A Tonic For All Those People Enraged By The Last Post...

Yes! I know that this has been posted a hundred times before, but it always disappears into the archives! After the last post, I feel the cult needs to re-group... Judo suits? CHECK! Elvis wigs? CHECK! Translated lyrics to the theme tune? CHECK!

OK, after three... 1-2-3...

Segasaturn Shiro! by Segata Sanshiro

"The solitary man who devoted his soul to the way of games
Today, he comes again
He will punish those who do not play seriously
Their battered bodies will never forget!

[chorus] Segata Sanshiro, Segata Sanshiro! Sega Saturn... shiro!

They play tennis, sing karaoke, flirt around in clubs...
Are there not more serious tasks to be done?
Those who do not play maturely
He questions them deep inside their hearts

Segata Sanshiro, Segata Sanshiro! Sega Saturn... shiro!

(voice of Segata)
Youngsters... is there something in your life you are completely devoted to?
Something you sink into so deep you put your life on the line?
You must play Sega Saturn!
Play... until your fingers break! Until your fingers break!

Even if they chase after sex, that petty pleasure
Their soul will remain hollow
Those who do not immerse themselves to the extreme in gaming
Will find their bodies beaten harshly!

Segata Sanshiro, Segata Sanshiro! Sega Saturn... shiro!

The white clouds floating on the great blue sky
And the boiling red bloodshed in fierce gaming
Those who give up halfway through
Their battered bodies will never forget!"

Segata Sanshiro, Segata Sanshiro!
Sega Saturn... shiro!Segata Sanshiro, Segata Sanshiro! Sega Saturn... shiro!

Blasphemy! CNET Blog Network Article Calls Saturn "the worst major console of all time"

Yes. This article says that the Saturn was the worst major console of all time...

http://blogs.cnet.com/8301-13506_1-9861122-17.html

It was written by:

Don "Dumbass" Reisinger

http://blogs.cnet.com/8300-13506_1-17.html?authorId=9727958&tag=author

"Don Reisinger is a technology columnist who has written about everything from HDTVs to computers to Flowbee Haircut Systems. Don is a member of the CNET Blog Network and posts at The Digital Home. He is not an employee of CNET"

I can't even BEGIN on how wrong and badly researched this article was. It is striaght up 2.0 shoddy journalism. Donny boy must have gotten all his info off wikipedia and then wrote the story around the title. I am pretty sure he never even owned a system.

Fear not loyal Saturn lovers. Others who have calmer heads than I have already taken on the task of correcting this wrong.

People have posted VERY long comments pointing out the errors in this article as well as listing the many worthy games released on the system.

There are a few choices ones to read.

"So please Mr. Reisinger, do the world a favor and quit writing articles until:
A. You learn to research your subjects.
or
B. You become a competent individual. "

"How exciting. Maybe he should do an article showcasing the good games for the 3DO and Atari Jaguar"

And of course this is the same guy who claimed the SNES is the greated console of all time and didn't even mention the Dreamcast. He ONLY mentioned the Playstation because a "handful of Sony fanboys will cry foul" if he didn't. And his second place trophy goes to the NES... Wow.... My Nintendo fanboy sense is tingling.

The Saturn has alot of fans on the web Mr. Reisinger. Please do some actual research before you do your next "tech" article.

I can't help but think that Bernie would be proud of this article.

Segarocks!

Following elend's most excellent post about Takenobu Mitsuyoshi, I've recently (recently being today) acquired a most excellent collection of SEGA music. I'm talking of no less than SEGAROCKS Vol.1, Vol.2 and Live in Japan! Hell yeah!


Containing both original and, specially, rock versions of classical tunes, these cd's have songs like Go!Go! Sega Rally, In the blue sky (Virtual-On) or Sega Saturn, Shiro! These are just my favourites, of course. Since all the cd's have at least 10 songs (20 if you count both original and "rock" versions), there are a whole lot more tracks, like themes from various Phantasy Stars, Burning Rangers, a lot of Master Systems games I've never played, etc...


Here's Sega Saturn, Shiro! from the Live on Japan cd:

Saturn In The Movies... Again!

Whilst browsing YouTube for random Sega Saturn videos I found this little video. User "Mangatron8Zonaretro" uploaded an excerpt from the Anime series "You're Under Arrest!" and it shows how some character from the show repairs / mods a Sega Saturn. Too bad there are no subtitles available and it's a mystery to me, what the girl is saying, whilst looking at the moon. Probably something like "Damn, that Sega Saturn sure is a great console!" It's nothing too extraordinary and the scene is quite short, yet every Sega Saturn appearance is welcome.

Go, check it out here!

Takenobu Mitsuyoshi - From Loud 2 Low

Do dodo do, do do dooo dooooo! Daydooonaaa!

Everyone familiar with the Sega Saturn should also be familiar with Takenobu Mitsuyoshi, who is one of Sega's most remarkable composer of video game soundtracks. He joined Sega's sound team around 1990 and quickly became a member of Sega's S.S.T. Band (Sega Sound Team). With his soundtrack to the hit arcade game Daytona he quickly built his very own monument. That didn't make him lazy or even coky, tough. No, instead he continued to fully take advantage of the medium compact disc and produced great soundtracks for games like Virtua Fighter, Shen Mue (incredible orchestra music!), Daytona 2, Sega Rally and Burning Rangers. Many of them with vocal tracks, which demonstrated his unique voice and are true classics today. Once you've played a game with his soundtrack, you'll remember a tune from him for sure.

(No Daytona without Takenobu Mitsuyoshi)

On November the 4th in 2003 he finally released a solo album (buy it here), which contains some of his best works. Many of them have previously been released but it also contains some unreleased tracks. The most noticable being an interpretation of the ending theme of Burning Rangers, which was originally sung by a women. The "interesting" thing about it: Takenobu tries to recreate that female voice. It sounds really weird at first, but fans of the Burning Rangers game will immediately recognize and fall in love with it. No matter how weird you might find his voice at first, his tunes to the Daytona racing series are instant classics. So it's a no brainer, that the album features them as well. When it comes to the Virtua Fighter Anime theme song and especially the Burning Rangers theme, Takenobu finally shows, that he can also sing a more "mature" way. You know, without all the engrish and "Do do doo" found in the Daytona music. I can really recommend the album, since it not only features 5 and more new tunes (depending on how much you know, from him! I, for example, never heard the Anime Virtua Fighter songs!) but it also gathers his best works in once place.

Whilst browsing for his name on google I also found this hilarious live performance of the Daytona Song "Let's Go Away", which he is performing together with Rony Barrak. It's a great example of how crazy he is in real life. On a sidenote: I had the pleasure to meet him at the "Games Convention 2007" in Germany, where he signed my copy of the Shen Mue Orchestra OST. Check out the video, it's... I am out of words.

Shun shunned?

I was really excited about receiving my recently purchased copy of Virtua Fighter Remix (a lovely factory sealed Japanese one...) I sat down to play it... The characters looked sumptuous compared to the blocky and jagged representations of the original incarnations, and the backgrounds and fighting stages were breath-taking. All good so far!

So I decide I'm going to play as Kage Maru (I usually do...) and off I go, beating Dural on my second attempt! Lovely! A worthy addition to the Virtua Fighter family! Then something hit me, and when it did it hit me hard, like an icy blast to the stomach...

Where was Shun? The drunken master, a warrior so cool, he literally sits down in the middle of a fight for a swig of hooch! A guy so old that he has lost most of his hair, and the little he has remaining is as white as the snow on the top of Mount Fuji itself! Yet a man whose ninja skills are as supple as a shaolin monk who has just spent his eighteenth year training in a Tibetan dojo!

A man about whom wikipedia informs us...

"He is from Northern China and is considered as a sage by many. He teaches in his small training hall and had many students in the past but most have left him by now. This is due to his keen interest in taking students able to take hardship as part of the training.
While drinking with his friends, Shun hears them boasting about the success one of their student fighters in recent tournament competitions. He suddenly exclaims, "I also want to participate in the World Fighting Tournament". Shun's friends pleaded with him not to, but once Shun had mentioned his intent to fight, he was adamant and eventually joined the tournament.

During the 2nd tournament, Shun saw a suspicious shadow in one of the rings. When he followed it, it turned out to be one of his beloved disciples, a man he himself raised. He didn't have an opportunity to talk to him, but the incident filled Shun's heart with doubt. Why would they meet here? Why hadn't he heard from his student in so many years? Resolving to solve the mystery, Shun decided to enter the next tournament and find out.

After the 3rd world tournament, Shun was still unsuccessful in finding his student. One day, he received a letter from his student, informing him of his intention to escape from J6 but was recaptured eventually. Not wanting to react rashly, he waited for the next letter but it never arrived. He decides to join the 4th tournament hoping to find more information about his missing student.

Fighting style:
"Suiken" is one of the stylistic Kung-fu forms of Chinese martial arts, also called "Suishuken". The fighting posture of "Suiken" is derived from the form of a drunk, walking without balance, moving like the wind, sometimes taking a drink along the way or occasionally falling down. These attributes give the style all the necessary means of defense and offensive movements, making it one of the more interesting Virtua Fighting Styles. Shun's style and appearance are based on the character of "Su Hai" from the movie Drunken Master, played by Yuen Siu Tien"

Then it struck me... Had I purchased VF2 before VF1 all those years ago? Had I then made the assumption that he had been there in the franchise all along? Had I bought VF1 as a cheap bargain purchase and then consigned it to the back of a cupboard because it was an inferior copy of it's successor?

Was Shun, my lovely drunken master, merely an after-thought in Yu Suzuki's vision? It seemed the answer to all these questions was "yes". Shock and disappointment set in... did that make me merely an amateur Virtua Fighter fan? But I'd played every game in the franchise, other than VF5, which I had vowed to purchase as soon as budget allowed!

Tears rolled down my cheeks as I walked into "The Wiseman's Kung Fu" shop at the foot of Scarlet Hills... (sorry, did I forget to mention I was in the middle of Shenmue II on the Xbox 360??) for there on the wall at the back of the shop were reverential posters depicting our baldy hero...

Will I ever be able to pop Virtua Fighter Remix into my Saturn again? So many things are up in the air right now, so many things... For now I'll have to console myself with playing VF 4 Evolution on the PS2... LOL! ;)

IMPORTANT MESSAGE TO ALL OUR READERS!!!!

Having applied for hosting at Gamespy.com, I may have done something that may threaten our current existence! My intention was to bring the site to a wider audience, but having received the following message, I realise that I may have threatened the existence of the SJY as we know it!

Here's the mesage....

"Over the next few days, DNS servers all across the Internet willupdate themselves with your new site name. Once that happens, you will be able to access your site at its permanent address, fatherkrishna.classicgaming.gamespy.com."

Anyone know what that means? Will we still be able to access the site at the current address?

I'll be horrified if I've messed up at all and caused the downfall of our favourite haven...

Reassure me my brothers! PLEASE!!!

Virtua Mario (Saturn Homebrew)

'Virtua Mario', accurately described by Arugulaz as looking like Mario stepped into the Money for Nothin' video in the excellent post below. We've seen this guy before in one of the very few posts about Saturn Homebrew that we've had on the SJY. A long while ago I posted some screen shots of said game, but admitted that then (as now) I knew nothing about the scene...

So it was great to have such a definitive and clear post on the 'Yard... I still feel like I need to learn a grat deal more, but for now I'm just gonna sit back and watch the lovely video above!

Back to BASICs

http://www.satakore.com/sega-saturn-complete-game-basic,,1,,0.html

Got a copy of Sega Saturn BASIC? Probably not, but if you DID, you could play these demos, recently released on the Satakore web site. There are four hundred and seventy seven different programs for the lucky Saturn BASIC owner, ranging from fighting games with fuzzballs to a game that looks as though Mario (you know, that mascot who's not Sonic) stepped into a Dire Straights video.

We can't give you money for nothin', but you can have these demos for free! And even if you can't actually use them, be sure to check out all the images and videos on the site. You won't believe how many of them there are!

Special thanks to Insert Credit for breaking the news first!

A call to arms for Sega-loving Wii owners

There's a web site out there called RetroZone which offers a variety of controller adapters, including two for the Nintendo's Wii that make it compatible with game pads for the NES and Super NES. These adapters plug into the GameCube ports on the side of the Wii, allowing the player to enjoy Virtual Console games the way they were meant to be played.

Well, some Virtual Console games, anyway.

RetroZone doesn't offer an adapter for Sega Saturn controllers, or their smaller but equally effective Sega Genesis counterparts. This is bad news not only for Sega fans, but tournament caliber fighting game players and anyone in the market for a small, responsive joypad with logically placed, uniformly sized buttons.

I've asked RetroZone to make a Sega Genesis adapter available. This would have the double benefit of letting both Sega Genesis fans and the gamers who want to kick it really old-school with an Atari 2600 get the most out of their Wii experience. However, despite having the technology available to them, the management at RetroZone have refused to make the adapter, claiming that there isn't a market for it.

It's time to prove them wrong.

Fellow Saturn fans, please show your support for Sega's outstanding mid 1990's controller design and ask RetroZone to sell a Wii controller adapter that's compatible with the Sega Arcade Pad. Be polite, but firm, and pledge to purchase the item once it is made available. If RetroZone receives enough mail asking for a Sega controller adapter, there's a chance they'll change their minds.

Wii owners who own games like Capcom vs. SNK 2, Bloody Roar, Super Street Fighter II, and Guilty Gear X just can't play them with the default controller. Tell RetroZone to give them a Sega controller adapter, and give them a fighting chance!

(Note: The e-mail is not explicitly listed on the site. The FAQ makes a rather vague suggestion to send E-mail "to this domain", so I'm guessing retrozone@retrozone.com will work)

Sega Saturn In The Movies

When you are one of the coolest consoles of all time, it is inevitable that you'll end up in a movie sooner or later. So did the Sega Saturn, when a Hong Kong movie called "Black Mask" was released in 1996; Saturn's peak year. In the midst of the movie the name giving Black Mask (Jet Li) is forced to kidnap one of his co-workers (Karen Mok) in order to get her out of trouble. Of course his real identity is a secret to her, so she's anything but thankful that he recently saved her. Thus, she's screaming, biting and scratching with her fingernails. How can you calm an innocent woman, who's behaving like that? Only with a Sega Saturn of course. So Black Mask decides to put her gently (aka throwing her) onto a chair infront of the TV and let her play some Sega Saturn. What's funny about the scene is, that she's even enjoying it. You can see her for some seconds, how she's playing like crazy (with her hands cuffed on the back). Also very interesting is the fact, that the scene only lasts for a mere minute, but within that time she is playing 3 different games. Virtua Fighter, Darius Gaiden and what looks to be some Capcom brawler (X-Men Children Of The Atom, I think). Either she has some kind of Hotel Saturn, or the filmmakers (Tsui Hark) didn't really know, how a console works. The facts, that she uses some sort of foot pedal (wtf?) to play Darius Gaiden and that the audible sound effects sound like the very first pong consoles, are only supporting that assumption. But then, it's a great scene nonetheless.

(click for an outrageous big size)

The movie itself is really watchable too, If I might add! A great Hong Kong action fest starring Jet Li and Lau Ching-Wan, who both are acclaimed actors in Hong Kong and one of the first comic to movie adaptions. I can only recommend the Hong Kong DVD, since western releases often have laughable dubs or even changed soundtracks (again, wtf?). And it's cheaper anyways.

A brief history with the Sega Saturn

I must regretfully begin my first post with a shameful admission... I wasn't always a fan of the Sega Saturn. Back in 1995, when the system was prepped for release in the United States, I was absolutely convinced that the console would be a failure and a waste of money. Hey, don't give me that dirty look! It would be hard to come to any other conclusion after the 32X!

However, I would not hold that opinion for long. Out of morbid curiosity, a friend and I decided to rent the Sega Saturn and some games. One of our choices was NightWarriors: Darkstalker's Revenge, the sequel to one of my arcade favorites. I was utterly floored by the quality of the conversion... the enormous sprites, smooth animation, and vibrant colors that were once the exclusive domain of pool halls and laundromats were now on my television set, with no apparent compromises. It was truly a defining moment for me as a gamer.

After that day, my faith in Sega was restored, and my loyalties had shifted from the Playstation to the Saturn, even in the light of Sony's increasing market domination. So enamored was I with the system that I purchased my first Saturn game (NightWarriors, natch) a month before I could actually afford the console!

When I moved to Arizona and bought a Saturn of my very own, that's when my tiny collection exploded. NightWarriors was quickly joined by Street Fighter Alpha 2 and Marvel Super Heroes. Shortly afterward, I took my collection beyond the borders of versus fighting, purchasing any games I could find. Fortunately, at the tail end of 1997, Saturn games weren't hard to track down, and they were even easier to afford. It was rare for me to purchase a game at full price, thanks to all the clearance sales and the dozens of games available at Bookman's. For those of you who've never stepped foot into the Arid Zone, that's a really cool used entertainment store that's like Barnes & Noble, GameStop, and Sam Goody all rolled into one. But I digress!

By 1998, I had roughly forty games, but that still wasn't enough to satisfy me. Saturn titles were starting to dry up in America, thanks in large part to the short-sighted leadership of Sega's American branch. I had to turn to the far East to get my fix, and in April, I ordered my first import title from National Console Support. That game was Waku Waku 7, a tournament fighter that borrowed all of its heroes from popular Japanese films and television shows. That was quickly followed by King of Fighters '97... I played this in arcades whenever I had the chance, and was impressed with the Saturn conversion, lengthy load times aside.

Then came the coup de grace. While surfing online, I met a collector from Japan who needed to pad out his library of Sega Genesis games. That system was as unpopular in the land of the rising sun as the Saturn was here, making its games extremely rare. So we started trading... I sent him Spiderman: Arcade's Revenge and Snatcher, and received Japanese Saturn releases like Layer Section and Grandia in return. Soon, I had thirty import games to go along with
my collection of US titles. And the difference in quality between Japanese and American releases is nothing short of massive... frankly, I can't blame Americans who don't like the Saturn, because they missed out on the good stuff.

Today, the Sega Saturn has been technologically eclipsed by the Dreamcast and a half dozen other game systems. Despite this, I'm more proud than ever to be a fan of the system, because I know I'm not alone. The Saturn Junkyard is only one of a dozen sites dedicated to the underappreciated console, and with the internet bridging the gap between the United States and Japan, more people than ever recognize the Saturn's full potential. We're experiencing a 21st century renaissance of a system whose genius had went unrecognized, and I'm proud to be a part of it.

Welcome Arugulaz!

The eagle eyed amongst you may have noticed a new contributor's name has been added to the most esteemed list on the sidebar of the blog. That's right, its Arugulaz! Creator of the most excellent Saturn Winter Special 1 & 2 videos, featured on the SJY a couple of weeks ago. (And a man who most definitley does NOT sound like a certain Dreamcast virtual man-fish!)

*COUGH!*

I'm most pleased to tell you that Arugulaz has accepted the invitation to join the team, and share his voluminous Saturn knowledge and Sega love with us mere mortals... So may I be the first to extend a warm welcome and a hearty "hello" to our newest recruit to the cult of Segata Sanshiro, Arugulaz!

Saturn Graffiti

No big news today, but it seems that flickr user big daddy keylow was quite in love with a very special console when he painted his graffiti artwork. Is it just me or does the sphere in the middle resemble the Sega Saturn logo? After reading the description of the piece on his flickr account it's clear, that he indeed thought about the Saturn, when painting it. He even won a console with it as well, since he was competing in some kind of graffiti competition in the UK! That was back in 1996, when the Saturn was still hot for many people (and maybe tepid for a few). We still want to congratulate big daddy keylow for his achievment and would love to see some Sega Saturn worshipping in 2008, too!

Video Game Vault - X-Men: Children of the Atom

Yup, it's time for another VGV. Ok, I know I've been posting VGV's like crazy, but hey, it's not my fault that those guys over at Screwattack have been making lot's of videos directly or indirectly related to the Saturn, and I feel like it's my duty to post them!

This time around they didn't pick up a good game...they picked up a game full of awesome! (yeah, I'm starting to get infected by their unique sense of humour...) Anyway, what they say in the video is nothing new here at the Saturn Junkyard. Our most beloved Father Krishna talked about this very game here, J shared his thoughts on one of that article's comments, and even I made a little post about it here.

I guess finally we all agree about a game's quality :)