It was only natural after owning the Sega Master System & Sega Mega Drive I would go on to get the Sega Saturn. My parents got it for me as a joint birthday & Christmas present. I love the design of the console & always loved that you could store you games saves on a memory cartridge - it made me think of the Mega Drive games. While the polygon graphics used are out dated by today's standards at the time they were cutting edge.
The first game I got on the Saturn was Sonic Jam. You could play the first three Sonic games along with Sonic & Knuckles. Within each of these games you had options to save the game & turn on/off abilities e.g. Sonic's spin attack. Outside of that there was also a 3D World you could explore & complete small challenges in.
For me though what I loved most about it was that you could visit a cinema & music studio. The cinema was great as you could watch different marketing videos from around the world on Sonic - the Japanese ones were awesome! On top of that you could watch videos from the Sonic Universe including the opening of Sonic CD - a very well animated piece. The music studio was great as you could listen to pretty much any sonic music along with sounds effects from any of the games. Ice Cap Zone was one my favorite tunes along with the classic Green Hill Zone.
As a whole a great collection of games with lots of extras packed inside. If you have a Saturn & like Sonic you probably have it & if you don't, well....go buy it!
As I made reference to previously I am not the biggest sports fan but there were two very great sporting games on the Saturn I have to mention. The first is Athlete Kings & the second is Sega Worldwide Soccer 98 - both of these were games myself & my Dad got hooked on.
Athlete Kings is a button bashing goodness. You had to have fingers as strong as steel & as flexible as a Yogi Master. The 100m dash event was a classic we played & I am sad to say rarely did I beat him at this. Pressing one button a few times is not hard pressing it tons of times at the same speed & timing not so easy. A lot of fun & well worth your time.
Worldwide Soccer 98, ah the memories. Myself & my dad would usually pick really random teams like Egypt & Korea. The players/teams were not very balanced so it really made no difference who you picked. Whenever I did start losing super bad to my dad I would take great pride in getting as many red cards as possible & injuring his players. I was never great at it but loved playing it all the same. The commentating could be quiet fun especially if it was out of sync with the game. A great example of this was "what a cracking goal"just as the second half was starting. Arguably the best soccer game on the Sega Saturn.
Panzer Dragoon is hard to talk about for me, not because it is a bad game but because it is so awesome it almost demands its own blog. Before I played Panzer Dragoon Saga I had not really played any RPG style games. My introduction to the game was Sega Saturn Magazine May 1998.
Remember when magazines used to give you demo discs? Me too! Well this issue topped the lot, you got the first disc of Panzer Dragoon Saga for free! There were many hours of great playing on the disc & when I got the full game that Christmas all I needed to do was pop in disc 2 & I was ready to play.
You play as Edge a mercenary guarding a dig site. Out of no where a large monster attacks you & your comrades but you mange to get rid of it. It is then you notice encased in the wall Azel a beautiful being in a sleep like state. Then everything goes to hell! Your friends get killed by the Black Fleet, Azel gets taken & you fall into a giant cavern. Edge's day is pretty rough already so lets make it worse by surrounding him with tons of monsters. Lucky enough you have a side arm for protection but of course that craps out on you too! But don't worry hope is not lost a giant dragoon comes to your rescue. That is all you I can tell you with out spoiling the game.
The game play itself was great. Most of the time you spent on the back of your trusty dragoon but occasionally you got to walk around caravans & small village communities. Like many RPG's you go so many steps & get a monster encounter. The battles themselves are turn based but your attack gauge fills up during battle. This meant if you decided to hold off attacking for a turn you could unleash a killer attack on the next one. You could also move on the battlefield (airfield) so as to avoid enemy attacks. You could use dragoon attacks or use pistols - you get great ones later that are really powerful. Boss battles were lots of fun & there was a real feeling of achievement when finally taking them down.
Graphically speaking for the time it was very well done. There were some great level designs my favorites being; Forbidden Zone, Uru & Air Force Post. The game could be at times colorful & at other times very dark. Darkness often meant hard enemies or an up coming boss battle.
Overall a fantastic game & if you are considering purchasing a Saturn or have one & never played the game pick up a copy. Of course picking up the game is not a cheap venture & cost 100's for it. Even so still well worth it!
Well it is time to move on once again but before I do here are a few honorable mentions: Daytona USA, Die Hard Trilogy, Sega Rally, Virtua Figher & Panzer Dragoon Zwei. I went on to play this console for many years before embarking on my next console journey. See you next time.
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