The Saturn HDMI Cable From LevelHike: Impressions & Footage

The box.

Perhaps you’ve noticed the growing number of direct-to-HDMI video cables cropping up for retro consoles recently. This Sega Saturn HDMI cable – from the new retro peripheral manufacturer LevelHike – is one of those.

The pitch is simple: it’s a single, inexpensive HDMI cable that aims to rout a serviceable RGB signal via HDMI as a convenient, no-fuss option for making our retro game consoles look less like dog shit on HDTVs. No more, no less.

Some quick disclaimer stuff: This post includes a rundown of some of my impressions of the LevelHike HDMI cable for the Sega Saturn. They sent us an early version of the cable for free ahead of distributing it and future versions will likely include some revisions. I may update this post with my thoughts based on any revisions later on, as needed. I’ve spent about a dozen hours playing various games with the LevelHike cable so far.

And some product notes: LevelHike’s Saturn cable is available on Amazon (US) and Ebay for $30. Note that LevelHike also makes cables for a variety of other platforms, including the Dreamcast, PSP, Neo Geo AES/CD, and (most interestingly), the Turbografx-16. I haven’t yet tried any of those other ones, though.

Before I get too much further, it’s also important to knock expectations down a few pegs. When it comes to connecting your Sega Saturn to an HDTV, if you’re looking for a video solution that all at once 1) has the convenience of a single, direct-to-HDMI cable, is 2) is cheap (three Alexander Hamiltons or less), and 3) rivals the quality of expensive, higher-end offerings of a (properly shielded) RGB SCART cable via a pricey upscaler like Framemeister/OSSC or an $80 (with Genesis-to-Saturn adapter) HD Retrovision component cable via a $100 RetroTINK device…there just isn’t a $30 HDMI cable that can compete with those higher-end solutions. It’s not a fair comparison. They’re not in the same ballpark, let alone playing the same sport.

As someone who cares more about #1 and #2 and doesn’t generally obsess over having the best possible video output for my retro games, I might be the kind of person these cables are geared toward. Not that great video quality isn’t nice to have but there are diminishing returns after a point. I’ve always subscribed to the idea that the best video option is anything that gets out of the way. As long as the output looks decent enough and isn’t distracting with excessive blur, color loss, or lag – and especially if I don’t have to spend much of time or money on it – sometimes good enough is good enough.

So what about the LevelHike cable? Is it good enough?

Apart from the Engrish text adorning the product’s packaging, I can’t help but be intrigued by the promise it makes as such a simple device. As a no-frills HDMI cable that aims to be cheap, convenient, and good enough, I think it largely succeeds though not without some quirks.

As much as I like my TV, it doesn’t force a 4:3 aspect ratio so I’m SOL when it comes to many retro HDMI cables and SCART-to-HDMI converters. The nifty thing about LevelHike’s cable is it has a switch to force 4:3 in case your TV can’t do the job. Alternatively, you can also set the image to 16:9 for the occasional anamorphic widescreen mode in games like NiGHTS or Panzer Dragoon Zwei. it’s a simple, albeit greatly welcome feature.

The LevelHike box handles conversion duties and is powered via a USB power cable (included). You can see the aspect ratio switch in the top-right of the unit.

Overall, the LevelHike cable’s image quality looks considerably better than I’d expect for its price point. It retains most of the clarity and color of the original RGB signal, without much noticeable input lag. In motion, there is some slight blur and occasional artifacts, which I noticed more in 2D games – and especially shmups like DoDonPachi and Shienryu – which feature constantly-scrolling backgrounds and a bevy of moving sprites and particles. That said, I don’t think these issues are overly distracting and I didn’t notice them as much with the 3D games I tried with it. Is it perfect? No. Does it look as good as the pricier video solutions? No. But it does stay out of the way.

Below is a video compilation of footage from a smattering of games I felt like playing this week. I captured it all with the LevelHike cable and aimed for a variety of genres and number of dimensions. At the very least, this footage should give you an idea of what to expect. Honestly, I feel like it might look slightly better in person than what my Elgato was able to capture but you’ll get the gist.

Capturing all of this footage was actually a lot of fun. I forgot how addicting Kyuutenkai Fantastic Pinball was. I suck at Astal but it sure looks purdy.

There are downsides, to be sure. For several games, I’ve noticed the LevelHike cable shrinks the image to varying degrees depending on the game. You may have noticed it in my footage compilation above. It seems a bit random and I’m wondering if it has to do with the cable struggling to retain divisibility with the original 240p resolution in certain games.

The most nagging flaw is with the cable’s audio. Now, the sound quality itself is solid; I’ve noticed no distortion and the full richness and range of the audio seems in tact. Unfortunately, the LevelHike cable actually swaps the right and left stereo audio channels. This is a more glaring issue in 3D games where directional audio is crucial for reinforcing the player's spatial positioning relative to everything else in the environment. The severity of this ranges. In Sega Rally, it’s only mildly distracting – if even a bit amusing – when careening into a wall elicits a satisfying crunch from the opposite side of the car. However, this issue is compounded in 3D shooters like Power Slave, where I rely on the stereo audio cues to determine which direction enemies are coming from.

Digging into the issue a bit further, it seems this channel-swap issue is likely carried over from an error in the most widely-available Saturn A/V port schematics floating around online. The schematics incorrectly flip their depictions of the audio pins so many would-be cable manufacturers who reference it are also duplicating the error in their own products. I suppose this underscores the importance of the timeless adage: don’t believe everything you read on the internet.

To LevelHike’s credit, they’ve acknowledged the issue and are updating subsequent batches of cables to correct the audio channel issue. If this is a deal breaker for you, I’d recommend waiting a bit. In the meantime, I’ve reverted to playing most games with mono audio, which works fine for now.

And that’s about all I have to say about the LevelHike HDMI cable for now. Given the device’s emphasis on simplicity, convenience and affordability, the video quality is surprising solid, all things considered. Not that it’s an apples-to-apples comparison but I do see the LevelHike as a noticeable step up from similar direct-to-HDMI cables I’ve used on other platforms from established manufacturers like Pound and Hyperkin, which often take a larger hit in color quality and can run noticeably darker or more saturated.

As a simple and affordable solution for connecting your Saturn to an HDTV, I’m mostly impressed by LevelHike’s first Saturn offering and I look forward to seeing how it improves going forward. It’s obviously not in the same league as higher-end video solutions but for what it is, it’s plenty good enough.

Life on Saturn

Thoughts from someone who, until recently, had never owned or played a Saturn.

I love racing games. It's one of those genres, along with tower defence, which I just keep coming back to. I get a buzz from starting a race and then realising that I know the track from a completely different game (or indeed system.)

It's one of my gaming regrets that my family do not really enjoy racing games. There's no one who will go head to head with me in anything other than Mario Kart. And whilst MK has its place and is huge fun, races which aren't decided by a well placed banana hold more appeal to me.

Which brings me onto...

The only other Daytona game I've played is a Dreamcast one which I remember being extremely twitchy. So I was interested to see how its predecessor played.

The first thing that hit me about the game was the music. I'm sure there's been loads written about it so I'm not going to say much other than: it seems incredibly positive. The sort of thing which might be played at a funeral as people are leaving. So musically, it's a big thumbs up.

The other aspect about the sound which I found interesting was the voice. It's everywhere! I wondered if SEGA (or AM2?) were trying to prove a point back in the day. My favourite instance was when I inputted my initials. Especially when it said all 3 back to me like it was trying to read.

As I started the game my 14 year old daughter glanced up from her book, "Why does it say 'Gentlemen start your engines?"

Just in case you didn't hear it.

Erm.

Whilst racing, my 16 year old son wanders in to ask if I'd like a go at Tetris 99. He looks at the tv and adds, "but I can see you're playing this graphical masterpiece!"
Honestly, the youth of today.

But, in truth, I didn't really try to defend the graphics. I found them difficult to enjoy. I prefer the handling to the Dreamcast version but I find the game as a whole rather headache inducing.

As with all driving games, I'm not very good when I first start. It is easy to overtake a few cars but then I started to bump into the walls and lose a lot of speed. I liked the skid animation and the crashes were impressive. There's always something satisfying about smashing cars up. I liked the way the car took damage and the suspension started to rapidly rock up and down as if there were a couple of bunnies inside doing what bunnies do best.

The ultimate test of whether a driving game is enjoyable in our house is how long it takes someone to start driving backwards round the course. I knew the game was not going to be a winner when my 9 year old, who wanted a turn, began to do this after just a few laps.

I enjoyed Daytona but, sadly, I won't be coming back to it very often. The graphics and frame rate just hold it back for me.

Now, where's that banana?

Saturn Quake Takes: Killing Them Slowly

I don’t need to tell you that Quake rocks. Father K already covered that a while back, offering praise for it and the other iconic first person shooters Lobotomy Software famously ported to Sega’s mid-90s underdog console.

It’s also no secret that Quake’s presence on the Saturn was practically a miracle in the first place. Digital Foundry’s John Linneman has even gone as far as to dub it the “Impossible Port.” The Saturn was notoriously a pain in the ass to develop for – particularly for devs hoping to utilize the third dimension – and yet it still runs Quake somehow. Granted, plenty of concessions were needed to make that happen. Compared to the PC original, the Saturn Quake sports choppier frame rates, reduced responsiveness, and less precise movement and aiming sans mouse and keyboard. But despite its limitations, it remains infinitely more impressive than the PlayStation port of Quake…which doesn’t exist.

Tech stuff aside, I’m more interested in delving into some interesting ways Saturn Quake managed to differentiate its player experience from the classic PC original. As a likely result of the technological and design compromises Lobotomy made to get Quake to function on Saturn hardware, I quickly noticed the Saturn version forces me to approach its gameplay in some fundamentally new and unexpected ways.

Being A Retro Gamer, Stops Me From Playing The Saturn!

We all love a bargain...

I remember when I first started collecting for the Saturn as a "Retro Gamer" (as opposed to a current gen buyer in the 1990s). The year was 2006, and I was avidly buying up Dreamcast hardware and software. I had inherited a couple of Dreamcasts from people who wanted to get rid of "clutter". They had given them to my kids to be honest, but my kids could not have been more disinterested. They had a PS2 and were dreaming of a 360. I on the other hand was very interested - I had missed out on the Dreamcast completely, because my late 90s and early 2000s had been a blur of parenthood, work and excessive raving. The Dreamcast was a revelation to me... I was enthralled by it and spent my post-raving days buying up as much Dreamcast guff as I could. Most of my transactions and purchases took place at a Gamestation within Blockbuster in Fallowfield, Manchester, where vast quantities of games were being offloaded by punters, usually to pay for new stuff - it was an exciting time - the PS3 and 360 had just come out and the Wii was imminent. The Dreamcast was dead in the water... games that had fetched £40 + were now being sold at Blockbuster for £2.50. The console itself was £17 if you wanted one, and peripherals such as light-guns, keyboards, microphones etc could be picked up for under a fiver. The term retro-gamer had just been coined for people who were generally into systems such as the ZX Spectrum, BBC Micro, Amiga, Commodore 64 etc. If retro-gamers were into any sort of consoles, it was systems like the Atari 2600, the NES or Master System.

So where did the Saturn fit into this world? Well, the value of Saturn games and hardware was even less than that of the Dreamcast. It was available for pennies... literally. The Saturn was simply seen as a failure, an "also ran" system that had been vastly inferior to the PlayStation, and that it had failed both critically and commercially. Many people simply didn't know the system had existed. One of the most exciting things about collecting for Dreamcast or Saturn was the ability to score a bargain. We all love a bargain, right? We tell friends about them, we post our shopping triumphs on Facebook and remember them, sometimes for years after we have used them up, or thrown them away. I distinctly remember the time in 2006 that I found a copy of Sega Rally for 20p!

20p? In 2006, that was a paltry amount of cash - one could perhaps buy a cheap packet of crisps or a small chocolate bar with it. But here was one of my favourite games in pristine condition for 20p! Again, back at the time of production, this would have gone for £30. I remember the fact that I had got a game I rated and valued SO MUCH had blown my mind. For a week or so, I played my Sega Saturn more than my Dreamcast. I revelled in the fact that my gaming pleasure had cost me so little... indeed, it seemed for every hour of Sega Rally I clocked up, the pleasure I took from my purchase seemed to grow. It was a feeling I had forgotten about, until now...

Virtua Fighter in HD

Virtua Fighter needs no introductions and would be a prime candidate for a full-on remastered collection for modern systems, but until SEGA delivers we can always improvise and try to make it ourselves. For the second entry in the "REMASTERED" click-bait titled series I picked every numbered entry in the VF series and tried to make it look as good as possible, meeting the modern standards of Full HD resolution (1920x1080) and widescreen 16:9 picture format.

You can watch the results above and read more about the particular setup and challenges for each game below:

VIRTUA FIGHTER 1

There wasn't much choice in regards of version or emulator for VF1. The original arcade version ran on the Model 1 board, which can only be emulated at native resolutions in MAME, so that was a no go. The only other option was the Saturn version and the only recommended emulator for HD resolutions was YabaSanshiro (or one of its many forks).

For the widescreen hack I relied on the community effort from the folks over at the Assembler Games forum, something I've covered before in this article.

Yaba Sanshiro, a Sega Saturn Emulator That's worth your time.

I am not an advocate for Emulation, but with today's advanced TVs and Setups, plus with the age of the Sega Saturn, I am all for these great classics living on for decades. It would be a crying shame for these great games to completely disappear from the earth, so this is why I began checking out this new Emulator for Android users.

It's called Yaba Sanshiro, and it is a unofficial port of uoYabause. This project is focused on the Android version of yabause using OpenGL ES 3.x. It is currently in active development and it is making quite the stirring for Sega Saturn Fans! You can download the emulator directly from the Google Play Store, and, of course, you have to provide your own Disc Images. I personally only use Emulators to play games I already own in HD, so being able to fire up NiGHTS and Daytona USA in glorious 1080p brings a smile to my face. It is true that not all Sega Saturn games will work right now, while others have multiple glitches, but it's absolutely amazing how far this emulator has come in a relatively short amount of time!

There is an active community of players who are constantly reporting on what games work and what doesn't, and the great thing is that the developers actually are listening! They read everything and try their best to fix any issue that happens to come up! You can check out a compatibility list and everything else you may need over at http://www.uoyabause.org/

My initial tests are proving to be fantastic. I tried games like Street Fighter Zero 3, Dead or Alive, and even Panzer Dragoon Zwei and ALL of these games ran Flawlessly! Virtua Fighter 2 and Fighting Vipers also look and play Fantastically!!!!  Games like Panzer Dragoon Saga and Burning Rangers are, sadly, not fully supported as of yet, but trust me .. a little patience and I am 100% sure that these games, among other great hits, will be playing 100% in no time!

The latest update to the emulator has Analog controllers added, and you can also edit your controller while in a game! Also, Virtua Fighter Kids, X-Men vs Street Fighter and Mr Bones are now Fully Playable with MORE on the way!

In my opinion, the best way to experience this emulator is with the NVidia Shield TV 4K Box. All of the Sega Saturn Games look fantastic through this device, but other android devices out there that have access to the Play Store can also run this emulator, even your tablet! 

Check this one out! This may be the best way to Keep the Sega Saturn Alive for Centuries!!

--CC

Titan is the best moon

Yes, it is.

Tian is waifu. Titan is bae.

Sure, Earth's Sattelite is round and pale and full of craters, so it that's your thing...well, who am I to judge.

Come on! It doesn't even have a proper name. It's just "moon". What the hell? Can you imagine if the Earth was called "planet"?

Now Titan, that's a proper moon! Just check out these cool facts:
 
- Titan is the largest moon of Saturn and the second-largest natural satellite in the Solar System.

- It is the only moon known to have a dense atmosphere, and the only object in space, other than Earth, where clear evidence of stable bodies of surface liquid has been found

- Titan is 50% larger than Earth's moon and 80% more massive.

- It is the second-largest moon in the Solar System after Jupiter's moon Ganymede, and is larger than the planet Mercury, but only 40% as massive.

And those are just a few! Heck, it's so popular that there's even an arcade system named after it, the ST-V - short for Sega Titan Video. But of course you don't care about that. You're not a video game nerd, are you?

Of course not! You're into hardcore stuff like astronomy and stargazing, so go dust off your old telescope and point it towards the firmament. Oh yeah, baby!

Top Reasons Saturn is Awesome (and Earth Can Eat Shit)

Here are just a few of the many reasons why Saturn is the best damn planet in the solar system...

It's roundish.

Even flat Earthers can fucking believe that Saturn is round. It's also slightly squished and is not a symmetrical sphere which makes it way more interesting.


All those fucking moons, man.

Saturn has 62 moons, which is 62 times more than Earth's one shitty moon. Also, how woefully uncreative is it that we just refer to our only moon as "Moon"? Fucking pathetic. Meanwhile Saturn's largest moon, Titan -- named after the mega-popular Saturn Junkyard TitanCast podcast --  is larger than some entire planets, including Mercury and Pluto.


It's made largely of hydrogen and helium.

Sure, Earth has all of its rocks and nitrogen and oxygen and other boring bullshit. But try hanging out on Saturn for a while and you'll start to talk like one of those green aliens from Toy Story. That's way cooler. It's the claaaaaaaaw, motherfuckers.


The bling.

Saturn's got all those kickass ice rings hanging around it. You know what Earth has? A bunch of lame shit like decommissioned satellite debris, global warming, and Nazis.


No time for your crap.

The average day on Saturn is 10 hours and 39 minutes long. That's efficiency.


Peace.

Every war in the history of our solar system has happened on Earth. Fuck Earth.


In sum, the Earth is dumb. Everyone should move to Saturn.

2019 - The Year Of The First Person Shooter?

The moment I dipped my toe back into the healing waters of Saturn gaming back in September of 2017, I was immediately hit with a tsunami of experiences, that I had in no way anticipated. The dawn of the Pseudo Saturn in my gaming life, meant that rather than exploring my small back catalogue of bought PAL games, I would be playing the very cream of the Saturn's software offerings on burned CDs and repros…
For the rest of the year and far into 2018, I would predominantly be playing Japanese shmups, provided for me by Junkyard stalwarts, Jon Lee and Daniel Turner. These included the Parodius collection, Darius Gaiden, Wolf Fang, Salamander, Gradius, The Game Paradise, Radiant Silver Gun, Tempest 2000 and Sol Divide. Later in the year I "discovered" a new genre, the puzzle game  - Baku Baku Animal, Tetris Plus and Columns ...and this consumed the tail end of 2018 as we moved into the current year.

But if 2019 has been defined for me by any genre of Saturn games so far, it would have to be the First Person Shooter (FPS). In an attempt to generate a common topic for our forthcoming podcast, my good friend Mr. Brian Vines (The Virtua Sclub - remember him? He used to write here!) suggested we should all play the game Exhumed. I had had a lot of fun with Alien Trilogy in October, as part of our Halloween games drive... I didn't need much persuasion to try another Saturn FPS as January drew to a close.

 Made popular by the PC crowd in the early 90s, the FPS was an attempt at immersion by perspective, allowing the player to see the end of his hand/weapon only, as if the screen view were the players own eye view... looking down on his own body. This was an alternative to the traditional third person view, where the player's whole avatar could be seen. The incredibly dark and incredibly popular Doom, was the FPS title which captured the gaming world's attention. The game also drew the ire of the nation when the school shooters responsible for the massacre at Columbine, were found to be avid players of the game. The Call Of Duty FPS franchise would become the biggest money spinner of the entertainment world, surpassing the revenue earned by the top music of film releases of successive years...

But what about the Saturn? Can it's FPS offerings still hold their own in 2019?

A Sega Saturn Classic? Good Idea or Bad Idea?

With the release (and subsequent price drop) of Sony's Playstation Classic, one has to wonder how a Sega Saturn Classic system would fair in today's market. Yes the PS Classic did poorly, but that was due to lack of care on Sony's part The Games list was questionable, the hardware was weak and the Emulator choice was not the best route they could of taken. So what do you all think, would a Sega Saturn Classic work? My initial thought would be No, seeing as how Companies seem to be moving away from the Classic Console and investing into newer consoles that share the classic name. The ColecoVision Phoenix and Intellivision Amico are on the horizon and these will have new game as well as play the classics. Lets not forget The AtariBox ... I mean, we've heard NOTHING about it for a while, but it's still out there ... Maybe.

Anyway, after giving it a little more thought, a Sega Saturn Classic Would be absolutely the perfect thing to get the Classic Mini market the charge it needs. Look at all the great games that can be put on it. Even if it shipped with only 20 Games, you can bet that the Sega Saturn 20 will be a hell of alot better than Sony's picks.

If there will be a Sega Saturn Classic ... Here is a list of everything that it must include, in my personal opinion. Its a given, that licensing issues and technical jargon may prevent these things from happening, but I am only striving to give the best product around. I'll let the lawyers and technical wizards handle the rest.


SEGA SATURN CLASSIC SYSTEM
Of course make it look like the Saturn, with matching 6 Button Controller
This is kind of a no Brainer, but I don't want anyone getting any funny ideas. Don't mess with this look! Also the Controller MUST be a Model 2 style!

THE OPEN BUTTON
Make the button actually open the lid! Why? Because you can put a MicroSD Card to save your games. This it what it will Officially be used for. But It will be ok if someone else finds another use for it...

PACKAGE IT WITH AN AC ADAPTER
I don't know why companies give you the Micro USB cord but no Adapter. Thats dumb. Make it come with an AC, it's not hard and won't drive up costs!

THE GAMES
Here's the fun part! I would love to hear your takes on my list and would love to hear what you would want to add or change. This is my personal list, so don't be offended if your game isn't listed. I really want to hear your feedback though, so please comment away!

US LIST:
Panzer Dragoon Zwei
Panzer Dragoon Saga
SEGA AGES
Bug
Sega Rally Championship
Daytona CCE
Fighters MegaMix
Virtua Fighter 2
NIghts (With Christmas Nights)
Clockwork Night
Shinobi Legions
Burning Rangers
Astal
Dragon Force
Guardian Heroes
Albert Odyssey
World Series Baseball
Sonic Jam
Virtual ON
Legend of Oasis

Well, That's about all it would take. The US, EUR, and JPN Markets would have a few different games naturally. Here are some proposed changes:

EUR MARKET:
Change World Series Baseball to Deep Fear
Change Legend of Oasis to Keio Flying Squadron 2
Change Bug to Parodius

JPN MARKET
Change Virtua Fighter 2 with Fighting Vipers (Japan Version with Pepsiman)
Change World Series Baseball With Pocket Fighter
Change Legend of Oasis to Magic Knight Rayearth

What to you all think, Can a Sega Saturn Classic work like this, or do you have better ideas?

--CC

Listen to the latest episode of the Junkyard's TitanCast!

Need a Sega-stuffed podcast in your life? Join us for the latest episode of the Saturn Junkyard's TitanCast! Listen to it on iTunes, Google Play, Buzzsprout, and wherever else...

iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-saturn-junkyards-titancast/id1320249250?mt=2

Google Play: https://play.google.com/music/listen?u=0#/ps/Irnjy5iegkh5pfj6cdx3gjqnxle

Buzzsprout: http://thesaturnjunkyard.buzzsprout.com

PlayerFM: https://player.fm/series/series-2287282

Linkle Liver Story Translation - How To Download And Emulate

Watch Nuno's new video telling you how you can emulate or download the latest fan translation for the Saturn, as a classic action JRPG becomes avilable for Western audiences for the first time!

Segata Sanshiro Shinken Yugi - The Segata Sanshiro Christmas Mini-Game!

Well dear readers, whilst our Christmas video went swimmingly, excellently spliced together by my dear brother Nebachadnezzar, I was left feeling that my own contribution was sadly lacking in detail and even incorrect in a couple of places. I have only myself to blame for this lazy description of the game, as I had sent my own copy over to a Segata acolyte  in Australia, who's devotion to Segata I felt deserved this very disc *... In the video I lamely discuss Segata Sanshiro Shinken Yugi, a Saturn import title that has our titular hero as it's main protagonist....

You can watch my faltering description here...

*This act of selfless generosity however, left me disc-less and therefore unable to play the game before I described it. So as something of an addition to the video, I will now describe the mini -game in more detail and with more accuracy.

Back in the Game

Happy Saturnalia, one and all! (It was a real holiday once, honest!) I bring you great tidings of personal gaming joy... after years of going without, I finally have a Sega Saturn to replace the one I had in Michigan. Here it is now, tucked into the center of my shelf along with a handful of other systems...

Sega Saturn... kuro!

Right now, I can't actually do much with the machine... I've got no games, no Pro Action Replay loaded with Pseudo-Saturn, and the controllers, while technically usable, are those unreasonably large US models. I'm not sure what Sega was thinking when they designed these, but whatever it was, Microsoft must have had the same idea when they made the Duke controller for the original Xbox. And the Xbox One, now that I think about it. That's one video game revival the world could have done without...

I did spin a music disc in my new Saturn, though. There are two things worth noting... the Saturn had many boot up screens thanks to the hardware being sublicensed to Victor, Hitachi, and Samsung, but it's my opinion that the opening in the US model is the best of the lot. The gentle ringing of chimes followed by the slamming of a car door is a good sight better than the abrasive "Waaab, waaab, WAAAB!" noises the Japanese had to put up with in their version of the system.

Second thing... while it's dated by today's standards (of course it is; the system is over twenty years old), the Saturn's interface for playing music is far superior to the static rainbow splashes displayed on its arch rival, the Playstation. You know all the complaints about the recently released Playstation Classic? People seem to have forgotten that it looks the way it does because the original Playstation did too. Seriously, fire up one of the earlier models with a music disc in the tray for proof. Boring, isn't it?

The Saturn, on the other hand... now there's an interface with style. Chromed orbs hover in mid air as buttons on a retro-futuristic space ship control panel. Play a music disc and polygons on either side of the panel pulse in time to the beat. Hide the control panel and you actually see the ship soaring through space, with stars racing toward the player and a slowly turning nebula in the distance. Back when I first bought one in 1997, the Sega Saturn was my first compact disc player, and I can't think of a better introduction to the technology.

Anyway, enough wistful nostalgia. Enjoy your winter holiday of choice... once Christmas is over, I'll be on the hunt for some cheap Saturn titles, if such an animal even exists. If you've got any leads on a supply of low cost games, or even better, a cheap Pro Action Replay, by all means let me know in the comments!

Some warm Saturn memories

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

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

 

 

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

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