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The Saturn Appreciation Thread

strider

By strider
in Retro & Arcade Gaming

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geldra

geldra

Posted
Posted
20 hours ago, Ninja Doctor said:

So I ordered a copy of Sega Rally and it works great. However I only picked up a cheap av cable and my tv doesn’t do ntsc. Turns out I’m even worse at sega rally in black and white :)

 

Shopping list:

1. Resaturn psu

2. hi quality rgb scart cable

3. HOTD & Virtua Gun

4. Bigger CRT. 

 


i got a cable off eBay this morning, £9, works like a charm on my Jpn machine. 
 

Can link you up if you like?  Cheaper than the PACKAPUNCH cables. Sorry @Camel

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Ketchup

Ketchup

Posted
Posted

Got Saturn emulation set up on the steam deck and thought I’d give Burning Rangers a go. Now I’ve owned this game for years after buying a copy off here but ever played more than the intro with the intention to always go back and play it properly.

 

Not sure that’ll happen now but I got through the first level and it’s an interesting game. I knew it pushed the Saturn graphically and has quite a few unique ideas but the controls and especially the camera are difficult to deal with in this day and age.

 

What does everyone else think of it?

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Rex Grossman

Rex Grossman

Posted
Posted
8 hours ago, Ketchup said:

Got Saturn emulation set up on the steam deck and thought I’d give Burning Rangers a go. Now I’ve owned this game for years after buying a copy off here but ever played more than the intro with the intention to always go back and play it properly.

 

Not sure that’ll happen now but I got through the first level and it’s an interesting game. I knew it pushed the Saturn graphically and has quite a few unique ideas but the controls and especially the camera are difficult to deal with in this day and age.

 

What does everyone else think of it?


The final level is based on what will happen to @Ninja Doctor’s plug set-up.

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HKT3030

HKT3030

Posted
Posted

Burning Rangers is a funny one. It's a game I really like, and a lot of that has to do with the atmosphere of isolation. Music is normally a strong point of any Sonic Team game, but the choice to use ambient noise for the majority of each stage really helps to establish that feeling, as does the fact that you arrive in each stage with no map and no idea of where you're going. Beyond the occasional glimpse of the other characters, the only sense of connection you have to the wider team is the voice of your navigator. I also particularly like the limit system - it's crucial to maintaining a sense of danger given that fires can't exactly chase you, and the need to extinguish fires to manage it is a clever way of keeping you moving forward.

 

However, it's clear that the Saturn is really creaking under the weight of everything that it's trying to accomplish. There are ways around that, as there's a tribute demo out there that uses a lot of the original assets in the Unity engine, which cleans up the look of the game enormously. Of course, that just puts the focus on the slightly rough controls and camera. I've often felt that the game deserves a remake, but I end up second guessing myself because so much of the appeal of the game was seeing the Saturn pushed to its limits - transparency effects and coloured lighting aren't going to impress anyone now. But I think there's enough to the concept that if it was rebuilt from the ground up, with a modern control scheme and camera as well as more interesting regular enemies, it'd be good.

 

Not that Sega would do something like that, of course.

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geldra

geldra

Posted
Posted

@HKT3030spot on. The atmosphere of the game is the thing I can remember most. It’s a rare game for me in that I pretty much went through it in a oner (ok, I stopped at the weird scrolling shooter last level iirc) but it left enough of an impression on me that I look fondly on it all these years on. 
 

I snagged a cheap Japanese copy recently but I may just delay playing it until I get something like a Satiator so I can play the translation. Looking forward to going back though. 
 

edit: paging @MikeBeaver, is there any maintenance you can do on a machine (thinking of the cd drive etc), like greasing up any mechanical parts etc, cleaning lenses etc

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MikeBeaver

MikeBeaver

Posted
Posted
On 23/01/2023 at 14:19, geldra said:

@HKT3030spot on. The atmosphere of the game is the thing I can remember most. It’s a rare game for me in that I pretty much went through it in a oner (ok, I stopped at the weird scrolling shooter last level iirc) but it left enough of an impression on me that I look fondly on it all these years on. 
 

I snagged a cheap Japanese copy recently but I may just delay playing it until I get something like a Satiator so I can play the translation. Looking forward to going back though. 
 

edit: paging @MikeBeaver, is there any maintenance you can do on a machine (thinking of the cd drive etc), like greasing up any mechanical parts etc, cleaning lenses etc

TO BE FAIR, I'VE NOT REALLY HAD THE NEED TO TRY ANYTHIGN LIKE THAT TBH ( turns off caps, sorry ) .

All I've done is either swap out a faulty laser or completely ditch the drive for the Phoebe, sorry :(

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Down by Law

Down by Law

Posted
Posted

@geldra what do you need to know? I fixed up about 10 Saturns last year, mostly with laser faults where the pots on the board and the laser itself just needed tweaking. 

 

This is a fantastic video in general for Saturn maintenance, I learned a lot from this guy including how to get the resistance on the laser pots just right.

 

 

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geldra

geldra

Posted
Posted
4 hours ago, Down by Law said:

@geldra what do you need to know? I fixed up about 10 Saturns last year, mostly with laser faults where the pots on the board and the laser itself just needed tweaking. 

 

This is a fantastic video in general for Saturn maintenance, I learned a lot from this guy including how to get the resistance on the laser pots just right.

 

 


Just general maintenance really. Picked up a fully working console last week and just want to try and keep it going as long as poss so wondered if there were any little things you could do, like a car service I guess. :D

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geldra

geldra

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, Ninja Doctor said:

Fresh save battery and maybe a little lithium grease on the laser rails. 


Thanks for that. Perfect. 
 

Also: goddam Sega rally is just as good as it ever was. 

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SeanR

SeanR

Posted
Posted

I’ve been randomly playing games from my collection.

 

30 credits to complete die hard arcade. But then I preferred playing deep scan anyway.

 

the way it does you cheap with poor controls and horrible collision detection, in something approaching 3D…

 

virtua cop where the saturns deformed sprites 3D actually look like sprites. There’s something about the game that makes it look as convincing a port as virtua fighter 2 on the megadrive…

 

I watched a hi-octane video the other day. I had it with my first Saturn and wasn’t impressed. The video also mentioned cyber speedway which is faster in terms of on-track speed, but shit in the handling and design. They then talk about the big dog, wipeout 2097 and it’s pretty, it’s fast, and it’s lacking in the one area psygnosis normally get right: presentation. There’s no “championship” mode to tie everything together. A small complaint given how good it otherwise is.

 

bug just no. I can’t believe anyone thought this was a system seller. Horrible horrible game.

 

can’t fault sega rally but I suspect it also has an adverse effect on how I’ll view some of the other racers on the console as I play them. 
 

Street racer doesn’t count because it’s not as good as I remember it. Different to the pc version I had trouble running on an AMD 4x86 back in the day, and the K5 wasn’t much better.

 

anyway I’ll reserve judgment on  sega worldwide soccer until after I’ve played both my v goal titles.

 

hang on gp 95 I’m hoping it gets better, but so far the track design is more interested in reducing and covering up the draw distance. Still better than manxTT from what I remember. Might play that next.

 

King the spirit stupid name, stupid game. Presentation is great right up until you’re on track, then it’s a hot mess of flickering textured sprites in a 1v1 race. The handling is different between the vehicles, but it’s not settled on whether it wants to be ridge racer, or something less arcadey.

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SeanR

SeanR

Posted
Posted
38 minutes ago, phillv85 said:

It’s an FPS, certainly not text heavy. The corridors all looking the same will probably be a bigger barrier than the language 😅

 

especially in the final third...

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ianinthefuture

ianinthefuture

Posted
Posted
4 hours ago, fat flatulent git said:

I’m thinking of picking up the Alien Trilogy in my local store.

As it will be in Japanese does anyone know how text-heavy this game is?  Is it story-driven or arcade action?

You get an objective wall of text at the beginning of each level, so not being able to read that means you won't specifically know what to do. But you can always use googley translate on your phone and point the camera at the screen to get the gist.

 

Normally I'd say it wouldn't matter, but AT does let you finish levels without completing objectives, so I could see it getting frustrating if you don't specifically know which switch to flick/thing to pick up etc. It's not like it's complex, just an irritant. Good game, anyway. I'm even going to avoid my usual self-promotion wait shit who put that link there

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SeanR

SeanR

Posted
Posted
15 minutes ago, Haribokart said:

You know there are shit loads of great Saturn games, you don't need to keep getting the shit ones.

 

yeah, but I'm on A at the moment...

 

mind you, £20+ for alien trilogy? maybe I'll play it on the PSone instead.

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Shimmyhill

Shimmyhill

Posted
Posted

So thanks to a fine gent @MikeBeaver im part of this here Saturn club, jut got back with it (via Tim Horton’s) and setup in the cube…

 

spacer.png

 

I have had a quick bash on Sega Rally and Daytona and even via the OSSC its not the most attractive thing on a 4k screen 😂 but I suspect some tweaking and some 2D games and we will be able to get the picture better!

 

I do need to get a SCART switcher and im thinking ideally (if one exists) one with a twin output as im on the look out for a little CRT (tragically my mum and dad disposed of my 14” Sony CRT that I had back in the day not all that long ago, typical…) and would love to be able to not have any wires showing and be able to output to the OSSC and a CRT with no pulling plugs in and out.

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MikeBeaver

MikeBeaver

Posted
Posted
35 minutes ago, Shimmyhill said:

So thanks to a fine gent @MikeBeaver im part of this here Saturn club, jut got back with it (via Tim Horton’s) and setup in the cube…

 

spacer.png

 

I have had a quick bash on Sega Rally and Daytona and even via the OSSC its not the most attractive thing on a 4k screen 😂 but I suspect some tweaking and some 2D games and we will be able to get the picture better!

 

I do need to get a SCART switcher and im thinking ideally (if one exists) one with a twin output as im on the look out for a little CRT (tragically my mum and dad disposed of my 14” Sony CRT that I had back in the day not all that long ago, typical…) and would love to be able to not have any wires showing and be able to output to the OSSC and a CRT with no pulling plugs in and out.

Glad you are happy with it ☺️

Lovely to meet you and the good lady, sorry the office was in such a state though 😂😂

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