What was so good about the Sega Saturn?

What was so good about the Sega Saturn? I've never used one (well, a mate of mine had one, and says I played on it, but I don't remember), but I've read a fair few posts/articles about the machine, and they all praise it very highly indeed, especially for it's 2D games. I love the Dreamcast, and I know that some people say the Saturn was overall a better machine than the Dreamcast (which is praise indeed), and bettered the Playstation in many ways.

So I thought I'd ask why the Sega Saturn is so popular (as it seems to be) amongst it's fans. I'm certainly not trolling, I'm just curious, and I'm making a similar post to this in a couple of other forums about consoles I've never used (the Neo-Geo, and Atari Jaguar), and if someone asks, I'll make similar threads about the consoles I do know about (such as the N64, XBox 1, and Gamecube). The Saturn name seems to be synonymous with quality in the eyes of it's fans, and I'm interested in it and it's games (and homebrew, or fan modded games, if there are any). How many consoles were sold, and did you prefer it to it's peers (N64, PSX, Jaguar, etc), and if so why (or why not?), what was it's strengths and weaknesses, what genres was it good/bad in, and what was the machine's strengths and weaknesses, etc.

I know I could google for the answers, but I thought it would be more interesting to get a discussion going, especially if it results in my looking for another machine to add to my collection.

 

Not to sound rude, but we had at least 10 Sega Saturn threads here in the past two years already. I don't feel motivated to talk about it anymore, but maybe some people do. You can find information on why the Saturn is still popular basically anywhere on the web.

Good machine for arcade ports that include many 2D shooters, fighting games, puzzlers and some good original 3D games, many of which are still exclusive to the console. That's about it.

 

I've always liked the way the Saturn is a giant black box compared with other consoles at the time.

 

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Because has an appeal to it, don't question it. You wouldn't question a straight man's appeal to tits ,would you? Pick up a saturn,, its calling for you.

 

If you didn't want to answer then fine, but why answer to tell me that you don't want to answer?

Anyway, as I said, I know I can find the information online already, but I thought this would provoke an interesting response from people who love the Saturn. Yes, almost everything that can be said about the Saturn has no doubt already been said (the same with all other retro-machines, as I know with the machines I own), but fans still like to go over old ground, and there are always new users to ask or answer the same old questions.

Right, what 3D games are those please (I love 3D games), you don't have to answer of course, maybe someone else will.

Oh right, I've never heard of that. At the time, that must have been amazing.

That is a real plus (I can't stand short cables on joypads, they never made sense since so often the console is under the TV, several feet away from the couch). Still, in my opinion, a joypad with a really short cord is still a *million* times better than a motion controller (I personally hate the Wii/Kinnect/etc - I love the XBox 360 and PS3, but if the next generation is based around motion controlled games then I might well sit it out).

 

Asking here what is so great about the Saturn.... (This is Saturn fanboy country)



That's like dropping an N bomb in south central.

But all joking aside. I'll quote and old EGM that owning a Saturn is like owning your own arcade.

The Saturn was preMAME so for a while it was the only way to get either arcade perfect port, or close to arcade perfect ports of many of the great arcade games of that point in time.

 

For me: loads of fun 2D and 3D games in all genres. Great pad, nice memory feature, a very large amount of interesting collectables.

 

Because SEGA.

 

And here's another good reason.

 

Saturn wasn't better than Dreamcast, but the games probably were more fun. I have a Dreamcast, but it has sat in it's box for a long time now as the games are boring.
I like the retro look of the PlayStation & Saturn though, games running in 320x200 have a special look to them.

 

There's never been a game like Sega Saturn's NiGHTS. Never been a game that has allowed you to fly, fluently and free, in real-time 3D. Never, not anywhere.

Especially not on that other system. Simply because... With only one processor, it doesn't have the power to do so.

Fly Plaything, fly. You're not ready.

It's the breakfast of fighting game champions. It also has some really good shmups and all of those games that are usually $100+ on eBay. -_-

 

Man, this isn't something any of us are going to be able to adequately explain in text, it's something you have to experience yourself. Go get a Saturn. Get some of the big titles (like NiGHTS or Panzer Dragoon), then as you wind down the list of the big stuff, maybe pick up one of those 100$+ games, and while you're at it, do some reading around and find a quirky title that seems interesting to you. Buy it, see how you like it. Rinse and repeat.

Owning a Saturn and checking out what it has to offer is a special thing, and it's something you just have to experience for yourself. As Yakumo's (I think?) signature used to say, "Playing a Playstation leaves you feeling like you're playing something cheap, but playing a Saturn leaves you feeling like you're playing something special" (or something along those lines).

Of course, the real fun (and subsequently torture for those of us in the US) was owning one around when it was out. I think the Saturn and the Dreamcast were my two happiest eras as a gamer, nothing prior or since has remotely compared.

 

The Virtua Cop games

 

It just an awesome 2D powerhouse. It makes the Playstation variants look like trash. This is particular in fighting and SHMUPS, well anything 2D. The pad makes these games awesome so much so it has been cloned for every system and gear towards fighting fans. Try Marvel vs Street Fighter on both and you will see. Then games like Dracula X had tons of more content. Extras levels, multiple characters from the start, new familiars and so much more. Any retro gamer should have one.

 

Being fair here, the US version of NES did ship in 1985 with 2 meter long cables. So did the US SNES. The Saturn had controller cables that long ?

I know my JP GRAY Saturn cable is longer than anything else that were released in Japan until then, but really... Japanese were so used to play really close to the console, it was important one could hit that reset button anytime... EVEN !

Seifuku Densetsu: Pretty Fighter X had a slick joke with the reset button on the villain character ending.

So having easy access for the reset button was important (and cables are so expensive, Nintendo had a good excuse to make them ULTRA SHORT on the FAMICOM and SUPER FAMICOM) (I'm laughing as I write this)..

 

Segata Sanshiro of course.

 

Who is looking for the thread starter to beat up as we speak to DARE ask what is so good about the Saturn

 

as above, and there's a thread recently someone asked about 3D games on the SEGA Saturn, quick forum search should bring it up, its very recent.

also as previously stated: It's a Big Black Box that says SEGA on it, anything after that is a bonus

 

The Saturn as a design/hardware/device sucked. What made it cool was SEGA, it's games, it's legacy and the people which worked with the system itself. So in the end the best thing about the SATURN is the culture around it.

Sadly that was not enough to keep them afloat. They fixed a LOT of the issues when they released the Dreamcast but really they were leaking cash for too long and finally they were too deep inside of the hole to be able to lift up. -_-;

I miss SEGA so much !