Why did/didnt you buy a saturn....

[Falucho]

Great story but its Sega's fault, BoostedGR33K, not yours....

[BoostedGR33K]

BoostedGR33K killed SEGA!!!!! GET'EM!!!

Are there 12 trials I can do to redeem myself for this act? ; __ ;

[o.pwuaioc]

I had spent all of winter of 94/95 shoveling driveways, cleaning the house, damn near anything to get extra cash cause I knew the next generation consoles were on their way. The Saturn came out, and my heart was instantly crushed... "399 fraking dollars?! Who the....what?!" I flipped out a bit, cause I only mustered about 190 bucks at that point. Kept working through the summer, and kept on keeping on. Then, Id heard of this playstation thing from a friend, and sat at his house one night playing Alien Trilogy. BLEW. MY. MIND. I was like "How much do these suckers cost?!" He'd gotten his for his bday, so he wasnt sure... I went to the local Electronic Boutique, and they had them for 299 (and if I remember right, I believe the saturns were down to like 329 or 349 or somethin like that...) Of course, I only had 260 at this point, so the Playstation started sounding more appealing at this point. I still really wanted the Saturn though, cause after all, Genesis did all that Nintendon't did, and like hell I was gonna betray the Emperor and defect to the N64!

Then, the game changer happened. Id won a $50 gift card to Toys R Us from this school event, and was super excited. That plus the 260 Id saved up would definitely put me into the PS1 I thought to myself. So, I let my mom cart me out to the store in mishawalka to get a PS1. I saw all the systems/games set up there, saw the PS1 and got so geeked out - for it was on sale for 249!! So, with my gift card, I could even afford Alien Trilogy with it!! I got the PS1 out of the case, got Alien Trilogy off the shelf and started to make my way to the counter. Then, something happened to me that I'll never forget to this day...

I looked back at the Saturn sitting in the display case. I felt it staring at me - a cross between "Whos that 'other' system your with" and the "Are you really leaving me?!" look. Then, guilt sunk in. I felt so bad - worse than I thought Id feel buying another console other than a Sega product. I had a huge knot in my stomach, and a lump in my throat. I turned away - and by doing this, I condemned Sega.... I always thought that, and people always say "Well, selling one more Saturn/Dreamcast to you Ben REALLY wouldnt have saved Sega..." Theres always that "what if it did..." in the back of my mind though.... Even writing this now I feel that feeling once again. I kinda feel like how Hercules must have felt after waking up from murdering his whole family in his madness. Segas blood is on my hands, and theres nothing I can do to change that. The only way I feel I can repent for this is to collect every piece of sega hardware I can get my hands on. That way, I can finally be at peace with myself...

Seriously, post of the year.

[Ninsega]

There were a few reasons why I didn't get a Saturn when it first came out.

Firstly, it didn't have anything appealing to me at the time except for maybe NiGHTS (which was like the only demo I recall playing at Lechmere). A true Sonic game like Sonic Xtreme or whatever would have gotten me to beg my parents enough for it.

It cost a fortune.

And it wasn't really supported by the stores in my area. Like, no store wanted to carry it.

[spiffyone]

I was at that point starting to go out, have more extra curricular activities, etc. Didn't have the time, or the money, quite frankly. And I still had a NES, SMS, Genesis (+SCD), and SNES, so...I was good. Loads of games for those systems were on sale as stores were getting rid of excess stock. Paying $299-399 for another console just didn't appeal to me, or my family.

The only of-that-gen system I had at during the early portion of that gen was 3DO, and that was my older brother's (he got it used for ~150 with a bunch of games). Not a bad system, I played it quite a bit and games like Star Control II (melee mode was awesome), Alone in the Dark, etc. My friends had PS1s, though, and I played it at their places, but, honestly...I just never wanted one, or a Saturn. 3DO wasn't much, but it was something, and, again, I had those other previous gen consoles and a bunch of good games that I hadn't played on them.

In later years, I just got burned out. Didn't have the time or patience to game. Game Boy actually filled the void because the games on there were short, sweet, and more pick up and play. It was around that time I got a deal on an N64 (this was about '98 or so) and a spare PS1 from an older relative. Again, no Saturn. Too many systems, too little time. Eventually I went back to solely concentrating on the Game Boy for my gaming fix because, y'know...Pokemon really was a helluva drug.

Then one day, while in an Electronics Boutique to buy one of those N64 wrestling games (it was a phase, what can I say?), I saw something that I'd never seen before, and never even knew was in the works: Dreamcast, in a preview kiosk, several weeks before its official release in the US. Seeing Sonic Adventure running, and learning about the upcoming port of Capcom vs. SNK from the store clerk...I had to have it. Not only did DC get me back into home console gaming, but it also got me interested in Saturn. And that's the reason I finally, after all those years of ignoring it, got one. Shame that I didn't buy one that day in EB. See, they had a bargain bin full of Saturn games. Among those games were multiple copies of this game called "Panzer Dragoon Saga". Also another called "Burning Rangers". And another called "Dragon Force".

Since I didn't have a Saturn, and since that new Sega system was going to be released soon enough, I figured it wasn't worth buying the Saturn or those games, no matter how inexpensive they were.

Years later, when I finally did get my hands on a Saturn via ebay, I found out how much those games I listed go for online. That wasn't a pleasant day to be around me.

[Iron Lizard]

Are there 12 trials I can do to redeem myself for this act? ; __ ;

Sadly this is the best running the Gauntlet gif I could find but I think axes might be sufficient.

[NeoGeoFanatic]

I didn't get a Saturn until after the Dreamcast was released. I remember when both my brother and I were looking to get another console....our SNES and Genesis were a bit "dated" by the time the PS1 and Saturn were released....my brother was tired of the SNES and wanted something different, I was happy with my Genesis...but he told me "Sega has the Saturn, so we would still be getting a Sega system"...so I was happy then....I was all excited about getting the Saturn...until....until....my brother went to the game store and came back with...NOTHING...but bad news....He told me "um, I didn't know game systems were so expensive! The SNES was only $200....but the Saturn is $399!!"...my jaw dropped....i was only 11 or 12 back in 1994/1995...that was a TON of money!! My brother was only 14 or 15.....my parents REFUSED to buy us game consoles anymore b/c they had bought the NES which my brother sold to buy the SNES...they bought the Game Boy I had sold for something else (I forgot what I sold my Game Boy for)....they had bought the Sega Genesis for me...they were tired of buying game systems...and they DAMN sure weren't gonna spend $400 on a system! Well...a few weeks went by and my brother got a Next Generation Magazine with the PlayStation on the front cover.....we had heard about PlayStation and didn't think twice about it...it just seemed too "kiddy" at the time....the name "PlayStation" sounded like a kids game system.....(now we laugh at the Wii LOL)....the buttons having shapes instead of letters like Nintendo and Sega....we were thinking "this is gonna be a kids toy, with a name like that...buttons were shapes instead of letters"...but once we saw what they showed in the magazine and I do believe it said the PlayStation was $300....we decided to get that......the local EB Games offered a trade-in where you could get $100 trade-in for Genesis and SNES with 3 games.....hell yea, we got a ride, took our consoles to the game store and got us a PlayStation and Battle Arena Toshinden....wow....those graphics were AMAZING back then to us....came with the demo disk and the "exclusive" soundtrack CD that had KoRn on it (and that began my KoRn obsession).....The PlayStation took us by surprise....however....there were classmates in school that had a Saturn and they were talking about how awesome Daytona USA and Virtua Fighter was....I had played Daytona USA in arcades and loved it....PlayStation had Ridge Racer....pretty decent racing game, but NOTHING on Daytona USA.....I hated that we didn't save up money to get the Saturn at that time.....but it was all well in the end due to the lack of titles that the Saturn was getting (at least in my local stores....there was a couple that pretty much scrapped the Saturn section COMPLETELY by the time the N64 was released....the Saturn section got smaller in favor of the JAGUAR!..then wiped out when N64 hit the market....the PlayStation was a better choice for the ease of getting games for us in our area...but we didn't get some of the awesome titles the Saturn got...Guardian Hero's is my favorite Saturn game to date......

Fast forward a few years later....

I was lying in bed one Saturday morning as my mom went out to yard sales......she called and my dad brought the phone to me, I was still half asleep when my mom started telling me about a game system....she said it was a Sega Saturn...with about 6 games and two controllers....before she could tell me what the games were, all I said was 'GET IT!".....it was $50...came with Virtua Fighter 2, Virtua Cop 2, Daytona USA, Bug, NBA In The Zone or some sports game and a demo disk.....I was so happy when she brought that home....There were a few times when I had thought about selling it, but I didn't...I kept it...and I still have it...Guardian Hero's is still in the disk drive.....

Sorry for the long post....just brought back memories as I typed it....

[BoostedGR33K]

Sadly this is the best running the Gauntlet gif I could find but I think axes might be sufficient.

Would that be the 1st of 12 trials oorrrrrr.... ?

[IrishNinja]

i loved my genesis (was so good to see Sega on top!) and really enjoyed my Sega-CD, but totally passed on 32x in '94 since all the gaming mags were showing the real next gen on deck...you can imagine how heartbroken i was when the Saturn showed up early, with a $400 price tag. I was bagging groceries for just over $4/hour! i was pretty sour grapes about it honestly, and just stuck with my 16-bit stuff.

by that time next year, PSX had titles i wanted & was about $200, so i bit. not long after, i'd play Mario 64 at a TRU kiosk and jumped on N64 as well - i was dying to mess with a Saturn but no one i knew had it. a short time later, i'd be leaving for college, and about halfway through that, the Dreamcast came out & everyone i knew loved it, so based on my anecdotal evidence, Sega was totally back!

I finally bought a Saturn around this time last year when i saw retro gaming on the rise & decided to buy back some of my stuff & try the rest before it got too bad, so i found a model 2 with unibios & CD-R modding. i slowly jumped in with burns, but since deciding 2014 is Year of the Saturn ive been on a hunt to pick up CIB titles on my list, and it's obviously the RPG's that are gonna be the big chunk of that...still, i managed Dragon Force & Shining the Holy Ark for $100 (both in great shape) so i'm off to a good start!

I really am loving this system too, it's just...unforgivably hardcore. it's funny that all the stuff i lamented in the day (weird architecture, pushing new IP's over my established favorites, etc) really makes it stand out & sing at this point. i even love the dumb clunky Sega-CD leftover cases the US games use, it totally bridges the gap from that jump in my mind too.

[Iron Lizard]

Would that be the 1st of 12 trials oorrrrrr.... ?

I haven't thought that far ahead but I'm thinking the others should at least include RuPaul, Richard Simmons, a clown wig and the 1976 Buccaneers.

[KitsuneNight]

^ all that is just the second trial though

[Knuckle Duster]

Trial 3

[KitsuneNight]

fourth trial is running a gauntlet of crazed nintendo fanboys naked with a chrono trigger cardridge taped to your crotch

and the fifth is to stick your hand through the fire to save a 32 X saw style

[NeoGeoFanatic]

I think what would REALLY be "Torture" for any Sega fan....destroy a MINT copy of Panzer Dragoon Saga! But that would be more Sega abuse than anything....

[Shapey Fiend]

I bought my Playstation in 1996. By that point it was already obvious who'd won. The Saturn had no momentum in Europe. I'd had a Commodore and Atari before the Mega Drive so I wasn't going to pick a losing console just because of some sort of blind loyalty. I was going to pick the machine with the best software library, and crucially something popular enough that I'd be able to rent games. There were perhaps 10 different video rental shops in my town that had Playstation games. I don't remember one of them carrying Saturn titles.