Just in time for the Star Trek Movie: The "Fazor" Lightgun For The Sega Saturn

So I was looking around the garage sales in my area with very little luck. It turns out the the garage salers around here are serious. People get up at like 5AM and video game stuff goes the quickest. On 4 separate occasions I have been told that there was a ton of video games there but someone had come and boughten it all up before 7 AM. (There is an almost gleeful tone to this statment that tends to imply that I am not a serious garage saler since I wasn't here at 6:45 AM. Those Wankers!) In this cuthroat world of North Eastern NY state I fear even my well respected skills might be hard pressed to get results...

...However, I am (according to Gagaman(n)) a "Jammy Git" (Did I get that right?) or one Lucky Son of a Gun. (Or Sly Bastard Good-for-nothing according to the urban dictionary site. Which honestly does descibe certain aspects of my personality as well.)

I did manage to grab a decent model 2 Saturn console from a seller for $7 (To be used in the retro video game events I hold at the library by people who want to play some Guardian Heroes.)

And I found the following item for .50 cents in the back of a garage.

Still in box!

The "Fazor" lightgun by Madcatz.


It's an amazing light cut down lightgun that can be used in both the Playstation and the Saturn.


The light design is nice but I am used to the extremely heavy but accurate Sega Stunner and the even heavier Noby lightguns (Including the Virtual Gun which is quite nice). However, I would assume this gun would be great for people whose wrists get tired from heavier models. It has a very nice "clicky" trigger. Of course that might be because the gun I got was still in box and still somewhat new.

Here is a review. It's just about the same conclusion I reached. The gun is very light and nice but the aiming takes some getting used to.

Certainly this gun might be a big draw for fans of Star Trek. But it might not be for you.

But hell, for .50 cents I was more than willing to add this to my collection.

The Saturn is the only logical Choice.

Some New Acquisitions

Sorry for the crappy video quality.......

Just thought that I would show off some of the new acquisitions I've made recently. First off is Marvel vs. Capcom 2 for DC.....yes, yes....I know this is Saturn Junkyard, but we're all DC fans right.....? Still not as cool as X-Men vs. Street Fighter or Marvel Superheroes vs. Street Fighter, but it completes my collection of the original 4 cross-over games as you can see.....all NTSC-J of course.

Next are some more DC fighting games. I've had the burned versions of these for years, but felt compelled to purchase the real deal. Street Fighter III 3rd Strike, Capcom vs. SNK 1&2, and Vampire Savior (special Jizz-free edition.....see post from a few weeks ago) which is one of the better fighters on the Saturn.

I'm a huge Capcom fighting fan....what can I say!

And last, but definitely not least.....the pinacle of Sega Saturn RPG, and basically Sega Saturn in General....Panzer Dragoon Saga. Yes, I broke down and bought a copy. I had some money burning a hole in my pocket, and have wanted a legit copy of this game for a long time.

I'll try to post a review of PDS and Vampire Savior....and a few other games over the next few weeks, but I probably won't post a review for PDS until I've completed it.

That's it for now.....over and out.

Neon World Sega Saturn review

Just a fan-made, two part video about the Saturn and its games. Nothing we haven't seen already, but the passionate way this guy talks about the Saturn really got to me. It really shows how many Saturn fans there are out there, who still love the console as much nowadays as they did back in the day.

Modding goodness

I got my Saturn modded! Amazing how, with a bit of luck, you can still find someone today who will mod your favourite retro system. I was that lucky, something I never thought possible in this videogame god-forsaken land. The timing was funny, since just a week or so before I attempted to do the 50/60 Hz mod thingy, based on a guide where you just had to solder two wires into two big pads on the Saturn's board. Only to find out that my board was a different model and that I needed to solder a wire either directly into a tracer in the board or into the tiny leg of a chip. Fuck.

Still, in a cosmic coincidente, I browsed miau (that's Portugal's eBay) for the first time in months, aimlessly, just for a kick, when I found a sale for the complete service of a mod chip and switch. 60 euros and two weeks later, I got my Saturn back, and it works like a charm! Bye-bye fucking swap-trick (that was annoying as hell when I just wanted to play for 5 minutes to relax) and black borders in my picture. Now it's just putting the disc in and it will play straight away, in full screen and at full speed. Yay!


Not my video, my cellphone camera is not that good

Now the only thing lacking is a region switch, but nothing an Action Replay 4M+ cart won't solve.

Radiant Silvergun - The Actual Review

OK, well if you guys had actually read all the way to the bottom of my last post you would have seen that my comments about Radiant Silvergun weren't exactly true. And for those of you that actually believed that I found it at a local garage sale....well, keep dreaming. I did pay basically an arm and a leg for it, but to own one of the rarest Saturn Games ever..........priceless. On to the review:

Graphics: (8.5/10)
This game was released very late in the Saturn's life cyle, so there is no wonder why it looks really nice. Treasure did a nice mix of polygons and sprites, and for the most part the 3D models are very clean, and the amount of content that is usually on the screen looks great. There is a nice mix of colors, and most of the weapons look really nice. My only gripe is that some of the explosions look a bit cheese, and the level backgrounds are a bit to simple. I also think that Treasure should have used polygons to render the ships. Side note: the cover art is rad. It seriously looks better than any other saturn game, and pretty much any game these days.

Gameplay: (8.5/10)
Treasure always has a cool twist on the way their games play, and Radiant Silvergun is no different. I suppose the key to mastering this game is remembering the patterns of the enemies, and knowing when to use certain weapons. I've played the game a fair amount, since I did have a burned copy for quite some time, but I still die about 50 times playing through the arcade mode....no joke I'm certainly not a pro when it comes to schmups, but this game seems to be the most difficult schmup I've ever played. It is so awesome though when you sucessfully navigate through a screen completely filled with enemy fire. The whole Radiant Sword is an awesome idea too. Even though the game is extremely hard, I keep coming back for more punishment, so obviously it's hella fun! The control is super tight just like all of treasure's other games, and the level design stays pretty fresh thgouhout the whole game. You're always shooting enemies, but the bosses are all very unique, and the overall feel of each level is different as well.

Music and sound effects: (8/10)
Really good..I don't need to say much more than that. Again, Treasure has put together a rad sound track. How do I know? Becasue I hum the theme song in the shower. The sounds effects are not ground breaking, but certainly do the trick. Each weapon has it's own sound, and when a boss apears you get a cool warning sound.

Overall: (9/10)
The reasons I really like this game: 1) it's addictive gameplay; 2) can pick it up and play it for 30 mins every day, and it doesn' t get boring; 3) very original take on the shooter type of gameplay; 4) cool music; 5) great graphics for the SS; and 6) just overall a very fresh, fun game!

So is the game itself worth what I payed for it? I would have to say no. But obviously there is a reason I bought the real game when I already have a burned copy. Like I said above, owning a peice of Saturn history such as Radiant Silvergun is really cool. Basically my philisophy on Saturn and Dreamcast games these days are: if I download the game and really like it I will buy the original version, and this is how I felt about Radiant Silvergun. Obviously my feelings about this game go a little beyond that....but whatever...all I can say is that I'm pretty damn psyched that I actually own a copy of the game.....now if I can only find a copy of Panzer Dragoon Saga!

Some New Games

Here's a few of the new titles that I recently picked up. All were very reasonably priced. I've been so damn busy lately, that I haven't really had time to do any 'real' gaming or write any reviews, but as soon as I have some time, I'll be filling up the posts. But just some general thoughts about each of these games:



Vampire Savior: awesome fighting game. I actually have all 3 titles in the Vampire/Darkstalkers series now. Any game that let's you be Red Riding Hood with a machine gun.....rules. I can definitely see where the 4Meg RAM cartridge went to work here. Nice animations, sounds etc. I'm a big Capcom fighting game fan, so this one fits in my library very nice.

Real Bout Fatal Fury Best Collection: I never really played much of the SNK fighiting games back in the day, and it hasn't been until more recently why I see that they have had so much support over the years. I think these games are geared towards a slightly more adult audience that the Street Fighter series. I haven't really played this one too much, so I can't really say much at this point.

Street Fighter Zero: I actually owned the original US verson for SS back in the day, and have another copy of it as part of the Street Fighter Alpha Anthology for PS2. This was very cheap on Ebay so I just had to pick it up. The Zero/Alpha series is my favorite of all the SF games. Zero doesn't really hold a candle to Zero 2 or Zero 3, but it is the game that introduced what would be the framework for the Alpha/Zero series....so I have to give it credit for that. It just feels clunky compared to the latter titles in the series.

Marvel Superheroes: Cool game...not my favorite of the Capcom fighting games though. Basically just an extension to X-Men: Children of the Atom. Again, mostly picked this one up as a collectors item...so I haven't played it too much. I think the overall fighting system is quite a bit different than the regular Street Fighter games, so I'm just trying to figure out moves and combos right now. Solid graphics, and has some cool game elements (high jumps and dashes) which made their way to the X-Men vs. Street Fighter et, al series.......which I totally love by the way.

Radiant Silvergun: This game totally fucking sucks.....a waste of money in my opinion. I'm glad I found this at a local garage sale for $2.00. I don't know why every one raves about this game.

Princess Crown: Really cool! I have Odin Sphere, but I never knew this game existed until not that long ago. Beautiful hand drawn graphics, with characthers that compltely fill up the screen. Great music, and as for the story.....I don't read Japanese...so It's kind of wasted on me. I just picked this one up a few nights ago, but so far I'm really impressed. I need to pick up a walkthrough so I can figure out what's going on. This is a pretty collectible game, and I got it at a very good price whcih I'm proud of!

For those of you who have made it this far in the post....thanks for reading, and I have a treat for you. I bought a stand alone copy of Vampire Savior from Ebay not that long ago, and I'm not gonna lie, it looks like some one jizzed inside of the manual. I'm not surprised if that actually happened, because it is a pretty awesome game. Anyways, I was a bit sad that I had bought a copy that really isn't in very good condition, so I spent some time on Ebay and eventually found the (box set) copy that is shown in the picture above. Anyways, the jizz copy (which I will refer to it from now on) is up for grabs. I mean, if you want it, just let me know and I will mail it to you. The game plays fine, and the front cover of the manual is decent looking, so it looks OK when it's in a case. There is no back cover because it is the version that came with the box set..so for those of you who own any Capcom fighting game box sets you will know what I am talking about. Also, the game is NTSC-J so you will need a SS that can play Japanese games, and it also requires a 4Meg RAM cartridge to play. The other condition is that upon receiving the jizz copy, you must make a video about how awesome it is that I sent it to you and post it here. By the way, if you actually believed my comments about Radiant Silvergun, then I'm not sending the game to you.

Is the import playable? Deep Fear.

I have been getting some Japanese Saturn Games from Japanese Ebay stores lately since they sell for like $2.50 plus $2-$4 shipping.

I have decided to rate some of these games playability for people who cannot speak nor read Japanese.

First on the list? Deep Fear.



I have heard that the Japanese version of Deep Fear has a ton of English language text in it and the voice acting is in English as well.

But is it fully playable? Are some of the puzzles going to be impossible without a firm grasp of Kanji?

Stay tuned and find out.

Even Suicide Girls Like The Saturn.

Kotaku is running a contest where people send in photos of themselves posing with things that are red. They are trying to promote the new Red Faction game (thus the whole "red" concept).

A Suicide Girl named Lacey sent in pictures and apparently she is a big fan of large red lightguns manufactured by Sega for the Saturn console if you catch my meaning...

...no really, she took a picture with a Sega Saturn "Stunner" lightgun.




So apparently the Saturn is a hit with nice looking young women with an affinity for fishnet stockings. Not surprising at all considering how awesome the Saturn is. Or maybe she just happened to grab the gun because it was red...

...you know what I am just going to go with my theory/fantasy that Lacey really likes the Sega Saturn and enjoys playing a round of Virtua Cop 2 or House of the Dead every once in awhile (while wearing fishnets of course).

The original article from Kotaku.

BTW: Sorry to bump your post NebachadnezzaR, but since this post featured both a girl and the Saturn I rated it critically important.

Happy Console Gamer - Guardian Heroes

No, despite the title this is not another Angry Video Game Nerd rip-off. Quite the opposite, actually, since this is not a humorous video but a serious, accurate and in-depth review. Of an obscure Saturn game! Actually, for Saturn enthusiasts, Guardian Heroes is pretty well-known, despite the fact that most haven't played it. This is probably due to the fact that it's one of the most rare and expensive games out there. Not Radiant Silvergun or Psychic Killer Taromaru-expensive, but still it can cost you as much as a new Xbox 360 game or even more, depending on your luck.

I have a copy of it and played for a little bit once, but just to see if it was working or not, not to really play it, so I can't tell you much about it. This video sure made me want to play it seriously, though.

SSF Saturn Emulator guide

There's a rather excellent article now on Racketboy regarding Saturn emulation. This is an interesting subject, since for many, many years gamers thought that emulating a Saturn would be impossible, due to its unique and complex architecture, but alas, they were proven wrong, and nowadays we already have some good examples of Saturn emulators. The best of all is, arguably, SSF, but it is as great as it is obscure, programmed by some unknown Japanese guy, and with an official webpage all in Japanese. So, for some of us, just getting the emulator to work may not be an easy task.

That's when this article comes in. Not only can you learn a bit about the emu's history, but there's also some rather great guides regarding everything related to it, from compatibility lists to set-up guides. Of course, for most of us, proud Saturn owners, this may seem somewhat irrelevant, since so far there's no real advantage in using the emu over a real console, but for those curious readers who follow us without even owning a Saturn, to the older fans who along the way lost their Saturns and want to relive the old days without having to invest on a new one, or even for us, hardcore Saturn fans, who want to try out betas and the like without the hassle of having to burn a cd and making it run on the console, SSF is a must.

Showing Off the Collection

I've been getting some pretty good scores on EBay and locally the last little while, so I thought that I would show off my game collection as it stands these days:



Starting from top left:

- BUG!
- Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo
- Street Fighter Collection
- NHL '97
- World Cup Soccer '98
- Virtual On
- Vampire Hunter
- Guardian Heroes
- Akumajo Dracula X: Gekka no Yasoukyoku
- House of the Dead
- Sega Rally Championship
- Saturn Bomberman Fight
- Street Fighter Zero 2
- Virtua Fighter 2
- Manx TT Superbike
- Sega Touring Car Championship
- Nights Into Dreams
- Fighting Vipers
- Panzer Dragoon II: Zwei
- Daytona USA
- Burning Rangers
- Marvel Superheroes vs. Street Fighter w/ 4Meg Ram Cart
- Biohazard
- X-Men: Children of the Atom
- Christmas Nights
- King of Fighters '96

Not in picture (because they have no case)
- Virtua Cop
- NBA Jam TE

Lately I've been playing a lot of Nights, Marvel Superheroes vs. Street Fighter and Guardian Heroes.

Let's Go Away!

In 2009 the Sega Saturn is celebrating its 15th birthday and it is indeed a good year for our beloved Saturn. As some sort of a birthday present, Sega is releasing a 4 CD Set of one of the greatest soundtrack to ever grace mankind's ears - Daytona USA. It will feature the music from the games Daytona USA, Daytona USA 2 and Daytona 2001 not only as the arcade versions, but also the great Sega Saturn and PC versions. Also expect some smashing remixes! The release date is the 9th of April 2009! Be sure to make a note in your calendar and order it in the official Sega Direct store (or shortly afterwards on ebay probably).

OBEY

Yes. This is a 150 cm tall cardboard standee of 0ur master Segata Sanshiro. Please do not ask what I had to pay for it, because it was quite much. But money is nothing when it comes to Segata Sanshiro. If he calls, I'll pay. No matter how much.

I have nothing more to say.

A long Time Coming

Wow, the posts certainly have dried up this week, every one must be glued to their TV's playing RE5 or something.....I know I am.

Anyways, a little while ago I said that I would write a short article about my history with Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter. Well, I finally decided to stop procrastinating......

I'm a huge Street Fighter fan, I've probably spent enough money in the arcades over the years playing SFII to actually buy a SFII arcade cabinet...I'm talking about a shit load of quarters. After playing the World Warrior, Championship, Hyper, and Super versions of SFII, the transition to the Alpha series was a little it weird. At first I thought the anime style graphics were too different, and being able to counter, air-block, pull of multiple super moves, etc. was all just a bit too much for me....at first anyways. I picked up "Warriors Dreams" in '96 for the Saturn and played it..a lot. By 1997 I was into other Saturn Games like Resident Evil and Tomb Raider, and basically stopped following the SF series.

In 1998 I started university, and lucky for me, there was a half-decent arcade on campus. There were some pretty good games like Tekken 3, Virtual On, Virtua Striker, King of Fighters '97, and Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter. I had seen X-Men vs. Street Fighter in arcades a year or so earlier, and never really thought much of it. I would say that I am a purist when it comes to a number of different things, and this was no different for the Street Fighter series. So to see non-SF characters fighting in a SF game.....well, you get the idea. After passing by the machine a few times I decided to give it a try. "Welcome to the adventure" the voice said. I have to say it took me a while to get used to the play mechanics of the game; tag team style play, super jump, fire balls in the air, cross-over combos etc., etc. After a few weeks of play I had become accustom to the new style and found it very entertaining. Like....holy fuck...70 hit combos...hell yeah. I love to see Spiderman take a fireball up the ass from Ryu & Akuma at the same time. Anyways, I really started to enjoy the play mechanics and overall feel of the game. My fondness grew, and grew, and grew......."damn I totally love this game".

It was a long walk up a very long hill from the dorm rooms to the arcade, but sometimes I found myself, alone , in the arcade at 1:00am (since the arcade was on campus, it was accessible 24h/day)....in my pajamas none the less. I would consistently make the night-trek to the arcade, in all types of weather just to have a few plays. There was something very serene about being in the lone, quite arcade, all by myself rocking fireballs and shoyou-reppa uppercuts. My friends would ask me where I was going, and thought that it was a bit weird that I would want to play this game when every one else was sleeping, but maybe that's what made it special.

After a while, I decided that I had to have this game at home. Lucky for me, it was available as an import for the Saturn, but the cost (I was a starving student at the time remember), was too much, and I was unable to procure the precious game. Knowing that it was out there, but I couldn't have it just added to the pain!

Time passed, and eventually the game was removed from the arcade, and eventually the arcade left as well. I had sold my Saturn, but I would never forget about the time I spent with MSH vs. SF. I purchased Marvel vs. Capcom for DC, but the game just didn't have the same 'feel', and I was still left longing for MSH vs. SF. Basically every other 2D fighting game I played since that time I compared to this game....and all left me feeling kind of empty inside.

Present day: I decide to rebuild my Saturn collection and finally get a copy of MSH vs. SF........HELL FUCKIN" YEAH. 12 years old, and this game still kicks major ass. The first time I popped it in and watched the start up screen I had a huge smile on my face, and felt so giddy...all of those good old memories rushing back. It still amazes me that the Saturn can rock such an awesome 2D game. It was a long wait, but well worth it! On a side note, I did pick up X-Men vs. SF as well, and that is a truly awesome game too (see my earlier post about that title). I'm a huge fan of SFII, the Alpha series, SFIII, and Capcom vs. SNK, but MSH vs. SF will always hold a very special place in my game library. I think I'm going to play a few matches right now.

GLRC- Daytona