Saturn Graffiti

No big news today, but it seems that flickr user big daddy keylow was quite in love with a very special console when he painted his graffiti artwork. Is it just me or does the sphere in the middle resemble the Sega Saturn logo? After reading the description of the piece on his flickr account it's clear, that he indeed thought about the Saturn, when painting it. He even won a console with it as well, since he was competing in some kind of graffiti competition in the UK! That was back in 1996, when the Saturn was still hot for many people (and maybe tepid for a few). We still want to congratulate big daddy keylow for his achievment and would love to see some Sega Saturn worshipping in 2008, too!

Video Game Vault - X-Men: Children of the Atom

Yup, it's time for another VGV. Ok, I know I've been posting VGV's like crazy, but hey, it's not my fault that those guys over at Screwattack have been making lot's of videos directly or indirectly related to the Saturn, and I feel like it's my duty to post them!

This time around they didn't pick up a good game...they picked up a game full of awesome! (yeah, I'm starting to get infected by their unique sense of humour...) Anyway, what they say in the video is nothing new here at the Saturn Junkyard. Our most beloved Father Krishna talked about this very game here, J shared his thoughts on one of that article's comments, and even I made a little post about it here.

I guess finally we all agree about a game's quality :)

Sega Saturn Consumer Brochure Winter 1995

The "Sega Saturn Consumer Brochure Winter 1995" probably has the longest name in the history of Sega Saturn memorabilia, but I couldn't think of a better one. It basically is a 28 page heavy consumer brochure for the Sega Saturn games - and in small parts peripheral - program of the winter 1995. I bought it for an insane amount of money and felt the urge to scan it, since I paid 18 EUR (26.76 USD) for it... whoops! I actually wanted to keep that a secret, but there you go. Call me nuts.

Download a 14 Megabyte PDF of it*

Apart from waking a really warm and fuzzy nostalgia in me, it isn't actually that special. It's really nice to read the marketing blah blah of the 90s, tho. For example: Did you know, that "Sim City 2000" has "brilliant 3D graphics, that do justice to the Saturn's 3D abilities"? I certainly didn't and thought it was a 2D game all those years! Other than that, it still features "Descent" as a coming soon game, which we all know by now, never saw the light of day on the Saturn. Which is a shame, really. The only guys to be able to make a decent port would have been "Lobotomy Software", but they were still working on Exhumed, which was called "Ruins" in the brochure.

And uhm... did I already mention that the whole brochure is in German? No? Well... never mind and download it anyways, since it's visually very well made and the AM2 Interviews are uninteresting and meaningless anyways.

*I really recommend Foxit PDF Reader, because it's a) freeware, b) reliable, c) small and d) opens much faster than Adobe programs. Go download it here!

The best and worst Sonic games

I know this is not exclusively Saturn related, but hey, it's Sonic!

Now I have to say, this is a pretty good video to watch, and hey, they didn't make fun of Sonic Adventure! Yup, in fact they consider it one of the good Sonic games (SA2 was way better, but fuck it), and the number 1 is...ok, I dont't want to spoil your fun, but trust me, they certainly made a good choice.

Now, about the bad Sonic games...I totally, completely disagree with their choice for worst Sonic game. I have to admit, I played that game sometime ago, both the Saturn version and the PS2 one (on one of those Sonic collections, Sonic Gems Collection I think) and I didn't have much fun, but to consider it the worst Sonic game? Come on, both Sonic 3D and the last Sonic "next-gen" sucked more.

Talking about it, I think I'm going to play some Sonic on my 360. Yeah, I have the game (I'm a true Sonic fan, after all) and yes, it sucks ass, but it's still Sonic...

Sega Saturn Print Ad Galore

Whilst browsing google's image search for Sega Saturn related imagery - again - I found this particular awesome Segata Sanshiro Shinken Yugi print ad, which was scanned from a japanese Sega Saturn magazine. Segata's face this detailed (click the pic for a much larger version!) is a rare occasion and should be perceived by everyone who calls himself a Sega Saturn fanatic. Too bad Segata's face is kind of bleak / transparent and thus not perfect for future photoshopping / reference.

The source of the pic turned out to be some kind of spanish message board with an extensive gallery of Sega Saturn related imagery sorted by the categories wallpapers, print ads and hardware. It's a really nice collection, so...

Give it a try!

On a sidenote: I also found this great and highres picture of a Virtua Fighter 32x print ad, which may be the only time you are able to see an artist's impression of a dad and his son playing Virtua Fighter on the 32x plugged into a Mega Drive. Including a screenshot of Virtua Fighter painted with what looks to me like oil paint. Very great.

Dark Legend, Mediocrity at it’s most mediocre

I usually love, like or hate a video game.

It's always one of those three responses.

However, I just got a large collection of Saturn games from a nearby thrift store and one of those games has changed all that.

Dark Legend

I found myself actually playing it as I tested out the rest of my haul. It was a strange experience because this game left me feeling NOTHING AT ALL.

No sense of, "Hey that was kinda of cool" or "What the hell didn't they play test this game at all????!!!!".

Nothing.

It looks like Street Fighter 2 running off DOS and that's how it plays too. Even the combos and special moves in game are the same. Playing the game is a little better than sitting and watching paint dry, but without the possibility of getting a little high off the fumes.

This sort of game SHOULD be blistering fast on the Saturn but somehow the developers managed to slow down the action just to the point where you would notice it.

But it wasn't actively negative in any way either. It LOOKS like a classic 2D fighter. In fact it kind of looks a lot like Samurai Showdown. It's controls are not as bad as some of the fighters I have played on the Saturn (but they weren't great).

Play was not so hard as to make me want to beat the next guy. It wasn't TOO easy but easy enough for me too lose interest quickly. In fact using the Saturn controller was probably the only thing keeping me playing since it's such joy to use after using "modern" controllers.

It was just very very bland.

In fact the only thing that made me react at all was the horrible intro video. It shows how very little anyone cared about making this game look good. WTF is that mascot/logo THING???



I won't even rate this game.

If you LOVE 2D fighters and have enough game carts and CDs to make a small game case fort in your living room than yes, you might want to spend $5 American on this.

Otherwise unless you are a collector I can't help but think you are better off saving up for a copy of Street Fighter Alpha or X-men.

I hope to get a video of my new Saturn stuff up soon as well as rate some of the cool games I got.
You guys have been doing an awesome job of posting here!

EDIT:

If you are a collector, than yes. This game still has a place in your collection. I have recently been playing alot of really excellent fighters for the Saturn and that may have screwed up my perceptions of this game.

However, I stand by my review. It's not a great game. It's not a horrible game. If you can find it for a cheap price and like 2D fighters you will just have to decide if you want to try it out for yourself.

Sometimes a game like this is like a nice hot bowl of oatmeal or plain tomato soup. It may be a bit bland but it can still be a comfort.

Saturn Splurge!

I've got Sega Rally Revo sitting there under my TV. A graphically lucious, 360 compatable, current gen, rallytastic treat. So what did I just do for the last hour and a half? That's right, I sat and played the original on my Saturn, trying to shave seconds off my time so I can beat the World Championship. I then played about twenty minutes worth of Sega Rally 2 on the Dreamcast, to see how it compared to the original... Quite frankly it didn't.

Still a great driving game, the Dreamcast version feels too heavy, clunky if you will. Having held the Saturn controller for so long, the Dreamcast controller felt too weighty and strangely so did the car it was controlling. But I digress...

My evening started off trying out my recently accquired Saturn demo disc"Sega Flash Vol. 3" given away free with Issue 15 of Sega Saturn Magazine (January 1997). As well as video of Fighting Vipers, NiGHTS, Virtua Cop 2, Dark Saviour, Bug Too and Mr. Bones, this lovely disc also contains playable demos of Virtual On (can't say I was that impressed), Tomb Raider (Yay!) Sega Worldwide Soccer '97 (only one half of a match though!) and Daytona USA CCE (driving the Hornet around Dinosaur Canyon), which inevitably lead me to think... "Hmm! driving... Saturn... SEGA RALLY!" and that was that... With the familiar ignition sound, I was off... But I digress once more...

I've been a bit naughty friends... I've had a bit of a 'splurge' spending-wise on coveted Saturn items... let me share with you the recent Saturn goodies I've secured from eBay over the last week... I'm currently waiting for them to arrive...

The first thing was... Virtua Fighter Remix. Apart from Virtua Fighter 5, I now own every incarnation of the franchise. This re-release or 'update' of the original had higher-polygon models, and believe it or not, a copy was sent free to every registered Saturn owner in the US!



*Harumph!* another smack in the eye for European gamers... But a copy is now winging it's way towards Krishna Towers so I can't complain...

And talking of Virtua Fighter, one of the purchases I'm most excited about is... (wait for it...)


"Virtua Fighter THE COMIC!" Issue No.1, produced by Marvel. Now I love comics, particularly Marvel Comics and this one's about Virtua Fighter characters! I never even knew it existed till I stumbled across it... Happy days! And at only £3 including postage, it represents the biggest bargain of the splurge!


OK, next. Pandemonium... Sound familiar? This is a game I loved on the PSX, but I never knew had a Saturn release. A medieval jester-themed platformer, this psychedelic bounce-fest is a real blast, with gorgeously garish graphics, weird monsters, freeze and fire rays, slides and trampolenes and mushrooms... Lots of mushrooms! Great stuff!

A paradoxically 'hot property' on the SJY at the moment, I just couldn't resist buying Winter Heat, the Alpine themed brother of the wonderful Athlete Kings. With all of the lovely video recently posted, plus all of the reccomendations for my Saturn colleagues it was a must buy!


But perhaps the one I'm looking forward to getting the most is Burning Rangers! The wonderful review by J, plus his demands for it's Wii remake, have left me salivating for the game. But, not one to do things by half, I'm not just getting the game, but also a rare Japanese demo of this hallowed title! Now this little bundle set me back nearly £30! So I guess you know how much I want it!

I'll let you know how it all works out!

Video Game Vault - Off-World Interceptor Extreme

Here's another VGV for ya!

Too bad it's another sucky game. They sure could pick up better games to review...

Well, at least they're showing some love for the Saturn, after countless 8/16 bits VGV's, particularly NES ones...

Anyway, here's Off-World Interceptor Extreme, featuring vehicles with such catchy names as Violator or VV Sector (WTF?).

Saturn Winter Special (2)!

Wow! I'm absolutely thrilled and delighted to have the opportunity to present this most fantastic follow up to nebacha's original 'Saturn Winter Special' post...

Whilst I was just sat there at the computer, commenting on J's most recent offerings, the following email came through, alerting me to the following comment on the original 'Winter Special' post.

"ArugulaZ said...
Hey, I'm the guy who created that video! Thanks for the publicity... it's just the kick in the pants I needed to finish the second half of the feature. You'll find that here, by the way:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4Ac48355W0Being a long-time Saturn fan, I really love what you guys are doing with this site. Keep it up! And for the wiseguy who said I sounded like Seaman in the intro... that was supposed to be James Earl Jones, but it's the lowest octave I could reach with my squeaky voice. :P"

By Segata! Our Lord moves in mysterious ways... For the God-like creator of the video that got me through that first post-Christmas downer, is actually here at the Junkyard, alerting us to the second cinematic oddyssey posted above! You see? January isn't all that bad!!

Segata! Bestow all your manifold blessings on dear ArugulaZ for the gorgeousity he has graced us with...

Sega Love For The Saturn

Sega has still a little bit of love available for the great Saturn. Well... at least they are not ashamed of it and so I recently found out that they still have a Sega Saturn page online as part of a Sega console history.

It features quite an interesting and detailed list of games for the Saturn. I didn't know that in 1999 there still were 16 games released. Other than that, the site features some neat little graphics, nice yet tiny pictures of a grey Saturn as well as a peripheral listing. It's nothing special, really, but maybe some people of you never had a look at the japanese homepage of the console, we all love so much.

Christmas is over...What reason is there to go on???

Greetings dear friends! For me, this is the most traumatic time of the year, as I have to say goodbye to my favourite Yuletide season. The partying is over, the decorations down and I'm off the booze. Yet, the weather is still crap, the nights are still long and I now have to get up for work everyday (in the dark!) At times like these, I have to look forward to things that sustain my will to live... One of these is the February release of the long awaited NiGHTS: Journey Into Dreams for the Wii... It's the only thing that's gonna get me through January!

Vectorized Model 2 Saturn

(click for bigger version)

Today I finished my vectorized Model 2 Sega Saturn. The round edges of it gave me quite a headache, since they were rather hard to fake with linear shading only. And for some odd reason the blend stuff in Corel Draw does not work at all for me. I actually like the Model 1 Saturns with the oval buttons more, but I choose the white japanese Saturn because a) japanese is always great and b) the white Saturn fits the artwork which I am planning much better. Yes, there's also an artwork in the works, but this is super secret, because it'll still take a while to finish it. You'll hear it hear first, of course.

Here are some details of the vector.

(click for bigger version)

Sega Saturn History Visual Collection DVD

I recently bought the so called "Sega Saturn History Visual Collection" DVDs volume 1 and 2. The DVDs with the shameless long names are actually part of some kind of Sega Saturn worshipping project by a company named Wave Master and came out with three little siblings in audio CD format; The "Sega Saturn History Part 1 and 2" as well as the "Sega Saturn History Vocal Collection" featuring plenty of tracks from your favourite Sega Saturn games. I'll try to give you more information about these, as soon as I bought them.

"But what's on the DVDs now?" you might ask. Well, I have asked myself that question for years, too (They came out in 2005). Because when browsing the net for some more Information about the DVDs, I actually found nothing. It seemed to me like no single human being on this planet earth has been buying these things, so I knew I had to buy them myself, to see what's the content like. I was hesitating all these years because the price tag for a japanese DVD isn't the cheapest on this earth. For one DVD I had to pay almost 46 USD! But well... there's a cute handdrawn Sega Saturn on the Cover, how could I resist?

Content of DVD 1:
- Intros and outros of your favourite Sega Saturn games.
- Some japanese guy playing Virtua Fighter 1 and 2
- Well... that's it!

So damn, that was quite a dissapointment. I was thinking about "a little bit more" like... TV commercials, making ofs, interviews or at least some additional concept art. But nothing. The DVD only contains Intros of games like Clockwork Knight, Panzer Dragoon or Virtua Fighter, which we know already anyways. The fact that they have the same lame quality, which they had back then, isn't something I'd consider a plus for the DVD. So the volume 1 DVD definitely isn't worth 46 USD.


Content of DVD 2:
- Intros and outros of your favourite Sega Saturn games.
- Some japanese guy playing Sega Rally
- 2 Segata Sanshiro Commercials in great quality.
- Well... that's... wait. Segata Sanshiro TV commercials? On DVD? In decent quality, like I've never seen them before?! Woo yay!!!

Yes, that's one of the best things about volume 2, as well as the saddest one. Why only 2 in god's name? I would love to have all of the awesome Segata Sanshiro commercials on DVD in superb quality. But no, they decided to release only two of them and fill the rest of the DVD - again - with intros and outros of our favourite... aw fuck man. I love the intros as well as the games, but I know them already. They aren't in a better quality on the DVD either. When I want to watch the Deep Fear intro, I'll just put in the game. But when I want to watch Segata Sanshiro, I have to watch either lame Quicktime versions of it or - even worse - browse YouTube. With all commercials on the DVD they would have been worth 46 USD, too!

The Intro of the DVDs is very lovely. You see your usual Sega Saturn menu, where you set the time and after setting it to 1994.11.22 (Its birthday!) it boots to the lovely Sega Hymn from the Segagaga game and some pictures of Saturn pamplets. But besides a lovely menu there's nothing left. Only the intros, which are played one after the other, without any kind of placeholder, so that you know that now the next video starts. That makes me really sad and it's a missed opportunity for Wave Master. Especially when you consider that the "Famicom 20th Anniversary Commemoration DVD" was awesome and quite successful, too.


So, I'll now buy the soundtrack CDs and hope, that they'll be a tad better. But what could they possibly do wrong with those?

Sega Saturn Flyer Archive

Well, you gotta love those japanese guys. The retrogaming scene - if you can call it like that - is quite big in Japan. You'll find tons of retrogames in countless shops, which are scattered around the big cities. Comedians are playing NES games in TV Shows. It is so big, that they release Soundtrack CDs of 20 year old games, even today!

Now I found that nice japanese website by accident, which features scans of Saturn games related Flyers. Yes, I know, it's all in japanese and you probably won't be able to read something. But the resolution is very nice, the quality even more so, both the front and back has been scanned and they are full of pictures! What more can you possibly ask for? The Navigation can be a bit tricky, tho. The game genres are in the upper left corner, and always check the lower left corner whilst browsing, since some genres have multiple pages of flyerscans! But nice as I am I also uploaded a little instruction screenshot.

(click for bigger version)

Funny: When writing this post, a great german Sega Saturn information repository came to my mind, which actually also features scans of old print ads as well as some videos and even radio ads! I recommend you check out its download section. The links are as follows...

Japanese flyers
European and Japanese print ads and TV commercials

Tetris Plus review.

Now here's a good Tetris game! To resume this game in just one sentence, basically everything that Tetris S made wrong, Tetris + makes it right. To be more specific, let's start with game modes. There's the usual classic mode, where you just play regular tetris until the screen gets filled with pieces and you lose; Vs. mode to play against a friend (as far as I can tell there's no way to play against the computer), Puzzle mode and Edit mode. And what are these two all about, I hear you ask?

In Puzzle mode you have to, as the title suggests, solve puzzles. When you start to play there's already a set of pieces on the screen and your goal is to clear them in order for the Professor (the very anime looking archaeologist from the cover) to reach the bottom of the screen. You must be quick though, for when the pieces start to fill the screen he starts to climb them and if he reaches the spiked ceiling it's game over. Very addicting and refreshing mode, no doubt.


Edit mode, as far as I know, let's you create your own puzzles. Haven't tried it out yet, but from what I've read about it looks like a good tool for the more creative gamers.

Gameplaywise, this game rocks. The controls are way more responsive than in Tetris S and you totally feel like you're in control. Graphically this is also a very appealing game. The backgrounds are nothing out of the ordinary but they do their job and the overall presentation is great. The loading screens are animated, the main menu is colourful and the little characters are just damn cute.


My only complaint is about the playing field that fills only the left half of the screen. I assume the right half is intended for a second player, since there's a "press start" sign on it, but nevertheless it's a shame that we just play on half of the tv.

Anyway, if you're looking for a good, challenging and kind of innovative Tetris game, go for Tetris Plus. Unlike Tetris S this is available on all territories, so there's no excuse for not to get it.

Here's a video of the PSX version (couldn't find one of the Saturn version, but they should be fairly identical):