Japanese PS2 NiGHTS to include Christmas NiGHTS

From Sega Nerds:

Just in case you missed this.

http://www.seganerds.com/2007/12/15/nights-ps2-to-include-christmas-nights/

For the love of Pete Sega will you PLEASE release this in North America! There are a TON of people with PS2s that would buy this! Including me!!!

Collecting

One thing seems to go hand in hand with retrogaming: Collecting.
No matter if you recently bought back your childhood on ebay or if you have gathered since you were little. When you have a look at retrogamers the chances are high, that they have a vast amount of old games aswell as consoles in their rooms. Some limit themselfes to one console only, but others collect nearly everything from their childhood and what they couldn't afford back then. In some extreme cases the love for the games has turned into some kind of love for collecting. Some people collect more games than they play and some even only collect factory sealed stuff, which they can't - and never would - play anyways!

With prices for Saturn games ranging from approx. 140 USD for a "Final Fight Revenge" and over 200 USD for a "Stellar Assault", many invest quite some time to take good care of their collection. I did so, too, when I accidentally bought the same game twice some years ago. That's why you read this post now. I wanted to support the Saturn cover scans archive (Run by Satakore.com staff, if I am correct) and thus made a list of all my Saturn games available online. You may want to check it out. Maybe for having a quick look at backcover scans of games, you were always interested in or for just plain curiosity.

And why not show us your Saturn collection, too?

Dead Or Alive Intro

This post is intended as a test for embedding Stage 6 videos and also as a tribute to one of the finest creations ever from the Tecmo studios. Dead Or Alive is a superlative fighting game with some great characters and fighting moves. A little thin on background story, it's unfortunately chiefly remembered for the size of it's female character's breasts. Which I, Father Krishna, have never... erm... noticed. *Cough!*

Indeed, such was the obsession of it's creator Tomonobu Itagaki, that it was even possible to access cheats for the game that would enable you to enhance the 'jiggle factor' of the lady characters, erm... "front parts"... *Cough!* However, Itagaki took on a less than wholesome flavour, when a certain lawsuit came to the awareness of gamers.

Still, pushing breasts aside, *Cough!* the franchise has had some highpoints (the Dreamcast edition springs to mind) and some low points (the beach volleyball excursions.) The film was a bit of a disappointment too... Incidentally, the saturn version I own is one of my few Japanese Saturn games, which include said title, NiGHTS, Segata Sanshiro (The Game) and Virtua Fighter Kids.

Anyway hopefully you'll be enjoying some crystal clear video right now, flagged up for us by rising superstar elend. Oh! and this doesn't mean the party is over! Hell no! It officially finishes on January the 6th... Party posts are welcomed until then! =)

For more information on this hallowed game, enjoy the links below!

Dead Or Alive At Wikipedia

Dead Or Alive At Gamespot

Dead Or Alive At Game Score

Dead Or Alive Movie Trailer (with a nice bit of AC/DC thrown in for free...)

Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!... SJY Tributes that is....

And the tributes just continue to roll in!!!

Firstly there's the most amazing tribute from elend... (Just peek below!)

Then there is the most amazing sketch from the Gagaman(n)... Look here!




And finally bask in the glory that is... The Father krishna Seal Of Approval! (I love it!!!)

Posted by the mighty NebachadnezzaR!

And if that's not enough, nip over to Gnome's place and have a little look at this!

Hallelujah! Segata be praised! I'm buzzing right now! This is (almost) as good as drugs!!!

Let The Celebrations Continue!

Well how about this!!!!!! The newest and perhaps MOST amazing of elend's creations that I have seen! I'm getting a little emotional right now... *FK wipes tears from his tired old eyes and stifles a muffled sob* It's beautiful, truly, truly beautiful! Thank you elend!!!!!! :)

Happy Birthday SJY!: Saturnalia!!!

Well my good people! Here we are, on the anniversary of our inception! The Saturn Junkyard is a year old! Nearly 22,000 hits, 200 posts and a wealth of Saturn information, images, video, game information, art work, reviews and opinions, that give us all a reason to celebrate and rejoice!

From the need to to have a blog of my own, after being a contributor on brother blog the Dreamcast Junkyard, to becoming one of the finest retro gaming blogs on the interweb, the Junkyard has become very much a team effort.

Celebrating the addition of Gnome, Pierre, Caleb, Nebachadnezzar and very recently elend as contributors, that is really what has made the Junkyard great. Each of those contributors has made the SJY the sum of it's parts. But let's not forget "the fifth Beatle" J, who has also contributed so much to the site... The beautiful header at the top of the page, the Warholesque picture of Segata that graces the side-bar and of course the wonderful Segata remix... But I digress... And the one person that suggested I have a blog of my own, that most excellent of creatures, the most highly valued and inspirational deity that is The Elderly Gamer!

Let's set the table... Invited to make their contributions and comments are that fine bunch of contributors mentioned above! But also I'm giving a particular nod to the commentors, Hex, Ross, Gagaman(n), the most reverend Tomleecee, Ms. Hex, Nick944, Mikey4U1984, Funnyman, SegaMark, Deitrix, Racketboy! And any of our other most esteemed commentors! Thank you! WE LOVE YOU! We crave your feedback and love your input!!!

OK Let's set the scene for the party! Father Krishna is dressed in the uniform of the cult... Expansive and extra large (XXXL) judo suit, Elvis wig of beehive proportions, with freshly inked SJY tattoo emblazened across his heart...

In a massive hall the table is set... At each place is a complimentery copy of Christmas NiGHTS, and a see through Sega Saturn (Derby Stallion Edition) are the freebie gifts!

The meal? It's your personal most favourite three course fayre, of course personally catered to you by the most eloquent of Japanese chefs...

The venue, a large banqueting hall, 16th Century building, bedecked in elends art work and official promotional Saturn launch regalia...

Each place has a name card, and you are sat next to the blogger you know best....

Of course each team member holds the head of the table... We're all sat together! We're waiting for the DJ's to turn up... Drummond and Cauty of the KLF, Fatboy Slim and The Chemical Brothers!

Enjoy the food! Enjoy the free bar and enjoy the music!!! I hope everyone invited will turn up and comment!

Tell me what you've enjoyed about the gathering! Post links to this feast and mention us on YOUR blogs! I've had a couple of glasses of wine in celebration and I need to feel your love!

Flag up great posts! But at the end of the day, just pour out your feelings for The Saturn Junkyard! BTW, me and elend have got a little project lined up for all our readers...

And who has just turned up for the celebrations? Who has come down from heaven to join us tonight Who has filled HIS place at the end of the table? Why it's our guest of honour... Ladies and gentlemen... Doff your wigs and unbutton your Judo Suits for the one, the only, Segata Sanshiro!!!

Saturn VS Playstation

Whilst browsing the lovely Stage 6 site (which is some kind of higher quality YouTube) some videos catched my attention. Saturn versus Playstation comparisons. Whereas YouTube has the greater amount of Sega Saturn related videos, Stage 6 has the advantage of providing an actually great videoquality and thus enable us to actually recognize the slight differences between Saturn and Playstation versions of different games. Which brings me right to the bright side of this post: The Saturn versions are in some cases only a little bit inferior and sometimes even on par with the Playstation versions. Not that we always knew it anyway...

I think the comparison videos are highly interesting and make you also feel a little bit better about the Saturn's 3D capabilities. Go check them out right here.

Oh and btw, every now and then there's also a non comparison video between the search results, so you may have to browse all those pages.

Virtua Fighter 3 Saturn Screenshots!

elend's quite stunning first post has got me salivating! So much amazing Saturn information! That's quite an amazing piece of history there - amazing!!!!! I loved it so much, I'm going to blatantly nick a large chunk of it, to accompany these rather lovely Beta screenshots of the never released Virtua Fighter 3 Saturn game that was never released... Remember, the text is from Kamikaze Console and as usual is in the usual quotation crimson text. The pictures were scammed from the most excellent Videogames Of The Damned...

"Virtua Fighter 3

Virtua Fighter 3, the third incarnation of Yu Suzuki's groundbreaking 3D fighting game, first hit Japanese arcades on 10 September 1996. It immediately became the standard by which all comers were measured - partly due to the depth of its gameplay, and partly because the game's graphics (generated by the new Sega Model 3 board) shattered all previous records for polygon counts in a videogame. Sega brought over some cabinets for display at that year's Electronics Consumer Trade Show in the U.S., and both vendors and gamers alike were wowed by what they saw. VF3, as it is commonly abbreviated, soon became the topic of much speculation among Saturn owners. A port was inevitable - they just knew it - and rumors were already flying that such a port was well underway. Officially, Sega kept mum, but the hype continued to build through the rest of the year and into 1997. On 28 November, Yu Suzuki himself said in a public interview, "AM2 and myself will take full responsibility for the translation." It was now official - VF3 was coming to a Saturn near you. Or was it? Sega kept promising a Saturn port ... and it kept getting delayed ... and delayed ... and delayed ... until it dropped off the radarscope altogether. Sega of Japan had already started to hint that the port might be canned in early 1997, and its absence in the Saturn software section at E3 1997 seemed only to confirm this. Sega of America did a lot of back-pedalling on these and other reports, but they (as we know) were not the ones running the show by that point. Actually, and this was unknown to everybody until the following year, Yu Suzuki and his staff at AM2 had finished a considerably scaled-down Saturn port of VF3 by 03 July 1998, but by time Sega of Japan was dead set against releasing it. Why? As it was later revealed, Sega of Japan executives felt that a port of VF3 for the dying Saturn might hurt the superior port already in development for Sega's newest console - the Dreamcast. Instead, they just kept on tweaking the game and refused to release it. VF3 for Saturn was officially cancelled on 17 September 1998 even though Sega of Japan had the completed game ready to send to the pressing plants. In the meantime, however, gamers got tired of Sega putting them on hold yet again and went to PlayStation for Tekken 3 instead."

Interesting stuff huh? Oh and BTW, be sure to nip off to our big brother, the Dreamcast Junkyard to have a look at another superlative work of art by our newest contributor elend... I'm not going to tell you what it is, you'll have to click on the link!

Sega Saturn overview video.

This video pretty much covers the major high and low points of the Saturn. Segata Sanshiro and Bernie hate included.

(Bernie was the guy who pretty much killed off the Sega Saturn early in the US and said that Western gamers didn't like RPGs... BTW how much is the Saturn version of Lunar remade on the PS1 in English selling for now? $100? $200? Bernie you dumbass...)

SegaMark: The Interview!

We've been buzzing here at the Saturn Junkyard, since we discovered the delights of radioSEGA, that 24 Hour source of online Sega gaming music... From the orchestral magic of Shenmue, to the retro-futuristic space funk of Space Channel 5, to the J-Pop/Hip Hop of Jet Set Radio and the 16 bit inspired midi goodness of Sonic The Hedgehog, it can all be pumped out of your PC's speakers, courtesy of radioSEGA! But who bestowed this wonder upon us? Who took the time and effort to regail us Sega fanboys (and girls -Hi Hex!) Why, it was that most beatific of beings, the enigmatic, SegaMark. In the second of a series of interviews, intended to flag up those heroes who keep the Saturn alive in our hearts, we bring you SegaMark... The Interview!

Hi SegaMark, first of all I'd like to say a huge thank you to you for agreeing to do this interview, and an even bigger thank you for creating the wonder that is radioSEGA. We'll get onto that in a moment, but for now let's find out a little bit about you...


I'm Mark and I'm 22 from Warrington, UK. I'm currently studying Web & Multimedia design at the University of Central Lancashire. Interests are gaming (duh!), music, graphic and web design.

May I say that radioSEGA is an awesome site and a very unique creation. When did you first get the idea, and how long did it take you to bring it to it's current splendour?


RadioSEGA began as a bit of dicking around with Shoutcast on my PC when I was bored one afternoon. My website MySEGA (http://www.mysega.co.uk) already once featured a rubbish embedded flash MP3 player but I soon decided to offer 2-3 slots on Shoutcast (after experimenting with it in the past proved successful) playing some Sega music I had sat on my PC. I soon invested some cash for some proper Shoutcast hosting and made a dedicated website at http://radio.mysega.co.uk - the station was very basic and was only on for 8-10 hours per day. This was back in Februrary/March 2006. By April or even June RadioSEGA got a new site and went 24 hours, with the domain radioSEGA.net. The site died for a few months in August due to a lack of time but came back in November 2006 and has been growing since through hard work such as setting up a requests system and other great little features!

You're obviously a huge Sega fan, what is it about that particular companies games and systems, that has harnessed your devotion?

I think it's because were a company who were extremely innovative, a company that took risks to create amazing gameplay experiences that go against the mainstream. I guess that's why they're out of the console business now... But when playing Sega arcade games it's the amazing gameplay, Music and visual style.

What Sega systems have you historically had, or currently own?

Historically I've owned a Mega Drive and a Dreamcast, sadly I never got a Saturn when I was younger.
But right now I currently own a Master System, Japanese Mega Drive, Japanese Mega CD, Japanese Sega Saturn (the see-through Derby Stallion one).

- (Father Krishna coughs, splutters, then turns a bright shade of envious green...) *FK recovers his composure, fights back the tears and returns to the questions...*

Of all these systems, which one has given you the most pleasure and why?

A hard one to answer... I could say the Mega Drive as I grew up with one, or a Dreamcast as it was simply amazing back in the day... But if I was going to go by what I'm enjoying most right now I'd then say the Saturn because of it's amazing games such as Sega Rally Championship, Daytona USA and NiGHTS... But I think I'll say the Mega Drive - simply because it was part of my childhood!

Now, how about naming your top ten for any of the following systems? Megadrive, Saturn and Dreamcast!

These are in no specific order, It's hard enough picking 10!

Dreamcast:
- Samba De Amigo
- Jet Set Radio
- Shenmue
- Shenmue 2
- Daytona USA 2001
- Crazy Taxi
- Chu Chu Rocket
- Sonic Adventure
- House of the Dead 2
- Virtua Tennis

Saturn:
- Sega Rally Championship
- NiGHTS Into Dreams...
- Daytona USA
- Burning Rangers
- Panzer Dragoon
- Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter
- Metal Slug
- Fighting Vipers
- Virtua Cop 2
- Panzer Dragoon Zwei



Mega Drive:
- Sonic The Hedgehog 2
- Sonic The Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles (Hey, it should of been one game anyway!)
- Streets of Rage 2
- Rocket Knight Adventures
- Shadow Dancer
- Shinobi 3
- Aladdin
- Sonic The Hedgehog
- Gunstar Heroes
- Dynamite Heady

OK, I'm going to put you on the spot... What's your favourite game of all time?

This is the hardest question of all... Games that instantly come to mind are Daytona USA, OutRun 2, Sega Rally Championship, Sonic 3 & Knuckles, Samba De Amigo or Streets of Rage 2... But I think I'll have to pick Sonic 3 & Knuckles. I played it do death as a kid, and I still do now as it's still amazing even today. Sonic Team should take a long hard look at this game and produce a proper Sonic game again, rather than pish like Sonic The Hedgehog '06!

Despite a certain return to form on current gen consoles, Sega is a shadow of it's former self... Does it distress you that Sega are out of the console business?

Very much so. They're no way near as good as they once were. They've got some great games like VF5, Super Monkey Ball, Sonic Rush, OutRun 2/SP, Virtua Tennis 3 and Sega Rally (although I did feel a bit let down by it...) they're producing so much rubbish too. Musical standards have dropped too recently! Sega Rally's music sounds rubbish! The original is still king.

Do you own any other game consoles, if so, what are they?

I've got a Super Famicom, Neo-Geo Pocket Colour, PlayStation 3 and an XBOX 360 Elite. I'm wanting to get myself a PC Engine and Neo-Geo AES as well as a Wii, DS Lite and PSP, pretty much for Sega releases. :P

What are your thoughts on the current sales war between the 360, PS3 and Wii?

Well, you can't deny the Wii will dominate because it's a lot cheaper and targets people of all ages with simple games. The PlayStation 3 for me is a bit shit, I'm only using mine to play Japanese PS2 games currently. I like the 360, there's some good games on it and Live is fantastic. But I don't care for FPS games. I'm not all too bothered with the current generation, it's the age of the FPS, nothing seems as fun as it used to be. There's no decent arcade titles anymore!

radioSEGA is a feat of huge proportions, do you have time to check out any other websites or blogs? If so what are they?

I'm a member of a few forums, mostly I hang around NTSC-uk.com and Assemblergames.com - when it comes to blogs, I check out this one and it's Dreamcast counterpart and UK:Resistance when I have some time to myself.

Do you read any gaming publications?

I'm currently collecting a few classic magazines actually. I'm five issues away from a complete set of Sega Saturn Magazine and two issues away from a complete set of Official Dreamcast Magazine. I got hold of my first copy of Mean Machines Sega today - so I'll be hunting some more issues now. In terms of magazines that are in circulation now I subscribe to Retro Gamer. At work on my lunch I'll sometimes read anything that's lying around such as GamesTM or Edge, but I don't buy those two mags really.

Finally, whilst we're all aware of your love for game music, what bands or music float your boat outside of gaming?

I'm into my Ska/Punk type stuff. Bands like Madness, The Specials, Capdown, Five Knuckle, Rancid and The Clash. *Father K gushes, and feels like adopting SegaMark...*

And there you have it! SegaMark! Great taste in games, great taste in music and finally a great taste in Games Music! Once again, a massive thank you from the Junkyard Team! And don't forget folks, tune into radioSEGA whenever you get the opportunity! There's a shortcut to it at the top of this very page!

Elend's Saturn Art

For those of you, who like me, were bowled over by the most wondrous Segata Sanshiro t-shirts produced by Elend, you'll need to see more of his work. Some of you less eagle eyed readers may have failed to notice the lovely little link in the cbox. It's to this lovely place...

www.segasaturn.de

And here you'll find all manner of visual gorgeousity, like the ones above! I'm now making a public request to Mr. Elend, to commission a piece of "Saturn Junkyard art" to celebrate a year of this particular little blog... You would of course be immediately awarded the Segata Sanshiro Order Of Merit the highest award our humble cult can bestow...

Could you do us a piece Elend, pleeeeaaaase? We've already had the 'Warholesque' portrait of Segata and remixed Segata theme tune courtesy of Random J. Your's could be the next masterpiece displayed on the 'Yard, let us know what you think... ;)

Anniversary fit NiGHTS wallpapers

Ah, isn't it wonderful? The Saturn Junkyard, the very retro gaming blog you are reading right now, has grown old, wacky, hopelessly SEGA obsessed and popular, while still clinging to the rather obscure belief that Segata Sanshiro will someday return and bring a Saturn console to every kid over 30. So, while we are all waiting for the big online party FK promised, here are some beautiful NiGHTS into Dreams wallpapers to gawk at (or even to download). Happy Birthday oh Saturn Junkyard! Thank you Father!

Elend's Most Fabulous Segata Creations!

Now I'll be honest with you, my most sacred of my bretheren, all of you who hold Segata's secrets most cherished to their hearts! I have never seen anything so 'fantabulous' as the above creation! For there is one devotee, one acolyte, one high priest, by the name of Elend that has produced an item of clothing that goes beyond the Elvis wig and usual Judo suit...

For HE in his infinite wisdom, has produced a most excellent piece of 'haute couture', the Segata Sanshiro t-shirt!

Bask in it's glory! Offer prayers to it's magnificence! For it is the 'body draping' tribute to our esteemed leader!

The Segata Sanshiro t-shirt! We welcome Elend in all his glory! Behold! Enjoy and plague him for new editions of this piece of sartorial elogence! (Can mine be a special black edition XXX fit for the larger gentleman?)

All hail Elend and his particular site www.andersdenkend.com/zwischenraum/Segata_Sanshiro_T-Shirt.rar

Give thanks to Segata and pray this comes our way!

20,000 Hits...

Lawks-a- lordy... It's been less than a year since this little blog leaped into my conciousness, but... even so... We've tipped the 20,000 hit mark... That's somewhat staggering, as we're blogging about a games system that finally died about eight years ago, and didn't sell as well as it's PS1 I'd like to thank all of our "SEGA loyal" fans and contributors, for making that hit counter tip the mark, I'm somewhat overwhelmed by this benchmark, and I'd just like to say a big thank you to all of the peeps that have taken time to check in and support the SJY...

Check out Radio Sega, The Dreamcast Junkyard, The Sega Master System Junkyard, the Hunyak, NebachadnezzaR's Place Of Awesomeness , J's Corner Of Randomness, Junlee Presents, The Elderly Gamer, A Random Gnome's Random Lair, The Hunt, Pro-Gamer etc...

I just wanna say that I love anyone who takes the time to stop by this place... I'm thrilled when anyone takes the time to check in..

By the way... We're having a little Birthday Party on the 13th of December... I hope you can all stop by. There will be cake, beer, nibbles and dips... (But mostly beer...) You can highlight your favourite posts, or Saturn games or anything that you want to mention.

Welcome Elend!

When some one takes the time to visit the Junkyard and then searches the archives, and then leaves comments on six (yes six) posts, then offers a Saturn modchip and then tells you that they had Segata Sanshiro T-Shirts made up for their friends, you've got to love them!

Welcome Elend, glad you're enjoying the site! Now if I could just measure you up for your Judo Suit and Elvis wig...