Best of the Sega Saturn

[crazydean]

All this talk of how much the N64 sucks has got me thinking about this Sega Saturn I have. It hasn't been played much, and it's time to remedy this problem.

So, I'm looking for game suggestions. Specifically, anything but racing, sports, FPS, and turn-based RPGs.

[LostFlunky]

Nights.

Panzer Dragoon

Panzer Dragoon Zwei

Virtua Fighter 2

Fighter's Megamix

(I know you said no racers, but Sega Rally is so arcadey, playable and fun, I have to recommend it.)

[Arkhan Asylum]

ELEVATOR MOTHER FUCKING ACTION RETURNS MOTHERFUCKERS

[Gredler]

I really loved Dragon Force as a kid, but Panzer Dragoon Saga was great too. I played a lot of magic knight rayearth, too.

[nopepper]

Galactic Attack/Layer Section - awesome vertical shooter with some of the best 2D graphics ever, a rockin soundtrack and thumping sound effects.

Battle Garegga - real technical vertical shooter by Raizing. Very tough and requires a lot of knowledge of its rank system, which might turn some ppl off

Do don Pachi - still the best Cave shooter ever, IMO. If you can't get ahold of the PCB, this is the next best thing (besides emulation). Can be played straightforward for survival or if you get into it, for score.

Radiant Silvergun - some peeps call this one overrated, but I think the hype is warranted. One of my desert island games with almost infinite playability. Also, one of the technical marvels of the 32/64 bit era.

Vampire Saviour - great conversion of Capcom's fighting classic. I have the CPS2 board and this thing is pretty much identical. There are other great 2D fighters, but this is my personal favorite.

Dragon Force - super addictive sprite based real time strategy from Sega. One of my fav US releases.

Saturn Bomberman - best couch multiplayer game ever, IMO. I love all the stats that are accumulated per game and wish this was standard in all Bomberman games, as it's always fun to see who killed who, how many suicides you committed, etc.

+Many many more shoot em ups (Strikers 1945, Soukyugurentai, Darius Gaiden, Batsugun, Hyper Duel, Blast Wind, Guardian Force, ...)

[jlued686]

Listen to nopepper. Those are some great titles. Guardian Heroes is a good one to add to that list. There are some great fighters on Saturn, too.

Disclaimer: some of those games will cost you a small fortune.

[DragonmasterDan]

Dragon Force is my favorite Sega made game ever

[Gredler]

Disclaimer: some of those games will cost you a small fortune.

Good thing that games can be affordably pirated, or yes playing most of these would cost a horribly high dollar

[xcrement5x]

Astal is a fun one, and so is Keio 2.

[SignOfZeta]

I really like Marvel Super Heroes vs Street Fighter. It has comc book graphical flash beyond the other games in the series.

Guardian Heroes

Saturn Bomberman

Puzzle Fighter

Magical Drop III

Macross: DYRL

Vampire Savior

Death Tank Zwei

Panzer Dragoon series (all)

Fighters Megamix

VF Kids

[Arkhan Asylum]

MKR is great but only if you want to buy the 8$ JP copy instead of the 400$ USA copy, or just burn one or something.

I think MKR is my favorite saturn game, but I like MKR as a whole, so I am biased

[nopepper]

I really like Marvel Super Heroes vs Street Fighter. It has comc book graphical flash beyond the other games in the series.

The Saturn version also includes that weird geeky character that was not available in CPS2 US and PSX versions.

[DragonmasterDan]

MKR is great but only if you want to buy the 8$ JP copy instead of the 400$ USA copy, or just burn one or something.

I think MKR is my favorite saturn game, but I like MKR as a whole, so I am biased

I like MKR a lot as well, but those US prices are now ridiculous.

[jlued686]

I almost forgot: Last Gladiators Digital Pinball! Cheap and awesome.

[SignOfZeta]

I really like Marvel Super Heroes vs Street Fighter. It has comc book graphical flash beyond the other games in the series.

The Saturn version also includes that weird geeky character that was not available in CPS2 US and PSX versions.

Yeah, Norimaru is essential.

[Medic_wheat]

You kinda said no to the bread and butter for the Saturn.

It has great RPG's. Although the FPS are meh.

What ever I recommend will be very broken record. It happens when you talk about a system where the games to recommend are usually the must have/own


Layer section/galactic attack
Darius
Almost any 2D fighter
Puzzle fighter (import only) granted I think it plays no different than the PS1 port which is NA
Panzar dragoon Zewi
Guardian hero's

There are also some Japan only best em ups but I think they have gotten pricy.

[DragonmasterDan]

Super Tempo

[Gypsy]

I almost forgot: Last Gladiators Digital Pinball! Cheap and awesome.

\m/

Most of the essential stuff has been mentioned.

Digital Pinball Necronomicon is also wicked awesome but costs a bit more. I think it's better, but if you are only buying one and are trying to keep the budget right, Last Gladiators still should be less than $10 shipped for the JP version.

Some of my top favourites, and I know I am mostly just reiterating games already listed in this thread.

Magical Drop II/III
Puzzle Bobble 2/3
Magic Knight Rayearth (BURN IT, as others have said)
Dragon Force (this is also pretty much burn territory these days I think)
Dungeons & Dragons
Sega Worldwide Soccer 98 (if you like sport games this one is pretty fun and simple, lots of modes iirc)
Sega Rally
Daytona
Saturn Bomberman

There are a lot of great shooters and NoPepper's post is actually a great starting point. I've played just about all of them and certainly DDP, Silvergun and Garegga are in the top 5 on Saturn. Layer Section is excellent too. I'm also really high on Soukyugurentai. Make sure you get the fixed version. Those are all pretty much true Saturn shooters. The Saturn also has a crap ton of compilations of older shooters.

Game that sucks don't play it

Albert Odyssey

[exodus]

I'll mention things I don't think others will.

If your japanese is decent, get these RPGs:
Cyber Doll
Dragon Master Silk
Black/Matrix

if you like multiplayer games, get:
Vatlva (car battle action)
Coin Puzzle Moujiya (basically Money Idol Exchanger)

If you like action in general get:
Bulk Slash
Steambot Chronicles
Silhouette Mirage - one of my favorite treasure games

fighting:
Toshinden URA (a saturn-only sequel to the first saturn Toshinden)
Asuka 120% Limited - best fighting game of the era for my money
Zero Divide - great music
The SNK stuff if you want that!

STG:
Shippū Mahō Daisakusen Kingdom-Grandprix - racing and shooting mixed
Batsugun - easy, but fun shooter with a lot of character to the backgrounds

Racing:
Touge 2: mountain passes are fun, but this also comes with a huge repository of people who sent in their own photos of themselves with their cars. Great 90s fashion and cars!!
Gran Chaser - good music in the japanese version
Sonic R - I don't care what anyone says, I love it (though do play it with the 3D controller)

uhhh there's plenty more but I could go on forever

[crazydean]

Well, it looks like I'm good on the Saturn for quite a while, haha. Thanks all for the suggestions. Feel free to continue posting your favorite games or what have you, but I plan to start at the top and work my way down.

As for RPGs, I like them, but I don't know how anyone could play more than two or three per year. As Chrono Trigger was just finished (finally crossed that off the backlog), it's going to be a few months before I'm ready for the next one.

[SignOfZeta]

As a Hudson fan I have to mention Yuna remix, Yuna 3, Willy Wombat, and Tengai Makyou: the Apocalypse IV and well as Bomberman Wars.

The only reason I didn't mention Sakura Wars 1 and 2 before is because they are better on Dreamcast but that series is also largely produced by Red, who are a huge part of Hudson over the years.

[CrackTiger]

Virtua Cops and House of the Dead with two black Stunners/Virtua Guns.

[Bloufo]

Mass Destruction is a fun game. Great music.

[Medic_wheat]

Wait now I am confused.

In your original post it sounded like you wanted a list of games except for racing, FPS, and RPG.

But nearly everyone posted recommendations exactly for that.

So did you or did you not want recommendations or those types of games?

[nopepper]

Wait now I am confused.

In your original post it sounded like you wanted a list of games except for racing, FPS, and RPG.

But nearly everyone posted recommendations exactly for that.

So did you or did you not want recommendations or those types of games?

Just post your favorite Saturn games, for chrissakes.

[seieienbu]

On assumption you can play burned games I'd highly recommend Policenauts with the English translation patch. 

Also the Shining Force 3 trilogy is fully in English now, right?  The first game was released stateside at the end of the Saturn's life but the second and third chapters weren't released over here.  ...I need to look into playing the 2nd and 3rd in English now that I think about it.

[TR0N]

Dark Savior
Cyberbots
Panzer Dragoon Zwei
Virtual Fighter 2
Street Fighter Zero 3
Darius Gaiden
Radiant Silvergun
X-men vs Street Fighter,still the best port out there.
Vampire Savior
Virtual Cop 2

Take note any of the u.s panzer dragoons have gotten expensive unless you buy the japanese version,cheaper by the way.

[crazydean]

Wait now I am confused.

In your original post it sounded like you wanted a list of games except for racing, FPS, and RPG.

But nearly everyone posted recommendations exactly for that.

So did you or did you not want recommendations or those types of games?

Just post your favorite Saturn games, for chrissakes.

Lol. Yeah, I don't care for fighting games either, but there's enough here to get me started. As for the RPGs, I love action RPGs, just not turn-based.

[Gypsy]

Virtua Cops and House of the Dead with two black Stunners/Virtua Guns.

\m/ \m/

Definitely worth getting. The Virtua Cop games you can pretty much get for next to nothing too.

[crazydean]

Some of these games I've already tried like Magical Knight Rayearth. I played for what seemed like forever and never really "played" anything. It was all text and moe. Is there an actual game in there?

[Gypsy]

Some of these games I've already tried like Magical Knight Rayearth. I played for what seemed like forever and never really "played" anything. It was all text and moe. Is there an actual game in there?

Yes. It does take a bit to get going though.

[crazydean]

Some of these games I've already tried like Magical Knight Rayearth. I played for what seemed like forever and never really "played" anything. It was all text and moe. Is there an actual game in there?

Yes. It does take a bit to get going though.

I've seen Albert Odyssey recommended in other places. I assume it's not here because I said no RPGs. Why don't you like it?

Also, money is no object. I am very rich in CD-Rs.

[Gypsy]

I figured some people would recommend it which is why I specifically said something against it. It's just...not good. Generic and boring. Also while feeling grindy it's actually fairly short. There just isn't much to it and it is very forgettable.

[seieienbu]

I've seen Albert Odyssey recommended in other places. I assume it's not here because I said no RPGs. Why don't you like it?

I've never played it but always wanted to.  What I can say with certainty is that I like the soundtrack a lot. 

I read a review when the game came out saying it was kinda meh so I passed on it at the time.  Some years later I saw a copy at a Play'n Trade for a stupid amount of money, like $120 or something.  I offered $75 which was what it was going for online at the time.  I got turned down, of course, as stores don't like haggling or whatever.  Some time passed and I went to that store again a couple of years later and it was still there.  I made the same offer.  Over the next few years I made that offer a couple more times.  Then, about 2 years ago, the store closed.  I don't think they ever sold the game.

[DragonmasterDan]

Albert Odyssey has a high encounter rate and kind of a boring story. It's very basic, this isn't a bad thing but the game isn't particularly exceptional either. It's not bad, but it plays very much like a mid-tier SNES RPG with a funny localization.

[nopepper]

Some of these games I've already tried like Magical Knight Rayearth. I played for what seemed like forever and never really "played" anything. It was all text and moe. Is there an actual game in there?

I feel the same way about that game; more style than substance. Great looking game, but the story, character and gameplay were so uninteresting, I stopped playing midway through and have not touched it in 15+ years. Maybe if I was 12 when I started playing it, I might've liked it more...

I personally don't feel like there are any action RPGs in the Saturn that are worth the time. MKR, Dark Savior and Legend Of Oasis are all subpar and don't hold a candle to stuff like Landstalker, Light Crusader and Alundra (not to mention the 2D Zeldas).

The Saturn is all about shooters, Bomberman, Dragon Force and Panzer Dragoon.

[SignOfZeta]

Albert Odyssey has a high encounter rate and kind of a boring story. It's very basic, this isn't a bad thing but the game isn't particularly exceptional either. It's not bad, but it plays very much like a mid-tier SNES RPG with a funny localization.

If the 16-bit systems hadn't been abandoned I don't think an RPG as mediocre as this would have even been made. The budget hit moving to 32-bit set RPGs back 3-5 years.

Since it exists in English that makes it appealing no matter how lame it is but if the language barrier isn't a problem for you by all means skip this game completely. There are much better RPGs on Saturn.

[Gredler]

Albert Odyssey has a high encounter rate and kind of a boring story. It's very basic, this isn't a bad thing but the game isn't particularly exceptional either. It's not bad, but it plays very much like a mid-tier SNES RPG with a funny localization.

As a kid I thought the graphics were very appealing, the music rocked, and the gameplay was approachable for me as a 13 year old.

I haven't ever gone back to it, but I remember loving it.

[Arkhan Asylum]

Shining the Holy Ark is the tits. 

but, MKR is still top titties.


Having recently replayed it, it's still so fun.

That era was neat when you get all pumped up because there's voice overs coming out during talky-time.

A similar-ish experience is Linkle Liver Story.

Another fun game, and that one doesn't require English really either.


It's weird to play RPGs that you can't understand the story of though.   I don't really get that.

[Gredler]

I recently tried a playthrough of the holy ark, but got stalled about 2/3s through, and puttered into something out. What a fun dungeon crawler, I really should go back and wrap it up.

[Gypsy]

Shining the Holy Ark is the tits. 

but, MKR is still top titties.


Having recently replayed it, it's still so fun.

That era was neat when you get all pumped up because there's voice overs coming out during talky-time.

A similar-ish experience is Linkle Liver Story.

Another fun game, and that one doesn't require English really either.


It's weird to play RPGs that you can't understand the story of though.   I don't really get that.

Yeah I have replayed MKR within the last couple years and I thought it was still fun as well. Now, should it be $342384 or w/e fuck no but it would be really solid for like $30 lol.

[exodus]

As a Hudson fan I have to mention Yuna remix, Yuna 3, Willy Wombat, and Tengai Makyou: the Apocalypse IV and well as Bomberman Wars.

I keep wanting to like yuna 3, but the shrill voices are really wearing me down! and willy wombat's VO is a super embarrassment. but it's got some odd charm!

[ginoscope]

I have always been fond of Deep Fear on the Saturn since I first tried it out when I got into Saturn around 2002.  It's a survivor horror resident evil clone that was actually made by Sega.  It has horrid voice acting but I always loved that it took place underwater.  Reminded me of The Abyss movie.

This only came out in Japan and Europe but there is a US prototype that was found some years ago.  I really liked how using your gun would deplete the oxygen in certain parts of the rig.  Highly recommended if you are a survivor horror fan.

[SignOfZeta]

As a Hudson fan I have to mention Yuna remix, Yuna 3, Willy Wombat, and Tengai Makyou: the Apocalypse IV and well as Bomberman Wars.

I keep wanting to like yuna 3, but the shrill voices are really wearing me down! and willy wombat's VO is a super embarrassment. but it's got some odd charm!

Yeah, neither of these games is all that amazing. They made some great art for them though.

[Izod1337]

If you're looking for some Saturn games, I recommend trying out Wachenroder. Personally my favorite linear rpg that has a unique setting and characters. The only thing is that it can get repetitive. There is a full translation guide for it on Gamefaqs. Also of anyone is interested I did a review of it: http://segasaturngroup.proboards.com/thread/8984/wachenr-der-jp-review-spoilers

[exodus]

Some of these games I've already tried like Magical Knight Rayearth. I played for what seemed like forever and never really "played" anything. It was all text and moe. Is there an actual game in there?

Just noticed this - it's an action rpg through and through, just a slow paced one. that's exactly what I like! I also wouldn't really say it's moe, it's just 90s clamp!

[SignOfZeta]

It's possible you're two blind men explaining the same elephant. I can see the game both ways.

IIRC it was a very early Saturn game, launch or near that, and most things like that are a lot worse. At least they leaned heavily on art that lasts instead of some polygonal clag that look liked dated shit the next year (ie: Toshinden)

[Gypsy]

At least they leaned heavily on art that lasts instead of some polygonal clag that look liked dated shit the next year (ie: Toshinden)

Oh hell yes.

[Gredler]

MKR A early launch game? I waited forever for WD to bring it here, I had no idea it was an early release but that would explain some of it

[Gypsy]

MKR A early launch game? I waited forever for WD to bring it here, I had no idea it was an early release but that would explain some of it

Yeah it was a 1995 release in Japan.