Killing Pixels Part Deux: Saturn Games in HD

I was about to title this post “Saturn games in 4K”, which would’ve sounded much more impressive, but alas, I don’t own any 2160p monitor to record footage from and didn’t want to sound like a liar, so let’s settle for HD then.

Mind you, 1080p is still a much bigger number than 240p – the Saturn’s original resolution (yeah, some games run in 480i, let’s not go there for the sake of simplicity), and because resolutions are areas and not lines having a number that’s more than 4 times higher means an actual increase in the order of 16x.

Killing Pixels - How to make your emulated games look old-school

Remember when I said I’d write a full, in-depth article about emulating Saturn games? This is not it.

Sorry.

Instead, I’m just going to whet your appetite for one of the many wonders of emulation or, in case you’ve already dipped your toes in this huge pool, I’ll walk you through the process of enhancing your experience.

You too can watch this miracle transformation on all the games you love and cherish.

[open the picture for full effect]

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Christmas NiGHTS Longbox Repro?!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from the Junkyard Crew!

In keeping with the season, we have an awesome surprise in store for you. Thanks to the hard work and dedication of David Lee, a host over at Sega Saturn, Shiro!, we now have beautiful US Long Box artwork for Christmas NiGHTS Into Dreams. To do even better, the guys over at the Sega Saturn, Shiro! Podcast have made the PDF files availible so you can make your own. 

You can find a link to the artwork here:

https://segasaturnshiro.podiant.co/e/35c7f5eb894318/

While you're at it, show the guys some love and drop by their YouTube Channel. 

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfTSQ67HNTG7ENRNU_XGFUA

Dare to Dream: A Saturn Plug 'n Play?

I wasn't planning to contribute much to this blog, given the dearth of recent news about the Sega Saturn... but somehow, I managed to turn up something relevant. Retro-Bit claims that it will launch a series of devices based on Sega consoles, including the Sega Genesis, Sega Dreamcast, and (wait for it...) the Sega Saturn.

The announcement, unfortunately, comes with no small measure of confusion. Retro-Bit describes these upcoming products as "accessories," making you think that they're just going to crank out some compatible controllers and call it a day. Yet later in the press release, the company claims that these accessories "feature the same great quality as their original Sega counterparts like the original console port, but also with modern upgrades such as a USB® port for PC compatibility and Bluetooth® wireless technology." That sounds a little closer to the plug 'n play devices we've been getting from companies like Radica, AtGames, and more recently, Nintendo.

Adding to the confusion is the fact that the Sega Saturn has been stubbornly resistant to emulation thanks to its peculiar hardware design. Could Retro-Bit really deliver on a Saturn plug 'n play when Saturn emulation has never advanced beyond "barely adequate?" Furthermore, the massive size of Saturn games relative to the cartridge ROMs in past plug 'n plays prompts questions about what would be included in this device, and what could realistically fit. The Super NES Classic has 512MB of storage... that would be just enough room for, uh, one sixth of Panzer Dragoon Saga.

You can find more information about Retro-Bit's upcoming plug 'n play consoles (what little there currently is...) by clicking this link. The systems will be shown off at the Consumer Electronics Show held early next month, and believe me when I say that I will be watching this reveal very, very carefully.

Saturn controllers for your Personal Computing needs

So, you want to play on your PC using a Saturn controller. Maybe you’re trying out a Saturn emulator (a topic which I’ll cover in depth in a future article) and want to keep the experience as true to the original as possible, or you just want to play native PC games with one of the best gamepads ever made (FACT), perfect for titles like Street Fighter which were made with six face buttons in mind.

You basically have two options: you can either buy an adapter for your original gamepad, or buy a whole new controller with a native USB connection, of which there are many.

I myself faced this dilemma sometime ago and tried to do as much research as I could, because for me spending hours reading stuff on the internet is half of the fun of buying a new product (I'm only half joking). Unfortunately I couldn't just try every solution out for myself and in the end had to buy only one product, so my hands-on experience is limited. Fortunately our friends from the Facebook SJY group are a resourceful bunch and, armed with their feedback, I feel confident in my assessment.

So, without further ado:

The Saturn/USB adapter

It basically does what it says on the package. It's a little box with a port for your controller on one end (with most featuring other inputs besides the Saturn, like Playstation) and a USB cable on the other end that you connect to your PC. There are various brands and models, one of the most popular being made by Mayflash, a company with a good reputation for gaming accessories.

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Opening Up Your Saturn Library

Hey Saturn Fans! No sooner do we get the wise words and slightly dodgy anime of the Virtua Schlub over here at the Saturn Junkyard, but now we are blessed with the most wonderful epistle from another one of our Trans-Atlantic correspondents, this time in the shape of The Southern Sega Gentleman. Very soon, he'll be here at the 'Yard and able to pen his articles right here from Blog Central, but until then, I'm going to post it for him. So although my name appears at the bottom, this is not my work. To ensure no one thinks I'm trying to pass it off as my own, I'll use the 'guest font and colour'... So without any further ado, I'll leave you in the care of the southern Sega Gentleman...

So now that you’ve gotten your first Saturn, or maybe you’ve busted it out of the jail that is your closet, what’s next? Well, you could throw down a few bucks for a cheap title or two, maybe even splurge and drop $50 on a disc only copy of Resident Evil. More than likely though, you’ll come to find out, quite soon in fact, that the Saturn is not the friendliest console when it comes to the wife or the wallet. Don’t go giving up hope or trying to sell that baby yet though! In this article we aim to show you that there are many avenues to consider when you don the hat of SEGA Saturn owner.

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2D Fighter Kicks 3D Fighter's Ass!

One of the biggest revelations from my current revision of the Sega Saturn, is the brilliance of 2D fighting games. A genre which failed to excite me when the console was current, 2D fighters seemed cheesy, over the top, brash, outdated, cartoonish and comical. This was in comparison to what I perceived then, as 'realistic' 3D fighters, which I could not get enough of. For me, the characters of the Virtua Fighter series were far more interesting and strangely enough, believable (as if realism was an important factor in gaming!)  The ability to take on the persona and moves of a mysterious, yet understated combatant like Kage from Virtua Fighter--a character akin to the ninjas and martial arts masters I had admired in the kung fu movies of my youth--was loads more appealing than martialling the impossible theatrics of  Ryu, or the limb stretching slap-happiness of Dahlsim!

Now time has done a sneaky switcheroo on us, and the cartoon-like graphics of the 2D fighter have weathered the passage of the decades far more effectively than their 3D counterparts. Whilst the pointy and angular graphics of the Saturn's later software, --for example Sarah Bryant or Lion in 'Virtua Fighter 2'-- look undeniably dated by today's standards, the 'side on' two dimensional perspective of the  2D fighter-- for example 'Street Fighter Alpha'-- has emerged as more of a 'classic' look than an antiquated one. Whilst I'm talking about this genre, my only experience of these titles on the Saturn are those produced by Capcom. I'm hugely looking forward to exploring the SNK releases that so many Saturn fans hold dear, but I cannot speak about them from a position of knowledge at this time...

There are other factors at work in making the 2D fighter, particularly those from the Capcom stable so relevant in 2017-- and one of those factors is the longevity of Street Fighter as an IP. Whilst the 'Virtua Fighter' characters are fast becoming a faded memory in the mainstream gaming market, the assembled characters from Capcom's 2D biggest franchise, 'Street Fighter' still command big budget releases. They have a commercial relevance and familiarity today, that Akira Yuki, Lau Chan and Wolf Hawkfield cannot claim, however much we want them to. We've seen Ryu and Ken in recently successful iterations of Street Fighter, such as Street Fighter 4 and Street Fighter 5. It's interesting to note that character models and the overall format of the games, were not altered much at all for the '2.5D' reboot, however... proof of the old adage "If it ain't broke, don't fix it.".  Capcom themselves knew that the 2D fighter was not a genre that needed much upgrading.

The updating of the Marvel vs. Capcom franchise, and it's subsequent commercial success, plus the critical acclaim of the Wii's "Tatsunuko vs. Capcom" is also proof of the enduring love for the 2D fighter.

Talking of character mash-ups, Capcom's willingness to bring the characters from anime, comics and even rival software publishers for their 2D fighting releases mean that we have some monumental titles, full of charm and individuality. The range of 2 D fighters available for the Saturn vastly outnumbers that of 3D fighters. The flirtation with Marvel has been a very lucrative one, both critically and commercially, as the original titles that they produced with the company proved to be big sellers. Stand alone 'Marvel' games such as 'Marvel Superheroes' and 'X Men Children Of The Atom' brought superheroes and super-humans into the arena. Who wouldn't want to fight as Hulk, Spider-Man or Wolverine?  A stroke of genius to then pit them against the cast of Street Fighter! We're all prone to those "I wonder who'd win in a fight between..." questions. Here was a chance to find out! An unforeseen factor has been how much the Marvel brand has exploded in the wider public consciousness over the last few years.
As Marvel's movie franchises continue to play to the tastes of the mainstream, it's cast of characters again command a relevance in the zeitgeist of 2017, the whispers of which, resonate through when playing either of the games mentioned above, or indeed the wonderful crossover 'X Men vs. Capcom'.

So playing the 2D Fighters in my own collection is taking up a lot of my time at the moment. I'm getting to the stage that I understand the repertoire of moves for many of the characters I fight as, so now I'm just trying to perfect the timing and combos. I'm unfortunately tempted to rotate each game regularly in my playlist, rather than sticking to one and perfecting my moves or honing my skills with a particular character. That's been a problem for me for some time. I suffer from FGS... Flighty Gamer Syndrome. I'm rarely able to focus on one game long enough to be able to play it to my full potential. And these are games that are made to be mastered!

So what games are rocking my world at the moment? Let's take a look!

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Sega Saturn- An Informal Beginner's Guide For Beginners (Part II) The Games!

I'm very pleased to be able to bring you part 2 of Brian Vines most excellent "Sega Saturn -  A Beginner's Guide For Beginners" This time, Brian focuses on the stand out games that an aspiring Saturn collector might want to add to his or her library, without needing to take out a second mortgage to procure them!

The Sega Saturn boasts a solid library of exclusive software, but it's not going to be everything to everyone, as it specialised in some particular types of games and genres over others. The Saturn excelled in vibrant, arcade style offerings that were easy to learn, yet difficult to master. As you make your way through the consoles more value oriented offerings, these are likely the types of games you'll find yourself playing, as you patiently search for decent deals on the more elusive heavy hitters. I mean, Panzer Dragoon Saga is great, but it's just not worth going out and dropping several hundred dollars on right away. There are so many other great and more affordable Saturn games out there, its a far better use of time and money to focus on getting those first.

If I were jump starting a collection on the cheap, I'd first search my preferred auction website for a decent bundle for sale. This can be a bit cheaper than buying games piecemeal can be. When it comes to the Saturn, everyone seems to think they know what they're selling (and will often charge accordingly, usually excessively) so you'll need to be very patient. In general, I'd recommend some of the following titles. Whilst this is by no means an exhaustive list of all the great and reasonably priced games the platform has to offer, these should make some mice additions to a well rounded starter collection, in no particular order.

NiGHTS into Dreams - Oh yeah, I forgot to mention a small detail about the Saturn. Bafflingly, Sega and Sonic Team never made  a proper, mainline Sonic game for it. However, they did produce this little gem, which is an incredibly unique 2.5D flying jester simulator. It's fast like a Sonic game, but with free form verticality and nifty aerial acrobatics. It controls very smoothly, but the 3D analogue pad is all but mandatory. It's also a gorgeous title that does an admirable job of putting the Saturn through it's paces.

DecAthlete/Athlete Kings & Winter Heat: Fans of Konami's classic Track and Field or other Olympic themed button mashing games of that style-- will feel right at home with these summer and winter sports events titles, respectively. They both have super simple gameplay.: for most events you're tapping a button until its time to hit another one- with timing and precision dictating your success--yet somehow these games manage to be damn fun, despite their streamlined game mechanics. Even better, you'll often find tripping and falling on your face is a fun alternative to playing the events properly. If I had to pick one, I'd pick Winter Heat.

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Segata Sanshiro Spotted On New Dreamcast Mini-Disc!

We're well aware of our heritage over here at the Saturn Junkyard. Indeed, the place wouldn't exist if it hadn't been for the establishment of the Dreamcast Junkyard and it's magnificent benevolence in terms of mentorship and guidance.

It provided inspiration for, and encouragement of, this very site, way back at the start of the millennium in around about 2006... And it still is, for the Dreamcast Junkyard have run a fine article on the game Dreamcastnoid and highlighted the appearance of everyone's favourite Elvis-wigged, Judo-suit-rocking, Teen-beating, superhero...SEGATA SANSHIRO!


And here he is in all his monochrome ghostly glory!

Who's that lurking in the shadows?

And thanks again for the source material to the Dreamcast Junkyard!

Sega Saturn: An Informal Beginner’s Guide for Beginners

It's only been a matter of days since the padlocks and chains were removed from the doors of the Saturn Junkyard, the dust was blown off the blogging machinery, and the old place swung into action once more. Since then we've had two articles sent to the 'Yard! One you've already seen, a very personal account of the effect receiving a Saturn had on one 14 year old back in 1996 (our Kev).
Today, It is my great pleasure to present to you  part one of :

"Sega Saturn: An Informal Beginners Guide For Beginners" by Facebook group member, Mr. Brian Vines.
His work is written in red, to ensure no one thinks I am attempting to pass it's excellence off as my own!

Part one discusses the hardware and gives some salient and economic advice to new and existing Saturn owners. Part two, to be showcased in a few days time, will cover the best Saturn software available without breaking the bank!

So you just bought a Sega Saturn - - Good for you.
Or perhaps you're considering getting one. Or perhaps you've always owned a Saturn, but have just remembered that fact until today. Or perhaps you despise the Sega Saturn, in which case I'm not sure why you are reading this, but kudos for expanding your horizons!

So now what? Where do you start with your brand new, state-of-the art, decades-old console? What should you expect? Would you like to kick off your Saturn library with some worthwhile games whilst still having some money left over for food? Any other useful tips to consider?

Well here's a bit of help. While this article is by no means comprehensive, you could consider it an informal starter's guide to help get the ball rolling on your new/future/forgotten/non-existent Sega Saturn home video game console. I'll briefly touch on various topics throughout this post, though nearly everything here could warrant it's own in-depth article to properly delve into the ins and outs of every aspect. There's also a lot I'm going to miss, including game pads and peripherals, hardware variations, emulation options, all of it's incredible RPGs, shoot 'em ups , and 'Bug!' - which may be the most glaring omission of all...

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