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The Official Sega Saturn Thread!


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6 hours ago, str0m said:

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.

I completely agree, the Saturn has a really special place in my heart in the world of gaming.  Its hard for me to put a finger exactly what it is, but I really love the 2D games, fighters, shooters and even the 3d games.

 

In my opinion, the 32 bit era was very necessary for the dawn of 3D gaming but also produced the ugliest games that do not age well at all.  While I do not dislike the PS1, a huge portion of its games are 3D that look absolutely atrocious today.  The 2D sprite games however look amazing and the Saturn has tons of those.

 

It was like a love letter from artists to gamers with all of the hand drawn animations, backgrounds and sounds.  Artists doing what they do best working in a medium and making great art, this is however not to say that the 3D games were not artistic but the tools were so in their infancy that there is very little that could have been done with them to make them stand the test of time.

 

The Saturn, to me, represents a moment in time, albeit a brief one, where I felt the crossroad intersection of handing over one generation of game makers to another was happening, the changing of the Sprite guard all happening in this great cacophony crescendo in time.

 

While I love the Dreamcast, it was obvious that the future was 3D gaming. Yes sprite games are being made today, it all has such a different feel from the working with limited tools to make your game look great to working with powerful tools to make your game look "retro"... 

 

I am happy where we are but I am so happy I can frequent my favorite gaming era any time by pulling down a game and becoming 20 years old again...

 

 

 

 

Edited by imstarryeyed
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  • 4 weeks later...

Greetings, Saturn community.

 

Limited Run Games is now apparently doing replacement long boxes like the ones US and PAL Saturn games came in.

 

Anyway, it seems there will only be a 3 day window for buying these, so if you want them, don't wait.

 

https://www.retrorgb.com/sega-saturn-sega-cd-replacement-cases.html

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Yep, I am so going to order them on Friday.  I am shooting for 30 cases but I actually need 90 of them.  I had to throw away most of my cases during my many moves in California as they took up so much space.  I honestly did not think it would be hard to get them again but I was wrongggg...  I did however save the book and back art for the games so all I needed was the plastic cases.  I counted last night and I can use around 90 - 100 of them but at 80 bucks a pop for 10, I am only going to buy 30 of them and buy more when they rerelease them in the future and I hope they really do like they imply.

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On 7/30/2020 at 11:43 AM, imstarryeyed said:

Yep, I am so going to order them on Friday.  I am shooting for 30 cases but I actually need 90 of them.  I had to throw away most of my cases during my many moves in California as they took up so much space.  I honestly did not think it would be hard to get them again but I was wrongggg...  I did however save the book and back art for the games so all I needed was the plastic cases.  I counted last night and I can use around 90 - 100 of them but at 80 bucks a pop for 10, I am only going to buy 30 of them and buy more when they rerelease them in the future and I hope they really do like they imply.

Yeah, those long boxes are huge and I've heard they are fragile, as well. Not a great combination, I think.

 

Anyway, today I got this

 

Pic_0801_366.thumb.jpg.dffb150fcadd3700df7442db00e881de.jpg

 

even though I wasn't planning on it because I found it for a decent price. So, between 2 and Boomerang, which one is generally considered better? I'm guessing it's Boomerang since I think it's more expensive, but it's been a while since I've seen it. From what I understand, the levels are identical but the game mechanics are different. Still, this is a nice game and I'm glad that I was able to get it for my tiny Saturn collection. Maybe eventually I'll have something that isn't a shooter or Sakura Taisen. I don't even play a lot of shooters, but somehow the only things I have for the Saturn are shooters and Sakura Taisen!

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The Sega Saturn was actually the last system of that generation that I bought back in the day (N64 first, PSX next, then Saturn when it was failing and could be picked up cheap).  The local Software Etc. (at which I worked part time for the discount) was staffed with Saturn fans, and was even selected as a test store to carry a limited selection of import games, and I remember buying a few imports there.

 

I remember being impressed with the 2d games, which looked way more colorful and sharp than 2D games on the PSX.

 

Fast forward 20 years and I decided to pick up a used Saturn.  I was surprised to note a couple of interesting things:

- Saturn image quality is so clear and colorful compared with the PSX. This is due to how the PSX often uses full-screen dithering, usually to blend color gradations for an overall smoother image (most polygonal games) and sometimes for no reason at all and to the detriment of image quality (prime example: Castlevania Chronicles).

- The Saturn is woefully underrated as a polygonal system.  It has much less texture warping than the PSX, due to it rendering 3D objects using quads rather than triangles.  This gives Saturn polygonal games a much more solid feel compared with PSX games.  Of course, the PSX is a polygonal monster for its time and can render more polygons per second with more effects and at generally at a higher frame rate than the Saturn, but the Saturn was no slouch in performance.  Look at Sega Rally, which compares very well with the best PSX racing games... or Sonic R, which is EXTREMELY impressive.  Some other good examples are Grandia and Thunder Force V, which are actually more impressive on the Saturn with more detailed environments.

 

However, as a fan of turn-based RPGs, I find the Saturn library a bit lacking.  It has the best version of Grandia, which is truly a standout RPG for the generation, and has the unique (but short) Azel (aka Panzer Dragoon Saga), but not a whole lot else other than hybrids (primarily strategy RPGs).  It does have the excellent Phantasy Star Collection, but any SEGA RPG fan worth his salt probably has completed the games already on the Megadrive!  Some other exclusive RPGs include Shining the Holy Ark (fun, but a huge step down in complexity from the classic computer RPGs that inspired it), Dungeon Master Nexus (basically, Dungeon Master III), Albert Odyssey (kinda generic), and Tengai Makyo: The Apocalypse IV (AWESOME 2D graphics, but pretty goofy).

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8 hours ago, newtmonkey said:

However, as a fan of turn-based RPGs, I find the Saturn library a bit lacking.

Try the various versions of Langrisser on the Saturn. Saturn also has a Shin Megami Tensei game, Devil Summoner, which I think only ever got ported to the PSP. Devil Summoner also has a sequel on the Saturn, Soul Hackers, which dropped the Shin Megami Tensei name for whatever reason. There's also Ronde, but I've heard it's garbage and should be avoided.

 

Anyway, did anyone get the MODE yet? I'm curious to see if anyone here has it and how they like it.

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Here's the dodgiest photo of my Saturn collection. The reason those five games aren't in a case is that I don't have any spare jewel cases laying around. Sadly, they don't work so I may throw them away EDIT: I just cleaned off Bomberman and it works! Hell yeah!:

20200803_171348.thumb.jpg.25becc6dcb75877299e57d2c8fed59d0.jpg

Edited by Magmavision2000
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15 hours ago, Magmavision2000 said:

Here's the dodgiest photo of my Saturn collection. The reason those five games aren't in a case is that I don't have any spare jewel cases laying around. Sadly, they don't work so I may throw them away EDIT: I just cleaned off Bomberman and it works! Hell yeah!:

20200803_171348.thumb.jpg.25becc6dcb75877299e57d2c8fed59d0.jpg

How's the condition of your Saturn? Maybe it could be something to do with the laser. I've never had a laser go bad on any system, so I'm definitely not the guy to ask about this, but it's possible, I suppose.

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2 hours ago, Steven Pendleton said:

How's the condition of your Saturn? Maybe it could be something to do with the laser. I've never had a laser go bad on any system, so I'm definitely not the guy to ask about this, but it's possible, I suppose.

 

Or it could be that the discs are scratched. :P

 

At this point we do not know.

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1 hour ago, Austin said:

 

Or it could be that the discs are scratched. :P

 

At this point we do not know.

Bingo! They came with my Saturn bundle and until now, I didn't really bother to do anything with them since, in my mind, loose disk=broken.

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4 hours ago, Steven Pendleton said:

How's the condition of your Saturn? Maybe it could be something to do with the laser. I've never had a laser go bad on any system, so I'm definitely not the guy to ask about this, but it's possible, I suppose.

My Saturn's in good-really good condition. It's aged a little and has a hard time reading some scratched disks, but I'm more inclined to believe that it's more of the disk's fault than the Saturn's. 

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MODE users, there is a new firmware update for MODE with lots of Saturn fixes:

https://forums.terraonion.com/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=1683&p=9574#p9574

15 hours ago, Austin said:

 

Or it could be that the discs are scratched. :P

 

At this point we do not know.

lol yeah. Never know, though...

13 hours ago, Magmavision2000 said:

My Saturn's in good-really good condition. It's aged a little and has a hard time reading some scratched disks, but I'm more inclined to believe that it's more of the disk's fault than the Saturn's. 

In that case, it's probably the discs for sure.

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5 hours ago, Steven Pendleton said:

MODE users, there is a new firmware update for MODE with lots of Saturn fixes:

https://forums.terraonion.com/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=1683&p=9574#p9574

lol yeah. Never know, though...

In that case, it's probably the discs for sure.

Haha! True, but it's good to think about it one step at a time. Troubleshooting any disc read issues, you always start with the discs first. :)

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18 hours ago, Austin said:

Haha! True, but it's good to think about it one step at a time. Troubleshooting any disc read issues, you always start with the discs first. :)

True enough!

 

When I bought Thunder Force V Special Pack not long ago, it looked like someone had burned through part of the game disc with a high-powered laser or something. The music CD was fine, though.

 

This was before I got my Saturn so I wasn't able to test to see if the game worked (probably not), but I was able to take it back to the store where I got it and they were nice enough to take another copy and let me completely gut that copy to replace every part of my copy. Basically, I have the same case, but the discs and manual came from the other copy. Neither copy had the obi, but whenever I get a new system, I'd rather have cheaper games just so I can have something to play, and I have no complete Saturn games aside from my Sakura Taisen limited edition.

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MODE has sold out and will not be back in stock until fall/winter according to Terraonion. This was posted before they sold out:

 

I hope everyone who wanted one got one. Terraonion typically is pretty slow to restock things from what I have seen, so although they say fall/winter, it may take a while.

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2 hours ago, Magmavision2000 said:

I'm thinking about adding Space Invaders to my collection, is it a faithful port?

It does seem to be a straight up port... you can change the background but there's no new gameplay mechanics. I wouldn't buy it unless it was really cheap. It would have made more sense as a part of a compilation rather than a standalone game.

Edited by DragonGrafx-16
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On 8/8/2020 at 1:52 PM, cybercylon said:

I have been waiting for SAG to get them since they are fairly local for me. Well, if I have to wait longer, it's not like I have a shortage of stuff to play.

 

I'm hoping SAG's stock was part of the first batch.  I'm curious how they handle firmware download DRM, being a reseller.

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34 minutes ago, zetastrike said:

 

I'm hoping SAG's stock was part of the first batch.  I'm curious how they handle firmware download DRM, being a reseller.

Same as buying a product from an average store, you just register your device on the TerraOnion site and you'll have access to any downloads related to it.

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25 minutes ago, zetastrike said:

I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw this in my local game store last week.  I ran back there today with 3 consoles to trade for it.  Once it stops thunder storming here, I'm going to see if Outrun works in it.

skelsat1.jpg

Nice, though I found it funny that the entire console is clear yet the memory cartridge slot and the reset/power buttons are default black. lol I guess that is so you can read them but eh.

 

I have yet to try Outrun in my black Model 2 yet...

Edited by DragonGrafx-16
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3 hours ago, zetastrike said:

I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw this in my local game store last week.  I ran back there today with 3 consoles to trade for it.  Once it stops thunder storming here, I'm going to see if Outrun works in it.

skelsat1.jpg

The Derby Stallion Skeleton. I found one of these recently, but it was horribly yellowed. Be careful with it because they can turn yellow and ugly.

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