I was rather pleased with myself when I originally snagged this over 18 months ago, but as it came from a Yahoo! JP auction, and subsequently got sent to my Japanese address, I wasn't able to get my hands on it until now. Not sure if it's really that rare in terms of collectability, but despite being a fairly active Wipeout collector, I've never seen the second game for the Saturn in Japanese before, let alone in near-mint condition. [Front] [Back] Over the years I've managed to amass a great number of Wipeout-related bits and pieces, including a couple of press kits and preview builds, but I've only recently turned my attention to acquiring sealed versions of the games. On a side note, I'm still on the lookout for a good condition Wipeout HD press kit for PS3, so if anyone thinks they'd like to trade or sell their copy, please drop me a line and I'd be happy to open negotiations.
Nice. wipeout XL isn't all that common but it's not that expensive either. I would say it's definitely rarer than most 2D-shooters though.
Yeah, the Saturn Wipeout XL is indeed rare but like ave said, it's normally sold for a decent price. Under 2000 yen most of the time. It's defiantly up there within the top 20 rare JPN Saturn games. Yakumo
I figured it might have a certainly rarity to it as I'd never seen a copy during all my time in Japan, much of which was spent trawling the country's game shops for stuff, but didn't expect it to be worth a fortune. Still, at the very least it's one to tick off of my wants list!
That's a very good question! I'd love to try this one out, but would have to open the damn thing first... Guess I'll keep my eyes open for a secondhand one instead then report back. I seem to recall the original game on Saturn fell short of the quality of the PS1 version for some reason though. Also, wasn't the music changed due to licensing issues or similar?
The 2nd Saturn game is a vast improvement with sold frame rates (looks to be 60fps but it's probably 30fps) higher resolution textures and boosted speed. Yakumo
Don't get me wrong, it's a rare game compared to others on the Saturn. You see more Taroumarus and Radiant Silverguns than wipeout XL's. It's not as rare as some others, so you pretty much always get one if you really look, but it's none of these games that everybody wants and are always on sale, like most arcade ports. It can be hard to find one, I think it's playing in the same league as TryRush Deppy.
Oh yeah, Try Rush Deppy is a right bastard to find. Took me years to find one and when I did it was only 900 yen mint!
I have to admit, I've never heard of "Try Rush Deppy", but will keep an eye out for that and Abe'99 when I next visit the local game shops and secondhand stores. Not the kind of things I usually go for, but would hate to miss out on anything that rare!
Although it's been a while since I did a full comparison, there's a few points of difference I can remember between the PlayStation and Saturn versions of WipEout 2097. For starters, the Saturn uses palette swapping for lighting on ships compared with the PS version's real-time effects. Also, textures are of a slightly lower resolution textures on the Saturn, which to be fair is barely noticeable most of the time. The overall polygon count is slightly reduced on Saturn, though both versions run at 30fps (in their NTSC editions, at least). Of course, due to licensing issues with Sony the Saturn version features only music from in-house musician Tim "CoLD SToRAGE" Wright, including a few new exclusive tracks not available on the PS (which I actually prefer, to be honest). Finally, the obvious difference most will immediately notice is the replacement of real transparencies by the more common dithering method. However, to be fair for once it's not that obvious because of the game's normally high speed - Virtual On is another example where I barely have time to notice the lack of proper transparency. Does that cover most of the main differences with the two console versions of this game? I'm fairly sure I've mentioned all the major points...
So, in other words, it's the exact same thing apart from the soundtrack? That's great! Psygnosis always did a great job.
It doesn't have any of the lighting or transparency of the PS1 version. It also does not have all of the same music (none of the licensed tracks). Also I think no system link option. The PS1 version is way better. The Saturn game is still good and worth playing though.
If you want a copy of this to play...I was just looking through the Saturn games at gameofjapan.com and they have one. It's 26 bucks though.
Hi 7Force. Just tried to access that site you suggested and my computer is complaining that going there might put my machine at risk. Not sure why, but I'll check again later.
