$7 Saturn at a thrift worth it?

[okto]

Found this at a local thrift store today, and didn't get it because I wasn't sure if I needed one. It has no controllers or hookups, so I would hazve to add those.

What are the "killer apps" for the Saturn? I know some good games were released, but before I drop seven hard-earned college kid dollars on it, I need to know it's worth it.

[Jess Ragan]

Oh, it's worth it all right! The Saturn has a stronger library in Japan than it does here in the US, but that little problem can be easily addressed if you're willing to chip your system.

 

Annnnnyway... here are a few American releases that I'm sure you'll enjoy:

 

NightWarriors: Darkstalkers' Revenge

Guardian Heroes

Street Fighter Alpha 2

Panzer Dragoon Zwei (also Panzer Dragoon Saga, but you'll never find it!)

Virtua Fighter 2 (or alternately, Fighter's Megamix)

WipeOut

NiGHTS Into Dreams

Virtua Cop

 

JR

[liveinabin]

Score! Definitely a good buy. The Saturn is the best console I own (and I have a few) and I'm not even into the fighting/shooting games that the system is usually noted for.

There are a whole slew of wonderful, original titles for it. It's a real pity the system didn't catch on, which was more due to bad business management than anything, because, if you judge it just on the quality of it's games, it was really Sega's finest hour.

[DeV0]

Definately get your hands on it for $7, You never know, It may be chipped already. Saturn is one of my biggest collections and there is some real gems in there. Theres alot of different ways to play imports, mainly cartridges like action replay or St Key. Chipping wont help you play imports unless they are burnt isos and country coded to your saturns origin. I think there are more shooters on the saturn then any other system? Radiant silvergun kept me awake for weeks. Theres also plenty of good US and Pal releases, really is worth $7

[+Cobra Kai]

Found this at a local thrift store today, and didn't get it because I wasn't sure if I needed one. It has no controllers or hookups, so I would hazve to add those.

What are the "killer apps" for the Saturn? I know some good games were released, but before I drop seven hard-earned college kid dollars on it, I need to know it's worth it.

 

Screw that, you don't even know if it works. Not to mention the hassle and extra cash you'll spend buying the equipment to see if it does work. If you go through with it, you'll only need your sense of hearing to know if the machine is operable or not, because not only does it look like a washing machine, but it runs like one too. If it's shaking and making noise like a '57 Chevy when you press Power, then you're good to go.

[taxman]

Maybe you can talk them down in the price. Tell them it doesn't have any accessories with it and you're not even sure that it works.

[Clint Thompson]

Man, come on now. Not worth it? Hell yea it's worth it... risk even. Hell, most people spend that much on lottery tickets in 1 month...(excluding myself however, judging from my family ) so if you can look at it as a possibly positive gamble, then yea. It probably works and for that price I personally wouldn't have passed it up. Mind you, my local thrift was asking $129 for a Saturn with like 9 games (as-is)... so yea, =)

[Gabriel]

I'm going to go against the crowd and say no.

 

While there are some decent games for the Saturn, most don't age well at all. And the games worth having are all going to cost you.

 

As already mentioned, most of the "good" games for the Saturn came out only in Japan. Personally, I think that's a bit of a crock. But, if you do believe the hype, then you get to deal with overseas sellers who know they have something you'll pay through the nose for, or with collectors unloading a bunch of junk they know you'll part with serious cash for.

 

So, if you're looking for a deal on a system with some cheap games, you're going to be disappointed. But if you're looking to get the system cheap and pay like new or high collector's prices for the games, then go ahead.

[Bruce Tomlin]

Definately get your hands on it for $7, You never know, It may be chipped already. Saturn is one of my biggest collections and there is some real gems in there. Theres alot of different ways to play imports, mainly cartridges like action replay or St Key. Chipping wont help you play imports unless they are burnt isos and country coded to your saturns origin.

"chipped" Saturns only play burned discs, not imports, so they were neither popular nor common. A switch mod is the most effective way of playing imports, but it's a total pain in the ass to install, especially since the points are on both sides of the board on most revisions. It literally takes half an hour of time just for taking apart and rebuilding the unit, never mind the time to mod it. And take my advice and don't hang a region switch out the back door... the wires will eventually break at the hang point. Also, switch mods really only work for US/Japan. To handle Euro or PAL/NTSC needs two more control lines and you have to use a DIP switch. I actually did that mod once for the hell of it. Edited March 12, 2006 by Bruce Tomlin

[rorysl]

Hmm...I'm not sure. I have a Saturn and I have a few games but it's far from my most-played system. Many would argue that it depends on the games you have. I have Die Hard Arcade, which I LOVE -- that was the system's killer app for me (had fond memories of finishing it in arcade while in college). It depends on how rigorously you want to persue collecting for it. As somebody mentioned, the hook-ups are going to cost you at first, before you can even think about hunting out games. In my experience games (at least, any good ones) are really hard to find. If it's just going to be one more system you're not going to have time/money to pursue a good collection for, I'd pass. Or at least get a better price!

[BydoEmpire]

I love my Saturn as well, although I didn't pick it up until a few years after it had pretty much died. I think there are a number of great games you can find cheaply. Nights is common and a lot of fun. Multiplayer in Saturn Bomberman has yet to be equalled by any subsequent Bomerman game. I think you should go for it, provided you can get cheap av cables and controllers (which should be pretty reasonable).

[chrisbid]

before you pick it up, look around other parts of the store for other parts of the system. if you can find a controller, or a power supply, you can most likely get them bundled together

 

i did this one time... i saw a barebones saturn for 30 bucks.. ripoff right? well after looking in the toy section, i saw a box with a 5-in-1 cart, and an import clear controller. i pick it up then (the cart is worth 25 bucks by itself) i come to find out that the system was modded to play backups. the one time ripoff of 30 bucks became a steal

[bjk7382]

I found a saturn in a Salvation Army in the box with everything in it and all the plastic bags, twist ties and instruction books, for $15 bucks. So I would have to say no on a 7 dollar bare console.

 

I am working on downloading some of the roms for my newly modded system. Boy are they big... There are more than 10 DVDs worth of them, but the disks are 4.2 gig a piece Takes a while to download even with broadband.

[8th lutz]

Great find. It is worth it. My brother owns a saturn. The thing to remember is a good amount of its games are uncommon. Nights, Panzer Dragoon 1&2, Fighters Megamix and others. The uncommon ones are the ray Magic nightearth and a few others. My brother has over 60 games including an import called Konami Antiques: Msx Collection. It is great import that has games from that computer. It is great system for its imports.

[Jess Ragan]

I found a saturn in a Salvation Army in the box with everything in it and all the plastic bags, twist ties and instruction books, for $15 bucks. So I would have to say no on a 7 dollar bare console.

 

I am working on downloading some of the roms for my newly modded system. Boy are they big... There are more than 10 DVDs worth of them, but the disks are 4.2 gig a piece Takes a while to download even with broadband.

 

May I ask where you're getting these games? I still have a few slots to fill in my collection of import ISOs.

 

JR

[Artlover]

I found a saturn in a Salvation Army in the box with everything in it and all the plastic bags, twist ties and instruction books, for $15 bucks. So I would have to say no on a 7 dollar bare console.

I don't think that's a fair way of comparing it. Thrift stores have no rhyme or reason to how they price stuff. Great deal for sure, but certainly not one to use as a general benchmark. Even most of the saturns on Ebay are considerably more. I think such compairsons should really be based on normal/typical prices, not the underpriced prices of people who don't know any better or don't care.

 

Considering a basic set from a game reseller goes for close to $40, I think $7 for a bare console is fair. Especialy considering you can get a A/V cable, power cord and controller for $10-15, which will bring the whole total in at $17-22 bucks which is a completely reasonable price.

 

Really, the only issue here is the fact that it's untested, and untestable without the hookups. For someone who doesn't have a Saturn and looking for one to start collecting with, this probably wouldn't be the best choice because of that. However, it would probably be good for existing Saturn owners looking for extra systems for spares or parts. Having a Saturn already, I'd buy it at that price for that purpose. If it actually works, all the better.

[Artlover]

May I ask where you're getting these games? I still have a few slots to fill in my collection of import ISOs.

I like 'alt.binaries.cd.image.sega-saturn' myself.

[Jess Ragan]

I haven't been to the newsgroups in a while, but what the heck, I'll give it a shot!

 

JR

[ManShowBoy]

It's only $7 man. You Atari collectors...... Cheapskates!

[keilbaca]

Get it dude...

 

As said above, there's other ways to play it. There's ST Key (what I use) and there's also a way to just solder some bridges and activate them by switches. One way is American, another way is Japanese, so you can play all those great imports.

[DeV0]

Definately get your hands on it for $7, You never know, It may be chipped already. Saturn is one of my biggest collections and there is some real gems in there. Theres alot of different ways to play imports, mainly cartridges like action replay or St Key. Chipping wont help you play imports unless they are burnt isos and country coded to your saturns origin.

"chipped" Saturns only play burned discs, not imports, so they were neither popular nor common. A switch mod is the most effective way of playing imports, but it's a total pain in the ass to install, especially since the points are on both sides of the board on most revisions.

 

 

Dont ever bother with the switch mod, Like i said in my post about chips, only "Burnt iso's" that have been coded to the origin of your machine. There is some software, forget what its called? saturn patch or something, Anyway, this lets you change and iso images to any country, in your case NTSC/USA.

 

For $7, you dont even need to open this thing up or get any kind of chip for playing iso's, u only need a chip for original imports. Saturn is IMHO the easiest console to hot swap discs for playing burnt games, you just need one original.

[+Cobra Kai]

Almost all the best games are the Working Designs games, so be prepared to pay mucho $$$.

 

P.S. Be sure to turn the volume way up on your television so you can drown out the mechanical noises coming from the system.

[Clint Thompson]

Speaking of... take the $7 console to a local used game store and tell them you need hookups but want to make sure the thing actually works before you shell out the cash to get them. If their cool (which I don't see why most people would deny you in trying to sell goods) they can test it all out right there for you. Worst case scenario, your out some time and $7.

[Rockin' Kat]

Personally, if I don't have a system yet and I find one for less than $10 I don't think too much before buying...I just look it over and make sure it's in one peice and not filled with sticky goo...or missing any parts...I once found a PSX with no mechanism for reading or spinning disks. Thinking results in missing it. My own opionion on whether a game system is worth owning is all I care about at that price(and I can't exactly make that up if I don't buy it.)

 

I dunn know what this thing is about high prices.. I mean, I got the vast majority of my Saturn games for under $2 each(of cource, then I got most of them in one big haul at a thrift store...all boxed with inserts... $1.99 each).... I think I have like 40 of them... though I stopped really keeping track of shit like that before I got much of anything for Saturn.

 

If you do go back and it is actually still there, you should check with a clerk to see if they aren't keeping the accessories behind the counter or something.... or just scour the whole electronics department for them.

 

If you have a PSX or Dreamcast power cable, you could see if the system will light up it's Power LED when turned on.

Edited March 14, 2006 by SuperPsycho

[okto]

Wow, thanks for all the responses, guys! I have a local store (Vintage Stock) that carries old video game stuff pretty regularly, and they have several Saturn controllers (standard, analog stick, and an arcade-style joystick) and I think all the hookups. Since there's a Genesis that's been there for weeks, there's a good chance the Saturn will be still there (and marked down!) by the time I get back there.