"Early Lead That Sega Couldn't Maintain"

The Saturn can be compared to one other contemporary system, and I'm sure Nintendo fans won't like it. The Saturn most closely resembles the Nintendo 64. Sure, the actual system mechanics are very very different, but they both share one thing in common - vastly underestimating the power of Sony, and being overrun by the Playstation juggernaut.

The opening release of the Saturn was a big surprise. It was launched two weeks before the official debut. However, Sega did not learn the lesson from other unsuccessful consoles, such as the CD-i and the 3D0, and put a large four hundred dollar price tag on the Saturn. The price limited all but Sega diehards to the console, and a price drop and software bundle was soon ordered for more mainstream support.

Depsite getting a nearly six month headstart on the Playstation, the Saturn was running almost neck and neck to it a year later. Sega lacked the third party support of Sony, and did not have the extremely strong in-house support of Nintendo. Rising Playstation sales and already the spectre of the Nintendo 64 on the horizon led to rumors that the Saturn's days were numbered. It fought the good fight for a while, but ultimately it died much earlier than either the Playstation or the Nintendo 64.

It also unveiled a disturbing trend with Sega systems. When Sega's systems lose popular support, all the emphasis is placed on the next system. The current system is left to die, like an old horse. This in turn angers current users, who see the developers as the bad guys. You lose a large percentage of your marketing base, and they turn into vocal opposers. The Genesis, Sega CD, and 32X were all abadoaned when the Saturn was close to being released, alienating many owners in the process. This is a contrast from Nintendo, who sucks the life out of a console before making a new one (see NES and SNES, both of which were well past their prime before a new console was released).

The hardware specs of the Saturn were not too bad. They are a bit below the highest standards of the Nintendo 64 and Sony Playstation, but they did make the wise decision of switching off the cart platform, unlike Nintendo. The peak of Saturn game development was not reached, but it's safe to assume that eighty to ninety percent of the system's power was used in the various games.

The game library of the Saturn is fairly good. Like all Sega consoles, it is a bit too heavy in action and sports games, and too light in role playing games. However, there's at least one quality product in nearly every genre. Some highlights of the Saturn are Virtual Fighter 2, World Series Baseball, Nights, and Daytona USA.

Why is the Saturn similiar to the Nintendo 64? Well, both were crushed by Sony; one came out before, one after, but neither could stop Sony. Both systems produced far fewer games than Sony, and of lesser quality. Both systems were ineffective at forcing their ways on to the front racks of popular chain stores (Circuit City, Best Buy, Lechemere, Target, Wal-Mart, ect). Simply, Sony caught both companies by surprise, and ruthlessly exploited the competitor's weaknesses.

Is the Saturn worth getting? Yes. It has a deep and expansive library of titles. It's definately worth getting for the twenty bucks it goes for at Funcoland. However, most of the software for the system is more expensive that the console itself. Expect to spend more than thirty dollars for the best games. All in all, it's worth it, but only if you already have a Playstation.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 07/02/01, Updated 07/02/01