Genre by Genre: Sega Saturn and Sony Playstation worldwide libraries comparison

Hi!

The purpose of this thread is, without name calling and a flame war, compare the libraries of both systems; trying to identify the so called "hidden gems" as well as unknown games which are actually good; and also trying to bust a few myths about the libraries of both systems.

One game genre will be analyzed at time, during some time (days or maybe weeks; while the discussion keeps going and adding worth mentioning stuff) until we reach a point where we have a list of suggested great/good games for each system and a brief description of its gameplay and something like its pros and cons.
Of course, suggestions (regardless the game genre) will be accepted all the time but the main discussion will be focused in one genre at time.

This first post will be constantly updated and maybe one day we'll have covered all genres and most of the worth playing games (actually, if we make it to finish one genre properly it will be already a good achievement IMO, hehe), but I find it hard to believe. Anyway, this is an initial effort. Hopefully it will be a very useful thread for those looking forward to discover and enjoy the libraries of these console in their full glory.

I will try to use good sense while conducting this thread but I also ask for the help of whoever post here, otherwise it will probably become a huge mess and it will get locked really soon.
The idea is NOT establish which game or which console is better.

Thanks in advance!


A) 2D Fighting (discussion started in May 30, 2013)

Sega Saturn:
Advanced V.G.
Astra Superstars
Asuka 120% Limited: Burning Fest. Limited
Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon Super S: Various Emotion
Capcom Generation 5
Cyberbots: Fullmetal Madness
Dark Legend
Dragon Ball Z: Idainaru Dragon Ball Densetsu
Dragon Ball Z: Shin Butouden
Fighter's History Dynamite
Galaxy Fight
Golden Axe: The Duel
Groove On Fight
King of Fighters '95, The
King of Fighters '96, The
King of Fighters '97, The
Marvel Super Heroes
Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter
Mortal Kombat Trilogy
Pocket Fighter
Primal Rage
Rabbit
Real Bout Garou Densetsu
Real Bout Garou Densetsu Special
Samurai Spirits: Amakusa Kourin
Samurai Spirits: Zankuro Musouken
Shin-Oh-Ken
Sokko Seitokai: Sonic Council
Street Fighter Alpha: Warriors' Dreams
Street Fighter Alpha 2
Street Fighter Collection
Street Fighter Zero 3
Street Fighter: The Movie
Suiko Enbu: Fuuun Saiki
Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3
UltraMan: Hikari no Kyojin Densetsu
Vampire Hunter
Vampire Savior: The Lord of Vampire
Waku Waku 7
World Heroes Perfect
X-Men vs. Street Fighter
X-Men: Children of the Atom


Sony Playstation:
Advanced V.G.
Advanced V.G. 2
Asuka 120% Excellent: Burning Fest. Excellent
Asuka 120% Final: Burning Fest. Final
Asuka 120% Special: Burning Fest Special
Bakumatsu Rouman: Gekka no Kenshi
Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon Super S: Shin Shuyaku Soudatsusen
Capcom vs. SNK Pro
Cyberbots: Fullmetal Madness
Darkstalkers: The Night Warriors
Darkstalkers 3
Dragon Ball Z: Idainaru Dragon Ball Densetsu
Gouketuji Ichizoku 2: Chottodake Saikyou Densetsu
Guilty Gear
Gundam: Battle Assault
Gundam: Battle Assault 2
Gundam: The Battle Master
Jojo's Bizarre Adventure
King of Fighters '96, The
King of Fighters '98: Dream Match Never Ends, The
King of Fighters '99, The
Makeruna! Makendou 2
Marvel vs. Capcom EX Edition
Mortal Kombat II
Mortal Kombat 3
Mortal Kombat Trilogy
Pocket Fighter
Real Bout Garou Densetsu
Real Bout Garou Densetsu Special: Dominated Mind
Samurai Deeper Kyo
Samurai Spirits: Amakusa Kourin Special
Samurai Spirits: Kenkaku Yubinan Pack (Samurai Spirits & Samurai Spirits II)
Simple Characters 2000 Series Vol. 12: Kidou Butouden G Gundam: The Battle
Simple Characters 2000 Series Vol. 13: Kidou Senki Gundam W: The Battle
Slap Happy Rhythm Busters
Street Fighter Collection
Street Fighter Collection 2
Street Fighter Alpha
Street Fighter Alpha 3
Suiko Enbu: Outlaws of the Lost Dynasty
Tatsunoko Fight
Touki Denshou: Angel Eyes

Saturn: X-MEN VS Street Fighter.

PS1: Street Fighter EX.

sf Ex is a 3d beat em up

saturn : street fighter alpha 2

ps 1 : gundam battle assault 2 ( yes it is actuallya very good beat em up )

For the Saturn I'd say these would probably fall into the great category (I own a decent amount of the Capcom fighters in this list and love them as well as UMK3, and I've heard nothing but praise for most of the SNK fighters and other Neo Geo ports in this list):

Street Fighter Alpha
Street Fighter Alpha 2
Street Fighter Zero 3
Street Fighter Collection
Capcom Generation 5
Night Warriors Darkstalkers Revenge
Vampire Savior
X-men Children of the Atom
Marvel Super Heroes
X-Men vs Street Fighter
Marvel Super Heroes vs Street Fighter
Cyberbots Fullmetal Madness
Pocket Fighter
King of Fighters 95
King of Fighters 96
King of Fighters 97
Real Bout Fatal Fury
Real Bout Fatal Fury Special
Samurai Showdown III
Samurai Showdown IV
World Heroes Perfect
Waku Waku 7
Astra Superstars
Ultimate Mortal Kombat III
Mortal Kombat Trilogy

And these would fall into the questionable category (A lot of this is what remains from the list on Satakore that I have either heard bad things about, next to nothing about, or haven't seen or enjoyed myself). The bolded titles I've seen be both praised and bashed so they really depend on the players point of view I guess:
Mortal Kombat II
Battle Monsters
Galaxy Fight
Street Fighter the Movie
Ultraman
Asuka 120% Burning Fest
Advanced V.G.
Dragonball Z Shin Botouden
Sailor Moon SuperS
Primal Rage
Batman Forever
Fighters History Dynamite
Dark Legend
Resurrection Rise 2
Sonic Council
Groove on Fight
Rabbit
Golden Axe the Duel

The only downside here is a lot of these are on the PS1 as well. However a good amount of them tend to be better on the Saturn due to using RAM carts or just being being better ports on their own.

street fighter the movie is not a bad game
its just super sf 2 turbo with digitised graphics if you can get over that its actually a half way decent game

Quote:

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Originally Posted by KitsuneNight

street fighter the movie is not a bad game
its just super sf 2 turbo with digitised graphics if you can get over that its actually a half way decent game

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Hence why I said it's questionable. Though it's definitely not in the same league as the fighters in the great list.

no it isnt
but its certainly not a bad game that deserves all the bashing

Thanks for all the posts so far...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by TrekkiesUnite118

For the Saturn I'd say these would probably fall into the great category (I own a decent amount of the Capcom fighters in this list and love them as well as UMK3, and I've heard nothing but praise for most of the SNK fighters and other Neo Geo ports in this list):

Street Fighter Alpha
Street Fighter Alpha 2
Street Fighter Zero 3
Street Fighter Collection
Capcom Generation 5
Night Warriors Darkstalkers Revenge
Vampire Savior
X-men Children of the Atom
Marvel Super Heroes
X-Men vs Street Fighter
Marvel Super Heroes vs Street Fighter
Cyberbots Fullmetal Madness
Pocket Fighter
King of Fighters 95
King of Fighters 96
King of Fighters 97
Real Bout Fatal Fury
Real Bout Fatal Fury Special
Samurai Showdown III
Samurai Showdown IV
World Heroes Perfect
Waku Waku 7
Astra Superstars
Ultimate Mortal Kombat III
Mortal Kombat Trilogy

And these would fall into the questionable category (A lot of this is what remains from the list on Satakore that I have either heard bad things about, next to nothing about, or haven't seen or enjoyed myself). The bolded titles I've seen be both praised and bashed so they are really depend on the players point of view I guess:
Mortal Kombat II
Battle Monsters
Galaxy Fight
Street Fighter the Movie
Ultraman
Asuka 120% Burning Fest
Advanced V.G.
Dragonball Z Shin Botouden
Sailor Moon SuperS
Primal Rage
Batman Forever
Fighters History Dynamite
Dark Legend
Resurrection Rise 2
Sonic Council
Groove on Fight
Rabbit
Golden Axe the Duel

The only downside here is a lot of these are on the PS1 as well. However a good amount of them tend to be better on the Saturn due to using RAM carts or just being being better ports on their own.

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Awesome contribution!

I will surely drop MKII from there though, since I played both versions myself in real hardware and the Saturn one is just unfinished and buggy in several instances (and I already consider the PS1's borderline to be very honest).
Groove on Fight is a great game man, people may hate its style but it has no major flaws that I can see.
Asuka 120% Burning Fest is borderline IMO, but I think it's just 'cause it's a competent version of an already average game. I think it must be on the list, also 'cause this si one of those "rare" JP games which during some time you'd have to pay a ton of money to play in platforms like FM Towns.
Primal Rage is a great version of an average at best game, but I think it deserves to be listed yes (unlike the PS1 version and its abysmal loading times).
Batman Forever is a beat'em up, so I'll keep it when the time comes for its genre.

Galaxy Fight: Why? I think this version is good enough. Can't say the same about the PS1's though...

Sailor Moon SuperS IDK... it feels so cheap and generic. I'll have to think about this one. What do you think?

On your "great" lists, just a few comments:
Waku Waku 7 is a game that I love but there's some criticism about the pixelated backgrounds on the Saturn version. Still a great game though.
Mortal Kombat Trilogy isn't in the same level of the others IMO, loading times are actually longer than on the PS1 to give you an idea. A good game for sure though.
World Heroes Perfect is an awesome overlooked game IMO, especially this outstanding Saturn version.
King of Fighters 96 and King of Fighters 97 aren't on par with the '95 conversion. Longer loading times, high pitched voice samples, some frame cuts here and there and music restarting every round. King of Fighters 96 lacks the "trick" that Neo Geo CD and PS1 versions used of having different tracks for each stage to try to compensate for the music track restarting (still superior to both versions if you consider loading times of the Neo Geo CD and the muffled voices + a little more frame cuts on the PS1). King of Fighters 97 and King of Fighters 95 are abysmal on the PS1 ('95 is the worst one; '97 has some nasty frame cuts, clearly a step down after the good '96 conversion), so they will only figure in the Saturn list.

I think I paid like 80 dollars for my copy of World Heroes Perfect for the Saturn. Needless to say I spent way to much money on it. @Barone have you played the US versions of KOF 95 and SS3 for the PSx?

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Originally Posted by Da_Shocker

I think I paid like 80 dollars for my copy of World Heroes Perfect for the Saturn. Needless to say I spent way to much money on it.

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Oh, sorry to hear that. I was going for something around $25-$30 (at max) shipped on ebay some time ago when several copies were available.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Da_Shocker

@Barone have you played the US versions of KOF 95 and SS3 for the PSx?

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Awful, awful!!!
Don't waste your money neither your time with those.

Pretty Fighter X for Saturn is another one I can suggest along with Vampire Savior: Lord of the Vampire.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Barone

Oh, sorry to hear that. I was going for something around $25-$30 (at max), shipped on ebay some time ago when several copies were available.


Awful, awful!!!
Don't waste your money neither your time with those.

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LOL I bought it in the early 2000 and yeah i'm pretty sure I overpayed for it as for those ports thanks I was just curious about them. I do remember Gamefan trashing them. It kinda infuriated me that Sony of all people bought these out while the Saturn versions stayed in Japan. Though KoF 95 was released in Europe I think.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Da_Shocker

LOL I bought it in the early 2000 and yeah i'm pretty sure I overpayed for it as for those ports thanks I was just curious about them. I do remember Gamefan trashing them. It kinda infuriated me that Sony of all people bought these out while the Saturn versions stayed in Japan. Though KoF 95 was released in Europe I think.

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I miss Gamefan. They were deep in love with Dreamcast.

Yeah the Sailor Moon Fighter is pretty much meh if you ask me. The only thing that made it stand out somewhat for me is that it has some ok FMV clips in it. Though even those are pretty meh as they cut down the transformations for some odd reason. Galaxy Fight is a good conversion from what I've seen of it, for some reason though I've seen it get a lot of flac, that's why I put it in as questionable.

I pretty much agree with you on the rest. Waku Waku 7 does have some pixelated backgrounds, though to my knowledge there isn't a PS1 version. So even with that con I'd put it on the Saturn list as it's still a good fighter. You are right on MK Trilogy, though I think I'd still take the Saturn version as I hate using the PS1 D-Pad for 2D Fighters. It's still a great fighter though if you don't have the PS1 version, hence why I put it on the list.

And with King of Fighters 96 and 97, while they do have some issues, I'd still put them on the list as I wouldn't consider those issues enough to not deem it worth owning on the Saturn. They still turn out better than the PS1 versions if I remember correctly and they are good cheap alternatives to the Neo Geo versions.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by MrSega

Pretty Fighter X for Saturn is another one I can suggest along with Vampire Savior: Lord of the Vampire.

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I already suggested Vampire Savior. And Pretty Fighter X is one of the worst 2D Fighters on the system. The graphics are awful and the game plays like garbage.

I think the PSx pad is fine with MK since it didn't rely on circular motions but I haven't played a MK on PSx controller probably since 97. The only 2D PSx fighter that I really remember that was exclusive to the PSx is Guilty Gear.