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Sega Saturn System - Video Game Console Review (continued)
More User Submitted Sega Saturn System - Video Game Console Reviews
Date: 2006-08-05
dated video game system
The Saturn was a briefly popular 32-bit video game system created by Sega in the 90's. It was designed to compete with the Sony Playstation and Nintendo 64. Unfortunately for Sega, the Saturn ranks a distant third in terms of enjoyment value.
Looking back, I'd say the Sega Saturn really isn't that bad a system. I used to play it with my friend and I'd say I had a *little* fun. It's just that Sony was pumping out an *unbelievable* amount of excellent games during the EXACT time Sega was trying to market the Saturn and, as you know, Sony came out of nowhere and grabbed the attention of millions and millions of video game fans. This made it VERY hard for Sega to keep up with the surprising success of the Playstation. Sony wasn't fooling around back then- they were on a mission to dominate the video game market and BOY did they ever succeed. It permanently changed the video game scene; destroying the console wars between Nintendo and Sega. Sony coming out of nowhere and almost *immediately* ruling the market pretty much spelled the end of Nintendo and Sega being the only two video game companies competing with each other. Now a THIRD company entered the mix. To put it another way- Sony temporarily brought Nintendo to its knees and, in the process, knocked out Sega forever. Sega was never able to recover from the damage Sony had done. Everyone thought Nintendo would be the company to destroy Sega. Nope! Nintendo came close a few times, though. With Sega's well-known history of bad marketing techniques, this might have been for the best. I bet Sega would have continued to struggle if they had made the decision to keep themselves in the console-releasing market after the Dreamcast was finished. I bet Sega would be looking pretty ugly right now, in terms of sales. Good thing they pulled away.
Because the Sega Saturn didn't have a long life, the few people out there who actually own one HAVE to notice its main weak point- not very many games to choose from. The good Saturn games you CAN choose from are either really rare and expensive, or import games never released in America. That's the biggest problem with the Saturn. Just not enough.
To give Sega credit, the Saturn DOES have some quality games such as Virtua Fighter 2, Guardian Heroes, Radiant Silvergun, Shining Force III, Sonic Jam, Nights and Dracula X. BUT- and here's the important thing I want you to remember- it would be IMPOSSIBLE to ignore the many crappy games released for the Saturn. Worthless games such as Corpse Killer, Bug Too!, Incredible Hulk: The Pantheon Saga, Hi-Octane, G-Vector and The House of the Dead don't exactly show off the Saturn's amazing capabilities. Also keep in mind that the Sega Saturn was an *extremely* awful system when it came to sports games. Just about every basketball and hockey game released for the system isn't worth a darn. To me that's surprising when you consider the Sega Genesis was known at one point as the best video game system for sports games. You'd think Sega would have continued the trend of releasing quality sports games for the Saturn, but they didn't. Another disappointment.
Everyone likes to point out that the Playstation is the video game system with the highest amount of crappy games. That's only because Sega gave up halfway through the competition with the Playstation. Argue with me if you must, but the Saturn was basically dead by the end of 1997. The Playstation was just getting warmed up by that point. If the Saturn had continued to compete with the Playstation until say, the year 2000, the Saturn probably would've ended up with JUST as many horrible games. Sega gave up in 1997 when it finally dawned on them that Sony was putting them out of business.
Mostly jealous Sega fanboys like to point out the high amount of terrible Playstation games, while Playstation fans correctly understand that you have to sort through a lot of junk to get to the GOOD games- and believe me, the Playstation had a LOT of good games. In fact, the best Playstation games are better than the best Saturn games, in my opinion. Give me Silent Hill and Resident Evil 2 over Nights and Shining Force III ANY day. It's a shame Sega fans will never stop defending the Saturn with the same old argument. Time to give it a rest.
I think Sega fans are confused when they say overall, Saturn games feature less loading times than the Playstation. For a supposedly powerful video game system, you sure had to wait a LONG time to play a game on the Saturn. For example, you have to sit there for an eternity to play games like WWF: Wrestlemania: the Arcade Game and Mortal Kombat Trilogy. Compare those loading times to the same games on the Playstation, and the wait isn't NEARLY as inconvenient.
What makes the lengthy loading times on the Sega Saturn even MORE frustrating is how, right after the "now loading" screen goes away, the screen turns black for a few seconds making you wait even LONGER. There's no 3-seconds of blackness on the Playstation. The *very* second the loading screen goes away on ANY Playstation game, the actual game comes in. Sega fans like to pretend those few additional seconds of loading aren't happening. Trust me Sega fans, I DO notice them. I DO realize that I'm waiting 3 extra unnecessary seconds to play the darn game. The Saturn is MUCH worse when it comes to loading times. It's SO slow. None of this matters anyway, because by the end of 1997 loading times were almost completely gone anyway! If only the Saturn had survived long enough to see that.
Besides the loading problem, most of the time the Playstation had the superior version when the same game was released for both systems. This was because the graphics were always clean and sparkly on the Playstation. On the Saturn, after they finished creating a game it was like they rubbed the graphic engine in the dirt. Either that, or the person who put the colors in all the Saturn games could only see in black and white. All the bland, colorless backgrounds on most Saturn games make me feel like I'm digging a hole to China. Poor, severely-dated graphics. For a good example, compare the two versions of Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. Once again, the Playstation version smears it. The Saturn version features ugly, grainy and ugly-colored graphics. If a game appears on both the Saturn and Playstation, compare the graphics and I guarantee the Playstation version will look better.
I can think of only one thing the Saturn did better than Sony- the CD Player built into the system is actually more interesting on the Saturn. On the Playstation it's just a boring, predictable layout of hitting "Play" "Pause" "Forward" etc. On the Saturn you have a LOT more options, and the neat-looking background showing a countless amount of shooting stars is pretty impressive to watch while you sit back and listen to the music from the CD you put on. None of this means the actual quality of the CD player on the Saturn is better- just that the outer space background and addition of more options makes it LOOK better. They both play CD's very well.
It's a shame the Saturn couldn't hang with the big boys. It couldn't hang around long enough to see sequels to many popular games such as Resident Evil, Mega Man and Tomb Raider. All those sequels went to the Playstation and turned out to be VERY successful. If a game like Resident Evil 2 had appeared on the Saturn, who knows how successful it would have been. Sony seriously put a hurtin' on Sega.
Funny how the Playstation's gray-colored ordinary-looking system design is actually more attractive than the Saturn's silky-black "cool" color. What's that expression? Never judge a book by its cover. Right! I think back to that Sega commercial ten years ago showing a Playstation falling from a building and a guys voice saying "fly, play thing, fly". hahahahahahahahaHAHAHA!!!
Date: 2006-07-22
this could hav bee n a great system
sonic xtreme 2 words if they would have released that would hav made it great it pissed me off
Date: 2005-10-30
The best 2-D system ever made
It failed in the US and Europe because it can't do 3-D graphics very well, but the Saturn was the best 2-D system ever made. Many great 2-D games never came out in the US or Europe, because they were in 2-D. Over 50 shoot'em ups (shmups) for the Saturn (Radiant Silvergun, Battle Garegga, etc.), arcade perfect fighting games convertions (X-Men VS. Street Fighter, Street Fighter Zero (Alpha) 3, etc.), and some good orginal games (Nights). The controller for the Saturn is perfect for Capcom fighting games, and shoot'em ups (the second Saturn controller model). Just about all of these games were Japan only, and to play the import fighting games on your Saturn, you'll need a 1 MB or 4 MB RAM cart, and a import cart to play the import games. Once you're able to play the import fighting games like Street Fighter Zero 3 and shoot'em ups like Battle Garegga on your Saturn, you'll realize that the Saturn is the best 2-D system ever lived.
Date: 2005-08-19
32 bits of pure awesomeness
This system didn't last very long, but in 1995, it was the most powerful one out there. Not only did it have the best graphics, three 32 bit RISC processors (whatever that means, i read it off the box), but it has some pretty awesome games and sound. It plays Sega Saturn games and audio CDs. This is a great system and a must have for anyone who is interested in video games. Why? For games like Nights into Dreams (which I reviewed) and Panzer Dragoon (which im gonna review once I have the scratches taken off of my disc). I also highly reccomend buying the 3D controller. This system is not the best, but it beats many others. So buy it. See for yourself.
Date: 2004-05-30
Marvel vs. Street Fighter, X-men vs. Street Fighters
Those are just a few of the many great arcade classics found on sega saturn. They have been replicated on other system, but they are poorly not up to arcade standard. By purchasing a ram card which doubles as a Japanese game converter, you can play classic arcade fighters WITH ZERO SLOW DOWN!!!! I've played a few of the 2-D fighters on sega Dreamcast and I've noticed a little slow down. That's why I still keep my saturn to play old 2-D fighters. You can purchase a Japanese ram card for a very cheap price on auction websites. There are many other great games which do not require a ram card. Like Virtual Cop parts 1 and 2 where you can shoot bad guys and hear them scream in agony. There is also an excellent 3-D fighting game named Fighters Megamix. Fighters Megamix takes characters from two separate games, and places them all into one game. With over 25 characters to use, this game is actually better than the Playstation 2 Virtual Fighter 4. Virtual Fighter 4 has only 16 characters.
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