The Official Sega Saturn Thread!

[Steven Pendleton]

18 minutes ago, spacecadet said:

I think I paid 500 yen (about $4) for my copy of that, although mine isn't new, but it is complete and in very good condition. Japan just hasn't rediscovered the Saturn like some Americans seem to have. Maybe it's because it was more popular over there to begin with, so there's just more old stuff floating around per capita than here and there's no pent-up demand.

 

I remember on one of my visits there, I went up to the counter at a Book*Off or something with a few Saturn games, and the clerk actually looked at me and said "you know these are Sega *Saturn* games, right?" As if I must have made a mistake. This was a couple years ago. They just have a different mentality about the system.

Yeah, I think the thing with the Saturn here is that it's kind of in a similar position to the PS1, but not quite the PS2 elsewhere in the world. There are tons of games just floating around here and since the system sold really well, most of the best-selling games for the system are super cheap. Sure, there are plenty of rare PS1 and PS2 games (I saw a copy of this https://tinyurl.com/ydyxav63 in person the other day... I saw the price and ran away in horror), but since the Saturn sold well here, its games are generally much cheaper than they are in other countries. Same with TurboGrafx and PC Engine. System sold better, many more games, cheaper versions of the same games that got released in the USA. I found no less than 3 Magical Chases the other day, too, now that I think about it.

 

Totally not related, but I'd like to go ahead and recommend Sakura Taisen to people who are beginning to study Japanese. You should probably have no problems with this game at all aside from maybe the military-related kanji, although reading low-resolution kanji can be difficult. I hope you can read fast, though, because the timers on the LIPS choices are VERY short. You only get like 3~5 seconds to make choices, so read fast and consider it good practice!

Edited June 4, 2020 by Steven Pendleton

[Magmavision2000]

On 6/1/2020 at 11:20 PM, Steven Pendleton said:

What's cheap for you? I got both of my Panzer Dragoons for 1500 yen each yesterday, so that may be worth considering.

 

This helped me, and I actually found this light gun for 550 yen yesterday. Forgot to buy it, though...

 

 

It must either be my luck, or eBay (probably the latter), but I can't find Panzer Dragoon anywhere near ¥1500 (which I'm assuming is around 15USD), the Japanese version is like 30USD (and don't even get me started on the US version), and I'm pretty sure looking for it on Yahoo Auctions won't be worth it due to shipping. It looks like I'll have to make a "Business" Trip to Japan someday and buy up some Saturn games. 

 

Speaking of Yahoo Auctions, why is everything so cheap on there? (minus shipping) I saw someone selling a Playdia, a bunch of PS1 and Wiis, a couple of Saturns, and a couple of Dreamcasts for ¥1! Albeit, they were in untested or broken condition, but for ¥1 you'd easily make your money back if you could repair them. I was very tempted to bid on it, but then I realized shipping wouldn't be worth it.

Edited June 5, 2020 by Magmavision2000

[+Charlie Cat]

On 6/3/2020 at 1:29 AM, Steven Pendleton said:

Hey, good to see you in here! I normally don't see you outside the Neo Geo thread! Nice to see everyone coming in here to say how awesome the Saturn is!

 

By the way, for everyone who does not know, today, June 3rd, is Sega's 60th anniversary. It's been exactly 60 years since Sega was created, so let's take the time to play some awesome Sega games on awesome Sega hardware. I think I'm going to start with Panzer Dragoon Zwei on the Saturn and then maybe Sonic 3 & Knuckles on the Nomad.

You're welcome Steve. I like the Saturn a lot and had many fun ports from SNK on there. So this will be a real trip to see as it progresses. 

 

Anthony..

[Steven Pendleton]

34 minutes ago, Magmavision2000 said:

It must either be my luck, or eBay (probably the latter), but I can't find Panzer Dragoon anywhere near ¥1500 (which I'm assuming is around 15USD), the Japanese version is like 30USD (and don't even get me started on the US version), and I'm pretty sure looking for it on Yahoo Auctions won't be worth it due to shipping. It looks like I'll have to make a "Business" Trip to Japan someday and buy up some Saturn games. 

It can be done. Here's my receipt from the other day when I bought both Panzer Dragoons. Everyone knows that my photography skills are terrible, but this might be my worst one yet! New record!!

 

 

Anyway, yeah, 1500 yen each plus 10% tax = 3300 yen total.

 

I mentioned it over in the TurboGrafx thread, but I've been thinking of starting a business where I go buy stuff in town for people so they can avoid both the ridiculous ebay prices and plane tickets to Japan. I've been thinking about this for over a year now and there are 2 huge problems that I've found: first, pricing. I'm not sure how much to charge. I was thinking price of game + price of shipping + an undecided percentage for me so I can actually make money, but then I realized that if I set it too low and I don't get enough requests, I'll end up actually losing money on train trips. If I charge too much, I'll not make any money because people can just go to ebay or whatever and get ripped off there instead.

 

Second is that there's the possibility that my customer(s) might want the same stuff that I want to buy for myself... like if they want the prototype version of Gunstar Heroes or Dynamite Headdy that are currently for sale in Akiba. Yes, actual prototypes for sale! Anyway, this is just something I've been thinking about. I highly doubt I will do it since I've still not figured out pricing and stuff.

 

47 minutes ago, Magmavision2000 said:

Speaking of Yahoo Auctions, why is everything so cheap on there? (minus shipping) I saw someone selling a Playdia, a bunch of PS1 and Wiis, a couple of Saturns, and a couple of Dreamcasts for ¥1! Albeit, they were in untested or broken condition, but for ¥1 you'd easily make your money back if you could repair them. I was very tempted to bid on it, but then I realized shipping wouldn't be worth it.

It's mostly people trying to get rid of stuff they don't want, I imagine. Most of the time those sellers do not ship internationally anyway from what I understand, so you would have to send it to a Japanese address first, anyway.

[+Charlie Cat]

On 6/3/2020 at 1:29 AM, Steven Pendleton said:

Hey, good to see you in here! I normally don't see you outside the Neo Geo thread! Nice to see everyone coming in here to say how awesome the Saturn is!

 

By the way, for everyone who does not know, today, June 3rd, is Sega's 60th anniversary. It's been exactly 60 years since Sega was created, so let's take the time to play some awesome Sega games on awesome Sega hardware. I think I'm going to start with Panzer Dragoon Zwei on the Saturn and then maybe Sonic 3 & Knuckles on the Nomad.

 

4 minutes ago, fdurso224 said:

You're welcome Steve. I like the Saturn a lot and had many fun ports from SNK on there. So this will be a real trip to see as it progresses. 

 

Anthony..

 

Here a great video from, Sega Lord X to show you what I mean Steve. Excellent and fun ports for sure. 

 

Anthony..

Edited June 5, 2020 by fdurso224

[derFunkenstein]

I have a VA0 Japanese Saturn and it's got a Fenrir in it. Pretty swank little setup, but it doesn't support multi-game discs unfortunately. That's the only downside. If the game supports saving between discs it's fine, though. 

 

I've also got a VA6 or VA7 white Japanese model 2 Saturn that I'd love to use. It's got the Sanyo drive, but the drive is dead. I bought what I thought was a perfect replacement for the laser part but unfortunately it was geared differently so it doesn't work. Trying to figure out if I want to order a MODE and bring it back to life (at which point I'd sell the Fenrir-modded system) or if I just want to toss it up on eBay. I'm not a big fan of the drab gray-green Japanese model 1s, and I love the white, but it's a lot of money. The MODE is NOT cheap. 

[Steven Pendleton]

On 6/5/2020 at 1:20 PM, fdurso224 said:

 

 

Here a great video from, Sega Lord X to show you what I mean Steve. Excellent and fun ports for sure. 

 

Anthony..

Yeah, I've been thinking of maybe picking up Metal Slug. It's MUCH cheaper here than it is on the AES and it seems to run pretty well. Too bad MVS version is cheaper than Saturn, but I also do not have a converter for MVS carts yet, so maybe Saturn would still be cheaper. Still, games are almost always (but sometimes not) cheaper in town than online, so maybe Saturn is a good option for Metal Slug.

 

13 hours ago, derFunkenstein said:

I have a VA0 Japanese Saturn and it's got a Fenrir in it. Pretty swank little setup, but it doesn't support multi-game discs unfortunately. That's the only downside. If the game supports saving between discs it's fine, though. 

 

I've also got a VA6 or VA7 white Japanese model 2 Saturn that I'd love to use. It's got the Sanyo drive, but the drive is dead. I bought what I thought was a perfect replacement for the laser part but unfortunately it was geared differently so it doesn't work. Trying to figure out if I want to order a MODE and bring it back to life (at which point I'd sell the Fenrir-modded system) or if I just want to toss it up on eBay. I'm not a big fan of the drab gray-green Japanese model 1s, and I love the white, but it's a lot of money. The MODE is NOT cheap. 

The white Saturns are cool, but they can turn yellow, unfortunately, like the Famicom and PC Engine. If you have a nice one in good condition, though, those are beautiful systems.

 

Honestly, I'd probably put a MODE in there, and you might be able to make up the cost of the MODE if you are planning on selling your other Saturn anyway.

[cybercylon]

On 6/4/2020 at 5:12 AM, Steven Pendleton said:

Yeah, I think the thing with the Saturn here is that it's kind of in a similar position to the PS1, but not quite the PS2 elsewhere in the world. There are tons of games just floating around here and since the system sold really well, most of the best-selling games for the system are super cheap. Sure, there are plenty of rare PS1 and PS2 games (I saw a copy of this https://tinyurl.com/ydyxav63 in person the other day... I saw the price and ran away in horror), but since the Saturn sold well here, its games are generally much cheaper than they are in other countries. Same with TurboGrafx and PC Engine. System sold better, many more games, cheaper versions of the same games that got released in the USA. I found no less than 3 Magical Chases the other day, too, now that I think about it.

 

Totally not related, but I'd like to go ahead and recommend Sakura Taisen to people who are beginning to study Japanese. You should probably have no problems with this game at all aside from maybe the military-related kanji, although reading low-resolution kanji can be difficult. I hope you can read fast, though, because the timers on the LIPS choices are VERY short. You only get like 3~5 seconds to make choices, so read fast and consider it good practice!

 

Off topic, how does one even start with studying Japanese, especially if one is not really good learning new languages. My daughter is much better at picking something yet, but even she has struggled with Japanese. We both want to visit someday, so I'd like to be at least functional.

 

Back on topic, selling off my Saturn along with many of the US released JRPGs in the late 90's is one of my biggest regrets. Those were my grad school days, and my PS1 died after getting some games like FF7. So, I had to fund the purchase of a new one.

 

I do remember that one of local mom and pop stores back then sold a small selection of imports. Radiant Silvergun was one of them. I didn't pick it up which was silly because most of the shooters are quite playable without knowing much Japanese.

 

I've slowly reacquired some Saturn stuff again over the last couple of year. My "rarest" (or maybe most expensive is a better description) game is Guardian Heroes. Had to have it again, but I didn't pay $200 for it. I essentially traded an SNES mini for it. It made no sense to keep the mini as I have an original system, an overdrive, and most of the carts that are on the mini.

 

Who is crazy enough to charge $60 for the US version of Tomb Raider? Last time I saw it was in SAG before they closed their physical store for the shutdown. I don't remember the exact prices, but I think it was in the low to mid teens.

 

Panzer Dragoon Zwei was one of my favorites. I really should look into getting the import.

[Magmavision2000]

53 minutes ago, cybercylon said:

Off topic, how does one even start with studying Japanese, especially if one is not really good learning new languages. My daughter is much better at picking something yet, but even she has struggled with Japanese. We both want to visit someday, so I'd like to be at least functional.

I would start with writing the characters for hiragana and katakana at least once a day until you can remember half of them. Then branch out to an online course like Japanese with Yuta (I haven't been doing mine like I should (stuff gets in the way), but from what I've done it's great).

Edited June 6, 2020 by Magmavision2000

[Steven Pendleton]

10 hours ago, cybercylon said:

Off topic, how does one even start with studying Japanese, especially if one is not really good learning new languages. My daughter is much better at picking something yet, but even she has struggled with Japanese. We both want to visit someday, so I'd like to be at least functional.

Honest answer: DO NOT try to teach yourself at first. You absolutely need a Japanese person to talk to + write to anyway. Go to a language school/university/college classes. After you do that for a while, then you can start teaching yourself. Start consuming Japanese media in Japanese. It doesn't matter what type of media it is. Anything helps, so just choose whatever works for you, but it's probably best to avoid reading stuff that has furigana for every kanji in the whole book or whatever.

 

Furigana is for little kids who can't read properly yet or to specify readings for kanji that may differ from the regular readings. Some foreigners use furigana as a crutch and an excuse to not learn how to read properly, so be careful not to do that so you actually learn how to read properly. Do not be afraid of kanji; it's way easier than most non-Japanese people would lead you to believe. Learn how it's constructed (they'll teach you in school) and you can guess meanings of stuff you don't know, which is exactly what Japanese people do when they find kanji they don't know, which happens more often than you would think. The names of people and places are probably the hardest to read, especially if you go to Okinawa, where the readings of the names of places are really strange, with 保栄茂 being the most famous one since it completely breaks the rules of the language. Pretty sure it and all of the other weird stuff on Okinawa is left over from the Ryuukyuu language, which is why everything there is really weird to most Japanese-speakers.

 

It's a comparatively easy language since the grammar is easy, pronunciation is easy, and there are comparatively less words that other languages, but Japanese, like German, uses lots of compound words, so when you find a bunch of words that you know stuck together, it probably means exactly what it looks like it means. Have fun with onomatopoeia, though...

 

10 hours ago, cybercylon said:

Back on topic, selling off my Saturn along with many of the US released JRPGs in the late 90's is one of my biggest regrets. Those were my grad school days, and my PS1 died after getting some games like FF7. So, I had to fund the purchase of a new one.

 

I do remember that one of local mom and pop stores back then sold a small selection of imports. Radiant Silvergun was one of them. I didn't pick it up which was silly because most of the shooters are quite playable without knowing much Japanese.

 

I've slowly reacquired some Saturn stuff again over the last couple of year. My "rarest" (or maybe most expensive is a better description) game is Guardian Heroes. Had to have it again, but I didn't pay $200 for it. I essentially traded an SNES mini for it. It made no sense to keep the mini as I have an original system, an overdrive, and most of the carts that are on the mini.

 

Who is crazy enough to charge $60 for the US version of Tomb Raider? Last time I saw it was in SAG before they closed their physical store for the shutdown. I don't remember the exact prices, but I think it was in the low to mid teens.

 

Panzer Dragoon Zwei was one of my favorites. I really should look into getting the import.

I found Guardian Heroes the other day. I ran out of cash since I've been trying to save money, so I give myself a strict budget before I went to Akiba. I'm planning on getting it since it's not too expensive. There are a few more games that I want to get real discs for, but I'll mostly just use MODE. Honestly I'm not sure about putting MODE in my Skeleton Saturn. I like seeing the disc spinning in there, so maybe I'll pick up a second Skeleton so I can use my discs if I want to.

Edited June 7, 2020 by Steven Pendleton

[derFunkenstein]

On 6/6/2020 at 1:43 AM, Steven Pendleton said:

The white Saturns are cool, but they can turn yellow, unfortunately, like the Famicom and PC Engine. If you have a nice one in good condition, though, those are beautiful systems.

 

Honestly, I'd probably put a MODE in there, and you might be able to make up the cost of the MODE if you are planning on selling your other Saturn anyway.

So far, my white Saturn is still pretty white. I guess I'll find out how much since I have the white RF controller on preorder from Castlemania Games.

 

I think you're right, I'd probably get more than enough to cover the MODE from selling my VA0 with Fenrir installed.

[HoshiChiri]

On 6/6/2020 at 9:41 AM, cybercylon said:

 

Off topic, how does one even start with studying Japanese, especially if one is not really good learning new languages. My daughter is much better at picking something yet, but even she has struggled with Japanese. We both want to visit someday, so I'd like to be at least functional.

Learning to READ Japanese, and learning to SPEAK Japanese, are two very different things. Pronouncing Japanese words is really pretty simple since there's not a lot of odd linguistic tricks you'll have to learn. Take a basic Japanese class somewhere, once the teacher's explained what vowels sound like and the few hiragana with quirks you'll be able to say any words you learn pretty easily.

 

Reading is harder becuase of kanji, since there's so many of them- that's just gonna take time, period. If you do opt to put effort into the reading though, do yourself a favor- try & avoid textbooks that use a lot of romanji (Japanese words written in the roman alphabet.). You'll want to spend as much time with kana/kanji characters as possible so the words come more naturally- using romanji just forces you to re-learn words once you start using the proper characters.

[Bloodreign]

I thought my Saturn was dead, but it booted US games up fine, but my Action Replay Cart no longer seemed to work. A friend told me, rub alcohol on the contacts of the cart, then insert and take out 4 times. Did so, and now the thing boots like new, really thought I'd have to spring for another cart, or another Saturn, but I hella relieved I don't have to do so. I didn't feel like playing the discs via emulator, especially after going through a lot of trouble unlocking every character in Magical Drop 3, or having save files at the bosses in SNK fighting games.

 

 

I need to play my Saturn more, as where I live, in the country, dust tends to get pulled in by my AC a lot, and those damned contacts in the Saturn cart slot seem to attract dust more than anything else.

[newtmonkey]

@cybercylon

My advice is to get the absolute basics down (either in a class or a textbook or whatever), and then immediately start applying it to stuff that interests you—I found Japanese magazines to be excellent for learning to read very quickly.  If you like cars, import a Japanese car magazine and set realistic goals, like reading one paragraph a day at first.  If you are interested in the material, it should keep you motivated.  Read several magazines/books on the same topic, this will serve to reinforce vocabulary.

 

Reading, writing, speaking, and hearing are all different skills, but I am firm believer that reading a lot will serve as a solid foundation for everything else.

[Steven Pendleton]

So the Dreamcast got its own section. Interesting.

 

Anyway, I'm sure everyone has seen these already, but I did say that I'd try to keep this thread as updated as I can with Saturn news, so here is some information on 2 new Saturn game hacks.

 

https://www.retrorgb.com/new-saturn-castlevania-sotn-improvement-hack-utilizes-the-4mb-ram-cart-for-fast-loading-smoother-animations-and-more.html

 

https://www.retrorgb.com/saturn-ultraman-hack-bypasses-its-proprietary-ram-cart-via-the-4mb-cart.html

[Cobra Kai]

On 6/6/2020 at 2:43 AM, Steven Pendleton said:

Yeah, I've been thinking of maybe picking up Metal Slug. It's MUCH cheaper here than it is on the AES and it seems to run pretty well. Too bad MVS version is cheaper than Saturn, but I also do not have a converter for MVS carts yet, so maybe Saturn would still be cheaper. Still, games are almost always (but sometimes not) cheaper in town than online, so maybe Saturn is a good option for Metal Slug.

 

The white Saturns are cool, but they can turn yellow, unfortunately, like the Famicom and PC Engine. If you have a nice one in good condition, though, those are beautiful systems.

 

Honestly, I'd probably put a MODE in there, and you might be able to make up the cost of the MODE if you are planning on selling your other Saturn anyway.

There's only one Metal Slug worth buying and that is the Metal Slug Anthology for PS2. I used to have 3 different Slugs on AES, sold them, and the PS2 port is fine and it has 7 games on it including the Atomiswave game. I see no reason other than collector purposes to delve into other ports. 

[DragonGrafx-16]

8 minutes ago, Kobra Kai said:

There's only one Metal Slug worth buying and that is the Metal Slug Anthology for PS2. I used to have 3 different Slugs on AES, sold them, and the PS2 port is fine and it has 7 games on it including the Atomiswave game. I see no reason other than collector purposes to delve into other ports. 

I have the Wii version.

[Steven Pendleton]

13 minutes ago, Kobra Kai said:

There's only one Metal Slug worth buying and that is the Metal Slug Anthology for PS2. I used to have 3 different Slugs on AES, sold them, and the PS2 port is fine and it has 7 games on it including the Atomiswave game. I see no reason other than collector purposes to delve into other ports. 

Supposedly most of the games on that run on emulation and at 480i. Not a problem for me since I can just use the amazing deinterlacing ability of my PS3, but if you don't have a PS3 that can play PS2 games, a screen that can support interlaced resolutions (mine can't), or some other deinterlacing solution, it could be a problem. Still much cheaper than the Neo Geo versions, though, and I actually do have the PSP version already, so I can play it on my Vita's beautiful OLED screen.

Edited June 18, 2020 by Steven Pendleton

[imstarryeyed]

6 hours ago, Steven Pendleton said:

So the Dreamcast got its own section. Interesting.

 

Anyway, I'm sure everyone has seen these already, but I did say that I'd try to keep this thread as updated as I can with Saturn news, so here is some information on 2 new Saturn game hacks.

 

https://www.retrorgb.com/new-saturn-castlevania-sotn-improvement-hack-utilizes-the-4mb-ram-cart-for-fast-loading-smoother-animations-and-more.html

 

https://www.retrorgb.com/saturn-ultraman-hack-bypasses-its-proprietary-ram-cart-via-the-4mb-cart.html

 

I really hope they can hack KOF 95, that is a great version and requires the ROM cart like Ultraman.

 

I wonder if they plan to continue to improve SOTN any further, I wonder if they can address any issues others have commented on about the Saturn version being not as good as the Playstation version.

 

 

[Cosmic Owl]

19 hours ago, imstarryeyed said:

 

I really hope they can hack KOF 95, that is a great version and requires the ROM cart like Ultraman.

 

I wonder if they plan to continue to improve SOTN any further, I wonder if they can address any issues others have commented on about the Saturn version being not as good as the Playstation version.

 

 

Well funny enough you'll never guess what they just released. There are a few caveat, like not supporting the official 4MB cart, but it's definitely a start.

 

https://www.retrorgb.com/saturn-king-of-fighters-95-4mb-ram-cart-hack.html

[Steven Pendleton]

On 6/19/2020 at 12:30 AM, imstarryeyed said:

 

I really hope they can hack KOF 95, that is a great version and requires the ROM cart like Ultraman.

 

I wonder if they plan to continue to improve SOTN any further, I wonder if they can address any issues others have commented on about the Saturn version being not as good as the Playstation version.

 

 

I think the problem with Dracula X has something to do with how the original game was built and how the team that did the port handled the transition from the PS1 to the Saturn. I think I read somewhere that the original version of the game is actually a 3D game, and they tried to port it as if it was a 2D game or something like that. I'm not sure if this is true, of course. I suppose it would be possible to move at least some of the dithered stuff to VDP2 to get proper transparencies, but as I'm still quite new to the Saturn, I'm not entirely sure how the thing works yet.

 

Honestly I'd rather fix the problem with the frame rate before the transparencies, and I'm not sure how that could be done. I've never played the original PS1 version or the Saturn version, just the PS4 emulated version, so I'm not sure exactly how the game performs on the hardware it was meant to run on.

Edited June 20, 2020 by Steven Pendleton

[Austin]

Even if it was possible (I doubt it is in its current form), screw fixing the transparencies. The chunkiness of some of the visual effects gives the Saturn version a distinct look. If I want perfect, I'll play the PS1 version.

 

That slowdown though, yeah, I'd be OK with that being fixed completely.

[+Black_Tiger]

On 6/22/2020 at 5:59 AM, Austin said:

Even if it was possible (I doubt it is in its current form), screw fixing the transparencies. The chunkiness of some of the visual effects gives the Saturn version a distinct look. If I want perfect, I'll play the PS1 version.

 

That slowdown though, yeah, I'd be OK with that being fixed completely.

The Saturn version is much more enjoyable and plays better thanks to two of the game biggest flaws being addressed.

 

You get an item at the beginning of the second castle that boosts your movement speed.

 

You get a third hand to equip items on.

 

So instead of stopping mid-fight to enter the menu screen, putting the item on one of your hands, then exiting the menu screen, using the item, going back to the menu screen, re-equiping the weapon or shield, exit the menu screen and finally resume normal play...

 

-in the Saturn version you simply press a button.

 

 

I bought a new GE 25" TV to play Saturn games on in 1995. I bought NitM at EB as soon as it was released and while playing the game through composite all of the dithing looked like real translucencies.

[zetastrike]

4 hours ago, Black_Tiger said:

The Saturn version is much more enjoyable and plays better thanks to two of the game biggest flaws being addressed.

 

You get an item at the beginning of the second castle that boosts your movement speed.

 

You get a third hand to equip items on.

 

So instead of stopping mid-fight to enter the menu screen, putting the item on one of your hands, then exiting the menu screen, using the item, going back to the menu screen, re-equiping the weapon or shield, exit the menu screen and finally resume normal play...

 

-in the Saturn version you simply press a button.

 

 

I bought a new GE 25" TV to play Saturn games on in 1995. I bought NitM at EB as soon as it was released and while playing the game through composite all of the dithing looked like real translucencies.

 

The Saturn version has another strength in that the Wing Smash lasts as long as you have MP, so you can use it to zip through long hallways and open segments in no time.  In the PS1 version, it only travels a short distance.  The Saturn version was the first and only version of SotN I played for years.  Going to the PS1 version for the first time last year was kind of a shock in a bad way.  The toned down visual effects, slowdown, and load times never bothered me because it was my only reference point.

[str0m]

Good to see a dedicated thread. Only got into the Saturn about 2 years ago, somehow got 7 of them now, despite it's limitations it is my favourite and most played of the retro systems I own.