IC Forum Archive

PepsimanVsJoe · Posts: 105

Okay let's just get this crap out of the way.
Here is a Saturn thread..talk about anything Saturn related.

I'll start by saying Blast Wind sucks, Wachenroder is pretty cool, Valtva is neat, and Advanced Variable Geo LE comes with a jigsaw puzzle.

Let's keep this thread updated so we never have to make another Saturn thread.

Next week we shall do the Genesis/Megadrive, then a week after that it'll be the Super Nintendo..and so and so forth.

BalbanesBeoulve · Posts: 2126

Why the hell is Saturn emulation virtually nonexistant? I want to play Dragon Force, damn it!

sklathill · Posts: 184

Shinrei Jusatsushi Taroumaru is a fun game. It also isn't worth its 300+ dollars pricetag.

And the Saturn version of Twinkle Star Sprites is just brilliant.

aderack · Posts: 5018

It is. It's also hard to find. Unfortunately.

dark steve · Posts: 3002

The Cyberbots LE box was a big waste of money.

PepsimanVsJoe · Posts: 105

Taromaru isn't worth $300 I agree..luckily I played it for almost free.
It has some cool effects and nice enemy design, but the actual gameplay is fairly bunk and well..$300!?

Saturn emulation still sucks..and probably will suck for another 5 to 10 years. I've tried and it isn't a pleasant experience. Shame..I'd like a good Saturn emu so I can copy all of the pictures from the Sengoku Blade bonus disc.

Cyberpunk games.. There needs to be more of them. A current(haha) one I'm playing is called Cyber Doll. It's a bit like Front Mission in that after you kill enemies(in typical turnbased RPG fashion) you can take their arms/legs/groin and switch the parts to increase your stats. Beats the whole levelup BS and you can sell excess cybernetic parts to buy weapons and ammo. So far it's pretty neat..but I'm sure I'll stop playing at one point or another and never touch the game again.

At least it's $10 or less on Ebay

I finally got around to finishing the first couple scenarios in Princess Crown. I can't believe this game got away with a green label. I mean towards the end you meet absurdly large breasted assassins and even do a naked transformation into an evil busty sorceress...hey whatever. Good game as well, even if it is pretty shallow.

aderack · Posts: 5018

I understand that Sega has a pretty perfect Saturn emulator for internal use.

Swimmy · Posts: 147

sklathill wrote:

And the Saturn version of Twinkle Star Sprites is just brilliant.

What's the difference between it and the Dreamcast version (the only one I've played but love to unholy death)?

BalbanesBeoulve · Posts: 2126

Swimmy wrote:

sklathill wrote:

And the Saturn version of Twinkle Star Sprites is just brilliant.

What's the difference between it and the Dreamcast version (the only one I've played but love to unholy death)?

The Saturn version has 75% more hardcore gamer street cred.

dessgeega · Posts: 3317

i hear tell there's a ps2 twinkle star sprites coming out soon. i also hear tell i've already pre-ordered it.

sklathill · Posts: 184

BalbanesBeoulve wrote:

Swimmy wrote:

sklathill wrote:

And the Saturn version of Twinkle Star Sprites is just brilliant.

What's the difference between it and the Dreamcast version (the only one I've played but love to unholy death)?

The Saturn version has 75% more hardcore gamer street cred.

It also has 100% more optical media (standard and not so standard game-related images, radio plays, omake fun), and an infinite amount more of poorly compressed cinepak video featuring girls growing breasts as they power up.

aderack · Posts: 5018

Also added characters (I believe) and... an important opening movie.

It is important. Truly.

aderack · Posts: 5018

dessgeega wrote:

i hear tell there's a ps2 twinkle star sprites coming out soon. i also hear tell i've already pre-ordered it.

Yeah, it's a sequel. Or, well, a new game anyway. Made by Noise Factory, according to Michael Meyers.

Site.

Phoenix Rie · Posts: 111

sklathill wrote:

It also has 100% more optical media (standard and not so standard game-related images, radio plays, omake fun), and an infinite amount more of poorly compressed cinepak video featuring girls growing breasts as they power up.

Exactly. I recall in the last Saturn thread someone looking for Nanatsu Kaze no Shima Monogatari art scans off the omake disc. Now who wants (or will host) 65MB worth of .bmp's now that I've got 'em?

Cinepak hating, wow. That takes me back to '98. I used to demo mpeg Lunar for the PSX fans when they'd brag about their MDEC superiority. Eitherway, thanks for not mentioning TrueMotion. Glad to be back.

BlankWaveArcade · Posts: 11

Samurai Spirits 4 is the best Neo Geo port on the Saturn. It even has move lists, which was quite rare for fighters back then.

My biggest Saturn regret was not picking up that copy of WakuWaku 7 I saw a few weeks ago, and then finding it had been purchased when I went back for it two days later...

chazumaru* · Posts: 480

I don't remember if I ever let that slip by on IC, but I am huge Saturn fan, by aderack towards Transformers standards. I have all the symptoms imaginable: hundreds of games, Hi Saturn Navi, STV board... you name it. It is the system that accompanied my teenagehood, and whereas others were influenced or marked for life by a rock band, I built that kind of special link with Sega's system instead. What I love with the Saturn is that not only does it bear the legacy of Sega's Master System and Megadrive, it also is the successor to the NEC PCEngine "thanks to" the demise of the PC-FX and the numerous abandoned projects that were ported on Sega's system (including Saturn Bomberman). Plus the Neo Geo ports. It's like an anthology of the 16bit generation with touching early 3D experiments. I'll rant more later !

DeusJester · Posts: 1388

chazumaru* wrote:

what Chaz said

I'm kind of in a similar but differ--

--Wait, you have a Hi-Navi? Shit, man. Do you have the LCD screen for it? Do you use it while driving?! Because I may need to go to France with a copy of Zwei and drop Shellcoof while tooling around the countryside or something. That would...I dunno. I dunno how I'd handle it. Well, I hope. --

Anyway, yeah. I've got a similar Saturn cord binding me to it, but not because it was there during my teenage years. I generally stuck to the odd PC game until I hit about 15, and from there until around 19 I didn't play games much at all. I got my social development out of the way, learned to drink, got laid with enough frequency to demystify it for me, and did all the usual "late bloomer" shit earlier than a genuine late bloomer but a half-step behind what I probably could've gotten away with.

It was afterwards, when my PC was either shitty or nonexistant and I'd earned up enough money to start getting some of this stuff that the Saturn became an easy filter to get to all the "best of" moments from the past decade-ish list of games I'd skipped out on. It's actually really easy to do, requiring only marginally more effort, time, and money than any other system, but the results were (by that point) sort of an instant to-do list of getting the best games under your belt all at once. You could vicariously live out your fantasies of being the kid with the Neo Geo without having to have the rich parents, the shooter fan without having to build a Supergun and start figuring out PCBs, and compile all your Genesis/Megadrive needs into one console. Sonic Jam was in there, Nights was in there, Silhouette Mirage was hinting at all kinds of craziness, even Shin Shinobi Den looked cool if you were just browsing screenshots.

shnozlak · Posts: 704

I have 2 nifty orange light guns for the system and only have area51 so far, any suggestions for good light gun games?

StorminNorman · Posts: 70

I don't know if I'm a Saturn fan as such, but I own two of them, and Radiant Silvergun.

nocturnedelight · Posts: 430

the last Saturn related thing I bought was the Sega Saturn NetLink Edition Pack thing off of eBay, which I haven't even tested out yet (whether the system works, or if it came with anything, or anything...I lost interest by the time I got it, since also my friend who was going to get a NetLink with me...backed out).

It came with the system, a sega keyboard, the netlink, and an offline copy of Sega Rally.

Does anyone have a NetLink? For that matter, does anyone know how to make the NetLink work through a Cell Phone? I have no land line.

DaleNixon · Posts: 766

shnozlak wrote:

I have 2 nifty orange light guns for the system and only have area51 so far, any suggestions for good light gun games?

Both virtua cops are excellent. The shooting in Die Hard Trilogy is awesome as well. I also love the Saturn port of The House of the Dead even though I've been told I should die for that.

chazumaru* · Posts: 480

Nah, the port of THOTD is alright.

Although the best answer, of course, is Policenauts.

ryan · Posts: 297

Yeah, my Saturn is linked pretty heavily with my teenage years. It didn't help that I was the only person I knew with one, but nevertheless! Way back when you had to do an ungodly amount of research per title before purchasing, and when renting games whenever was more of a treat, almost everything I played on the system was awesome; plus the track record of random titles being good:bad was fantastic. When I did talk to someone with a Saturn, I got to freak out over how awesome it was to get Christmas Nights for free or that Namco was Sega's shadow for a while, and while no one else really cared, for me and the other person, we were really saying some shit.

random notes:
Galaxy Fight is a piece of crap, and Street Fighter Alpha 2 on the Saturn remains my favorite 2D fighter. Also, Sega Rally is a fine, fine title.

I would like an opinion or two on Wachenroder.

shnozlak · Posts: 704

chazumaru* wrote:

Nah, the port of THOTD is alright.

Although the best answer, of course, is Policenauts.

well..yes. Though I can speak the langauge. If there is a SNATCHER port Ill have to get that obviously.

chazumaru* · Posts: 480

There's a Snatcher port but it's not that great, in japanese only and not compatible with the gun. So...

jiji · Posts: 780

I played some Last Gladiators, Necronomicon, and Suikoenbu Fuunsaiki recently. I went fairly nuts with Saturn purchases around '99-'00, but I've sold a lot of that since and stuck with my favorites. I've been playing Battle Garegga ever since I bought my Saturn ('99) and I still haven't one-credit-cleared it. I don't think I ever will, either.

I've stuck to buying cheap, common Saturn releases for a while now (mostly since I bought/tried/sold most of the expensive ones already), and still find some interesting stuff. Galaxy Fight is on the short list, crap though it may be. And while it's a little pricey, I'd like to grab Salamander Deluxe Pack sometime (mostly thanks to the stage 2 music, which popped up in a recent video game music quiz contest).

I need to beat PD Zwei. It's not that it's difficult or time-consuming - it's just, the last time I got to the last boss I was a snob about continues and let myself game-over.

I had a copy of Wachenroder signed by Range Murata for Mr. click_stick at AX04. It was neat - Murata was surprised to see it there.

Shapermc · Posts: 2450

Panzer Dragoon 2 is pretty hot. I can't play Policenauts. Gradius Deluxe is quite that; deluxe.

The problem is I have only had a Saturn a few months. The Playstation made me angry at the direction games were headed at that point in my life and I never got into the Saturn as a result. I was a very late adopter for 3D.

burnsro · Posts: 50

I traded a copy of Super Smash Bros Melee for a Saturn from my neighbor. Then one of my friends let me borrow his Saturn games. I hadn't played a scrolling shooter since UN Squadron and he had Galactic Attack in his stack of games. That game got me into shooters. It's a good game! Go get it, it should be relatively cheap.

Later on I traded my NGPC for some Saturn games. PD Zwei, Saturn Bomberman, Street Fighter 2 Alpha, Fighters' Megamix, and some others I can't think of. Good games but I made a mistake by trading my Pocket away. Don't ever get rid of your NGPC! I need to get another. Now.

Oh and Twinkle Star Sprites was for sale on Lawrence's shop but unfortunately he closed it recently. It was only $100.

dark steve · Posts: 3002

I ruv my saturn. I unlocked every single vs. character in Guardian Heroes. It's the system that got me into importing games, and I still clear out Christmas Nights every december (though to my credit I mute the ending).

ryan · Posts: 297

chazumaru* wrote:

informative post

You know Japanese, or did you just feel your way around the menus? I'm assuming it's menu heavy.

burnsro wrote:

... he had Galactic Attack in his stack of games. That game got me into shooters. It's a good game! Go get it, it should be relatively cheap.

I'm completely inept when it comes to shooters, and Galactic Attack rocks me pretty damn hard. I break it out every few months, but the scenerio always ends with me blurting out, "fuckthisshit!" and putting in Virtua Fighter 2 or something.

Also, the Christmas Nights soundtrack is the only game music I listen to on a regular basis - well, that and a little Myth: Total Soundtrack. It always makes me happy happy.

dark steve · Posts: 3002

Christmas Nights has a soundtrack?

As in like an album?P.S. ww2 recon 4 life!

chazumaru* · Posts: 480

Ryan> At the time I wrote the FAQ, I knew very little. Now I know a bit more. The game is far from being menu heavy, honestly.

dark steve> Christmas Nights comes from a blessed era when most audio sources were real CD tracks that could be read on a CD players.

dark steve · Posts: 3002

Ah. Well I knew that. You're just never sure when it comes to the saturn, though.

surume · Posts: 8

Broke out the saturn a month ago. Some updated impressions since I hadn't played these games in 5+ years.

Thunderforce V is excellent and balanced, but fugly.
Soukyu Gurentai would be great if not for screen scaling during manic dodging/huge hit box.
Silhouette Mirage and Princess Crown aren't nearly as fun as I remember.
Salamander Pack and Mickey/Quackshot Pack are nigh immortal.
Obligatory Akumajo Dracula X + Guardian Heroes = yay!

PepsimanVsJoe · Posts: 105

ThunderForce V isn't exactly balanced. Not only is the Free-Range the best weapon it's also the best weapon for getting a good score.

Anyway

Guardian Heroes..

Great game but uh..terribly unbalanced. I recently did a few runthroughs of the game on Story mode with a few of the characters. Hard difficulty with the 99 continues cheat.

With Nicole I managed to beat the game in under 3 continues. I went the path that ultimately ended with the Sky Spirits fight. Nicole however is absolutely broken. First off she can heal..which in a game without any sort of health pickups makes her the best already(Aside from the full healing you get between stages and the 100 points healed in substages..there's not enough imo ways to regain health). She also has the devastating shield wall crush. Essentially corner an enemy and activate her shield, exorbitant damage follows. Oh and her healing damages the undead..so if I took Earth Spirit I probably would have done it in 2 continues(For reference my first two were spent in the first couple stages)

Randy the magic user took about 5 continues. I ended up relying more on my Undead partner throughout this game. The Sky Spirits battle was an absolute mess since with the hard difficulty the enemy becomes amazing at reading input.

Han took a whopping 8 continues. Most of these were spent on the bosses mainly because without the sword Han picks up in stage 8 he doesn't have much of a chance offensively.
-------
Level balance is out the window. It's sort of like the Darius games as some paths are far more difficult than others(Good luck if you get a Sky Spirit battle or White Armor Valgar imo). And of course there's that great little scene with Kanon giving his history lesson...Oh God..hate. Maybe later I'll put together an optimal path depending on which characters you use.

But as it stands while the combat is more fun the use of magic severely outweighs it. There are too many variables going on when you stick to combat and it's easier to toss some spells around and let the Undead Hero do all the hard work. More options for breaking blocks would have been nice(Han's shoulder dash is unblockable but it sucks at connecting).

Great game though..As unrefined as it is compared to other..better Beatemups(Notably the Streets of Rage games) it's still a load of fun. If somebody manages to 1CC this game on hard in an honest manner I'd be really impressed(Especially if they had Undead Hero assistance turned off).

--------
Wachenroder's battles are very simple to figure out. Some missions require that you hit switches or reach a certain spot on the map. Usually it's fairly clear to figure out what to do but if not there's a hefty number of FAQs available including a complete translation of the game's text.
All you really need to know to survive is to heal whenever possible(pretty much all of the girls have a healing spell and it only costs 15 AP to use), watch your steam levels, and remember that you can't repeat battles to gain experience(so make the most of each fight).

surume · Posts: 8

TF5 seems pretty balanced to me, as in it's fairly challenging, but fun throughout. I can play it and zone out a bit compared to say, Borderdown or any Cave-em-up which requires you to be on your toes the whole time.

I'll try the Free Range thing to see what you're talking about.

Thoughts on Silhouette Mirage?

yellowlightman · Posts: 359

Phoenix Rie wrote:

Exactly. I recall in the last Saturn thread someone looking for Nanatsu Kaze no Shima Monogatari art scans off the omake disc. Now who wants (or will host) 65MB worth of .bmp's now that I've got 'em?

If you still need a host, I can host them on my site. PM me.

As for Saturn games, I loved Sexy Parodius. I've got other games, but that's just about all I play. I need to get... more shooters.

Rud13 · Posts: 3277

This week I picked up Sega Rally Championship and the American verison of Layer Section which's american name I can't bear to remember. I also grabbed another JP saturn controller and an analog.

Then I got kicked out of my best friend's house forever.

Exciting week.

Phoenix Rie · Posts: 111

yellowlightman wrote:

If you still need a host, I can host them on my site. PM me.

PM sent. Here are some of the aforementioned (Before my Flickr blew up) for those who have no idea what the hell I'm talking about.

Agent Orange · Posts: 194

As mentioned on LPN, I just bought a Saturn last week.
Opened it up yesterday. I'm going to mod it sometime during the next weeks.
The machine came with Panzer Dragoon (among other games) which I found quite disappointing, mainly due to the slow framerate and dodgy controls.
Digital Pinball is nice tough, as any game with wailing guitars is.

FortNinety · Posts: 4591

chazumaru* wrote:

I don't remember if I ever let that slip by on IC, but I am huge Saturn fan, by aderack towards Transformers standards. I have all the symptoms imaginable: hundreds of games, Hi Saturn Navi, STV board... you name it. It is the system that accompanied my teenagehood, and whereas others were influenced or marked for life by a rock band, I built that kind of special link with Sega's system instead. What I love with the Saturn is that not only does it bear the legacy of Sega's Master System and Megadrive, it also is the successor to the NEC PCEngine "thanks to" the demise of the PC-FX and the numerous abandoned projects that were ported on Sega's system (including Saturn Bomberman). Plus the Neo Geo ports. It's like an anthology of the 16bit generation with touching early 3D experiments. I'll rant more later !

Please do. I get very happy, sentimental, defensive, and a slew of other teenage angst-ish emotion when thinking about it. For me, it was what made me a man... my first foray into the world of CD-ROM games, the future. Plus it was a high school graduation present.

Its also been there for the tough spots in life, and represented sacrifice, like when I had to sell Radiant Silvergun to put food on the table. Then there's the whole "you can't go home again" part of life, which I constantly have to battle when I'm tempted to lay $300 to buy back the game.

FortNinety · Posts: 4591

Oh, is Try Rush Deppy any good? If anyone has any good, obscure import recommendations, I'm all ears.

PepsimanVsJoe · Posts: 105

Tryrush Deppy is a solid pretty platformer.
The levels are interesting in that you can speed through them in less than five minutes but there are so many optional subquests in each stage it can add another 10-15 minutes of play.

I haven't spent nearly enough time with this since essentially you are timed. You need to keep collecting gas in order to continue(Using the dash attack, getting hit, and just moving will use up gas). Kind of pricey though..

FortNinety · Posts: 4591

I just realized that I got Super Tempo a whiles back and I have yet to even give it for a spin.

Actually, I did once when I got it, but was immediately confused. Maybe I'll try again tonight.

chazumaru* · Posts: 480

PepsimanVsJoe · Posts: 105

I have managed to successfully 1CC Guardian Heroes on the hard difficulty. Granted I used broken as fuck Nicole but eh..

Anyhoo I figure I'll write a Guardian Heroes FAQ over the weekend..Nice and deep like some sort of fighting game guide(I'm not doing any frame counting however).

I'll be away from my Saturn and the internet during this time however so uh...hmm..eh well..maybe I better put it off for a few more days.

WHOOPS: I also beat the game with Han without continuing..on Hard of course..Go me.

Guess I gotta take back some of the nasty things I've said about this game eh?

sklathill · Posts: 184

Oh.

COTTON BOOMERANG.

gunshinji · Posts: 186

I don't know, the Saturn never really played a big part at any time in my life. I was the only one I knew that had it and up to a year ago, I had only three games for it: Sonic 3D Blast, Sonic Jam, and Panzer Dragoon. Panzer Dragoon I played heavily, I loved it and still do. When I wasn't playing that, I was playing Gunstar Heroes. My early childhood was a little Sega dry.

I didn't even play Nights till two months ago.

Then DeusJester made mention of Panzer Dragoon Saga. That's about when the Saturn started getting major attention, like that old magazine you find laying around an attic or basement you read to relive something. Now I own the complete Panzer Dragoon series and Nights. Not to mention Street Fighter Alpha 2 - the only Alpha I actually like.

yellowlightman · Posts: 359

Phoenix Rie wrote:

Exactly. I recall in the last Saturn thread someone looking for Nanatsu Kaze no Shima Monogatari art scans off the omake disc. Now who wants (or will host) 65MB worth of .bmp's now that I've got 'em?

Phoenix Rie just uploaded all those pictures to my website, you can find them here.

Anonymous · Posts: 0

ahh Saturn.. probably the most hardcore system besides the Neo Geo AES.

an unlimited number of obscure import titles and console incarnations and its probably the best shooter system out there (with the Dreamcast being a close second).

myself, I own a V-Saturn and Bomberman S-Bomb pad and Radiant Silvergun. good times.. good times..