Honestly... Does The Saturn Still Cut It In 2017?

The first thing I noticed on firing up the Saturn and listening to that beautiful familiar start up sound, was how pixelated the on screen display was. The first game I wanted to play, was the game I got bundled with my Saturn, my favourite driving game of all time: Sega Rally. The pixelated images in the opening sequence, exaggerated by the clarity of the big, flat screen TV, were a bit of an eyesore.

That's not to say there aren't still some excellent looking games on the system, even viewed with 2017 eyes, jaded by Xbox Ones and PS4s in beautiful High Definition. We'll get to the few that have stood the test of time in a moment, but you have to face it... HD  doesn't do the Saturn any favours. Some games, (most games?) visually, are ageing terribly... games such as the above mentioned Sega Rally, Die Hard Arcade, Virtua Fighter and Virtual Hydlide for example... All have all grown old... disgracefully.

Carry on reading...

Having said that, there are a few games that seem to have fared much better. I couldn't get over Rayman. I'm completely blown away by it's rainbow tinged splendour. Bright, fluorescent and with an extremely rich colour palette... literally throbbing vibrantly, and moving all the time, it's fauna and flora are a feast for the eyes, it's pulsating mobility oddly reminiscent of 100 year old cartoon animations. The gameplay is none to shabby either, with Ubisoft's original IP, a masterclass in platforming level design. The music is no less wonderful, complimenting the visual banquet with a life affirming, catchy, fully orchestrated score.

Capcom's Super Puzzle Fighter 2 Turbo, is similarly stuffed to the gills with cuteness and colour. The miniaturised and rejuvenated Street Fighter character models, are as beguiling as the Virtua Fighter Kids, another Saturn game that has aged well. The rich, primary colours of the falling jewels are mesmerising. The soundtrack fits the game and sound effects are tight and crisp. You might be too involved in the gameplay to notice the character animations at work during your battles, so take the time to check some out in the video above...

And all of the 2D fighters from that particular publisher which I own, X Men: Children Of The Atom, Marvel Heroes and Street Fighter Alpha I & II, all look visually fabulous. But the list falls off quite quickly after that...

The sheer joy facilitated by the gameplay of several of the titles, can't all be rose tinted nostalgia. Certain games still made me smile from ear to ear. Sega Rally of course, remains the best driving game ever produced. Bereft of many cars or  courses, the simple desire to shave seconds off one's lap times, to beat the CPU drivers and unlock the beautifully lit Lakeside track in Championship Mode, is as strong as ever, however!

The simplicity of pulling off perfectly timed button responses, in games such as Athlete Kings, Pebble Links Golf (another great looking game by the way) and the mesmerising and visually gorgeous 2.5D  platformer that is Pandemonium, are uncomplicated, accessible and yet as tricky as ever to master.

'Sega World Wide Soccer '97' has already taken up hours of my recent gaming and I've taken the (not inconsiderable) time to change the names of my entire Wales squad, to those of the best Wales players of all time - from the Edwardian Billy Meredith, to Real Madrid's current star striker, Gareth Bale. A labour of love, to enhance my own gaming pleasure for sure, but remarkable that I bothered to take advantage of the player editing facility on a twenty year old title... a title which at the moment, I'm playing for at least an hour a day!

In fact, it's interesting how many of these titles are Sega Sports titles... Videogame sports, in terms of  the following three titles -Sega Rally, Actua Golf and Sega World Wide Soccer '97- was what drew me to the Saturn in the first place. Playing games against friends in epic local (living room) multiplayer battles, was what made videogames essential in our adult lives back in the 1990s. For some reason, playing sports games was considered a very (male) adult pursuit. The sort of pastime that "normal" adult men could indulge in without embarassment, whilst throwing back a beer. It was a very 90s 'lad's' pastime. Even though I've been enjoying playing the CPU challengers over the last few weeks in 2017, it's not a patch on the experience of playing a human competitor!

I'd never appreciated 2D fighters as much as I have over the last few weeks. But as great as they look, the true fighting experience on the Saturn are the 3D fighters.... Virtua Fighter, Fighting Vipers and Dead Or Alive. But  by far the best experience is from the wonderful Fighter's Megamix, with it's unlockable iconic Sega characters. Fighting as Janet from Virtua Cop gives me a particular kick (pardon the pun...) It's easy to unlock each character, you can do it in one session. But once again, playing the CPU just isn't the same as fighting against a friend.

                                       The current set up in Father and Mrs. Krishna's ACTUAL bedroom... (OOER!) - the Wii hadn't been added at this point...

I've got the most comprehensive console set up I've ever had hooked up under my TV at the moment: Saturn, Dreamcast, Wii, PS3, XBox 360 and PSP(!) & PS4. This set up allows me to play games from the Saturn, the Dreamcast (but also through emu discs the entire  Master System, Megadrive, Game Gear, NES, SNES, collections) the 360 (but by default the original Xbox,) the PS3 (plays PS1 & PS2 games), the Wii -which has a great selection of cheap games at the moment- (also covers Gamecube, N64 games, and other system's retro treasures due to backwards compatibility and the Virtual Console downloads) and of course the PS4 with it's Virtual Reality features... and I'm playing the Saturn almost exclusively. All that choice, yet the winner is a twenty year old system deemed a failure by the majority of gamers...

And the desire to buy more software, peripherals and associated merchandise for it, is growing exponentially by the moment, at a time where the coffers of Krishna Towers are running dangerously low... Time to sell the PS2/PS3/360/PS4 collection to finance the Saturn collection? Now how many Saturn games could I get for a PS4 Virtual Reality Helmet at CeX???