Remembering the SEGA Saturn, and the big-wig execs that started the real console fanboy wars (!)

[BananaDunka]

Shame about the Saturn, but I remember when my best mate at school got the Dreamcast, we skipped French class for most of the week to go round his and play Shenmue and others. The controller was unique, it had a module, it had hall effect analogue stick... It was cutting edge.

I didn't understand at the time why the Saturn quickly faded into the shadows, but looking at videos like this highlights exactly what was happening and why the Dreamcast also died a quick death during the civil war happening inside SEGA. At the time I had a Megadrive and MegaCD, with a PS1 shortly to follow. I then traded the PS1 with a slew of games with another mate for his N64 and the rest is history, the N64 lasted for nearly 10 years playing multiplayer with friends and family the entire time until the internet became a thing with online shooters taking over with PC gaming

It's also funny seeing the console wars starting out at the executive level, Sony's exec creating show floor posters mocking SEGA:

And so on...

RIP SEGA Saturn.

Edit* Fixed timeline notes, confused Saturn with Dreamcast for a moment!

 

[Noxia]

One of the few consoles I never even got to spend a minute with. Nobody I knew had one, it was all N64 or PSX.

Also I never knew Shenmue was on it, thought it was Dreamcast.

Edit. Shenmue wasn't on the Saturn, you've been smoking something.

 

[CapitalOne]

I loved mine, got it in my early 20's (!) solely for Sega Rally. I also had the wheel. It was great.

I was always on Sega's side in the console wars, but now I'm collecting Nintendo. Something about Nintendo I don't really get (remember the word "cutesy"?) but it's where most of the value is.

 

[BananaDunka]

One of the few consoles I never even got to spend a minute with. Nobody I knew had one, it was all N64 or PSX.

Also I never knew Shenmue was on it, thought it was Dreamcast.

Edit. Shenmue wasn't on the Saturn, you've been smoking something.

Corrected the post, I was on about playing the Dreamcast, my cousins had the Saturn with Virtua Fighter at the time, they upgraded from Mega Drive to Saturn but I only saw them like 3 times a year so only got limited hands on.

 

[Noxia]

Corrected the post, I was on about playing the Dreamcast, my cousins had the Saturn with Virtua Fighter at the time, they upgraded from Mega Drive to Saturn but I only saw them like 3 times a year so only got limited hands on.

Ah ok. I remember playing the fishing game on Dreamcast with the special controller and had a great time on that.

 

[ShortWarning]

I had a Saturn for a time (after I'd already had a PS 1 for a few years). It just did everything worse than the other consoles available at the time (other than 2d fighters).

The Dreamcast on the other hand...still probably my favorite console of all time.

 

[Metalface Mark]

As has been mentioned in the mister thread - the mister core is getting quite mature now with a bulk of the library playable just as on real hardware and probably the best way to play saturn outwith a CRT and an original saturn is using the mister and HDMI or whatever retro display you want (I use a CRT Monitor).

I loved the saturn, i bought one on import from japan which cost me £595, i have a lot of time for the saturn still and currently am playing Elevator Action Returns on the mister.

 

[Vince]

I love my Saturn - Such a great arcade platform looking back. Managed to pick up a mint CIB one a year or so back and its pride of place next to my CIB dreamcast Did actually grab a few titles for it the other day - Wipeout and Die Hard... Classics.

 

[The_Arbiter]

I don't think i ever played a Saturn either, maybe at HMV? But i had a Dreamcast, no idea where i got it from or where it went. I'd like to try a Saturn, but no CRT TV so not worth the bother with prices for everything retro too high. The Saturn is one of the nicer looking consoles out of every brand imo.

 

[BananaDunka]

As has been mentioned in the mister thread - the mister core is getting quite mature now with a bulk of the library playable just as on real hardware and probably the best way to play saturn outwith a CRT and an original saturn is using the mister and HDMI or whatever retro display you want (I use a CRT Monitor).

I loved the saturn, i bought one on import from japan which cost me £595, i have a lot of time for the saturn still and currently am playing Elevator Action Returns on the mister.

What's the emulation scene for it like I wonder,, time to have a browse... I imagine since like 70%+ of the games were Japan market only, all text is going to be Japanese too?

 

[Metalface Mark]

What's the emulation scene for it like I wonder,, time to have a browse... I imagine since like 70%+ of the games were Japan market only, all text is going to be Japanese too?

Standard emulation is pretty good for saturn now, you can play it on things like the steamdeck no problem, some of the smaller handhelds dont run it well. Loads of fan translation for the jap stuff. Just a few weeks ago the definitive version of Symphony of the Night got finished for saturn

Castlevania: Symphony of the Night Ultimate Version 1.0 is Here! A "NEW" Castlevania for Saturn!

Everyone loves Castlevania and everyone REALLY loves Castlevania: Symphony of the Night! And today we have a brand new version of Castlevania: Symphony of th...

youtu.be

 

[Vince]

I don't think i ever played a Saturn either, maybe at HMV? But i had a Dreamcast, no idea where i got it from or where it went. I'd like to try a Saturn, but no CRT TV so not worth the bother with prices for everything retro too high. The Saturn is one of the nicer looking consoles out of every brand imo.

The saturn looks great through a scaler on a modern LCD as well.

 

[kakarott]

I bought a Dreamcast from a guy at college and was owed a few games which I never got. But the console was amazing and then along came utopia boot cd and the rest became history.

 

[Vince]

I bought a Dreamcast from a guy at college and was owed a few games which I never got. But the console was amazing and then along came utopia boot cd and the rest became history.

Now days you throw a gdemu in it and its done. Mind you I bought a second saturn and a second dreamcast for this as mine were too good to mod lol

 

[Scort]

Never had one, closest I came (ish) was renting a 32x for my Megadrive 2 - back in the good ol days of renting games from the video shop. Went Jaguar/N64/PlayStation/Dreamcast iirc, then left consoles for PC, eventually returning with the 360

 

[The_Arbiter]

The saturn looks great through a scaler on a modern LCD as well.

Sadly too pricey for me when paired with the console and games outlay.

 

[Vince]

Sadly too pricey for me when paired with the console and games outlay.

Yea you can find one for cheap but a nice one boxed etc gonna cost ya.

 

[adam cool dude]

My friend got one and we spent countless hours on Sega Rally, Virtua Cop and Panzer Dragoon.

It is the reason I now own a real Toyota Celica GT-Four.

 

[kakarott]

Now days you throw a gdemu in it and its done. Mind you I bought a second saturn and a second dreamcast for this as mine were too good to mod lol

I saw a gdemu mod a few weeks ago, pretty cool. I know some people love original hardware but emus ftw, saves trying to find space to store those consoles.

 

[beachBOYken]

I had a Saturn for a time (after I'd already had a PS 1 for a few years). It just did everything worse than the other consoles available at the time (other than 2d fighters).

The Dreamcast on the other hand...still probably my favorite console of all time.

I didn't have a Saturn, I remember my cousin had one and we were playing some racing game on it, I did own a Dreamcast and loved it, Shenmue at the time was epic, that game really sucked me in, Crazy Taxi was good fun as well, just a shame the console arrived and vanished so quick.

Although some consoles only stayed around for a while, I have to say it was a good time to be a console gamer, some great games and we didn't worry about all the best settings to use, VRR, 30,60,120fps rubbish, we just played!