Let's Reminisce: Sega Saturn

[Tain]

I suspect his are lesser known, or at least I am hoping they are.

They aren't, unfortunately. Assault Suits Valken, the Actraiser games, Ninja Warriors Again, Darius Twin, stuff like that. I just had a pretty limited view of the platform for a long time. It doesn't help that at times the internet makes it sound like the only games on the thing are first party and JRPGs!

[Yoshi]

Ah, ok. In my opinion it won't take you too long to exhaust the things that aren't first party or JRPGs. That's why I was curious if you found something I hadn't. Another strong SNES genre is beat'em ups, though it lacks anything to match Streets of Rage.

[DirtySouth]

The Neo-Geo: I was on cloud-9. Just purchased a shiny new Sega Genesis, believing to be soaring on the bleeding-edge of technology, until I saw this:


(unfortunately, it's missing about a minute of footage)

Intrigued, I went to the magazine section of a local Books-A-Million(?), and read as much as I could on this amazing sounding console that was "just the same as the arcade". I was blown away at how amazing everything looked. I was already preparing to set up a budget to save up for this wondrous machine until I glanced at the price. So much for that.

The Neo-Geo was always this mythical entity to me..sort of like the ExCalibur, or Shangri-La of game consoles. I grew up in a lower-middle class neighborhood, so I obviously wasn't acquainted with anyone who owned one. There were always rumors circulating around the school lunchroom/playground that X-kid had a Neogeo and "all the games", but it was never confirmed. The Neo-Geo was always something I've heard about, or seen pictures of, but never experienced in person besides the MVS arcade cabinets. By the time I had the income to afford one, it was no longer relevant, as there were other things out by then.

I *finally* got a chance to play the console about 2 years ago over a friend's house. Even though it's obviously obsolete, I actually was still impressed. It was like being in the presence of an old battle-worn commander: his time was long passed, but you could see that he was highly skilled in his hey-day.

On topic: I only held a passing interest in the Saturn, as I was more than happy with my Playstation. My chances of picking up a Saturn were low until Gamefan released their issue with the cover story of Guardian Heroes. I was still a beat-em-up fanatic, even through their era had passed, so after one glance at the article, I was sold. I immediately pawned off my 3D0, which covered about half the price, then the Saturn was mine. The library was meager compared to Japan, but I really enjoyed the system. It was also the console of my first ever import: Fire Pro Wrestling: 6 Man Scramble, which caused me to become hooked on that series.

[Shou]

I loved going to the Die Hard game store we had in Plano Texas. I got to see Mario 64, Resident Evil and countless other titles they had on import, before they were released in the States. I knew things were going south for the store, when the manager I always talked to when I visited the place was gone and 2 douchebags were in his place. It closed about 6 months later.

That was one of the stores our owners visited to get a feel for how the franchise ran. Heard it was sold off and quickly went to shit just like many other stores. We went under because while the store made money, it didn't make millions (when does game retail do though?).

[Brettmatic]

Shinobi Legions was a great Saturn game.

[Brisco Bold]

I always wanted to try that!

[gamevet]

First of all, your list of 'solid' platforms is ridiculous (Neo Geo, lol).

Second of all, this is just lame. Your definition of "ignorance" seems to be "doesn't know much about the Genesis games I played." That's pretty self-serving.

And I would call the Saturn a slouch, at least in the US. I didn't know many satisfied Saturn owners by 1997.

The Saturn was my goto system up until the end of 97. The N64 was the system I was most disappointed in.

[Korly]

Shinobi Legions was a great Saturn game.

Fuck yes it was.

[Jeremy]

That Neo Geo video is tremendous. The first time I saw Neo Geo in a magazine was 3 Count Bout in Video Games Magazine by Larry Flint's publishing company just getting into pro wrestling at the time and just HAVING to have the game...then I saw the $250 price listed in the review and my heart sank. I still loved playing the game at arcades though, and for free on Gametap years later.

[BonusKun]

If all you have is one platform to play games on, then yes. It doesnt matter.
But if you have multiple platforms ( which most of us do, and he did) then to play an inferior version of a game is silly.

IAWTP.