Sega Launched the Sega Saturn to compete with the Sony Playstation. The Sega Saturn was made famous by classic titles like Panzer Dragoon, Dragon Force, Virtua Fighter, and Virtua Racing.
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Sega Saturn: Sega's Ambitious 32-Bit Console
Released in 1994 in Japan and 1995 in North America and Europe, the Sega Saturn was Sega's fifth home console and a bold attempt to push the boundaries of gaming with 32-bit graphics. Positioned as a successor to the Sega Genesis, the Saturn boasted impressive hardware capabilities at the time, including a dual-CPU architecture and advanced 2D and 3D graphics. The system was designed to compete with other consoles in the emerging fifth generation of gaming, particularly the Sony PlayStation and Nintendo 64.
The Sega Saturn featured a unique design with a sleek, black casing and a circular disc tray. It utilized CD-ROMs for game media, offering higher storage capacity than the Genesis' cartridges. The console was known for its strong 2D performance, which made it popular among arcade enthusiasts and developers of 2D fighting games, but it struggled to fully capitalize on its 3D capabilities, making it less competitive with the PlayStation and N64 in the long run.
Its game library included standout titles such as "Virtua Fighter", "Nights into Dreams", and "Radiant Silvergun", but the Saturn's limited third-party support and relatively high price point led to its early decline, despite a strong initial launch. Though it was ultimately overshadowed by competitors, the Sega Saturn remains an important part of gaming history, especially for fans of its arcade-perfect ports and cult classic titles.
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Sega Saturn Review: A Console Ahead of Its Time, but Ultimately Overshadowed
The Sega Saturn, released in 1994 in Japan and 1995 in North America and Europe, was an ambitious attempt by Sega to dominate the fifth generation of consoles. With its dual-CPU architecture, impressive 2D graphics, and advanced 3D capabilities, the Saturn was a true powerhouse on paper. However, despite its cutting-edge hardware and some great games, the Saturn's legacy is marred by a lack of third-party support, poor marketing decisions, and its untimely release in an already competitive market.
Design & Hardware
The Sega Saturn had a sleek, black, disc tray design that was both stylish and functional. It stood out with its rounded edges and futuristic look, signaling its advanced capabilities. At its core, the Saturn featured a dual-CPU system, which allowed for high-performance graphics, especially in 2D games. It also had 2MB of RAM, which allowed for smooth animations and detailed textures, though its 3D performance was often criticized for being less polished than its competitors.
The system used CD-ROMs for game media, a significant step up from the Genesis' cartridge system, giving developers more storage space for complex games. However, the Saturn's odd architecture made it difficult for developers to fully harness its 3D capabilities, leading to many games with less-than-ideal frame rates and visuals compared to its rivals, the PlayStation and Nintendo 64.
Game Library & Performance
The Saturn's game library was a mixed bag, but it did feature some standout titles. The system excelled in 2D games, with titles like "Virtua Fighter", "Radiant Silvergun", and "Nights into Dreams" showcasing the Saturn's impressive handling of 2D sprite-based graphics and complex animations. These games remain some of the best in the Saturn's library and are beloved by fans to this day.
However, when it came to 3D games, the Saturn struggled. While the console was capable of 3D graphics, its hardware limitations meant that 3D titles often appeared clunky or underwhelming when compared to the Sony PlayStation or Nintendo 64. Games like "Virtua Fighter 2" and "Daytona USA" were fun but didn't reach the level of quality gamers were expecting in the 3D era. The lack of strong 3D titles contributed to the Saturn's downfall, as the industry was moving rapidly toward 3D gaming.
Limitations & Drawbacks
The Sega Saturn's main drawbacks can be attributed to several factors:
Complicated Architecture - The dual-CPU design was difficult to work with for developers, which made it harder to create efficient and optimized games. This also led to inconsistent performance, particularly in 3D games.
Poor Third-Party Support - While Sega had solid in-house development, many third-party developers were more inclined to support the Sony PlayStation, which had a simpler development environment and better 3D capabilities. This resulted in a smaller library of major third-party titles for the Saturn.
Premature Launch - The Saturn was released early in North America, surprising both consumers and developers. The rushed release did not give developers enough time to fully prepare for the console, leading to a lack of strong launch titles and a lack of consumer confidence.
Limited Marketing - Sega's marketing for the Saturn failed to create the same buzz that had made the Genesis a success. The high price point and the lack of strong, exclusive third-party titles left many gamers uninterested.
Final Verdict
The Sega Saturn was undeniably a powerful system that was ahead of its time in some respects, particularly in the realm of 2D gaming. However, the Saturn's complicated hardware, poor 3D performance, and lack of third-party support led to its downfall. Despite its strong lineup of arcade ports and a few cult classic titles, the console ultimately couldn't compete with the PlayStation and the upcoming Nintendo 64.
As a result, the Sega Saturn remains a console for collectors and die-hard Sega fans. It's remembered as a system with great potential that was ultimately outpaced by competitors in a rapidly evolving industry. If you're into retro gaming and enjoy exploring the roots of Sega's history, the Saturn still has a lot to offer, but it's clear that it never truly fulfilled its potential.
Score: 7/10
? An ambitious console with great 2D performance and some iconic games, but its complex hardware and weak 3D performance made it a tough sell. A must for retro fans, but overshadowed by its competition.
Would you like to dive into Sega Saturn's most iconic games or learn about its impact on Sega's future consoles?
Bill interloper5@hotmail.com Mon, 13 May 2002 21:44:53 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- The
only videogame system I ever liked Sega Saturn. I had so much fun
playing Sega Saturn games, I started out with the Genesis system that
was fun until someone broke into my house and stole it, Forcing me to
upgrade and buy the Newly Debuted Saturn. At 1st Saturn didn't have
many games, The only game I owned for a long time was Virtua Fighter2,
then When Tombraider came out , I became a Saturn Addict. Hey anyone
know anyone that can Repairsega Saturns ? My sound isn't in Stereo anymore, I thought it was the AV cord but I tried another cord and its stillnot
stereo, i have all the options to stereo, Its a Modified Saturn that
plays Japanese imports, So I don't want to buy another one cause I
won't be able to play my import games. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Shawn Dier tab_branch@yahoo.com Fri, 29 Mar 2002 15:45:41 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bah! still one of my most favorite games would be albert odyssey. its hillarious and i find myself using the jokes in Rlheh. yea im a nerd but who cares the ยงยง should have been the best. it is in my oppinion but my oppinions dont matter :p ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dan speed19067@aol.com Tue, 26 Mar 2002 20:09:42 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Let
me just say that I LOVE SEGA and this system is THE BEST! It may not
have a whole lot of titles out in the US, but buy a converter for 10
bucks and a WHOLE NEW world of Japanese games are opened up to you!
Some goodies are: Magic Knight Rayearth (US), Nights Into Dreams (US),
Burning Rangers (US), Sonic Jam - Sonic 1, 2, 3....etc...(JPN), Sakura
Wars (JPN), Sakura Wars 2 (JPN)......and SO MUCH MORE! Don't bea afraid
to get games in Japanese. You can ind TUNS of translations online! I
still own my Saturn and play it often. I would rather play a quality
game (some GREAT ones from Sonic Team) then a below par game, released
by the giant Sony. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Matt iored13@hotmail.com Sat, 23 Feb 2002 02:15:05 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- It's a crying shame that the Saturn wasn't successful. It had so much more going for it than the Playstation did. Youcould play online or surf the net using the netlink cartridge. Two systems could be linked together, and if you were to buy 2 6-player multitaps up to 12 players could play on certain games.(10 player bomberman is great!!) It even had abackup battery for internal memory storage. Some people said that there were never any good games for the system. However,
this is not true. NiGHTS, the panzer dragoon series, Shining Force 3,
the sonic games, 2 megaman games, and Grandia just to name a few. I
have always felt that sega is the most innovative game company of its
time and deserves credit for paving the way for online console gameplay. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Person itsaverylowqualityservice@hotmail.com Wed, 26 Dec 2001 16:07:39 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- If anybody here wants to know the COMPLETE history of the Sega Saturn go to http://www.atani-software.net/segabase/SegaBase-Saturn(Part1).html.
As far as I can see, SegaBase has the absolute complete history of the
Saturn. It may be a litl long (50 pages or so), but it's worth it. When
you are done I have no doubt that you will be a Sega Saturn guru
person.
TELL OTHERS ABOUT THIS GREAT SITE! ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
John abercrombie8142@aol.com Wed, 5 Dec 2001 16:04:35 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- hey I love sega saturn! I'm really happy that this site is so supportive. Anyways, I have to ask tisqustin...Doe anyoneknow where i can get thehouse of te dead fora decent price? If you have it can you sll it to me at areasonable price or tradeit for another game? thanx a lott, lata ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Todd Kagami101@aol.com Tue, 13 Nov 2001 10:01:42 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- I just purchased a Sega Saturn and love it just like I love my Dreamcast. The big reason the Saturn failed is simple: Allthe
good games came out in Japan and not over here! If you look at Sega's
history, you see this flaw over and over. Poor decision making when it
came to the volume and selection of game titles for the US market. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Stuart Boogiewith@hotmail.com Wed, 24 Oct 2001 16:39:43 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hey I will say this about the Saturn......Without a shadow of a doubt the two best baseball games ever came out on thissystem......World
series basebal 1 and 2 are not only the two best baseball games ever
made but no other system even comes close to the overall gameplay of
those two games......The game play on both of those games is how a
baseball game should be made......No other system has ever even come
close and I wonder if anybody will ever touch it.......The Saturn will
always live on ......Bring on the fall classic baby!!!! ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
ANTHONY PALMER TONY@MANDY100.FSNET.CO.UK Tue, 23 Oct 2001 22:27:41 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- SEGA SATURN . I
DID NOT GET MY SELF A SATURN TILL AFTER I BOUGHT A DREAMCAST , I WISH I
HAD BOUGHT ONE BACK IN 95 . THE GAMES I HAVE FOR IT ARE BRILL. PANZA
DRAGGON VIRTUAL COP 1 & 2 SONIC , VIRTUAL FIGHTER 2 ETC BUT GOD
GETTING HOLD OF THE GAMES NOW IS HARD .AND
WHEN YOU SHOW INTREST IN THE GOOD OLD SECOND HAND SHOP MONEY THEY WANT
AND LOADS OF IT.. I WOULD LOVE TO GET HOLD OF A 4MEG EXPANSION UNIT ..
PANZA DRAGGON 2 OR SAGA . I HAVE DEMOS BUT THE REAL GAME MY BROTHER
GOT HOLD OF NIGHTS FOR ME I CAN NOT PUT IT DOWN I HEAR ABOUT THE MODEM
BUT HAVE NEVER SEEN ONE . IF YOU HAVE ANY INFO OR JUST LIKE TO TALK
SATURN OR EVEN SEGA E.MAIL ME FOR
AT THE END OF THE DAY SEGA MAY LOOSE THE CONSOLE WAR . BUT THE SOFTWARE
WAR IS NOW STARTING A FRESH . SEGA WILL RULE AGAIN HAVE NO FEAR.... ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jonathan thornburg originalself2@hotmail.com Wed, 17 Oct 2001 11:18:42 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- The
sega saturn is still a good system. One of my personel faverate games
that everyone overlooks is burning rangers. Its a great game that lets
you rescue people with futuristic firefighter get ups, fighting the
coolest living semi-transparent fire
i ever saw in a 32bit game. The fire actually reacts to the
invironment. Yet another great sonic team game, if you can find it get,
you wont be disapointed! ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Steven () on Wednesday, September 5, 2001 at 13:46:13 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- The sega saturn had two hitachi sh2 cpu's running at 28.6mhz apiecefor a total of 56 mips persecond thats more than the ps1's 30 mips but most software developers were either unalble to harness the raw processing power or didnt know how to use them to get this performancealso the saturn has a 2xcdrom,2MB ram,1MB vram,512KB sound ram and the saturns main ram was expandible to 6MB with the use of and external cartridge that was used for some of capcoms fighting games. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Grant Groovy_man13@hotmail.com on Saturday, August 4, 2001 at 01:02:25 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- I'm still wondering why i got rid of my saturn years ago. the system was equal to the playstation, except saturn had a faster loading time (street fighter alpha only had to load once the entire game),and superior in graphics and power compared to the N64 (saturn actually did better than N64 in japan). so what did sega do wrong??? the same thing they did wrong with the sega cd... didnt wait long torelease the machine and have a strong title to go with the system. that and lack of third party support due to the difficulty programing the darn thing. one day i hope to get one again some day, virtua fighterrexix and panzer dragoon were such fun games. and yes i own a sega cd... sega rules!!! ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Saturn newbie kamisamma@dbzmail.com on Friday, July 20, 2001 at 11:10:47 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- About 2 years ago, i was starting to get a little tired of my Genesis, and i was craving something more. i had the choice of the Playstation or N64 (because i was limited on money). but then i remembered a commercial i saw for the saturn, and i had wanted one ever since. so i thought what the hell, and i bought one from a usedgame store for $30. and i'm glad i did.
this system is much better than the playstation will ever get (literally). with two CPUs,and 8 microprocessors (three of which are 32-bit) it can really take 32-bit gaming tothe next level. with beauties like Nights into Dreams, and the Panzer Dragoon gameswith its (in my opinion) 128-bit quality graphics, the playstation is really inferior. and it was the first system to have internet capabilities with the net link, which allowedweb surfing, and playing opponets over the internet on some games.
it is really a shame though the Saturn died, but i believe it killed itself. with its surprise may release with its first games, it caught third party game companies by surprise, and the playstations release like a month later, it signed its death warrant.It still dosen't matter, because it was able to get a good sized library, with plenty ofexcelent games in like Virtua Cop II, and Virtua Fighter II, and the underrated Gun Griffon.
and i promise you this: i will never buy a playstation or N64 or any of those other systems out there because i love my Saturn, and will keep it as long as possible, for in my belief, the Saturn did beat the playstation with better quality games, and bettergraphics, and it deserved to live with the Dreamcast, and kill Playstation completely. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Diesel diesel42c@aol.com on Thursday, July 5, 2001 at 22:36:26 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- It's funny, at the time, me and my brother were stuck between buying Playstation and Sega Saturn. We ended up buying Sega Saturn because of the success that Genesis had. Unfortunetly Saturn didn't last that long compared to Playstation, but I still loved the system. My favorite game was Bug, and Madden's graphics were great for its time! ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ciaran McCrisken ciaranmccrisken@ukgateway.net on Monday, June 4, 2001 at 16:40:10 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- I don't own a Saturn and many people view it as a "flopped console". It did unfortunetely. Sony advertised well whereas Sega didn't. Saturn was no way inferior to PSX. Although it came out in March 1994 and Playstation came out in September 1994 it was much more powerful. Saturn could push 160,000 more polygons. It had almost twice the amount of RAM and it was almost twice as powerful (CPU Mhz). Yes it did say that Saturn was 28Mhz but and PSX was 33Mhz...but...Saturn had 2 28Mhz processors meaning it could perform to 56Mhz! It could load alot quicker and had better sound quality plus the ability to fall back on FM, PNG and DAC sound (Megadrive (Genesis) format). It just didn't get the support it needed. Kudos toSega for their amazing consoles. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Brian precise67@yahoo.com on Sunday, May 6, 2001 at 10:47:24 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sega saturn is the best game system out there. There are several games that are fun and the graphics are superb. Alot of the fighting games are decent such as Fighters Megamix, Last Bronx, Night Warriors:Darstalkers Revenge, and the import fighting games are arcade perfect.(X-Men vs. Street Fighter, Vampire Savior/Darkstalkers 3,and Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter) These games are worth buying if youcan get ahold of them. the fighting games aren't just the good ones. There are several action and rpg games that are worth buying such as Enemy Zero, Panzer Dragoon, Mega Man 8,and more. If you want to know more feel free to email me. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mitchell importunar16@esweeet.com on Monday, January 15, 2001 at 11:56:29 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hey this isnt about the system... but I was wondering if you needed a memory card for sega Saturn...my email is importunar@esweeet.com so please e-mail me back and tell me. thanks ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Vipul Pate l akirajapsty3001@aol.com on Wednesday, December 13, 2000 at 17:24:13 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Why did the system die out? I know that it lacked 3rd party support, but why did it lack 3rd party support??? this is still a mystery to me 2 this day?? I had a saturn and thought it was a great system!! if it had the games then it could of been another ps> who knows maybe they and nintendo can battle it out like the good old days> From: a guy who believe in the old days of nintendo and the sega/. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Varan The Red blademaster_omega@yahoo.com on Wednesday, June 21, 2000 at 12:03:15 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- As far as I'm concerned,everyone should buy a Sega Sarurn due to the fact that it is a great system.Be careful what games you buy though.Some game just are not fun while other games ROCK!Try out the Mechwarrior games.They are better on Saturn than on Playstation because you don't have to hold down the button to make it go.It has a little bar on the side that shows how fast you are going.Well I guess that is just about it.If anyone has questions about any RPG type games,please e-mail me with them(i have played and beat lots of RPG's and can help you out).
Varan The Red ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
