Sega Saturn – the anniversary everyone forgot

Readers Vietnamvet celebrates the 20th anniversary of the Saturn, and recommends 12 of its best games – from Burning Rangers to Sega Rally.

2015 was the year of the anniversary. The Mega Drive had its 25th, The PlayStation had its 20th and the Xbox 360 had its 10th. What a lot of readers may not know is that this year (July 8th to be exact) is also the 20th anniversary of the Sega Saturn’s release in Europe. I can understand why GameCentral didn’t have a weekend topic on the subject because it was such a niche console that many readers probably never played it.



So, I decided to write this feature.

I don’t want to go into detail about why the Saturn flopped as this is well documented, but in short, it wasn’t great at 3D, it was difficult to program for, the launch was rushed and there was never a proper Sonic game (also the Mega CD and 32X hadn’t helped Sega’s reputation). After this bad start it was a case of fighting a losing battle, but it did bring out Sega’s creative side and what followed were some truly great games that hardly anyone got to play. Here’s a pick of 12 in no particular order.


1. Sega Rally

My favourite racing game ever, which I still go back to today. On the face of it, the game didn’t offer much, just three cars and four tracks, but when said cars and tracks are honed to such perfection it really doesn’t matter. Even 20 years later there is no other racing game so exhilarating. It also looked gorgeous at the time.

2. Virtua Fighter 2

In the ’90s Tekken was the darling of the 3D fighting scene, but Virtua Fighter 2 had a more deep and technical combat system. Even after years of practice I still can’t complete the arcade mode without using any continues. The arcade version is available on Xbox Live.

3. NiGHTS Into Dreams…

From the creators of Sonic. Describing NiGHTS in a few words is folly, but I’ll try. You play as a thing reminiscent of a jester, called NiGHTS. You fly around collecting rings and performing acrobatic tricks to earn points, with the ultimate aim of helping some kids defeat their nightmares and… and you know what, never mind! Check out the videos on YouTube to get a feel for how the game plays. All I’ll say is it’s one of the best score attack games ever made.

4. Panzer Dragoon Saga

A beautifully atmospheric Japanese role-playing game about a boy and his dragon who take on an evil empire in a post-apocalyptic world. Unfairly, this is most famous for the obscene prices it fetches on eBay, which can sometimes exceed £200. Even though it’s one of my favourite ever games, I can’t recommend it at that price. Shame, as this is the only way you’ll ever get to play it. Reportedly Team Andromeda, the developer, lost the source code years ago so it’ll never be re-released.



5. Exhumed

In the ’90s there was a technically gifted developer called Lobotomy who had a reputation for being able to pull off small miracles on modest hardware. They developed (or ported, rather) some great first person shooters such as Duke Nukem 3D, Quake, and my fifth nomination, Exhumed, onto the Saturn. Think Metroidvania in an Egyptian setting and you’re some way there. It was a great game, and notable for being visually superior to the PS one version thanks to the lighting effects.

6. Saturn Bomberman

Of course, most readers will be familiar with Bomberman. This Saturn version is often considered to be the best in the franchise thanks to the 10-player multiplayer. Er, let’s just ignore the fact that getting 10 Saturn controllers into one room would require you to know almost every single Saturn owner in the world, ha ha!

7. Shining Force III

This brilliant strategy role-player was actually a trilogy, but only the first part was released outside of Japan. Still, what Europe got worked perfectly well as a standalone game. If you’ve ever played Fire Emblem or Final Fantasy Tactics you know what to expect. Again, very expensive on eBay, unfortunately.

8. Radiant Silvergun

A hectic 2D shooter made by one of GC’s favourite developers, Treasure. Originally this remained in Japan only, but a few years ago it was released on Xbox Live with improved visuals.

9. Enemy Zero

In the ’90s FMV (that’s full motion video) adventures were all the rage, and this is one of the few that was actually any good. The story is a complete rip-off of Alien, having you play as Laura who fights for her survival on a spaceship as her crew are being picked off one by one by the monsters on-board. The twist is that the monsters are invisible and can kill you with one hit. This was the first game I ever played that was genuinely terrifying.


10. Guardian Heroes

The spiritual sequel to Gunstar Heroes. It’s a scrolling beat-em-with different routes to take and multiple endings to reach. Thanks to the Saturn’s incredible 2D capabilities there could be lots of sprites on the screen at the same time – you really need to see it running to appreciate it. Speaking of 2D…

11. X-Men Vs. Street Fighter

The Saturn was referred to as a ‘2D powerhouse’ and there are so many incredible 2D fighters on the system that I don’t really know where to start. For variety’s sake I’m only going to pick one, so here it is. Another Japan-only game, it came packaged with a 4MB cartridge to give the Saturn a memory boost – the game wouldn’t work otherwise. I honestly think this was the first arcade conversion on any home console that was truly arcade perfect.

12. Burning Rangers

Another Sonic Team game here, and in my opinion the last great game they made aside from Phantasy Star Online. You play as one of four futuristic firemen, putting out fires and rescuing people on a spaceship. The game was a pixelated mess, but had some great lighting effects and also featured what so many people said the Saturn wasn’t capable of, transparencies!

Honourable mentions: Fighters Megamix, Sonic R, Virtua Cop 2, Steep Slope Sliders, Daytona USA, Resident Evil, Deep Fear, Virtual On, Dragon Force, andTomb Raider.

The Saturn was (and still is) an incredible console which deserves a second chance. Yes, you’d have to take out a mortgage to be able to buy some of its best games, but others can be picked up for peanuts and the machine itself is cheap and will last you a lifetime. I’d like to end this piece with a chuckle, so if you have time watch the Deep Fear voice acting video below. Hope I made your day, and Merry Christmas.


By reader Vietnamvet

The reader’s feature does not necessary represent the views of GameCentral or Metro.

You can submit your own 500 to 600-word reader feature at any time, which if used will be published in the next appropriate weekend slot. As always, email gamecentral@ukmetro.co.uk and follow us on Twitter.