Whilst browsing Flickr for Saturn related stuff I found this amazing cover by some dude called Theodore Taylor III (the third?). The unique illustration of something that appears to be "Sonic" really caught my attention. He truly looks like the worn out, abused and resigned character he actually is these days. (Whereas Sonic 4 and Sonic Colors seem to slightly change that but who knows, what Sega comes up with next.)
Anyway. Theodore not only illustrated that very nice CD Cover, but he also made the Megamix himself. And since it's a free download, why not check it out on his blog. Personally I think he could have made some better transitions (or transitions at all?!), but the tunes are still great of course. Check out the playlist on his blog and dance to some Sega Saturn music.
Forgive me if I'm posting stuff you've seen here before, but I've been away for while. I've been trawling the internet for youtube Saturn videos from the last year or so and this was at the top of the list. Lazy, I know, but I promise to get something posted that's a bit more personal, in terms of Saturn gaming in 2010/11... (that means playing the thing and reflecting on the experience, like I did in the early days of this esteemed organ!)
Something rather wonderful has happened as a result of my recently accquired PS3. I've just downloaded, played and completed Sonic Adventure in two days! I've had lots of copies of this game on the Dreamcast over the years, but never played it further than the first level. I've always admired it for it's visuals and thought of it as one of the best looking game on the Dreamcast. But it never grabbed me and I've dabbled with Sonic Adventure 2 loads more in the past.
But for some reason, the idea of having Dreamcast games on my next gen consoles really appeals. I've had Ikaruga and Rez off XBLA, (and Powerstone and Crazy Taxi on my PSP) even though I've had copies for my Dreamcast for years. But Sonic Adventure has held me captivated all weekend in way that none of those other ports have.
Sonic and Sega Allstars Racing kicked off the latest Sega revival in my gaming tastes, (not that it takes much for me to get Sega-obsessive, but the strength of my passion comes in waves). Sonic Adventure is the first and only Sonic game I've ever played to completion - although I've dabbled with many of them. Others have been abandoned when they got frustratingly hard, but thanks to the convenience of having this on the PS3 hard drive, and with a bit of free time on my hands, I saw it through to it's conclusion!
The game left me swinging in opinion, somewhwere between feeling it is a masterpiece (visuals and music) and a catastrophe (story, gameplay, camera, voice acting). It had moments of beauty, but it also got me swearing a lot! I loved the soundtrack, most definitely some of the best gaming music ever to accompany a Sega title. Check out the NiGHTs '90s house remix'!
I nearly had an orgasm when I played the NiGHTS pinball machine in Casinopolis. So much Sega/Saturn fan service crammed into one level! It was the first time I had seen the Saturn tribute and I was left close to tears by the beauty of this gesture from Sonic team to it's Saturn predecessors.
As we all know, NiGHTS is now scattered far and wide from titles as divergent as Sega Superstars Tennis, to the Wii Nights sequel, in Sonic Pinball on the GBA, and is probably right now trying to sell his psychedelic concoctions to impressionable minors in a Chao garden near you! But this must have been pure joy to those Saturn nostalgics who had begrudgingly swapped there big black Sega boxes for a slightly smaller off-white one and were patiently awaiting Dreamcast sequels to great games like Burning Rangers, NiGHTS, Clockwork Knight, and Manx TT Super Bike.
I have to say, Sega did as shocking a job of porting the title to it's new incarnation on the PS3, as it did when it rush released it for The Dreamcast. It's flaws are absolutely hideous. No attempt has been made to tidy up the games bugs and glitches, which I would have to admit is slightly annoying. And there's no way to get your Chao onto a PSP or online to race against other owners. Come on Sega!
But I'd reccomend this title to all you Sega junkies with shiny PS3s/360s if only for the Saturn fan service alone!
Hi folks, it's your seldom seen correspondent and Saturn Junkyard founder, Father Krishna here! Just popping in to inform all you Saturn Junkies, that there is an exhaustive and authoritative feature in this months Games TM magazine (Issue 101) about every body's, favourite racer... Sega Rally! Now we're not talking Sega Rally 2, Sega Rally GBA, Sega Rally Revo, or the Japanese only PS2 rehash... we're talking the Saturn version.
It was the game that came bundled with my Saturn and the main reason I was unwilling to convert to the PS1. From the initial sound of an ignition key being turned, to the iconic "Game over yeah!", Sega Rally kept it simple and kept it sweet. In short, it's the best driving game I've ever played (to this day) and over-taking an opponent whilst drifting round a tight bend still gets me slightly aroused!
The article itself is six full pages of glossy A4, packed with lovely images, interesting facts about the development, and even a news of a secret feature hidden within the game that has never been revealed before!
I'd re-write it but there is too much to feasibly reproduce. I will try and get some scans of it and get it up here. If you're stuck trying to find it on the high-street you should be able to pick up a copy here.
Scientists theorize that Jupiter and Saturn played catch with a neighboring planet, passing it back and forth between their gravitational fields for thousands of years before it broke off into its own orbit. Now that's power! You'd be lucky to find a Playstation that works after five years, let alone a thousand.
By the way, all jokes about the name of the planet in question will be politely ignored.
Alright, alright. So this is neither a Saturn game, nor is it published by SEGA. However, the director of the original Panzer Dragoon Saturn trilogy, Yukio Futatsugi, is responsible for this piece of news. Yesterday at the Tokyo Game Show, Yukio Futatsugi took the Microsoft stage to announce the spiritual successor to Panzer Dragoon, Project Draco! While it hasn't been said officially that the game will take place in the Dragoon world, the visuals and fact that the gameplay remains the same makes it pretty apparent that this is what they're going for. Also: Panzer/Project, Dragoon/Draco? PD and PD? Hmm...
The game will be playable via Kinect, though it hasn't been said if the game will also be playable via standard controller. Microsoft describes the game as an “epic 3D flying shooter.” Via the Kinect, players nurture and communicate with the dragon to help develop its skills and train it in combat. Project Draco also includes online multiplayer over Xbox Live.
Very cool to see the series return in some form, especially with the creator behind the project!
Radiant Silvergun features two player co-op and much like Ikaruga there's a detailed chain system in place to really rack up high scores. In addition to that there's the seven weapon system which you can see detailed in the screenshot above. While the graphics have been upgraded slightly the game will also see some variations of the chain system.
No release date or price has been given, but the news is very cool!
A good-will gift from the Americas, full of exotic goods from the kind people that inhabit those vast lands. Sorry for the bad joke, but from the time it took to cross the atlantic and the condition of the package it sure looked like it sat in the cargo-hold of a 17th century galleon for months. Don't worry, thought, the inside as you can see is impeccable.
What you're seeing is the grand prize for the first ever Saturn Junkyard contest, held by our own dear Barry the Nomad. As you might recall I snatched the first place thanks to my amazing sense of opportunity (that is, I was the only participant in the first round xD ) and thanks to that I'm now the proud owner of "1st High Flying Issue" of NiGHTS into Dreams and the 2009 Free Comic Book Day issue of Sonic the Hedgehog! Fucking yes!
You know what they say, the price was great...eheh...
Sorry, I'll stop...
Also, if I remember correctly the rules specified that, were the winner from another country, he had to take a picture showing that. Well, had this happened sometime ago, when the World Cup was still around, I wouldn't have any problem finding portuguese flags waving around everywhere, but right now they're a little harder to find so the best I could come up with was this:
It's an old book I got from my grandpa, from the time of the Salazar dictatorship, basically a fantasized retelling of our history that makes Portugal look like the best country ever. Yeah, the 2oth century was complicated for us...
Also, some traditional music, if you fancy that:
Oh, and I had completely forgotten about this:
When I saw it, at first I was scared, then curious, then confused, and then finally I realized what it was :P
Inspired by the previous post, I've created a shared Flickr photo group called "The SEGA Network Scrap Heap"! The SGNW Scrap Heap is a shared album open to all readers and writers from the Sega Network blogs. The purpose of the Scrap Heap is to collect photos of our SEGA collections to create, well, a scrap heap of SEGA consoles, games, books and collectibles.
The only rules are that you may only upload photos of items you own, no fuzzy Google image searches, and that the items must pertain to SEGA. Feel free to show off your shelf of PS2 games, as long as there are SEGA games to be seen. No worries if a pesky Squaresoft or Nintendo game sneaks into the frame.
So I was moving into a much smaller apartment, which meant that I had to "outsource" my Saturn collection. Which is quite a pity, but who can display all those Saturns properly anyway. I'd need a single room for that. So I bought two Ikea billy shelfs and put everything in there.
The right shelf is exclusively full of Saturn hardware, namely Saturns and periphery, whilst the left shelf features all my Saturn games (PAL, some US and a lot of JP), special editions and also random crap from my household like a complete run of Amiga Joker magazines. Oh and PSX games as well.
The folks over at NiGHTSintoDreams.com have scored a pretty awesome interview with Yuji Naka. It's a cool read, with a majority of the discussion focusing on the Saturn classic rather than the Wii unclassic. I won't spoil too much, but Steven Spielberg and that rumored NiGHTS Saturn controller are brought up. Check out the interview!
Happy 4th of July, fellow Americans! I'm taking a break from burgers, beer and Jeff Goldblum battling aliens to share the above SEGA Saturn pin that I found while at my parents house. I have no idea where I got it, but I know I received it around the US launch of the Saturn. Cool little item. Not much more to say about it. It's a Saturn pin and it's cool.
In celebration of all things American and Saturn, I'm going to pose a question for the comments section: What is your favorite American developed Saturn game?
I would have to choose Mr. Bones, a quirky collection of mini-games developed by California's Zono Incorporated. Mr. Bones is one of those games that only could have been made in the 90's and was uniquely American, combining hard rock with a southern skeleton. Check it out... for America!
