Saturn Saturn Recommendations?

[Poltergeist]

I've recently tried Baroque, it's a first-person roguelite RPG with an obscure storytelling. You should definitely try it if you enjoy that kind of games.

 

[TJtheEevee]

This might be odd, but I'd like to suggest Bug, 1 primarily. Had the game growing up. Also recently played Deep Fear, which is essentially Resident Evil in an underwater base, with a focus on oxygen levels. While it's not great, I think it's a hell of a ride, and the voice acting, while it doesn't reach the levels of OG RE1, it has it funny moments. Pretty interesting creature designs too.

 

[RetroGameMaster]

The Saturn has a shit ton of hidden gems!

I'll give a few that I've enjoyed.

For some Mech action, I recommend
Bulk Slash
Virtual On
Gun Griffion 1 and 2

Some action recommendations
Burning Rangers
Psychic Killer Taroumarou
Mr. Bones

Some good platformers
Pandemonium
Astal

Some good FPS games
Powerslave
AMOK
Alien Trilogy

My fav genre SHMUPS
Battle Garegga
Radiant Silvergun
Thunderforce V
KingdomGrandprix
Sengoku Blade

Fighting
TONS on the system but some lesser-known ones
Waku Waku 7
Rabbit
Golden Axe The Duel
Astra Superstars

That should be enough to get your feet wet, especially with what everyone else has listed. I hope you enjoy some of them .

 

[deluxebucket]

I am going to steer away from recommending you a good game and instead I am going to recommend

something so horrible that you will never ever forget it, Death Crimson.
Generally regarded as one of the worst games ever made, and one that has carried a cult and memetic status in the Japanese community, this on-rails shooter is truly something else, from its bizarre, dissonant BGM to its hilarious handheld camcorder opening sequence, its truly something to behold. The enemy graphics don't really resemble much of anything, the stages are some of the ugliest things you'll ever see, the entire game feels like a fever dream. I implore anyone who hasn't tried it to give it a shot or at least watch a video about it, it's just crazy in the best and worst way possible.
Perhaps more interesting is the fact that it later got a proper sequel for the Sega Dreamcast which is actually a very competent if forgettable title, and that the development studio still exists to this day and has collaborated with the development of titles such as Melty Blood (!)
Famously, Pop Team Epic parodied the game in one of their episodes, which I'll attach here.

Oh lord. Many people have no idea what a truly bad video game is until they've witnessed Death Crimson. A good friend of mine actually owns a physical copy of this """game.""" I never knew that light guns could feel that terrible & inaccurate. It's too funny to actually care and I truly do love Kusoges. The explosion sound and animation when you shoot something is something to behold.

Post automatically merged: Monday at 1:02 AM

Shining the Holy Ark is my personal favorite RPG on the Saturn and one of my favorite games on the console as a whole. First person dungeon crawler that has a very 90's art style to it and some fun depth in the mechanics.

Gungriffon 2 is a neat first person mech game that vastly improved upon the first game in terms of mechancis, but only stayed in Japan. Also has a co-pilot multiplayer mode, which is very fun when you get the hang of it. Basically, one person moves the legs while the other person aims and shoots.

Another one that hasn't been mentioned here is D, a Kenji Eno classic. Fun point n click style adventure that's great to play with the lights off. Kenji Eno is also one of the beloved oddballs in the world of game development and his scheming is a fun read.

 

[RageBurner]

I'm not sure if you are into the RPG/SRPG side of things, but Shining Force 3 and Dragon Force 1 and 2 are no brainers. I feel Astal (2D platformer) also deserves a mention, despite being an early title and not exactly groundbreaking.

 

[Kovariszt]

Really depends on how good your Japanese is, the majority of the best games were Japan exclusive since the console got discontinued prematurely in the west. There's translation patches for the first Sakura Wars, Grandia, Policenauts and Bulk Slash. The Saturn also has some really good arcade ports, playing the Saturn version of Virtual On with the twin sticks is probably the closest experience to the arcade version you can get at home without owning some sort of arcade cabinet. SMT Devil Summoner is pretty good as well.

 

[Somnia]

What genres are you looking for primarily and do you care if they're Saturn exclusive?

For racing games I recommend Sega Rally, Sega Touring Car Championship and Sonic R. All 3 are super light on content but have great music and pretty impressive production for their time while playing pretty well. Wipeout and Wipeout XL are also great but are still best experienced on PS1. Initial D requires more investment in terms of time and patience but is a great time and I also swear by that version of Virtua Racing even if better alternatives exist these days.

For RPGs there are loads. All Shining games are great, with Holy Ark being a first person turn based dungeon crawler and the 3 trilogy being strategy RPGs. Dragon Force 1 & 2 are unique and super thrilling SRPGs with incredible sprite presentation and accessible mechanics. Grandia 1 is still best on Saturn visually and has an English translation. Sakura Wars is also super nice and has a fan translation!

For platformers/side scrollers I'd mainly recommend Psychic Killer Taromaru, Shinobi Legions, Astal and Bug Too.

For fighting games you're spoiled for choice. The less appreciated but imo still worthwhile cuts would be Fighters Megamix, Last Bronx, Final Fight Revenge and Astra Superstars. Those first 3 are just great examples of early 3D fighters and Astra Superstars is a really unique 2D fighting game that takes place in midair. Nothing controls quite like it!

I could go down and list more genres or recommendations for each genre but I'll keep it here for now.