Saturn Winter Special

Here's a little vid I found on youtube about the, using the own words of the guy who made it, "ultimate winter game system, the Sega Saturn". Hell yeah!!!

This first part includes the Segata Sanshiro game (fucking win!) and Winter Heat. Next part will be about that icon that goes by the name of Christmas NiGHTS and... Steep Slope Sliders! Oh, what a special game that one is, it's review was my first article posted on this most awesome place for Saturn junkies.

Until then, enjoy part 1.

Saturn Movie Theater

Every Saturn fanatic has probably visited the fabulous Segagagadomain.com website already. It features a nice online database of Yakumo's (the site owner) quite amazing Sega Saturn games library along with interesting informations about every game. Some months ago he also presented us the brand new Sega Saturn Movie Theatre, in which he records intros and gameplay clips from the games he has. A very interesting thing for everyone who always wanted to have a look at a certain game. Also the quality of the videos is very great.

On January 1st he posted a massive update with a whopping 68 new Videos for you to look at! I think that's a newspost worth.

Go check them out right here!

Tetris S review

Two posts in a row? Oh yeah! I'm trying to compensate for my recent lack of posting, I guess. That or I finally have something to talk about.

I've never been an actual Tetris fan. Of course I liked the game, it's just so damn fun, but I never had it in such an high account as most gamers do. This somewhat changed recently. On December 31st, while waiting for midnight to celebrate the new year drowned in champagne, I decided to put my phone money to use and buy some game to keep me entertained. My choice? Tetris! Since then I've been quite addicted to it. After trying some games on the Dreamcast (Sega Tetris and Tetris 4D) I decided to move back to the Saturn. There are just 2 games available, Tetris Plus and Tetris S. I decided to start with this one. What are my thoughts?

This game sucks! I definitely understand why this is a Japan only release. Who else would buy this piece of crap? Ok, this is Tetris, so it's not that bad, but it's so damn simple! It's from the same producer of Tetris 4D for the Dreamcast, and it shows. There's just 3 game modes: regular, vs. against a friend and vs. against the computer. My cell phone game has more variety than this...


Moving on to the game, graphically it's just to simple. The backgrounds are just still photos of well known places around the world (in vs. modes it's just a cartoon instead) and the only thing moving beside the falling pieces is a stupid-looking monkey that keeps making gestures for whatever reason.

But Tetris is not about fancy graphics, it's about gameplay, right? Well, this game sucks at gameplay too! It's slow and unresponsive and it just plain sucks. You can't make a piece fall down and then suddenly move it to the sides, cause there's a waiting compass between the two motions. You can't make it rotate in a split second, cause once again the game takes time to process your command. It's stupid.


So, any redeeming factor? Nope, even the title sucks. Tetris S? TETRIS ASS??? Do youself a favour and don't buy this game. Next I'm going to try out Tetris Plus and according to pretty much everyone, that is a way better game.

Sorry for the lack of screenshots, couldn't find a single in-game picture of this game (I wonder why...). Here's a vid instead:

Video Game Vault - Virtua Cop 2

Here's another Saturn VGV for ya!

Despite detecting some hate towards the game, it's a vid about a Saturn game, and that's always worth posting.

Talking about VC2, I think I've played every version of that game except the Saturn one! This includes the original arcade version, the Dreamcast port (available in Japan as a stand-alone game and in the US as part of the Sega Smash Pack collection, us Europeans were left out) and the PS2 one, available as part of the rather great Virtua Cop Elite Edition compilation. Well, when I finally get a Saturn gun I promise to grab this game, along with my other favourite The House of the Dead.

By the way, since I'm not a contributor to the Dreamcast Junkyard, here's a nice VGV of Power Stone. Maybe Father can post it there where it belongs ;)

Ultimate Saturn Video Tribute!

I found this rather excellent Saturn tribute by total accident! It's very pertinent to my own videogaming life, but if it seems at a tad irrelevant to our most revered console, be patient! It all comes good in the end! Watch and enjoy!

Dezaemon 2 Shmup Galore

(Dezaemon 2 - Click for biggy!)

Lock up your wife and kids, dust off your Saturn and get ready for hours of gaming action. No, I am not talking about browsing your old library of Saturn games. Satakore.com staff recently and quietly released what might be one of the biggest gaming releases for the Saturn since its decline. The Dezaemon 2 Game Save Manager. If you are asking yourself, what I am talking about; Dezaemon 2 is a great little program released around 1997 by Athena. With it you can create shoot'em up games from scratch, without actually having to learn a programming language. Some may remember the infamous "Shoot'em Up Construction Kit" which was released for the C-64 and Amiga. Dezaemon 2 wasn't of much use for the ordinary Saturn user not only because of the language barrier, but also because you have to actually put quite some effort into making a game, before you can actually play. That is... until now!

(Devil Blade 2)

With the Game Save Manager, which comes with a whopping 118 games already on the CD, you can transfer already made games to a Saturn memorycard and load them up in Dezaemon 2 to actually play them. And rest assured, there are plenty of them! Over the years hardcore japanese Shoot'em Up fans have created many great games. Satakore.com also has a list of nearly every known usermade "shmup" for the Saturn version of Dezaemon 2 along with plenty of screenshots, as well as videos. Hell, some games are actually from 2006! Whilst browsing that list I was quite amazed how incredible the quality of some of those games is. Some might think, that usermade games are of a mediocre quality at best, but just have a look at "Devil Blade 2"! It might as well be a commercially released game. The graphics are absolutely gorgeous and with the Dezaemon 2 Engine behind it, you can be sure that it's also very playable.

(Devil Blade 2)

So the only thing you probably need now is a copy of that Dezaemon 2 as well as a memory card to store the games on. I am currently bidding on one as we speak and hope I can try all those great games as soon as possible. You should do so, too and hopefully this is encouraging those great japanese individuals to produce more games. Now that more people than ever before can play them.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

It's Christmas Eve and Krishna Towers is bedecked in Festive finery, the Ginger's stockings are hung up by the fire, awaiting Segata (sorry Santa) to arrive. I'll be enjoying a game of Christmas NiGHTs before bedtime, and be enjoying a lovely game of Sega Rally Revo tomorrow!

Just to say a very Merry Christmas to all our lovely contributors and commentors and all the best for 2008, which I know is going to be a very special one for the Saturn Junkyard! To celebrate the season, I've given you all another chance to see our leader scaring the shit out of load of Japanese children on Christmas day! Enjoy!

House Of The Dead (The Movie!)

Whilst out Christmas shopping today ( and I apologise right now for my lack of postage, what with the demands of the Christmas season and all...) I took it upon myself to go and buy my boys their traditional stocking filler DVDs.



"Now hold on there Father K! WTF are you talking about and what the hell has this got to do with the Saturn???" And BTW what the hell is a 'stocking filler'?" I hear you cry! OK, I'll explain! Over here in the UK and in our colony the good ol' US of A, it's a Christmas tradition to hang up a stocking (or big sock) on the fireplace for my brother in law, Father Christmas, to stuff full of little bits of funny crap, which compliment the main stash of excellent presents (for the Krishna children an Xbox 360 and some awesome games) you receive (found under the tree.)




Now this allows you to actually extend the present opening for a while longer, at little expense to your Mum and Dad... Stocking fillers are like (for example) chocolate coins, tangerines, mugs, CDRs, money boxes, socks, gloves, or any other crap that is small and doesn't cost a lot... Which leads me on to my next point...

One of the traditional 'stocking fillers' that I have always got my boys are really cheap DVDs, bought for a pound (£1) at the pound shop (dime store.) These have included such greats as Ninja movies (such as 'Master With Cracked Finger'), Blaxploitation Movies eg. 'Cleopatra Jones', Laurel and Hardy shorts, Horror B Movies such as 'She Freak' and 'King Kong vs. Godzilla', basically stuff no one else wants...

But today's Yuletide Harvest yielded the 'classic' shlock horror tittie-fest and zombat movie "House Of The Dead", apparently based on the Sega classic...uhm... "House Of the Dead"

In fact, (apparently) the whole movie was produced in close consultation with Sega, and having watched it, actually bares no relation to the game, other than when snippets of HOTD 1& 2 gameplay are flashed up between scenes... Oh! and G actually turns up with those other "dogs of the AMS..." at the end of the movie... HEY! It cost a quid, and what else are you gonna get for that financial outlay? There is some actually great fight scenes (Matrix style, but with zombies) and a cameo appearance by the great Jurgen Prochnow! I don't know where I'm going with this and the South Park 'World Of Warcraft' episode has just come on the TV, so I'm gonna sign off! Merry Christmas!


For a better review look here...

Enjoy the trailer and screenshots!

Sega Saturn Artwork

The Sega Saturn is my inspiration for all kinds of stuff. This time I made a decal (vinyl sticker) for my rack in which my Saturn found a nice and cosy little place. It's made out of a nice vinyl foil which resembles etched glass and thus looks quite elegant. Just perfect for my Saturn. It's my little tribute to one of the most underrated consoles of all time.

(Click the picture for bigger version. Oh and please excuse the crappy picture quality.)

J's Review Of Burning Rangers

For those few of you who don't know, J is producer of the most excellent "Corner Of Randomness", one of my very favourite sites which is a constantly hilarious and originally written site blog, covering gaming (Wii in particular) urban music, cosplay, J Pop, the funnier side of celebrity and witty commentaries and observations about his own life.


It was indeed, the inspiration for Father Krishna's Wiikly Sermons, although I never managed to equal it's brilliance.... *FK manages to seemlessly get in yet another plug for his under-visited blog...* LOL! ;)

He has also been a significant (though unofficial contributor) to this very site... Apart from the review underneath, J has also written a very compelling argument for a Wii sequel to this veritable game that you can look at here... Just to comfirm that these are J's words and not mine, the words will be in the customary quotation:

"In the midst of a lot of gaming sites reporting the possibility of there being a new Burning rangers game, I've decided to review the original game. Plus, I also decided I wanted to make more of an effort to review not only new(ish) games, but also oldies from yesteryear. I know this was a game many did not get a chance to experience, but I was fortunate enough to due to a close friend of mine owning a Sega Saturn and a copy of this game. So if you've yet to play Burning rangersor are just curious as to how it plays and what I think of it, then read on...

Burning rangers is like something straight out of the 80's. It takes everything you loved about Japanese cartoons from that decade growing up such as Voltron and Ulysses. A funky sing-a-long theme song, a futuristic setting, a couple of mecha's and a team of heroes in tight spandex, short jackets, white gloves, headbands and dodgy haircuts. This is the world of the Burning rangers. It's almost as thought Sega saw you coming.

So let's get down to how this all plays. The Burning rangers are pretty much a team of firemen (and women). Players take control of one of two new recruits into the Burning rangers - Shou or Tillis. The game is made up of a handful of missions which have you navigating through labyrinths of fire filled buildings to put out fires, stop explosions and rescue any helpless civilians you happen to come across. As you play through the missions you will come across crystals. Crystals are a form of currency that is needed to teleport civilians out of buildings. If you do not have enough crystals, then a civilian will have to be left to burn. Crystals are acquired by putting out fires, but crystals can be shattered if hit with a charged shot from your water pistol. So whilst a charged shot is guaranteed to extinguish a large fire, it could potentially nip all chances of acquiring crystals in the bud. As you move around fires and explosions can go off at anytime. Players are warned of these hazards beforehand via a whistling sound. When you hear it, it doesn't mean it's time to snap yo' fangaz and do the harlem shake - it means you need to move fast! By tapping a button your Burning ranger will perform a dodge maneuver which will clear them out of harms way. In earlier missions the whistle will sound quite some time before an explosion, but in later missions the time between the whistle and the explosion become shorter and in some cases are instantaneous. Getting hit by an explosion not only means losing a chunk of your health, but also all of your crystals. No crystals means not being able to save civilians, which in some cases isn't such a bad thing. Some of them sit on the floor in the middle of large rooms moving their heads from side to side like Stevie Wonder, expecting to be saved. Unfortunately you're not always able to choose who you save, as wandering into an area with a civilian in clear view will immediately trigger a cut scene and have you teleport them. Some civilians aren't in such obvious locations however and the real challenge once you finish the game the first time round is going back and saving them all. They're at least kind enough to send you a letter for rescuing them which is quite thoughtful of them.

The audio in Burning rangers is fantastic. During missions there is no music and this works to the games' advantage as it creates a feeling of tension. All you can hear is the crackling of fires, explosions going off in the distance and the sound of debris and constructions falling around you. Having any music play throughout the duration of stages would take away from the atmosphere. You also have your navigator (the sexy, but cold and disinterested Chris) constantly speaking to you during missions which gives a real sense of being as part of a unit and also helps break up the silence. At the tap of a button your navigator will tell you exactly where to go. This is a pretty snazzy feature, as not once do you hear the CD spin in the Saturn like crazy trying to load the speech.

Burning rangers features bosses, all of which are crap. The Burning rangers are essentially glorified firemen with jetpacks, so why they have to fight bosses I have no clue. The bosses are unecessary and do not work well into the plot (another thing this game didn't need). The final boss is some space alien looking thing that you fight on what looks like a dancefloor from a Madonna video. It is not a rite of passage that every third person action adventure needs bosses. This game could've done without them or some decent ones at the very least. All of the bosses aside from the final one is some form of bland looking mecha. The only interesting thing about the bosses is that one of them resembles Pikachu and you can shoot him in the face.

The characters in this game are brilliantly designed. Bright, colourful, camped up, but downright cool. The finger pointing Shou, the cute as a button Tillis, the sexy Chris, the smooth ladykiller (but could also be gay) Leed and the big black Mr. T inspired Landman. Unfortunately, the supporting cast do not play much of a role. They're in the intro and in the ending, but they don't do much in between. You'll sometimes come across some of them during missions, but when you do they're just stood there doing nothing. Or they'll say a couple of words and then run off and leave you. It's a shame because the supporting cast are just as cool as the leads.

The graphics in this game are surprinsgly good for the Saturn. A console which was pretty capable, but ridiculously hard to get anything decent out of. Sega actually managed to pull some nifty graphics out of their big black box and as a result Burning rangers looks pretty spiffy. Especially in comparison to some the ghetto...and I mean GHETTO looking games that came before. (Only the Sega Saturn could fail to pull off an arcade perfect version of Virtua Fighter 1). The graphics in this game aren't perfect. There is some slow down and some clipping issues - but it's definitely one of the first (and unfortunately last) games on the Saturn that actually rivalled a PlayStation game in the graphics department. Burning rangers made the Saturn look incredibly capable and even now it still looks impressive.



Burning rangers was a game that had everything going for it. But unfortunately it was released at the wrong time. (Console swan songs never sell well). As much as I loved Burning rangers, I couldn't help but think it really did need a bit more to it and that it needed a more powerful console. When the Dreamcast came along and I saw what it was capable of, my first thought was that Sega should've released Burning rangers for it instead. They would've been able to do alot more with the Dreamcast's extra graphical power, controller and VMU unit. We could've had fully destructible environments, bigger explosions, analogue control, water blasting using the triggers and the VMU acting as a detector for finding nearby civilians. A missed oppurtunity for certain, but the Wii is a chance for Sega to fix all that.

If you own a Sega Saturn, then chances are you already own this game. But if you are one of the few who does own a Saturn and don't have a copy of this game in your collection, then you need to take it upon yourself to hunt this game down. It's a must own. Hopefully Sega will resurrect this series and introduce it to the masses who missed out on it the first time round. A re-elease on the Virtual console or an all new Wii sequel would be greatly welcomed.

A flawed game that is far from perfect, but one that was incredibly fun to play, original, full of promise, cool ideas and most importantly, still holds up to this very day. A Sega saturn classic and one of Sonic team's best efforts."

J's RATING: 7 / 10

This review, J and his beautiful Corner Of Randomness carries the Official, Father Krishna Seal Of Approval!

Cyberbots Limited Edition

I recently bought that Cyberbots Limited Edition. I already had the normal version in my collection and since it's a very great game with awesome animations, ridiculous lush graphics and the Capcom playability we are all used to, I decided that I need this Limited Edition aswell. I always wondered what's in it, and after seeing several pictures of what I thought was the box, I was quite enthused. "Damn, it comes with a model kit?", I thought. Well... it doesn't. The thing I saw was actually just the book, which is in the box and its cover is designed like a model kit box. Still a great item in my opinion and there's also that weird pop-up sheet thing, which many of you may know from their childhood. It was a bit hard to unfold so my photo is unfortunately not very good. Anyway, they give a little impression of what's in the box and they might be helpful for everyone, who always wondered what's actually in it.

The book is really nice by the way. It contains a lot of great pictures, development concept art, pictures of Cyberbots merchandise and even a sheet of music along with the lyrics. It's 48 pages heavy and even interesting for people who don't speak or read japanese. Go grab it, I saw it on ebay for less than 30 EUR (= 43 USD; 21 GBP)!

(click the pictures to get a bigger version)

Segata Sanshiro Tribute No. 351

A man as great as Segata Sanshiro just can't be worshipped enough. I once received this very nice black Saturn (model 1 with oval buttons, yay!) as a gift from some guy in the UK. It is region code unlocked and able to play CD-Rs, which makes it a nice testing station for homebrewn stuff or recently released games that never were like Sonix X-Treme or Return Fire. With the switches located at the front (yes, I'd have placed them at the back, too!) I can set the region aswell as switch between NTSC and PAL, which is really handy.

To actually remember which switch combination does what I got myself some stickers printed. And why not put Segata Sanshiro's fierce face on the stickers aswell, so that I never forget that I HAVE to play Sega Saturn every day! So, there you have it, the Segata Sanshiro special edition...

Man trying to sell Saturn in my area for ONLY $800

This is HILARIOUS.

Other sites like UK Resistance (a WEB SITE not a blog) might provide hilarious posts about people trying to rip off others with Wii Ebay sales but this is the first time I have seen the Sega Saturn in a similar situation.

The Saturn, as well as other Sega systems excluding the Genesis, is very rare in the rural areas of Northern and Central NY, US where I live.

But does that justify this Craigslist ad???

http://watertown.craigslist.org/tag/510183680.html

Actual text from ad:

"1 Sega Saturn with 1 controller and 1 game works great takes the cd's and the cartridges have the power cord and the a/v out cord have posted pics to show that it works if interested E-mail me at hyperguy1979@yahoo.com....They are very hard to find anymore..... "

(Actual Picture from Ad. What game is that???)

I almost hope some confused parent bids over $300 for this Saturn.

Hey I got a Saturn with NiGHTS for $10 in a local thrift store, but if someone wants to pay $800 for this bad boy more power to them...

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?