The Sega Saturn Megamix

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.

Game Core 2009 - Saturn Edition

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!

Yo dawg, I heard you like Sonic...

...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 )

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...