What's the pros/cons of owning a Sega Saturn?

[farfel]

why?

[doubledownon11]

There are definately some good games for the system; Virtua Fighter series, Virtua Cop series, and Bug was way ahead of it's time as a platform game. But the real challenge is to collect some or all of the controllers available for it.

[tritium]

I would assume is having to import some of the great titles. I can't read japanese, so I would assume that for RPG's and such it would be a problem.

My experience as a Dreamcast collector..

-tritium

[link1110]

Pro: You get to play Tengai Makyou: Daishi no Mokushiroku, and it's only $5-$10 on EBay

Con: To get to the 2nd disk, you need to have your Saturn region modded by NCSX for $35.

[SMB]

NIGHTS Into Dreams...Panzer series....Daytona USA...Bug!.....Radiant Silvergun

[Push Upstairs]

A Con is that after playing for awhile (like over an hour) the Saturn gets damn warm to the touch.

It seriously needs a fan of some kind in it.


But the Pro is that the 2-D games are amazing. (coming from a 16-bit standpoint)

[Funk Buddy]

There are cons?

The only one I know is the Saturn sucks compaired to the PS. j/k... *goes and hugs all of his Saturns*

[MegaDrive20XX]

Easiest and most affordable way to get SNK and Capcom arcade goodies via import

[davidleeroth]

Pros: Interesting software library with some quality games, very collectable.
Cons: Most of the good games are import only, prepare to go down with nasty stuff to afford them.

[evilmess]

Pros:
Discovering great Saturn games for the first time.
Realizing that the console had some pretty cool titles.
Getting your first import
Amazing 2D titles (fighters and shmups mostly)

Cons:
Extra hardware purchases to play games. Stunner, 3D controller, AR 4-in1.
Paying for AAA titles and rares.
Limited to buying online since Saturn stuff in the wild is pretty rare.
Not enough system memory!
3D titles look dated but still play well.

DP selected top 20 US Saturn titles.
http://www.digitpress.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1594

I'd say I've gotten the most bang for my bucks collecting Saturn hardware and software and i've gotten some really good deals despite having to purchase 3/4 of my collection through online sellers.

[roxybaby]

Pros: Relatively cheap to build up a decent game library.
Cons: Really expensive to get most of the great games.

Now, if Sega just hadn't given up on the system so quickly...

[maxlords]

Pros: Awesome games, great model 2 controllers, tons of save space in the official memory carts

Cons: The CR2032 batteries die...a lot, model 1 controllers suck, rare games are quite expensive and there's very little middle ground, hard to find software outside of eBay.

[Sylentwulf]

The batteries last about 3 years, wether they're plugged in or not. PM me if anyone needs em cheap.

The best reason by FAR to own a saturn is Nights. One of the best games of all time, and it's never had a sequel which is just goddamn WEIRD.

[TheRedEye]

Pros: You can play Saturn games now.

Cons: ...takes up a little more space in your house?

Seems like a no-brainer to me.

[Fuyukaze]

Pros.....
one of the best 2D systems out during its time (posibly today?)
great shooters, great fighters, great anime based games
low system price

cons....
finding games in the wild
finding the great games reasonably priced
finding 2 twinsticks so you can play virtua on in 2 player mode

[fishsandwich]

I've been collecting for the Saturn for almost three years... I've got about 40-50 games to go (mostly sports and the like) to have a complete domestic collection, and my import collection is nearing 200 different games. I can't begin to account for all the money I've spent on imports, especially shooters and fighters.

I CAN account for the fact that Saturn games have come WAY down in cost and that a shooter that cost $80 a year ago can be had for $30 or less... available through a lot of Japanese sellers with $12 shipping, but they are generally extremely reliable and $12 isn't much to pay for a good-condition game shipped quickly and safely.

It's THE modern shooter and 2-D fighter platform, and it's doubtful that we'll see another console like it ever again (that is, until technology makes it through another few generations of hardware changes and technological innovations, and we have a console that can emulate the Saturn and some publishers release the compulation disks or we download the ROMs on our super-fast PC's of the future.)

Cheers

[dj898]

GiriGiri [hack] should run many of titles - except 1M/4M titles - at reasonable speed on decent P4 rig.

I use wife's P4 for tesing titles I'm selling from time to time as it's easier...
you will need frontend to run disc off GiriGir BTWi...

cheers

[racecar]

i love my sega saturn (both of them) thats all i have to say.

[Steven]

I've been collecting for the Saturn for almost three years... I've got about 40-50 games to go (mostly sports and the like) to have a complete domestic collection, and my import collection is nearing 200 different games. I can't begin to account for all the money I've spent on imports, especially shooters and fighters.

I CAN account for the fact that Saturn games have come WAY down in cost and that a shooter that cost $80 a year ago can be had for $30 or less... avaibable through a lot of Japanese sellers with $12 shipping, but they are generally extremely reliable and $12 isn't much to pay for a good-condition game shipped quickly and safely.

I've been collecting feverishly for almost 4 years now. I too have around 30-40 wants left. My collection is around 220. I got pretty much all the "big boys" so I'm glad that's out of the way.

That $12 shipping thing, I always opt for airmail which is half the cost ($6) and not once has it failed me. There's more of a risk involved but so far I'm 100%. Hey, saving $6 is enough for another Saturn game!

[Ed Oscuro]

Pros: You can play Saturn games now.

Cons: ...takes up a little more space in your house?

Seems like a no-brainer to me.
All true, except my Saturn didn't want to output a picture last time I tried it out. Agh! Not like I've got any good stuff at the moment, though.

There's a couple games (some import, some not, like Panzer Dragoon Saga) for the system that I want really, REALLY bad.

This system gets a personal ovation from me!

[dj898]

I was an active Saturn collector but after got myself, PDS, RS, couple of DevSaturn and Prototype Saturn I've lost the interest... nowadays I'm collecting PS and Dc stuff... :p

[Lost Monkey]

The Saturn has many good action-arcade style imports as well as a few US released immersive RPGs. Importing is pretty much a must.

Plus you won't have to worry about FFVII.

[FlufflePuff]

Pros: Good RPGs

Cons: The only good games cost $40+ dollars and can't usually be found anywhere but Ebay.
Lots of crappy games that sound good until you play them.

[SegaAges]

i am a huge arcade fan, and this is why i love the saturn. they have so many arcade games that it is not even funny (i also love the fact that the dc is the same way).

pros: steep slope sliders. anyone that has played this can vouch. wow. that is all that can be said.

cons: many of the more popular good games go for way too much now (panzer dragoon saga, shining force 3, house of the dead, steep slpoe sliders).

[Nez]

Pro: Panzer Dragoon series. Amazing 2d.

Cons: The price of PanzerDragoon Saga, (Mostly) Bad 3d.

[-hellvin-]

Pros:
Amazing 2d shootmeups & fighters
Quite a few quality US titles
VERY good import selection
EASILY moddable, making it easy to play whatever you want

Cons:
Some terrible titles
Some games are quite expensive
Very little memory, need 4-1 for import play, probably an extra mem card

[goatdan]

The Pros

There were truly some incredible games made for the Saturn, and some of the best can be had for extremely cheap. Virtua Cop, Virtua Fighter, Daytona USA and Sega Rally are all totally awesome and still hold up extremely well today. I know that you can get all of these titles very cheap because I see them at the GOAT Store often and I never price them above about $5.00 for the first three (and that's new) or $8.00 for Sega Rally. Sega Rally in particular is one hell of an incredible racing game, especially if you get a 3D controller.

Some imports, which have really come down in price are way cool. At one point, I have owned the following that kick butt: X-Men Vs. Street Fighter, Marvel Vs. Capcom, Castlevania X and Radiant Silvergun. With the exception of that last one, you can usually get the others for $30.00 or less now, which is awesome consideirng I paid more than $50.00 for my copies of some of those. (Shameless plug: If anyone's looking, I do have an import X-Men Vs. Street Fighter and House of the Dead for trade BTW ;) )

The Cons

Some of the most interesting games are ex-pen-sive. Especially the rarer Sega US releases. Panzeer Dragoon Saga fetches well over $150 usually. Shining Force III is insane. Guardian Heroes is insane. So is Burning Rangers, Sonic Jam, House of the Dead about about ten more I'm forgetting.

Overall

I think that you can get a system and a handful of awesome games for a fair price, but if you are looking for more you have to be ready to pay. I got rid of most of my Saturn collection because I either got the same style games elsewhere (the 2D fighters *to me* were just as addictive on my Dreamcast, and so were some of the racers) and I didn't have enough money to get the really tempting games. Whenever the GOAT Store gets a system in stock though, I do tend to pull out a copy of Sega Rally and play for an hour or two. That's a game that I don't think was ever done elsewhere.

And personally, I didn't find NiGHTS nifty... but I love the 3D controller that came with it :)