Lunar: Silver Star Story and Eternal Blue

I can't believe I didn't think of writing about this sooner! Ok, there's a reason for that, the fact that I played the PSX version of these games, but since they were such big Saturn titles in Japan I think they deserve a mention here. I'm talking about the Lunar series of RPGs, more specifically the two main titles (there's also a bunch of spin-offs), which have quite a story. They were first released for the ill-fated Sega CD (aka Mega CD) add-on for the Mega Drive (aka Genesis) but later remade for our beloved console in two versions, a first one in 1996, and a 2nd, even better one, entitled Silver Star Story Complete in 1997. Now, I have to be honest, I don't exactly know the differences between the original and the first Saturn game, but the 2nd, which was later ported to the PSX (the version I played), improves on the original in every possible way. The graphics are way better, the characters have been redrawn, it features excellent anime-style cut-scenes and even the gameplay is better than in the original, with enemies present on screen instead of random encounters. Unfortunately for some reason they decided to change some bits of the story too, usually for worse, but it's still a very enjoyable game.


It's basically an RPG like many others, were you control a boy and his group of friends in a quest to save the world, but if you look past this cliché theme (which was probably more original back then) you'll find an interesting story, engaging characters and a universe worth exploring. It's a great RPG all and all, and it deserves a look by every fan of the genre, although it won't convert any RPG-haters. But wait, there's got to be a reason why I chose to play the PSX version instead of the Saturn one. An why is that? Try to guess... yup, it was never released here. Damn...it's times like this I get really pissed... At least the PSX version was released in the west, but by "west" I mean the US. Yup, no European version...


Anywho...Lunar 2 is even better, specially when it comes to gameplay where it shows some pretty inspired features, like a character in your party whom you cannot control or the final boss battle that is just epic, specially for its time. The cut-scenes are also improved, with CGI effects along with the traditional anime style, and my only complaint about it is the soundtrack which in my opinion is not as good as in the first game, and I'm saying this because the music is a big part of these games, specially the first one, where one of the main characters is a singer. Just listen to it:



Once again, this post is somewhat redundant since I doubt any of you will play the Saturn versions, but if you like the genre and have a PSX at hand (or a good emulator, I personally recommend pSX for the ease of use but if you're looking for graphic improvements you may want ePSXe) I definitely recommend you give these games a try, while pretending you're actually playing on a Saturn :)

The Sega Saturn IR Pads

Some months ago I was browsing ebay.fr, when I suddenly saw some Sega Saturn Joypads in their original box. Since I am a mad collector of Sega Saturn stuff, I had to get these. After a closer examination (the original picture made by the seller was probably from a webcam made pre 1990) I noticed that those pads are actually wireless infrared pads. I didn't know that there were such things available for the Saturn, since I never was interested in wireless stuff. My father once bought a wireless (radio controlled) mouse, which didn't work at all. We once had a wireless (radio controlled) keyboard for the PC, which didn't work too well either. Hell, we even had wireless LAN at home, which... you guessed it, didn't work too well either. So naturally I wasn't a fan of wireless things. That was until I experienced the Xbox 360 and PS3 wireless pads as well as the Nintendo Wiimote, which DO work quite well. I remember my mate, throwing a strike in WiiSports bowling, whilst taking a dump on the toilet. So, the new Bluetooth technology seemed to work really well, whereas the old radio controlled technique worked not so well... what should I think about the old infrared technology then?

There are two things, which make these pads so great:

IR TECHNOLOGY

When I tested these pads for the first time I really wasn't expecting anything. I even was expecting, that they don't work at all and have a lag or something like that. I was then even more amazed, when I noticed that they work nearly as well as the bluetooth pads on the nextgen consoles. They have a really large freedom of movement. I can even turn my back to the Saturn and play whilst aiming the pad at my wall! Also there is no noticable lag. Every command is executed as if I'd play with an ordinary pad. There is only one point in my room, where the pad does not work anymore, but that's a point, where I don't see the TV anymore either. So... totally amazing IR technology, which I haven't experienced like that before.

DESIGN

The other great thing about them is, that they have been slightly changed in design. At first I was like: "Oh noes, the Sega Saturn pad is the best possible Joypad ever made, how can they change its design?". When I was holding it for the first time I immediately felt it to be more comfortable. It's a tad thicker and especially heavier now, due to the batteries you have to insert at the back. That gives it an even better feeling than the original, very light weight pads. The little chambers, where you put the batteries, also stand out a bit, which gives you a much better grip. Also the shoulder buttons are a tad different now. They don't dangle losely around anymore, but fit thight and have a... "more comfortable" microswitch inside. It's hard to explain, but everything feels much more solid! The D-Pad feels a bit different as well, with much softer movement plus it has this weird stuff on it, which gives it more grip. But maybe that'll hurt after long gaming sessions. This I have yet to test.


So, when I post an extensive text like this one, only for some weird Sega Saturn joypads, I must be really amazed. I never thought, that you can improve the original Sega Saturn pad plus I feel a little bit nextgen due to the new freedom I have whilst playing Saturn. The pads have its price, though. For the set of two pads, a receiver and the original Box I had to pay around 45 EUR, which is quite much. They have also been released in Japan, so maybe you can get those a bit cheaper. I can only recommend them to anyone who is used to his Xbox360 or PS3 wireless pads by now.

Just in Case You Missed This, IGN's Top Sega Saturn Games

I think we can all agree with this list.

http://retro.ign.com/articles/894/894643p1.html

Sega Rally PC

Well folks its been a while since I posted anything of relevence here at the SJY. Recently the good ship has been steered and captained by the ever wonderful Teutonic Wunderkind, our most wonderful contributor, the mighty elend!

Well hopefully I'll contribute more as I'm blessed with a fabulous six weeks off work! Yes, the job of teaching has it's blessings. After a year of attempting to educate my charges and even more importantly, bestow some social skills upon them, I've got the chance to chill out, drink, watch movies and more importantly blog and play games!! Hurrah!!!

So, on to gaming and more importantly, onto Saturn gaming!!! Firstly I'd like to share with you the wonders of Sega Rally PC. As I've often documented on these hallowed pages, Sega Rally 1995 is one of my favourite and oft played games on any console. As the title that was bundled with my first Saturn, it holds a special place in my heart.

As you wander round supermarkets in the UK, you'll often find a bargain bin with Sega titles from it's former consoles, ported for PC gamers. They're released under the "Grab it!" franchise and usually retail for £1. So far I've had House Of The Dead 2, Sonic R, Sega Rally and Virtua Fighter Evolution, all for the princely sum of a mere quid.

This summer, or more accurately this week, I've been loving Sega Rally PC. A direct port of the Saturn original (it's graphically and in terms of playability the exact same game) but for some reason, sitting in my living room, surrounded by the Krishna family with a lap top on my knee, playing the game is an absolute joy!

Bizzarely enough, for some reason it's actually easier to complete the Championship stages on the PC than it is on the Saturn. I'm using the arrow keys and for some reason I'm cornering better and finishing with ease! Stiil no sign of the elusive Lakeside stage as of yet, but I live in hope...

What is a tad disappointing is the Link Play feature, which alludes to (but doesn't promise) the chance of playing rivals over the internet. This of course was one of the features that only a very select group of Saturn owners were privy to, via the Saturn's revolutionary online 'Netlink' internet peripheral.

So far my attempts at connecting to the internet on the PC version have been unsuccessful.
There's precious little on the back of the box to guide you... I quote:

'LINK GAME MODE... Race rivals near and far. Full screen action allows you maximum enjoyment in this PC original.'

Hmmm! Am I the only one who finds this limited description somewhat vague?



But it's not only PC ports that have entered Krishna Towers! Why no! I purchased my latest Saturn software just yesterday for three English pounds! Why it's Saturn PAL original Titan Wars!

If I'm absolutely honest I bought it for the shallowest of reasons:

1.) I didn't have it in my collection...
2.)The blurb on the back...

"Over 40 minutes of full motion video starring Claudia Christian. Switch between chase plane and cockpit views. Dominate 30 levels across nine worlds. Your wingman will watch your six (?) and feed you tactical data."

I've yet to play it but I'm looking forward to that rendered video! I'm setting aside a few days for Saturn only gaming this holiday. I'll report back as soon as I've given the Saturn the love it deserves! Until then, adieu! Here's some video to wet your appetite..

The Wonder That Is: SMJ

"What the hell is SMJ and what does it have to do with this incredibly great Segata Sanshiro sticker sheet to the left?", you might think. I guess most of you haven't heard about SMJ yet, that's why I want to introduce you to it. The Shopping Mall Japan is an incredibly great service, who enables everyone to shop in Japan. That does include weird japanese websites, but more importantly the japanese auction site Yahoo Auctions Japan. Yes. Yahoo Auctions is the place to be, when you want rare or semi-rare Sega Saturn stuff just like the great Segata Sanshiro sticker sheet you are seeing on the left.

It works like this: You register yourself a free account at SMJ. Then you can enter an auction ID from Yahoo Auctions and the desired maximum bid amount and they'll bid for you. In realtime and automatically. Once the auction is won (or lost) you'll get a notification and the seller will ship the item to the SMJ offices in Japan. Then they'll redirect the stuff right to you. And well, yes, there is a snag in it. It's quite an expensive service. The SMJ stuff wants to earn some money through this service, so naturally they want some fees from you. They range from 5 USD for auctions with a max. price of 2000 Yen up to 12 USD for auctions ranging from 4000 - 10000 Yen. Additionally they take 2.50 USD wire transfer fee. Of course you also pay the shipping within Japan as well as the shipping to your home country! So my advise is to only buy things there, which you can't get elsewhere and which you really, really want. Small and cheap items like the Segata Sanshiro stickers can get up to 200 % in price with all the fees.

Personally I prefer to pay those fees than don't having those great items at all. And Yahoo Japan does have some great items. Along with the stickers I also bought a Segata Sanshiro VHS tape with all his TV Commercials on it! Now isn't that great? I'll try to rip it to DVD then, so that I can finally enjoy the TV spots on my actual TV set in great quality. Woo yay! And of course there's more on Yahoo Auctions. Segata Sanshiro Book, Music CD, telephone cards and action figures! Damn, I have to buy everything! :D So, check out their page, they have explanations for just everything you want to know and I guess I wrote enough, plain boring text already. Next time I'll post more pictures, I promise!

Sega Saturn Promotional Video

Recently I managed to register myself an account at the japanese only video portal Nico Nico Douga. A search for "Sega Saturn" (in japanese of course) didn't bring too many results. Actually much less, than I was hoping for. And the results I got were your usual suspects like gameplay scenes from Daytona / Panzer Dragoon / Virtua Fighter and some Animeintros / -cutscenes here and there. But then, inbetween some weird SRPG game and a Segata Sanshiro TV commercial I spotted this very great Sega Saturn Promotional Video. It shows a super clean, absolutely brand new and astonishing looking Sega Saturn and some great video footage of something that looks like Ecco The Dolphin. This scene is pre-rendered and should demonstrate the graphical power of the Sega Saturn back then. Watching it nowadays, makes you laugh a bit, since the graphics almost look a tad like PS2 graphics. Go give it a look, it's really nice and especially hasn't been uploaded to YouTube before. That is, until I uploaded it, for your convenience. It's my very first YouTube Video ever.

Sega Saturn Consumer Brochures

Just a little update. I scanned in more of some random Sega Saturn consumer brochures I found / bought recently. Two are unfortunately in german and thus probably not so open to you, but hey, they feature very colorful pictures at least. One in particular features quite a nice design and a super gorgeous product shot of a Sega Saturn. I can only recommend it. The one brochure in english, is making my eyes cry, though. Dunno what the designers thought when designing it.

Apart from giving you a very nostalgic feeling, some brochures even show you some never released games on the Saturn, which is both sad and interesting. The rest is your usual marketing blah blah, which I probably would have loved back then. "What, 500.000 polygons per second? This must be the best machine ever!"

Oh and btw, this time I can't be arsed to put them in a PDF file, so you've got to browse all those JPG files. But I hope you have something like ACDSee installed. Sorry!

VF 5 R... The legacy continues

Despite poor sales of VF5 (even though critical acclaim was high) and a corporate loss of thousands, nay millions of dollars, pounds and yen (!) This year it seems that Sega and AM2 stil want to put out a new version of Virtua Fighter. It's not VF6, but VF5 R...

Apparently that means two 'new' characters, one being the already seen VF3 character Jean Kujo ( a frankly shite Sumo wrestler) looking apparently better and hopefully playing a little better. The other is apparently a totally new character.

The game was unveiled in the Japanese city of Akihabara, at a Sega themed bar, where there were arcade cabinets that sported the new game. My only thought on the subject is that our beloved Saturn franchise has been given a new lease of life. When you also think that there is a 2008 re-vamp of the original Sega Rally, it would seem that the fabulous games afforded to us on the Saturn, still live on in the current millenium! Happy days!

Here's the low down...

"It seems that last week Sega Japan gave gamers a chance to play on the new version of Virtua Fighter 5, at it’s location test. If you happened to be strolling along the electronics district of Akihabara anytime between the 25th June and 1st July (yesterday), then hopefully you will have seen this event.

According to Wired blog, GameLife, Sega was showing the game off at the Club Sega in the centre of the district. However, I’m not sure which Club Sega that might be. When I went there, there were two Club Sega’s about 50 yards from each other - and due to a massive hang over and ridiculous temperatures, I didn’t fancy exploring much more of the area. So no doubt their are more Club Sega’s around the district.
Anyway, Sega was showing off over 30 cabinets, and giving gamers a chance to test out the two new characters in the game.

New to this latest version of the game is a new karate-practicing character known as Jean Kujo, and the return of sumo wrestler Taka-Arashi (he last appeared in VF3).
The game is said to allow IC Cards from VF5 Ver.D to work with it - allowing players to use their old save data and customise their characters.
VF5 R features new stages and a new “Danshi Mode” where players are able to train their characters and learn new moves.

No final date has been set for the game’s release, but the cabinets at the “Shinjuku West Exit Club Sega” will remain in use even once the location test is over."

Enjoy the screen shots, courtesy of Sega Nerds...

Another Saturn Appearance In Anime

When you watch Episodes 16 and 17 of the Anime "Bamboo Blade", then you'll spot this lovely image of a Sega Saturn there. Yes, it's the animated version of the "Bamboo Blade" Manga I recently reported about in this blog. I still don't know the context, in which the Sega Saturn is displayed, but everyone interested can now download the proper episodes. I wonder what that stuff on the Saturn is. Probably some presents. Well anyway, here's the original site, which posted the image. You can find some more informations there. In japanese that is.

Gladiators Play The Saturn!

OK, I'll come clean. I've already posted this video before (or links to it anyway) but I can barely conceal my delight at finding an embeddable version. What makes it so great is that apart from being a blast from my kids TV past, it features the legend that IS Andy Crane!

Andy Crane used to present kid's TV for the BBC, with a glove puppet called Ed The Duck. He was quite the man at the time. Since then his career has now nosedived quite a bit and he is now news anchor man of a Manchester only TV channel. He is also a figure of affectionate ridicule on the wonderful UK Resistance.

So strap yourself into the DeLorean, set the dial to 1994 and enjoy!!

Street Fighter The Movie The Game. (Making of!)

Yeah so I know the folks over at Segasaturn.co.uk felt this game was the worst Saturn Game ever...

But come on folks!

I bought it and it's probably the best $3 I spent. (In the top ten at least)

Go back and read my review where I discuss why the game is totally worth $4.00 (American)!

In any case take a look at some of these production shots. Just because...
Cammy Minogue

http://alan-noon.blogspot.com/2007/08/follow-up-street-fighter-movie.html

Also the original discussion about the game.

http://forums.shoryuken.com/showthread.php?t=125411

Come on people! The Saturn version was SO MUCH better than the arcade version. We can all agree on that.

Sega Saturn Tie! (and some other stuff...)

Well the posts over here seem to have dried up a little of late, a situation I hope to rectify soon.

So for the time being please forgive me for raiding a few other websites for inspiration. First of all one of my regular visits to the excellent UK Resistance yielded this rather excellent piece of Saturn obscura, the Sega Saturn tie!!! Phenomenal!!!

Meanwhile over at Sega Nerds is this thing about the most wonderful and sought after epic, the Panzer Dragoon Saga, which is well worth checking out.

Of other interest, unlike Sega USA or Sega Europe, Sega Japan are celebrating their retro console heritage by showcasing the Saturn over on their website. To get to a lovely translated version of that particular site look here...

For those of you who are lucky enough to have experienced the joys of the Saturn online (and I only know of one, Nick 944, who frequents the Planet Dreamcast Forums) you may be interested in this little site... the Saturn League which brings together those who wish to play the likes of Sega Rally and erm... a couple of other titles over the Internet. Check it out here...

Those far more sophisticated Saturn bloggers, over at Segasaturn.co.uk have voted Street Fighter: The Movie as the worst Saturn game of all time. But they still haven't provided a link to us over here at the SJY... Can't we sort that out? Surely they know about us and this is at least the second time we've given them a 'heads up'...

So here's hoping our fabulous team of contributors will step up to the plate and give us some more fabulous posts very soon! Until then it's a farewell from your host, Father K!

Sega Saturn Prototype

Whilst checking some cardboard boxes under my bed, I was quite surprised to find some magazines there, which I totally forgot about. Not only did I find my "Multimedia Joker" magazines, which I missed for years by now, but also an Issue of german "Playtime" magazine, which greeted me with a glaring image of something remotely looking like a Sega Saturn. Whereas I did know this image of a prototype already, I was quite happy to see the picture inside, which I never saw before. The prototype looks strikingly real and a bit like the screenshot was taken straight from a VHS tape (notice the weird "lines" at the bottom of the image). I have also to admit, that it does look a tad cool actually? Unlike the many other prototypes which range from gruesome to downright hilarious.

Here's the picture from the cover, which looks like if it was colored by the guys from the magazine. Imho this is really ugly and not compareable to the picture found inside the mag, which looks much more slick.

Oh and on a sidenote: It must be a sign of god, that the only issue of "Playtime" I ever bought, features the very first picture and coverage of the Sega Saturn. Long time before I actually knew what a Sega Saturn is.

A Nice Saturn Sampler!

The Incredibly Cute Saturn Soft Case

On my countless forays into the depths of the ebay Sega Saturn auctions, I spotted this sweet little... thing. At first I thought it's a boxed white Saturn, but the auction description lured me with the words "Soft Case". I dug further and found out, that this little fella is indeed a "Soft Case", whereas Sega probably meant "Software" and not the physical condition of the item. So, you can literally put software in it, which should be preferably Sega Saturn CDs, of course, and the case will protect it. You can choose to either put 4 CDs with jewel cases in it, or use the book like thing to put in even more CDs. 10 to be exact. What's a bit weird about that thing is, that you can also put the manuals in it. The back of the box also suggests, that you may carry your Sega Saturn joypad in it, which I haven't tested though.

The appearance of this thing is really cute for some odd reason. It nearly looks like an original white Sega Saturn, but it's different enough to be overly cute. I immediately fell in love with it and thus didn't care, that I had to pay approximately 60 USD for this thing. It's either rare or very sought after. The original price tag, when this thing was released, was around 14 USD (Yen 1,480). Talk about valorisation!