Saturn February! It's happening...

Back over at the lovely Planet Dreamcast Forums, in 2008, I proposed a month dedicated to the Dreamcast. I was so wowed by the 360, that I had neglected the Dreamcast, and more importantly/worryingly to the good folks over here at the SJY, the Saturn.

The idea proved quite popular at the PDC Forum and several of the members joined me and rekindled their retro console love for Sega's swansong. The major revelation on the Dreamcast was that I discovered and completed Sword Of The Berserk: Gut's Rage, a game that was bought and left languishing in a cupboard unplayed for four long years.

It was a epiphany like experience for me, and the game now resides in my 'favourite games of all time' list. I also had a PS2 fortnight in September when my 360 got the Red Ring Of Death. Similar story as the Gut's Rage one, but this time the epiphany was Yakuza!!


OK, back to the Saturn. Here's the idea... In the month of Saturn February, I'll only play Saturn software or their follow ups on other consoles. This could mean a trip down memory lane: I'll play stalwart favourites like Fighting Vipers, Sega Rally, Dead Or Alive, Clockwork Knight, Virtua Fighter Kids, NiGHTS, Sega World Wide Soccer 98, Daytona USA and so on... But that would be too easy and not necessarily productive or informative. It might serve as a good reminder of why I fell in love with the console in the first place, though. So maybe a launch night on February the first could be a Saturn Favourites-fest!

What needs to happen, the most important thing to do, is to play some games that I've bought, and then like a video game magpie, tossed into my tattered software nest, a disregarded shiny thing...
That means I'll have some games for the Saturn which will be for me, as fresh and virginal as the day they were bought out back in the good old Nineties. What will my Saturn revelation be? *whistful sigh...*


It might be that I devote some serious play-time to games that I've bought at no inconsiderable cost, imported from Japan or whatever and then largely ignored... Like Burning Rangers!!!



It could also mean a purchase of the Wii edition of NiGHTs, or a solid play through of Panzer Dragoon Orta or Virtua Fighter 5, or Dead Or Alive 4 on the 360... Keeping the Saturn dream alive on the current gen. (See above.)

It could mean hunting down some Saturn promotional loveliness, toys or merchandise which Elend doesn't own yet. (Unlikely... ) LOL! The more economic and sensible thing might be to grab some freebies off the net, like emulation or homebrew devs and finally learning how to utilise them on my PC or even burn to disc for my Saturn. I'd never dream of trying to chip it myself, but if I had a burned disc, I could try to conquer the swap trick. Hey! It might even be modded, it's off eBay, so who knows?

But let's not get ahead of ourselves. There is much preparation left to... erm...prepare! Job one is done. My Saturn collection is centralized and sorted. You can see it on the bottom shelf of this picture.

Job 2 is hopefully happening as we speak. I've left my two oldest boys in charge of hooking up the Saturn to the TV in the other living room. If they are obedient, I should be good to go before dawn breaks on 6th of January! (And this would mean I could legitimately play Christmas NiGHTS during the festive season, as it doesn't end till midnight tomorrow!

Job 3 is to revise the list...

That's all the games I own. This list was compiled ages ago and there have been many additions since. (It's probably doubled by now...) At this point I might have a hidden gem that you adore... Please indulge me and check it out. Let me know about anything there that floats your boat...



www.ebay.com
www.racketboy.com
play-asia

Here are some useful links to remind you of the Saturn's greatness and then it's up to you, or if this proves to be a simply solo venture, up to me. Any way I'm making myself all excited and I need to go to bed, so I'll stop now. Hope the video below gets you in the mood!