My Gaming Memories - SEGA Saturn

SEGA had shared their success of the gaming market during the 4th generation era where the console wars had the competition between the two biggest rivalry such as SEGA Genesis/MD and SNES are highly regarded as a all-time greatest system that defines the 16-bit gaming due to numerous of great categories of game library including most arcade titles, third-parties support and console exclusivity that led into being a best system seller of early 90's.

The gaming in mid-90's era had moved on into the 3D technologies where several developers wanted to focus primarily on 3D categories, so this is where SONY made their debut with the Playstation in 1995, a very first 32-bit console had reached over 100 million units after the initial release making it the best-selling system of 5th generation era.
That didn't stop SEGA trying to compete their rivalry against SONY and Nintendo with their next coming console called SEGA Saturn which is a 32-bit system released in 1995.
It was highly designed for bringing the SEGA's arcade titles into the home console release as well as creating many IPs of original games.
Most of the SEGA's arcade games were based on some hardware board they utilising with such as SEGA Model 1, Model 2 and of course ST-V were possible for SEGA developers to convert the games from arcade's system board to Saturn's hardware depending how well the game runs on the SEGA's home console.

Saturn had introduced the alternative save functionally for the system which is the backup RAM cartridge which allows you to store and transfer your save data on the cartridge as a backup due to Saturn's weak battery saves on hardware system that didn't last long.
It also has ability to play Music CDs with numerous of audio functionally and of course the Video CD which requires the system add-ons that you can enjoy watching your favourite movies on the game's system, so that's where it influenced SONY to have their DVD functionally on their later console such as PS2.
The system itself had shared with many of great Saturn's accessories such as arcade racer wheels for racing games, virtua gun for lightgun games, various arcade sticks for most fighting games, 3D pad uses the 3D analog controls for some 3D games, and Saturn's multitap which allows up to 6 to 12 players to play on the same console.

SEGA Saturn had a rough lifecycle in 5th generation era due to their failures in US launch release and the forthcoming of Nintendo's next system such as Nintendo 64 in 1996 had resulted SEGA a huge massive loss in gaming market and leading to discontinue their system in 1998.

Despite lack of their success, Saturn is being remembered for its numerous of SEGA's arcade titles such as SEGA Rally Championship, The House of the Dead, Virtua Cop 2, Die Hard Arcade, Daytona USA, and of course the system's best seller Virtua Fighter 2.
Capcom had shared with their best 2D fighting games such as Marvel Superheroes, Street Fighter Alpha 2, and X-Men: Children of the Atom are the biggest example of being faithful to their arcade counterparts.
Saturn are also shared with numerous of great AAA titles including Panzer Dragoon, Nights Into Dreams, Guardian Heroes, and Dragon Force are the highly acclaimed titles that defines SEGA's 32-bit system.

I decided to share my gaming nostalgia to discuss my experiences on games console that I've still own, so without go further do here is my gaming memories on SEGA Saturn.



My Gaming Memories - SEGA Saturn:


In the year 1995 when I was a kid, my brother had taken me to the electronic shop which he had bought the game system that I never heard of it before, so that is SEGA Saturn comes with racing controller and the copy of SEGA Rally Championship and SEGA Manx TT Superbike which had got me excited when heading back to my home.

It brings me a brand new experience on 3D gaming that I'm looking forward to play a newer system that pushed the gaming technologies forward.
After setting up the Saturn hardware system connected on my brother's old fashioned TV, I give a go with the SEGA Rally Championship as one of my very first 3D racing game that I ever played on SEGA's hardware console. It is a 3D rally racing game that features 2 playable rally cars, 3 rally courses, time attack mode, and of course 2-player versus mode via local split screen.
Then I finally played SEGA Manx TT Superbike is a bike racing game featuring various of playable bikes, 2-player split screen, and of course the exclusive saturn mode which includes additional features such as practice races and a challenge course.
My first impression on the Saturn after playing two of the games is quite positive as I enjoyed playing these two of the racing titles with the steering wheel controller which brings me a huge experience of racing genres.
I also discovered the demo CD that was bundled inside the Saturn's console box under SEGA Flash Vol 2 which includes prototype titles such as SEGA Worldwide Soccer 97, Athlete Kings, Panzer Dragoon 2 and some demo trailer coming soon to Saturn such as Exhumed and Virtua Fighter Kids.

A day after owning the Saturn, as my cousin came to my house I've showed him my brand new console, the steering wheel, and the 2 racing games which he loves to give a try out with my new Saturn console and we been playing over a hours of fun in both single player championship and split screen versus mode. He is very impressed to see how groundbreaking the Saturn console are which is lot different from the previous console generation like my SNES and his SEGA Genesis/MD are the 16-bit masterpiece in early 90's, but the console like the Saturn are taking straight into the next level of gaming industries.
My brother began to collect several of SEGA Saturn magazines which included demo CD that I've mention before, but adding more upcoming games for Saturn such as Tomb Raider, Swagman, Nights Into Dreams, Die Hard Arcade and there's more to play on the Saturn as the prototype which really helps my brother to try out the demo before considering to buy a full copy of the game.

I remember the day when he took me to the rental stores such as Blockbuster Videos where he rented the game for Saturn such as Gex, which is a 2D platformer game by Crystal Dynamics where you take control of gecko-lizard named Gex, who been dragged into the television media dimension as a network mascot, has his quest to find the way of exiting back to his outside world.
It is a interesting 2D platformer with humorous protagonist, unique level design, and has impressive use of sprite animation that made the game a recommended play for the fans of the platforming genres.
He also rented the other Saturn game that caught my attention was Tomb Raider, a 3D action-adventure title where you get to play as Lara Croft, an English archaeologist in search of ancient treasures.
The game was mixed between 3D platforming and puzzle-action play which is kinda similar to the original 1989's Prince of Persia in 3D perspective. It involves exploration, collecting objects and solving puzzles which I think it is very difficult for me to get used with the tank controls and the awkward camera system.
Despite the frustration of gameplay mechanics, I also being appreciate with the graphics design in the game are considered to be quite revolutionary at the times featuring bigger level environments and character's design that is mind blowing for 3D gaming.
I got to say Lara Croft is highly regarded as being a most recognisable female protagonist in gaming had gained popularly among with fanbases and gaming communities. She was appeared on gaming magazines, comics, films, and of course TV commercials such as Lucozade's ads.
Several of video game critics labelled Tomb Raider as the most influential title that inspired many of later 3D action-adventure games from early to late 2000's.     

At the mid-1996, me and my brother were heading to the electronic shop to explore a selection of the Saturn games as my brother had bought the copy of the Virtua Cop 2 bundled with the light gun peripheral which I was thought that the lightgun controller does look like a kids toy guns regarding with the design of the lightgun controller with simple blue colour.
When heading back home, we set up the game and the lightgun controller ready for the lightgun action which is Virtua Cop 2 for Saturn where you take control of police officers taking down the thugs and saving the hostages featuring 3 playable levels, 2-player co-op, an option to select route, and has selectable weapons during the action play.
This is one of my very first lightgun game where you have ability to use gun peripheral for its shooting and reloading mechanics which is very new at the time where I haven't played any of light gun shooter before he introduce this game to me as a kid.
I really enjoyed shooting down lot of bad guys at the bank store, car chasing sequences, the factory, and the tall building which is the reason why I liked the game so much especially with my sister did had a massive fun playing the game with her cousin.

My brother went into the video game shop at the market hall where he bought two of the sports games to play such as SEGA Worldwide Soccer which is a 3D soccer game by SEGA Sports which is being one of my all-time favourite football game featuring numerous of teams, several of game modes, hard rocking soundtrack by Jun Senoue, and of course easy to learn gameplay.
Athlete Kings is the 3D arcade-styled track and field title which featuring 9 playable athletes, 2-player versus, and all the events such as 100 to 1500 metres, long jump, high jump, javelin throw, discus, pole vault and shot put which I also enjoyed this game the most with my siblings and cousins.
There's one of the 3D fighting games that had becoming the system's best seller is Virtua Fighter 2 that people had talked about how revolutionary the 3D fighting game played on Saturn's hardware.
The game has 11 fighting rosters, 3D fighting stages, and several of game modes such as time attack, practice, and 2-player versus mode.
It is one of the highly acclaimed fighting game at the release for its faithfulness to arcade counterpart running on whomping 60 fps, the visuals, the sounds, and of course the smoother fighting mechanics with easier to perform techniques are the reason why Virtua Fighter 2 is the landmark of Saturn's arcade perfection by SEGA themselves.

One of the game that caught my attention is the Nights Into Dreams created by Sonic Team. You take control of jester-like named Nights flying through Elliot and Claris's dreams as your journey is to stop the evil ruler Wizeman from destroying the homeland of Nightopia featuring 7 different levels.
The game is much easier to get into regarding with gameplay controls and unique stages are played perfectly for the platforming genres. The graphics are very colourful and more vibrant looking, and the original soundtrack in the game had done absolutely well that fits the feeling of the game's personally making the Nights into Dreams a cheerful action-platformer game for Saturn owners to enjoy the magical experience of Nights universe.

I had a such amazing experience on SEGA's 3D system which brings me a full joy of classic titles that defines my gaming nostalgia until the Nintendo 64 got released at UK in 1997, so this is where my brother had decided to swap my Saturn that I had it for 2 years and bought the N64 to my home as a Christmas gift.
I got so upset when he had taken away the console that I've enjoyed the most and it also disappoint my sister too when she hears the news from my brother before he went to the video game shop to get the next Nintendo system, so don't get me wrong because I still loved the N64 for years after the Saturn's replacement.
Going forward to year 2011 as a young adult, I've found out the surprising news from my cousin on my Facebook messages as he said that he bought the SEGA Saturn and several of games from Ebay and I am happy that I can able to revisit back to Saturn's memories again. So I headed to my cousin's house to see his Saturn's collection piled up on his attic room and I had a chance to play classics such as Alien Trilogy, Virtua Fighter 2, Panzer Dragoon, Daytona USA, and others he had it on his collection.
He also asked me the question is that will I ever gonna bring back my Saturn in the future? The answer is maybe I might able to get it back depending how much income I had saved in my pocket.
In 5 years later, I had a conversation with my siblings discussing our childhood memories as I began to share my nostalgia on SEGA Saturn that I've been missing a lot for very long time, so they had finally given me a second chance to help me bringing back SEGA Saturn to my home as we began to place the order from Ebay comes with the consoles, 2 controllers, the lightgun, the racing wheels, and of course 9 games to play.
I am very glad that I had finally got my Saturn back on my video game collection, so I can finally able to play these classics titles that I haven't been played for over the years.
While being able to play some of the previous Saturn games from my childhood days, I was able to collect more of the Saturn games that I really wanted to add it to my Saturn's collection such as Die Hard Trilogy, Exhumed, Loaded, Marvel Superheroes, Street Fighter Alpha 2, X-Men Children of the Atom, and of course Panzer Dragoon 2: Zwei.   

To conclude my story, I really loved SEGA Saturn with my full passion that brings me a joyful times that I will never forget how amazing the SEGA's 32-bit system had to offer.
With the great selection of games titles including several of arcade classics and some killer apps that really helped defining the Saturn's libraries, but unfortunately as I've started to learn all the history of video gaming industries from the gaming articles sites and Youtube's gaming channels, it is really sad to see SEGA as a beloved companies had getting a bad reputation on their gaming hardware itself and the marketing strategy which was the reason why SEGA of America Bernie Stolar had quoted on the Saturn is not the future of gaming which is shame that the system had been discontinued in 1998 due to poor sales of US launch in 1995 and the success of Nintendo and SONY system had gained more attention than just the SEGA's next console.
What really drags the Saturn back is that it lacked one of the biggest signature title based on the popular franchise is Sonic Xtreme which was in the development for Saturn, but due to staff developers were horribly ill and didn't had the time to finish the development leading to its cancellation missing out their important factor of SEGA's 32-bit system.
Most of the third-parties developers had quoted the SEGA Saturn is much difficult to develop games in comparison with the rivalry SONY Playstation has less complicated system architecture which is opposed to SEGA Saturn's confusing hardware design.
It is strange that during the discontinuation of Saturn in US and EU had missing out some of the best games titles that we didn't get the release outside of Japan such as Radiant Slivergun which is a 2D vertical shooter masterpiece that bought you by same team behind Gunstar Heroes, A highly acclaimed titles such as Grandia and Sakura Wars that could have been the Saturn's biggest RPGs, and of course the most impressive 3D fighting game that caught the attention was Dead or Alive which is one of the better fighting game in Saturn's library, so these are the games that should have made the console successful if they are able to bring those to the western releases.     

Despite the struggles of SEGA's 32-bit console, I got to say that the SEGA Saturn is clearly being the most underrated video game console that didn't get the credit what they deserve, as long as the system had fair shared with the game libraries that everyone can able to play and enjoy their full Saturn experience. 


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