The Sega Saturn appreciation thread

[TrekkiesUnite118]

The only two graphical issues I had with Burning Rangers was the unstable frame rate and the fact that objects look like they are about to fall apart. Other than that though it's fine.

[Moirai]

Any idea about how many US copies were made of burning rangers?

[TrekkiesUnite118]

Probably around the same amount as Panzer Dragoon Sega and Shining Force III.

[gamevet]

Any idea about how many US copies were made of burning rangers?

I thought I'd seen somewhere that it had 2 print runs of @ 14k. PDS only had one.

[zetastrike]

Does the Japanese version of Burning Rangers have a big language barrier with the voice instructions? It's a lot cheaper than the NA version.

[TrekkiesUnite118]

I thought I'd seen somewhere that it had 2 print runs of @ 14k. PDS only had one.

I read that PDS had at least 2-3 print runs because it didn't have enough in the first one to fully satisfy pre-orders.

[StarMist]

I chose those because they both have really smooth graphics compared to most stuff on the system. And the fade-in effect from sonic R would have worked really well in burning rangers.

Some of Sonic R's stage effects would've been cool, sure, but that smoother than BR or Nights? I don't see it--I think Nights looks better than any of them though. PDS is smoother because it's either just you on your dragon in a chamber (structural or environmental) or in combat with fixed backgrounds. Towns in PDS do not look smoother than BR's levels, nor the people in them.

[TVC 15]

Burning Rangers is a fantastic technical achievement, without spiralling this thread into another god awful tech derailment, alternate frames render the translucent elements in the game. If it wasn't having to faff around with layers and blending to get true 3D and 2D transparencies in game it would have run at a rock solid and very smooth frame rate. As it is the game is almost dropping ever other frame for the VDP2 to draw transparencies,you could argue the game is actually running at a much higher frame rate, 60fps maybe even, cut in half.

[Moirai]

The Saturn had so many great games, but the greatest ones often didn't get much public exposure, or US releases.. Imagine if radiant silvergun and guardian heroes had been pack in titles for 1998. That would have been killer. Sega would have sold more, and treasure would have gotten some badly-needed publicity in the US.

Releasing Saturn in other colors would have been really cool, too. Imagine if they had made red, blue, and green models!

[TrekkiesUnite118]

Sega was in no financial position to do that in 1998. The Saturn was already dead by that point in the US markets.

Also with the QSound bit, apparently an early beta of X-Men Children of the Atom that was sent out to stores for demo units had the QSound boot screen as well as the Capcom Arcade logo screen. Later on though it appears they were removed from the final game. So again I'm a bit curious as to why they removed it if it was already there at one point.

http://www.assemblergames.com/forums...Atom-3-00-Beta

[Moirai]

Sega was in no financial position to do that in 1998. The Saturn was already dead by that point in the US markets.

Of course, they would have done some other stuff differently, too. Like release on the original scheduled date instead of much earlier, release sonic x treme, use a more Segata Sanshiro-esque marketing strategy (I think US gamers would think it was hilarious!) make better dev kits (so 3rd parties could learn how to produce graphics like virtua fighter kids), not use long boxes, release more Japan-only games, or at least encourage developers to do so, Not let Bernie fuck everything up..

[Barone]

Also with the QSound bit, apparently an early beta of X-Men Children of the Atom that was sent out to stores for demo units had the QSound boot screen as well as the Capcom Arcade logo screen. Later on though it appears they were removed from the final game. So again I'm a bit curious as to why they removed it if it was already there at one point.

http://www.assemblergames.com/forums...Atom-3-00-Beta

That's intriguing indeed...

WipEout - bumping the side of the track no longer results in a dead stop

The PS1 version supports analog control using the neGcon protocol, while the Saturn version is digital only.
This may explain why the game is more unforgiving for driving/handling mistakes in the PS1 version.

[TrekkiesUnite118]

Honestly I liked the Long boxes. Yeah they broke easily but it felt like you got more for your money. And I think we are blessed that Sonic Xtreme wasn't released. I don't think it would have been as great as people think it would have. If Sega could have done a few things differently to keep the Saturn alive we would have instead gotten Sonic Adventure on the Saturn and I think we can all agree that would be a better game to get than Sonic Xtreme.

[Da_Shocker]

Sonic X-Treme does indeed look like crap but it can't play know worse than Sonic 3D Blast. I'd take a good looking, shitty 32-Bit game rather than a mediocre looking port of a shitty 16-Bit game.

[Moirai]

Honestly I liked the Long boxes. Yeah they broke easily but it felt like you got more for your money. And I think we are blessed that Sonic Xtreme wasn't released. I don't think it would have been as great as people think it would have. If Sega could have done a few things differently to keep the Saturn alive we would have instead gotten Sonic Adventure on the Saturn and I think we can all agree that would be a better game to get than Sonic Xtreme.

I think they actually would have made more money had they used standard cd cases, though. Because they would have been cheaper to ship (fit more games in a smaller box) and cheaper to buy/manufacture because they use quite a bit less plastic. They should have done the same for the sega cd, as well.

Also, if they did all the stuff i just said, and were in a good financial position, they should have finished Saturn shenmue instead of re working it completely on the dreamcast. I'm sure making the dreamcast version is part of why shenmue was one of the most expensive games of all time, because they had to basically reprogram the entire thing! Just release shenmue on Saturn, and shenmue II and III on dreamcast.

Also, does anybody else actually like the dithered transparencies on some games? I think sometimes it adds an interesting stylistic effect.. Albeit unententionally.