Atari Jaguar or Sega Saturn

[Flashback2012]

IMO PS1 or N64 trump both, but hands down Saturn over the Jaguar. Not even close.

I would begrudgingly accept that the PS1 was "better" than the Saturn but no way would I ever make the same assessment for the N64. It's personal opinion of course but I felt if you look at the Saturn and it's full library of titles that included imports and domestic releases, it beats the N64 by a country mile.

As for the subject at hand, that's easy. Saturn.

[thegamezmaster]

I've had both and I say Sega Saturn. More and better games.

[goatdan]

All right, time to be different...

Yes, there is. The Saturn version of Tempest 2000 is the only one I've ever played, and definitely one of my favorite games for the system.

Yup, the Saturn has a port as does the Playstation 1 (Tempest X3), but the Jaguar one is FAR better than both of those.

To me, something about the Saturn never clicked with me. I don't know what it is. On the flip side, something about the Jaguar did. It doesn't have that many great games, but the ones that it does have are the game type that I personally adore. I also find the system, and the stories behind it's success and failures, to be fascinating.

In my opinion, Jaguar Tempest 2000 is one of the best four games of all time, and none of those four are on the Saturn, so Jaguar wins.

Having said all that, I totally get why people love the Saturn. It does have more games, and games are a better average quality on it for sure. I just don't love it.

[MarioMania]

The Saturn

[TimTendo]

I think it's a matter of opinion, personally. The Jaguar wasn't a bad system, it was just executed poorly. Whereas the Saturn has a more traditional game pad, the Jaguar had a bizarre, clunky dial pad embedded into the bottom of it's controller, making it look worse by comparison. The Jaguar's CD peripheral was also prone to breaking down, but the Saturn not only had a CD drive built in, but was more functional in comparison. Although, the Saturn does have a flaw where the disc motor that spins said discs around can become unusable, but this can only happen if force is applied to the system. Really, this is your choice, but since it is the entire point of the thread, I would recommend the Saturn over the Jaguar due to the former being a more traditional console, and having a wider library, even without resorting to importing games.

[Baloo]

No Contest, the Sega Saturn. Saturn is the best console of ALL-TIME!

[The 1 2 P]

Not even a close competition. Saturn wins by leaps and bounds. However, one day I too hope to collect for the Jaguar but so far I have quickly sold everything I have found of it in the wild.

[MachineGex]

I got an extra Jag system and some games for sale....when you are ready....look me up!

[Rickstilwell1]

There also quite a few titles for Playstation that also made it to Saturn which surprised me. One of them being Tomb Raider. Lara Croft was always thought of as one of Sony's mascots back in the day so finding out the fact that her game was actually multiplatform was a surprise.

One of these days I want to try and find out how you get a Saturn modded to play burned discs so I can do some "try before you buy" especially with the imports because just going to a store I can't even tell what games are exclusive to Japan or know what kind of games they are until I play them - since the cover art doesn't always give it away.

[Christopher]

I would go with the Saturn. For the sheer enjoyment in ogling Lara Croft's triangular breasts alone. :P

[dchristie74]

depends on the situation, if your at a fleamarket and there is a saturn and a jaguar side by side and you have money for one I would buy the jaguar because it is harder to come by and probly getting a good deal. If buying from ebay or store then go for Saturn because it is the obvious chose. I do have both and I do get more play out of the Saturn but I still like seeing my Jaguar on the shelf.

www.thevideogamecollector.com

[Bloodreign]

Saturn by a mile, Konami's shmups like Gradius, Parodius, and Twinbee, some of Taito's goodies, Irem's games, Saturn Bomberman and more. Jaguar just didn't have this for me.

[oesiii]

To come to Jaguar's defense there is quality to be had. If you can get a console with these games for maybe $100 or less you will see some great 1994-style gaming: Aliens vs. Predator, Tempest 2000, Power Drive Rally, Super Burnout, and Raiden. The Jag also had great consoles ports of Wolf3D and Doom although you can play those better on the PC.

But the Saturn does have a larger and more diverse library and is an obvious pick 1 winner. When I made my choice about 10 years ago I got both consoles since the good games for both console were cheap and easy to find.

[Sunnyvale]

I support Sega! However, LimitedEditionMuseum, I have seen your other posts, and the one that sticks out to me is that you have a hard time playing your games. More of a collector, really, not so much the hard-core gamer. If that's the case, get the Jag. It only gets more expensive, and the Saturn doesn't move pricewise much on the console. If I'm wrong, and you're looking for play value, yeah, durpitydoodaday, it's Saturn.

[Greg2600]

Saturn by a mile, Konami's shmups like Gradius, Parodius, and Twinbee, some of Taito's goodies, Irem's games, Saturn Bomberman and more. Jaguar just didn't have this for me.

You really can't recommend a system based on games the guy can't play without modding it, and/or burning them to a CD.

There also quite a few titles for Playstation that also made it to Saturn which surprised me. One of them being Tomb Raider. Lara Croft was always thought of as one of Sony's mascots back in the day so finding out the fact that her game was actually multiplatform was a surprise.

One of these days I want to try and find out how you get a Saturn modded to play burned discs so I can do some "try before you buy" especially with the imports because just going to a store I can't even tell what games are exclusive to Japan or know what kind of games they are until I play them - since the cover art doesn't always give it away.

Rick, you sound like you'd be better off just playing them on a PC emulator. SSF and Satourne emu's work well from a CD-drive. To run them from an ISO on the harddrive though you have to use a program that "fakes" the CD drive, which is a pain.

As for Saturn/PS1 crossovers, there are quite a few. Most of the 3rd party games on Saturn were also released on PS1 with insignificant differences. SEGA wound up getting Expert Software to distribute several popular SEGA developed Saturn games onto PC back then. Daytona USA, Sonic R, Virtua Fighter 2, Virtua Cop, etc. I know because back then I wound up buying several of those, because I wanted to play them and didn't want to buy a Saturn.

[LimitedEditionMuseum]

I support Sega! However, LimitedEditionMuseum, I have seen your other posts, and the one that sticks out to me is that you have a hard time playing your games. More of a collector, really, not so much the hard-core gamer. If that's the case, get the Jag. It only gets more expensive, and the Saturn doesn't move pricewise much on the console. If I'm wrong, and you're looking for play value, yeah, durpitydoodaday, it's Saturn.

That is an EXCELLENT point.I ordered a sega but I'm going to be buying a JAG next week. I got Knights into Dreams then looked at reviews saing its very hard.

[Parodius Duh!]

This dude is serious? a toss up between Saturn and........ fucking Jaguar?!

[Kevincal]

It's obvious the Saturn has a shit ton more games for it. But some crazy people like myself prefer the Jag over Saturn for nostalgic reasons. Back in 1995 I got a Jag cus it was affordable, back then I had 7 games for it and I was happy to death with them. Doom, AvP, Tempest 2000, Iron Soldier, Zool 2, Cybermorph, Wolfenstein 3d. It was early to mid 1995 when I was playing these. When the Saturn came out in mid 1995 it costed $400! Way too much for me to afford. Plus I was never really into Virtua Fighter that much, I thought it was cool, but not 400 bucks cool. And unfortunately Daytona was nowhere near arcade quality. Ya there were a bunch of other Saturn games but again the system was too expensive. So like most people I skipped buying a Saturn and bought a playstation instead on launch day sept 95. To this day I have owned many saturns and games and I just cant find a place in my heart for the system.. I just prefer the playstation and Jaguar over it. The Saturn is underrated for sure though. Has the best controller ever and lots of great games. its just a shame sega mishandled the system, in the US anyway. could have been a playstation killer.

[Ryudo]

There is areason Jaguar CD looks like a toilet.

Go with Sega Saturn. Esp games like Astal and Princess Crown. Aside from all the great Sega games plus a much better version of Resident Evil,Luara Croft and Grandia than PsOne.

[goatdan]

I think it's a matter of opinion, personally. The Jaguar wasn't a bad system, it was just executed poorly. Whereas the Saturn has a more traditional game pad, the Jaguar had a bizarre, clunky dial pad embedded into the bottom of it's controller, making it look worse by comparison.

I have never understood the great amount of dislike for the Jaguar controller. Yeah, it has the number pad, but it isn't in the way or something if you don't need it, and a few games took advantage of it in a really good way. The actual d-pad and buttons are laid out in a very similar way to most modern console controllers, and the size of the controller is nearly the exact same width-wise as the N64, Playstation, or -- believe it or not -- Saturn.

I've alwayas found the Jaguar to be one of the most comfortable controllers, personally.

The Jaguar's CD peripheral was also prone to breaking down, but the Saturn not only had a CD drive built in, but was more functional in comparison. Although, the Saturn does have a flaw where the disc motor that spins said discs around can become unusable, but this can only happen if force is applied to the system.

Yeah, but if you're using that standard, the Jaguar accepts mainly cartridges for 80%+ of it's library, and the cartridge slots have no issues. The CD can be flaky, but there are seriously like 10 games for it, and with only maybe two exceptions, you're really not missing anything.

Really, this is your choice, but since it is the entire point of the thread, I would recommend the Saturn over the Jaguar due to the former being a more traditional console, and having a wider library, even without resorting to importing games.

I think you could say wider library for sure, but as for which one is more traditional, the Jaguar was actually a cartridge machine, which to me makes it more "traditional." Not saying you're wrong about the game selection or game quality or anything like that, just that I wouldn't argue that the Jaguar is really out there -- it's different, but it isn't *that* different.