ELI5 (explain like i'm five) about sega saturn

[migles]

i saw a sega saturn in a second game shop... and i got out of the shop wondering about it..
i never had a sega saturn and i never meet someone with one, i also don't remember seing a commercial about it when i was a kid...
i had a sega mega drive (genesis) and i hit my head into a wall to make my parents get me a dreamcast like the spoiled kid i was, but they never let me have one (stoopid parents)

so, basically, i don't know anything about the saturn, should i get one, is it worth? what can it play?
all i know it was concidered a flop and had almost no games...
is it a collector thing? how much does it worth noawadays?
tell me about it

 

[Tom Bombadildo]

@Foxi4 made a pretty great thread about the "history" of the Sega Saturn and why someone should buy it, you can read all about it here:

http://gbatemp.net/threads/bfwwiwa-issue-1-sega-saturn.361538/

 

[Sonic Angel Knight]

I got one reason why you should buy dreacast. Is a homebrew machiene, right out of the box. I mean, brand new, un modded by anyone, it can play homebrew or even full game rips. Dump your game, with magic iso, and put it away for safe keeping. Then burn the iso to a CD and your good. Never have to worry about breaking or losing the game cause you always have back up. Best console ever for the hacking scene.

Just wish better controllers was made instead of the goofy one they had me use for years. I probably would favor n64 controller more than dreamcast and i hate that one too.

But to answer the question, I do think the saturn games has been ported to one of the 2 xbox consoles so if you have something like Xbox or XBOX 360, there should be some games (Mostly popular ones) like Guardian heroes if i remember, or panzer dragoon, and sad but true there is no note worthy sonic game for that console. Except maybe sonic 3D blast which i guess is a remake of the megadrive version, Sonic jam is a Compilation of the 4 sonic genesis games, sonic r...... well you should know by now from every sonic worst game video if you seen any. But Yeah, Saturn had some good games but Many noteworthy ones had been ported. So i wouldn't think is of much interest unless you want authentic experience.

 

[mashers]

explain it like I'm 5

You're much too young to be on this forum.

 

[ScarletDreamz]

It was the successor to the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis, Depending on where you live, the Saturn could be described as either Sega's most successful console of all time (Japan) or one of their biggest commercial failures (North America). Despite being powerful for its time, its complex hardware and inability to meet rapidly evolving consumer expectations and demands put it in a distant third place in the Western world, but a combination of powerful 2D sprite rendering capabilities, ports of Sega arcade games and a strong marketing campaign involving Segata Sanshiro made the Saturn the most successful Sega console in Japan. Estimates for the total number of Saturns sold worldwide range from ten million to seventeen million.

The Saturn's main competitors were Sony's PlayStation released just a week after the Saturn in Japan, and the Nintendo 64 from September 1996. Its arcade counterpart was the Sega Titan Video (ST-V) system. It was replaced by the Sega Dreamcast in late 1998.

After 20 years it finally got hacked! [kindoff], the secutiry on the disc sectors are incredible, probably better than anything so far..

Here have a quick look: http://www.extremetech.com/gaming/2...o-preserve-console-from-functional-extinction

Also, for the games you can see here a video with 100 sega saturn game sin 10 minutes:



Now for the price, you can ge tone for around 40 bucks or even from a second hand, or you cand spend from 45 and up on ebay:
http://www.ebay.com/sch/Video-Game-Consoles/139971/i.html?_from=R40&LH_BIN=1&_nkw=Sega Saturn&LH_PrefLoc=1&_dcat=139971&rt=nc&LH_ItemCondition=1000|1500|2500|3000

Nights and virtua cop where one of the most famous games on the Saturn, Virtua Cop being ported to/from Arcade Machines, and Nights was later published on the Nintendo Wii.

;D

 

[Foxi4]

It was the successor to the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis, Depending on where you live, the Saturn could be described as either Sega's most successful console of all time (Japan) or one of their biggest commercial failures (North America). Despite being powerful for its time, its complex hardware and inability to meet rapidly evolving consumer expectations and demands put it in a distant third place in the Western world, but a combination of powerful 2D sprite rendering capabilities, ports of Sega arcade games and a strong marketing campaign involving Segata Sanshiro made the Saturn the most successful Sega console in Japan. Estimates for the total number of Saturns sold worldwide range from ten million to seventeen million.

The Saturn's main competitors were Sony's PlayStation released just a week after the Saturn in Japan, and the Nintendo 64 from September 1996. Its arcade counterpart was the Sega Titan Video (ST-V) system. It was replaced by the Sega Dreamcast in late 1998.

After 20 years it finally got hacked! [kindoff], the secutiry on the disc sectors are incredible, probably better than anything so far..

Here have a quick look: http://www.extremetech.com/gaming/2...o-preserve-console-from-functional-extinction

Also, for the games you can see here a video with 100 sega saturn game sin 10 minutes:



Now for the price, you can ge tone for around 40 bucks or even from a second hand, or you cand spend from 45 and up on ebay:
http://www.ebay.com/sch/Video-Game-Consoles/139971/i.html?_from=R40&LH_BIN=1&_nkw=Sega Saturn&LH_PrefLoc=1&_dcat=139971&rt=nc&LH_ItemCondition=1000|1500|2500|3000

Nights and virtua cop where one of the most famous games on the Saturn, Virtua Cop being ported to/from Arcade Machines, and Nights was later published on the Nintendo Wii.

;D

The console's been hacked for years now, the latest development is dumping and decrypting the security processor ROM.

@Foxi4 made a pretty great thread about the "history" of the Sega Saturn and why someone should buy it, you can read all about it here:

http://gbatemp.net/threads/bfwwiwa-issue-1-sega-saturn.361538/

Thanks for the plug, son!

I got one reason why you should buy dreacast. Is a homebrew machiene, right out of the box. I mean, brand new, un modded by anyone, it can play homebrew or even full game rips. Dump your game, with magic iso, and put it away for safe keeping. Then burn the iso to a CD and your good. Never have to worry about breaking or losing the game cause you always have back up. Best console ever for the hacking scene.

Just wish better controllers was made instead of the goofy one they had me use for years. I probably would favor n64 controller more than dreamcast and i hate that one too.

But to answer the question, I do think the saturn games has been ported to one of the 2 xbox consoles so if you have something like Xbox or XBOX 360, there should be some games (Mostly popular ones) like Guardian heroes if i remember, or panzer dragoon, and sad but true there is no note worthy sonic game for that console. Except maybe sonic 3D blast which i guess is a remake of the megadrive version, Sonic jam is a Compilation of the 4 sonic genesis games, sonic r...... well you should know by now from every sonic worst game video if you seen any. But Yeah, Saturn had some good games but Many noteworthy ones had been ported. So i wouldn't think is of much interest unless you want authentic experience.

Saturn is a treasure trove of exclusives, it has lots of content that was never ported to anything else. It's well-worth a purchase just due to how "different" it is.

@migles The system did flop in most regions of the world, but the notion that it has no games is false - it has almost twice as many titles as the N64. Whether you should buy it or not depends on your taste - it's a very exotic, arcade-like system. There are many consoles that are more popular and could possibly be better purchases, but if you want to try something completely different, Saturn will give you just that. Check my article Tom linked for more details.

 

[Sonic Angel Knight]

Saturn is a treasure trove of exclusives, it has lots of content that was never ported to anything else. It's well-worth a purchase just due to how "different" it is.

There is games that is both on playstation and saturn. The mostly exlusive games are the noteworthy ones yes in deed. I would honestly prefer the saturn console to playstation, since it is a better console but there was better games on playstation or N64, and don't forget pc games as well. Though i never owned one since pricing was a issue, so i won't say much. But by the history of the console, the games were better played on it but didn't sell as well cause of pricing and most games were japanese only. Symphony of the night saturn had more to offer but never had english version, only playstation did, Lunar silver star story was another game that never had english release until playstation, even some capcom games like rockman x3 or the marvel vs capcom games, all international releases on playstation, exlusive to japan. Though due to saturn having better hardware it was near arcade perfect but still being able to play it is better situation.

I do agree there is good treasure games.... like the ones made by treasure, Guardian heroes, Burning rangers, Panzer dragoon... (okay not all was made by that company) but still you are right that is worth a spot on someone list.

 

[Foxi4]

There is games that is both on playstation and saturn. The mostly exlusive games are the noteworthy ones yes in deed. I would honestly prefer the saturn console to playstation, since it is a better console but there was better games on playstation or N64, and don't forget pc games as well. Though i never owned one since pricing was a issue, so i won't say much. But by the history of the console, the games were better played on it but didn't sell as well cause of pricing and most games were japanese only. Symphony of the night saturn had more to offer but never had english version, only playstation did, Lunar silver star story was another game that never had english release until playstation, even some capcom games like rockman x3 or the marvel vs capcom games, all international releases on playstation, exlusive to japan. Though due to saturn having better hardware it was near arcade perfect but still being able to play it is better situation.

I do agree there is good treasure games.... like the ones made by treasure, Guardian heroes, Burning rangers, Panzer dragoon... (okay not all was made by that company) but still you are right that is worth a spot on someone list.

It's definitely not what I'd call a "priority console" due to how much of an underdog it is, but it stands out so much that if you're looking for something completely different, it's a good purchase, especially since changing game regions is very simple and the AP is easy to bypass. Collecting for the Saturn can be troublesome sometimes due to how few units were sold, but it's not too hard - only a few titles are ridiculously priced, for instance Radiant Silvergun which sells for about $500 - stupid considering it was re-released on the 360. Then again, that's what CD-R's are for.

 

[ScarletDreamz]

The console's been hacked for years now, the latest development is dumping and decrypting the security processor ROM.

AFAIK, it was hacked to load games via USB, and hacked the DRM.

 

[Foxi4]

AFAIK, it was hacked to load games via USB, and hacked the DRM.

Previously you could load backups and homebrew via disc swapping, but yes, today we have two USB-capable ODDE's and an upcoming security bypass module I mentioned that tricks the AP. This is mostly due to lack of interest in the console as well as the fact that ODDE's are a relatively new concept, not so much because it couldn't be done earlier. There were other AP bypass methods available (modchips with preloaded ring data), so the latest crowning achievement really amounts to dumping and decrypting the previously inaccessible portion of the SH2 CPU responsible for CD drive control and AP, if I recall correctly.

 

[Sonic Angel Knight]

It's definitely not what I'd call a "priority console" due to how much of an underdog it is, but it stands out so much that if you're looking for something completely different, it's a good purchase, especially since changing game regions is very simple and the AP is easy to bypass. Collecting for the Saturn can be troublesome sometimes due to how few units were sold, but it's not too hard - only a few titles are ridiculously priced, for instance Radiant Silvergun which sells for about $500 - stupid considering it was re-released on the 360. Then again, that's what CD-R's are for.

Well i mean the most you can get out of the console for international players is having the N64 extra ram like expantion action replay cart to play import games on any console. Then importing the good JAPAN only exclusive games and playing them with the best possible experience that rivals playstation. To be honest the console did not sell well In USA, the biggest reason why i feel so, is there was no definitive Sonic game, with sonic x-treme cancelled, and The only other sonic games were sonic jam (A compilation of sonic 1 2 3 S&K) Sonic 3D blast (Remake of the mega drive game) and sonic r, which was very negative score, it was probably why since i assume most people were expecting something better than sonic CD, i assume is what most USA players bought the system for in the first place. But is just observation, other than that, playstation dominated sega with the cheaper console, and more games available even though saturn was a better built console. I hope it make sense.

 

[cvskid]

It was the successor to the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis, Depending on where you live, the Saturn could be described as either Sega's most successful console of all time (Japan) or one of their biggest commercial failures (North America). Despite being powerful for its time, its complex hardware and inability to meet rapidly evolving consumer expectations and demands put it in a distant third place in the Western world, but a combination of powerful 2D sprite rendering capabilities, ports of Sega arcade games and a strong marketing campaign involving Segata Sanshiro made the Saturn the most successful Sega console in Japan. Estimates for the total number of Saturns sold worldwide range from ten million to seventeen million.

The Saturn's main competitors were Sony's PlayStation released just a week after the Saturn in Japan, and the Nintendo 64 from September 1996. Its arcade counterpart was the Sega Titan Video (ST-V) system. It was replaced by the Sega Dreamcast in late 1998.

After 20 years it finally got hacked! [kindoff], the secutiry on the disc sectors are incredible, probably better than anything so far..

Here have a quick look: http://www.extremetech.com/gaming/2...o-preserve-console-from-functional-extinction

Also, for the games you can see here a video with 100 sega saturn game sin 10 minutes:



Now for the price, you can ge tone for around 40 bucks or even from a second hand, or you cand spend from 45 and up on ebay:
http://www.ebay.com/sch/Video-Game-Consoles/139971/i.html?_from=R40&LH_BIN=1&_nkw=Sega Saturn&LH_PrefLoc=1&_dcat=139971&rt=nc&LH_ItemCondition=1000|1500|2500|3000

Nights and virtua cop where one of the most famous games on the Saturn, Virtua Cop being ported to/from Arcade Machines, and Nights was later published on the Nintendo Wii.

;D

Nights into dreams also has a ps2 port as well, jpn only though.

 

[migles]

I got one reason why you should buy dreacast.

i loved the dream cast.. vmu was a really nice gadget..
maybe one day, but i have too much in my "WTB list" the dream cast is in the back of the list..

well you should know by now from every sonic worst game video if you seen any.

i thought 2006 was the worst game.. i played it, omg the pain in the sonic vs silver fight....


@ other guys, thanks, i will see how much it costs..
however most likely it's a PAL console, if the price is about 20 bucks i will think about it, i was mostly wondering because i actually never seen one before in front of me.. and knew very litle about it. i live in europe, if the console was a comercial failure in america i guess in here it was almost unknown...
never thought it was a great success in japan, i never seen anyone mentioning a saturn in here..

@ScarletDreamz thanks for showing the video, the games look amazing for something realeased before the dreamcast... the graphics are really good for that time

i suspect the console doesn't have any retrocompatibility..

 

[Foxi4]

No BC beyond homebrew, you'll get better results on more modern systems or a Mega Drive with a Power Converter.

 

[ScarletDreamz]

You are welcome i guess lol, sorry for my long post.

 

[migles]

You are welcome i guess lol, sorry for my long post.

lol i tagged the wrong person, i meant you, thanks for the video

 

[DeoNaught]

how do you get Disk swapping working?
and how do you know which model you have?

EDIT# FIXED*

 

[ScarletDreamz]

how do you get Disk swapping working?
and how do you now which model you have?

EZPZ ---> http://segaretro.org/Sega_Saturn_consoles

 

[retrofan_k]

Buy a Saturn ODE (Rhea or Pheobe) with a 64GB SD card job done.

 

[Sonic Angel Knight]

i thought 2006 was the worst game.. i played it, omg the pain in the sonic vs silver fight....

I said every kind of sonic worst game views, it means any video where they usually talk about worst sonic games. Screw attack top 10, Watch mojo top 10, anyone else top 10. Is always on the list. I didn't say is the worst EVER sonic game, is considered one of the worst. Besides the questionable music, there is only 5 tracks and so many short cuts, glitches, and bad physics. It probably made by sape people who made Sonic 2006 or even sonic boom.

(That last part was a lie. Is made by travelers tales.) So i mean is on those kinds of list. I prefer sonic rider games actually if they were making a "Sonic" racing game, While sonic sega all star racing transformed, is not a "Sonic" Racing game. Sonic riders is, sonic drift for gam gear is, and sonic r is. Sometimes i just wish they make sonic riders HD collection with online modes and NO GIMMICKS just standard controllers like the first game. Or maybe actually Remake sonic secret rings, and sonic 06 and sonic black knight and put it on one collection. Rewrite story, new voice cast, FIXED GAME PLAY.