""The Kamikaze console!, Sega's bad gambit""

Being a Sega fanboy back then, the first time I saw the Sega Saturn(SS) in the newspaper I already want one even though I don't know what the games are. I finally had one in 1997, my dad bought it and I love it very much. My first games were Virtua Fighter 2, Virtua Cop, Daytona USA, Sega Rally, Bootleg Sampler 2, NBA Jam T.E. and Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3. I enjoyed my games alot and played them for hours non-stop, at that time I didn't know the Saturn was already losing steam in the U.S. and European video game market. I rarely buy video game magazines and don't have access to the internet back then so I didn't know what was happening and thought it was doing fair. Then I bought some newer magazines and finally knew what was happening, I felt a little bit disappointed since I'm enjoying my SS very much. Most people call it a failure, other bash it saying it sucks but it's not entirely true. The SS conqured the Japanese video game market for 2 consecutive years, it outsold Sony's Playstation in 1995-1997 until Final Fantasy VII came out, that's when Sony finally beat the Sega Saturn in japan. The SS also had some unique and exclusive games that showcased the system's potential and is considered some of the best games ever. And now for my review.

GRAPHICAL CAPABILITIES: (8.5 out of 10)
The SS is not very good when it comes to 3D graphics, but it did have some games that featured impressive 3D graphics namely NiGHTS, Virtua Fighter 2, Panzer Dragoon Saga, Sonic R, and Burning Rangers. Most 3D games on the SS are usually inferior compared to their PSX counterparts, case in point is the port of the PSX classic, Resident Evil. Technically the SS can produce great 3D graphics even greater than the PSX, the only problem is its sophisticated architecture. It is hard to program games on the SS than it is on the PSX and N64. Most programmers have troubles in getting the multiprocessors work in tandem, as a result they must compensate by toning down the graphics and using one graphics processor. As to why Sega decided to include multiple processors on the SS rather than a single powerful processor is beyond anyone's imagination. One thing the SS is good at when it comes to its graphical capabilities is 2D graphics. Check out the Marvel Superheroes or X-men Children of the atom on the SS and compare it to the PSX version, the PSX has more slowdown and even less animation. With the help of the 4 Meg card, it can even do 2D graphics way way way better than the PSX. Check out the SS version of X-men vs Street Fighter w/ the 4 meg card, it's fast, and complete with the tag mode while the PSX version suffers from slowdown, loss of frames of animation, and no tag mode. The 2D graphical capabilities of the SS is extremely good, it's near perfect, as for its 3D capabilities, I say not fully tapped yet as programmers are having a hard time with the multiple processors but one thing I know, if the SS is tapped to its full potential, you can see 3D graphics better than the PSX and rivals the N64. Did you know that Shenmue was originally intended for the SS but was canned to be developed for the DC instead. If you've seen the early SS Shenmue video on Shenmue 2(DC), it will amaze you.

AUDIO CAPABILITIES: (9 out of 10)
The SS is very cool to use as a CD player because I like the interface of its main menu and it has a cool screen saver which can be turned on while listening to music. If you have a surround sound set-up then use the SS as a CD player, cool-looking interface and screen saver makes it very entertaining to watch as you listen to music. As for audio capabilites implemented in games, I can't say much since it sounds the same as the PSX games I've played. Games' sounds good, the SS sound chip(it's a yamaha sound chip I think) does its job well, the game NiGHTS produces wonderful music and sound effects, the game uses Q Sound(which capcom also uses in their 2D fighting games) which the SS sound chip supports well. The SS also supports Cybersound and ADX for sound enhancement in games, for more info on QSound, ADX, and Cybersound, check out the SS FAQs.

GAME LIBRARY: (8.5 out of 10)
There are around 200+ games(245 games?) released in the U.S. market, probably more in Japan. The SS lacks games in certain genres like RPG, Shooter, and Strategy. Though it lacks variety in certain genres, at least a couple of games in that genre is very good. For strategy, there is Iron Storm and Dragon Force, for RPG, Panzer Dragoon Saga and Dark Savior, and for shooters, you have Alien Trilogy and Virtua Cop 2. There are also unique and exclusive games like NiGHTS into dreams and Burning Rangers. I do feel bad though when I see a game I like but it's only available for the PSX. Overall the Saturn game selection while scarce, definitely has some great games. Here's my Top 15 recommendations:

My TOP 15 Recommendations
1. Azel Panzer Dragoon Saga (RPG)
2. Three Dirty Dwarves (Action)
3. Guardian Heroes (Adventure/Fighting)
4. Saturn Bomberman Fight* (Party)
5. Dark Savior (RPG)
6. Magic Knight Rayearth (RPG)
7. Albert Odyssey (RPG)
8. Resident Evil (Action/Survival Horror)
9. Deep Fear* (Action/Survival Horror)
10. Last Bronx (3D fighting)
11. Burning Rangers (Action)
12. Alien Trilogy (Corridor Shooter)
13. Shinning Force 3 (Tactical RPG)
14. Marvel Superheroes vs Street Fighter* (2D fighting)
15. The Horde (Strategy)

* = Import game, available only in Japan.

OTHER GREAT SATURN GAMES: NiGHTS, Christmas NiGHTS, Iron Storm, Worldwide Soccer '97, World Series Baseball 2, Mortal Kombat Trilogy, Virtual On, Dragon Force, Steep Slope Sliders, Baku-Baku Animal, Sega Touring Car, Sega Rally, Virtua Fighter 2, Fighters Megamix, Mass Destruction, Sonic Jam, Gex, Duke Nukem 3D, Rampage World Tour, Scud the Disposable Assasin, Shinobi Legions, Tomb Raider, Saturn Bomberman, Clockwork Knight 2, Panzer Dragoon 1&2, Enemy Zero, Croc legend of the gobbos, Quake, Steep Slope Sliders, Powerslave, Winter Heat, and Gungriffon.
GREAT SATURN IMPORT GAMES: Gungriffon 2, Street Fighter Zero 3, Dragon Force 2, X-men vs Street Fighter, Shinning Force Chapter 2&3, Dracula X, Dead or Alive, Capcom Generations series, Vampire Savior, Pocket Fighter, The King of Fighters series, Samurai Showdown series and Waku-Waku 7.

PERIPHERALS AND OTHER MISCELLANEOUS STUFF:
The SS probably has the coolest set of official controllers and peripherals. The 2nd gen standard SS controller is very good to use in fighting games especially 2D fighting games. It's very comfortable and light for easier handling but when it comes to other genres like RPG, sports and racing, it's much more comfortable to use the 1st gen controllers, the huge bulky controller. The NiGHTS analog saturn pad is probably the best SS controller ever, it came with the game NiGHTS as the official controller of choice for the game but it worked well with other games like Dark Savior. It's probably the coolest looking controller ever IMO, and very comfortable to use. The official SS light gun, the stunner, sucks not because of its accuracy but coz of its color, bright orange, the japanese stunner is cool-looking with the color black. The Virtual On twin stick controller is a rare collector's item which should be sought after by die-hard SS fans, it's only used in one game, Virtual On and it's pretty cool to use. There's a 6-player multi-tap, very cool peripheral coz the SS has more multiplayer games that allows 4-8 players than the PSX and it looks cool too. The 1 MEG card is a graphics enhancer or upgrade for 2D games, it was used by SNK for its KOF series and capcom also supports it for some their games. The 1 Meg card was later upgraded to 4 Meg giving more graphics pushing power for 2D fighting games like capcom's Vs. games and SNK's newer fighting games. The popularity of the Meg cards gave way to the 4 in 1 cards which is a cool peripheral, it is a converter(to play import games), a Meg card, a gameshark, and a memory card all in one. The SS can also play VCDs(Video CDs) with the use of a special MPEG video card, other cards can also let you view photo CDs. And then there's the Netlink, a 28.8 kbps dial-up modem that allows gamers to go online using the SS and their TV. You can use a Netlink keyboard and mouse or the standard SS controller to surf the net. It was created by the people who created the X-band game modem on the Sega Genesis and Super Nintendo. The Netlink also allows gamers to play SS online-able games against other gamers nationwide. There are only 5 games available for the U.S. market, all are just previous Saturn games, Duke Nukem 3D, Virtual On, Daytona USA, Bomberman, and Sega Rally championship, with added on-line mode. The Netlink is useless now, you can't play games since Netlink servers are already closed and nobody uses slow 28.8 kbps modems these days, but still it is one of the best SS peripheral ever.

THE SATURN'S COOLEST FEATURES:
Aside from the unique arrays of peripherals available on the SS, the console it self has some cool features.
- The screensaver feature, if you wanna use your SS as your cd player or your music machine of choice, there is a very cool spaceship screen saver. When activated, a spaceship appears and does some cool acrobatics to accompany the music as it plays.
- The SS can load slightly faster than the Neo Geo CD and the PSX(320KB/s vs the PS's 300 KB/s and the NG CD's 1x speed).
- 32 KB of battery backed up RAM for saving games without the need for an external storage device. (NOTE: IMHO, this is the best feature of the Sega Saturn.)
- The system settings(clock, date, language, and sudio settings) is supported by a number of games and maintained by the same lithium battery as the save RAM.

THE VERDICT:
The Sega Saturn was a game console that was yet to show its true potential. If only it had as many games as the PSX and supported by many 3rd party developers, it could've been great, it could've been a legend. It's just too bad to see the SS untapped to its fullest, too much wasted potential. Even with the SS limited selection of games, I still recommend it for hardcore gamers, it still has some unique and exclusive games, a great 2D fighting game console, and definitely worth the money these days. As a whole(the games, the peripherals, and the console itself), I give the Sega Saturn an overall score of 9 out of 10, I really enjoyed playing it a lot even now.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 07/31/03, Updated 07/31/03