Reccomend some Saturn Games

[jackaroo]

So im getting my saturn tommorow night. I had some money left over from my last purchase (PSP) and i havent played my PS2 in a while so i decided to use that as a dvd player downstairs and get another console to put in its place. I decided to go for the saturn for several reasons :

1. Ive never had one and im a Sega fan.
2. Sonic Jam & 3D Blast (Although just remakes of older sonic games im a huge sonic fan & Havent played them yet so :p)
3. Nights. Ive heard good things and since a wii sequel is coming out i wanted to try the original first.

But also im now looking for some good games. Ive read in lots of places that Saturn lacks good titles but i dont care. Just recommend some games to me that you enjoyed (If you had or played one).
Oh yeah and i know panzer dragoon saga so no need to mention that. But since its a high price i dont have the money yet.

[SegaFan]

I was hoping someone would start a Saturn topic.

You must remember that the Saturn is first and foremost the ultimate 2D machine, it could handle 2D much better than any other console at the time and for years after. It could also do 3D but this was only ever secondary in its design. 3D gaming took off quicker than expected though, so it turned out that there were more 3D games than 2D, although the Saturn had lots of great 3D games, the 2D games were arguably the most impressive. It's worth looking into importing since a lot of great games, particularly 2D games, didn't make it outside of Japan. Unfortunately I haven't played enough import Saturn to put together a list of recommendations of my own, but there are plenty of sites out there that have lists.

My Saturn collection is only in its early stages as well. I won't make a proper list, I'll just make a few recommendations of games that are good and I know are easy to come by to get started with:

Oh yeah and i know panzer dragoon saga so no need to mention that. But since its a high price i dont have the money yet.
Don't forget Panzer Dragoon Saga wasn't the only Panzer Dragoon game on Saturn. I recommend Panzer Dragoon and Panzer Dragoon Zwei, very nice 3D shooters with RPG-like storylines, and even though the graphics are quite basic by todays standards they still some how manage to look great, some of the levels are really fast as well. They don't cost anything like as much as Saga, though be warned after playing them you might not be able to resist saving up and buying Saga as well, that's what happened to me.

There's Sega Rally Championship which is regarded as one of the best racing games of all time, it set the standard for Rally games and virtually every Rally game since has been heavily influenced by this.
Also I really like Daytona USA, though I have read many bad things about it, the Saturn version is apparently a bad port of the arcade game, but having not played the arcade game much it feels fine to me. It also has a weird but brilliant soundtrack. In my opinion it's better than the supposedly superior Championship Circuit Edition, but I am in the minority.

Virtua Fighter 2. The Saturn version uses a special technique which uses both the 2D and 3D processors simultaniously to generate superior graphics to what was otherwise ever possible at the time on a home console. It runs in a higher resolution and higher framerate than any other Saturn game and outperforms what could be done on Playstation and N64, but it was only this one game. It's also one of the best fighting games ever made.

Sonic R. It's not great but you may as well get all 3 Sonic games, right?

As well as that; NiGHTS, Sonic Jam and Sonic 3D are worth buying, but you know about them.

Ive read in lots of places that Saturn lacks good titles
They are wrong.

[Spore]

The console did have good titles but one has to admit there wasn't much for it and coupled with it's high price tag, failed. Wait, wait, what current gen console does that remind you of?

[Atlantis1982]

Sadly, the only good thing I know about the Saturn was the Japanese commercials...

Segata Sanshiro shall live on. (Salutes)

Though if I did own a Saturn; I would like to pick up Vampire Lords (Darkstalkers 3). Good game. :)

[SegaFan]

The console did have good titles but one has to admit there wasn't much for it and coupled with it's high price tag, failed. Wait, wait, what current gen console does that remind you of?

It certainly didn't fail in Japan, and if it has good games, which it does, that's all that matters. It's a great console, I'd choose it over a Playstation.

[Pocketim]

The console did have good titles but one has to admit there wasn't much for it and coupled with it's high price tag, failed. Wait, wait, what current gen console does that remind you of?

All of them :D

[jackaroo]

Hey all,
Well im back from england and have my saturn but unfortunatly the right button on the D-Pad is busted. It doesnt work so i just bought a new one (I bought the 3D Analog one this time so im prepared for nights).
But i set up the console and it definatly works and i managed to get into Sonic Jam and Sonic 3D and i managed to move left in them so they work.
Thanks for the suggestions though. Im looking forward to playing it just gotta wait for my controller. Until then though i bought 4 PSP Games, 2 DS Games and a game gear game to keep me busy :D. Keep suggesting though.

[SegaFan]

Out of interest, what type of controller did you get? The early Saturn controllers weren't so good, but then there was a re-designed smaller controller (actually it was the controller they had in Japan all along) which is the best digital controller I've ever used, I really recommend one of those. And did you get the older model Saturn (with the oval buttons), or the newer model (with the round buttons)? And does the console's battery work? It's very rare to get one with a working battery on ebay you normally have to change it. Lots of questions, I'm just nosy. :p

[jackaroo]

Well ok then ill try and answer these lol.
1. I Dont think its an official controller. I practically paid for the saturn solo and the controller came with it basically. Anyway its a Gamester LMP. It all works just that damn right button doesnt. We went to tell the guy on Ebay and apparently he is no longer a user. We then unscrewed the controller and still couldnt do anything to get it working. Ive also bought a 3D Analog controller now. It looks like a massive thing but at the moment im just bothered about playing the games i have.
2. The saturn model i have has Circular Power & Reset buttons and a rectangle button to open the CD Cover.
3. Im not really sure how to tell if its battery works. If it doesnt will that be a problem?

[SegaFan]

3. Im not really sure how to tell if its battery works. If it doesnt will that be a problem?
If the battery doesn't work you won't be able to save without a memory card. You'll know if it doesn't work because it'll keep asking you to set the clock. It's a very common battery and easy to replace.

[jackaroo]

Yeah mine keeps asking me to set the clock. Ill have to buy a battery then. Hmmmm another Q tho. If the new battery i get were to run out then would i lose my save data?

[SegaFan]

You'll lose the data unless you back it up to memory card, but it won't be a problem for a long time, the battery should last for years it's just that preowned consoles have generally not been played for a long time.

[jackaroo]

You'll lose the data unless you back it up to memory card, but it won't be a problem for a long time, the battery should last for years it's just that preowned consoles have generally not been played for a long time.

Ok then. Well im gonna get the memory card to save the games. I know the battery will last for long but id rather have the memory card so i dont lose my save games. How much can the memory card save do you reckon? Also about that cartridge slot on the back. Is that just for the memory card or can other things go in there aswell?

[SegaFan]

You can't save directly to the memory card, you save to the internal memory and you can copy files to memory card for backup. This is as far as I know anyway, I've never used an official memory card because I've always used an Action Replay '4 in 1' cart (because that enables imports). It has just occured to me that you might be able to save directly to an official cart, I think not, but to be sure can anyone confirm this?

There is a trick I discovered for saving without a battery which is to quickly copy files to the memory card at the end of each session without turning the power off for more than 2 seconds (the files will stay in the Saturn's memory as long as the power is on), then copying them back next time, but each time you run the risk of losing them. But really you should get a battery, it's not a bad saving system as long as you remember to keep everything important backed up on memory card as well.

Is that just for the memory card or can other things go in there aswell?
There was a RAM expansion as well, possibly only in Japan, but either way the 4 in 1 carts include the RAM expansion as well. Here is a useful FAQ about the 4 in 1 cart:
http://uk.faqs.ign.com/articles/428/428995p1.html

[jackaroo]

You can't save directly to the memory card, you save to the internal memory and you can copy files to memory card for backup. This is as far as I know anyway, I've never used an official memory card because I've always used an Action Replay '4 in 1' cart (because that enables imports). It has just occured to me that you might be able to save directly to an official cart, I think not, but to be sure can anyone confirm this?

There is a trick I discovered for saving without a battery which is to quickly copy files to the memory card at the end of each session without turning the power off for more than 2 seconds (the files will stay in the Saturn's memory as long as the power is on), then copying them back next time, but each time you run the risk of losing them. But really you should get a battery, it's not a bad saving system as long as you remember to keep everything important backed up on memory card as well.


There was a RAM expansion as well, possibly only in Japan, but either way the 4 in 1 carts include the RAM expansion as well. Here is a useful FAQ about the 4 in 1 cart:
http://uk.faqs.ign.com/articles/428/428995p1.html

Awesome info. I will get a battery aswell then but ill still get the memory card. Geez. This saturn sure is an expensive bugga lol.

[jackaroo]

I was just wondering what Panzer Dragoon 1 & 2 (Zwei) is like?
Any info?
Ive seen them both for about £20 each on ebay (That includes postage and packaging aswell) and im considering buying them. What are they like?

[SegaFan]

I was just wondering what Panzer Dragoon 1 & 2 (Zwei) is like?
Any info?
Ive seen them both for about £20 each on ebay (That includes postage and packaging aswell) and im considering buying them. What are they like?

Read my first post on this topic, I said about them there. Ever played Panzer Dragoon Orta? They're very similar, not RPGs like Saga but they're on-rails shooters with RPG-like storylines. I highly recommend them. £20 sounds a bit much though, I'm sure I payed less than that but maybe they've gone up in price.

[jackaroo]

Read my first post on this topic, I said about them there. Ever played Panzer Dragoon Orta? They're very similar, not RPGs like Saga but they're on-rails shooters with RPG-like storylines. I highly recommend them. £20 sounds a bit much though, I'm sure I payed less than that but maybe they've gone up in price.

Well thats 20 pound for the game, box and manual and also for postage and packaging to spain which for saturn games can be quite pricey from what ive seen. But ive looked up on Wikipedia about them and they look good. Ive never played a panzer dragoon game just heard alot about them. I knew this was an on rails shooter and i knew sagas was RPG but i wanted to know if the on rail shooters were good. From what ive seen now though looks like they are.

[SegaFan]

It's just that Panzer Dragoon is one of the most common Saturn games, I'm sure I payed less than £10 but that was in a shop and they had 2 or 3 copies. If you have to pay £20 it's still a good game for that price if you like the genre, but just make sure it's your only option first. I guess that's not such a bad price for Zwei on second thought since that's slightly less common.

[jackaroo]

It's just that Panzer Dragoon is one of the most common Saturn games, I'm sure I payed less than £10 but that was in a shop and they had 2 or 3 copies. If you have to pay £20 it's still a good game for that price if you like the genre, but just make sure it's your only option first. I guess that's not such a bad price for Zwei on second thought since that's slightly less common.


Shops are definatly cheaper. When i lived in england they had Panzer Dragoon Saga for 30 pounds in there. This was back in 2004 so it may have gone up since then and it was in game station. Also on gamestation it said it was selling Panzer Dragoon 2 for about 17 pound. So 20 seems about right since that includes postage and packaging to spain. As for the first ill look around some more.

EDIT : Appears i made a mistake. It is only £13.10 the one i was looking at lol. I guess i just got muddled up and thought Dragoon 1 and Zwei were the same price lol.

[SegaFan]

Sadly Gamestation have been bought by GAME this year and they have significantly reduced their retro section, at least where I live, I get the feeling that the days of buying cheap retro games in shops are coming to an end. But £30 for Saga, that's amazing, I don't think it would have stayed on the shelf for 5 seconds, I've never seen that in a shop.

[jackaroo]

Sadly Gamestation have been bought by GAME this year and they have significantly reduced their retro section, at least where I live, I get the feeling that the days of buying cheap retro games in shops are coming to an end. But £30 for Saga, that's amazing, I don't think it would have stayed on the shelf for 5 seconds, I've never seen that in a shop.

Well at the time i didnt own a saturn and i hadnt heard of panzer dragoon. So to me i didnt realise how valuble it was. I regret it now. But i only saw cause despite not owning a console ill still look through the games. Plus when i went back to england i went game station and there retro section was rather large. Bigger than it was when i lived there. There was LOADS of dreamcast games. it was like the thing was still being made lol. There was a couple of shelves of saturn games but most were racing and sport. And none looked interesting. And also there were Snes, NES, Megadrive & SMS games. But no game gear. However there wasnt much variety for those. Perhaps 7 games per console for those.

[RMA]

Miss both my Saturn and Dreamcast like I miss the days of not getting hangovers...can recommend the following on top of what's been mentioned:

1. Shining The Holy Ark. Awesome RPG - simple to get into, tough to get through!
2. Burning Rangers (?).
3. Fighters Megamix (though VF2 is better for the purist).
4. Die Hard Trilogy.
5. Any Capcom 2d fighter (my favourite being SF Alpha 2 or MSH vs SF).
6. Radiant Silvergun. Just do it.
7. Guardian Heroes.
8. Iron Man / X-O Man of War. Now THIS IS NOT how to make a game.

[SegaFan]

I haven't got any of those games RMA, shows how I really need to get more Saturn stuff. Guardian Heroes will be next I think. And as for Radiant Silvergun, I'll get it someday!

[Angelic Lapras King]

I need more Saturn games too. T.T Been so busy with these Wii games that were recently released. Hope to get Nights, Magic Knight Rayearth and more at some point...

[jackaroo]

At long last my controller arrived and to me it was worth it. Sonic jam is so cool and im really enjoying it. Despite the sonic world been small theyve crammed so much into it its hard not to enjoy it. Sonic 3D Blast is alot better than the megadrive version. Although the gameplay is practically identical the bright and detailed graphics and awesome music make playing through it alot more bareable than the megadrive version. And lets not forget the awesome Special Stages.
There is one problem though but its only my problem. The games i bought are scratched up pretty bad and ive had a few problems with them freezing. But it seems to have stopped now so im happy :D.
Once Sonic Blast on game gear arrives (It arrived at my nans the other day and now its gonna be sent out here to spain) and once christmas is over im gonna start gettin me some saturn games :D

[Angelic Lapras King]

Sonic Blast on the GG? I won't want to put you off, but I played the final boss on that game (via Gems Collection) and in my opinion, its the worst boss level ever. Its almost impossible to hit Eggman without hitting the spikes and you ll get hit multible times.

Just my opinion though.

[SegaFan]

Have you got Nights yet?

Sonic 3D Blast is alot better than the megadrive version. Although the gameplay is practically identical the bright and detailed graphics and awesome music make playing through it alot more bareable than the megadrive version. And lets not forget the awesome Special Stages.I thought the same thing, I really like the Saturn version and still go back to it sometimes, even though the Mega Drive version had all the same levels and was very average, the Saturn's extras make the game worth playing. I had low expectations of the Saturn version and was plesently surprised.

[jackaroo]

Sonic Blast on the GG? I won't want to put you off, but I played the final boss on that game (via Gems Collection) and in my opinion, its the worst boss level ever. Its almost impossible to hit Eggman without hitting the spikes and you ll get hit multible times.

Just my opinion though.

I will admit that Sonic Blast isnt the best but its quite a rare game and since i found it cheap i went for it. I had seen it go for £73 before and i found it for about 15 Euro. Plus my goal is to get every sonic game gear game :lol:

Have you got Nights yet?

I thought the same thing, I really like the Saturn version and still go back to it sometimes, even though the Mega Drive version had all the same levels and was very average, the Saturn's extras make the game worth playing. I had low expectations of the Saturn version and was plesently surprised.

I havent been able to order nights yet. Since i ordered Blast on Game Gear my dad wants me to wait for that to come first and then wait for christmas to be over. Then i will order nights. Nights, Panzer Dragoon & Sonic Spinball Game Gear are the ones im going for next :lol:

[Angelic Lapras King]

Just brought Sega Rally Championship on ebay for £4. Not a bad bargain.

QUESTION! Can anyone recommend Virtual Fighter? I ve seen it cheap on ebay.

[jackaroo]

Sad news for me.........

I cant find a PAL nights on Ebay which you can buy straight away. I dont like doing the bidding. Ive been out bid for everything i bid for so ive given up on the whole bidding thing. Either way it doesnt matter there isnt many you can bid for either. Anyway just so i know what is the recommended price i should pay for nights if it pops up. Also is the Saturn region free? And if so if i got japanese nights would there be a way to set it to english?

EDIT : Ok ive found Nights PAL and its coming from germany. Once again do you know if it will be in english?

[Angelic Lapras King]

Sad news for me.........

I cant find a PAL nights on Ebay which you can buy straight away. I dont like doing the bidding. Ive been out bid for everything i bid for so ive given up on the whole bidding thing. Either way it doesnt matter there isnt many you can bid for either. Anyway just so i know what is the recommended price i should pay for nights if it pops up. Also is the Saturn region free? And if so if i got japanese nights would there be a way to set it to english?

EDIT : Ok ive found Nights PAL and its coming from germany. Once again do you know if it will be in english?Nah, it isnt region free. You need one of the import carts for that.

As for the German Nights, you should ask the guy selling it.

[SegaFan]

Ok ive found Nights PAL and its coming from germany. Once again do you know if it will be in english?There won't be a language barrier either way. There's no dialogue in Nights (there is a story but no dialogue) and even the menus keep words to a minimum.

[jackaroo]

well ive bought nights off that german guy. Problem is its a bank transfer and we havent been able to pay the money yet since we havent recieved his bank details yet. But we will pay when we do and hopefully i will have the game ASAP. Im lookin forward to it.

[Angelic Lapras King]

I have a question about importing games. Its about saving. Now, say I was to save on an American game with my Pal Saturn (Using a cart to play it), it won't hurt the Pal saves on my Saturn would it? I ve heard of it happening on other consoles. If so, how does one resolve this?

Same question again, only Japanese games too (Me wants Japanese Magic Knight Rayearth as well as the American version)

[jackaroo]

Woo Nights has been dispatched so i should get it within 1-2 weeks. Would be quicker if spanish post doesnt suck so much a***!
I ordered Sonic Spinball on Game Gear with it aswell so im now even closer to my Sonic Game Gear Collection being complete.

[jackaroo]

YAY! I got Nights and its pretty cool from what ive played so far. I havent played much cause i also just got my xbox online so ive been playing that and chatting to my friend. But yeah it seems cool and definatly unique. There is bad news though. The analog controller i got, the analog bit dont work on it. But it feels fine playing through D-Pad so thats fine to me. Anyway ill say more of what i think about it once i play it more.

[SegaFan]

I take it you've tried switching the switch at the bottom to the circle instead of +? Because the analogue won't work unless you do. If it's not that then it's a shame, the d-pad works but it's not the same, you should try getting a refund on the controller.

[jackaroo]

I take it you've tried switching the switch at the bottom to the circle instead of +? Because the analogue won't work unless you do. If it's not that then it's a shame, the d-pad works but it's not the same, you should try getting a refund on the controller.

Yeah tried that. But i dunno if i can get a refund since it worked at first when i first got it so i already gave positive feedback. But since then the analogue bit hasnt been touched. And it just aint working.

[Angelic Lapras King]

So I take it Nights can be played well without the 3D Controller right?

Its just I ve seen the game for cheap without the controller and I was just curious.

[SegaFan]

So I take it Nights can be played well without the 3D Controller right?

Its just I ve seen the game for cheap without the controller and I was just curious.
It can be played without the 3D controller, but not as well. The analogue stick lets you be more precise, which is important in Nights, especially when you're going for high scores, it also gives you more of a sense of freedom somehow.

I guess if you've never played it with the 3D controller and only used the d-pad you might think it's fine, see what jackaroo says. But whenever I've tried it with the d-pad it has felt like a step back. It was one of the first games that made full use of analogue controls, that's why it was bundled with some copies, and it doesn't cost much more to buy it with the controller.

[RMA]

The analogue control is much smoother and intuitive, adding to the sense of flight and is half of the reason the game was so great. Wait for the game with controller if you can.

[coire]

Radiant Silvergun. If You're loaded... That game is expensive!

[Angelic Lapras King]

I will buy the 3D Controller at some point. I just couldnt turn down a £20 copy of the game. The bundles with the controller were up to £40. o.o

[Pocketim]

I've been thinking of getting a Saturn myself, I found a package on TradeMe that had the Saturn, 5 games, and a Controller for 15 bucks, what a deal! One of the games that come with it is Sonic 3D, and the rest Im not really interested in... I also want to get Sonic Jam and NiGHTS, what are some games you could recommend to me? As some of you already know, I like Puzzle games and Platformers, and I don't like anything too violent

[SegaFan]

What are the other 4 games?

[Pocketim]

What are the other 4 games?

Virtua Fighter, Hidden Souls, Sega Rally and some Soccer game with a big name:p

[Angelic Lapras King]

Played Virtua Fighter 2 recently and I was impressive how much better it was then the first game! Quite addictive actully. ^^

And Nights is awesome! =D

[jackaroo]

Unfortunatly for my copy of Nights i recently got a wireless router so i now have my Xbox online. So that has been getting more attention. However i have a 3 Day weekend coming up and im definatly gonna give Nights a good go.

[90's Gamer]

Great Saturn games;

-Virtua Cop
-Virtua Fighter Remix
-Virtua Fighter 2
-Clockwork Knight 1 & 2
-Sega Rally
-Resident Evil
-Die Hard Trilogy
-Panzer Dragoon 1 & 2
-Nights
-Doom
-Castlevania SOTN
-Command & Conquer
-Darius Gaiden
-Gradius Deluxe
-Mortal Kombat Trilogy
-NBA Jam TE
-Radiant Silvergun
-Die Hard Arcade
-Shining Force III
-Bug!
-Street Fighter Alpha 1 & 2

[Angelic Lapras King]

Little warning to those buying Nights, it takes up a fair bit of memory on the Saturn's Internal Memory.

[jackaroo]

How much memory does it take up? Also hooray i beat the first dream lol (Splash Garden with Elliot). And i got a rank D lol. Since its my first proper go im happy with that.

[Angelic Lapras King]

Think it was something like 200+ blocks

[jackaroo]

Yes its 30 blocks for the score data and 197 for the A-Life. Anyone know how much the Memory Cards can store?

[Andy (Omega Land)]

I'm a bit non-plus-ed about Nights, and all the 3d games discussed here - they just don't cut it by today's standards [IMO] BUT - as some dude said earlier in this post - 2D is where the saturn is at :) Try some of the shooters - Strikers 1945, Soukyugurentai and Don Pachi are my favourite (will need a japanese or modded saturn, but won't break the bank like Radiant Silvergun) Also the 2D platformers are cool, especially Castlevania Dracula X (jap) - Megaman x4 and Guardian Heroes also come highly recommended.

[megbydogs]

You can't save directly to the memory card, you save to the internal memory and you can copy files to memory card for backup. This is as far as I know anyway, I've never used an official memory card because I've always used an Action Replay '4 in 1' cart (because that enables imports). It has just occured to me that you might be able to save directly to an official cart, I think not, but to be sure can anyone confirm this?


Since the above was posted almost three months ago, this might be old news by now, but if you happen to have an official Sega backup memory cartridge you can save directly to it.

I've seen the official ones on amazon.com and ebay going anywhere from $49.99 to $69.99, used.

By the way, here are some Saturn games that I'd recommend. Again, apologies for such a belated response.

-Virtua Cop (don't play without the Stunner)
-Virtua Cop 2 (ditto)
-House of the Dead (looks like crap but plays great! use Stunner also)
-Sega Rally Championship
-Daytona USA (see House of the Dead comment)
-Panzer Dragoon
-Panzer Dragoon II Zwei
-Panzer Dragoon Saga (you already know about this one)
-Shining the Holy Ark (like a 32-bit Shining in the Darkness)
-Shining Force III
-Lunar: The Silver Star Story
-Lunar 2: Eternal Blue
-Blazing Heroes
-Mass Destruction
-Last Bronx
-Fighters MegaMix
-Virtua Fighter 2
-Powerslave
-Duke Nukem 3D
-Tomb Raider
-Resident Evil