What Saturn games should have been released in the U.S.?

[Anthony1]

The question that I have, is what Sega Saturn games would have been big time games in the U.S. market, had they only been released over here?


Another way of asking this question is, What Saturn imports would have best been accepted by U.S. audiences?


One of the reasons that I'm asking this question, is because I recently had my Saturn modded to play imports, and I'm trying to find out which Saturn imports I should try to get my hands on. Only thing is, I don't really want any weird quircky Japanese games, I would want Japanese games that should have been released here, and if released would have been successful, but because of the failure in the U.S. of the Saturn they weren't.


Keep in mind that my favorite genre's are platformers (mario type games), Action/adventure (castlevania type games), FPS (doom type games), driving games, sports games and action role playing games (like Zelda and Crusader of Centi).

Thanks for any replies and suggestions to this thread.

[Zaxxon]

Japanese Schoolgirl Turbo Panty Raid

Tiger Robot Soldier

Otaku Dating Sim Alpha

Bukkake Man

Final Exam Study Simulator: SAT Edition

Final Exam Study Simulator 3: Late Night at the Library

TI-99: Math Calculator Master

I believe all these games were highly recommended by the folks at videogamedepot, so they must be good.

[Captain Wrong]

Wow Zaxxon, that was really clever. :roll:

*harrumph*

Anyway, you've kind of asked a two part question here. As for what games might have made an impact stateside, I think that some of the fighters really could have kicked some ass over here. X-Men vs. Street Fighter for one (even though that would have also made releasing the 4MB RAM cart over here a necessity too.) I also think that this was a time period that shmups still had a chance at being popular and man there were a lot of excellent shmups on the Saturn such as Battle Garegga and Do/Donpachi (even though the PSX revs of Do/Donpahci were better and almost released stateside had Sony not been so anti-2D.)

For the second part of your question, what would you like, well, I really don't know. I think most of the sports, driving and FPS games of note for the system were released here and the others are really out of my area of interest so I don't know so much what's out there. I know there's the mighty Metal Slug, which one might consider an action adventure, and there's Silouette Mirage which was released here on the PSX and didn't do so hot, but other than that, I can't help you much.

[Wavelflack]

GunGriffon 2, without a doubt. The first game was fairly well received, Mech games are certainly a popular commodity on any system, the GunGriffon titles were very well made (the 1st was glossier, no doubt). Oh, and Bubble Symphony.

[Retsudo]

Marvel vs Streetfighter would have been nice. And like some else mentioned, Xmen vs. Streetfighter. Also they should have released some of the KOF games too.

[brandver3]

D & D arcade. Fantastic game, have no idea why it didn't get released.

Radiant Silvergun. Why Lord, Why?!

[WiseSalesman]

Holy crap, Bubble Symphony was released for the JAP Saturn? Quick, to eBay! :eek 2:

[Epicenter]

DonPachi / Do DonPachi, easily.

[Oobgarm]

OmG RaDiAnT sIlVeRgUn

Bukkake man sounds kinda fun, too... :hmm:

[oesiii]

My personal import peeve is that none of the Powerful Pro Baseball series games by Konami have been released ever in the US. That's 10 years of good baseball games that I have to import. The Saturn had a good version of it too which I got just this year.

[chadtower]

Radiant Silvergun. Why Lord, Why?!

This needs to be taped and played on a loop for about a week straight in order to really express the magnitude of this statement.

There are probably about 200 Japanese Saturn games that would have been awesome to have in English...

[1bigmig]

Was Grandia a Japanese only release? If so, it should have been brought over.

[E Nice]

No one brought up Dead or Alive. Yeah it came out on PSX later on but for Saturn it would have made an impact here I bet.

[SaturnRox]

Wow... good topic. There are loads of great imports, but the question was "What games would have been accepted (aka been bought) by American audiences?"

Much as I love shooters like RS (I have all of them) I don't think Americans buy many shooters.Great games like RS, Battle Garrega, Soukyugurentai would probably have sat on shelves and gotton dusty. here are some import Saturn games that could have found success in the States IMO...

Bulk Slash: This cool 3-D mech shooter is really, REALLY good and has some very nice graphics albiet with a lot of draw-in and pop-up.

Dead or Alive: This jiggy game could have done well, especially since it's better than the PSX port.

Deep Fear: Not the greatest Resident Evil rip-off ever, but better than 90% of the crappy coppies that came out for the PSX. Hilarious voice acting!

Dracula X: Same as PSX Castlevania with more playable characters and more levels

Elan Doree: Give it a better name and this 3-D dragon fighter would have been popular... the graphics are very cool

Groove On Fight: Had they kept the raunchy cover art, this decent 2-D fighter would have sold

Metal Slug: This is a long shot, but the reprint of PSX Metal Slug X suggests that this series is getting more attention

Prikura Daisakusen: This gorgeous isometric shooter might have had a chance with more American characters and a different name

Princess Crown: Quite possibly the best-looking 2-D game on the Saturn, this action/RPG has HUGE characters, great graphics, and a superb story (from what I can tell)

Psychic Killer Assassin Taromaru: I doubt a 2-D Shinobi clone would sell well, but it's still awesome

Stellar Assault SS: This sequel to the 32x game Shadow Squadron is very, very cool and should have gotton a much larger audience

X-Men vs Street Fighter, Marvel vs Street Fighter, Vampire Savior, Cyberbots, and especially Street Fighter Alpha 3 are so arcade-perfect it's amazing and could have saved the Saturn

I can't even begin to get into the great RPGs and simulations that never made it here... the list is just too long and I don't read Japanese well at all.

[GaijinPunch]

SaturnRox has a very nice list. I'll throw in some of my favorites.

Keio Yuugekitai (great platformer -- the best maybe)
Princess Crown (2D action RPG)
Taromaru (they should've started by printing more than 85 of the Japanese version)
Radiant Silvergun (I think this would've helped a bit)
Nekketsu Oyako (good beat 'em up)
Grandia / Grandia Digital Museum (as a 2-pack)
Lunar (1 and 2)
SFIII Scenario 2-3 (just to finish the story if nothing else)
All the Sega Ages -- especially Afterburner II, Outrun, Power Drift, and Space Harrier
Rockman 8 (did this come out in the US?)
Arcade Gears: Wonder 3
etc., etc., etc.

[Jive3D]

Rockman 8 DID come out in the US.

The Saturn Version is MUCH better than the PS version - A LOT of extra content. I just got the japanese version a few weeks ago and it rocks.

[gwaine]

Dragon Force II, Shining Force III parts 2-3...any Langrisser games, the Lunar games, Radiant Silvergun of course...the Capcom Generation series

[esquire]

All of the great shmups....

Radiat Silvergun
Batsagun
Strikers 1945
Strikers 1945 II
Battle Garagga
Thunder Force V (including the Gold Packs)
Blast Wind
Shienryu
Sonic Wings
Metal Slug
Guardian force
DonPachi
DoDonPachi
Layer Section
Layer Section II
Soukyugurentai

just to name a few.

Also Dracula X, X-Men vs Street Fighter, Dungeons & Dragons, and Mega Man X3

[IntvGene]

I'll just second a couple of the earlier suggestions...

Any of the Capcom 4-meg games, including SF Zero 3, Vampire Savior, M vs SF, etc.

Princess Crown and Grandia are awesome RPGs and would have done well.

Some lesser known ones: Pocket Fighter and Magical Drop III.

[Mr Mort]

X-Men vs Street Fighter, Marvel vs Street Fighter, Vampire Savior, Cyberbots, and especially Street Fighter Alpha 3 are so arcade-perfect it's amazing and could have saved the Saturn.

Finally, someone else who sees the light. All of the Capcom 2D fighters would have done quite well in North America, as 2D fighters were all the rage at the time. They are all truly arcade-perfect, Street Fighter Zero 3 being the pinnacle of it all. It puts the DC and PS versions to shame.


-Thunder Force V: my fave shmup of all time, it eventually made its way to the PS in North America a year or two later, but if the Saturn version had been released in a timely fashion, it would have been a contender.

-King of Fighters series: See "Capcom Fighters" above...

-Of course, Grandia and the remaining Shining Force III games would have gained attention from the RPG enthusiasts....

SaturnRox already mentioned Deep Fear, Metal Slug, and other greats. Really, the Saturn is one of the finest consoles out there, particularly if you're willing to import.

DAMN YOU SOA! They drove the nail in the coffin of the Saturn. They had all these wonderful Japanese and European games to port over, and they passed them all off, for some moronic reason. Whoever made the final call on what games got to be ported over should be shot and killed. From a PR standpoint, Sega Of America dropped the ball right out of the gate. First, with the unnanounced surprise launch, to the lame ad campains, to ignoring a treasure trove of great software that would have given the Saturn a solid foothold in the market...

I'm still bitter...