The Final Days of the Sega Saturn
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- Опубликовано: 10 фев 2021
- Here we take a look at the final days of the North American Sega Saturn. It had been a tough road for Sega fans. How did it end?
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Opening 3D Logo By:
Jan Neves
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Opening 2D Animation By:
Kevin Bhall
Facebook - / kevin.bhall.14
Episode Notes:
1. Games captured on real hardware.
2. These release dates are approximate. I actually found numerous release dates that differed by a few days up to a few weeks.
3. I wouldn't say I'm bitter about how Sega ended the Saturn, but I definitely feel it hurt their brand image even further. Among the hardcore, it was well known that Japan still had many games the US never received. It would have went a long way had Sega staggered some of those with late 98/early 99 releases.
4. I firmly believe we would have had Resident Evil 2 and Tomb Raider II on the Saturn had Sega supported the Saturn an additional year. 3rd parties are not gonna dump resources into a platform if its been abandoned.
5. You may notice that the Shining Force III footage has numbers around the screen. My copy of the translation does that for some reason. 
Игры
I have great parents, but we were really poor. My mom and dad found the Saturn on clearance at toys r us and got me this for my birthday plus Christmas with a bunch of games too. I was the happiest kid that year. Thanks mom and dad❤️
What games were most memorable? I loved the system too.
@@watamutha bomber man,virtua cop
Mortal Kombat, knights and a bunch of knock off fighting games. Me and my dad will still play bomberman at least a few times a year 🙂
@@watamutha what games do you like?
@@andrewharris9302 I was really into the arcade scene back then so pretty much the arcade games - Virtua Cop, Virtua Fighter, XMvsSF, Marvel Superheroes, SF Alpha Series and shoot em ups like Galactic Attack.
@@watamutha I’ll have to play galactic attack. I really love shoot em ups
Richard Leadbetter, best known nowadays from Digital Foundry, was editor of SEGA Saturn Magazine here in the UK. He was a massive driving force in convincing SEGA of Europe to beg SEGA of Japan in porting games over to PAL in 1998. Without Richard there would have been virtually no PAL games released in 1998. Without Richard, Lobotomy Software wouldn't have been given the job to port Duke Nukem 3D or Quake to the Saturn. We salute you Richard!
What a magazine he had going as chief editor. The humour was very adult for a boy who was only 13 years old lol
I still have all my copies and to ride that sinking ship together as saturn fans during the decline was so emosh.. It will stay with me forever.
Ps fuck PlayStation, I still haven't bought one to this day.
@@dannywholuv
The playstation is a winning machine
@@shifty2755 it’s trash
@@dannywholuv I still have my Saturn magazines too! They really were brilliant; even when they realised the European market was dead, they kept covering Japanese titles and gave tons of advice on how to get your Saturn a region switch.
My PlayStation mags from that time are long gone, but my Saturn mags are never leaving me :)
It was him and his mate Lee Nutter if I recall
When the one dude said, "The Saturn is not our future," he may as well have said, "We have no future."
For a CEO of any company to say that by today's standards I don't think you'd ever be a CEO of any company ever again for that matter! The dude assassinated Sega of america quite literally! Mind blowing...
Dude was honest most people back then never heard of the Saturn because it died at launch with Sega doing everything wrong. Damn shame as it has a lot of great games in the Japanese market just emulate it and get get the fan translated roms.
@@fakegeek5462 Eh I disagree with that. The PS3 had a disastrous launch too with Sony ironically repeating many of Sega's mistakes with the Saturn but not only did they turn it around but they won the next gen with the PS4 and are on track to win this one with the PS5 * or settle into a comfortable second place after Nintendo's Switch *
@@AxeCrazyAutobot Sony problem was they made a system expensive to produce and difficult to program but Sega fucked everything up and had no marketing while the ps3 did and in the end Sony had the second best selling system that gen while the Saturn became a system more beloved now then at its time of release.
@@fakegeek5462 I think sony just had the cash needed to ride it out to better pastures, while sega didn't.
I had no experience with SEGA Saturn but I like watching your videos.
Same here, I feel like I owned a Saturn by watching his videos.
@@yordan826 it's really an interesting machine especially for 2D 90s games .
Same here, its entertaining and I love generation 5 of consoles.
Buy one!
It was my favorite console of all time..so good
The Saturn was gone too soon and the Dreamcast came too early. I miss Sega hardware.
They still make hardware - mega drive mini, micro game gear, astro city mini.
@@user-yk1cw8im4h come on...
@Lassi Kinnunen 81 What it really needed was a DVD player. That was a huge selling point for the PS2 and why a lot of non gamers bought one. It would have made the Dreamcast too expensive though so it wasn't to be. They talked about an add on for it but that didn't happen.
The problem is Sega never had the money to play with the big boys. When companies like Sony and Microsoft got involved it was pretty much over for them. They couldn't repeat their one success with the Genesis and pissed away what goodwill they had built up. It's like they really didn't know what they were doing and just managed to succeed by mistake. In a lot of ways they are still like that.
@@kellinwinslow1988 Sega releasing yet another add on. What could possibly go wrong lol.
Sega: “You turned them against me!”
Sony: “You’ve done that yourself!”
Gamers reacting to the Saturn’s $399.99 MSRP: “This is madness!!!” Sega: “This- is... SEGA!!!”
It's amazing how well this meme works with nearly everything. Well done, haha.
@@WebVManReturns THIS IS SPARTA
Nintendo: "oh I love this show"
@@youraveragemorononyoutube4435
Nintendo got crushed by Playstation 1 sales too, so they weren't really loving anything back then. Not to mention Squaresoft and other JRPG developers abandon Nintendo as the go-to for their games and went to Playstation.
Panzer Dragoon Saga, is one of the best games ever. The music, the lore, the combat system and history were epic.
Yes was amazing to play through. Having watched this I had to look for my copy of the game, I was going mad hoping my brother didn't sell it.
I have a PAL version of Panzer Dragoon Saga. It has certain issues like its duration and the huge black lines in PAL, and maybe the ending, but the lore, the music, was incredibly nice as you mention. It really manages to bring you into their world.
Most of the issues are resolved if you can play in 60Hz; I tried with SSF and the video and stills stretching was removed, timing bugs (i.e. the cut-scene after the second battle with Atolm) fixed, and the gameplay is 20% faster. Sadly, without using an actual Saturn, you lose the excellent 3D analogue support.
Honestly most RPG’s drag on way too long. Panzer Dragoon Saga’s duration is perfect. It doesn’t over stay it’s welcome.
I definitely don't understand how panzer dragoon saga wasnt the best rpg experience. Other than shining force 3 the turned based game play looking for windows of attack are well ahead of the other rpgs offered at the time. I aquired a copy a couple years back and played it last winter. I was amazed at what it had to offer from CG cut scenes, music, graphics, scale. It was the best im my opinion.
I lost my father a year before the Saturn released in the UK, my mum bought me a Saturn to help me through those sad times. Even though it struggled towards the end of its life, I have so many fond memories of playing so many great games - NiGHTS, Guardian Heroes, Athlete Kings (Decathalon) Sega Rally, VF2 and VF1 - Resident Evil, Street Fighter Alpha series, Command and Conquer, Mystaria (love this game!) Panzer Dragoon series just to name a few I loved playing back then.
At the end when you talked about how companies treat failures, it reminded me of Nintendo and the Wii U. Say what you will about the company, but they supported that flop for years, giving their most loyal fans exclusive game after exclusive game. I think that's part of the reason why so many came back for the Switch and don't mind rebuying ports - when you build up consumer loyalty, it pays back dividends.
I thought about that too. The Virtual Boy and the Wii U never broke the Nintendo's stride because the company's track record made them look like experiments rather than outright failures.
Plus at least Nintendo didn't go on panic mode when the Virtual Boy flopped. Even when the PlayStation was crushing it, they bid their time and released the N64. Which didn't do as well as the PS1 both saleswise and in the quantity of games that came out but it still put out memorable games. They didn't discontinue it like Sega did with the Saturn.
@@rockoorbe2002 Virtual Boy was like a shooting star. It came and it went
Facts!
Meh. Switch remasters of Wii u games pisses me off to no end. Asking me to pay the full price twice for the same game and in the process killing the Wii u games aftermarket value. Nope. Nintendo alienated me.
most youtubers make a video each week or 2 weeks or even 1 a month and sega lord x is burning the midnight oil to make quality content on almost a daily basis , he deserves an award for this and more subs and likes, bless his heart (even if he hates Chakan the forever man)
For myself Chakan will forever be hated man
@@greenelf6506 i really don't understand, it looked good, it was hard, man , that last boss, u had 1 chance to kill it and u needed to wait like 15 minutes on the end screen for that message, dude, it blew my freaking mind back then , i always wanted a game i couldn't beat in 1 afternoon, and this game ? it was a dream come true....shame people hate it with a passion, making those potions was awesome and the gigger inspired visuals made me look for games like darkseed 1 and 2 to play much later in life.
I don't entirely hate Chakan. I'm not fond of the gameplay, but I wouldn't go as far as calling it awful. I also really like the graphics, but what I see in the finished product is a missed opportunity. Chakan could've been a killer IP for Sega, but the first game wasn't nearly as good as it could've been, and they seemingly gave up with no follow-up. Truly a shame to be honest.
Between him and SNESdrunk it's like I never have to grow up
Considering the fact that the Saturn is one of my favorite game consoles of all time, this video was incredibly depressing.
I've only met people online that have played the sega saturn. I thought sega died after genesis and just got a Playstation. Also I was 8.
@@greenkoopa
Take it from someone who was about 15 at the time.
The PlayStation was incredibly dominant everywhere.
It wasn't that I didn't see a Saturn or some games for it here and there it just wasn't for me.
If I had known how things were going to go though I would have bought every copy I could from toys r us and elsewhere when they were dumped into clearance bins.
@@greenkoopa I was in the rare position of personally knowing about four other people with the system when it was current.
agreed. sf3 is ugly as sin
@@simondaniel4028 What are you talking about. None of us were talking about Street Fighter 3. We were talking about how sad it was that the Saturn was treated so poorly by Sega of America.
I wish the Saturn lasted until the Dreamcast instead of discontinuing it that abruptly. There were many japanese cool games that would have neat to have in the US.
If it stayed longer I would have bought a Saturn as a kid.
@@maroon9273 Bought mine as they had discontinued it and was lot of exclusive games for saturn only that I just had too own! They was cheap as chips and had great fun collecting for the system on the cheap!
Loving this channel lately mate.
The bitter end...and to think that '98 was a hell of a year for both the N64 and the PSX with so many releases and so many great titles!
'98 also a great year for Saturn games release in Japan! But Bernie Stolar put the kibosh on us enjoying any of them in North America...
@@burstyourbubble3500 Yeah, in fact I think that for the period '94-'98 the Saturn lineup including Japan is better than the PS1 for people who love shmpus, 2D fighters, and arcade-style gaming. But even though Saturn is my favorite console -- since PS1 was very active until 2001 (3 years more than Saturn), for me the PS1 7-year library ends up being stronger than the Saturn 4-year library. Some truly awesome games on PS1 in 1999 and 2000. SEGA had Dreamcast as well though!
Those three are still my favorite consoles -- home gaming at its best in the late 90s for me (while arcade gaming was at its best in the early 80s).
This is like watching the end of gladiator.Wish the Saturn was a success.
Eh, I do so there would be more rereleases but its like we have a special, unique console to ourselves lol
Well the Saturn sold really well in Japan, the Saturns japanese library is Godlike
wish sf3 was 2d. game is fuk ugly
@@aegisreflector1239 it sold better than America, but not amazingly. PS1 outsold iirc? N64 may not of tho lol SLX did a vid about it. But yeah the library is amazing.
And the n64
I didn't start buying imports until the US Saturn market dried up in 1998. That year I got Radiant Silvergun,, Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter, Vampire Savior, King of Fighters 97, and several others.
Winter Heat was one of my favorites, I had forgotten about him, it was great to see him here. My Saturn is impeccable, everything works since 1996, with 15 original discs. It will never be sold.
Here in South America, we didn't even know this console! When I was a kid I heard about a saturn console, but never saw one. For us it was the Genesis, and then the Dreamcast : D
The way it should have been. Honestly SEGA would be better off skipping Saturn entirely and release Dreamcast globally in '98, or maybe even '97.
Never had a Saturn and never even played a Saturn before, i just never cared to know anything about it.....but man do I love to watch your videos!! I feel like gaming in the 90s was so special, like there was something so magical about it that is mostly missing from current modern gaming....the more I watch your videos the more I want to own a saturn.....
90s was more creative development in gaming. Nowadays you have to look in the trash for some gems which sucks. Good part we have indie 2D games and varity of genre to look at with no critical judgement.
HAve you thought of doing a video on Tantalus like you did with Lobobotomy? They seemed to be Sega's work horse throughout the Saturn's life.
Hello you!
It's DJ Slopes 😱
@@greenkoopa no it isn’t you muppet. Larry and Slopes are 2 completely
Different people. Pleb
Hello you, Larry.
@@MizfitZer0 an easy mistake as the guys do a lot of collabs.
Panzer Dragoon’s RPG system was a bit revolutionary. I’ve not quite played another RPG like it.
Your channel does wonders for my anxiety and depression.
Thanks
It's really heartbreaking, looking at the Saturn, since 1998 was the gaming prime for the rest of the industry: it was the year of Xenogears, Ocarina of Time, Pokémon Red and Blue and Metal Gear Solid, and I will say the few games the Saturn got that year were among my most wanted for the system.
As someone who almost never gets a console at launch, and few people I know do, late life support, and especially support after the successor is out, is something I will always admire a company doing for a console. And that down time, as you stated, would have been the perfect opportunity to bring out many Japanese games that were skipped over, and give the portion of the Saturn audience that wasn't ready (or financially able) to move onto a new console something to look forward to. It also builds a lot of good will that can be worth as much as those raw profit margins in the long run
Sega ended Saturn too early. The company seemed to have serious internal issues. They made a bunch if unnecessary hardware and add ons. Neglected their classic game series from megadrive. Botched saturn launch. They couldnt even get a sonic game done for saturn (Xtreme). They had most the sonic crew making Nights as a launch title instead of the Mascot of Sega. And apparently they had a newbie, understaffed team tdy making the game and they failed miserably. Just like the Saturn and just like the Add ons
I was given House of the Dead with a light gun and Panzer Dragoon Saga for Christmas that year. Best year ever. They are still in my parents attic somewhere.
I was one of those Sega Faithful from the 80s with the Master System til the end with the Dreamcast. I loved my Saturn so much, it wasn't til Lunar got moved from the US Saturn to the PlayStation that I finally got a PlayStation which was in its own a great console.
Actually me too! I really loved Sega from the Master system, Genesis, Saturn and eventually Dreamcast but I still feel frustrated and disappointed with Saturn. I think what bugs me about the Saturn (besides it’s mismanagement) is I got mine before the National rollout at EB only to see the PlayStation come out a few months later which was cheaper and had better graphics. Sega lord X summed it nicely at the end of this video. Sega gave us all the middle finger:(
@@rjhisle1973 sorta true but my love for the Saturn goes deeper for the experiences that was only to be found on the Saturn like Dragon Force, Shining Force III, Shining and the Holy Ark, Panzer Dragoon Trilogy among many others. But when I did finally pick up a PlayStation it was a happy purchase as there were a ton of great games on it aswell. To be honest for me the Saturn and PlayStation were near even with me for how much I enjoyed them, the N64 was ok and also had some good games just not as many.
@@rjhisle1973 Right there with you both. I had the Master System, Genesis, Sega CD, 32X, Saturn and Dreamcast (also had a Game Gear and Nomad).
I had my Saturn reserved at Babbage's, and was surprised when they called me and said your console is here, months earlier than the expected date. It was great playing those games early, but there was a lull between the early launch and original where no games came out.
I was working and in my mid 20s at the time and usually had several consoles, so I got the Playstation as well.
I never felt like I got the middle finger from Sega at the time, I had fun with plenty of games on all of their consoles, looking back though, there are definitely better choices they could have made.
I have good memories of the Saturn but I feel that this console, more than any other product, was the cause of Sega's demise. They could have recovered from their earlier blunders with the Sega CD and 32X, but this hardware mess was a step too far. The Dreamcast was and perhaps always will be the most underrated console of all time, but it was too late.
Many factors played a role in Sega’s demise (obviously). But the Saturn was objectively the thing that killed them. They lost SO much money during the Saturn years, they were never able to recover. With the Sega CD and 32X, that hurt their image but didn’t really impact them all that much financially.
The truth is, the Dreamcast was doomed before it even released. For Sega to stay in the hardware business, they would have had to sell at LEAST 20 million consoles in 2 years. I’ve actually read that even then, they were probably fucked. They were just too much in the hole. They were borrowing so much money that their debt was out of control. That’s not even to mention how much they were spending on marketing (which they kind of had to do because their image was so bad).
Saturn and Dreamcast where both overated, Sega always lied to their customers. Begin with megadrive crappy "Blast proceesing" to Saturns super "multiprocessors" that did nothing worth the hype, through software releases like Manx TT where there was only two tracks available In the game, I mean really? Only Sega could released that. I always regret that I got Saturn instead of PlayStation, but unfortunately couldn't afford two consoles back in those days, and internet wasn't widely available for hardware reviews. Sega got exactly what deserves.
@Burst Your Bubble It was a moderate success but it sent Sega down a very dark path. The path of add-ons.
Saturn is more underrated than the dreamcast
I was there that last year. I hadn't even hardly played the PS1, except for linkable Doom co op, since I liked the Saturn so much in spite of its lack of games. It was rough that year. That's when I actually started playing Final Fantasy Tactics while waiting for a new Saturn game.
Being a Kenji Eno fan I picked up Enemy Zero which is still an interesting game that outdoes a game like Alien Isolation in some ways. Of course I got Panzer Dragoon Saga day one,EB games only had as many copies of it as were pre ordered by people,no extras at all. And I also got two copies of Magic Knight Rayearth simply because I had pre ordered them all the way back in 96' which is when Working Designs said it would be originally coming out. I actually forgot about the game until I got the call that my copies had come in,one of them was for a friend who never took the game. Burning Rangers was a good edition as well,but I'm sure we'll never see it again. And Shining Force 3 was one of the last games I got that year. It was a sad time but Panzer Dragoon was one of,if not the best,RPG of that generation so there was that at least.
The last memory I have of the Sega Saturn existing was June 30th, 1997 which was the release date of Starfox 64. I went to Best Buy to pick that game up at launch and I distinctly remember that was the last time I saw the Saturn having floor and shelf space.
Well done! I was a Saturn owned until the end and even when I had my system in those last years I remember how difficult it was to find copies of Magical Knight Rayearth, Burning Rangers and Panzer Dragoon Saga when they were released and I never got them. Such a real shame because I was really looking forward to these games and I had money in hand ready to buy them. To this day I never understood why Sega never released these games on modern hardware. Just more of the enigma of Sega and their locked away vault of incredible games that never saw re-releases.
I love my Sega Saturn. It is home to some of my personal favorite games of all time. Games like Panzer Dragoon Saga, Mr. Bones, Mortal Kombat Trilogy, Virtua Cop, Virtua Fighter 2 and Three Dirty Dwarves.
I never get tired of learning about the Saturn. Thanks for helping with my collection I started at the right time.
Literally just woken up, and this to watch.
Same here xD!
Same
Same
eh, better than a coffee to wake me up!
Are you irish?
i remember those times, we had it pretty bad in PAL territories too. However, the shining light was Japan. Anyone who was importing wouldn't have noticed Sega had abandoned them.
Yeah Japan got all the good Saturn games!
Agreed, all you NA Saturn owners have no idea how bad us pal gamers had it
Conversely, the US didn't get Deep Fear, Riven, WLS 98, Z or WipEout 2097.
@@SalivatingSteve "Japan got all the good Saturn games" with only a couple of exceptions, the awesome port of Quake foremost among them. In comparison, they had well over 100 JP-only games that were well worth playing, ranging from good to great -- should have been ported worldwide!
Ironically, this inspires me to wanna develop a game for the saturn. Almost in a way as to satisfy my need for something I felt like what the saturn could be.
Shenmue 0 shows the Saturn's potential.
I feel that way about another console Sega made
Best of luck. The Saturn was one of the most difficult systems to develop for.
@@Nick_Nightingale I think it was mostly because devs didn't understand how to program for multiple processors back then, which isn't the case anymore.
@@Golemoid exactly, especially with hindsight and documentation now. I feel will be a whole lot easier to do. Yes it will still be tricky, but making the most with it will help significantly.
I had convinced my father that I NEEDED a Saturn in the summer of 1996. So to get him on board with the outrageous asking price I went to a game store that sold and bought games from customers. I sold my Genesis, 32x, and about 20 games of the two systems combined. I hurt taking the beating on the price I took for my stuff, especially since I babied everything. All said and done I ended selling the stuff for about $100 and worked at mowing the lawn and stuff around the house for my parents for several months. However, I had my Saturn! I quickly realized what a mistake I had made because of the drought og games for the system. It was very hard to get games in the tiny town I lived in. I ended up selling all my Saturn stuff to my brother for $100 and borrowed enough from my father, under the same conditions as the Saturn, to get an N64 and Mario 64 in Feb.1997. Looking back you summed up Sega of N.A.'s lack of appreciation for its customers just right.
I still have all my consoles along with the games from when I was a kid. Dreamcast was my all time favorite. I have a tv just for my old systems. I still remember the Christmas that I got my Saturn.
When you are a game company and you have a console usually you just keep making good games for your console the whole time and still do this even while rolling out the new console. For example, on the SNES they made Mario RPG while working on the N-64. You support both so that the transition is smooth.
Nintendo really made the most out of the SNES later years. Mario RPG, Kirby Superstar, DK Country (trilogy) , Super Metroid, Dreamland 3, and yoshis Island 2 were all kicking butt.
Meanwhile Sega's trash add ons and the Saturn crashed and burned during that same time period.
14:42 - It's funny that you compared this game to a Zelda game, as I could swear that the music that plays in a Zelda game when you uncover a secret was about to start playing here. XD
I worked at a Babbage's starting in late '97. I was hired as the resident Saturn guy, as they had no other Saturn-playing employees. When I started, the Saturn had two full sections of wall space (about five feet in width apiece, six feet high), while the N64 and PS1 had far, far more. Within a few months, it was down to one section. By the time Burning Rangers came out, it was literally one shelf about four feet wide. What few regular Saturn customers we had would come in and ask for new Saturn games, and most often, all I could do was respond with a shrug. And what copies we did get of the last few games were few and far between; I think we got five or so of Panzer Dragoon Saga, maybe three for Burning Rangers, and the same for Magic Knight Rayearth, and employees scooped them up, knowing they'd be good investments. The Saturn's death spiral was a sad, sputtering mess. As you said, a big middle finger to Sega's loyal fanbase.
You are so right, 1998 was like a year of purgatory for Sega fans in the west. I was lucky enough to live in California and had several friends and connections in the JP-import scene, so we were still playing and discovering great Saturn games while we got ready for Dreamcast. But for your average Saturn owner in middle America or Europe, it was hard to even get a copy of PD Saga, Burning Rangers or MKR, because with their low print runs a lot of stores couldn't get any stock.
If it hadn't been Bernie at the helm, I think SOA would have made a few more copies of those games, brought over a handful of great shmups and fighters, and probably a few more action games like Bulk Slash and platfomers like Silhouette Mirage & Willy Wombat (which I believe its developers intended primarily for the west, the JP version has tons of English!). Oh well, a bunch of "what if's"...
This was a massive nail in sega's coffin for me. The system was amazing and I was the only one who had it in my circle of friend's. I supported it right up until the end when I jumped ship to n64. I still had it hooked up even after I got my dreamcast. Cant remember what I did with most of the games, but the console and a few select games are boxed up in the attic. Must give it a test. I dont see why Sega don't release a saturn compilation like the megadrive one they released.
Don't let it rot in the attic. If you don't want it, sell it, give it a new home.
@@Golemoid prob bc the hardware is fuck ugly. 3d games are ass, not just saturn, but psx too. first gen 3d games are uglier than my gf.
they dont have an emulator for it... also the exclusive games arent too popular so financially it would not make sense
@@nattila7713 They might not have an emulator but they could license one from someone. There are several. Though none are 100%. But, their franchise rights alone are doing nothing if sat on. Offload SF3 to a compant to remake or port the damn thing. Burning Rangers, Dragoon Saga, etc Call it the Titans of Saturn line, or Moons of Saturn, whatever.
@@simondaniel4028 there is only one "usable" and it is open source and cannot be bought (no owner to license from). means sega should make their release also open source if they use it but that will never happen :)
sega doesn't even invest in their arcade emulators either, they don't give a fck even about a virtua racing port on ps or xboe.
wish sega gets bankrupt and someone buys their IPs and do SOMETHING with them. would be better than what's happening these years.
Burning Rangers, along with Ghost in the Shell on PS1 would be fantastic games to remake with modern hardware.
Great video, wow that Panza Dragoon track at the end whilst talking about Segas demise brought a tear to the eye.
The Saturn was even unknown from some of my friends back in 1998... weird for such amazing consoles, rpg master piece and 2d fighting too. I love my saturn(s) and will play it until my last day on earth.
I absolutely loved Panzer Dragoon Saga. One of the best games I've ever played. I wish so bad Working Designs would have translated Dragon Force 2 instead of Magic Knight Rayearth. I would give my left nut for an official western release of Dragon Force 2.
I have to agree that the House of the Dead is ugly as sin but my brothers got me it for Christmas recently and it's still a freaking blast. Most of these are to expensive so I'm probably just gonna get me a Satiator and just download the iso's. Great video as always brother.
I love how in your videos you like to show a clip of the game running with no voiceover, it helps to build that atmosphere that I so associate with the Saturn. It just had its own unique style that was endearing if nothing else.
I got mine in December 1996. I was so excited. I loved virtua fighter and Daytona USA in the arcade and had such a fun time playing nights into dreams and later on guardian heroes (one of my fav of all time) I rented panzer dragoon all the time. It broke my heart to read in a gaming magazine that they were gonna stop making sega saturns and games. I still love and collect for it. One of my fav consoles of all time
Great video! I was not aware of some of the sports games from the start of the year; they both look really good. One note on "House of the Dead": while the blood does start off green by default, you can change it to either red or purple (to match the arcade) in the options menu.
3:02 Nice job syncing the gunshots to the music!
The one reason I never bought a Dreamcast was because of SOA's dropping the ball again and again between 1992 and 1999, along with their casual "Congrats, you bought a paperweight" mentality at the time.
I grew up around ps1s and n64s, why is it i never knew about sega game systems as a kid. Did they just sell that poorly?
I'm the same.
I never knew a single person growing up that had any Sega systems at all. I would just see them in EB Games and be like what? Dreamcast? What's that?
@@RhythmGrizz i didnt even see them in eb games lol
I personally, became a SEGA fan after I played and owned a Dreamcast but, I really feel sad how the company treated their costumers at late 1990's. Part of Dreamcast and SEGA hardware's demise is due to how they dealt with costumers, retailers and third party developers and publishers as well. I hope those mistakes to be learned by the whole industry and never be repeated again.
They began failing before the dreamcast. The Saturn/32x era was full if god awful decisions
Only north America got screwed over
@@vincentpistoia9034 You don't know the history of Sega in Brazil. It had a regional partner call Tec Toy and, even with Tec Toy's efforts, the Dreamcast never took off here. Partially thanks to Sega's lack of interest.
Almost all of these late releases are great. Shining Force 3 is one of my favourite games ever. Never played Magic Knight Rayearth though, as it is expensive and not released in Europe.
This is a game I really wish they would port/remaster as I’ve never owned a Saturn, but enjoyed the other 2 shining force games on the Genesis.
Man I have never posted a message in any of your videos but today is the day, I gotta say I love your videos and although I never owned a Saturn or had any experience with it back in the day I feel like I know the console by watching your videos, I know is not the same but is as close I will ever get to the Saturn. Thank You.
The sound effect when you collect crystals in Burning Rangers was also used in Starfox 64. I guess Sega and Nintendo had the same supplier for MIDI keyboards.
When you go through the rings it sounds different. Play them both again.
@@filipmartinez1162 Ok yeah, I do hear a difference now. Still kinda similar though.
@@mongoose1billion kinda but I don’t think Sega would have been that shameless
I just wish we would get these games on modern platforms. Or failing that, on PCs. We don't need a bazillion copies of Sonic 1, we need Saturn titles to live on in a platform other than just the saturn.
Some of Sega's games (for Genesis/S-CD/Saturn) also had PC ports...for Windows 95. I can imagine they aren't easy to run on modern OSs, but that hasn't stopped other companies from releasing their old games on Steam and GOG.
If there is no possible way to give a developer money to buy a copy them don’t feel bad about emulating it.
they did a PC port of the first one, but its too bad Panzer Dragoon 2 and Saga didnt get PC ports as well (maybe they did in Japan). at the very least, Sega of America could have been making some extra cash up until the Dreamcast launch by porting more Saturn games to PC at the time
I’m trying to go to bed SEGA Lord X! 😭
I misread that as "I'm trying to go to bed with sega lord X". I need more coffee
@@TyTye same haha.
"No Sega noooooooooooooooo..........!"
Is what I often scream in my sleep, when my dreams turn to darkness
Underrated comment
Albert Odyssey got me addicted in 2018 when I was trying to finish a degree. Worthy diversion. God Working Designs did great work and I’d fight any man who disagreed
Who knows had sega made better decisions maybe we would live in a world today without fortnite or micro transactions.
Definitely.
F MS and EA.
That's wishful thinking. No matter what, Microsoft was going to kill off one of the big 3, and I highly doubt there's a reality out there where Nintendo goes down and Sony really was too big to fail during that era. I only like Sega & Nintendo, but the only way Sega could've survived, is if they took down Sony. Microsoft was always going to invade with their crap.
@@BoozeAholic Microsoft wouldn't have had the huge support they had it there had been more players in the battleground.
@@BoozeAholic sega had no chance. they went more or less bankrupt. even before ms entered the scene.
@@nattila7713 if they had done a better deal with Atari, rather than dropping 50mil, software licences or market door
Sega Lord X routinely spitting out high quality content. This is why I'm a subscriber!
I will never forget the night my best friend got a Saturn and we stayed up til 5 am playing Wipeout, which up to that point was the best graphics we had ever seen
It almost feels fitting that NHL was the last official release on the Dreamcast (in the US), as well as it being the last EA release on a Sega platform.
SEGA's entire approach to the Saturn in the West was a giant finger towards what had made them successful with the Mega Drive/Genesis. It's interesting how both the Saturn and Dreamcast had better twilight years in Europe, despite at least in the Dreamcast's case, the US being a bigger market. We lucked out on Dreamcast with Big Ben Interactive buying up the stock though, that's why Shenmue 2, Headhunter and the likes saw a release. They also put out a few titles that had previously been ignored in Europe like Cannonspike.
Real talk. I quit on sega after the failure of the sega cd. The ps1 released the summer i graduated from hs and i traded my genny/scd and all my games to electronics boutique for a ps1 and a couple of games. I started working at a game shop a couple years into uni and got to experience the dope saturn import market. All these years later, this channel has inspired me to build a saturn collection off the import market. I bought nearly everything worth owning priced under $100.
Wow, didn't realize how much my Panzer Dragoon Saga is worth.
Look up a video series called "Wha Happun". They cover the reason why different games failed.
The story on this game is very, very interesting.
Hey Sega Lord X. Your channel rocks. I grew up in SF Bay Area and experienced the whole thing. I started with the Genesis, then got the Sega cd. Backtracked to the master system. Then got the 32X. Then the Saturn, and then the Dreamcast. And a bunch of games. Plus every piece of add on you could think of. Remember Blockbuster? When they shut down, I scrounged their sales bin. KB Toys Circuit City Toys R US and all the rest. Did you know, the Saturn had a VCD decoder option?
You painted a vivid picture, it was like being there. ;) Since I didn't take that road I mostly just got bits of information in GameFan during that time period but it was definitely all uphill for Sega at that time. Bittersweet but 1998 did see a lot of high quality SS releases.
3:02 cool synchronization
While the Saturn floundered here in the U.S., the fanbase that was there is still there. With more people getting into the system these days, it seems, than in the late 90's. I am in a couple of Saturn FB groups and am constantly seeing a lot of people putting up those "just got my first Saturn" posts. People of all ages. The Saturn's legacy may be of failure, but it has endured as a great system in the overall scheme of things.
I owned more then half the games featured in this video! Puzzle Fighter, Fighters Megamix, Albert Odyessy, Shining The Holy Ark, Bomber Man, Last Bronx, and Marvel Super Heroes from that 1997 set. I owned Duke Nukem on PC and Resident Evil on PSX. I rented those 2 MegaMan games but thought they were pretty cruddy compared to X1 and 2.
And then for 1998 I bought Burning Rangers, Panzer Dragoon Saga, and shining Force 3. My friend bought Magic Knight RayEarth and I just borrowed his copy.
Man the Saturn had a great lineup even tho the quantity of games was so low. Out of all of those Puzzle Fighter and Panzer Dragoon Saga are my favorites. Marvel Super Heroes was also my favorite fighter on the system.
I somehow managed to get one of these in 96 as a 10 year old. I remember selling my Genesis, all my games, and saving up Birthday and Holiday money. I'm sure my folks chipped in too. I convinced myself it was the next big thing. But I never really had any good games and I noticed that shortly after I got it, all the games virtually disappeared off the shelves. Never knew why at the time. By '98 I was longer playing it and even gave it away to my sister who moved out. By '99 i had a N64. Now, over 20 years later, Im going back and fully exploring the library that I could have enjoyed, if only I was not so young and broke lol.
I like that you said “The PlayStation and N64 won over lots of Sega fans” (or something like that) because it’s so true. I was such a die hard Sega fan in 1995 and I really wanted a Saturn. I had some experience with the Saturn via blockbuster rentals, my dad rented me the system about 3 times.
By the time 1996 rolled around even my dad could see that the PlayStation was way better than the Saturn. So I thankfully went with that when I could finally get a next gen system. It really was the right choice if you could only get one. I later got an N64 as well, and I completely forgot about the Saturn.
Later in life I did eventually buy a Saturn and a lot of the cheap classics. I think I’m 1995 the Saturn was gold. But by 96/97 you could really see it’s limitations in all aspects.
Yup. I went from the Mega Drive to the Nintendo 64. In fact, not one person I knew, stuck with SEGA consoles.
By 96 Saturn games were crushing PS quality. Don’t know what ur smokin?
@@costumeninja1914 lol don’t know what you’re smoking buddy.
The Saturn never crushed either rival with it's..."quality"...ever.
It's mind-blowing how Sega of Japan treated the US market. The United States is the sole reason Sega manged to get as big as they did. Every time Sega of America had a great idea that would have raked in tons of money, Sega of Japan scoffed at it and said "NO!". It really makes me wonder if there was some lowkey prejudice or superiority complex that Sega of Japan execs had against "Americans", because that's what it always seems like to me, looking back when Sega of America execs would talk about how the Japanese higher-ups would act. You'd think money would be the ultimate factor in Sega of Japan's decision making, but apparently not.
Capcom of Japan wanted to bring the 4MB RAM cart to the USA with, I assume, the 4MB CPS2 ports, but the westerners weren't interested (I'm not sure whether that was Capcom USA or Sega). Sega Lord X said this on a recent episode.
1998 was a miserable year to be a sega fan. Because they left the market in 1998, I wouldnt get a saturn until well into the dreamcast's life cycle.
Damn man, it's a shame you didn't got into Panzer Dragoon Saga. It's my favourite game of all time. That soundtrack is a nostalgia trip for me.
I would love to see someone make a video on where did the SEGA fans and players went to after the demise of the Dreamcast. I went to PC gaming.
It would have been nice if Sega had released the last 2 SFIII scenarios in the US. Also, they should have released Deep Fear in the US. Even if they had to sell them direct, it would have helped appease Sega fans a bit.
When I saw the graphic style and icons of Shining the holy ark it felt all too familiar.
A quick google search revealed it was developed by Camelot.
Is it safe to say the Golden sun series is a spiritual successor to this game?
I remember 1998 well as a Saturn owner. It was bittersweet. The Saturn's 1998 release schedule was hugely depressing, but what little we got was quality stuff. I looked for Panzer Dragoon Saga but never saw it anywhere. I don't know anything about production numbers, but I suspect it was more limited than the other late releases because it was an RPG and because it was more expensive for them due to being a multi-disc game. I did manage to pick up Burning Rangers and Shining Force 3 when they came out. It's really a shame how they just abruptly cut the Saturn off. Bernie Stolar was a one-trick pony, good at product launches and that's it. Despite him handling the Dreamcast much better because it was a launch, I was so happy when he was abruptly fired. I have always viewed Stolar's comments about the Saturn not being the future in 1997 as a ploy to try to force Sega of Japan to fast track the follow-up hardware for release in late 1997, which would have been super short notice, or some time in 1998 in the USA. Either SoJ was unwilling, or hardware development was nowhere near as far along as Stolar thought. Either way, it was a laughably stupid move by Stolar to go with sabotage. As you say, Sega had nothing to sell for an extended period of time. I always thought the 4MB RAM cart should have been brought over, and I believe Sega of Europe considered it. I don't know the numbers involved, and I know the Saturn was going to remain in third place, but it would have been great for optics to have those popular Capcom arcade games on the market in the west alongside the terrible PS1 versions. They might have been able to boost system and hardware sales since no other consoles could provide that for one reason or another.
Finally some damn honesty instead of always falling to the knees. That closing was brutally honest and I loved it. I had a Sega Saturn back then and what you talked about was 100% true. I still have that same model 1 Sega Saturn and it still gets played because of all the Japanese games I discovered that they stupidly never brought to the US.
I agree that they need to remake/remaster Burning Rangers. It would look amazing on todays hardware with the graphics and frame rate cleaned up.
Let's hear it for that epic intro theme though, I LOVE THAT EVERY TIME!!
Seeeegaaaaaaa
These games still look pretty good, I am going to give them a play soon
Thank you for making these great videos, SegaLordX! I was a Playstation kid back in the day, and didn't even get the PS1 until around 1999. All of my friends at school had the Playstation, apart from one guy who had an N64. I had never even heard of the Saturn until years later. It's great to hear about a console that I knew so little about! It seems like it had the potential to be really great.
Had the Saturn had the awesome Japanese games from Japan released in the West, I believe you’d have seen them really take the fight to Playstation hard
Sega Saturn: I don't feel so good...
Oh snap...
Oh, yeah, SegaLordX provides me some good old Sega fix. Good shit, man...
I never got the chance to play with a Saturn, your videos are really informative and full of great info, keep it up!
I remember from 1997 to 2001 any game that was 2d was said to have "snes graphics" even if the graphics were really good. The ign review of kings of fighers on dreamcast is an example.
Yeah, i remember it too.
Terrible mentality people had during 5th gen era. I'm glad nowadays, we have selection of genres to buy now especially indie 2d games.
i like how you talk about sports titles in your videos, hardly anyone else talks about them in the retro gaming community. They were still an important part of gaming history.
I love Magic Knight Rayearth. I didn't know that it was made by CLAMP until I looked it up while decently into my first playthrough. It certainly reminds me of my favorite anime Cardcaptor Sakura.
Man, you have my favourite Video Opener on all of the channels I follow (hundreds). Props man.
It is a shame Deep Fear wasn't published in the United States as it is a pretty good survival horror game.
Btw great video as always!
being a non japanese sega fan is such a bitter-sweet thing, you get to experience some of the most original games every made, but the company that made them actively hates and shuns you lmfao
It's way worse for a Nintendo fan, believe me.
@@garlandstrife heeeellllllll no, nintendo is still making mario, zelda, fire emblem, pokemon, smash bros, ect ect... you guys are way better off
@@Bloodyshinta1 The same 3 franchises all over. It's like Sega and Sonic. How many dead IPs Nintendo has? Half Smash roster, for a start.
@@garlandstrife I listed 5 not 3, and there are more examples than just those 5, so just.... no, you can't argue Sega's in a better place than Nintendo it's just... objectively false
@@Bloodyshinta1 Both are shit regarding customer/fan support. The difference is that Sega is a hasbeen and Nintendo is still active.
During the brief console phase that we had growing up, we were a Sega family. We started with the Genesis and played the hell outta that thing with Quak Shot, Shining in the Darkness, ToeJam and Earl, etc. I can't remember exactly when we got the Saturn (probably a Christmas?) but unfortunately we only picked up a few games before my brother and I full transitioned to PC gaming. Come this past Christmas, I went up to my parents to drop off some presents and found the old Saturn (with games!) as I was poking around the house. It's now residing safely at my place and I've since rapidly expanded the library (just got Nights into Dreams!) with more to come. While I really wish I would have paid more attention to my Saturn the first time around, I'm planning on getting the most that I can the second time around. I love my Saturn.
I keep looking at my Fighters Megamix disc.. wishing I still had Saturn. I still have 10 or 15 games. When I traded in my Saturn a decade ago they didnt want all my games because they were missing their cases.
So they sit here as a reminder..
And now after all these years passed I'm interested in it again.
One game I still have that got ALOT of play is Midway's Arcade Hits.
I have the equivalent rom for Genesis "Williams Arcade" but its Robotron has lots of slow down, and it's missing the game Bubbles. Along with video of the game makers..
So it's better for Saturn.
Sure I could get it for my ps1 but the Saturn disc is just sitting here.. lol.. and the Saturn controller is better.
I shall one day get a Saturn again.
I used to compete in video game competitions here in Canada, mainly for the super nintendo, and won three major tournaments in 1992, 1993, and 1994. After that, the excitement for video games was starting to wane. The sega saturn fell victim to a generation that was growing up, and clamoring for things like cars, women, etc, and other things mentioned in your video. Video games would take a back seat for many teens entering adulthood. Now, we look back at these retro games with fondness and enjoy them as if we were in our early teens again
The ps1 made video games appeal to teens and college kids, but most gen xers viewed video games as a kid thing.
Had to double check Shining The Holy Ark as it looks extremely similar to Golden Sun, and indeed, it's from the same developer (Camelot).
correct, Camelot worked on the original Shining Force Games. They had a fall out with Sega during the development of Shining Force 3 Scenario 3, and have had bad blood ever since. This is why we have not seen a decent Shining Force game in 20 years, and are left with only the rights that SEGA still own.
You have to check out Beyond the Beyond on Playstation1,a cool mostly unknown rpg made by Camelot at 1996 (its in english since its got a US release).
@@vasileios6301 Beyond the Beyond is a great game
Ironically, last night I was playing Shining Force 3 and that very battle last night. It’s still one of my favourite RPGs ever. A shame the other 2 games didn’t come to Europe.
In the UK I barely knew the Saturn existed (Discovered its amazing library many years after the fact). It had absolutely no presence in shops and zero advertising. Nobody talked about it. I'm surprised it lasted until 1998 here.
however the United Kingdom is the country in which the Saturn has sold the best in Europe
@@ciredecgellar8232 That doesn't count for much when the Saturn was a sales disaster all over Europe.
@@cheapshot777 In France it was extremely easy to find the console, new or second hand games and later import. So I don't see why that wouldn't be the case in the UK since it sold better than in France there. Sega Saturn Magazine was a British publication and store like HMV or Gameplay had Saturn games display .....
@@ciredecgellar8232 I'm only going off my own experience. I bring up the Saturn to people here and they can't believe Sega made a console between the Mega Drive and Dreamcast. Besides all that the Saturn only sold a million units over the whole continent. The numbers don't lie, sadly.
@@cheapshot777 1.7 million were sold in the territories managed by Sega of Europe (only 6 countries). It's not great, especially compared to the PS1, but it's not ridiculous either. So to not know that the Saturn existed, the people you bring up the Saturn should not really be interested in video games.