made
  • Shining Force III - Classic strategy RPG
  • Shining the Holy Ark - Classic first-person RPG
  • Shining Wisdom - Classic JRPG (see the pattern? lol)
  • Sonic Jam - If you're missing a Sonic collection
  • Virtual On - If you have or can get Virtual On: Oratorio Tangram then get that instead

HolyMackerel

7th_lutz

My younger brother and I have almost 100 games for the Sega Saturn. He started getting Saturn games in 2000. Both of us have our own Sega Saturn. My younger brother never had problems with his Sega Saturn.

I had problems with the first Sega Saturn model for reading discs. The 2nd Model of the Saturn is better for me. I don't know what happened to my model I Saturn was a fluke because Sega Saturn systems are not known for having problems unlike the Dreamcast, and a good amount of disc based consoles ever created.

I can't read Japanese, and I only could help you with rpgs that were released in North American for the Saturn as a result based on what I played, I did not play Panzer Dragoon Saga yet and I don't own Shining Force III and Virtual Hydlide. I own a small amount of Imports that are English friendly.

Here is a list of some of my favorite games for the Sega Saturn:
Albert Odyssey (not a cheap rpg)
Arcade’s Greatest Hits: The Atari collection
Blazing Heroes/Mysteria
Bug!
Bust-A-Move Series ( series is on the PS 1 also)
Christmas into Nights
Darius Gaiden (game also is on ps 1)
Die Hard Arcade
Fighters Megamix
Galactic Attack
Guardian Heroes (Great, but expensive game)
Hyper 3-D Pinball
Keio Squadron 2 (import platform game that you have to speed over $40.00 for getting it)
King of Fighter'95 (import Fighting game and better than PS 1 version)
Konami Antiques Msx Collection Ultra Pack ( import game that has a lot of MSX games that Konami made including shooters)
Magic Knight Rayearth (expensive, but good Rpg)
Night Warriors
Panzer Dragon 1 & 2
Prikura Daiakusen ( great import, but you are going to spend over $30.00 on this game)
Rampage World Tour
Saturn Bomberman (great, but expensive game)
Sega Ages
Shining in the Holy Ark (very good, but not cheap rpg)
Shining Wisdom (very good action rpg, but not cheap on the United States Side)
Shinobi Legions
Silhouetee Mirage (expensive import)
Street Fighter Alpha
The Legend of Oasis
Virtua Cop 1 & 2
Virtua Fighter 2
Williams Arcade's Greatest Hits
X-Men Vs. Street Fighter (great import Fighting game)

Edited on by 7th_lutz

7th_lutz

NeoShinobi

The Saturn is a DAMN fine system. I've only had mine since about august and I have been pretty happy with it. I haven't imported anything yet, and I don't plan to for a while. The Saturn has a pefectly fine, solid U.S. library.

Here are some US released games that are pretty solid and quite cheap:
Solar Eclipse (vary similar to Star Fox)
Loaded (similar to Smash TV)
Fighting Vipers
Sega Rally
Die Hard Trilogy ( a solid light-gun game to get alittle more use out of the Stunner then just Virtua Cop)
Wipeout
Duke Nukem 3D (vary good port, just make sure you play it w/ the 3D pad)

Edited on by NeoShinobi

.... or something like that.

kevohki

I never had one, but every person I've known who owned a Saturn (10 people), had it crap out on them.

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madgear

I'd actually advise against getting one unless you want to spend a bit of cash. There are lots of great affordable games such as Sega Rally, Dayton USA (ugly version, but it's Daytona), Virtua Fighter and Nights that some will say are worth it as it is. However if you want the highly regarded classics then it will set you back quite a bit. Panzer Dragoon Saga and Radiant Silvergun will set you back about £100 each. Shining Force 3 often goes around the £50 mark and Gurdian Heroes and Burning Rangers around £30 - that can be over £300 for just those titles. There's always a chance you can get them cheaper if shop around, though.

I personally love those pricey titles, but I originally bought them when they were released. As a newcomer to them now, I'm not sure I'd appreciate them as much now. I remember thinking of selling Guardian Heroes back in the day - just rose tinted spectacles has made me hold on to most of them - you might not see the same appeal. So I'd say buy a Saturn only if you fancy playing some pretty good Sega arcade conversions - unless you're loaded, of course.

madgear

Corbs

I've had this white import Saturn for years and it works perfectly. If you're going to use the Action Replay carts (and you should) put it in the cart slot and leave it there. Repeated inserting and removing carts will very quickly stretch out the connectors inside the cart slot.

I love my Saturn for import shmups and US RPGs like Albert Odyssey and Dragon Force. Great and sturdy little console.

Plain old gamer :)

salty1264

i say nah

have a wii,dsi, gba and gcn but getting a 3ds and ps3. my fave game of alltime for all systems is black ops on wii

HolyMackerel

salty1264 wrote:

i say nah

Thanks for reviving this month-old thread with that insightful advice. Why do people always do this?

HolyMackerel

JeanLuc_Vaycard

salty1264 wrote:

i say nah

So wise!

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The_Ink_Pit_Ox

I was just considering one. I'd make sure to get Sonic R, Sega Rally Championship, and Virtua Fighter 2.

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Ristar42

I payed SEGA Rally again the other day and its miles better than any racing game I've played since, except maybe for OutRun 2.

The Saturn also has the best home port of the original OutRun, very good Street Fighter 2 Collection (Capcom Gen 5) and games like Elevator Action Returns... Then there is Sexy Parodius, you need to Import to really appreciate the Saturn though.

Ristar42

93jam

It depends how much it is worth to you, I only have NiGHTS and Daytona USA with mine, NiGHTS is amazing, but I wouldn't want to shell out the hundred or two for the better games.

93jam

wwoollff

I would say yes, the Sega Saturn is grossly underrated in North America, I remember having a Sega Saturn and I was very happy. Keep in mind the Sega Saturn only failed in the North American market, and was and still is very popular in Japan. There was a couple of things that killed the Saturn in North America, it was a perfect tide of idiotic moves.
1) the Sega CD I like this system
2) Sega 32x
3) miscommunication between the Japanese Headquarters and North America headquarters
4) overly complicated engineering
5) Sega, undermining the retailers
From what I hear Japan wanted to solely focus on the next generation so they wanted to focus on the Sega Saturn that miscommunication led to the Sega 32x and Sega CD. Sega was going to use that as a stop-gap between the genesis and the Saturn, what that really did is that stole resources (internally ) from the Saturn. While engineers were working on the 32x and Sega CD, they could have used that time to work on Sega Saturn, but their time was spent on two short-lived and accessories. Sega was also essentially stealing shelf space from themselves and confusing consumers. If a person would buy a Sega 32x they would not realize they would have to buy another accessory to play it. The same with the Sega CD, this, in turn, angered customers in the North American market. While programmers and developers were getting the dev kits for Sega 32x they would quickly cancel the Sega 32x. This would anger developers and consumers. The Sega 32x lasted only 1-year angering consumers and developers. while the Sega CD lasted 4 years. The main reason for the distrust between developers and Sega. It was because of the short life of the Sega 32x EA refused to program for them, so they lost a huge sports line. Then, Sega's biggest mistake the Sega Saturn was set to release in September of 1995, they launched in March April of 1995. This was a huge surprise to retailers because they were caught off guard, this surprised developer because they were caught off guard. What really caused the demise of the Sega Saturn was not just one thing it was a cascading of things that doomed Sega's reputation and loss of consumer and retailer confidence that doomed the Sega Saturn. Which is to bad because the Sega Saturn is a very underrated system and has some really good games.
if they had better communication between the US and Japan if they did not do the 32x or at least integrate that into the Sega Saturn if they made the Saturn backward compatible with the Sega CD, If they made programming for the Sega Saturn a little easier, and if they did not do the Saturnday surprise launch they would have done better. Or if they at least did a contest to get a Saturn early. If they fixed those mistakes the Saturn in my mind would have done a lot better. Because Saturn is a wonderful system and has some wonderful games. My advice for getting a Sega Saturn gets one from a reputable retailer I like estarland.com, get a new battery in it, and get it modified so it can play the US and Japanese games. It can also play VideoCD's early version of DVD but you have to get a special adapter. Get Daytona USA, Fighting Vipers, Virtual Fighters , House of Dead Virtual Cop 1 and 2 and gets some Japanese import games and have fun with this underrated video game console I wish i steal had my Sega Saturn It is a good system. My favorite game Command and Conquer and Fighting Vipers

wwoollff

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