Binding: Video Game Brand: Sega EAN: 0010086800197 Label: Sega of America, Inc. Manufacturer: Sega of America, Inc. Platform: Sega Saturn Publisher: Sega of America, Inc. Sales Rank: 4418 Studio: Sega of America, Inc.
Rating: - Sega Saturn
One of the single greatest video game consoles of all time
shame its life was ended so soon...
Rating: - Sega saturn
Sega saturn is an older console my parents ordered on the internet. when i got it it worked without ant problems and still does. It has average graphics and controls but has good games like tomb raider, virtua cop, soul calibur and doom being some of my favourites.
If you can find one, buy this console!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Rating: - missing pieces
When I received my sega saturn i was distrought to find that the plug in and cable were missing. However, because i didn't know a details page existed and that the writer stated on the details page that several pieces were missing, i have no one to blame but myself. To put this into perspective, a sega saturn video game system that has no plug wire is only half a video game system. I still have yet to test the system because I have to find the fitting pieces to get it to work. I did receive it on time.
Rating: - A great game system marred only by public opinion
Excerps from http://www.gamepilgrimage.com/SATPScompare.htm
Performance "gap"
Another popular theory on why the Saturn failed to capture the masses' interests is that it didn't have comparable 3D performance to the PS1. The Saturn, is significantly more powerful than the PS1 in 2D capabilities, but it is also able to run at higher resolutions (640x224, 704x480), and capable of higher resolution and color count textures with less effort. The Saturn is more capable of these things because it has 66% more Video RAM. On the Saturn, as is true on any hardware, more RAM allows for higher color, higher resolution texture mapping, and higher screen resolution. Combine this with the specs directly from Sega and Sony's web pages, showing that both systems were capable of similar polygon performance, shows clearly that the Saturn was no slouch in the 3D department either.
The catch is that Sega achieved comparable polygonal performance with the Saturn by including more processors in the Saturn, which made development more difficult at first than it would be on the more simple PS1. In addition to having better developer support from Sony than Sega gave for the Saturn, and better more mature development kits, the PS1 also had built in special effects in the form of transparency and gouraud shading. This allowed the PS1 to generate lightsourcing and transparent special effects or polygons with a minimum hit to the system's polygon performance. Since the Saturn had to generate these effects through sheer processing muscle, developers of Saturn games usually had to lower the resolution to 320x224 in order to program effects similar to those on the Playstation. What this all means is that because the PS1 could just "turn on" light sourcing and transparency, the effects were achieved with uniform results across any game that used them, while the same effects on the Saturn were subject to the quality of the code, written by each individual developer, to display it.
Uniformity is a good thing, the PS1 had that over the Saturn because of its development kits and simple but effective design. Even though some developers were able to achieve comparable or even unique effects in Saturn games, because other games failed to have comparable effects, and some developers chose to release incomplete, buggy, and unoptimized games, the Saturn gained the reputation of not being as "good at" 3D as the Playstation was.
Perception gap
On a side note, but on the topic of public perception and system performance, the specs listed here for the PS1 are taken directly from the Sony web page. Sony had claimed for 5 years that the PS1 could display 500,000 texture mapped gouraud shaded or 1.5 million flat shaded polygons per second (22 + 23), which was never true. Contrast this with the fact that Sega in particular, while being well known for hyping their systems as the "next level" or having "High definition graphics", or even their games as being "arcade perfect", has never falsified their system specs on any console. This fact didn't stop the media from trying to undermine their marketing by making claims that Sega was exaggerating their specs. The same media zenes never questioned Sony's announced specs for either of their consoles, even though both of Sony's system's pre-launch specs were clearly massively exaggerated(24).
In 1995, Developers were happy to achieve 80-90,000 polygons per second in game (27), and gouraud shading those polygons meant only 16-colors or less on the texture maps. Yet, during the same time period game magazines, and developers like Electronic Arts, were publicizing (28) that the Saturn could only do 60,000 polygons per second while the PS1 could do 360,000. The former number was the actual performance of the launch Saturn title Daytona, the later was a theoretical number that the PS1 never achieved. It is, however, these numbers that are emblazoned on the minds of gamers and magazine editors to this day. It is impossible to say how much this false public perception of the performance differences affected the outcome of the 32-bit system wars, but it is undeniable that it was extremely influential.
"Just a 2D system"
Another possible cause for the idea that the Saturn was primarily a 2D game system with moderate 3D capabilities is that there are quite a few 2D games that were made for it, in comparison to the PS1's library. Sony forced developers to make PS1 games exclusively 3D until some years after the Playstation's release. Combine the library differences with a couple of Industry rumors about the President of Sega of Japan deciding the architecture of the Saturn over a golf game with a buddy from Hitachi, and the same President "scrambling" to revamp the Saturn's 3D capabilities immediately after Sony publicized the PS1's specs (mind you, the 500k/1million specs, not the real ones) and you have a theory run wild with speculation that proponents will defend to their deaths. Because of this, and the fact that 3D gaming caught on and completely replaced 2D gaming in this generation, Sony has been credited as the company to bring gaming into 3D.
Pioneering the next generation...
A similar thing happened with a different type of gaming only a couple of years before. Sega released the Sega CD to allow gamers to experience Laserdisc style FMV adventures in the home at typical console prices. Sega even aided Digital Pictures, a company that had experimented with FMV games using VCRs in the 80's, in porting over most of its titles to the Sega CD. The problem most often cited for why this type of game didn't take off is that it was too early. The Sega CD's color palette caused FMV to look murky or grainy. While higher color video was possible later in its life, when Cinepak and Truvideo were written, it was too late in the public and media's mind. With the Sega CD's and FMV style gaming's lack of success behind them, Sega did choose to make the Saturn the ultimate 2D hardware, and to focus heavily on 2D gaming for the Saturn because of it.
Nobody could have predicted that rudimentary 3D games, with graphics that warp, textures that block up when they approach the screen, and color count per texture comparable to the 8-bit NES's color palette, would have completely replaced 2D games with higher color counts, greater animation, and all around better aesthetic value. It wasn't until the Dreamcast and PS2 that 3D games contained a comparable image quality to this generation's 2D games, and 2D games had been the entire video game market since its conception.
Some of the pioneers of polygonal 3D video games in the arcades and on consoles were Atari, with Stun Runner, Hard Drivin' and Race Drivin', Sega with the first polygonal 3D Fighter, Virtua Fighter, Virtua Racing, Virtua Fighter 2, Daytona, Sega Rally, Virtual On, and Virtua Cop in the arcades and at home, and Namco with their Ridge Racer and Tekken series. In addition to those games, LHX Attack Chopper was released by EA on the Genesis in 1992, and StarFox among lesser 3D titles for the SFX chip was released by Nintendo and designed by Argonaught on the SNES in 1993. Sony Imagesoft was the only Sony Videogame department at the time, and they focused primarily on FMV for the Sega CD, and 2D games like Hook.
Relevant Facts and Background
In 1995, Sega was the darling of the Industry and the company most scrutinized by politicians and the media. By Summer of 1998 Sega's winning streak was officially over. In three short years, Sega had turned over its American office's management, which had been present since 1990 and responsible for the success of the Sega Genesis. Sega of America had been placed under direct management by its Japanese office, and given a new figurehead, Bernie Stolar. Bernie Stolar proceeded to aggravate what few loyal developers Sega had in the West, losing Working Designs over a simple Entertainment Expo booth dispute. He was also responsible for the slowing the flow of Japanese RPGs and other localizations to a trickle, and eventually canceling the system over a year before Sega's launch of the Dreamcast in September of 1999. Stolar has also gone on record stating his opinion of the Saturn and its library in a simple but familiar phrase, "it did not have very good games" (1, 5). With a friend like that, the Saturn didn't need any enemies.
Meanwhile, also in 1995 a new company was about to join the fray of game console manufacturers in the United States. This company had worked closely with the former management of Sega of America, with whom they had developed "criteria for what the next optical platform ought to be" (2). When this occurred, prior to 1992, this company had no hardware division for video games and had only one small publishing house responsible for multiplatform ports and FMV titles on the Sega CD like Sewer Shark. When Sega of Japan rejected their plans, they began work on a CD-ROM upgrade for the Super Nintendo (3). Nintendo unceremoniously dumped them at a major Entertainment Expo, announcing that Phillips would instead develop their add-on. Months later this company announced a stand alone system with 3D specs that shocked the Industry, although they were bloated in comparison to the system's actual capabilities (4). This system became the Playstation, and Sony, it's manufacturer, dominated the worldwide markets for over a decade. More can be said on how and why this happened, but the reason was not because of the Playstation's absolute superiority in hardware or software.
Conclusions
Popular opinions and media generated "history" have omitted relevant facts in regard to this generation. The Saturn and Playstation were released within a few months of one another, were at the same price as one another by the time both consoles were on the market, and had similar software release numbers and quality. Both systems were designed and finalized by the middle of 1993, and had similar technical problems to overcome in creating a fully 3D system as a consumer level product. When they launched in Japan by Christmas of 1994, they were both considered cutting edge, and both sold relatively well in relation to one another for several years. As is true in all generations, owning one and not the other meant excluding oneself from many of the best titles of the generation, because most of the best titles each generation are console exclusive.
Rating: - dated video game system
The Saturn was a briefly popular 32-bit video game system created by Sega in the 90's. It was designed to compete with the Sony Playstation and Nintendo 64. Unfortunately for Sega, the Saturn ranks a distant third in terms of enjoyment value.
Looking back, I'd say the Sega Saturn really isn't that bad a system. I used to play it with my friend and I'd say I had a *little* fun. It's just that Sony was pumping out an *unbelievable* amount of excellent games during the EXACT time Sega was trying to market the Saturn and, as you know, Sony came out of nowhere and grabbed the attention of millions and millions of video game fans. This made it VERY hard for Sega to keep up with the surprising success of the Playstation. Sony wasn't fooling around back then- they were on a mission to dominate the video game market and BOY did they ever succeed. It permanently changed the video game scene; destroying the console wars between Nintendo and Sega. Sony coming out of nowhere and almost *immediately* ruling the market pretty much spelled the end of Nintendo and Sega being the only two video game companies competing with each other. Now a THIRD company entered the mix. To put it another way- Sony temporarily brought Nintendo to its knees and, in the process, knocked out Sega forever. Sega was never able to recover from the damage Sony had done. Everyone thought Nintendo would be the company to destroy Sega. Nope! Nintendo came close a few times, though. With Sega's well-known history of bad marketing techniques, this might have been for the best. I bet Sega would have continued to struggle if they had made the decision to keep themselves in the console-releasing market after the Dreamcast was finished. I bet Sega would be looking pretty ugly right now, in terms of sales. Good thing they pulled away.
Because the Sega Saturn didn't have a long life, the few people out there who actually own one HAVE to notice its main weak point- not very many games to choose from. The good Saturn games you CAN choose from are either really rare and expensive, or import games never released in America. That's the biggest problem with the Saturn. Just not enough.
To give Sega credit, the Saturn DOES have some quality games such as Virtua Fighter 2, Guardian Heroes, Radiant Silvergun, Shining Force III, Sonic Jam, Nights and Dracula X. BUT- and here's the important thing I want you to remember- it would be IMPOSSIBLE to ignore the many crappy games released for the Saturn. Worthless games such as Corpse Killer, Bug Too!, Incredible Hulk: The Pantheon Saga, Hi-Octane, G-Vector and The House of the Dead don't exactly show off the Saturn's amazing capabilities. Also keep in mind that the Sega Saturn was an *extremely* awful system when it came to sports games. Just about every basketball and hockey game released for the system isn't worth a darn. To me that's surprising when you consider the Sega Genesis was known at one point as the best video game system for sports games. You'd think Sega would have continued the trend of releasing quality sports games for the Saturn, but they didn't. Another disappointment.
Everyone likes to point out that the Playstation is the video game system with the highest amount of crappy games. That's only because Sega gave up halfway through the competition with the Playstation. Argue with me if you must, but the Saturn was basically dead by the end of 1997. The Playstation was just getting warmed up by that point. If the Saturn had continued to compete with the Playstation until say, the year 2000, the Saturn probably would've ended up with JUST as many horrible games. Sega gave up in 1997 when it finally dawned on them that Sony was putting them out of business.
Mostly jealous Sega fanboys like to point out the high amount of terrible Playstation games, while Playstation fans correctly understand that you have to sort through a lot of junk to get to the GOOD games- and believe me, the Playstation had a LOT of good games. In fact, the best Playstation games are better than the best Saturn games, in my opinion. Give me Silent Hill and Resident Evil 2 over Nights and Shining Force III ANY day. It's a shame Sega fans will never stop defending the Saturn with the same old argument. Time to give it a rest.
I think Sega fans are confused when they say overall, Saturn games feature less loading times than the Playstation. For a supposedly powerful video game system, you sure had to wait a LONG time to play a game on the Saturn. For example, you have to sit there for an eternity to play games like WWF: Wrestlemania: the Arcade Game and Mortal Kombat Trilogy. Compare those loading times to the same games on the Playstation, and the wait isn't NEARLY as inconvenient.
What makes the lengthy loading times on the Sega Saturn even MORE frustrating is how, right after the "now loading" screen goes away, the screen turns black for a few seconds making you wait even LONGER. There's no 3-seconds of blackness on the Playstation. The *very* second the loading screen goes away on ANY Playstation game, the actual game comes in. Sega fans like to pretend those few additional seconds of loading aren't happening. Trust me Sega fans, I DO notice them. I DO realize that I'm waiting 3 extra unnecessary seconds to play the darn game. The Saturn is MUCH worse when it comes to loading times. It's SO slow. None of this matters anyway, because by the end of 1997 loading times were almost completely gone anyway! If only the Saturn had survived long enough to see that.
Besides the loading problem, most of the time the Playstation had the superior version when the same game was released for both systems. This was because the graphics were always clean and sparkly on the Playstation. On the Saturn, after they finished creating a game it was like they rubbed the graphic engine in the dirt. Either that, or the person who put the colors in all the Saturn games could only see in black and white. All the bland, colorless backgrounds on most Saturn games make me feel like I'm digging a hole to China. Poor, severely-dated graphics. For a good example, compare the two versions of Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. Once again, the Playstation version smears it. The Saturn version features ugly, grainy and ugly-colored graphics. If a game appears on both the Saturn and Playstation, compare the graphics and I guarantee the Playstation version will look better.
I can think of only one thing the Saturn did better than Sony- the CD Player built into the system is actually more interesting on the Saturn. On the Playstation it's just a boring, predictable layout of hitting "Play" "Pause" "Forward" etc. On the Saturn you have a LOT more options, and the neat-looking background showing a countless amount of shooting stars is pretty impressive to watch while you sit back and listen to the music from the CD you put on. None of this means the actual quality of the CD player on the Saturn is better- just that the outer space background and addition of more options makes it LOOK better. They both play CD's very well.
It's a shame the Saturn couldn't hang with the big boys. It couldn't hang around long enough to see sequels to many popular games such as Resident Evil, Mega Man and Tomb Raider. All those sequels went to the Playstation and turned out to be VERY successful. If a game like Resident Evil 2 had appeared on the Saturn, who knows how successful it would have been. Sony seriously put a hurtin' on Sega.
Funny how the Playstation's gray-colored ordinary-looking system design is actually more attractive than the Saturn's silky-black "cool" color. What's that expression? Never judge a book by its cover. Right! I think back to that Sega commercial ten years ago showing a Playstation falling from a building and a guys voice saying "fly, play thing, fly". hahahahahahahahaHAHAHA!!!
- Sega Saturn
- Sega saturn
- dated video game system
