The Saturn Junkyard

Christmas NiGHTS Retro Review

2011-12-15T16:40:00.002Z

'Tis the season for revisiting Christmas NiGHTS! This year I wrote up a review of the game over at SEGAbits. Christmas NiGHTS was and is one of Sonic Team's best gifts to the fans (next to the free Sonic Adventure 2 birthday pack). It's so full of legit Christmas magic! None of that "holiday" bullshit, Sonic Team knows which holiday people are referring to and they straight up say it in the title of the sampler disc.

Check out the full review here, and have a merry Christmas or happy Hanukkah!

Interview: Mark Cochrane, former producer and worldwide acquisitions manager at Psygnosis

2011-12-08T19:16:00.001Z

From PC World comes an interesting interview with former Psygnosis producer Mark Cochrane. Saturn fans should recognize Psygnosis, they developed Destruction Derby and Wipeout 2097. Mark sheds a bit of light on porting the games to the Saturn:

Games such as Wipeout and Destruction Derby were initially released and found success on the PlayStation before they were later ported to the Sega Saturn and PC. What challenges did Pysgnosis face in porting the games to the other two platforms?
MC: The PlayStation and Saturn platform hardware was very different, and the way code needed to be written for each made porting challenging. For example, when making PC ports we needed to have a decent minimum spec and graphics card support for the games to be enjoyed.
Games such as Destruction Derby and Wipeout 2097 were ported to the Sega Saturn, but games such as Formula 1 and Destruction Derby 2 were notably absent. How and why were certain titles selected for porting to the Saturn and some weren't?
MC: From memory, I believe most would make it over eventually, but the porting challenges remained and finding teams capable of doing the work in a timely manner contributed in largish delays between releases on the formats.

Check out the full interview here!

Daytona USA returns to XBLA and PSN!

2011-10-18T15:18:00.000Z

There's been a lot of love for the Saturn from Sega as of late, what with the release of Guardian Heroes on XBLA just recently complete with that brilliant Saturn avatar shirt (now can we have this game on PSN too please?) and in just a couple of weeks we also have the racing classic that is Daytona USA on the way!

As you can see from the trailer, it's a straight up port of the original arcade machine, now in wide-screen, HD and with no pop up! As Saturn gamers, we all know about pop up for this game hahaha. Saying that the first Saturn port was probably the closet to the arcade we ever got until now; this was the only version that got the handling and atmosphere down to a tee! Even with the wonky graphics it was still highly playable, I know I put a tons of hours into it! Also it is unknown as of yet if this version will have the unlockable playable horse!

Read my previous gush about this re-release over at Sega Memories! What's next from Sega, can we expect some more Saturn goodness?

Guardian Heroes Avatar Items Hit XBOX Live!

2011-10-05T18:27:00.000Z

Sure, sure. People moan about pay-to-"wear" XBOX avatar items, but secretly they love them and occasionally buy one but claim they got it through a promo code or pre-order incentive. Well here is one set of avatar gear that you don't have to be embarrassed about buying: Guardian Heroes avatar items! Dress as any of the main characters, keep Nando as a pet, dress as the undead OR sport an AWESOME SEGA Saturn logo t-shirt.

I picked up the shirt, using points from the XBOX reward program. It's pretty sweet, you take a survey each month and fulfill other tasks and in exchange you get free points. It's pocket change, but great for avatar items.

Super Tempo Review

2011-08-15T20:53:00.004Z

You may have noticed in the comment box after the last post, that SJY reader 'gameofyou' alerted us to the fact that he had written a review of this lovely title for the esteemed gamefaqs website. I've taken the liberty of posting this fine review here at the SJY, but you can see it in it's original glory here... I experienced a moment of sadness as I read the line: "This game has the honor of being my final Sega Saturn game purchase..." Although the article was written in 2004, I wonder whether the author had persevered with the Saturn until this time, or simply written the review in retrospect during this year... Perhaps the man himself will enlighten us?
As is customary, to ensure that no one mistakes gameofyou's words for our own output, I'll post the article in our customary scarlet "quote colour". Enjoy!

Review by gameofyou

"It is indeed SUPER..."

Welcome to my first game review. This fantastic game desperately needs a review, so here I am to give it a shot. Super Tempo is a 2D platforming game, with musical themes. Featuring excellent graphics and a nice variety of game-play, Super Tempo is definitely worth checking out. Let's break it down.

Presentation
When the game begins, the player is treated to an intro sequence in which a (quite humorous) song is played, in full English. Waiting at the Start Screen will lead to a second sequence playing out, which provides the premise for the game. Although all text is in Japanese, this game is quite playable by a non-Japanese speaker. Upon starting the game, you will notice that the colors in the game are very bright and vibrant. Some may not care for the "cartoonish" look of the game, but there's no denying that the 2D graphics are gorgeous. The sound effects for the game are very well done. Tapping the d-pad slightly to move the character results in a funny sliding sound. You can tell the developers had fun making this game. The background music is also very catchy and goes perfectly with the action on screen.

Game-play
There are two characters that you alternately control on screen, a male character and a female character. Both characters can jump, and both characters have an attack move. The male character's attack consists of playing a violin which releases (shoots) bubbles at enemies. Once an enemy has been trapped by a bubble, you merely need to jump into the enemy to destroy it. The female character's attack consists of shooting fire. When enemies are destroyed, they leave behind musical notes, which your character collects. When the male character performs a jump, you can slow his descent by holding down the attack button. When the female character performs a jump, holding the attack button will actually allow you to GAIN in altitude. So there may be places which are unreachable by the male character, and you will have to wait until you switch. Switching character's may be done by finding a "phone booth looking" object within any given level. Although the game-play is 2D in nature, there are instances where you travel into the screen. Very similar to the system in Princess Crown, you may enter doors in the background by pressing UP on the d-pad. This is a nice addition to the basic 2D game-play. There is also a nice variety of levels, some of which have you swimming underwater or flying across the screen like a horizontal shooter. Of course there are also end-of-level boss fights, which are very entertaining. Skilled game players may find the game too easy. Since I can't read Japanese, I'm not sure if there is an option to change the difficulty level. It's also a fairly short game. I completed the game in just under 3 hours, but that was taking my time and exploring every area well.

Overall
Well, this can be a pretty difficult game to find. This game has the honor of being my final Sega Saturn game purchase. If you enjoy 2D platformers, and find this game for $50 or less, I would recommend that you pick it up. It is certainly one of the best 2D platformers on the Saturn. Even though there is no save feature (that I know of), no difficulty select (that I know of), and is fairly short in length, I am still giving this game a 10/10 because the good parts more than make up for it.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 11/30/04

It's a new one on me... Super Tempo!

2011-07-23T10:47:00.004Z

It's not too often these days, that I find something for the Saturn that I've not heard of before. But that is exactly what happened today when I was perusing my 'oft visited' and old favourite gaming discussion website, the Planet Dreamcast Forum. There is regular love for the Saturn shown by various forum members (it's hard to love the Saturn without having a soft spot for it's console 'son and heir' the Dreamcast- most of the SJY team are part of the DCJY as well!)

So! Back to the matter in hand, the wonderful looking, Japanese only, 2D platformer... "Super Tempo!" The Saturn really comes into it's own when showcasing 2D titles and I'm sure you'll agree that as well as fluid looking handling, the graphics are amongst the best looking by today's exacting standards.

Despite holding a special place in the hearts of retro-gamers everywhere, it's an undeniable fact that many Saturn games now look terribly dated and pixellated (House Of The Dead being a fine example of this phenomena...) However, I'm sure you'll agree that the footage you can see in the above video looks as good as any of the modern day 2D platformers on offer on XBLA/PSN or the Wii's Virtual Console...(Sonic The Hedgehog 4 anyone?)

So enjoy the visual feast provided below and may I also say a big thanks to PDC Forum member Twicesliced for revealing this previously unknown gem to all of us here at the SJY!

OverClocked ReMix presents NiGHTS: Lucid Dreaming

2011-07-07T13:42:00.000Z

The latest OverClocked ReMix album celebrates NiGHTS 15th anniversary with twenty-seven remixes of classic NiGHTS music. It really it a great listen, I especially enjoy the moody guitar riffs of the NiGHTS theme as well as the remixed boss tunes. The album is free to download at the official OverClocked ReMix site and comes in two flavors: an audiophile package containing lossless tracks and a more casual mp3 package. Give it a listen and share your thoughts!

NiGHTS Turns 15!

2011-07-05T12:52:00.000Z

Fifteen years ago, our favorite purple flying dream jester hit the SEGA Saturn. I could go on and on about how great a game NiGHTS was and is, but chances are that if you follow The Saturn Junkyard you already know this. It was the defining game of the console and perhaps is the first game that comes to mind when somebody says "SEGA Saturn". I still associate the 3D Controller with NiGHTS. I still wonder what the Saturn sequel Air NiGHTS would have been like. And I still am dissapointed that Journey into Dreams did not live up to the original.

Love NiGHTS? Why not boot up the ol' Saturn and give it a playthrough today. Want SEGA to rerelease NiGHTS? Visit NiD15 and show your support!

Again, happy anniversary NiGHTS!

Sega Rally Online Arcade

2011-05-30T22:41:00.006Z

So with the Saturn celebrating 16 glorious years since it first lightened up the lives of videogamers and Sega-heads everywhere, what better time than now to bring us back a piece of unparalleled Saturn driving glory?

Now, for a mere pittance of 800 microsoft points, you can re-live the magic of the original '95 Saturn Sega Rally Desert stage, only with the beautiful graphic quality of 2007's Sega Rally Revo and the sublime bouncy arcade car physics of Sega Rally 3!

This really is a Saturn fan's wet dream. At the moment the only cars you can race the Desert stage with are the Toyota Celica ST205 or the Lancia Super Delta HF Integrale, with no sign of Sandro Munari's Lancia Stratos HF so far. Whether this, as well as the Forest and Mountain stages from the original will eventually be downloadable or unlockable remains to be seen.

As for now, the joy of this blast of admittedly limited nostalgia is satisfying enough; with the addition of online leaderboards showing the best times worldwide, as well as the ability to race on the famed '95 Desert Stage against online opponents through xbox live - there is some longevity to be had here.

I've played it to death! My best time on the track so far is 2:31.79 with the Toyota Celica (automatic gears.) The handling is superb, plus the right noises and commentary on the soundtrack to really get those Saturn juices flowing!

If you haven't got a 360, it'll be out soon on PS3. Failing that, get your Saturn out and play the original! Despite the pixelllated visuals, the gameplay and handling are as good as ever!

Happy 16th Birthday SEGA Saturn!

2011-05-11T22:35:00.000Z

16 years ago today the beloved SEGA Saturn hit US stores following the announcement by SEGA of America President Tom Kalinske at E3 that the Saturn was now available in select retailers. While this move was one of SEGA's biggest mistakes ever, we'll not get into that. Instead, we'll celebrate the day as being the day the Saturn entered American homes!

To celebrate this event, SEGA Network partner SEGAbits is spending the entire month (and the week of June leading up to E3) to talk about all things Saturn! Expect to see Saturn-centric weekly features, reviews, videos, podcasts and more. I even plan on featuring some classic Saturn Junkyard articles. Sounds like fun, eh? Check out the Saturn theme I helped apply to SEGAbits:

Expect to see some exciting articles here at the Saturn Junkyard as well! It's a month you won't want to miss.

Guardian Heroes HD Heading to XBLA!

2011-05-05T15:03:00.002Z

Looks like the Saturn is finally getting some rerelease love! The Saturn classic Guardian Heroes is heading to XBOX Live Arcade courtesy of SEGA (and perhaps Treasure?). Check out the press release:

SEGA® of America, Inc. and SEGA® Europe Ltd. today announced the upcoming re-release of Guardian Heroes™, a classic Action-RPG Brawler by celebrated developers Treasure. Originally released for the SEGA Saturn™ in 1996, Guardian Heroes has been re-mastered with enhanced graphics, online co-op and battle modes, all-new modes of play, and more. The game will be available via Xbox LIVE® Arcade for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft this fall.

“Ever since we began to make SEGA’s classic Dreamcast and the Mega Drive titles available for modern systems, the fan response has been overwhelming – and the demand for their favorite games has been pouring in,” said Haruki Satomi, VP of Digital Business at SEGA. “Players have been clamoring for this treasured favorite from the Saturn days, and we cannot wait to show them what we have got for them.”

Guardian Heroes brings the Saturn favorite to life with new HD graphics, presenting Treasure’s iconic fast-paced gameplay on a new generation of hardware, with all of the convenience of purchase via instant download. The game also features:

Action-RPG Brawling: Choose one of five heroes to level up and guide along a branching storyline with five different endings

Friends, Foes, and Fighters: Play the game’s Story Mode alone or with a second player, or challenge Versus Mode with up to 12 players at once

Extended Gameplay: Time Attack Mode, Arcade Mode, Arrange Mode and more allow players to explore every nuance of 45 different fighters

Fully Re-Mastered: All-new graphics and visual effects bring the classic to life in a completely high-definition, widescreen presentation

Sounds fantastic! And it certainly will be less expensive than what the Saturn version goes for on ebay.

UPDATE: Head on over to SEGAbits to see Gamespot's preview and interview. Gameplay footage awaits, in both Saturn graphics and HD graphics!

[Source: NeoGAF and SEGAbits]

Nobody should have this many copies of Panzer Dragoon Saga. NOBODY!

2011-04-22T14:05:00.000Z

In my monthly ebay browsing for SEGA Saturn goodies, I came across this ebay seller who has WAY too many copies of Panzer Dragoon Saga on his hands. I was actually quite pissed off to see how many he had. Of course, he's selling them now, but imagine how many years these sat unplayed. No great game deserves to sit on a shelf with seven identical copies of itself. Game hoarding at its worst.

Still, if you have $200+ to spare, here are multiple chances to buy a copy of the game.
http://shop.ebay.com/mwerking/m.html?_nkw=panzer+dragoon+saga&_sacat=0&_odkw=&_osacat=0&_trksid=p3911.c0.m270.l1311

Game Scan TV talks about NiGHTS

2011-02-24T20:15:00.002Z

http://www.blisteredthumbs.net/2011/02/gamescan-tv-ep1/

Puyo Puyo Sun - It's Always Sunny on the SEGA Saturn!

2011-01-22T23:45:00.001Z

I hit the local retro video game store today, and boy did I get some good stuff! I picked up the Limited Edition Shenmue (complete with the Jukebox CD) for $17, Alien Front Online in box with mic for $15 and a Shenmue strategy guide. But I'm not going to focus on those goodies, this is the Saturn Junkyard! While I only picked up one Saturn game, I cannot wait to play it. It's Puyo Puyo Sun!

The Saturn import selection was surprisingly large, despite many of the games not being priced and sitting in boxes on the floor. Still, I dug about, chose a few games and requested their prices. Puyo Puyo Sun was a very reasonable $8, so into my invisible cart it went!

Japanese manuals, particularly for Saturn and Dreamcast games, are stunning. Full color, tons of artwork, mini comics, developer profiles! It's a shame western releases are so bland by comparison.

The booklet was crammed with tons of little bits of paper. Registration cards, some flyer promoting... something and best of all: glow in the dark stickers!

I couldn't capture them in a photo, but trust me, they glow a brilliant green hue. So far the game has been great, and I haven't even played it yet! I've just been paging through the manual and holding the stickers under the lamp. Good times.

Happy New Year 2011, Go Play Christmas NiGHTS!

2011-01-01T18:08:00.002Z

Happy New Year, SJY readers! Hoping you have a safe, happy and Saturn-filled 2011. May Segata Sanshiro bless you.

While you're getting over your champagne headache, why not play Christmas NiGHTS? Today you'll be treated to a special intro screen, character costumes and stage music in celebration of the new year! Just make sure that your Saturn clock is correct (mine was thanks to my replacing of the internal battery).
image courtesy of the nightsintodreams.com forums

Radient Silvergun Returns, and Introduces an Awesome Arcade Stick

2010-12-22T00:43:00.001Z

While it has already been known that the Saturn classic Radient Silvergun will be returning via a release on the XBOX Live Arcade in 2011, it was just recently announced that there will also be a kick-ass arcade stick. Check this thing out! The stick is made by Hori (so it's quality) and will sell for $160. Yikes! Well, if you have that sorta dough, you can buy the stick here. If you do plan on buying one, make sure to buy a second one and send it my way.

Merry Christmas!

[source: Kotaku]

New Yu Suzuki Interview Reveals Shenmue Saturn Info!

2010-12-09T17:04:00.002Z

If you haven't read 1UP's interview with Yu Suzuki, DO SO NOW! It's an excellent read and reveals many things that were unknown of Suzuki's past work, as well as hints towards what we could expect from a Shenmue 3 (he seems to favor the 360 and would work with just about anybody to get it made). But this is a Saturn blog, so let's stick to Saturn information. Part two of the interview touches on the short lived Saturn version of the game. Check out these cool factoids:

Note: JM is the interviewer, YS is Yu Suzuki and TH is Tak Hirai, Lead Programmer of Shenmue

JM: Shenmue began development on the Sega Saturn. Besides the visual elements, how much of it had changed by the time you began development for the Dreamcast? How long were you working on the Saturn version?
TH: Six months, just on programming.
YS: It's amazing how much we accomplished on the Saturn. It's unthinkable now.
TH: Yeah, it was something. I never want to do that again.

JM: What made you move it from the Saturn to Dreamcast? Was it because the Saturn was dying in terms of sales? Or was it that you realized you needed more powerful hardware to realize the game?
TH: The timing. The Saturn was coming to an end.
YS: Yeah, it was coming to a point where didn't make sense to release a game on the Saturn.
TH: There was also talk that the Dreamcast could handle the sword fight that we wanted to include in the game so we decided to reprogram the game for Dreamcast. We were also able to give input on the development of the hardware to match the game.

They end the interview with a mention of Fighters Megamix:

JM: Final question. Many years ago there was a newspaper advertisement promoting a "Virtua Fighter vs. Tekken." Was that concept ever supposed to become a game? Do you think a Virtua Fighter vs. Tekken game would work and if not, what franchises would you pair up?
YS: A long time ago we did a promotion with Virtua Fighter and Tekken characters. As a promotion and advertisement to get people's attention, I think it was a success and was good. But, it's not really my style and I don't like to mix games. I'm a purist. In my opinion, the only time you mix and match is when there are no new ideas and mixing is the last resort. So, it's not a very good thing. As long as there are new ideas, I'd rather prioritize working on new ideas.
JM: Then how do you rationalize Fighter's Megamix?
YS: [Fighter's Megamix director, Hiroshi] Kataoka likes that stuff.

It has been too long. CGR looks at DOA!

2010-11-23T16:25:00.000Z

This blog needs a fresh post! Well thankfully Classic Game Room took a look at Dead or Alive on the Saturn. Check out the review and boobies below:

In the comments section, tell me what your favorite Saturn 3D fighter is and why. Mine would have to be Fighters Megamix. Why? Hornet versus Akira.

The Sega Saturn Megamix

2010-10-17T10:21:00.006Z

Whilst browsing Flickr for Saturn related stuff I found this amazing cover by some dude called Theodore Taylor III (the third?). The unique illustration of something that appears to be "Sonic" really caught my attention. He truly looks like the worn out, abused and resigned character he actually is these days. (Whereas Sonic 4 and Sonic Colors seem to slightly change that but who knows, what Sega comes up with next.)

Anyway. Theodore not only illustrated that very nice CD Cover, but he also made the Megamix himself. And since it's a free download, why not check it out on his blog. Personally I think he could have made some better transitions (or transitions at all?!), but the tunes are still great of course. Check out the playlist on his blog and dance to some Sega Saturn music.

Classic Game Room HD - Sega Saturn PS3 Controller

2010-10-16T00:17:00.004Z

Forgive me if I'm posting stuff you've seen here before, but I've been away for while. I've been trawling the internet for youtube Saturn videos from the last year or so and this was at the top of the list. Lazy, I know, but I promise to get something posted that's a bit more personal, in terms of Saturn gaming in 2010/11... (that means playing the thing and reflecting on the experience, like I did in the early days of this esteemed organ!)

Hope you find it informative at least!

Saturn tribute in Dreamcast game on the PS3 (!)

2010-10-03T00:20:00.004Z

Something rather wonderful has happened as a result of my recently accquired PS3. I've just downloaded, played and completed Sonic Adventure in two days! I've had lots of copies of this game on the Dreamcast over the years, but never played it further than the first level. I've always admired it for it's visuals and thought of it as one of the best looking game on the Dreamcast. But it never grabbed me and I've dabbled with Sonic Adventure 2 loads more in the past.

But for some reason, the idea of having Dreamcast games on my next gen consoles really appeals. I've had Ikaruga and Rez off XBLA, (and Powerstone and Crazy Taxi on my PSP) even though I've had copies for my Dreamcast for years. But Sonic Adventure has held me captivated all weekend in way that none of those other ports have.

Sonic and Sega Allstars Racing kicked off the latest Sega revival in my gaming tastes, (not that it takes much for me to get Sega-obsessive, but the strength of my passion comes in waves). Sonic Adventure is the first and only Sonic game I've ever played to completion - although I've dabbled with many of them. Others have been abandoned when they got frustratingly hard, but thanks to the convenience of having this on the PS3 hard drive, and with a bit of free time on my hands, I saw it through to it's conclusion!

The game left me swinging in opinion, somewhwere between feeling it is a masterpiece (visuals and music) and a catastrophe (story, gameplay, camera, voice acting). It had moments of beauty, but it also got me swearing a lot! I loved the soundtrack, most definitely some of the best gaming music ever to accompany a Sega title. Check out the NiGHTs '90s house remix'!

I nearly had an orgasm when I played the NiGHTS pinball machine in Casinopolis. So much Sega/Saturn fan service crammed into one level! It was the first time I had seen the Saturn tribute and I was left close to tears by the beauty of this gesture from Sonic team to it's Saturn predecessors.

As we all know, NiGHTS is now scattered far and wide from titles as divergent as Sega Superstars Tennis, to the Wii Nights sequel, in Sonic Pinball on the GBA, and is probably right now trying to sell his psychedelic concoctions to impressionable minors in a Chao garden near you! But this must have been pure joy to those Saturn nostalgics who had begrudgingly swapped there big black Sega boxes for a slightly smaller off-white one and were patiently awaiting Dreamcast sequels to great games like Burning Rangers, NiGHTS, Clockwork Knight, and Manx TT Super Bike.

I have to say, Sega did as shocking a job of porting the title to it's new incarnation on the PS3, as it did when it rush released it for The Dreamcast. It's flaws are absolutely hideous. No attempt has been made to tidy up the games bugs and glitches, which I would have to admit is slightly annoying. And there's no way to get your Chao onto a PSP or online to race against other owners. Come on Sega!

But I'd reccomend this title to all you Sega junkies with shiny PS3s/360s if only for the Saturn fan service alone!

Game (Not) Over Yeah!

2010-09-30T17:28:00.003Z

Hi folks, it's your seldom seen correspondent and Saturn Junkyard founder, Father Krishna here! Just popping in to inform all you Saturn Junkies, that there is an exhaustive and authoritative feature in this months Games TM magazine (Issue 101) about every body's, favourite racer... Sega Rally! Now we're not talking Sega Rally 2, Sega Rally GBA, Sega Rally Revo, or the Japanese only PS2 rehash... we're talking the Saturn version.

It was the game that came bundled with my Saturn and the main reason I was unwilling to convert to the PS1. From the initial sound of an ignition key being turned, to the iconic "Game over yeah!", Sega Rally kept it simple and kept it sweet. In short, it's the best driving game I've ever played (to this day) and over-taking an opponent whilst drifting round a tight bend still gets me slightly aroused!

The article itself is six full pages of glossy A4, packed with lovely images, interesting facts about the development, and even a news of a secret feature hidden within the game that has never been revealed before!

I'd re-write it but there is too much to feasibly reproduce. I will try and get some scans of it and get it up here. If you're stuck trying to find it on the high-street you should be able to pick up a copy here.

Meet Segata-chan!

2010-09-24T07:52:00.003Z

Well... yeah.

Let's see a Playstation do THIS!

2010-09-19T03:57:00.004Z

http://gizmodo.com/5641776/jupiter-and-saturn-played-pong-with-uranus

Scientists theorize that Jupiter and Saturn played catch with a neighboring planet, passing it back and forth between their gravitational fields for thousands of years before it broke off into its own orbit. Now that's power! You'd be lucky to find a Playstation that works after five years, let alone a thousand.

By the way, all jokes about the name of the planet in question will be politely ignored.

Panzer Dragoon spiritual successor coming to Kinect

2010-09-16T16:21:00.000Z

Alright, alright. So this is neither a Saturn game, nor is it published by SEGA. However, the director of the original Panzer Dragoon Saturn trilogy, Yukio Futatsugi, is responsible for this piece of news. Yesterday at the Tokyo Game Show, Yukio Futatsugi took the Microsoft stage to announce the spiritual successor to Panzer Dragoon, Project Draco! While it hasn't been said officially that the game will take place in the Dragoon world, the visuals and fact that the gameplay remains the same makes it pretty apparent that this is what they're going for. Also: Panzer/Project, Dragoon/Draco? PD and PD? Hmm...

The game will be playable via Kinect, though it hasn't been said if the game will also be playable via standard controller. Microsoft describes the game as an “epic 3D flying shooter.” Via the Kinect, players nurture and communicate with the dragon to help develop its skills and train it in combat. Project Draco also includes online multiplayer over Xbox Live.

Very cool to see the series return in some form, especially with the creator behind the project!

Radiant Silvergun coming to XBLA

2010-09-16T13:10:00.000Z

Announced yesterday at the Tokyo Game Show, Treasure's Saturn classic is heading to current gen consoles by way of the XBOX Live Arcade.

Some juicy details by way of Co-Optimus.com:

Radiant Silvergun features two player co-op and much like Ikaruga there's a detailed chain system in place to really rack up high scores. In addition to that there's the seven weapon system which you can see detailed in the screenshot above. While the graphics have been upgraded slightly the game will also see some variations of the chain system.

No release date or price has been given, but the news is very cool!

I need me one of these!!

2010-09-01T04:41:00.002Z

Just like the title said....I need me one of these....

http://shoryuken.com/content/control-pad-arcade-stick-how-about-both-1562/

Look what I got in the mail...

2010-08-18T10:39:00.003Z

A good-will gift from the Americas, full of exotic goods from the kind people that inhabit those vast lands. Sorry for the bad joke, but from the time it took to cross the atlantic and the condition of the package it sure looked like it sat in the cargo-hold of a 17th century galleon for months. Don't worry, thought, the inside as you can see is impeccable.

What you're seeing is the grand prize for the first ever Saturn Junkyard contest, held by our own dear Barry the Nomad. As you might recall I snatched the first place thanks to my amazing sense of opportunity (that is, I was the only participant in the first round xD ) and thanks to that I'm now the proud owner of "1st High Flying Issue" of NiGHTS into Dreams and the 2009 Free Comic Book Day issue of Sonic the Hedgehog! Fucking yes!

You know what they say, the price was great...eheh...

Sorry, I'll stop...

Also, if I remember correctly the rules specified that, were the winner from another country, he had to take a picture showing that. Well, had this happened sometime ago, when the World Cup was still around, I wouldn't have any problem finding portuguese flags waving around everywhere, but right now they're a little harder to find so the best I could come up with was this:

It's an old book I got from my grandpa, from the time of the Salazar dictatorship, basically a fantasized retelling of our history that makes Portugal look like the best country ever. Yeah, the 2oth century was complicated for us...

Also, some traditional music, if you fancy that:

Oh, and I had completely forgotten about this:

When I saw it, at first I was scared, then curious, then confused, and then finally I realized what it was :P

Thanks for everything, Barry, you're the man ;)

Join The SEGA Network's Scrap Heap

2010-08-06T15:58:00.002Z

Inspired by the previous post, I've created a shared Flickr photo group called "The SEGA Network Scrap Heap"! The SGNW Scrap Heap is a shared album open to all readers and writers from the Sega Network blogs. The purpose of the Scrap Heap is to collect photos of our SEGA collections to create, well, a scrap heap of SEGA consoles, games, books and collectibles.

The only rules are that you may only upload photos of items you own, no fuzzy Google image searches, and that the items must pertain to SEGA. Feel free to show off your shelf of PS2 games, as long as there are SEGA games to be seen. No worries if a pesky Squaresoft or Nintendo game sneaks into the frame.

Check out the album here and start uploading!

Oh btw! My collection.

2010-08-01T16:16:00.004Z

So I was moving into a much smaller apartment, which meant that I had to "outsource" my Saturn collection. Which is quite a pity, but who can display all those Saturns properly anyway. I'd need a single room for that. So I bought two Ikea billy shelfs and put everything in there.

The right shelf is exclusively full of Saturn hardware, namely Saturns and periphery, whilst the left shelf features all my Saturn games (PAL, some US and a lot of JP), special editions and also random crap from my household like a complete run of Amiga Joker magazines. Oh and PSX games as well.

NiD.com Interviews Yuji Naka: NiGHTS on the PC?!

2010-07-13T17:11:00.000Z

The folks over at NiGHTSintoDreams.com have scored a pretty awesome interview with Yuji Naka. It's a cool read, with a majority of the discussion focusing on the Saturn classic rather than the Wii unclassic. I won't spoil too much, but Steven Spielberg and that rumored NiGHTS Saturn controller are brought up. Check out the interview!

During the interview, Naka brings up a PC version of NiGHTS that was released in 2003. That was news to the interviewer and it is news to me as well! Check out the Japanese site detailing the 2003 premiere.

14 Saturn Games That Should Be DLC

2010-07-06T14:30:00.003Z

Ugo did a roundup of some Saturn games that should be considered for download.

All in all Panzer Dragoon Saga should be at the top of everyone's list because it's so damn hard to find a copy of it.

http://www.ugo.com/games/14-saturn-games-we-want-to-see-for-download?cmpid=0301

Happy 4th! Let's look at a pin!

2010-07-04T16:58:00.001Z

Happy 4th of July, fellow Americans! I'm taking a break from burgers, beer and Jeff Goldblum battling aliens to share the above SEGA Saturn pin that I found while at my parents house. I have no idea where I got it, but I know I received it around the US launch of the Saturn. Cool little item. Not much more to say about it. It's a Saturn pin and it's cool.

In celebration of all things American and Saturn, I'm going to pose a question for the comments section: What is your favorite American developed Saturn game?

I would have to choose Mr. Bones, a quirky collection of mini-games developed by California's Zono Incorporated. Mr. Bones is one of those games that only could have been made in the 90's and was uniquely American, combining hard rock with a southern skeleton. Check it out... for America!

SEGA might re-release Saturn games

2010-06-30T12:27:00.000Z

from George of SEGAbits

[Fuck yeah, playing Sonic Adventure with no widescreen]

Yosuke Okunari, who is producing the SEGA Dreamcast re-releases and produced the Sega Ages 2500 series, has an interview with Impress Watch. In the interview, they asked him about the SEGA Saturn, you know, the only major SEGA console not to get digital re-releases?

Click here to read what Okunari had to say!

What Saturn games would you like rereleased? Let us know in the comments section!

Virtua Fighter 5 Has a Saturn!

2010-06-01T13:10:00.001Z

Okay, so I posted the same thing over at the Dreamcast Junkyard. But I'd be silly not to share this at the Saturn 'Yard as well. Commence copy/paste with minor copy changes!

Looks like cheetah print bandannas won't be the coolest accessories to be found in the latest and last version of 'Virtua Fighter 5'. Players of the upcoming game will have the opportunity to buy a Dreamcast, Saturn and Mega Drive to wear on the characters backs. For added awesomeness, the consoles prices match what they were when the consoles launched in Japan. Of course, you'll be buying them with in-game currency rather than yen.

In celebration of this event, I'd like to present ~~three~~ two other SEGA games that featured characters wearing ~~Dreamcast~~ Saturn consoles.

The Cast of Virtual-On

Segata Sanshiro (obviously)

Segata, forgive me for posting such a low resolution image of you...

SEGATA FORGIVES ALL!

Praise be to Segata!

[Source: SEGAbits]

Alpha Protocol Has a Saturn!

2010-05-20T12:41:00.001Z

Obsidian's Alpha Protocol may only be published by SEGA, but don't tell special agent Michael Thorton that! It seems the game's star has an entertainment setup not too different from our own. HDTV (check), a line of games (check) and... a SEGA Saturn?! Who knows, maybe players can head on down to the local convenience mart and enter a raffle for some games.

SJY exclusive: the same image enlarged and altered to better see the sweet system.

SJY second exclusive: could this be the same model, a white Japanese model 1?

[Source: UK:R]

Ryo Hazuki's Saturn

2010-05-18T14:35:00.002Z

As a part of Shenmonth I've got a very special treat. I contacted Ryo Hazuki of the 'Shenmue' games and asked him to tell us about his Saturn collection! Enjoy!

The Saturn Junkyard (SJY): Hey bro!

Ryo Hazuki (RH): Hey Barry.

SJY: I'll get right to the point: What happened after Shenmue II?

RH: I'm sorry, I cannot discuss that.

SJY: Why not?

RH: I have a NDA with SEGA and Yu Suzuki. I can not discuss my early life experiences as I have an exclusive contract. SEGA makes games based off my life story and in return I receive a cut of their profits. If I disclose the events of Shenmue III my contract is void.

SJY: But there has not been a new Shenmue for nearly ten years, surly you could-

RH: Listen! That 'Sega and Sonic Racers' really helped both me and Nozomi! Those avatar jackets alone paid for our house!

SJY: So you're married to Nozomi!?

RH: Oh sh- um... how about we talk about the Saturn.

SJY: How about this: I don't tell SEGA you breached your NDA and you tell me, personally and secretly, the plot of Shenmue III.

RH: Don't you know that blackmail is way uncool?

SJY: ... I was only joking, Ryo.

RH: [laughs] I know! Let's get sweaty and talk about the Saturn!

SJY: [laughs] Alright bro! The first thing you have to tell us is how in the world did you own a Saturn in 1987?

RH: SEGA has always been ahead of the times. The Meganet modem for the Mega Drive, 3D gaming on the Master System and 128-bit graphics on the Dreamcast. In 1987 SEGA had already developed an early model of the Saturn and chose Yokosuka as a testing ground.

SJY: That's amazing! I had thought development began in 1993, but you're telling me SEGA began work as early as 1987?

RH: Yes, however the hardware was very different. My Saturn could only play arcade ports at the time. 3D capability was still being tested. My two games were 'Space Harrier' and 'Hang-On'.

Low-res scan of Ryo's copy of Space Harrier

SJY: Which you won in a raffle at the Tomato Convenience Store?

RH: Exactly. In an effort to promote local businesses, SEGA gave a Saturn system to select households, but did not provide games. Instead we had to win games which in turn helped the local businesses. It was a unique idea, and it worked. I could play thousand dollar arcade machine games at home!

SJY: Do you still have the games and the system? They must be very rare!

RH: I may be a 41-year old man, but I never outgrew my Saturn. I still have it hooked up in the basement. Iwao Jr. loves 'Hang-On'.

SJY: You have a son?

RH: DAMN! Please don't spread that information around.

SJY: No problem. Maybe we can discuss a trade? I'd love to get that copy of 'Space Harrier'. Looking for anything Saturn related?

RH: I'm looking for a black Saturn.

SJY: I have one, but I'm not willing to trade.

RH: Have you seen a black Saturn?

SJY: I have seen one. I own it, but I'm not trading.

RH: I'm looking for a black Saturn.

SJY: Thanks for talking Ryo, we'll talk again soon!

RH: Excuse me.

SJY: Yeah?

RH: It's nothing.

SEGA Saturn surprise launch announcement anniversary

2010-05-12T13:21:00.000Z

by George of SEGAbits

Oh, SEGA, just to one-up Sony you guys decided to launch your console early. 15 years ago today, SEGA CEO Tom Kalinske stood in front of the press and announced that the SEGA Saturn would launch early do to “high consumer demand”. The announcement was made at the first ever E3.

“Many Americans have gone to the extent of paying $ 800 and more for Sega Saturn units from Japan,” Kalinske explained. “We’ve decided to bring the product to market earlier than scheduled to meet the high consumer demand, to refine our marketing strategy over the summer, prior to the important fall season, and to get a headstart on the competition.”

The SEGA Saturn launched at the price of $399.99 for the stand alone version and $499.99 with Virtua Fighter (also came with a disc that showed other titles).

Click here to read SEGA’s press release from 1995. It is like going back in time.

My Lame 'Nuts & Bolts' Saturn

2010-05-04T12:38:00.003Z

Before you execute a Segata stanglehold on me for not posting a pic from a Saturn game, let me explain. I recently picked up the 360 game 'Banjo-Kazooie Nuts & Bolts' and am throughly enjoying it. Particularly the vehicle building aspect. Finally a way for me to play with Legos as a grown man! Of course, my first order of business was to build a Sega Saturn car. As you can see above, I did a so-so job. As this is my first vehicle, and my parts inventory is small, I ask you to forgive me and let me have another crack at it once my skills improve. Expect a "model 2" in the coming month. Do I get extra points for adding the memory cartridge?

Fun fact: 'Nuts & Bolts' has one degree of seperation from Segata Sanshiro. Banjo & Kazooie appeared in the 360 version of 'Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing', and Segata himself was considered as a racer early in the dev stages. They even drew up concept art (which has yet to be seen)! His lack of inclusion was, in part, due to Sega not owning the likeness of Hiroshi Fujioka (Segata's actor).

Obligatory vintage Hiroshi image:

UPDATE – I gave it another try and made a much better Saturn vehicle:

'Panzer Dragoon Saga' Sequel = Necessary

2010-04-27T13:46:00.002Z

We haven't had a post in a while and I'm short on time! Thankfully, Game Trailers did the work for me and listed 'Panzer Dragoon Saga' in their "Top 10 Necessary Sequels" list. Watch, enjoy and weep:

Video Games | GT Countdown | Top 10 Necessary Sequels

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii

SASAR Saturn Reference Roundup

2010-03-23T13:31:00.011Z

With Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing hitting the one month mark of being available, I thought I'd give a roundup of references that Saturn fans can find within the game.

Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing is an excellent game (a 9/10 in my eyes), but it lacks in the Saturn reference department. To illustrate this point, take a look at the badly designed graph below:

Sega Franchises in Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing Broken Down By Hardware on Which They Debuted

Note: Some IPs receive multiple mentions when specific characters or sequels debuted on multiple formats, i.e. Sonic on the Mega Drive and Shadow on the Dreamcast

As you can see, not much love for the Saturn. Damn you Dreamcast for winning our hearts and in turn taking most of the IPs! So what does Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing offer for Saturn fans? The most prominent franchise would have to be The House of the Dead, which offers up three exciting tracks taking place in, around and under the Curien Mansion as seen in the Arcade and Saturn version of The House of the Dead. To accompany the tracks are two memorable tunes for the first game, Into the Dark and Aura of Dread.

Up next is the Saturn fighting franchise, Virtua Fighter! Okay, so Virtua Fighter is technically an Arcade franchise. But when it came to playing Virtua Fighter at home, the Saturn reigns supreme! While the models, animations and voice samples of Jacky and Akira are pulled from Virtua Fighter 5, the All-Star icon for Akira's boost comes direct from Virtua Fighter Kids. Awww, how kawaii!

With Richard Jacques in charge of the music, it wasn't much of a surprise to see some music from Sonic R featured. The main theme Super Sonic Racing appears in the Casino Park tracks while Can You Feel The Sunshine? accompanies Seaside Hill tracks.

Last and unfortunately least is the Saturn's golden child, NiGHTS. Nearly forgotten, NiGHTS slipped into the game after crazed jester fans pushed Sega and Sumo to give him/her some representation. What is NiGHTS role? Why she/he's the flagman!

In my opinion this is the best place for NiGHTS. I think he/she'd look too goofy driving a car and probably deserves a toned down appearance after bringing us the so-so Journey into Dreams.

With DLC on the horizon, Saturn fans can only hope that franchises like Virtua Cop and Panzer Dragoon get some love. Janet in a squad car and Keil Fluge on a dragon please! Skip ahead to 2:15 and tell me that Virtua City would make for an AWESOME track:

Hiroshi Fujioka - The Official Blog!

2010-02-09T17:48:00.004Z

Since a couple of days actor and singer Hiroshi Fujioka has his very own blog. You may want to check it out right here and you better bookmark it right now! Unfortunately there is no RSS feed.

Then, after you have bookmarked it, the next thing you have to do is send him a personal letter with your congratulations on his 45th anniversary of his career! Congratulations, Segata-San!

There is no Segata Sanshiro related Post yet, but I bet there will be. At the latest when Sega is releasing the Saturn 2 in 2011.

Rally Cool!

2010-02-04T06:42:00.004Z

A member of the AtariAge forum is selling his 1995 model Toyota Celica GT, one of the automobiles featured in the video game Sega Rally Championship. Judging from the pictures, it's in fantastic shape for a fifteen year old car, with much work done on the body to keep it in tip-top quality. There are even a few modern amenities, like a touch screen GPS that's the next best thing to a passenger barking "Hard right! Easy left!" in your ears before every turn. It's hard to say if this machine is street legal, but if you spent any time playing Sega Rally Championship during the Saturn's brief glory days, you're sure to agree that it's damn awesome.

The auction for the Toyota Celica GT has started at $2500, with the reserve price expected to be twice that amount. It's a small price to pay for driving and retro gaming excellence.

Virtua Fighter Kids in New Sega Racer?

2010-01-12T21:02:00.006Z

FHUOIQW:H:IFS:IOHDB:OQWJOPQJ

Sorry, but I'm too excited to type! According to the newly launched Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing website, Jacky Bryant has joined the roster of playable characters. Today has been a big day for Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing reveals. Ulala and B.D. Joe of Crazy Taxi were announced this morning. But those are Dreamcast stars, now it's time for a Saturn All-Star to shine!

Why are they showing Akira over Jacky's name? Well Akira is actually the icon for Jacky's All-Star move, a special character specific move in the game. This means that not only do you race as Jacky (presumably in a race car), but if you get the Akira icon, Jacky's old sparring partner comes out to lend a hand.

Also, note the character style for Akira. Could Sega be reviving the Virtua Fighter Kids art style?

Happy Sexy New Year

2009-12-31T23:15:00.006Z

Happy New Year from the Saturn Junkyard!

You're looking at the screenshots, right?

Perverts.

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-23T20:56:00.002Z

Happy Holidays!

Here is a repeat of a nice video review from Guru Larry about NiGHTS into Dreams!

Segata Statue Breaks the SJY Silence - Updated 12/20

2009-12-15T20:19:00.005Z

In the absence of posts, Segata always comes through for us.

In my YouTube searches I stumbled upon this recently uploaded gem. Is thing thing for real?! I have never seen one before!

If anybody has any information on this, outside of it being from Sega Toys and made in 1998, let me know in the comments section!

12/20 Edit: I've finally bought the holy grail of Saturn games! What? No, not Pants Or Dragon Sega or whatever it is. I'm talking about SEGATA SANSHIROU SHINKENYUGI!!!

$35 on ebay, shipped from a state away. Worth the price?

Happy Birthday Saturn - 15th Anniversary DJ Mix

2009-11-21T22:14:00.005Z

I've been wanting to do this for a while...and well, this is the perfect time. Behold...the Sega Saturn 15th Anniversary DJ Mix. I didn't have a whole lot of time to put into this, but I've taken some of my favorite tracks from Saturn exclusive games like Nights, Daytona, Sega Rally, Guardian Heroes, VF2 and put them together in a continuous DJ mix (about 40 min. long).

As a very involved hobby/side thing, I've been DJ'ing (techno, house etc., etc.) at clubs/parties for many years, so I've actually taken some of my skills from that area, and have been able to sit down with this mix and blend together and layer some tracks here and there for some interesting results. A lot of the tracks just aren't that DJ friendly, and in the spare time I've had to put this together, this is the best that I could come up with. The other limiting factor is actually getting the tracks off of the Saturn discs. Games like Daytona and Virtua fighter are great, because all of the music data is stored as normal compressed audio, which can just be copied directly from the disc. Other games like Nights, Panzer Dragoon Saga, and Radiant Silvergun have their music stored elsewhere, so I was only able to pull out a few tracks here and there.

In any case, every one should download the mix, and give it a listen. If you are going to download it though, there is one caveat.....you have to listen to the entire thing in one continuous play through...i.e. no fast forwarding and jumping around here and there. It's a DJ mix, and thus is intended to listen from the start to end. After you've listened to the whole thing once, then feel free to jump around to all of your favorite parts.

One thing I've noticed while making this, is just how well produced all of this music is. You can tell that a lot of effort and time went into making these songs. I've never really listened to many of them in my good headphones, or on a good sound system. But they all sound great, and are mastered really, very nicely.

Hopefully there are a few "oh, that's cool" moments for every one in this mix. The Junkyard crew should recognize most, if not all of the tracks...but if there are any that youcan't figure out...feel free to ask. As I said before, I only had a limited amount of time to work on this mix, and as a result I've obviously left out many awesome songs that should rightfully be included. Well, there can always be a version 2.0!

Listen and enjoy.....and let me know what you think.

The Sunshine Returns

2009-11-18T13:33:00.006Z

C'mon, that's what it essentially is.

While we here at the SJY rarely cover them new-fangled "next gen" games that feature useless shadows and something called DLC (Devil Lay Cry?), this tidbit of next gen news is quite Saturn related. Unless you've been living under a rock, Sega has teamed with developer Digital Sumo to bring us Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing. The game itself looks to include a few Saturn stars such as... okay I've got nothing. At the moment the character roster is mostly rooted in Master System, Genesis and Dreamcast games. The Saturn's poster child NiGHTS has yet to have a mention, but I'm 99% sure that he'll make a cameo (However, I'm 1% sure that Panzer Dragoon will make an appearance).

In any case, a glimmer of hope for some Saturn love has come through in a recent interview at Original Sound Version with Sumo Digital's Steve Lycett. Here are the meaty bits of the interview:

OSV: SEGA fans are extremely excited for this game, and one of the most exciting aspects is the audio approach in these crossover titles. Let’s start by talking about the music itself, what can we expect?

Steve: Why not, good place to start! For this game we’ve once again been given the keys to SEGA’s big audio closet. What we try and do with the All-Star games, is get a good mix of music both old and new. That way we can hopefully raise some fond memories of older games you’ve played if you’re a SEGA fan, surprise you with some new songs – and also – hopefully- introduce a whole new legion of players to the music we’ve all enjoyed.

To this end we’ve got classic tracks from many, many games. If we take just the Sonic courses, we’ve got music from Sonic Heroes, Sonic CD, Sonic R and many more. Outside of Sonic, we’ve raided official sound tracks to get new arranged versions of music. We’ve even managed to get a Crush40 track in there!
What we do is give you a track for each course, then by playing the game, you earn SEGA Miles, which you can spend on the in-game shop. As you buy new music, you can then select from the ones you’ve unlocked when you start a race.

OSV: Finally, what can we expect for the DS version? How are you cramming all that content into the handheld cart?
Steve: Want to play on the move, we’ve also crammed all these sounds and more into the DS version. As we’ve got to squash all this onto a cartridge, we’ve enlisted the services of Allister Brimble to compose us unique MIDI versions of all the games tunes . You won’t believe what he’s done with it. My personal favourite is “Can you Feel the Sunshine”, a track I didn’t think would ever work in MIDI format, but amazingly it does. Again – the byword for the game is “How much SEGA can we legally squeeze into one game” and I think Allister has done us proud.

So Sonic and friends racing about classic Sega settings to classic RJ tunes? Sega can have my $60 now, I'm sold.

Video Game Vault - Die Hard Arcade

2009-11-17T17:34:00.001Z

Video Games | ScrewAttack | Video Game Vault: Die Hard Arcade

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii

Finally Doing It!

2009-11-12T02:22:00.002Z

Maybe every one at the Junkyard has been wondering.....where has the plushiest been? Well, I've been a busy boy all summer and fall. I finally have some time to get back into gaming, and even do a few posts. I've been playing a few awesome games lately (Uncharted 2, Muramasa (the same devlopers as Princess Crown), and Bioshock), but I'm finally on to Panzer Dragoon Saga....yes, the real deal US copy that I picked up back in the spring time.

I didn't want to start on this game until I was good and ready, but I think I finally am. I've only spent a few hours with PDS, but so far I can say that it is great. I haven't every really played a whole lot of RPGs, and I think this is why PDS appeals to me so much....they game and battle mechanics are right up my alley. Everything is very straight forward, and I really like how there is are still real-time elements to the fight sequences. I will do a real review of the game once I'm finished, but here are some initial thoughts:

1. Game play: very original. Makes great use of the classic panzer dragoon game style, and blends some very interesting RPG elements. I love how you can freely fly around, and the dynamic battles are very cool.

2. Music: So far it's really good. Was there a separate original score album released for this game?

3. Graphics: Definitely some, if not the best on the Saturn. One of the few Saturn games that could easily compare to PS1 titles. Albeit a very small detail, there are sections in the game where you fly over water, and can actually see and interact with fish swimming around. Sounds pretty funny to say that something as simple as that appeals to me...but I can't think of any other 3D Saturn game (maybe Tomb Raider, Nights, or Resident Evil) with as much graphical detail. Obviously transparency effects are working on this game, how come people always say the Saturn couldn't do this?

On another note, does any one remember Radmobile? The game made famous by Brendan Fraser This was released under the title "Gale Racer" on the Japanese Saturn in '94. Saw it on Ebay for about $3.00, and thought about picking it up. It's like a slightly more updated version of the classic Outrun style game play!

Segata on the Tonight Show?!

2009-11-04T22:58:00.008Z

On Monday I made this comment in the "Twenty to Fifteen" post: "I think a rebirth of Segata would be a fitting tribute." Well guess the hell what, I was right!

Segata Sanshiro made an appearance on the October 28th episode of the Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien. Rather than tediously explain the segment, just watch the clip.

United States viewers:

International viewers click here

Thanks to a tip from a buddy of mine for cluing me in on it as well as to SegaNerds posting the video itself. Way cool.

Twenty to Fifteen - Save the Date

2009-11-02T16:07:00.005Z

Begin the party preparations, for in twenty days our beloved Sega Saturn will be turning fifteen years old! On November 22, 1994 the Saturn was released in Japan.

I've had a little banner up at the Nomad Junkyard in anticipation of the big day, but now that I write for the house that FK built I can celebrate in full force. So fellow Saturn Junkyard fans and writers, what are you doing to celebrate? The 22nd is a Sunday so there is no excuse NOT to do something.

I'll be at a pickle festival on the 22nd, but I promise I'll make time for the Saturn.

Mancunian Delights

2009-10-29T00:27:00.005Z

Two days ago a lovely package arrived from old merry England. The always giving Father K had bestowed upon me riches from mother country. As the gifts were Saturn related, I can share them here with all of you (I'm not gloating, just taking advantage of the opportunity to make another post... okay, I'm gloating a little...).

FK told me to not get too excited, but how could I not?! If you're going to give me an issue of the UK Saturn Magazine that excites me, it's going to be one featuring Sonic. The demo disc was even included!

The issue included an awesome Fighters Megamix article. As the AM2 classic is currently my game of choice, this article was a great read.

Christmas NiGHTS also received an awesome preview. I miss the days when gaming magazines did a two page lead-in spread to articles, highlighting artwork from the game. Nowadays it's all words, subscription cards and silly HD graphics.

Also included was the Virtua Fighter comic book, a comic which coincidentally I've been considering picking up on ebay. Here the lovely Sarah poses next to a can of Mancurian ale. Beer and women, the two best things on Earth. The Sega Saturn is the third.
Many thanks FK!

GO PHILLIES!

Saturn Lighter.

2009-10-24T18:28:00.003Z

Make fire with a classic Sega console.

$114 USD, each???

Maybe not...

http://www.net-you.net/sega/

http://kotaku.com/5388934/the-lighter-side-of-sega

NiGHTS Contest Winners!

2009-10-20T14:10:00.006Z

The results are in! Miss Universe was unavailable to choose a winner, so I had to do it myself. The winner of NiGHTS number 1 is....

What's this!? There are two winners?? NiGHTS him/herself explains: "Just as there are two dreamers, there two winners."

Thank you NiGHTS, so the TWO winners are... NebachadnezzaR placing first and Father Krishna as runner-up!

NebachadnezzaR: I'd fly about. With Sonic in my arms. Held tightly, his soft fur against my naked chest...ok, this is starting to sound yiffing creepy...

Father Krishna: I would fly over to Japan to romantically seek out Segata Sanshiro, the other iconic face of Saturn. I'd then fly into Sega's main office and kidnap the CE0 for allowing the crappy Wii version to sully my good name...

Finally I'd fly over to Thailand and play out m final years as a lady-boy, exploring the vaguely confusing blend of gender bestowed on me at birth. *cough!* Do I win a prize?

Yes, FK, you certainly do! The Thai reference put it over the top, as I myself have been to Bangkok's red light district and the less said about that night the better. Neb won because he was the only person to enter the contest when it was first announced, plus I'm a big fan of Sonic Yaoi fanfics. Congrats you sickos!

Neb wins NiGHTS Issue 1, the 2009 Free Comic Book Day issue of Sonic the Hedgehog from Archie Comics AND The Observatory from Panta of ihaveadreamcast.com.

FK wins one of the six NiGHTS comics, I won't say which one, and whatever else I can squeeze into the envelope.

Please send your addresses via email. If you do not know my real email address, you can send to my old junk address:
I dare not post my true address due to spam and such. Plus, my old email address is much more fitting for a Saturn blog. :)

Expect part 3 of NiGHTS into Comics next week. Cheers an' all that!

Barry the Nomad's Saturn Collection

2009-10-18T00:53:00.004Z

Hey kids! As I was in the photo taking mood, and because I'd yet to do this, I thought I'd share my Saturn collection.

I bought my first Saturn in the winter of 1997, used, with a selection of ten games. My late arrival to the system was, in part, due to my love for my Genesis. Another reason I had held off from the system was that I was low on cash and didn't see any urgency in owning a Saturn as there was no true Sonic game for the system. It wasn't until I played NiGHTS at a department store that I knew I had to own the system.

In the past few months I've returned to the system with the purchase of a Japanese model, two stunners and a few new games.

For the most part, the games seen below were purchased between 1997 and 2000. The prize of my collection is a mint Burning Rangers that I had bought sealed in 2000 for $30, it was the first online purchase I had ever made. Recent additions include Clockwork Knight 2, Mr. Bones and the standard demo of NiGHTS.

The majority of my disc only games are fighters, my favorite being FIGHTERS MEGAMIX. The Bootleg Sampler and Bug! demo discs have been great in helping decide which games to buy. After five minutes of playing the Bug! demo, I knew that I will never want to own the full game (now watch, a month from now I'll own it and the sequel, damn ebay addition). The odd duck is Quaterback Attack, a game that I probably bought as it was 99 cents and I was in a buying mood. What was I thinking? I hate (American) football games.

So there you have it, my small but immensely fun Saturn collection! Oh, and I now write for the Dreamcast Junkyard! :D

More than meets the eye...

2009-10-15T05:19:00.003Z

Because it's getting harder and harder to make relevant posts about the Sega Saturn, allow me to present to you the Saturn controller Transformer!

This insectoid was built from the pieces of a discarded Sega Mission Stick by artist James Ian Killenger. It's a pretty clever modification, but I'm fairly confident that after this little operation, the controller will never play another game of Powerslave/Exhumed. However, in its current state, it would be right at home in a game of Galaga.

(Question: What games were especially designed for the Mission Stick? As a 2D enthusiast, I was never overly interested in playing the kinds of games that would have taken advantage of such a controller, but now I'm a little curious.)

Calling Our Barry...

2009-10-13T23:03:00.002Z

Bazzer, could you please email FK (revsimonearly@aol.com) I have a little something that I need to send to you... Cheers mate!

New Apparel Anyone?

2009-10-09T10:49:00.003Z

The Tokyo Game Show is slowly wrapping up and the first user submitted pictures from the TGS hallways appeared on the web. Usually I am not that interested in modern gaming anymore, but when I saw two pictures in particular I was quite shocked! Apparently there are two new Sega Saturn t-shirts being released by COSPA and good lord, do they look gorgeous or what?! With a price tag of 3,045 Japanese Yen they are not what I'd call "cheap", yet I feel the incredibly powerful urge to actually buy them. All three of them! Three? Yes, the second shirt (picture down there) is actually coming in two colors. A weirdo turquoise color and the more classic and gorgeous bordeaux on white (what's up with all that french in the colors?).

If you plan to buy those shirts, then you have two possibilities. Visit the COSPA site, (there's an "english guide" here) try your luck and see if they ship overseas. Or place an order through the Shopping Mall Japan service, which lets you bid on japanese auctions, as well as making purchases in japanese online shops! Good luck.

YOU MUST PLAY THE SEGA SATURN!

Oh and btw! They do have equally great Mega Drive Shirts as well!

The Death of a Different Kind of Saturn

2009-10-07T12:47:00.004Z

Is this a completely useless article meant to fill the void of articles here at the Saturn Junkyard? Of course not! (Okay, it actually is).

Last month saw the demise of the other Saturn machine, the Saturn car. Following the withdrawal of a bid by Penske Automotive to acquire Saturn Corporation, General Motors announced that it expected to phase out the Saturn brand by October 2010. What does this have to do with SEGA Saturn fans? Well, for one thing, whenever I say "I just bought a brand new black American Saturn", the average person would think of this:

When in actuality, I was referring to this:

Imagine the looks on peoples faces when I then tell them that the Saturn was only $20! Saturn fans will also remember the Saturn (the car) as the other search result that shows up on Google. While Saturn (the console) fans may care little about the Saturn car, remember how you felt when Sega moved on to the Dreamcast. Right now, thousands of car owners are feeling the same thing we once did. So if you see a Saturn owner, give them a hug.

SJY CONTEST - Win Free Stuff!

2009-09-23T12:59:00.005Z

As many of you may not know, I kicked off a SJY Contest in my second NiGHTS into Comics article. Since the amazing NebachadnezzaR was the only person to participate, I thought I'd throw the contest at you all again in a attempt to gain more entries. You don't want NebachadnezzaR to win, do you?!

The contest will take place in the comments section of this article and will require those who comment to answer this question:

Were you to enter an Ideya Palace and fuse with NiGHTS, what would be the first thing you do?

One answer per Blogger and only those with an account may enter. So those posting anonymously, sign-up for an account to submit an answer. The best answer will be selected by Miss Universe 2009! In the event that she cannot be reached, I will choose it. Here's a hint for potential winners: don't say "I'd fly about", be more creative.The winner will be announced in Part 3 of my article series.

Wait! but what will you be winning? Why the "1st High Flying Issue" of NiGHTS into Dreams! The comic is in pretty great condition, and it's free so don't complain about it not being mint. I might even include some mystery items if I feel like it. This contest is open to all regions and members of the SJY team. If it turns out the winner is in some godforsaken part of the world where shipping costs are insane, we'll talk.

I am ALSO throwing in two more items, making it a prize package. The winner will also receive the 2009 Free Comic Book Day issue of Sonic the Hedgehog from Archie Comics AND The Observatory from Panta of ihaveadreamcast.com. The Observatory is a unique album from I Have Read Other Books Besides Catcher In The Rye (performers of To Beat, From Gum on the Dreamcast EP). The album is packed in a very unique secret government file package, complete with secret documents and maps. Cool stuff!

Enter now! Oh, and you can see a larger version of my drawing of a pissed off NiGHTS here.

Saturn Pad EXPLOSION!

2009-09-18T00:15:00.002Z

Long time no see, etc. etc. Let's get right down to business, shall we? Recently, there's been an explosion of Saturn replica controllers on eBay. These aren't specifically for the Saturn, mind you, but have a USB jack on the end so you can use them with a personal computer, or even a Playstation 3 if you're so inclined. (Sorry, Xbox 360 owners are out in the cold due to that system's proprietary controller design.)

This opens up a lot of possibilities for the classic gaming fan... if you've got a suitably powerful machine, you could run Saturn games through the magic of emulation, using the controller that was designed to play them. If you'd prefer to kick it really old-school, you could just use the controller with KEGA Fusion and play a few games of Sonic the Hedgehog, or dig way back into Sega's past and play Zaxxon and Congo Bongo on MAME. Maybe you just need a rock-solid reliable controller for your Street Fighter IV sessions... well, a Saturn joypad beats the crap out of anything MadCatz released for the game earlier this year!

Right now there are over a hundred of these controllers available on eBay, for prices ranging from ten to thirty dollars. This is a substantial drop from the forty dollars you would have paid for a Saturn replica controller just three years ago. On the downside, many of these auctions originate from Hong Kong or China, so you'll probably be waiting a while before you can wrap your hands around these pads. Fortunately, word on the street is that the controllers are every bit as good as the originals sold by Sega Technical Services in 2006. Azar from the GameSpite message board (and if you haven't been there yet, I strongly suggest you go) had this to say:

"I think these things pop up in waves on ebay every few months. I see posts on GAF about them from time to time, and I don't recall ever having seen anyone complain about the quality."

Another member, Aleanil, offered these encouraging words:

"The one I got a few months ago is A-OK! My understanding is that they came out of nowhere, but are identical down to the PCB to the old original ones. So yeah... *really* good bootlegs or an incredible amount of new old stock, I don't know, but I know mine's awesome and I've heard nothing but good."

So hop on eBay, buy with confidence, and get back to playing video games the way they were meant to be played, no matter what the system!

(except the Xbox 360. Ahem.)

Absolutely Stunning!

2009-09-15T22:54:00.007Z

Being in the Saturn mood that I am, I decided to make a trip over to the local Play 'N Trade to see what was in stock. I was particularly looking for a Saturn s-video cable as Sonic 3D Blast, the only Saturn game at my apartment at the moment, wasn't the same with standard a/v cables. While I left Play 'N Trade without an s-video cable in hand, I did leave with something much MUCH better:

Well, more like two somethings. Two mint Saturn Stunners in minty fresh boxes! While the Stunners have been covered quite a bit here at the SJY, and they sell for $9.99 new at a few online retailers, it's always a special moment when you find fifteen year old mint gaming equipment. To make the moment even better, the employee rang the Stunners up for $4.99 each. Considering this is the store that also gave me Last Blade 2 for free, I'll have to hit this place up much more often!

The back of the box made me chuckle, as a selection of lightgun games turned out to be three Virtua Cop screengrabs, each with their own "Virtua Cop" label. I guess lightgun games were in short supply back in 1995.

Game Core 2009 - Saturn Edition

2009-09-13T14:27:00.012Z

Yesterday I attended Game Core 2009, a current and classic gaming convention in Pennsylvania which had a Dreamcast oriented day of contests and competitions. My report of the event can be found at SEGA Nerds, but it's not the FULL report. Consider this the "Saturn Edition" of my day.

When I entered the dealer section of the convention, I had Dreamcast on the brain. However, after flicking through row after row of so-so Dreamcast games that I wouldn't mind owning but would be better off NOT owning, I found myself shifting to the Saturn sections. Maybe it's the fact that the past year has been so Dreamcast heavy, or that I've bought a good fifty Dreamcast games over the past eight months. In any case, the Saturn was a much more exciting library for me to browse and so a good portion of my convention budget went towards SEGA's big white, gray or black box that could.

Three dealers in particular had a HUGE selection of Saturn games, one of which had an excellent import selection. The photo above was of the dealer with the best deals, many games going for $4 to $15 dollars. I picked up Sonic 3D Blast for $8 after a bit of haggling.

That same dealer also had the holy grail of Saturn games, Panzer Dragoon Saga for $190. This is actually a fair price for the game. Another dealer across the hall had been asking $300!

The bin with the hand browsing through it was full of mint Japanese Saturn games and the bin to the right was full of mint Japanese Dreamcast games. Before I spotted my final purchase, I was very close to buying Napple Tale for $50.

As you see, my final purchase was a white Japanese Saturn (joy!), Sonic 3D Blast, an Action Replay Plus, MSR and a Dreamcast vinyl sticker (a prize for those who competed in one of the Dreamcast tournaments). Now that I think of it, both Sonic 3D Blast and MSR were composed by Richard Jacques. UK:RESISTANCE would be proud.

And here she is unboxed. As the Dreamcast anniversary has passed, I think it's time for me to focus much more on feeding games to this white beauty. For those curious, the console and Action Replay Plus came out to $90. Goddamn am I happy to finally have one of these!

Panzer Dragoon Awesome!!!

2009-09-04T16:48:00.003Z

By the title alone you probably already guessed what happened. I beat Panzer Dragoon Saga! Me, the guy with the short attention span, jRPG hater, just spent 15 hours with this game. And I loved it! It was a blast to the very end, although at some points near the end of the 3rd cd/beginning of the 4th it can get somewhat...I wouldn't say boring, but the pace slows down a bit and it can get a bit confusing at times, with the player not knowing what to do. I admit it, I had to use a guide from time to time, and throughout most of the 4th disc where things really get complicated. There's a whole area (won't say exactly what it is to prevent spoilers) that's just like a giant maze, and the boss fights can be somewhat unforgiving. After you understand the enemy patterns and realize what attacks to use, it's easy, but once you figure that out your life bar is probably already so low that you can't turn the tide of battle and have to do it all over again.

Still, this game is an experience like no other, which I guess makes the Saturn über relevant even in this era of HD and online gaming, achievements, and gamerscores, and casual shit. So, yeah, I guess what I'm trying to say is simply that I can't recommend this game enough, to any kind of player. No matter what are your favourite genres, if you like the Saturn you gotta play this game. It instantly became my favourite Saturn game of all time, even surpassing my childhood favourites, and is probably also one of, if not the, best jRPG I've ever played. That is, if you even consider it a jRPG, because its style of progression and combat system are so far ahead, so wildly different from everything else I've seen, so much better than even those in current, recent games, that I'm not sure you can, or you should, put it next to such boring, stagnated, repetitious games.

By the way, while browsing the interwebs I found some interesting articles about this game in particular or the whole series. Check them out:

A look back to PDS by Game Informer - here

Retrospective of the series by Gamasutra - here

Retrospective by 1UP - here

IGN's top 100 games of all time (44th place) - here

1UP's top ten cult classics (1st place!) - here

EGM review

Game Informer review

GamePro review

*Kudos to Panzer Dragoon Saga Oasis (link) for most of the links.

NiGHTS into Comics - Issue 2

2009-08-24T14:40:00.021Z

Last issue, Roger was introduced to Reala and we knew nothing good could come of that. Now, in issue 2, we join a NiGHTS-infused Elliot being filled in by a Nightopian as to what the plan of action is. Isn't it convenient that like the reader, Elliot has also forgotten what happened last issue and thankfully is given a short summary? I've also noticed that the Nightopians speak all in lower case. Reminds me of e.e. cummings or the bully from Calvin & Hobbes.

In an odd twist, Elliot awakes to have NiGHTS in HIS body, with NiGHTS in complete control. Elliot (or is that ELLiOT?) is on a mission to protect Claire while the two are on a fieldtrip to the Twin Seeds Museum. NiGHTS, being the wacky jester that he is, assumes that he'll fly there with ease.

I'm usually not one to use the word "FAIL", but this is a FAIL.

Thankfully NiGHTS didn't fracture Elliot's collarbone via faceplant. Meanwhile, Claris arrives at the museum and chats with some friends about singing in the big Centennial Show. Elliot arrives, and in a very "Spidey-sense" fashion, detects the dream energy inside of Claris. Speaking of Spider-Man, this panel reminded me of that famous Spider-Man cover.

Elliot's stares are mistaken for infatuation and teenage awkwardness hilarity ensues. Then, the kids enter the museum and the tour begins. The history of the Twin Seeds spire is told, with the tour guide claiming that the architect (seen in issue 1) was such a visionary that he was designing in the Art Deco style before it was even invented! Now wait a second. If the architect was indeed designing in the art deco style "before that style was invented", then wouldn't the architect simply be the inventor of the Art Deco style? How can one create something before it is invented? That's like saying that Ferdinand Verbiest, a member of a Jesuit mission in China, built the first steam-powered vehicle around 1672... before the automobile was invented! No, Ferdinand created the first self-propelled vehicle, thus he (in a sense) invented the automobile.

Designer rant over. Anyway, Elliot, in his NiGHTS controlled state, grabs the microphone away from the misinformed tour guide and tells his classmates of Wizeman and his plans for dream domination. Meanwhile in another part of the museum, Elliot is in a Reala controlled state of mind and is spinning his version of Nightopea as a confused Claris watches. We then return to Nightopia to visit Wizeman in his castle, as he spends half a page telling a Roger controlled Reala what we already now. If that wasn't enough unnecessary exposition, Jackle enters to tell Wizeman about what happened to Gillwing in issue 1.

EXPOSiTION into Dreams...

After several pages of dialog and exposition, Jackle mixes it up... literally! Jackle reveals that he has kidnapped one of the two main Nightopians and intends to fuse the cute little guy with one of those chicken Nightmarens.

The result? CHAOS! Okay, not the same chaos as seen in Sonic Adventure, but it IS a funny coincidence that evil virtual pet breeding and the word "chaos" is used in an adaptation of a Sonic Team game a year and a half before Sonic Adventure hit stores. With the fusion acting as a truth serum, the evil Nightopian explains what NiGHTS and the kids are up to and how to stop them.

Returning to the waking world, Elliot and Claris are enjoying a museum lunch that is cut short by Shleep dispatched by Wizeman. Elliot attempts to stop the Shleep from putting CLaris to shleep, er... sleep, but is halted by Jackle. Jackle, ensuring my favoritism, utters my favorite line in the mini-series:

In his rush to confront Jackle, Elliot trips and passes out, allowing NiGHTS to come alive in the dream world. The Shleep reaches Claris and sends her to the dream world as well. This all leads to a NiGHTS-fused Claris facing off against Gulpo the giant fish. A major gripe I have with this issue is that full pages are given for exposition, and yet a complete boss battle begins and ends in the same panel.

One panel, uncolored AND off model. Worst. Battle. Ever.

NiGHTS returns to Elliot, leaving Claris alone in the fish bowl with a hint that if she can sing a high note, she'll shatter the bowl. Claris succeeds and escapes, only to encounter Wizeman. Meanwhile (I've been saying "meanwhile" a lot, haven't I), NiGHTS battles Jackle (off screen) and the good Nightopian encounters the evil Nightopean. With the good guys wrapped up in their own fights, Claris is tempted by Wizeman to receive the gift of fame in exchange for her dream energy. Claris foolishly accepts and loses her energy, in turn causing NiGHTS to lose his connection with her. Returning to the waking world, Roger presents Claris with her invite to sing. Little does she know that with good dreams come... nightmares!

Overall, issue 2 is the weakest of the series. Lots of chatter, little action. Despite being the weakest, there is a large display of villains, and the setup for part 3 is promising. Join us for part 3 AND the announced winner in NiGHTS into Dreams into Comics part 3!

Yo dawg, I heard you like Sonic...

2009-08-20T12:23:00.004Z

...so I put Sonic in yo Sonic, so you can play while you play.

Lol.

Ok, forget that...

Have you heard about SAGE? No, I'm not talking about 4chan, but Sega Amateur Games Expo. First time I heard about it, actually. Apparently, and as the name implies, it's a display of fan-made Sonic games, most of them resembling the old 2D games of yore, while others attempting a shot at 3D (and, like Sega, failing miserably). But why am I talking about this in the Sega Junkyard? Because of this little gem.

Probably the only fan-made 3D Sonic game not to suck, through the use of a somewhat archaic game engine, unintentionally or not, it ends up looking a lot like a Saturn game, only with the obvious bump in resolution and texture detail. Ok, maybe not exactly like a Saturn game, but at least like a Model 2 one, and that's close enough for me.

So, I thought I would just let you know about it, in case you desperately want to play something that loosely resembles what Sonic X-Treme could've been. Demo available at the official site (downloading now).

Also, "sage goes in all fields" (kudos to whoever understands this obscure reference :P )

Starry NiGHTS

2009-08-19T16:22:00.003Z

Gamespy: Classic Art Meets Videogames.

(Click to view)

"A wistful post-impressionist masterpiece if there ever was one, this painting demonstrates a masterful use of color to set a mood. The inclusion of a figure inside the largest star has stirred great debate amongst critics and collectors. Does it represent God, or is it just an anthropomorphic purple... thing? We may never know. We can say with no doubt, however, that this work is meant to stir in us feelings of childhood innocence and longing for a time when simpler things were enough to appease us.

With each passing year, everything -- technology, literature, art -- becomes increasingly advanced. While some greet this inevitable march towards an undefined, unknown end with open arms, others ache for simpler times, where just running around collecting everyday items like screws and old coins with nary a care in the world was enough. Viewing this painting makes us feel like that time is still here." Justin Massoud

Sega-Saturn.com is back!

2009-08-19T07:47:00.003Z

Well... sort of.

I browsed the insertcredit pages - which you should do as well at least once a week! - and there it popped to my eyes. Apparently Sega-Saturn.com one of the most famous Sega Saturn fan websites is back again since january. The downside: it's merely an archive now. But it's a nice thing for anyone who remembers it and wants to re-read some reviews.

Back on tracks

2009-08-05T13:02:00.002Z

Hi folks! How ya doin'? I surely missed you! Lately my life has been a bit crazy, with many things taking up my time, and sadly I ended up neglecting this place a bit. This is not to say I'm totally back, but I'll try to drop by more often.

First things first, the header picture was gone. Or at least in my browser it was. As a good Portuguese man, I did nothing and waited, hoping that it would eventually come back by itself. It didn't. So, thanks to the wonderful website that is the waybackmachine, I managed to track down the old header and put it back on. Hope you'll like it.

Second, I got myself a new rig! (that's slang for a computer). It's a fucking beast, a quadcore 2,50 GHz CPU, with 4Gb of RAM and a HD4890 graphics card. Guess what I'm playing? That's right, fucking Panzer Dragoon Saga!

Now, now, that's not to say recent games suck, I'm not that kind of retrogamer. In fact I love new games and that was partly why I bought the new pc (the other part was, my old one sucked!), and I'm also playing Crysis, and Call of Duty, and more recently Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood. But this is a Saturn place, so it's convenient that I talk about my Saturn games, and after neglecting the game for a couple weeks (setting up a new pc is hard work, I had to install the OS myself and all that shit) I finally went back to it. Last night. At 2 am. Nice!

Third, recently I got a fellow pc gamer who used to have a Saturn when he was younger to get back to it thanks to the wonders of the SSF emulator. That's what was missing in his life and he's a happy man now. Emulation, turning grown men into little kids since 19xx...whatever...

And basically that's it, got nothing more to say, so goodbye all and make sure you take good care of this little shrine while I'm gone :)

Good Place for Saturn Backups

2009-08-03T17:33:00.003Z

I'll keep this short and sweet. In lieu of one of the recent posts at SJY, I decided to share a forum that provides access to a lot of Sega Saturn games. If you know how to burn backups, and have a Saturn that can play backups, or know how to do the "swap trick", this is a pretty great resource.

Some of you may already know/use this forum.

The link is: http://snesorama.us/board/showthread.php?t=6210&no_cj_c=1

Battle of Castlevania

2009-08-02T21:29:00.003Z

Over the last few months I've finally been able to spend some serious quality time with both the Sega Saturn and Sony Playstation versions of Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. The original game was released in 1997 for the Sony Playstation, and then released in 1998 for the Sega Saturn, only in Japan as Akumajo Dracula X: Gekka no Yasoukyoku. I first bought the Sega Saturn version in February of this year, but since I had never played the game before, I had a fair amount of trouble navigating the item menus (everything is in Japanese). I could have downloaded the X-Box live version to get the english language game, but I decided to look for the original Playstation version on Ebay. About 1 month later I scored a very reasonably priced "greatest hits" version of the game, and started playing through that. I still haven't beaten the game, but I know it well enough now that I can go back to the Saturn version and now have no trouble navigating the item/spell menus etc. I've read quite a bit about this game on discussion boards and other web sites, and there is quite a bit of back and forth as to which version of the game is better, Sega Saturn or Playstation. I thought that it would be fun to compare the two, and let every one know at the SJY which version I like better. So let's get started shall we....

Cover Art: The Playstation version has a picture of Dracula's castle, whilst the Saturn version has a really nice hand drawn picture of some of the game's characters. Winner - Sega Saturn

Graphics: The Sega Saturn is supposedly the better of the two systems when it comes to 2D games, so why are the graphics of the Playstation version better? Overall the games look very similar, but the Playstation has better partical & transparency effects, and does not have any slow down. I'm not gonna lie, the Saturn version is plagued with slow down. Why this game did not use the 4Meg RAM cart I will never know. All of the other graphics, i.e. bad guys, level backgrounds, magic, looks nice on both systems. The FMV in the Playstation version looks much crisper than on the Saturn. And don't get me wrong, the Saturn version still looks great, but just not quite as nice as the Playstation.
Winner - Playstation

Gameplay: Both versions play awesome. With respect to control etc, both versions are very similar, and neither system has an advantage. The Saturn version has some extra areas to explore, additional bad guys, and allows for more playable characters from the beginning of the game. The Playstation version makes the game map accessible during game play, whilst the Saturn version makes the player enter the item menu, and then load the map. Since this game requires a lot of map checking, the advantage definitely goes to the Playstation here. The Saturn version also takes a lot longer to load between different areas, and menus.
Winner - Tie

Sound: Again, both versions are very similar. I don't really have a great TV either, so it's hard to compare the detail in the level music or sound effects. The voice acting in the Playstation version is pretty bad, and since the Saturn version is Japanese, it's hard for me to tell if it's cheesy or not.
Winner - Tie

Overall Winner: Playstation Version

Sad but true, even with the extras, the Saturn version does not stand up to the Playstation. The main reasons the Playstation version is better is 1) no visible slow down; 2) slightly better graphics; 3) more accessible game map; and 4) shorter load times. Both versions are awesome, and I'm really fortunate to own them both, but I'll be playing the Playstion version more often. If the RAM expansion had been implemented on the Saturn release I think it would have been a whole other story, but sadly, that's not the case. If you have a PS1/2/3 , XBox 360 , or a Saturn that can play imports, you should definitely pick up this title. No matter what system you play it on, it's one of the best, if not the best, 2D platformer out there.

A chance to play nearly every game

2009-07-28T19:11:00.007Z

Here's a couple of photos for your viewing pleasure. Article's been removed and I will try to write some original stuff in the future after I have managed to do some thesis.

Pictures:

NiGHTS into Dreams into Comics - Issue 1

2009-07-09T12:20:00.022Z

While the Saturn hit the US in 1995, it wasn't until 1998 that I bought a system. A large part of why I held out was money, $399 is a fortune to an 11 year old. Also, I was having way too much fun with my Genesis at the time, a testament to the quality of the 16-bit system. The Genesis had everything I wanted: Sonic the Hedgehog and Disney Interactive games. The Saturn had a Sonic compilation of games I already owned and some goofy jester game. At the time I was oblivious to the fact that NiGHTS was a Sonic Team game (no Wikipedias or SegaNerds back in 1995, kids) and so I went on ignoring one of the greatest games and systems of the mid-90's.

During Christmas, 1996 I had my first chance to play NiGHTS on a Saturn store kiosk similar to the one Michael Jackson's estate had up for auction. Long story short, it blew me away and I had to have it. Fast forward to January 1998, I was still strapped for cash but could afford the occasional action figure and comic book. I was a hardcore Sonic the Hedgehog Archie Comics collector, with a subscription assuring every issue would come right to my door. Promos began to appear in the Sonic comics for a new SEGA mini-series titled NiGHTS into Dreams, and if that wasn't exciting enough I also learned it would be drawn by the greatest Sonic artist the US had to offer: SPAZ!

Patrick "SPAZ" Spaziante was the longtime cover artist for the Sonic comics. SPAZ's cover work was an experience in itself, sometimes outshining the story contained within an issue. Hell, the man has his own gallery at Sonic HQ. Suffice to say, if you bought a Sonic comic just for SPAZ's art, then imagine an entire mini-series done by the man!

February 1998 came and the first issue arrived. In hindsight, the NiGHTS mini-series greatly expanded on the plot of the game. The comic began by introducing a blacksmith, driven by his dreams to create a gleaming golden spire (the same spire seen on the game cover and menu screen!). Little did the smith know that he was being controlled by Wizeman the Wicked to create a spire identical to one found in Nightopia, the land of dreams. NiGHTS and Reala are introduced as lackeys of Wizeman (!) who have just captured the two dreamers of the real world who only appear once every century, these being two kids of the 1800's.

NiGHTS is quickly swayed by the young girl to go turncoat on Wizeman, as he flies off with the red dream power spheres. While fleeing, he runs into some Chao- er, I mean Nightopians, who prompt him to cram the spheres into the dream hole to reality (sounds nasty, I know). A shard of dream sphere comes loose and embeds itself into NiGHTS chest, I'm sure that plot point won't come into play during the final issue *wink-wink*. Meanwhile, the two spheres fly out of the blacksmith's spire and embed themselves into the ground outside. In a moment of inspiration, the smith describes what he saw and gives a name to the town which will someday develop from that plot of land: Twin Seeds! Thank goodness he didn't name it Two Balls.

Fast forward 100 years, Two Balls has developed into a thriving metropolis. The pinnacle of the city is a large skyscraper topped off with the blacksmith's spire. Two Nightopians emerge from the spire in search of the two dreamers. In a "small world" moment, both dreamers are found within seconds of eatchother: Elliot and Claris. Elliot is late for basketball practice, and what's worse he is quickly schooled by a Draco Malfoy-like tit named Roger.

Draco, complete with Crabbe and Goyle

Elliot is quickly beaten down with laughter and insults, but is distracted by beautiful music. He finds the source of the music, a music school, and climbs up to get a view into the window. Why it's the other dreamer, Claris Sinclair! Elliot's voyerism doesn't last long, as he is scared shitless by a Nightopian. Claris is distraced by Elliot and is derided by her beachball-like music teacher for lacking focus. It would seem both dreamers are having trouble acheiving their... dreams?

Holy shit! They can't be the same species.

After surviving a three story fall, Elliot quickly accepts that magical fairies exist and is convinced to fall asleep to enter Nightopia. As Elliot isn't sleepy, they could wait until evening when Elliot is sleepy. I reccomend taking some Benedryl-

Or give Elliot a concussion, that works too. Entering the land of dreams, the Nightmaren introduces Elliot to the Ideya Palaces (those little four pillar checkpoints that hold NiGHTS in the games). It is revealed that NiGHTS exists as even less than a dream, as he was imprisoned by Wizeman for rebelling. The only way to awake NiGHTS is for a real world dreamer to enter the Ideya Palace. Elliot is quick to enter and becomes NiGHTS, triggering the alarms to Wizeman that NiGHTS has escaped. Wizeman dispatches Gillwing (the first NiGHTS boss) and in a very Wizard of Oz moment invades Claris's dreams, turning her music teacher into the evil Puffy. Sensing that Claris is in danger, NiGHTS leaves Elliot and fuses with Claris, defeating Puffy.

Meanwhile, Elliot uses the floating alarm clock (usually something you'd avoid in the games) to his advantage as he wakes himself up before Gillwing can lay a finishing blow. As the issue comes to a close, all is well... for now! While Claris and Elliot have sweet dreams, Draco Malfoy is introduced to the nightmaren known as Reala. DUN-DUN-DUNN!

To be continued...
Images courtesy of a MegaUpload file, I own the issues but am too lazy to scan them myself.

A game worth the price tag

2009-07-06T16:13:00.002Z

The sentence that serves as a title for this post is usually one of the first things that come to my mind when I think about it. You see, for there are a lot of rare and expensive Saturn games out there, some of them good, some of them bad, but all not worth the hefty prices they demand these days. But, alas, I've found one such a game! It can go from 50 to 200€/$/£, depending on region (Europe - semi-rare, USA - rare, Japan - cheap as fuck), but even the biggest price tag is thoroughly deserved.

I'm talking about Panzer Dragoon Saga!

Now, you all know I'm a big fan of the series, and this game was the only one missing from my collection (not counting the spin-off Panzer Dragoon Mini or whatever that gamegear game was called). It has been on my list for quite some time, but now I finally decided to take the plunge and just play it. And OMFG it's awesome!!!

Seriously, this game was so ahead of it's time! I'm only in the middle of disc 2 and it's already one of my favourite RPG's ever! For a start, the game is very cinematic. There are a lot of FMV's (real, lengthy videos, not just short clips) that illustrate the story thoroughly and put you in the right mood for this hallucinating trip, and not only they're technically irreprehensible, but also masterfully designed, with shots worthy of Hollywood. Then, it's freaking accessible for an RPG. For a start, everything is thoroughly explained in a series of interactive tutorials. That way you won't enter your first fight without knowing the combat system in detail.

And also, the combat system is one of the most engaging and fast-paced I've ever seen using a turn-based mechanic. It's kind of complex for me to explain here without a video to illustrate while I describe it, but just bear in mind that position matters, you have to be constantly moving around your enemies to dodge their attacks and find their weak-points, and your choice of attacks depends heavily on your action bar's charge.

Then there's the story, the surreal setting on which the action takes place and the gameplay outside the fights. You'll explore villages on foot and breathtaking scenarios mounted on your faithful dragon, reminiscing of some areas from the previous games, and the slower pace of the games let's you learn more about this strange world and admire the absolutely stunning graphics. This takes me to the graphics, which are simply amazing. It's almost impossible to get more out of the Saturn's limited 3D capabilities, but enough to make you realize how amazing the system is/was back in the day. Also, the game has a unique "Saturn look" to it. I can't really explain, but I think there are certain graphical effects that were most used on Saturn games, so that you can immediately tell this was not released on a Playstation, for example. But, more stunning than the technical aspect is the art direction, which is everything you can expect from a Panzer Dragoon game.

To sum it up, even though I'm not halfway through it yet, this is already one of my favourite game on the system, and given it's accessible nature, chances are a lot of you faithful readers will enjoy it too, even if you usually don't fancy RPG's. This game is pure magic. Go buy it and see for yourself, you'll thank me later :)

And Father K, I know you have this one. Go play it, go play it now!

Dungeons & Dragons Collection: Saturn Review

2009-06-26T23:49:00.008Z

Details:
Game: Dungeons & Dragons Collection - Sega Saturn
Publisher: Capcom
Year: 1999 (Oroginal release date of games: 1993 & 1996)

First off, I was never into D&D as a kid. I could never really understand what the hell was going on, and it just seemed quite lame to me. Don't get me wrong, wizards are cool, sword welding warriors are cool, and scantily clad babes riding dragons are cool too. I've never really been a huge fan of RPG's either (I'm slowly gaining interest), but action-adventure games like Zelda, Shenmue, Metal Gear. I just can't get enough of.

When I found out that there was a D&D game for the Saturn, and it was an arcade style 2D scrolling fighter, I definitely needed to check it out. I was a really big fan of the 2 and 4 player arcade games of the late 80's and 90's, a la Final Fight, Ninja Turtles, X-Men, Spider Man and so on, but I had never seen this game before. I think it's because when these games were released I was busy playing Super Street Fighter II and Sega Super GT. The Saturn version was not released until March, 1999 (only in Japan), and by that time I was well into my N64 and PS1 hay-days. The closest that I think I ever came to playing a similar game would have been Knights of the Round which was also a Capcom game, or Golden Axe . Well, anyways I was about to enter the magical world of D&D. The Saturn version (which I now have) is quite hard to find. I got my version from Ebay, and yes....it was not cheap. Over the many months that I was humming and hawing over whether or not to buy it for the Saturn I did download the ROM for MAME, and played the game quite a bit. I finally broke down and picked up the SS version, and I am very happy with it. So, on to the review...

Game play (7.5/10): Your classic hack and slash type game play. There are quite a few different characters to choose from, all with their own fighting style and magic capabilities. The control is nice and tight, and each character is well balanced so you can play any part of the game with what ever character you want and not have too much trouble. The game doesn't really do anything that I haven't seen before (action-wise), but there are quite a lot of different attacks and magic spells that each character can perform. You can also buy axillary weapons and items, which is nice too.

The levels are well designed, and there are plenty of bad guys and bosses to take on. There are quite a lot of levels, especially for an arcade game, and you can pick different paths throughout the game, which does add replay value. This game was definitely designed to eat quarters in the Arcade, as it is quite difficult, and I find myself dying all the time....I just seem to get my ass kicked a lot. The game is much easier when there are 2 players working together, which brings me to my next point; the arcade version actually supported up to 6 players, but unfortunately, the Saturn version only supports 2.

Graphics (7/10): In a way, I'm kind of surprized that the game requires the 4MB RAM cartridge. I think this is more to support the mutliple character models, rather than deliver amazing visuals. But since the game only supports 2 players, I'm really not too sure where the additional RAM is being used. The graphics are nice, but not that impressive. They look more 1991 than 1996. The game does look pretty good when there are a lot of enemies on the screen and some big 'ol magic spell is cast. The animation on the characters is OK, it's not super fluid, but it does the job. The levels look nice, and each one is visually appealing in its own way. So let's put it this way, graphically, it's no Princess Crown, but it is still one of the nicer looking 2D games from the 90's.

Sound (6/10): The vocals are brutal....the screams and little voicing there is sounds like it came from a Master System Game. Come on now, this was 1996, it couldn't have been too hard to put together some higher quality voice acting. The rest of the sound effects are fine, but nothing special. The same goes for the level music....it does the job, but nothing that I'll ever be humming in my head a week after playing the game.

Overall (8/10): OK, so how does the game get an 8/10 for the overall score when clearly I haven't given any of the individual review sections anything over a 7.5? Well, even with its faults, the game is super fun to play, and is a definite must have for any Saturn collection. It's the kind of game you can pick up and play for an hour or so and have a great time. Oh, and by the way, did I mention that you actually get two games here: Tower of Doom and Shadow Over Mystara so you do get quite a bit of value in the purchase. Compared to the ultimate Saturn 2D beat 'em up (Guardian Heroes) D&D collection comes in 2nd place, but it's still a really good game. Think of taking Knights of the Round and Golden Axe, making them have a baby, and then giving that baby a bunch of Steroids, and there you have D&D collection. So if you can find it for a reasonable price, definitely pick it up, and even if it's an unreasonable price, you should consider getting anyways.

What if...?! Cartridge Games

2009-06-22T12:58:00.004Z

So, there were those great Dezaemon 2 releases some time ago. On Volume 1 was Devil Blade 2 by Shigatake, which is simply the most amazing Dezaemon 2 Shmup yet. I decided to put it permanently on a memory card, so that I don't have to load it from the CD and copy it onto my memory card every time I want to play it. Of course it needed a nice sticker then as well and whilst designing it, I thought about how cool it would have been, if there were actual cartridge games for the Saturn available.

The Sega Saturn memory cards are roughly the same size as the Mega Drive (Genesis) cartridges and so I went out and bought a very cheap Mega Drive game, to put my memory card containing Devil Blade 2 in. Now it only needed a cover! I had a closer look at japanese Sega Saturn releases and altered the design a bit, so that it fits the new measurements. Et Voila! The Sega Saturn Cartridge Game packaging is born. Only thing missing would be a cool booklet.

Now I am planning to also do a "Best Of Dezaemon 2" memory card containing my favourite games from the first Dezaemon Save Games Manager release. I still have to play volume 2 and I guess, there I will find even more great games. Damn, I need plenty of memory cards now.

Saturn Model 2: Lost in New York

2009-06-22T12:20:00.012Z

Ah, my first post at the Saturn Junkyard. So what does the Nomad do in his first article? He brings the whole place down by resorting to celebrity sightings! Don't worry, I'll make it SEGA related and will even visit a pretty sweet video game store.

Let's begin: This past weekend my girlfriend and I were visiting some old friends in New York City. Our first stop was a visit to VideoGamesNewYork, a small but jam-packed game shop that had everything from the Odyssey to the 360. On our way to the shop, things took a turn for the awesome when we spotted Kevin McCallister himself, Mister Macaulay Culkin!

I managed to snap the photo seen above just before Culkin spotted us and hailed a taxi. Seconds later, and I shit you not, Liev Schreiber (Sabertooth of Wolverine) was walking on the opposite side of the street with his son! The gaming gods must have planned all of this as upon entering VideoGamesNewYork I spotted Home Alone 2 for the Genesis and a poster advertising the next-gen Wolverine game.

So what did the store have to offer in terms of SEGA games and systems? In five words: a hell of a lot. You'd be hared pressed to even find a store back in the mid-90's that had this much Saturn stuff in one spot. There were literally hundreds of US and Japanese games available, as well as boxes full of controllers, multi-taps and 4meg carts. After the excitement receded, I asked myself "how could this much Saturn stuff go unsold?" I quickly had my answer: the prices were (for the most part) ludicrous! Games that would go for $5 on ebay were $25, shrink-wrapped stinkers like CROC went for $60 and used controllers were $25. More examples outside of the Saturn: A new Dreamcast was $140, used VMUs were $14.99 each (without caps), Sonic Adventure was $60 and a used Master System Converter was $90. Ouch.

Despite lots of overly priced items, there were some deals to be found. Many staple Saturn games like Daytona USA and Virtua Fighter 2 were between $5 and $9. The Bomberman Multi-tap was $60, new in box.

On the Dreamcast side, the often overpriced Illbleed was $9 and the rare official Dreamcast to Neo Geo Color link cable was $25 and was well stocked (I counted a dozen or so). Genesis and Sega CD games went for reasonable prices, though if you wanted a boxed cartridge you'd spend $25+ for games like Sonic 2 and Golden Axe.

In the end I left with a small amount but excellent selection of items. I snagged Floigan Bros., Illbleed and a third-party ASCII controller for $30 total. Not too shabby! Unfortunately I didn't obtain any Saturn items, as I really had my eye on their rarer games but couldn't handle their prices.

Overall, visiting VideoGamesNewYork was a great experience, if only for the opportunity to stand before hundreds of classic SEGA games. There ARE deals to be found, but I'd advise making up a list of games you're on the lookout for beforehand and comparing the online price to what VideoGamesNewYork offers. You can check out their website here and view more photos of the shop here. I also have this article reposted at The Nomad Junkyard, with a bonus photo!

A Nomad Wanders Into The 'Yard...

2009-06-16T21:31:00.011Z

You may have noticed a certain blue hedgehog making a prolific amount of appearances in the comment sections of our sister site, the Dreamcast Junkyard, in the cbox in the sidebar and even adding some interesting Saturn modding advice in the comment section of the last post!

Yes it's the ever present and ever funny Barry The Nomad, so named because of his love of Sega's "bulky but beautiful" handheld masterpiece. Indeed, Barry's love for the Nomad has resulted in the creation of the Nomad Junkyard, the latest addition to the ever growing family of Sega Junkyards out there.

And what a corker of a blog it is! As slick as an eel soaked in butter, and with twice the bite, the Nomad Junkyard celebrates all things Sega, not just the Nomad itself. So what did I do when I saw his wit and talent displayed over at the NJY??? Why I hijacked him of course, bundled him into a large sack and forced him at gunpoint to agree to syphon his Saturn musings to the Saturn Junkyard! Mwuahahahaha!!!

I also sat him in front of a large black and white spiral that spun slowly inwards, and a swinging golden pocket watch which hypnotised him into a deep trance. I then played the Segata Sanshiro theme tune on a loop through some headphones for the next 72 hours, ensuring his status in the cult of Segata, and subsequent undying allegiance to the SJY! The effect on Barry was somewhat startling , as you can see from the photo evidence below. He now only wears his Judo suit, and has spent over seven hundred thousand dollars having the 'Elvis style' hair of a genuine Japanese Segata impersonator, grafted one by one, onto his own scalp.

Barry before Cult Indoctrination...

Barry after Cult Indoctrination.

So may I be the first to welcome our esteemed colleague and good friend, Mr. Barry The Nomad, to our ever expanding international team!

To The Plushiest - A very public apology!

2009-06-15T17:43:00.005Z

You may remember some time ago that our newest team member, and resident Saturn shmup and 2D fighter expert, the Plushiest, made a very generous offer to send your's truly the "jizz soaked" edition of Vampire Savior. The condition of this very generous gift?

"The other condition is that upon receiving the jizz copy, you must make a video about how awesome it is that I sent it to you and post it here."

Well, true to his word, our dear Plushy dispatched a rather lovely package, all the way from the distant, wonderful transatlantic land of Canada, which arrived, rather fittingly, on my 42nd birthday. Inside was the rather luscious prospect of a copy of Radiant Silvergun as a little bonus.

Now, I messed around with Vampire Saviour, trying to get it to play, but I cannot get past the first screen, which has some Japanese writing... I've pressed button after button and it will not play (for some unknown reason) on my Saturn... Now I have quite a few Japanese games in my collection, all which play fine, so I don't quite understand why this disc won't. Could it be the jizz??

OK, onto Radiant Silvergun. Now my Saturn is not chipped, so I had to try the old swap trick. As soon as I read that I had to unscrew a part of the casing, I "bottled it". (Translation for our US readers: I chickened out...

Now, I desperately want to play my lovely gifts, and since Nebachadnezzar reported on his "Saturn chipping service" success, I've researched the possibility of getting mine done. I was thrilled when I saw this rather fantastic video over at the rather wonderful Console Passion website.

Do you think I should go for it? It'll cost me about £60.

However, none of this information negates the fact that the Plushiest (real name Sam Lieff) is owed a video declaring his awesomeness, to the SJY... Nay, to the world!!!! Until I can play them and report on how great they are, this simple image will have to suffice....

PLUSHIEST! YOU ARE TRULY AWESOME!!!

Just in time for the Star Trek Movie: The "Fazor" Lightgun For The Sega Saturn

2009-05-30T16:08:00.006Z

So I was looking around the garage sales in my area with very little luck. It turns out the the garage salers around here are serious. People get up at like 5AM and video game stuff goes the quickest. On 4 separate occasions I have been told that there was a ton of video games there but someone had come and boughten it all up before 7 AM. (There is an almost gleeful tone to this statment that tends to imply that I am not a serious garage saler since I wasn't here at 6:45 AM. Those Wankers!) In this cuthroat world of North Eastern NY state I fear even my well respected skills might be hard pressed to get results...

...However, I am (according to Gagaman(n)) a "Jammy Git" (Did I get that right?) or one Lucky Son of a Gun. (Or Sly Bastard Good-for-nothing according to the urban dictionary site. Which honestly does descibe certain aspects of my personality as well.)

I did manage to grab a decent model 2 Saturn console from a seller for $7 (To be used in the retro video game events I hold at the library by people who want to play some Guardian Heroes.)

And I found the following item for .50 cents in the back of a garage.

Still in box!

The "Fazor" lightgun by Madcatz.

It's an amazing light cut down lightgun that can be used in both the Playstation and the Saturn.

The light design is nice but I am used to the extremely heavy but accurate Sega Stunner and the even heavier Noby lightguns (Including the Virtual Gun which is quite nice). However, I would assume this gun would be great for people whose wrists get tired from heavier models. It has a very nice "clicky" trigger. Of course that might be because the gun I got was still in box and still somewhat new.

Here is a review. It's just about the same conclusion I reached. The gun is very light and nice but the aiming takes some getting used to.

Certainly this gun might be a big draw for fans of Star Trek. But it might not be for you.

But hell, for .50 cents I was more than willing to add this to my collection.

The Saturn is the only logical Choice.

Some New Acquisitions

2009-05-29T03:42:00.003Z

Sorry for the crappy video quality.......

Just thought that I would show off some of the new acquisitions I've made recently. First off is Marvel vs. Capcom 2 for DC.....yes, yes....I know this is Saturn Junkyard, but we're all DC fans right.....? Still not as cool as X-Men vs. Street Fighter or Marvel Superheroes vs. Street Fighter, but it completes my collection of the original 4 cross-over games as you can see.....all NTSC-J of course.

Next are some more DC fighting games. I've had the burned versions of these for years, but felt compelled to purchase the real deal. Street Fighter III 3rd Strike, Capcom vs. SNK 1&2, and Vampire Savior (special Jizz-free edition.....see post from a few weeks ago) which is one of the better fighters on the Saturn.

I'm a huge Capcom fighting fan....what can I say!

And last, but definitely not least.....the pinacle of Sega Saturn RPG, and basically Sega Saturn in General....Panzer Dragoon Saga. Yes, I broke down and bought a copy. I had some money burning a hole in my pocket, and have wanted a legit copy of this game for a long time.

I'll try to post a review of PDS and Vampire Savior....and a few other games over the next few weeks, but I probably won't post a review for PDS until I've completed it.

That's it for now.....over and out.

Neon World Sega Saturn review

2009-05-21T20:39:00.003Z

Just a fan-made, two part video about the Saturn and its games. Nothing we haven't seen already, but the passionate way this guy talks about the Saturn really got to me. It really shows how many Saturn fans there are out there, who still love the console as much nowadays as they did back in the day.

Modding goodness

2009-05-16T14:46:00.003Z

I got my Saturn modded! Amazing how, with a bit of luck, you can still find someone today who will mod your favourite retro system. I was that lucky, something I never thought possible in this videogame god-forsaken land. The timing was funny, since just a week or so before I attempted to do the 50/60 Hz mod thingy, based on a guide where you just had to solder two wires into two big pads on the Saturn's board. Only to find out that my board was a different model and that I needed to solder a wire either directly into a tracer in the board or into the tiny leg of a chip. Fuck.

Still, in a cosmic coincidente, I browsed miau (that's Portugal's eBay) for the first time in months, aimlessly, just for a kick, when I found a sale for the complete service of a mod chip and switch. 60 euros and two weeks later, I got my Saturn back, and it works like a charm! Bye-bye fucking swap-trick (that was annoying as hell when I just wanted to play for 5 minutes to relax) and black borders in my picture. Now it's just putting the disc in and it will play straight away, in full screen and at full speed. Yay!

Not my video, my cellphone camera is not that good

Now the only thing lacking is a region switch, but nothing an Action Replay 4M+ cart won't solve.

Radiant Silvergun - The Actual Review

2009-05-05T04:04:00.001Z

OK, well if you guys had actually read all the way to the bottom of my last post you would have seen that my comments about Radiant Silvergun weren't exactly true. And for those of you that actually believed that I found it at a local garage sale....well, keep dreaming. I did pay basically an arm and a leg for it, but to own one of the rarest Saturn Games ever..........priceless. On to the review:

Graphics: (8.5/10)
This game was released very late in the Saturn's life cyle, so there is no wonder why it looks really nice. Treasure did a nice mix of polygons and sprites, and for the most part the 3D models are very clean, and the amount of content that is usually on the screen looks great. There is a nice mix of colors, and most of the weapons look really nice. My only gripe is that some of the explosions look a bit cheese, and the level backgrounds are a bit to simple. I also think that Treasure should have used polygons to render the ships. Side note: the cover art is rad. It seriously looks better than any other saturn game, and pretty much any game these days.

Gameplay: (8.5/10)
Treasure always has a cool twist on the way their games play, and Radiant Silvergun is no different. I suppose the key to mastering this game is remembering the patterns of the enemies, and knowing when to use certain weapons. I've played the game a fair amount, since I did have a burned copy for quite some time, but I still die about 50 times playing through the arcade mode....no joke I'm certainly not a pro when it comes to schmups, but this game seems to be the most difficult schmup I've ever played. It is so awesome though when you sucessfully navigate through a screen completely filled with enemy fire. The whole Radiant Sword is an awesome idea too. Even though the game is extremely hard, I keep coming back for more punishment, so obviously it's hella fun! The control is super tight just like all of treasure's other games, and the level design stays pretty fresh thgouhout the whole game. You're always shooting enemies, but the bosses are all very unique, and the overall feel of each level is different as well.

Music and sound effects: (8/10)
Really good..I don't need to say much more than that. Again, Treasure has put together a rad sound track. How do I know? Becasue I hum the theme song in the shower. The sounds effects are not ground breaking, but certainly do the trick. Each weapon has it's own sound, and when a boss apears you get a cool warning sound.

Overall: (9/10)
The reasons I really like this game: 1) it's addictive gameplay; 2) can pick it up and play it for 30 mins every day, and it doesn' t get boring; 3) very original take on the shooter type of gameplay; 4) cool music; 5) great graphics for the SS; and 6) just overall a very fresh, fun game!

So is the game itself worth what I payed for it? I would have to say no. But obviously there is a reason I bought the real game when I already have a burned copy. Like I said above, owning a peice of Saturn history such as Radiant Silvergun is really cool. Basically my philisophy on Saturn and Dreamcast games these days are: if I download the game and really like it I will buy the original version, and this is how I felt about Radiant Silvergun. Obviously my feelings about this game go a little beyond that....but whatever...all I can say is that I'm pretty damn psyched that I actually own a copy of the game.....now if I can only find a copy of Panzer Dragoon Saga!

Some New Games

2009-05-03T00:01:00.002Z

Here's a few of the new titles that I recently picked up. All were very reasonably priced. I've been so damn busy lately, that I haven't really had time to do any 'real' gaming or write any reviews, but as soon as I have some time, I'll be filling up the posts. But just some general thoughts about each of these games:

Vampire Savior: awesome fighting game. I actually have all 3 titles in the Vampire/Darkstalkers series now. Any game that let's you be Red Riding Hood with a machine gun.....rules. I can definitely see where the 4Meg RAM cartridge went to work here. Nice animations, sounds etc. I'm a big Capcom fighting game fan, so this one fits in my library very nice.

Real Bout Fatal Fury Best Collection: I never really played much of the SNK fighiting games back in the day, and it hasn't been until more recently why I see that they have had so much support over the years. I think these games are geared towards a slightly more adult audience that the Street Fighter series. I haven't really played this one too much, so I can't really say much at this point.

Street Fighter Zero: I actually owned the original US verson for SS back in the day, and have another copy of it as part of the Street Fighter Alpha Anthology for PS2. This was very cheap on Ebay so I just had to pick it up. The Zero/Alpha series is my favorite of all the SF games. Zero doesn't really hold a candle to Zero 2 or Zero 3, but it is the game that introduced what would be the framework for the Alpha/Zero series....so I have to give it credit for that. It just feels clunky compared to the latter titles in the series.

Marvel Superheroes: Cool game...not my favorite of the Capcom fighting games though. Basically just an extension to X-Men: Children of the Atom. Again, mostly picked this one up as a collectors item...so I haven't played it too much. I think the overall fighting system is quite a bit different than the regular Street Fighter games, so I'm just trying to figure out moves and combos right now. Solid graphics, and has some cool game elements (high jumps and dashes) which made their way to the X-Men vs. Street Fighter et, al series.......which I totally love by the way.

Radiant Silvergun: This game totally fucking sucks.....a waste of money in my opinion. I'm glad I found this at a local garage sale for $2.00. I don't know why every one raves about this game.

Princess Crown: Really cool! I have Odin Sphere, but I never knew this game existed until not that long ago. Beautiful hand drawn graphics, with characthers that compltely fill up the screen. Great music, and as for the story.....I don't read Japanese...so It's kind of wasted on me. I just picked this one up a few nights ago, but so far I'm really impressed. I need to pick up a walkthrough so I can figure out what's going on. This is a pretty collectible game, and I got it at a very good price whcih I'm proud of!

For those of you who have made it this far in the post....thanks for reading, and I have a treat for you. I bought a stand alone copy of Vampire Savior from Ebay not that long ago, and I'm not gonna lie, it looks like some one jizzed inside of the manual. I'm not surprised if that actually happened, because it is a pretty awesome game. Anyways, I was a bit sad that I had bought a copy that really isn't in very good condition, so I spent some time on Ebay and eventually found the (box set) copy that is shown in the picture above. Anyways, the jizz copy (which I will refer to it from now on) is up for grabs. I mean, if you want it, just let me know and I will mail it to you. The game plays fine, and the front cover of the manual is decent looking, so it looks OK when it's in a case. There is no back cover because it is the version that came with the box set..so for those of you who own any Capcom fighting game box sets you will know what I am talking about. Also, the game is NTSC-J so you will need a SS that can play Japanese games, and it also requires a 4Meg RAM cartridge to play. The other condition is that upon receiving the jizz copy, you must make a video about how awesome it is that I sent it to you and post it here. By the way, if you actually believed my comments about Radiant Silvergun, then I'm not sending the game to you.

Is the import playable? Deep Fear.

2009-04-30T13:11:00.004Z

I have been getting some Japanese Saturn Games from Japanese Ebay stores lately since they sell for like $2.50 plus $2-$4 shipping.

I have decided to rate some of these games playability for people who cannot speak nor read Japanese.

First on the list? Deep Fear.

I have heard that the Japanese version of Deep Fear has a ton of English language text in it and the voice acting is in English as well.

But is it fully playable? Are some of the puzzles going to be impossible without a firm grasp of Kanji?

Stay tuned and find out.

Even Suicide Girls Like The Saturn.

2009-04-28T16:10:00.007Z

Kotaku is running a contest where people send in photos of themselves posing with things that are red. They are trying to promote the new Red Faction game (thus the whole "red" concept).

A Suicide Girl named Lacey sent in pictures and apparently she is a big fan of large red lightguns manufactured by Sega for the Saturn console if you catch my meaning...

...no really, she took a picture with a Sega Saturn "Stunner" lightgun.

So apparently the Saturn is a hit with nice looking young women with an affinity for fishnet stockings. Not surprising at all considering how awesome the Saturn is. Or maybe she just happened to grab the gun because it was red...

...you know what I am just going to go with my theory/fantasy that Lacey really likes the Sega Saturn and enjoys playing a round of Virtua Cop 2 or House of the Dead every once in awhile (while wearing fishnets of course).

The original article from Kotaku.

BTW: Sorry to bump your post NebachadnezzaR, but since this post featured both a girl and the Saturn I rated it critically important.

Happy Console Gamer - Guardian Heroes

2009-04-28T14:31:00.004Z

No, despite the title this is not another Angry Video Game Nerd rip-off. Quite the opposite, actually, since this is not a humorous video but a serious, accurate and in-depth review. Of an obscure Saturn game! Actually, for Saturn enthusiasts, Guardian Heroes is pretty well-known, despite the fact that most haven't played it. This is probably due to the fact that it's one of the most rare and expensive games out there. Not Radiant Silvergun or Psychic Killer Taromaru-expensive, but still it can cost you as much as a new Xbox 360 game or even more, depending on your luck.

I have a copy of it and played for a little bit once, but just to see if it was working or not, not to really play it, so I can't tell you much about it. This video sure made me want to play it seriously, though.

SSF Saturn Emulator guide

2009-04-18T18:37:00.004Z

There's a rather excellent article now on Racketboy regarding Saturn emulation. This is an interesting subject, since for many, many years gamers thought that emulating a Saturn would be impossible, due to its unique and complex architecture, but alas, they were proven wrong, and nowadays we already have some good examples of Saturn emulators. The best of all is, arguably, SSF, but it is as great as it is obscure, programmed by some unknown Japanese guy, and with an official webpage all in Japanese. So, for some of us, just getting the emulator to work may not be an easy task.

That's when this article comes in. Not only can you learn a bit about the emu's history, but there's also some rather great guides regarding everything related to it, from compatibility lists to set-up guides. Of course, for most of us, proud Saturn owners, this may seem somewhat irrelevant, since so far there's no real advantage in using the emu over a real console, but for those curious readers who follow us without even owning a Saturn, to the older fans who along the way lost their Saturns and want to relive the old days without having to invest on a new one, or even for us, hardcore Saturn fans, who want to try out betas and the like without the hassle of having to burn a cd and making it run on the console, SSF is a must.

Showing Off the Collection

2009-04-13T02:32:00.003Z

I've been getting some pretty good scores on EBay and locally the last little while, so I thought that I would show off my game collection as it stands these days:

Starting from top left:

- BUG!
- Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo
- Street Fighter Collection
- NHL '97
- World Cup Soccer '98
- Virtual On
- Vampire Hunter
- Guardian Heroes
- Akumajo Dracula X: Gekka no Yasoukyoku
- House of the Dead
- Sega Rally Championship
- Saturn Bomberman Fight
- Street Fighter Zero 2
- Virtua Fighter 2
- Manx TT Superbike
- Sega Touring Car Championship
- Nights Into Dreams
- Fighting Vipers
- Panzer Dragoon II: Zwei
- Daytona USA
- Burning Rangers
- Marvel Superheroes vs. Street Fighter w/ 4Meg Ram Cart
- Biohazard
- X-Men: Children of the Atom
- Christmas Nights
- King of Fighters '96

Not in picture (because they have no case)
- Virtua Cop
- NBA Jam TE

Lately I've been playing a lot of Nights, Marvel Superheroes vs. Street Fighter and Guardian Heroes.

Let's Go Away!

2009-04-01T20:25:00.004Z

In 2009 the Sega Saturn is celebrating its 15th birthday and it is indeed a good year for our beloved Saturn. As some sort of a birthday present, Sega is releasing a 4 CD Set of one of the greatest soundtrack to ever grace mankind's ears - Daytona USA. It will feature the music from the games Daytona USA, Daytona USA 2 and Daytona 2001 not only as the arcade versions, but also the great Sega Saturn and PC versions. Also expect some smashing remixes! The release date is the 9th of April 2009! Be sure to make a note in your calendar and order it in the official Sega Direct store (or shortly afterwards on ebay probably).

OBEY

2009-03-30T11:35:00.003Z

Yes. This is a 150 cm tall cardboard standee of 0ur master Segata Sanshiro. Please do not ask what I had to pay for it, because it was quite much. But money is nothing when it comes to Segata Sanshiro. If he calls, I'll pay. No matter how much.

I have nothing more to say.

A long Time Coming

2009-03-19T04:24:00.000Z

Wow, the posts certainly have dried up this week, every one must be glued to their TV's playing RE5 or something.....I know I am.

Anyways, a little while ago I said that I would write a short article about my history with Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter. Well, I finally decided to stop procrastinating......

I'm a huge Street Fighter fan, I've probably spent enough money in the arcades over the years playing SFII to actually buy a SFII arcade cabinet...I'm talking about a shit load of quarters. After playing the World Warrior, Championship, Hyper, and Super versions of SFII, the transition to the Alpha series was a little it weird. At first I thought the anime style graphics were too different, and being able to counter, air-block, pull of multiple super moves, etc. was all just a bit too much for me....at first anyways. I picked up "Warriors Dreams" in '96 for the Saturn and played it..a lot. By 1997 I was into other Saturn Games like Resident Evil and Tomb Raider, and basically stopped following the SF series.

In 1998 I started university, and lucky for me, there was a half-decent arcade on campus. There were some pretty good games like Tekken 3, Virtual On, Virtua Striker, King of Fighters '97, and Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter. I had seen X-Men vs. Street Fighter in arcades a year or so earlier, and never really thought much of it. I would say that I am a purist when it comes to a number of different things, and this was no different for the Street Fighter series. So to see non-SF characters fighting in a SF game.....well, you get the idea. After passing by the machine a few times I decided to give it a try. "Welcome to the adventure" the voice said. I have to say it took me a while to get used to the play mechanics of the game; tag team style play, super jump, fire balls in the air, cross-over combos etc., etc. After a few weeks of play I had become accustom to the new style and found it very entertaining. Like....holy fuck...70 hit combos...hell yeah. I love to see Spiderman take a fireball up the ass from Ryu & Akuma at the same time. Anyways, I really started to enjoy the play mechanics and overall feel of the game. My fondness grew, and grew, and grew......."damn I totally love this game".

It was a long walk up a very long hill from the dorm rooms to the arcade, but sometimes I found myself, alone , in the arcade at 1:00am (since the arcade was on campus, it was accessible 24h/day)....in my pajamas none the less. I would consistently make the night-trek to the arcade, in all types of weather just to have a few plays. There was something very serene about being in the lone, quite arcade, all by myself rocking fireballs and shoyou-reppa uppercuts. My friends would ask me where I was going, and thought that it was a bit weird that I would want to play this game when every one else was sleeping, but maybe that's what made it special.

After a while, I decided that I had to have this game at home. Lucky for me, it was available as an import for the Saturn, but the cost (I was a starving student at the time remember), was too much, and I was unable to procure the precious game. Knowing that it was out there, but I couldn't have it just added to the pain!

Time passed, and eventually the game was removed from the arcade, and eventually the arcade left as well. I had sold my Saturn, but I would never forget about the time I spent with MSH vs. SF. I purchased Marvel vs. Capcom for DC, but the game just didn't have the same 'feel', and I was still left longing for MSH vs. SF. Basically every other 2D fighting game I played since that time I compared to this game....and all left me feeling kind of empty inside.

Present day: I decide to rebuild my Saturn collection and finally get a copy of MSH vs. SF........HELL FUCKIN" YEAH. 12 years old, and this game still kicks major ass. The first time I popped it in and watched the start up screen I had a huge smile on my face, and felt so giddy...all of those good old memories rushing back. It still amazes me that the Saturn can rock such an awesome 2D game. It was a long wait, but well worth it! On a side note, I did pick up X-Men vs. SF as well, and that is a truly awesome game too (see my earlier post about that title). I'm a huge fan of SFII, the Alpha series, SFIII, and Capcom vs. SNK, but MSH vs. SF will always hold a very special place in my game library. I think I'm going to play a few matches right now.

GLRC- Daytona

2009-03-11T10:05:00.000Z

A gift from the heavens

2009-03-02T15:47:00.001Z

There I was, coming back home after a hard day at college (ok, I only had a two hour class, English, but it was still a pain to get up early and drive all the way to Aveiro and back...), when I notice something in front of my door. Nothing less than a big-ass package with my address written all over it (literally, it was written with a marker in giant letters). This could only be one thing: a package from our own dear Simon Early, known in teh interwebs as Father Krishna! Oh boy, was I excited about opening it up! :D

I didn't really know what to expect, although I always thought it would be only one thing. Was I in for a surprise... there was not just one thing inside, nor two, but four!!! Four gifts for me!!! :O

There was a black Dreamcast VMU, which may be something ordinary for most Dreamcast fans, but for me it's a life saver, since I (laugh all you want) only had one! Imagine my pain everytime I had to delete a saved game to make space for another... Now that wont happen again so soon!

Also for the Dreamcast there was a game, but not just any game. We're talking about the revolutionary Seaman! Oddly enough there was no actual game in there, don't know it that was the point or not, but anyway, the game I can easily download and burn. The case and manual on the other hand are more difficult to come up with.

Now, for the Saturn, there were two Japanese treats in there. One was that little hidden gem called Burning Rangers, which I've never played before, despite J saying such good things about it. There final, and most awesome of gifts, was...

*suspense*

*no suspense, since the video above already spoiled it...*

A sealed Japanese copy of Christmas NiGHTS!!! OMFG!!! O_O That's, like, the dream of every Saturn fan to have something like that! OMG! I don't know what to say, Father, thank you so much for everything! You're the man! :D

Swap, Shock & Rock

2009-03-01T21:06:00.000Z

What a wonderful Saturnalia! I had such a good time reading every one's posts.....so much good stuff....and here's the first post of March.......

I'm not a big fan of downloading back-ups of games, but when certain titles are very hard to come by, sell for exorbitant prices, or if you just know they will suck, and you're going to toss the disc after a single play, then I don't feel too bad. If I have the option to purchase a real game I will do so. As many of you know I've been rebuilding my Saturn collection as of late, and even though I don't have all of the original titles that I once did, I now think I have a better overall library of games. I've been wanting to pick up some of the more sought after Saturn games (i.e. Radiant Silvergun, Panzer Dragoon Saga, and Guardian Heroes), but man are they expensive. No doubt I will one day buy them, but right now I just have to wait for that day. I've never actually played any of these games, although I do have Panzer I & II, and Ikaruga for Dreamcast (basically Radiant Silvergun pt. 2), and I'm a huge fan of 2D Beat 'em Ups....so I know that I would enjoy Guardian Heroes just from the videos I've seen, and reviews that I've read.

SWAP:
So anyways, back in the day I got pretty involved in the Dreamcast backup scene....again, to supplement my DC library with the games that I just couldn't find or couldn't afford to buy. But I've never played around with backups for the SS. Neither of my SS are moded. I do have the Action Replay to play imports, but that's it. A while ago I tried the swap trick but didn't have too much luck there either. I really wanted to play Guardian Heroes, and after a few visited web pages I was able to find a working copy (or so it claimed). Thanks to my knowledge with the DC back-ups, burning a working Saturn disc wasn't too difficult. I then decided to give the swap trick another try........and what do you know.............success!

SHOCK:
You have to open up your Saturn in order for the swap trick to work. A little bit of tape needs to be applied to the button that tells the Saturn that the disc cover is closed. Now, I haven't done too much work with electric devices, but the one thing I know is that you should unplug electric things before you take them apart. And yes, you know what happend next......of course I didn't unplug the system and my hand fully grazed the back of the mother board while it was not only plugged in, but turned on as well...damn I'm a loser. We'll I'm just glad that I didn't ruin anything, at least that I know of. I did get a pretty nasty shock, and the back of the circuits pocked my hand too.....not fun.

ROCK:
After all was said and done, I have been rocking Guardian Heroes.......hard. It's truly amazing that a game like this was around more than 10 years ago. I'm already tracking some legit copies on eBay, and I can't wait until I actually get my hand on one. The graphics and gameplay (for a 2D fighting game) are better than anything I have seen on recent consoles, with the only exception being Princess Crown & Odin Sphere. I'll definitely be spending some quality time with this gem.

Again, let me emphasize that I don't really condone back-ups...but I suppose that I'm a hypocrite for doing so anyways. But if it's the only way to play some of these hard to find games, then so be it. But until I can acquire the legit copies, I'm going to have to feel just a little bit dirty every time I put a CD-R in my Saturn.

Games of my life - Part 2

2009-02-25T16:10:00.003Z

Now that Saturnalia is coming to an end (wow, what a month...), I finally decided to write the second part of this...post...article...thingy... Anyway, while in the first part I focused on the games (and demos) I loved back when I was a kid and got my first Saturn, now I'm going to talk about the second coming. Of the Saturn, that is. More specifically the games I discovered, and played to death, when I got my second Saturn some years ago and seriously got into it. So, let's go:

Panzer Dragoon

OMFG, this game is GOD! O_O
Seriously, although I used to play the Zwei demo when i was a kid, I only really got into these games recently, when I beat the first one, got halfway through Zwei and beat Orta on the Xbox. This series is so surreal, there's nothing like it ou there. Sega knew their shit, and this proves it. Techically and gameplay-wise this game rocks, but for me what really sets it apart is really that, the ambience, the mood it puts you in. A mandatory experience for any gamer.

Alien Trilogy/Exhumed

I decided to put these two together to keep the post shorter. Definitely my favourite FPSs on the Saturn, they both excell at what they do. They're easy do play (but somewhat difficult to master), addictive and engaging. Oh, and they got nice graphics too, and don't give you headaches like most old-school FPSs do when played nowadays. To sum it up, they're what a good 32-bit FPS should be. Individual kudos to Alien, for being fucking scary at times, and to Exhumed, for making an excellent use of the egyptian theme (and for ripping off the name of Iron Maiden's album in the US release).

Keio Flying Squadron 2

Best. Saturn. 2D platformer. Forget about Rayman. Yeah, that one's cute, but this is the real deal. You take control of a cute girl dressed like a playmate (no shit) and beat up racoons with a hammer (again, I shit you not!). This game is awesome! No, not just because of those features, they're just bonuses. What matters is that the gameplay is spot-on, the control is tight, the graphics make full use of the Saturn's awesome 2D capabilities and there's even some variety to the gameplay, with horizontal shmup stages that resemble the first game. If you like platformers you absolutely got to play this game.

Loaded

Mindless, brutal fun. An overhead action game where you control some pretty bizarre characters and just shoot everything that moves. It's pretty gory, but in the Mortal Mombat kind of violence, in that it doesn't take itself too seriously, which just adds to the fun. Perfect for those moments when you just wanna kill everything in sight without thinking too much. Also, the music's pretty good too.

(watch the intro, it's pretty cool)

Firestorm Thunderhawk 2

I played this one not too long ago, and it was a damn good surprise, because I didn't really knew what to expect and it turned out as a pretty good action game. Yes, you control a helicopter, but this is no simulation, just pure action. The chopper's really easy to control, the gameplay is strangely addictive, the graphics are rather nice for a game that has to show a lot of things on screeen at the same time, and there's a lot of variety to the missions, both when it comes to scenery and objectives. Overall a pretty good game that should appeal to every action game fan. Not to mention not every game out there let's you unleash a firestorm on your enemies from above.

3D Experience

2009-02-24T02:00:00.005Z

So, since right now Manx TT is the only SS game in my library that fully uses the Saturn 3D pad capabilities, I haven't really used the 3D pad that I bought last year from the local pawn shop very much. The pad is in really nice shape, and all the buttons, work very well, and the analog stick and analog triggers have very smooth action in them...(i.e. there isn't any wobble/play in them). After I was done a my Manx TT session last night I decided to have a go on Panzer Dragoon 2: Zwei. I found that the 3D analog pad controls the aiming reticule quite nicely in Panzer, but I was curious why my dragon rider would only change directions to the right....then it hit me.....my 3D pas is broken.

I guess I didn't notice this in Manx TT since the bikes don't show a brake light, and I never really brake all the much when I play anyways. Well, I now know that I don't ever brake in that game. Anyways, I was just planning on salvaging the working digital functions of the controller as a regular back up, but I was really sad because I now don't have a fully functional 3D pad....and I've got a copy of Nights and Christmas Nights coming from Ebay. Being the curious, tinkering type of person that I am, I decided to open up the controller to see if I could find out what was wrong with it. There were no rattling pieces inside, and as I mentioned earlier, the movement action of the broken trigger felt absolutely fine. I spent some time on Google, but wasn't able to find anything about fixing a broken Saturn 3D pad. I have opened up some Dreamcast pads in the past, but ended up doing more harm than good I think.

It took me a little while to narrow down the problem, but I finally noticed that there was a magnet stuck to the outside of the right (working) trigger. After some more inspection I realized that the magnet had actually fallen out of the left trigger and made it's way through the body of the unit, and attached itself to the magnet inside of the right trigger. After a few attempts I was able to get the magnet back inside the left trigger, and after some trial and error (turning the saturn on and off) was able to get the magnet facing the proper side, and actually had the left trigger working again! I've never really read about how analog controllers work, but after this little session I'm kind of thinking that it has to do with the proximity of the magnet to a conductor or something like that ..i.e. the further the magnet is away from the source the less the trigger is actually being pressed.

In the end I'm very happy since I don't have to buy a new 3D pad. And I managed to snap a few pictures of the event....just in case any one wanted to see the inside of a 3D pad.