Saturn Saturn appreciation thread

[Turbo Kid]

Saturn collecting is interesting because of the whole spine card thing. I've got a copy of Radiant Silvergun with one. Some of my other games are missing them though.

 

[ThunderBoy]

 

[ThunderBoy]

 

[bcdusk]

Not a real Sega Saturn game but looks cool.

 

[TamagotchiTamaHero24's icon TamagotchiTamaHero24 TamagotchiTamaHero24]

Saturn collecting is interesting because of the whole spine card thing. I've got a copy of Radiant Silvergun with one. Some of my other games are missing them though.

It’s an issue with most CD systems. OBI’s are not easy to come by if you want to be a frugal shopper, but sometimes they’re still kept around with cheaper games. I know that my copy of Panzer Dragoon Azel was in perfect shape and came with an OBI that, to be frank, looked like it had never been moved. It’s possible it was a sealed copy, but I’d like to pray it wasn’t because I don’t want to be responsible for one less sealed Saturn game in the world.

 

[S O D A]

My simple collection, but I enjoy it, my only fear is it's JP model on NA power, but I don't play for hours at a time or leave it connected all the time to power ether. Never imagined I would ever like the Saturn this much back in the day.

 

[Turbo Kid]

I have a few titles, Astal has the weird blank spine and I don't know why I have an upside down PS1 Darkstalkers there LOL. The box on my X-Men vs Street Fighter with the 4 MB RAM cart has seen better days. I have a boxed copy of Nights with the controller too that I didn't get a picture of. And I have a copy of Radiant Silvergun with the OBI somewhere. My place is a bit of an unorganized mess at the moment.

 

[TamagotchiTamaHero24's icon TamagotchiTamaHero24 TamagotchiTamaHero24]

Has anybody here played Saturn online since the fan services have gone up? It’s an exclusive club, so I’d assume not, but we have some pretty huge Saturn heads here, so I have a little hope.

If you have played the system online, how was it? What games did you play? And do you think there’s a wider future for online Saturn, or do you think it’s liable to go down again?

Post automatically merged: Sep 6, 2025

A cool European Saturn box variation. Came bundled with Command and Conquer.

Post automatically merged: Sep 6, 2025

I have a few titles, Astal has the weird blank spine and I don't know why I have an upside down PS1 Darkstalkers there LOL. The box on my X-Men vs Street Fighter with the 4 MB RAM cart has seen better days. I have a boxed copy of Nights with the controller too that I didn't get a picture of. And I have a copy of Radiant Silvergun with the OBI somewhere. My place is a bit of an unorganized mess at the moment.

I am interested seeing Intrepid Izzy among all the things in the first photo! Homebrew Dreamcast platformer, right?

 

[MetHy]

I've played through Grandia and it was amazing. Rarely have I felt so attached to characters in an RPG and I didn't want to miss on a single dialogue line. Combat felt dynamic too and you could sense they were inspired by Chrono Trigger. Great sense of adventure and environments as well.
Sadly gameplay was too easy, especially in the late game, though there were a couple of intense boss fights. The third and final optional dungeon, the giant tower that took me 3+ hours to go through, also had me in fear of dying near the end since I went in unprepared.
A few areas also had severe lack of enemy variety such as the Twin Towers which only had a single enemy type (this dungeon and the town before it, Gumbo Village, was the lowest point of the game)

Has anyone gone through The Grandia Digital Museum? I'll have to check it out one of these days. I wonder if it's possible to use my original game end game save and if it is, perhaps it's better to start from scratch?

 

[TamagotchiTamaHero24's icon TamagotchiTamaHero24 TamagotchiTamaHero24]

Positive of the Saturn:

It’s 90’s Japanese video game as HELL. Like, that’s its entire vibe is cool, obscure 90’s Japanese video games.

 

[bcdusk]

While it became way popular im the Playstation for a short time Tomb Raider was a Sega Saturn exclusive. Also the Sega Saturn version has Audio tracks that can be played in any CD player.

 

[Turbo Kid]

I am interested seeing Intrepid Izzy among all the things in the first photo! Homebrew Dreamcast platformer, right?

Yup:)

From the people who did Beats of Rage.

 

[RETRO-VETRO RETRO-VETRO]

 

[Turbo Kid]

View attachment 110294

Anyone ever try Tengai Makyou IV - the Apocalypse?

 

[ThunderBoy]

 

[TamagotchiTamaHero24's icon TamagotchiTamaHero24 TamagotchiTamaHero24]

Anyone ever try Tengai Makyou IV - the Apocalypse?

Oh my god this looks perfect for the spritework thread in general retro. Also just looks like a cool RPG I’d love to try!

 

[DanCalibur]

I got scammed into buying a broken Saturn at a flea market 20 years ago but it's so beautiful that to this day I just can't trow it away

View attachment 110294

 

[solnK!]

Anyone ever try Tengai Makyou IV - the Apocalypse?

Not yet but I´d want to, the sprite work of this game is just superb.

 

[MetHy]

Anyone ever try Tengai Makyou IV - the Apocalypse?

I actually just went through it recently. Absolutely AMAZING graphics and animations, also great story that had me laughing or smirking many times (the musical piece with that pig lady was a highlight). Considering the game is about a stereotypical view of America through Japanese eyes (the contrary of the previous games in the series) there is quite a bit of social commentary and also there are a lot of 'racist' jokes that I can easily imagine one of those modern youtubers would get offended with if they only looked at the game on a surface level, but the 'racism' doesn't come from a bad heart in fact it's the contrary, for instance there are some native american kids that "want to become white when they grow up" but only because of the influence of a literal evil. In fact there is even a scenario later on in the game about a fairy tales that ends with kids from all around the world playing together so the real message of the game is anti-racism.

Now with that said the gameplay is overall very disappointing. It follows the same mechanics as in the previous games but in a simpler and overall more streamlined way. The combat is incredibly easy even by 5th gen JRPG standards, outside of bosses you'd have to multiply the damage enemies do by 10, AND nerf all the means of healing, for gameplay to become interesting. As for the bosses, as long as you debuff them they don't really pose much of a threat except for a single boss. The first 10 hours of the game are also very one dimensional as it takes quite a while for the player to acquire more combat abilities.

But in the end you don't play Tengai Makyou IV for the gameplay, you play it for the amazing presentation and unique story. If you can play a game in Japanese I highly recommend it, and I hope it and the rest of the series gets more attention from translators (only 1 and Zero have been translated and Zero is pretty bland imo).

 

[TamagotchiTamaHero24's icon TamagotchiTamaHero24 TamagotchiTamaHero24]

What are some cool 2D platformers for the Saturn?

Post automatically merged: Sep 15, 2025

Today I learned that Night Warriors on the Saturn actually came to the west. I had no idea. It’s one of the cheapest quality 2D fighters on in the Japanese side of the library, and it isn’t even that expensive here in the west either. Probably because it’s very forgotten on the system, since Vampire Savior is the most celebrated. But, it has cool things you can do, like a mode where you get to not only color edit all the characters but the stage backgrounds as well.

 

[ThunderBoy]

 

[Sonic0fan_]

What are some cool 2D platformers for the Saturn?

Best 2D platformers on the Saturn are (imo) Astal, Silhouette Mirage, Gex, Rayman, Mr Bones, Mega Man 8, Mega Man x3, Mega Man x4, Castlevania Symphony of the Night (I mean it is a 2D platformer, right?), Earthworm Jim 2 and my favorite (Saturn exclusive) of them all - Keio flying squadron 2

 

[Ad Infinitum]

I was playing panzer dragoon on yabasanshiro and it locked me into a soft-crash when you fight the first prototype dragon. I know I should use beetle core, but I just hate retroarch's UI. I may never beat it, despite how cool the combat is.

 

[solnK!]

I was playing panzer dragoon on yabasanshiro and it locked me into a soft-crash when you fight the first prototype dragon. I know I should use beetle core, but I just hate retroarch's UI. I may never beat it, despite how cool the combat is.

What about mednafen?

 

[Ad Infinitum]

What about mednafen?

Good idea. I kind of tossed that option aside in my mind because I really wanted an emulator with a displayable content library with thumbnails. Thanks for the push.
UPDATE: this is worse than retroarch. Worse than trying to install windows 3.1 on DOSbox.