310°

Retrogaming: Resident Evil - Playstation vs Saturn

Let me begin by saying that my introduction to the Resident Evil series began with the Sega Saturn port of RE1. It really changed the way I looked at games at the time. Recently I've been getting back into the series, reading into it, trying to grasp the storyline, become familiar with all the weapons and enemies, etc. Something I've noticed during a lot of my online studying of the games, is that the Saturn RE1 takes a lot of unjust trash talk. Everywhere I looked I saw phrases like "It looks nasty", "It's slow", and my personal favorite "OMGROFL SATURN GOT PWNED SONY4LIFE!". My main complaint about this is they never explain why they say that. No details. Nothing. Maybe they are correct. We're here to find out.

This leads me to believe that none of these people even played the Saturn version, or that the initial shine of the game in their minds had already worn dull, so they were just disappointed that it turned out to be...just the same game. I mean they DID play through the game on Playstation about a year before it hit the Saturn. So I'm here to place both versions in a head to head match up. I'll try to cover all aspects of the game and give an unbiased conclusion, with visual representation of course.

Zhuk6381d ago

A very interesting article. While the Playstation had overall the superior port, there were many things which the Saturn port simply excelled at over the PlayStation version and with the addition of new features it certainly was a decent port for the Saturn.

The Saturn is well known for its lacklustre 3d performance, yet like all things that are fought on the internet I believe that the differences between PlayStation and Saturn ports were greatly exaggerated.

The PlayStation was just a far simpler console and it was a lot easier to get it to perform, unlike the Saturn which was unnecessarily complex and 3d games suffered because of this. However when done right the Saturn could give the best looking PS1 3d games a run for their money with all the graphical wizardry such as light sourcing and transparencies. One only has to look at Burning Rangers to see the potential that the Saturn could have had if its lifespan was longer

2Negativecool6381d ago

Apparently, you must be too young to remember both versions. This is made obvious by all of your meticulous "researching" of the history of RE1.

Take it from somebody who remembers that period's games well. The Saturn version was always regarded as the superior version. The Saturn had a few games that were considered, at least in part, graphically superior. So I'm not sure who these people are that are saying that the Saturn version looked like ass, but they aren't gamers.

Which leads me to loosely agree with chrno6's statement. This appears to me to be a lame attempt to bash something, anything, Sony related.

felman876381d ago

could you not also say the same about the PS3?

Fanboy Slaughter6381d ago

Well, Zhuk, I gotta say that I agree with you about the Saturn truly being the superior console hardware-wise (yes, the saturn WAS truly more powerful...first to use dual processors, if you don't believe me, look up the Saturn build of Shenmue and I DARE you to tell me that the PS1 could pull that off.), but because of this it was also unnecessarily complicated, resulting in extremely inferior ports.

As much as I could compare this to the PS3 vs 360 ordeal, I'll leave it at the subject at hand, Resident Evil. Let me start by saying I STILL have my saturn copy of resident Evil, in original big plastic case and all, and I have played it through. But unlike the above mentioned fanboy war, where differences, for the most part, are relatively insignificant and therefore stupid to argue over, the differences between the PS1 and Saturn versions of RE1 are quite vast. Granted Saturn version had an exclusive monster and other neat extras, the pros end there. Having extensively played both, I'd play the PS1 version before the Saturn version for the fact that the graphics on Saturn weren't just bad, they were god-awful.

And by no means was it Sega's fault for that, the hardware was WAY ahead of it's time, and most devs didn't have the cash to toss around to train programmers on multi-processor programming, which was in it's infancy at the time anyway. When Shenmue was originally developed for Saturn, it looked beautiful, but Sega lost their ass and their wallet on developing for both processors to work simultaneously, and then lost more when it was scrapped in favor of the Dreamcast.

In any event, the main reason the Saturn games looked terrible was because EVERY game made for it was only using a fraction of it's potential, and making it too advanced was it's downfall from the beginning. I personally loved mine, but I also knew when to throw in the towel and admit that it was too good for it's own good.

Zhuk6381d ago (Edited 6381d ago )

The Saturn's primary strength over the PS1 version was basically the addition of battle mode.

As someone who has played both ports of the games over the years (I had the Saturn version at the time), the Saturn version did get a lot of flak for its lack of true transparancies and for the 3d models of the characters, especially from those in the Sony camp. The complexities of Saturn's hardware really show when playing through it compared to the PS1 port, especially where 3d graphical techniques are utilized

I found this article interesting because I thought it cleared up common misconceptions. If you read the article you would see that the PlayStation version is considered the superior port.

Fanboy Slaughter6381d ago

Pretty much whichever one is considered superior is a matter of opinion and nothing more. For the most part I liked both, they both controlled well, and the graphics didn't completely hinder the game or anything, it was still enjoyable and very playable.

And yes, the Saturn caught an unnecessary amount of flak for being the "inferior" system, as did the saturn versions of games, but I'm trying to be as objective as possible and while by general standards the PS version was considered superior, there were things in the saturn version that just simply weren't done on the PS version, and it their loss. I wouldn't really say one's better over the other completely, they both held their own. Anything else really is just opinion.

Zhuk6381d ago

thank you for your worthy comments, I agree that the Saturn's hardware was ahead of its time, especially considering its heavy reliance on multiple processors it is only in the past few years that we have seen PC's and consoles try a similar path again.

Also what must be considered is that developers have it far easier today with significant support from the hardware manufactures providing development kits and software libraries to help getting the power out of the machine much more easier for multiple processors.

The dev teams that could make the Saturn shine (AM2 and Sonic Team for instance) were true masters of their field

Power of Blu6381d ago

Biohazard (resident evil) was a port on the PS1???

Please pray tell what console the game originated on. Damn you really did your research on this one. OR did you just make stuff up?! *GASP* lol

+ Show (4) more repliesLast reply 6381d ago
chrno66381d ago

Another attempted to bash anything playstation related. Seriously, who cares about ps1 anymore when we have ps3 right here?? Damn may be we should find old articles about how the original xbox is trounced by the ps2.

JCDenton6381d ago

Because good games never get old. It's not just the graphics that matters, son...

JCDenton6381d ago

And why did you brought up "XBOTS" thing when this article had nothing to do with 360 vs PS3???

Power of Blu6381d ago

Because the contributer is Zhuk and that the game is so old now this is not NEWS, just another feeble attempt by the sad little troll to put the Playstation brand down.

Fanboy Slaughter6381d ago

I agree completely. But, that ship has long sailed.

DarkSniper6381d ago (Edited 6381d ago )

Dark Sniper believes that the Playstation version of Resident evil is slightly superior than the Saturn version graphically. Although both games can be enjoyed and played without any major and obvious hitches. Dark Sniper imagines if the internet was prevalent then as it is now, fanboys from both sides would viciously be attacking the other console's port.

The Sega Saturn's issue was being able to generate decent 3D graphics at a solid frame rate. The Shenmue beta is a prime example of what the Saturn is truly capable of. However, Sega Saturn dominates the Playstation when it came to producing great 2D games such as Marvel vs Street Fighter etc.

The next topic in regards to Resident Evil that Dark Sniper has a deep passion and wants to discuss is Resident Evil 1.5. If you dont know what that is, you will soon be educated.

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290°

The Real Enemy of Gaming Isn’t DEI. It’s the CEO

From Horse Armor to Mass Layoffs: The Price of Greed in Gaming. Inside the decades-long war on game workers and the players who defend them.

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jambola4d ago

maybe a real enemy is people who use terms like "the real enemy"
there can be more than 1 bad thing, t's not like a kids show with 1 big bad

senorfartcushion3d ago

This is very much a “dummy who volunteers themselves to the middle” comment.

The real enemy is a common phrase, people use it all the time.

Calm down.

jambola2d ago

i'm very calm
you seem very upset however

Notellin2d ago

You don't seem calm at all. Don't take this so seriously, you seem desperate responding to others defending your opinion that lacks any value or critical thought.

jambola2d ago

stop projecting
i'm not desperately dong anything, i'm tapping at keys on my keyboard bud

PapaBop2d ago

It's not like kids show with one bad guy? I present to you.. Bobby Kotick

ABizzel12d ago (Edited 2d ago )

DEI was never the problem and it was an ignorant take to begin with.

DEI is why games like Kena Bridge of Spirits, South of Midnight, and Ghost of Tsushima exist.

DEI is why we have a huge resurgence in Japanese, Chineses, and Korean developers producing games like Stellar Blade, Black Myth, and why Nintendo & Sony exist.

DEI is why more and more games have HUGE accessibility options with both Sony and MS fully behind this.

DEI was never a bad thing, the entire purpose of DEI is representation of all people, genders, disabilities, etc…

The problem was people used DEI as a default derogatory term to describe what they believed was forced representation, which allowed colorist, racist, sexist, misogynist, homophobic, and xenophobic fools to run away with the negative DEI narrative.

jambola1d 19h ago

you don't get to decide other people's motivations
sorry to break it to you

ABizzel123h ago(Edited 22h ago)

To each their own, however, nothing you said invalidates why some people take offense to DEI incorrectly.

+ Show (1) more replyLast reply 23h ago
Sciurus_vulgaris4d ago

Executives seem to often have an obsession with perpetual revenue growth. There is always a finite amount of consumers for a product regardless of growth. Additionally, over investment is another serious issue in gaming.

Killer2020UK2d ago

The fact that they also rarely have any real expertise in game development compounds things. They'll look at what's been successful elsewhere, lack the knowledge to properly understand why they have been successful and then force a team to 'reproduce' their badly interpreted idea of that success.

We see it so often with sequels to games that were successful too. The team are left well alone, they have a break through hit and all of sudden the money men descend on the IP and completely railroad the dev team's ideas. Usually winds up being 'make the same game but MORE'

LoveSpuds2d ago

This is true throughout all of the corporate and public sector organisations to be honest. CEO's generally move amongst the corporate world without any need to have experience of a particular industry, they simply need to rely on their senior leadership credentials. A CEO of a retail giant will just as easily transition to a CEO role in the energy sector for example.

Not defending CEOs here to be clear, I think it's a huge part of the reason the western world is so fucked up. CEOs don't need to care about the sector they work in, in fact it's better if they don't care if they want to screw everyone to make profits.

GhostScholar2d ago

Companies don’t hire executives to break even. If the goal is breaking even then why start the company in the first place.

Soy2d ago

That's understood; it's getting record profits and expecting to always beat those record profits, and seeing anything less as a total failure. Then they lay people off and raise prices to reach those record profit levels again, just to sate shareholders. It's setting expectations way too high just to spike share prices, then inevitably falling short. It's feeling entitled to being more successful than everyone else. It's the CEOs doing all this to boost their own bonuses.

ABizzel12d ago

Growth benefits the company’s profits and therefore the company’s stock if publicly traded, which pleases the shareholders making them more and more rich, which is why Growth is always at the forefront of the vast majority of any publicly traded company.

More growth = More Money and the people at the top want all the money they can get. I can’t really blame them anyone would love to see their profits go from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands, to multi-millions it’s almost like a gambling addiction.

But it also goes to show someone how morals can go out the window for a lot of these people, and how amazing some CEOs are when they catch this early and provide a balance solution that takes complete care of their employees across the board while keeping the business sustainable IE: Insomniac Games ALWAYS on the best places to work list. The rest of the industry could learn.

jambola4d ago

honestly, the "real" enemy of gaming, is ourselves
if nobody bought horse armor, shitty dlc would have died almost overnight
if we stood firm and nobody bought games from companies that were bad with layoffs, it would be solved
we're the idiots supporting awful business practices, we are the ones enouraging it

TiredGamer3d ago

I think the reality that we don't want to convince ourselves of is that without the rise of "horse armor" and DLC, game budgets would have essentially stagnated (smaller teams/smaller games), or game prices would have risen much more dramatically than they have. There was an incessant drive for bigger worlds, infinite detail, and hundreds of hours of "gameplay" over the last two decades, that while perhaps a natural evolution of things, needed a suitable funding stream to accomplish.

HyperMoused2d ago

What...CEOs make tens of millions and that doesnt include SLT etc etc...we now have multiple editions of games, in game currency, MT's, battle passes.....and what do we get..worse game than what was coming out 20 years ago....dont drink the cool aid, its this nickel and dime crap that is absolutely leading us to gaming destruction.

senorfartcushion3d ago

This is the worst possible answer to this conundrum. Blaming the masses is blaming the only people who are constantly “told” to buy.

Consumers are the only ones not to blame here. People make their own choices all the time. Disney movies are bombing and DEInis being blamed. Has that been enough to put Disney out of business? No and it never will.

Christopher2d ago

Disagree. Businesses are able to do what they do because people are bad consumers and don't think critically about purchases. Disney got away with doing shit stuff for years and it's just the last year where people got tired of it. It's not like it didn't work for 5 years or so for Disney to do the things they've done. They'll just move onto another way to get people to see movies and it will be just as bad but more profitable until people wake up and realize it.

TiredGamer2d ago

Consumerism drives business behavior. It's not so much "blaming" as it is observing behavior. The point I'm making is that the direction that games have gone are driven by the spending. Consumers are spending on DLC and they are driving the expectation of more glitz and padded out (lengthier) games. If they continue to pay, they will continue to drive that direction until a threshold is reached that forces a change in behavior.

senorfartcushion2d ago

Corporate advertising is the most powerful force on the planet.

This is N4G for god sake, every day there are arguments between people who are Team Xbox and Team PlayStation because they’ve been convinced that having an identity built on paying money to Sony and Microsoft matters more than having one as individual gamers who can play whatever they want.

And THEN we get to the corporate advertising part: to play whatever you want is to sink MORE into the advertising pits, making it so that you can more than one specific product.

jambola2d ago

ah you're right
they were told to buy it, it's clearly impossible to avoid that
if enough people stopped supporting, it would stop
disney not stopping would only be because enough people didn't stop

+ Show (1) more replyLast reply 2d ago
victorMaje2d ago

Agreed. I’ve been saying for years, announce you won’t be buying the upcoming game because of the practices of the previous game, then you only have to stick to your guns once, see how quickly things change for the better.

We have to unite in what we shouldn’t purchase.

jambola2d ago

just imagine a world, fifa came out worse, nobody buys the next one until they see proof it's better and stick to it
or games being forced online for single player and nobody buys it
things would change so fast

HyperMoused2d ago

Just like scooby doo, you have shown us the real monsters are us

+ Show (1) more replyLast reply 2d ago
Inverno3d ago

Greed and greedy people have and always will be the main issue for everything wrong in the world. Everything is a product to be exploited for monetary gain. Even when there are things that could help progress us along for the sake of making our lives easier that thing must be exploited for monetary gains. Anything that tells you otherwise is propaganda to make you complicit.

coolfool3d ago

I've never thought "DEI" (although the way most people use it doesn't match it's real definition) is the problem with games. Good games have continued to be good when they have a diverse cast, and likewise, bad games have continued to be bad. There isn't a credible example I've seen where a diverse cast has been the direct cause of a game being bad.

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50°

Taria & Como - Official Gameplay Reveal Trailer | Latin American Games Showcase 2025

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Rushing Beat X: Return of Brawl Brothers announced for Nintendo Switch 2

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