Well take a look at this pair of whoppers! As Michael Jackson once said: "If you're thinking of being my NiGHTS controllers, it don't matter if you're black or white..." (or summat like that!)
I bought these on my recent Saturnalia splurge, and now I'm officially dismissed from hospital, it's high time I started testing and posting! BTW, the "broken 'Yard" mystery grows... it looks fine when viewed through Firefox 3 (the browser I use), but obviously not through others...
I have absolutely NO IDEA how one would go about fixing this situation, being something of an ICT retard. I'm hoping one of the other techno-wizards who run this site will jump in there and fix it on my behalf... If not, you better all start to download Firefox 3!
Anyway, we need to fix it, 'cos posts are getting overlooked, including the Saturn Memories post, which is a huge collaborative effort from many of our valued contributors and commentors!
I have a game review in the pipeline, something of a revelation, 'cos this game had sat under-played and under-valued on my shelves for years. It's the first hidden treasure of Saturnalia, and it's coming to you soon!
Hi everyone! Many of you will have already read this, as I sent it out as an email in the early hours of this morning. But I was worried that not all of our contributors/commentors will have received it (Arugulaz?) as their blogger names were not in the emails in my address book, so I thought I'd just be safe and post a general invite here for anyone who reads this auspicious missive...
Whilst all of the retro-gaming attention in 2008/2009 seems to be focused on The Dreamcast's10th anniversary, we may have overlooked the fact that 2009 is also the year of the Saturn's 15th anniversary, as it was first released in Japan on the 22nd Of November1994!Over at The Saturn Junkyard, we are making next month "Saturn February".During this 'Saturnalia' period we will try to play, celebrate, flag up and unearth items of interest on all things Saturn related.
We will look at homebrew,modding and emulation, lament dire marketing campaigns and corporate subtefuge, worship at the Cult Of Segata Sanshiro, trace the arcade origins of some of the Saturn's finest games and look at it's legacy in current or last gen gaming. And if you're wondering what it's legacy might be, I would point you in the direction of such titles as Sega Rally Revo (Xbox 360), Virtua Fighter 5 (Xbox 360, PS3), Panzer Dragoon Orta (Xbox), Baroque and NiGHTs (Wii), Resident Evil 5 ( Xbox 360, PS3) Resident Evil (DS) and so on...
As contrbutors/commentors, video game enthusiasts, retro-lovers (or people who have somehow ended up on my mailing list), I have a small favour to ask of you... Would you be able to mail me your feelings about the console? This could take the form of a paragraph of a few thoughts, jotted down as it were, or depending on your enthusiasm, an essay of epic proportions, detailing such events as when and how you first got a Saturn, what games you loved, whether or not you own or still play one today, top 10 software titles, best peripherals or whatever you want... Blatant bigging up of the Saturn Junkyard will be rewarded by material gifts of the Saturn/Dreamcast variety.
(Now there will be some of you out there thinking, what the hell is he talking about??? The Saturn aint all that! I loved the Playstation! *cough!*That's fine! I welcome humourous rebuttals, sarcastic comments, cyber insults or your opinion - even if is that "the Saturn was the wankiest console ever sold and I wouldn't even use it to wedge my shit house door closed!" - I think it would be healthy to pepper in some negativity/constructive criticism along the way.
Any way my dears, your contributions, however big or small will be very gratefully received! Simply pop them in an email to this address: revsimonearly@aol.com , together with any pictures, logos, web banners etc which you would like to accompany them and I'll cut and paste it into the finished article. I f you write a blog yourself, any publicity for the Saturnalia venture would be greatly appreciated and we will reciprocate with a role call of your wondrous blogs over here...
Back over at the lovely Planet Dreamcast Forums, in 2008, I proposed a month dedicated to the Dreamcast. I was so wowed by the 360, that I had neglected the Dreamcast, and more importantly/worryingly to the good folks over here at the SJY, the Saturn.
The idea proved quite popular at the PDC Forum and several of the members joined me and rekindled their retro console love for Sega's swansong. The major revelation on the Dreamcast was that I discovered and completed Sword Of TheBerserk: Gut's Rage, a game that was bought and left languishing in a cupboard unplayed for four long years.
It was a epiphany like experience for me, and the game now resides in my 'favourite games of all time' list. I also had a PS2 fortnight in September when my 360 got the Red Ring Of Death. Similar story as the Gut's Rage one, but this time the epiphany was Yakuza!!
OK, back to the Saturn. Here's the idea... In the month of Saturn February, I'll only play Saturn software or their follow ups on other consoles. This could mean a trip down memory lane: I'll play stalwart favourites like Fighting Vipers, Sega Rally, Dead Or Alive, Clockwork Knight, Virtua Fighter Kids, NiGHTS, Sega World Wide Soccer 98, Daytona USA and so on... But that would be too easy and not necessarily productive or informative. It might serve as a good reminder of why I fell in love with the console in the first place, though. So maybe a launch night on February the first could be a Saturn Favourites-fest!
What needs to happen, the most important thing to do, is to play some games that I've bought, and then like a video game magpie, tossed into my tattered software nest, a disregarded shiny thing... That means I'll have some games for the Saturn which will be for me, as fresh and virginal as the day they were bought out back in the good old Nineties. What will my Saturn revelation be? *whistful sigh...*
It might be that I devote some serious play-time to games that I've bought at no inconsiderable cost, imported from Japan or whatever and then largely ignored... Like Burning Rangers!!!
It could also mean a purchase of the Wii edition of NiGHTs, or a solid play through of Panzer Dragoon Orta or Virtua Fighter 5, or Dead Or Alive 4 on the 360... Keeping the Saturn dream alive on the current gen. (See above.)
It could mean hunting down some Saturn promotional loveliness, toys or merchandise which Elend doesn't own yet. (Unlikely... ) LOL! The more economic and sensible thing might be to grab some freebies off the net, like emulation or homebrew devs and finally learning how to utilise them on my PC or even burn to disc for my Saturn. I'd never dream of trying to chip it myself, but if I had a burned disc, I could try to conquer the swap trick. Hey! It might even be modded, it's off eBay, so who knows?
But let's not get ahead of ourselves. There is much preparation left to... erm...prepare! Job one is done. My Saturn collection is centralized and sorted. You can see it on the bottom shelf of this picture.
Job 2 is hopefully happening as we speak. I've left my two oldest boys in charge of hooking up the Saturn to the TV in the other living room. If they are obedient, I should be good to go before dawn breaks on 6th of January! (And this would mean I could legitimately play Christmas NiGHTS during the festive season, as it doesn't end till midnight tomorrow!
That's all the games I own. This list was compiled ages ago and there have been many additions since. (It's probably doubled by now...) At this point I might have a hidden gem that you adore... Please indulge me and check it out. Let me know about anything there that floats your boat...
Here are some useful links to remind you of the Saturn's greatness and then it's up to you, or if this proves to be a simply solo venture, up to me. Any way I'm making myself all excited and I need to go to bed, so I'll stop now. Hope the video below gets you in the mood!
