Shmups: Sega Saturn vs. Sony Playstation

I don’t claim to be a shmup expert, but I did a lot of research on this subject about a year ago. The findings of “superior ports” are not a result of a great amount of testing on my part, but rather the general consensus that I found among the shmup community.

We all know how awesome the Saturn is when it comes to shmups and other 2D games, but it is a fact that Sony’s mainstream counterpart has plenty of shmups to to keep retro gamers happy. I want to compare and contrast each system’s shooter library in order to help shooter fans build the best shmup library they can.

I will try to provide links to game reviews when I can. This list will be a bit of a work in progress and I eventually hope to provide more documentation on each game and port. Please contribute any additional information you might have in the comments section.

Sony Playstation

Hardware pros:

Inexpensive, widely available

Can produce awesome 2D in the hands of talented programmers.

Backwards-compatible on the PS2.

Excellent emulation support

Hardware cons:

Not very import-friendly (internal mod is required)

Dontroller d-pad isn’t the best for shmups

Generally flimsy manufacturing.

Generally not as skilled in 2D processing

Exclusive games:

Superior versions:

DonPachi

DoDonPachi

Strikers 1945 II

RayStorm (?)

Kaitei Daisensou/In The Hunt

Sonic Wings Special

Sega Saturn

Hardware pros:

Capable of some truly amazing graphics

More RAM, built-in save memory

Quite arguably the best controller ever

Easy to play imports

System failure rate is very low compared to PS1.

Hardware cons:

Emulation has not matured

No backwards-compatibility options

Complex multi-processor architecture

3D graphics processors were a late addition to the hardware design.

Exclusive games:

Superior versions:

I gave the nod to Saturn versions of the Konami Packs/Parodius 3&4, even though the PS1 versions are identical from what I’ve heard, due to Saturn’s better controller and ease of importing. Same with Image Fight and Sonic Wings Special.

Overall, as you can see, Saturn has a larger and much more versatile library of shmups, but the PS1 has Raiden, R-Type, Tiger Heli/Kyukyoku Tiger, better versions of the ‘pachis (which should count for like, 10 games by themselves), and several others. Clearly the serious shmupper needs both systems to get the most out of 32-bit era home ports.

Feel free to correct me on any games or information I left out.

And just an FYI, I plan on doing more comparisons like Genesis vs. SNES, Dreamcast vs PS2, and other great matchups.

Additional Resources:

DigitalPress: Did You Know – PSX Shmups

SHMUPS! Saturn Profile

SHMUPS! Playstation Profile

Related Posts:

Dreamcast Shmups Library – 2D Shooters Galore

Survive Bullet Hell On Your Gameboy Advance



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Sega, Saturn, Playstation, Shmups