Saturn games - how to find them and what to get

[jecca-neko]

Like the subject says. I know someone IRL who is selling his modded Saturn. Does anyone know any good places to find good condition Saturn games? What are some recommended games, both American and Japanese, to get?

[Chacranajxy]

Like the subject says. I know someone IRL who is selling his modded Saturn. Does anyone know any good places to find good condition Saturn games? What are some recommended games, both American and Japanese, to get?

LAWL at using the term "IRL."

I don't know where to get Saturn games other than Ebay (it's actually the only thing in the world that I don't know.) However, for games you should look into:

US:
Guardian Heroes
Nights (And Christmas Nights if you can get it)
Panzer Dragoon Zwei (if you want the original, get the PS2 version)
Panzer Dragoon Saga (expensive)
Shining Force III (debatable, because the voice acting is pretty bad)

Japanese:
Dungeons and Dragons Collection (the Capcom arcade games)
Grandia (Better than the PS1 version)
Radiant Silvergun (Teh expensive)
Shining Force Scenarios II and III (continuation of the game... never released domestically)

[jecca-neko]

LAWL at using the term "IRL."


Sometimes I wonder if you enjoy picking on me. :P At least I keep intarweb terms on the intarweb. I know some people who say them in normal speech.


Nights (And Christmas Nights if you can get it)
Shining Force III (debatable, because the voice acting is pretty bad)


Those are the primary games I want. Do Scenario 2 and 3 work with the US original game or would I need to buy a Japanese copy?

I was also curious about Working Designs' Magic Knight Rayearth RPG and the Sakura Taisen games...

[Warren]

I was also curious about Working Designs' Magic Knight Rayearth RPG and the Sakura Taisen games...


I thought there were too many liberties taken with the translation for the Magic Knight Rayeath RPG. It was about the same level as Working Designs' translation of Lunar: Silver Star Story. One thing to note is that there was a lot of spoken dialogue. If you like the dubbing, then it's not really an issue, but if not... It's been quite a while since I played the game so I really can't give specific examples. Give it a try if you can find the game, it's an experience.

[Shibi]

I HIGHLY recommend Dragon Force, the best game released for the Saturn (Panzer Dragoon Saga would run a close second) and the best game Working Designs ever published. Never played either the Rayearth game nor the Sakura Taisen games, but the Sakura Taisen games are probably worth playing based on reputation alone. For Strategy RPG goodness there is Mystaria/Blazing Heroes/Riglord Saga or whatever you want to call it. The translation is pretty horrible but it is quite fun.

[kaiyouske]

Here's why I have my Saturn still:


Langrisser SeriesCapcom FightersSNK FightersDungeons & Dragons CollectionGuardian Heroes

The 4MB RAM cart did wonders for the system. Oh, and I'm still trying to find a cheap copy of Elevator Action Returns.....argh!

[Shale]

Awesome, another potential Saturn fan. Happy to help out.

Where to get games: eBay and Half.com, pretty much. Unless you frequent a really niche used-games shop, you just won't find them at brick-and-mortar stores anymore. A few Japanese games are still available new from importers, though.

As to what to get...the first thing you want to make sure you have is a memory cart, or at least a region converter that doubles as one (like the Action Replay Plus). The Saturn's on-board memory is tiny, and dies when the battery does - you can replace the thing easily enough, but in the meantime you lose all your saves. Also try to find an analog pad if you'll be playing shooters or flying games. The digital pad is fantastic for 2D games, but it really doesn't cut it for true 3D.

Note that, although the Saturn's strongest genre was arguably fighting games, I'm not recommending any of them. That's because all the good ones have bigger and better sequels on modern systems. Why play Virtua Fighter 2 when you could pick up VF4 Evolution instead? Sad but true.

Recommended games, US:
Dragon Force. Awesome, awesome game. Grand-scale strategy game (on the order of Risk, or Axis & Allies) with RPG elements, seven story paths to play through, and fast-paced combat. Addictive as hell.
Shining Force III. Best game in the series - good story, lots of twists on the gameplay formula that generally work really well, a cast with some personality, difficulty selection for replays, and you can turn off the voice acting in the options menu. Sadly, you cannot turn off the awful 3D combat scenes, but they're livable (I should know, I'm playing this one right now).
Shining the Holy Ark. A fun first-person RPG with thinky puzzles. Also serves as a prequel to SFIII.
Astal. A nifty, fluid side-scroller, easy to find and cheap to buy.
NiGHTS into Dreams. It's not the visual tour-de-force it was supposed to be at release, what with the ten years of advancing technology we've had since then. It's still a fun, light action game with trippy visuals.
Panzer Dragoon and Panzer Dragoon Zwei. Very fun, very stylish on-rails shooters. Plus, they lead in to...
Panzer Dragoon Saga. Only if you're rolling in cash, because the game is immensely overpriced, but goddamn is it awesome. The best console RPG I've ever played features immense amounts of style, tons of options for customizing the main character and his dragon, a battle system that's both fast-paced and strategic, and a great story. Oh, and completely 3-D dungeons with a ton of stuff to find.
Magic Knight Rayearth. If you're a fan of the series, this is a neat twist on it. It's a Zelda-ish action/RPG that lets you control all three Magic Knights in a reimagining of the first season's story. There are a bunch of changes to the plot, many, I think, for the better (Lafarga gets a ton of screen time, for example). Held back by some truly bad English voice acting, unfortunately.

Japanese:
Shining Force III Scenarios 2 and 3. SFIII is a game in three parts, each one following a different main character. Only the first scenario was released in the US, but clear data from that game carries over to the other two. Translated scripts for both are available online, and they're generally easier and cheaper to find than the US version of S1, so if you enjoy that, why not go all-out?
Wachenroder: Another Japan-only strategy/RPG, with a steampunk style.
Radiant Silvergun. Only if you win the lottery, as this is the Holy Grail of Saturn importing, and priced to match. But it's also a classic Treasure shoot-em-up, and that means quality.

[Chacranajxy]

Those are the primary games I want. Do Scenario 2 and 3 work with the US original game or would I need to buy a Japanese copy?


Unless I'm mistaken, all three of the Shining Force 3 games are standalone and do not require any other Shining Force 3 scenario to work. You should be fine. Though, if you're fine with Japanese text, I'd get the Japanese version of Scenario 1 just because it's far less expensive and it doesn't have the awful voice acting.

Like really... it's terrible. (http://audioatrocities.com/games/shiningforce3/index.html)

[Shale]

...or you could turn off the voice acting, and get the lack of ear-bleeding and the ability to understand the (pretty damn good) writing. Best of both worlds.

Edit: and to reiterate, you can use clear data from the US version of Scenario 1 with Scenario 2 (and then use that data with S3) to get bonus items and characters in the later discs. You also get all your items and levels from S1 when the three mains meet up at the end of the game, which is a nice bonus, and all the S1 characters' names will be in English to boot.

[Chacranajxy]

...or you could turn off the voice acting, and get the lack of ear-bleeding and the ability to understand the (pretty damn good) writing. Best of both worlds.

Really? Didn't know you could turn off the voice acting... most 32-bit era games thought they were doing you a service by making your ears bleed so they didn't bother allowing you to turn off the voices.

[Shale]

Apparently the fine people at Sega realized they'd sell more copies if people could play the game without killing themselves. That or the Japanese put it there and the US team just didn't take it out; I'm not sure which. Either way, it's right at the top of the options menu.

[Chacranajxy]

Apparently the fine people at Sega realized they'd sell more copies if people could play the game without killing themselves. That or the Japanese put it there and the US team just didn't take it out; I'm not sure which. Either way, it's right at the top of the options menu.

Interesting... some companies still don't understand that hurting your customers and making them want to die is not a good way to sell products.

[dunno001]

If you like the Castlevania series, and have some money (and luck), look into getting "Dracula X: Nocturne in the Moonlight." It's the correct version of Symphony of the Night, with the levels and characters removed from the PSX version.

[Chacranajxy]

If you like the Castlevania series, and have some money (and luck), look into getting "Dracula X: Nocturne in the Moonlight." It's the correct version of Symphony of the Night, with the levels and characters removed from the PSX version.

But worse graphics and more slowdown, apparently.

[Johnny]

Like the subject says. I know someone IRL who is selling his modded Saturn. Does anyone know any good places to find good condition Saturn games? What are some recommended games, both American and Japanese, to get?

I would suggest you get that modded console ASAP. Luckily, those of you in America don't have to worry about installing 50/60Hz switches as well as a mod so everything should be straight forward enough.
You can soft mod it too but it requires an Action Replay cart which means you can't play any Japanese games that require a 4Mb cart in addition to the disk.

Anyway, I'll go through my collection later to see if I missed anything but these are the Saturn games I would highly recommend:

NiGHTS into Dreams. A Sonic Team classic. Try to pick up the special "3D" controller with this if you can. You can also find the Christmas version on eBay for a couple of dollars.
Burning Rangers. Another Sonic Team classic. Looks fairly poor by todays standards, but is a great 3D platformer/action adventure with fantastic music. Try to find the Japanese release which came with the soundtrack if you can.
Guardian Heroes. One of Treasure's very best games. It's a 2D scrolling fighter like Streets of Rage or Golden Axe but features a much deeper combat system and RPG style levelling up.
Panzer Dragoon, Zwei and Saga. The trio of Dragoon games are definitely worth seeking out although you may not have enough money for the third in the series. On the raisl shooter in the style of Space Harrier etc.
Virtua Fighter 2. Groundbreaking at the time and still a great fighter to this day.
Sega Rally, Daytona USA. Two arcade racing games that feature very simple gameplay but will keep you coming back for more. Two genuine Saturn classics.
Virtua Cop 1 & 2, House of the Dead. Three arcade light gun games, all of which are very much worth it. Virtua Cop is one of my favourite series in the genre and HotD, while you will cringe at its graphics and voice acting, is a lot of fun with some great boss battles.
Athlete Kings/Winter Heat. Sega's summer and winter olympics games. They should both be available really cheaply and are a lot of fun. Great in 2 player too and will definitely test the power of your wrists/hands as you mash buttons to win the 100 metres!
Baku Baku Animal. Strange puzzle game. Basically you drop food items that relate to specific animals (bones for dogs and so on) as you would in Tetris or Columns, and then when you get an animal block, dropping it on the relevant food will cause it to eat it and clear your grid. Great fun.
Clockwork Knight 1 & 2. 2D platformers with some nice boss battles.
Dynamite Deka/Die Hard Arcade. Dynamite Deka is the Japanese name. 3D scrolling fighter that feels like it could have been the engine that a 3D Streets of Rage would have used on the Saturn.
Fighters Megamix. Takes Virtua Fighter 2's engine and adds characters from that game, Fighting Vipers, Sonic and more. If you enjoy VF2 then you should get this too.
Fighting Vipers. Another Sega fighter that feels a lot like VF2 and is worth getting.
Sonic Jam. Not so much a game as a Sonic compilation/museum. You get Sonic 1, 2, 3 and Knuckles and can roam around a 3D world full of Sonic art, music, TV ads and so on.
Sonic R. Sonic racing game on foot. Doesn't handle the best and is fairly easy but has some incredible music and is pretty fun while it lasts.

That's all I can think of initially without browsing my collection, but I'll do that later for you.

As for where to buy from, generally eBay is your best bet. Hit Japan (http://stores.ebay.co.uk/Hit-Japan-Video-Games-and-Anime_Sega-Saturn_W0QQcolZ2QQdirZQ2d1QQfsubZ4QQftidZ2QQtZkm) is, in my experiences, one of the very best.
You can also try Playasia too as they sometimes have Saturn stuff in stock.

The Saturn is one of the very best consoles for importing IMO. Plus the pads are amongst the best I personally have ever used.

Anyway, definitely go for the modded console and I guarantee you'll enjoy it :) Hope this helps!

[DiGiKerot]

I was also curious about Working Designs' Magic Knight Rayearth RPG and the Sakura Taisen games...


Sakura Taisen has been ported to just about everything though - the Dreamcast versions are probably better to get to maintain save continuity from 1 through 4, or I suppose there are the PC versions (I think they recently re-released those as a box set). The two Saturn games can be bought on PSP as well.

As for Saturn games, I can't really think of anything what hasn't been recommended already. Some games have aged better than others, though - as much as I loved Burning Rangers back when it was released, it looks an absolute mess these days.

[Lovely]

Putting in another vote for Astal. Gorgeous, GORGEOUS game. Both visually and musically.