YoOne of the greatest injustices in the history of video games is that the Sega Saturn is considered a failure. The console, which was launched in Japan on November 22, 1994, almost two weeks before the PlayStation, is continually and pejoratively compared to its rival. We heard about how Sony produced a high-end laser machine aimed at producing fast 3D graphics, while Sega engineers had to add an extra graphics chip to the Saturn at the last minute. We read that Sony’s Ken Kutaragi provided creators with a much more user-friendly development system. We know that Sony lowered the price of Sega’s machine, using its power as a consumer electronics giant to take the financial hit. That’s all true, but what’s not always mentioned is the huge success of the Japanese launch of the Saturn and the extraordinary legacy that Sega’s 32-bit machine left behind.
What I remember is this: Edge magazine reports from Akihabara in Tokyo, where its Japanese correspondent had joined a queue outside the main Laox computer gaming center to try to get his hands on one of the thousand machines that had not yet been reserved by the fans. Two and a half hours later, the writer walked out with his purchase, which included a copy of Virtua Fighter, the best arcade fighting game of the year. It was a lucky purchase: shelves were quickly emptying all over the city. Sega sold an unprecedented 200,000 units that day.
I joined Edge as a writer the following September and was there for two years, coinciding with the creative peak of Saturn’s short life. What was obvious to me at the time, and still rings true now, is that Sega’s own output on the machine was among the best the decade had to offer. Arcade megahits Sega Rally and Daytona USA set the agenda for a new era of stylish 3D racing, while Virtua Fighter 2, Fighting Vipers and Last Bronx brought complexity and depth to one-on-one fighting games. Sega’s platform-exclusive titles were equally vivid and innovative: Panzer Dragoon, Nights Into Dreams and Burning Rangers were imaginative and richly visual, reinventing serious genres for a new generation. But I also loved the eccentric experiments: the toy-like platformer Clockwork Knight, the strange and frenetic puzzler Baku Baku Animal, the self-consciously silly Virtua Fighter Kids.
It’s often said that what Saturn lacked was support from third-party developers, but that wasn’t the case in Japan. Veteran shooter creator Treasure developed two of its best titles, Radiant Silvergun and Guardian Heroes, for the machine. Even now, if you want to play classic 2D shooters, Saturn is the place, as Batsugun, Battle Garegga, and Darius Gaiden are considered essential elements of the genre.
Atlus turned the arcade hit DonPachi into underrated RPG adventures Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner and Princess Crown. For horror fans, there was Warp’s survival thriller Enemy Zero, while Capcom produced a version of Resident Evil for the Saturn that included an exclusive minigame, as well as new enemies and costumes. Capcom also put many of its best fighting games of the era on the Saturn, including X-Men: Children of the Atom (originally an exclusive for the system), X-Men vs Street Fighter, and Darkstalkers 3.
Sega also had decent developer support in Europe, where programmers raised on home computers had experience in assembly language programming, which was supported by the Saturn (PlayStation had a more unique, C-based development environment). Core Design originally aimed Tomb Raider at the machine (and also made the unjustifiably forgotten action adventure Swagman for the console); Psygnosis brought WipeOut; Gremlin produced its top-down fighting game Loaded for both consoles. And Knutsford-based Traveller’s Tales, which would go on to create the Lego series, co-created the underrated Sonic R racer with Sonic Team, which was a wonderful technical showcase for the Saturn, with smooth frame rates and gorgeous transparency effects.
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The Saturn was innovative in other ways. Saturn Bomberman remains arguably the best title in Hudson’s explosive series, especially considering its support for chaotic 10-player matches via two-touch multi-tap. The Saturn was the first major console to offer online gaming through its Net Link modem, allowing players to participate in face-to-face Sega Rally Championship and Virtual On sessions over the Internet as early as 1997. One of the third The party titles to support the technology were Shadows of the Tusk, a deck-building strategy RPG (years before the genre caught on) that came with its own physical card pack. Additionally, Sega’s 3D Control Pad, an analog controller designed specifically for Nights Into Dreams, hit the market several weeks before the Nintendo 64 pad.
There was a time (maybe a year, maybe even two) when there was nothing inevitable about Saturn’s demise. It held its own, matching everything Sony and its main development partner, Namco, could offer it. Daytona vs. Ridge Racer, Virtua Fighter vs. Tekken, Virtua Cop vs. Time Crisis. And this rivalry was an absolute boon for gamers, driving 3D game design forward and creating the technical expertise that would be necessary for the next generation of open-world 3D console titles. There’s a reason that, 30 years after their release, you can go to eBay or sites specializing in retro gaming and find refurbished or modified Saturns for sale (often region-free, with switches to toggle between European TV options from 50Hz or 60Hz NTSC). and it’s because the games I’ve mentioned here are still worth playing in their original format, in their original home. The Saturn didn’t hold up as a mass consumer device, but it was a success in many ways. We need to talk about it more when we consider the history of video games.