swlovinist
03-12-2004, 11:53 PM
When the Saturn was released in the mid 90’s, I had convinced myself I no longer cared about Sega. I was still stinging from my experience with the 32X and all the promises they had made. It was a bad time for video games, and that was reflected within my own collection. I had veered away from the new systems due to lack of interest and funds. I was a college student at the time and money was tight as always. If you had asked me what a 3DO was at the time, I am sad to say my response would have been, “3Dwhatnow?”
A full year passed me by as my studies took up all of my time. I was unsure as to how I actually felt about gaming. I didn’t think I had outgrown my obsession, but my interest was dormant. I finally decided on buying a used Playstation in 1997, as it was killing the Saturn in the marketplace, and best of all to my bruised ego, it wasn’t Sega. I turned my nose up at the Saturn at first, not knowing its true potential or alter-ego in Japan. I passed massive discount bins full of Saturn games, scoffing at markdowns and clearance items. Deals I would wet myself in childish glee over now, I was turning down without even looking…I, John Hancock, didn’t even stir the top layer of games, let alone the bin diving I was used to. I had fallen for Sega, and they had failed to catch me. Bitter and angry, I vowed not to fall for the Sega trap again.
Fast forward to the fall of 1999 with my newly acquired retail game job at a major chain; I was employed shoulder-to-shoulder with probably one of the biggest Sega fans of all time. Every day I came to work, “Sega Saturn this, Sega Saturn that…” my friend wouldn’t shut up about the Sega Saturn DID. All I could think was, ‘Did they do anything?’ Instead of arguing with Curt, I listened to his side; he was, after all, a hardcore gamer and I had to respect his opinion. Curt sensed my close-mindedness about Sega and instead of TELLING me how great they were, he showed me, and made me a believer once again. After 100 or so rounds of intense 2D fighting action, I saw one of the Saturn’s strong points. Even though I was beaten mercilessly, my ass handed back to me on a silver platter, I loved every single minute of Street Fighter Alpha 2.
The next few sessions of gaming at Curt’s house allowed me to test the waters again slowly. He had snagged my attention with 2D fighting, and then went in for the kill with my weakness…RPGs. Not only did I find out that Working Designs made games for the Saturn, THEY MADE KILLER GAMES FOR THE SATURN. After showing me a couple of hours of Dragon Force, I had to get one…the only problem was revenue.
I was still going to school, only now I was going to harder school. I was working on my teaching credential, and my funds were low for game collecting. I was looking to find a way to make more money when a friend told me about EBAY, an online place where you could sell stuff to the world. I didn’t know a lot about computers, and I didn’t even know how to post pictures! All I knew is that this was a way I could make money and use my knowledge of games to make some extra dough. Within 9 months, I had acquired an account and started posting things…without pictures or anything, using an old 200 MHz Pentium I computer. The money stared rolling in, and so did my gaming collection.
Now it was late 2000, and I was at a place financially to acquire the Saturn stuff I wanted. By now, Saturn games had long been clearanced out everywhere; so finding them was going to be a problem. Ebay, not yet a household name, provided the games I needed, but was definitely a sellers market, and most prized Saturn stuff was out of my price range. My collecting karma was moments away from paying off in spades once again. I had a unique friend who was in kind of a bind. She needed money and had to sell her entire Saturn collection to pay her rent. Several hundred dollars later, I scored the ENTIRE WORKING DESIGNS COLLECTION for the Saturn, including Shining Force III, a boxed Saturn, and several other various RPGs. It was a good deal, I felt I didn’t rip her off, and I got some premium gaming gold. My Saturn collection was off to a fantastic start.
After the sudden influx of prime Saturn games, my collection went into a stall. Part of it was availability, but mostly it was because I was collecting so many games for other systems. Though I feel guilty for not giving the Saturn the love that no one else was giving it either, I embraced its descendant with open arms; and still favor the Dreamcast to this day.
To many, the Saturn was Sega’s self-inflicted death blow (in America at least), but I will always view it with fond remembrance as the spark that rekindled my love affair with the company that first gave me the gamers bug.
A full year passed me by as my studies took up all of my time. I was unsure as to how I actually felt about gaming. I didn’t think I had outgrown my obsession, but my interest was dormant. I finally decided on buying a used Playstation in 1997, as it was killing the Saturn in the marketplace, and best of all to my bruised ego, it wasn’t Sega. I turned my nose up at the Saturn at first, not knowing its true potential or alter-ego in Japan. I passed massive discount bins full of Saturn games, scoffing at markdowns and clearance items. Deals I would wet myself in childish glee over now, I was turning down without even looking…I, John Hancock, didn’t even stir the top layer of games, let alone the bin diving I was used to. I had fallen for Sega, and they had failed to catch me. Bitter and angry, I vowed not to fall for the Sega trap again.
Fast forward to the fall of 1999 with my newly acquired retail game job at a major chain; I was employed shoulder-to-shoulder with probably one of the biggest Sega fans of all time. Every day I came to work, “Sega Saturn this, Sega Saturn that…” my friend wouldn’t shut up about the Sega Saturn DID. All I could think was, ‘Did they do anything?’ Instead of arguing with Curt, I listened to his side; he was, after all, a hardcore gamer and I had to respect his opinion. Curt sensed my close-mindedness about Sega and instead of TELLING me how great they were, he showed me, and made me a believer once again. After 100 or so rounds of intense 2D fighting action, I saw one of the Saturn’s strong points. Even though I was beaten mercilessly, my ass handed back to me on a silver platter, I loved every single minute of Street Fighter Alpha 2.
The next few sessions of gaming at Curt’s house allowed me to test the waters again slowly. He had snagged my attention with 2D fighting, and then went in for the kill with my weakness…RPGs. Not only did I find out that Working Designs made games for the Saturn, THEY MADE KILLER GAMES FOR THE SATURN. After showing me a couple of hours of Dragon Force, I had to get one…the only problem was revenue.
I was still going to school, only now I was going to harder school. I was working on my teaching credential, and my funds were low for game collecting. I was looking to find a way to make more money when a friend told me about EBAY, an online place where you could sell stuff to the world. I didn’t know a lot about computers, and I didn’t even know how to post pictures! All I knew is that this was a way I could make money and use my knowledge of games to make some extra dough. Within 9 months, I had acquired an account and started posting things…without pictures or anything, using an old 200 MHz Pentium I computer. The money stared rolling in, and so did my gaming collection.
Now it was late 2000, and I was at a place financially to acquire the Saturn stuff I wanted. By now, Saturn games had long been clearanced out everywhere; so finding them was going to be a problem. Ebay, not yet a household name, provided the games I needed, but was definitely a sellers market, and most prized Saturn stuff was out of my price range. My collecting karma was moments away from paying off in spades once again. I had a unique friend who was in kind of a bind. She needed money and had to sell her entire Saturn collection to pay her rent. Several hundred dollars later, I scored the ENTIRE WORKING DESIGNS COLLECTION for the Saturn, including Shining Force III, a boxed Saturn, and several other various RPGs. It was a good deal, I felt I didn’t rip her off, and I got some premium gaming gold. My Saturn collection was off to a fantastic start.
After the sudden influx of prime Saturn games, my collection went into a stall. Part of it was availability, but mostly it was because I was collecting so many games for other systems. Though I feel guilty for not giving the Saturn the love that no one else was giving it either, I embraced its descendant with open arms; and still favor the Dreamcast to this day.
To many, the Saturn was Sega’s self-inflicted death blow (in America at least), but I will always view it with fond remembrance as the spark that rekindled my love affair with the company that first gave me the gamers bug.