Some warm Saturn memories

    The temperature drops, snow covers the ground and you can see your breath as you talk to your friend outside. You talk about holiday plans, family you still need to shop for and the general busyness of the season. Warm nights spent inside with family by the fireplace’s gentle warmth enjoying time together. Sitting in bumper to bumper traffic listening to the same cheery song on the all Christmas station. This time of year is synonymous with all sorts of special moments and memories. Video games in particular can be the catalyst for deep long term memories and the seeds from which nostalgia grows. From a gift from a special someone, to the time spent enjoying quality time together. When it comes to myself and the Saturn this is around the time I came across a local ad for a Saturn game that would start  my collecting and help me eventually build deep and lasting memories with new friends and newish to me games.

    Burning Rangers was always a game I kind of knew about back in 1998 reading gaming magazines. The SEGA advertising with a fireman in a kiddy pool always stood out but I don’t think in the way SEGA intended. I was never sure what the game play was like due to lack of video at that time. Around this time last year I saw a local ad for Burning Rangers, I knew it was rare and expensive as one of the last US Saturn releases but it was in very good shape and cheaper than eBay. I took a small risk since I had no clue what it was like just that if I didn’t like it I could sell it or trade it. Built as a show piece as to say “Here is what Saturn can do in the right hands.” it’s little more than a glorified tech demo with some anime cut scenes. Luckily I love what’s here, I decided I wanted to share my new found joy with like minded people and I had recently joined the Junkyard by ways of the Dreamcast Junkyard in hopes to finally connect with people who like Saturn and want to talk about it.

 

 

    It was wonderful as I shared my new found love for Burning Rangers it turned out other people also shared their love of Burning Rangers and it turned into quite the phenomenon. A warm inviting atmosphere where people shared tips, memories and maybe have even started some small friendly competitions. It was then I knew yes this was worth joining this group. Talking with the admins and seeing the active role they play in the community is impressive. The way there is always an active member ready to share their Saturn experience. As I learned things about Saturn and played more games I returned the kindness and shared whatever I could, engage in whatever activities I could. Like in April when Sonic R stole the show and warmed our hearts with sunshine. I hadn’t a Saturn copy to join in the group time trials so I used my Game Cube copy in a pinch just to see what all the fuss was about. I’m glad I did because it opened my eyes to how good a game Sonic R is.

    It’s the passion and energy that you feel from Titancast, the YouTube team and the Facebook group that can make you look at a game in a new way that makes you revisit it with new perspective and that’s what’s so great about the Saturn Junkyard, people making games exciting even some of the lesser known US games like Casper or obscure Japanese exclusives like Cotton. The last year in ways has felt like it’s 1996 and I’m ten years old again talking about games on the schoolyard. Getting a boxed Saturn, getting Dragoon Saga and experiencing all the games I saw in magazines and more has been a mixture of surreal and childlike glee. Every Saturn game I buy is a new adventure, a new experience I can’t wait to share with friends and hopefully in 2019 we’ll continue to make more deep lasting memories around Saturn.