Why the Sega Saturn is the most underrated console of all time

I hear all the time how the Sega Dreamcast (Rest in Peace) is the most underrated console of all time. How it did everything right, had the best launch lineup in history and still got no love from mainstream gamers. But I recently bought a Saturn and started playing through it's vast library and I now firmly believe the Sega Saturn overwhelmingly deserves that title.

Unlike the Dreamcast, the Saturn never got much love at launch and still doesn't to this day. Very few people ever owned one and fewer still have played through it's amazing library. At the time, it was a 2D powerhouse in an industry that was more interested in 3D gaming and it quickly fell deep into last place against the much more exciting Nintendo 64 (64 bits!) and the absolute cultural phenomenon that was the Sony PlayStation.

I was 10 years old at the time of it's launch (May 1995) and I was a hardcore Sega kid. The Genesis did what Nintendidn't and I was loving the attitude of Sonic the Hedgehog, the cool tunes of Streets of Rage and the bloody version of Mortal Kombat. I was positively ecstatic about the Saturn. But the $400 launch price ($620 in today's money) and weak launch lineup dumped a bucket of water over the head of my hype. Nintendo likewise killed a lot of my interest with the epic disaster that was the Virtual Boy and the delaying of the Ultra 64 into late 1996. And Sony? Who would buy a console from Sony? Did a company that made Walkmans even know how to make games? Such was the mind of children in 1995...

After talking about it with my friends and family I just decided to wait. Too many unknowns. Better to see how things shake out. By the time the Nintendo 64 finally launched, I had made my decision. I would fly the flag of the Big N. Super Mario 64 is a hell of a negotiator after all. But I soon came to regret that decision as the PlayStation deluge of awesome titles soon had me trading in that N64 for the cinematic awesomeness of Final fantasy VII and Metal Gear Solid. And so I went through that whole generation without playing or seeing much of the obscure Sega Saturn. My strongest memories of the black boxed console was playing Nights into Dreams and Panzer Dragoon at a demo kiosk in Software Etc. Both are excellent titles but hardly killer apps.

It was largely external forces that killed the Saturn. Retailers refused to stock it due to it's early and unexpected launch, the terrible 32X add-on for the Genesis poisoned the well for a lot of fans (the Sega CD was amazing but that is another blog post) and most of the Saturn's best games were left in Japan. But it deserved better than that.

I believe a console is ultimately judged by it's software. And the Saturn had most of the best games of that generation. Many of the games that we associate with the PS1 here in the USA like Grandia, Dead or Alive and the Lunar games are actually ports and generally play better on the Saturn. Allow me to take you on a tour of the highlights of the Saturn library...

Capcom and SNK clearly preferred the Saturn (and continued to support Sega during the Dreamcast era) and it showed in the multitude of Street Fighter, Samurai Shodown, Fatal Fury and Metal Slug games that were exclusive. Many of these games were also ported to the PS1 but the Saturn versions are FAR superior. Especially, X-Men Vs Street Fighter, Marvel Superheroes Vs Street Fighter and Street Fighter Zero 3. There were also several exclusives like Night Warriors and Dark Legend.

When it comes to 3D fighters of this era most people think of PlayStation hits like Tekken, Soul Blade and Bloody Roar. And those are excellent games but the Saturn was far better than the N64 in this regard. Games like Anarchy in the Nippon, Savaki, Zero Divide The Final Conflict, Last Bronx, Virtual On: Cyber Troopers, Fighting Vipers and the venerable Virtua Fighter series are some of the best of the era. But one game that needs to be talked about more often is Fighters Megamix. It combined both Fighting Vipers and Virtua Fighter into one epic package. You can even fight as a car from Daytona USA and punch people with your wheels! This game is so amazing that it boggles my mind that it never got a sequel.

The most complete version of Hideo Kojima's epic adventure Policenauts is only available for the Saturn and it is a crime that this game is still (as of August 2015) unavailable outside of Japan and fan translations. And don't get me started on the criminal obscurity of Snatcher. After the firing of Kojima, I believe there is a special place in hell for Konami... Moving on.

RPGs are my favorite genre and I admit that the strength of a consoles RPGs have great influence over my opinion. Having said that, there is no denying that the Saturn runs rings (pun intended) around the N64 and even rivals the PS1 in RPG goodness. I mean how many good N64 RPGs can you name? Ogre Battle 64? Paper Mario? If you leave off the Zelda games (Action RPGs), there isn't much... Now look at the Saturn:

Panzer Dragoon Saga (arguably better than FFVII)
Dragon Force
Dragon force II
Lunar Silver Star Story
Lunar 2 Eternal Blue
Grandia
Albert Odyssey : Legend of Eldean
Magic School Lunar
Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers
Shining the Holy Ark
Shining Force 3 (Scenario 1, 2 and 3) Yes, its a whole trilogy of Strategy RPGs where you can carry your save game over
Magic Knight Rayearth
Langrisser Dramatic Edition (compilation of Langrisser 1&2)
Langrisser 3
Langrisser 4
Langrisser 5 Pretty much the entire Langrisser SRPG series
Mystaria: The Realms of Lore (AKA Blazing Heroes AKA Riglord Saga)

And then there are action RPGs like Princess Crown, Legend of Oasis and Guardian Heroes. If it weren't for Final Fantasy, I believe that the Saturn would be the undisputed RPG king of the 5th Generation.

The greatest failure of the Saturn in many gamer's eyes is that there never was a great Saturn Sonic the Hedghog game but while that is true, the Saturn is very hard to top when it comes to action/adventure games and platformers. Take a look at this lineup:

Nights into Dreams (Far better than most PS1 platformers)
Burning Rangers (love this game so much!)
Mr. Bones (So underrated!)
Dark Savior
Silhouette Mirage
Shinobi Legions
Astal
Rayman
Clockwork Knight
Clockwork Knight 2
Sonic Jam (Sonic 1/2/3/Knuckles and yes they look better then the original versions, also Sonic World)
Herc's Adventures
Die Hard Arcade
Three Dirty Dwarves
Saturn Bomberman
Bug!
Bug Too!
Tomb Raider (developed as a Saturn exclusive)

Oh, what's that? You like Shooters?! Well arm your missiles and power up your shields and prepare to be amazed cause the Saturn was the undisputed king of shooters and shootemups.

Radiant Silvergun (THE best shmup of all time. I don't even.)
Panzer Dragoon
Panzer Dragoon Zwei (easily the best on-rails shooter of the era. Star Fox 64 can suck it)
Darius Gaiden (still playing this one all the time)
Darius II
Soukyu Gurentai
Battle Garegga
Hyper Duel
Guardian Force
RayForce (AKA Layer Section AKA Galactic Attack)
Do Donpachi

If you like light gun shooters then Virtua Cop 1&2 and House of the Dead will compete with Time Crisis any day of the week. Thanks to GoldenEye 007 and Medal of Honor, First Person Shooters became more popular than the other forms of shooters but as FPS games go, Saturn exclusives like Gungriffon 1&2 were better than most and PC ports like Quake and Duke Nukem 3D were better on Saturn.

Survival Horror fans got the best version of Resident Evil on the Saturn but that wasn't all. Kenji Eno's famous "Enemy Zero" and "D" became cult hits that still get name dropped a lot today and the Saturn exclusive "Deep Fear" is arguably the best survival horror game of that entire generation.

But now we come to the sad end of this tale. Most Saturn exclusives are still to this day ONLY on the Saturn. Many have never been re-released on any other platform and maybe never will and that has a lot to do with the Saturn's bizarre hardware. Even emulation is incredibly difficult and perfect Saturn emulation is probably never going to happen. And so I thought I'd make this blog post to let whomever reads this know that there is still at least one gamer out there that has experienced the hidden brilliance of the Sega Saturn.

The PlayStation had an amazing rival in the Saturn and in my personal opinion the N64 deserved to be in last place. The N64's clumsy and fragile controller combined with it's high costing/low data cartridges and very small game library (especially RPGs) make it the inferior console of it's generation and yet the N64 sold 23 million more units than the Saturn. I mostly attribute this to the great reception of the SNES. Most gamers could be forgiven for thinking that after FFVI, Secret of Mana and Chrono Trigger, Nintendo 64 would be the home of RPGs in the 5th Gen. How were we supposed to know Square and Enix would jump ship?

What really bugs me though is that unlike the Dreamcast, the Saturn has not been talked about with loving reverence and remembered with rosy fondness. Despite selling relatively the same as the Dreamcast, the Saturn was on the market twice as long as the Dreamcast was and it's game sales were higher. The Saturn is long overdue another look by gamers and hopefully this blog post is good step towards that.

For those few of you out there that did own a Saturn, what are your favorite Saturn games? I know I skipped over quite a few gems in this post. Lemme know in the comments about others I should check out. Thanks for reading!

[johndoe11211]

It's not just about the software the systems had but the potential of what they would or could become. That's why I would give it to the dreamcast over the Saturn.

[bouzebbal]

Saturn is truly a great system, but too expensive for what it was offering.
Games weren't flowing as much as with Dreamcast, but i personally prefered Saturn over PS1 at that time due to SEGA's franchises like Story of Thor, Panzer Dragoon, SEGA Rally, Fighters Megamix, but especially the 2D fighting genre like SNK and Capcom games which were much better than PS1 due to the extra RAM cartridge and the better D-pad. Some of my all time favorite franchises were born on Saturn (WipEout, Tomb Raider, Resident Evil...).

SEGA Saturn was lacking games, and PS1 took advantage of that at that time.
This also changed EVERYTHING: https://www.youtube.com/wat...

I love Sega Saturn but Dreamcast is the most underrated console of all time.

[MadchesterManc]

I still have a Saturn. It's SEGA's dark horse for sure. I consider it to be as good as the Dreamcast at the very least. The Model 2 controller is still one of the best controllers to have ever graced my hands. Last time I had it set up I spent quite a while playing through Shining the Holy Ark funnily enough. Dragon Force still impresses me to this too, the sprite count during battles is insane & gives them a really epic look.

The Saturn is also home to the best versions of Sonic 1, 2 & 3 with them being ported rather than emulated like they are elsewhere.

[Concertoine]

There was something about Sega, they had an offbeat sense of humor and a lot of underdog, young talent looking to make their mark. It's sad that the last vestige for Sega's old charm is the Yakuza series.

Imo, Saturn and original Xbox are the most underrated consoles. The Dreamcast was never underrated, it was held in high regard in 1999 and even higher regard since. But the saturn was an unjust punchline for way too long.

[ShottyatLaw]

I'll always be a Sega kid at heart. Panzer Dragoon Saga and SF Alpha 3 were probably my favorites on the Saturn. Looking back, this was probably my favorite generation. It was the first generation where I became a multiple console owner while the systems were all "current-gen," too.

Saturn was the best for 2D fighters. Nintendo brought the 3D platformers and OoT. I bought the PS1 last, but MGS and FF7-9 rounded out a fantastic generation.

I still own my Saturn, and I never regretted my purchase.

[BillytheBarbarian]

I bought the Saturn when it first came out. Virtua Fighter was a big deal but then Virtua Fighter 2 came out and just blew the doors off of what games should move and look like. I'd put most Sega first party games up against anything on the Playstation and you can see the Saturn had stronger anti-aliasing which in turn made the games look cleaner. Virtua Fighter 2, Panzer Dragoon, Last Bronx, Die Hard Arcade and Burning Rangers are examples of how good 3-D games could look on Saturn.

Then the 2-D games were beasts and easily trounced Playstation versions with minimal slow down and flicker which plagued the Playstation.

3rd party: Playstation ports to Saturn happened all too often and is what made Saturn look terrible to your average buyer. From EA Sports to Cyber Sled and Die Hard Trilogy. Just ugly slow Playstation ports.

In owning the Saturn, the let down for me was the Sports games didn't get better. It took Dreamcast to get sports games going. NFL 2k was huge for me.

Also Saturn was weak in the Wrestling game department.
It was an important genre in the U.S. These games were huge during the 90s because the WWF/WCW were at war. Hogan jumped ship to WCW and guys like Steve Austin were just coming up. So when I see on store shelves WCW/NWO world tour, World Championship Wrestling, WWF War Zone, or Thunder coming out and looking good and all there was on Saturn was WWF In Your House from Acclaim. It was hard to be excited. WWF Wrestlemania Arcade and In your house were basically Mortal Kombat games with goofy moves. Playstation was getting a wealth of decent generic wrestling games along with WCW 3-D engined games. I could have imported Fire Pro for Saturn I guess but I didn't feel like sifting through Japanese text.

So for me the Saturn was just missing a few important games for it's time. While as a Genesis fan I was getting WWF Royal Rumble, Joe Montana Football, NHLs from EA and World Series Baseball the Saturn was limping in with sports that didn't play or look as good as the 16 bit versions. So when I found myself going back to Genesis for Sports I felt the Saturn was done. Dreamcast definitely fixed the sports problem and now you can see NBA 2k still thriving. If it wasn't for EA/NFL licensing arrangements I think NFL2k would be killing Madden by now as well.

The games you listed though are definitely great games. Nice blog.

[DarkSniper]

This was a an excellent and very well written blog post gamejediben. This brought back a strong kick of nostalgia of the golden age. Gamers of the younger generation who weren't there for the 32/64 bit console war seriously missed out. Dark Sniper personally feels that this was the golden age of gaming. This generation was the catalyst to how modern games are developed and played today.

In addition to what was mentioned in the OP, what also could have saved the Sega Saturn is bringing the Segata Sanshiro ad campaign to the west. Those commercials were insanely hilarious and there's no doubt that it would have caught on in America. Combine this with their aggressive and in your face disses made at both PlayStation and N64, Sega's attitude alone would have given them more sales.

Dark Sniper truly believes that if Shenmue was released on the Saturn as originally intended, it would have taken the place of what Metal Gear Solid did for it's generation. There is no game on the PSX that looks better than Saturn Shenmue.

It is very true that the lack of a definitive Sonic game definitely hurt the Saturn. Sonic 3D blast wasn't going to cut the muster. Had Sonic Xtreme seen a release, Dark Sniper believes that game would have been superior to Super Mario 64.

The Sega Saturn is one of Dark Snipers favorite consoles of all time. If you like fighting games, the Saturn was THE go to place to whoop ass and take names. It's time to go fire up the Saturn and enjoy some Die Hard Arcade.

$niper

[FlexLuger]

"The Sega Saturn is one of Dark Snipers favorite consoles of all time. If you like fighting games, the Saturn was THE go to place to whoop ass and take names."

I second this. As owner of two saga saturns (including an unltra rare white japanese one) it still is THE console for fighting games. It had the best pad too. And the first time I played SF VS capcom with the ram cart I was smitten. I still have aan extensive collection of saturn games.Mostly fighting games. But all sorts inclusing all of sega, SNK and capcom games. I have all the panzer dragoon games in english. And geobokkers 3D is still a good blast along with sillouette mirage, guardian heroes and radiant silvergun.

The saturn was an amazing machine. Glad I was one of the few that experienced all it had to offer :)

[Picnic]

You can love by the Saturn by all means but it must be acknowledged that it was, by accident or design, very deeply a niche console.

To have a console that is very heavily associated with fighting games (and RPGS it seems from what you've said but I hadn't heard of them) and to generally turn your back on what gave you past sales glory- such as Megadrive's range of first party quality platforming games- is not an invitation to huge sales apart from in Japan where it sold was is regarded as a relatively respectable 2.5 million.

Following the Mega CD and the 32X, Sega's identity crisis was complete with the Saturn which turned its back on FMV Interactive Movie games. Apart from a few examples such as Tomb Raider, Sega stood for niche Japanese focussed gaming at this stage and its poor sales weren't even mainly Sony's fault. They were Sega's.

PS1 sales, as high as they were, probably had little or no effect on Saturn's sales. Many people not in to fighting games would have simply waited for the N64 rather than buy a Saturn.

Sega largely abandoned, for no good reason other than Sega's own arcade-obsession, the family market who bought charming games such as World of Illusion and Quackshot, the Saturn was very lucky to sell 9.5 million, mainly from hardcore arcade fighter game fans. It wasn't cool to previous Megadrive owners not to have many first party platforming games and to make Nights into Dreams at the expense of not making a proper 3D Sonic game on the Saturn. It made the Saturn a massively niche console and no small offering such as Tomb Raider was going to change that.

The Dreamcast was more generous towards the mainstream but,
given Sega's post-Megadrive nature, even the mysterious, powerful Dreamcast, looked like a pretty illusion that would quickly disappear, although giving the gaming world several new series along the way. And the Saturn was partly to blame for making Sega seem like it wanted to be too hardcore to be owned by the average person.

[bradleejones]

Great write up. I remembering being a Sega kid (though I did have all the Nintendo consoles and handhelds). I was so stoked for the Saturn. I ended up playing Ridge Racer in the arcade and bought a PlayStation. Been a mostly PlayStation gamer since (though I've had most other consoles), but never really played the Saturn.

[dedicatedtogamers]

If you want 2d games, Saturn is sooooo good. The number of fighting games and shmups on the system is absurdly high. I still bust mine out every once in a while for some 8p Bomberman.

[IamTylerDurden1]

Sega yes, Saturn no.

The Sega Dreamcast is the most underrated imo, it ushered in the era of online gaming, gamepad controllers (with screens), and had some knockout games.

[IamTylerDurden1]

I always enjoyed Sega's consoles tbh, i even enjoyed Sega CD. The Dracula game on Sega CD, Sewer Sharks, good times. The Genesis was my favorite console of it's time. Toe jam & Earl, Mortal Kombat, and Sonic...all day.

[rainslacker]

Nicely written blog. I applaud you for doing the research, or at least already knowing, some of the reasons why the Saturn had such a rough time. That's pretty rare that people can look at the big picture without pushing the blame on the gamers.:)

Anyhow, I love the Saturn, both when it released, and even today it's one of my go-to retro consoles. I absolutely love to go back to Magic Knight Rayearth at least once a year. Guardian Heroes is another favorite I can pick up at any time, and have put more hours of my life into it than I can count. Shining Force...ah, how I miss that franchise. And the shooters...ah, so many SHMUPS to choose from. It had an impeccable game library that can give any console in any generation a run for it's money.

I wouldn't call it the most under-rated console though...to me that goes to the TurboDuo(and it's variants)....but that's my favorite console so I'm a bit biased. :)

I believe the reason it often goes overlooked is due to the fact that it became all about PlayStation that gen. They were the new kid on the block, and they were pushing new areas of gaming showing what next gen was all about. Saturn, while a capable 3D machine, was really built around pushing 2D graphics to their limits, and it did that exceedingly well for the developers that could get a grasp on it's complicated architecture(it had 9 distinct processors to work with). Sega's marketing took a hit that gen too, while Sony was pushing all the right buttons. Nintendo decided to stay with carts, and that hindered them, so in the end, Sony just out-muscled the competition.

I really think there are just a lot of people who have no idea what was available on the Saturn. The newer gamers that started last gen only really know the DC from the ports to other systems, due mostly to Sega leaving the console business, so a lot of it goes overlooked because it's hard to know where to start if you aren't interested in retro gaming. There is no nostalgia for them to base their opinions on.

For the older gamers that have been around a while...well again, everything, and most everyone, moved to PlayStation, and Sega was the butt of a lot of jokes because of their hardware practices...which really only lasted during the Genesis era.

I don't really recall the Saturn being rated poorly by the media, and overall, I think it's games were rated quite highly. But again, a lot of the press was centered around the PlayStation brand, because it was where most of the readers were going, and it had a lot of exciting games to report on.

I do miss the Sega of old. If they had been a little smarter on the hardware front, and not tried to do so many gimmicky things, or screwed up the Saturn launch, they may not have been forced to drop out, and they may have kept some of their gaming prowess instead of becoming the empty shell of a company they once were catering to the lowest common denominator more often than not. They lost their edginess. If they had remained in the console market, it's quite possible MS would not have gotten a foothold...they did partner with Sega to have a place in the console market...and today's gaming landscape may be very different with three companies which were all trying to outdo one another with the quality of their games instead of the marketability of their gimmicks.

[DarkSniper]

Well said. Gamers who were around in that generation know that the Saturn's demise was Sega's own doing and not so much because of what the PSX would become.

What makes the Saturn's early exit from the console war so sad is because the system never reached it's full potential. It's sophisticated architecture put off a lot of devs, but you had in-house devs like AM2 who were making masterpieces. The cancelled versions of Virtua Fighter 3 and Shenmue are a glimpse of how well 3D could be done on the Saturn.

https://www.youtube.com/wat...

It's been long rumored that the Saturn version of VF 3 was a better running port than the Dreamcast version due to AM2 developing the Saturn version and a third party developing the DC

https://www.youtube.com/wat...

Even though the Saturn finished a distant third, Dark Sniper believes that was a respectable 3rd place finish considering that there was an overflow of consoles at the time. If you compare it to the Jaguar, CDi, Turbo CD, 3DO and Apple Pippin, the Saturn didn't do that bad.

If Dark Sniper could make one wish, it would be for Sega to return to making consoles. When it comes to establishing their identity and leaving their mark on their games, no one did it better than them.

$niper

[bit-crusherrrr]

Thumbs up for some Saturn love. Mines plugged into my tv still, Sega Rally is probably my favourite game for it.

[Pintheshadows]

Good pick.

[iliimaster]

i still remember powering her on seeing that amazing boot up and it was something ill never forget growing up i had a blast with my dreamcast

[pelenow]

I loved the Saturn! Not so much Mr. Bones. The game looked like Donkey Kong Country, only all the monkeys died and turned into skeletons.

[InTheLab]

While I'm a fan of the Saturn, the Dreamcast to me remains the most innovative console ever made. The reason why the Saturn is overlooked is because its a poor man's playstation.

With each new console, Sega innovated. Whether it was streaming games via the Sega Channel, online gaming, or the amazing but underutilized VMU, (things that Nintendo, MS, and Sony copied a decade later) Sega consistently brought something new to the table. Except with the Saturn.

While I do believe it's a good system, it's nowhere near what the Dreamcast was. Had one since launch and of the 15 or so consoles from previous gen I own, I rarely ever use it.

Great read btw. Sega console need more love.

[Nonscpo]

Owned one back in the day, looking back it really was a great console. Back then I loved how most of the games available on it were the arcade games that people wasted there coins on at the mall. Games I owned were:

-Daytona USA
-Virtua Fighter 1
-Virtua Fighter 2
-Virtua Cop
-Fighting Vipers (My favorite fighting game on that console)
-Darious Gaiden III
-Bug
-Sonic 3D

[Pintheshadows]

Steep Slope Sliders is not only the best snowboarding game I have ever played (including SSX) but was also my favourite game on the Saturn. I played it for hours and hours and hours. I even tried to play it with the Saturn's weird sterring wheel once. It didn't go well.

Also, whilst most people played Resident Evil on the Playstation, I had it on the Saturn. It had the most difficult to open game case I have ever encountered. It shredded my fingers.

And Die Hard Arcade was so much fun. I really loved my Saturn. It was great. It will always be console related with fond gaming memories.

I am having a bit of a nostalgiagasm.