of Sega Saturn There was never a chance. From day one, it was hobbled by the sudden launches that plague game retailers, and quickly found itself in a one-sided brawl with Sony’s all-conquering PlayStation. The Saturn was relatively difficult to develop, couldn’t push Polygon efficiently, and sales quickly plummeted.
By the time Nintendo entered the Nintendo 64 generation, the writing was on the wall against poor Saturn. Developers took off for greener pastures, and releases slowed to a trickle until the last North American title hit store shelves in December 1998.
Its fate was a little easier in Japan, where it held out well until 2000. That means many of the system’s most memorable titles were never released in the West. So, if you’re interested in this promising but doomed system, here are 10 titles you need to play.
Ten. Cyber Troopers Virtual-On (1996)
Perhaps it’s best to come out and say it at the top. You’ll need deep pockets to do this list justice. Sega’s 3D robot fighting game isn’t necessarily expensive to buy, but for the full experience you’ll need a Saturn twin stick controller to mimic the arcade experience. virtualon Although it can be played with a regular Saturn pad, it comes to life when you try it with the purposeful twin stick controls (only $80 on eBay!).
Deep gameplay, fun robot design, and kinetic action? It’s amazing.
9. power of the dragon (1996)
What Saturn lacked in polygons, it made up for in sprites. J-FORCE and Sega’s tactical RPG power of the dragon One of the best pieces of evidence shows a mind-boggling battle in which 200 soldiers fought simultaneously. This is a beautiful game, offering eight individual stories that embody a fantasy world while nicely balancing the role-playing and combat management aspects. It’s a lesser-known title, but it’s worth checking out.
8. guardian heroes (1996)
This side-scrolling action further proves Saturn’s 2D mastery.like power of the dragon Pushing a ridiculous amount of sprites onto the screen can result in chaotic combat between three 2D planes. All of this is combined with a very fun anime aesthetic, featuring fully animated FMV cutscenes that tell the story. Beautiful sprites like this, his art never really gets old, but perhaps his ’90s gamers caught up in his leap into 3D didn’t realize that at the time.
7. The night goes to dreams (1996)
It is well known that Saturn did not receive proper recognition. Sonic the hedgehog game, but Sonic Team has developed a great game instead. The night goes to dreams. The blue blur was replaced by an androgynous purple clown who lived in children’s dreams, and in retrospect it’s no wonder it never caught on. anyway, night I didn’t have any problems with Super Mario 64, an exhilarating time attack game in which you jump around surreal levels and help two kids resolve emotional trauma. There aren’t many others like this.
6. Panzer Dragoon II Zwei (1996)
Saturn launched with Team Andromeda’s excellent rail shooter Panzer Dragoonbut this is ultimately overshadowed by the sequel. Panzer Dragoon II Zwei It features branching levels, a more complex story, and is a sight to behold (by Saturn standards). Perhaps to modern eyes it looks like a jagged, low-poly blur, but clever environment and enemy design, matched with Saturn’s clever use of dual processors, make it a technical showcase. Masu.
Five. X-MEN vs. Street Fighter (1997)
2D fighters are a genre where the Saturn definitely beat out both the PlayStation and the Nintendo 64. X-MEN vs. Street Fighter It’s right at the top of that mountain.Follow Capcom X-Men: Children of the Atom and marvel superheroeswhich finally results in Street Fighter a character substantially equivalent to the first one marvel vs capcom. The movement is beautiful and the art is great.
Sadly, this was never released outside of Japan. Probably because he needs a 4MB RAM cartridge to run. It’s Fast and Furious, a virtually perfect arcade port, leaving the scaled-down PlayStation version of the same game in the dust.
Four. radiant silver gun (1998)
In addition to being one of the coolest names in gaming history; radiant silver gun One of the best shooting games of all time. Comes from the masterpiece treasure (also guardian heroes) This combines 2D and 3D art into a very smooth presentation.
many years radiant silver gun It was something of a holy grail for gamers. It will only be released in limited quantities in Japan, and the full version currently costs about $250. Fortunately, it has since been ported to Switch and PC, and is usually available at a significant discount.
3. Virtua Fighter 2 (1995)
Saturn was launched in 1993 as a hasty transplant. Virtua Fighter, flat-shaded polygons looked outdated even a year after release. But a fully textured mapped model 2 Virtua Fighter 2 It surprised gamers and was probably the most advanced looking game of 1994. How can Saturn deal with this?
Well, somehow the geniuses at Sega did something that few others could do.Saturn Virtua Fighter 2 It runs at a super smooth 60FPS and also utilizes a 480i resolution, which is rarely used on systems. What makes this 3D Saturn game so great is, frankly, magical.
2. sega rally championship (1995)
In the 1990s, Sega dominated arcades with a series of great racing games. Virtua Racing, Daytona USA, and scud racer All are great titles, but sadly Saturn quickly developed a reputation for under-performing receiving ports. Fortunately, that was not the case in 1995. sega rally championshipit had the most advanced physics system I’ve ever seen in a racing game.
Simply put, sega rally championship It has dreamy control in the arcade and at home, and it still feels great when you compare the sliding of mud to the grip of pavement. Another Sega masterpiece.
1. panzer dragoon saga (1998)
Talk about a labor of love… panzer dragoon saga follow up Zwei A full-fledged JRPG that tells a captivating and epic story across four discs. An amazing turn-based combat system that honors its rail shooter origins, a smart production design that takes advantage of Saturn’s graphical capabilities, and squeezes every ounce of performance out of the hardware.
The tragedy is that Saturn was on life support when it was released, so despite glowing reviews, very few people played it. The situation is made worse by the fact that this has not been ported to other systems and the source code has been lost for a long time. But believe me, it’s worth tracking down and a bona fide lost classic. Please port it, Sega!
