Building a respectable Saturn collection

I've just recently started collecting for the Saturn, and truth be told, I don't like a lot of the games for it. However, there is a decent number of exclusives and almost exclusives that I enjoy. Here's the list of essentials I either already have or am looking to get.

Already own:

Albert Odyssey
Shining The Holy Ark
Sonic 3D Blast
Astal
Die Hard Arcade
Legend of Oasis
Dark Savior
Skeleton Warriors


Looking to get:

Magic Knight Rayearth
Panzer Dragoon Saga (yeah I know... good luck with this one)
Shining Wisdom
Earthworm Jim 2
X-Men Children of the Atom
Cyber Speedway
Guardian Heroes
Darius


What do you guys think? Good list? Did I miss anything? Also, I should mention, I'm mostly looking at North American releases right now, not looking to get Japanese imports just yet.

Other than what you have listed, here are some of my favorites. They're all affordable as well.

Galactic Attack
Shinobi Legions
Daytona USA
Sega Rally Championship
Virtua Cop 1&2

Radiant Silvergun

I'd throw in Virtua Fighter 2, Fighters Megamix, and Fighting Vipers. Those are excellent 3D Fighters that still hold up quite well today. Fighters Megamix will still go over well when you have friends over to play games. All you have to do is show them the Hornet from Daytona USA fighting the Giant Panda character and they'll be hooked for hours.

I'd also throw in the Street Fighter Alpha games as well as Darkstalkers Revenge. The Megaman titles are also great on the system but quite pricey these days. NiGHTS and Burning Rangers would also make excellent additions.

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Originally Posted by profholt82

Other than what you have listed, here are some of my favorites. They're all affordable as well.

Galactic Attack
Shinobi Legions
Daytona USA
Sega Rally Championship
Virtua Cop 1&2

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Oooh Galactic Attack, I forgot about that one. I used to have that back in the day and remember enjoying it... until it kicked my sorry ass in like level 5. I wonder if I'll be better at it this time around...

How's Shinobi Legions? Seriously. I watched a bunch of vids of it online and the gameplay looks decent enough, but the FMV cut scenes were a bit off-putting. Is the gameplay so mindblowingly awesome, it makes the terrible videos seem endearing? Kinda like in Resident Evil 1...

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Originally Posted by Kamahl

Radiant Silvergun

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Do you need to know any Japanese to properly enjoy this? Ie: cut scenes or plot points or anything like that?

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Originally Posted by TrekkiesUnite118

I'd throw in Virtua Fighter 2, Fighters Megamix, and Fighting Vipers. Those are excellent 3D Fighters that still hold up quite well today. Fighters Megamix will still go over well when you have friends over to play games. All you have to do is show them the Hornet from Daytona USA fighting the Giant Panda character and they'll be hooked for hours.

I'd also throw in the Street Fighter Alpha games as well as Darkstalkers Revenge. The Megaman titles are also great on the system but quite pricey these days. NiGHTS and Burning Rangers would also make excellent additions.

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Yeah Fighters Megamix is cool, I remember seeing ads for that back in the day, though I never played it. The Megaman games I think I have all of them on PS2, it was just 8, X3 and X4 that came out for Saturn right? As for NiGHTS, (I'll probably get flame for this), but I never enjoyed that game. The graphics give me epic eye strain. I'm not sure about Burning Rangers, but I read it's based on the NiGTHS graphics engine.


Also, can someone explain to me what the deal with Shining Force III is? I read somewhere that it's not a complete game because in Japan it was released in episodes, but North America only got the first episode. So like, how complete is that exactly?

Shining Force III is a trilogy in Japan. The US only got Scenario 1. Basically you load up the other scenarios with your save data from the previous one and it will unlock the true ending in the final scenario if I remember correctly. I think the US one may have been altered to make the first scenario have a more complete ending but I could be wrong.

Burning Rangers does use the NiGHTS engine, but so does Sonic Jam and Sonic Adventure on the Dreamcast if I remember correctly. So if you can put up with those games you can handle Burning Rangers most likely.

At least half of the "essentials" on your lists are "C" level games imo.
It looks like you're restricting yourself to domestic games as well.
Edit, Oh I see you mentioned only shoping for N.A. releases a.t.m.
The wealth of top-notch titles are in the Japanese region, as you should already know.

Panzer Dragoon Zwei, you're obviously missing.

5 imports I'd get right away:
Metal Slug
Elevator Action Returns
Sega Ages Out Run
Dungeons & Dragons Collection
and some shooter... Thunder Force V, Metal Black, X-multiply, Thumder Force Gold Pack 2, etc

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Originally Posted by TrekkiesUnite118

I think the US one may have been altered to make the first scenario have a more complete ending but I could be wrong.

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You are correct, the US & PAL first scenarios were slightly altered.

I love Dragon Force and would suggest that.

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Originally Posted by djshok

Do you need to know any Japanese to properly enjoy this? Ie: cut scenes or plot points or anything like that?

Also, can someone explain to me what the deal with Shining Force III is? I read somewhere that it's not a complete game because in Japan it was released in episodes, but North America only got the first episode. So like, how complete is that exactly

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No need for Japanese.
Shining Force 3 tells "the same story" from 3 different points of view in each episode. You don't lose much from only playing 1 episode but you'll get a lot of plot-holes that are answered in the other episodes. It has been fan translated.
Episodes 2 and 3 have a lot better graphics too.

Here's some more great, cheaper titles:

Minnesota Fats: Pool Legend - Great camply little pool game, sequel of Side Pocket with cheesy FMV cutscenes.

Tempest 2000 - Port of the fantastic Jaguar game, and now you don't have to play it on the Jaguar!

World Series Baseball '98 - One of the best baseball games I've ever played. Arcadey and fun, while still being more realistic than 2D baseball games where you just "Hit the ball" in a sense. Extremely cheap and great fun.

Rayman - Another multi-console game, but this one has a few more added effects and looks better on the Saturn compared to the PS1. Also better music.

Panzer Dragoon - A little more basic than II and Saga, but still a great Space Harrier-esque shooter. Difficult too.

Virtual On - This one is a must-own. Awesome mech-robots fighting one another game. Really, really fun. Awesome port of the arcade game, and there are even dual sticks to go with it that got a Japanese release that you can buy to use with your Saturn.

And I'll agree with some of the other recommendations here, PDII, Burning Rangers, Darius Gaiden, are must-owns. Shining Force III is a great game as well, and I believe there are patches out there to play 2 and 3 in English. So if you have a mod chip or can do the swap-trick, then there you go.

A must have for the Sega Saturn is Rayman, so add that to the list. Yeh, it was on a ton of other consoles such as the Playstation(version I grew up with), Atari Jaguar, Gameboy Advance, DSi, and others, but the Saturn version is easily the best. You can get it for under $20, one of the best games of all time.

EDIT: DOH BALOO! You mentioned it right before I posted!

A couple of games I like are Mystaria/Blazing Heroes and Blazing Dragons (one of the funniest games I've played)

I see you listed Cyber Speedway. It's a good game, but I'd recommend getting the Japanese version (titled Gran Chaser) instead. It has a much better soundtrack. The menus are all in English; only the dialog in the story mode is in Japanese (and the plot is nothing special).

Honestly though, the Saturn has an excellent library. I always hesitate to participate in these threads because: a) I could easily recommend 100 games, but that long of a list isn't very helpful, is it? and b) it's been done a zillion times before.

In response to Shinobi Legions, it's a solid title. It's not as good as Revenge or III on the MD, but it's still a lot of fun. It's got a much more arcade quality to it that sets it apart from the MD games. The cutscenes are incredibly cheesy, but that is a big part of the game's charm. The game just feels and plays like something from a mid-90s arcade. It's deefinitely not great, but it has a certain something that makes me love it. I guess you've just got to play it.

And, no Saturn collection is complete without The Yakyuuken Special. It's arguably the best game of strip rock-paper-scissors on the Saturn.

Oh, and Gungriffon. Everyone seems to overlook it. For shame.