"Another marvelous system by Sega destined for a glorious failure."

The Sega Saturn was one of the major competitors in the second previous console war, which was before the war between the Sega Dreamcast and the Nintendo 64 DD in 1999. The war was between the Sony PlayStation, which I have to say was the victor, the Nintendo 64, who followed a distant second and finally, the Sega Saturn, which lost the console war. Now, I'll be reviewing and sometimes comparing to its competitors the console that lost the war, but was nontheless a great console.

Size & Design
8/10

I had the Japanese Sega Saturn Version 2, and the design really didn't change much since version 1, except the controller which will be explained below. The shape is a squarish (or square-like if squarish isn't a word) and white, (the U.S. version was black) and the the console had two controller ports, one power source plug in, and the video & audio input. The Saturn also had a CD support and a a Cartridge support, which I guess was for previous installments from Sega. The design was slick, better than the PlayStation's design, but not as great as the N64's.

Controller, Button Layout & Controls
7/10

The design of the version 2's controller seems too classical, compared to Sony's Dualshock and the N64's controller, which were slick, and easy to hold because they had an area protruding from the left and right sides to hold on to, but the Saturn forced you to hold on to the side, making it a little less comfy for precision button pushing, but great for button mashing, as a result, it was great for stuff like fighting and action games, but a little less comfy for adventure, sports and RPG style games. The button layout was a D-Pad, six buttons, a start button, and if I remember, two shoulder buttons. The controller was the smallest out of the three competitors, but not as comfy as its competitors, so its functional, but just not comfy.

I also recieved a controller after I bought a game called NiGHTS, which was mugh better for Adventure, RPG and Sports, but terrible for fighters. It had a D-Pad, six buttons, a start button, two shoulders, and an analog stick, making sports games much easier. The controls were lightning responsive, and the NiGHTS version had more responsiveness because of its analog stick.

Graphics
8/10

The sega had great 2D graphics like Street Fighter Alpha 2 or Marvel Superheroes, and some decent 3D like Dead or Alive and Sega Rally because of its CD support, but wasn't as good as the PlayStation's graphics, but slightly better than the N64's graphics, because the 64 had limitations because it was a cartridge based system. The graphics were decent, espcially exceling in the 2D section, but the world is more interested in 3D, and even Street Fighters and King of Fighters now have 3D installments, but started off as as a 2D game, and stayed like that for a long time, but as I mentioned, even 2D titles are moving on to 3D, so the ratings should be based on the 3D capabilites of the console, with some 2D capability added to the rating, so it recieves an 8.

Sound & Game Format
9/10

Personally, I think N64 had slightly better sound than the Saturn, but all three consoles come close. I'd say the N64 is first, and Saturn at a close second, and the PS at a really close third. I liked the sound effects for Virtua Racing, especially whe wheels scratching and skidding, but other titles didn't have as impressive sound.

The format is a CD format, but it also supports cartidges. The CD is scratched easily, but hey, is that saturn's fault? I really like the sturdy carts better, since they don't "scratch" but with proper protection, the CD is way over carts.

Game Library, Features & Add-Ons
9/10

The saturn has excellent games in almost every genre, like FPS, Sports, Racing, RPG... etc but the "useless" buttons in the controllers got in the way for games that needed fewer buttons, so it wasn't too comfy. the Saturn also had an internal save feature, so you didn't need to dish out extra Jacksons for a memory card, but the saves are lost quite often, making it a big annoyance at times. Ive heard that the Saturn also supports online play, but I never tried it out before, so i can't confirm this. if it does, the score wound be an easy 10 because it would be the first to be online capable.

Overall Comment
8/10

The Saturn was a great system that was unnoticed, and set a bad foothold for the Dreamcast, which eventually failed, and the Saturn was a great console. It also had many games, some games which were great, but Japan only, such as the DOA for Saturn, but the system's weak point was its popularity. The sega Saturn was a marvelous creation, but was smudged away into history by the N64 and the PS. If you find a good game for the SS or DC, treasure it, because it was part of a great system.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 06/30/05