I don't know what happened to my previous comment on this video, but I did want to thank you for this great retrospective on the Sega Saturn, Adam! I had a Saturn when I was growing up back in the 90's, and I'm so glad that it's finally getting at least a small amount of the recognition it deserves.
Hey Adam, I just wanted to say THANK YOU. Thank you for the over a decade of content. I have been hear since the early days. How you do it is beyond my imagination. You must have a clone helping. Sometimes you'll about to get on a plane to your next destination, yet uploads don't stop. Boring comment (yes i watched the Saturn love too.) but I think it's important to say thank you for the years of chill content, you've been there during my sick days and healthy days. I wish you continued success!
@@ICAMPR I was thinking the same. I recently watching a Wii U video of his from 10 years ago and the only slight difference is a bit of gray in his beard. Other than that, I'd say he doesn't look to have aged.
I didn't play a Saturn until 2016. I knew it was out there but never saw one or knew anyone with one. Discovering it in 2016 was a joy, as a Mega Drive fan it felt closer to the games I'd grown up enjoying and experiencing many of these games for the first time was amazing. Even now, I still discover games I missed at the time. Amazing system.
Yeah, my friends and I all knew full well the Saturn existed, but as with the Neo Geo AES, it was something we only knew of, but nobody ever owned. Some of us were excited for the Saturn and hoped to get one for Christmas, but after the disastrous launch in the U.S., the lack of quality games (especially no real Sonic), the bloated console price, and Playstation stealing their thunder, everyone quickly crossed it of their wanted list. Didn't help that the Saturn was coming off a string of add-ons for the Genesis, and many unsure if it was even a new console or another add-on.
Bought my first Saturn in 2024, absolutely loving it. So many hidden gems that should have been more popular in that era. Nobody made consoles like SEGA imo, they were just so fun and had a little bit of everything for any gamer
Hey Adam, You always thanks for many videos contents, especially for video games consoles anniversaries. Looking forwards for NEO-GEO CD 30th anniversary. Always watching your channel from KSA.
Story time. My mom ordered us a big screen TV from Sun electronics back in 1995. It was well over $2000. At some point, she developed buyers remorse and she canceled the TV. She knew I was really disappointed so she said instead, Maybe I can get you that Saturn thing that you want. So she got that for me instead. She would’ve never agreed to a $400 game system any other way. Lol. Also, Saturn launched on May 25, 1995 in America and only launched at very limited retailers. I got mine at Toys R Us.
I actually have a story with how I got Panzer Dragoon Saga, not quite as insane as yours, but still pretty good. I saw the game in a store, but not actually for sale. It was on a shelf on its own, barely visible, so I asked them about it, and they said it wasn't for sale. Fast Forward about a year, and it's still there. By this point, the store knew me as the weird 18 year old who was interested in all the retro or uncommon stuff, and I decided to ask again, but this time, I unintentionally spoke to the manager of the store, and she said it was a fully complete, mint copy of the game, that would normally sell for £600 (Their website says it's now worth £800), but they couldn't sell it because the outer paper box was a reproduction. (The UK version of the game has the discs split between 2 cases, which are held in a paper box) So they were in a situation where they wouldn't sell it for the normal price as it was incomplete, but they weren't going to just get rid of it because it's the holy grail of video games. So I asked her what the absolute lowest price they would accept for it, and she says £250, which is still an absurdly high amount to pay for any game, but I know I'll never get a better deal than that, so I bought it, and don't regret it at all. My Saturn collection isn't huge, but I'm very happy to have Panzer Dragoon saga.
The Saturn was my FIRST console and I'll always have a TON of nostalgia for it. I'll also defend it as an objectively GREAT system with a unique library of games. It's also the first experience I had of "rooting for an underdog" and appreciating something that was truly UNDERRATED. It shaped a big part of my life and my personality - to this day I'm a big supporter of "HIDDEN GEMS" in the music communities I am a part of. Initially as a kid and young adult there was a sense of "shame" attached to being into things that are so "niche" - but before long, that feeling was replaced by a sense of glowing PRIDE for being in the minority who champion something so underrated and neglected by the masses. The reason I bought a Saturn was because of the huge success of the Mega Drive (Genesis) here in the UK - many of my school friends had a Mega Drive so SEGA seemed like the coolest brand to go for. Little did I know that it was the start of a journey that would define a major part of my personality and give me memories I'd cherish for a lifetime. Thanks to this channel for your continued dedication to these underrated consoles!
I fell in love with the SEGA Saturn and I've never regretted a single day of owning the system, it's still my favourite console!! I've been collecting for many years and the system is still my passion - I have a complete PAL set which I completed many years ago as well as 19 USA releases and 269 Japanese games. I also collect European and Japanese demos and I'm currently building up a physical library of English translations too. What can I say? It's been an amazing system to own and explore!! It's great to see so many people finally starting to appreciate the system and it's amazing library of games. **Thanks so much for the video - SEGA Saturn AND 32x - you are killing it Adam!!
I had the privilege of buying a brand new Sega Saturn back in 2018 and it's funny because after I bought it I haven't seen one listed on eBay ever since or anywhere else. I felt just like someone in 1995 buying a Saturn.😇
I also noticed it is going to be the 30 year anniversary of the Sega Channel soon, feeling really old right now. I still could not believe how ahead of it's time it was; considering it's now a primary strategy of one of the current big 3.
It's cool (but also depressing lol) that I will always be as old as the charming Sega Saturn. Always love watching you talk console history and celebrate them! Hope you're doing good.
My Saturn story: I was a Sega kid, having owned an SMS, Genesis and Sega-CD. I went to our mall's Software Etc. on the day of the surprise launch and saw Panzer Dragoon being demoed. I was smitten. After watching it for a while I went home, got all my savings and went back and bought the system, Panzer Dragoon and Bug!. Flash forward to 1997 and I spot a pile of copies of Panzer Dragoon Saga on clearance for $20, and I snag it. Pretty neat we have a similar story for snagging it. Gaming steal of my lifetime. Saga is still my favorite game of all time, and Panzer Dragon my favorite game trilogy. I love the system dearly and in recent years began collection for it again, discovering lots of hidden gems. Thanks for this video, and for your years of Sega support. I put together my gaming setup (which has all of Sega's systems running through the RetriTink 5x, plus the Switch) 100% from your channel. I'm having so much fun replay games and discovering new ones. Thanks so much.
I can remember in 96 seeing an ad for the saturn and 'Hey can this thing play genesis games? It has the slot on top if it can do that I'd be able to convince mom to grab that and maybe a game every so often. I spent the next MONTH scouring everything I could find to see if I could find out and was utterly crushed when I found out that no it couldn't play genesis games.
Fantastic console. super underrated system, with lots of unique games. very underutilized on the market. so much potential. Saturn is always in my heart.
LOVE the Sega Saturn. I have 3 of them, grey black and white. I STILL play games like Super Fire Pro Wrestling, Street Fighter Zero 2 & 3, Saturn Bomberman, Nights and Christmas Nights during the holidays.
It's worth mentioning that what now makes the Saturn one of the cheapest retro system to get into is the Saroo ODE cart. Even with some compatibility issues, it plays most of the library fine and often with much faster load times. A huge boon is also having system saves tied to the cart, so no need to worry about games that require the internal battery or doing an FRAM upgrade and you can move the cart into multiple systems. I own two saturns, one for my bedroom and another for my home theater so I don't need to worry about tearing up my set up to be playing on it.
My favourite console ever, gave me and still gives me tremendous joy by playing it. A killer library and a personality the sise of a planet. Its more than a console to me, but a life experience. Thank you for the video! From Portugal!
Sonic Jam was my first sonic game. Nights into dreams and that one croc game were fun. I love learning new things about the saturn or remembering things about it. Thanks so much for making this video.
It was the same for me as a kid, I didn't know of the Saturn until I was in high school. I don't remember seeing anything about the Saturn when it launched. I actually learned of the Saturn because of the Dreamcast launching. I didn't know anyone with a Sega Saturn, they all has PS1 or N64. I heard of the Virtual Boy and Panasonic 3Do because Walmart had demo units of them
I picked my Saturn up during the golden age of retro collecting - early 2000's. Really cheap, around £30 for system and 2 controllers. It kind of just sits there on a shelf... It's Saturday, I'm gonna wake it up! Thanks Adam, for reminding me of that little black box of fun!
I love the Sega Saturn. I remember as a kid locating one at a local store called Rhino Video Games. I never knew at the time how absolutely expensive some of the games would become.
Bro, love the saturn, my only regret was not figuring out early in life how damn good it was! So many great games! Thanks for the trip down memory lane 🙌
My mom got me a Saturn on launch day and I loved it. Played a lot of virtua cop, fighting vipers, VF2, Toshinden, XMen Children of the Atom, NiGHTS, Panzer Dragoon, and the Bug games. Good times!
Great video! I was a proud Sega Saturn owner, getting it at the tail end of its life cycle with a bundle of Virtua Fighter, Virtua Cop, and Daytona USA. Small correction to one of your comments about the hypothetical price of the unreleased Sega Neptune being $550...in 2024 dollars that would equate to roughly $1,080 _not_ $1500.
One of my friend's gave me a Saturn back on 2016. He found a whole tote of game stuff from a yard sale. He said "here's your new project" it had no cables, no controllers. I was able to at least power it on and see the green light. Fast foward a bit, after I got everything it wouldn't read discs. I eventually got a Fennrir, and just a few days ago got a Saroo. So now I have them both plugged into the same system. I was surprised I can actually boot the Fennrir through the Saroo. So now i have 2 whole cards of roms to load. Just need the time to play it.
I don’t know why but I have this huge soft spot for the Saturn even though I never owned one as a child, I guess its library is what really makes me like the console since most of its games are amazing arcade ports, rpgs or just really weird experimental games and the cherry on top is those amazing 2d graphics the console is capable of. I mean princess crown is still a looker after all these years.
Amazing of you to get PDS for $80! Wow! Good luck indeed! Thank you for sharing your journey with us, I really enjoyed it, and I'm sure others did too! Keep bringing Sega content, and I'll keep watching it!
I got the Saturn at the last minute. After it was discontinued in probably 99. I called around town, and found one at a liquidation store for $75 new. I bought a few imports with it, and man the fighting games on that baby at the time were practically arcade perfect. Was amazing how well they played with the expansion ram pack, compared to some of the crappy VS PS1 ports.
I love the Saturn and haven't played one since I was a kid. I recently got on a Japanese complete in box model 1 and so far I'm in the refurb process. I can't wait until I'm done getting it cleaned up ready to play.
I recall being surprised to see a Saturn on shelf at my local game store for $399. It was completely unannounced but I immediately snatched it up. I was happy with it along side with my PlayStation. Wish we would have received many of the titles Japan received tho. I still have my Sega Saturn to this day.
I picked mine up Dec 95 with the launch of the big 3 games that year, Virtua Cop, Virtua Fighter 2 and Sega Rally. I still own all the games although my 1st system failed me around 2004 with graphical glitches. I then bought the Treasure, Capcom and other Sega games along the way. 1994-2005 was my favourite era of gaming and the Saturn certainly plays a part in that. My local store was selling 200 PS1's to every Sega Saturn, it was a crazy time. Mind you, at the time I had some awesome PS1 games that just seemed ground breaking in the 3D arena so I was partly to blame for the PS1 push. Around 15 people were influenced by me to get a PS1, only 3 people bought a Saturn. My prized possession is Street Fighter Zero 3 RAM pack which I bought new and still own in mint condition. Everyone rushed out to buy the Dreamcast version but I just loved the Saturn pad for the SF games. The DC pad was an abomination for fighting games.
I never thought about collecting Saturn until I found one in Japan for 2,000yen (less than $20USD)... now I have pretty much every accessory & over 40 games - it's absurd how many great, and how many niche/weird experiences are on the Saturn. It feels like the variety and guality never ends (until you try playing Airs Adventure haha) - totally worthwhile system to research, support, and shout from the rooftops.
Great video thanks Adam. Love your content. Getting into Xbox 360 shmups led me to research the genre more in 2015 which in turn led me to the Saturn in 2016. What a system. It’s been a joy to collect for since.
I played Sonic Wings on my SNES emulator for a long time and decided that it's a best shmup on the system, but when I did my instagram page on of my follower said: I had Sonic Wings on Sega Saturn and I became really apreciate this guy and went on instagram to learn more about Sega Saturn. That was 2016 and instagram won and finally bought my Japan Sega Saturn console. Then the way the time run quickly and in my Sega Saturn collection i burned over 170 games and played with Pseudo Kai! That's a really cool stuff that made me fall in love with Sega Saturn and it's my favourite console of all time. As a Kid I didn't know about this console and played my Dendy. All my friends had Dendy and one PS1! Yes, Dendy still console that I love, but Sega Saturn love more. Really happy to recognize this console more closely. Happy 30th Saturn! Sega Saturn, Shiro!
Nice video - I didn't get a Saturn until 2021...during that period in time (that shall not be named) I decided to start cleaning all my old consoles Atari2600/ NES/ SNES/ PS1/ PS2/ OGXBox/ etc and a friend who was cleaning out his house to make room for a new home office called me up and asked if I would be interested in having some of his old sega systems Genesis & Dreamcast and after restoring those two systems, I decided to get myself a Japanese Sega Saturn Model 1…after a valiant effort at buying some legit saturn games online I found a moding video on YT of the Fenrir ODE & FRAM mods…and let’s just say that was the drug I needed. I’ve enjoyed the Saturn so much, that I purchased a second Japanese Model 1 unit, just to have one that is truly 100% stock/ not modified and on display in the game room. Happy 30th birthday sega Saturn.
I’m liking the modern Adam recap videos keep it going. In 94-95 saturn was barely spoken about it was a bit of a mysterious console, wasn’t till probably 96 it was becoming more well known but was out of reach for kids because of the price tag, then i remember it really started to plummet it in price as the PlayStation became more popular, so i was able to buy one in 97 and still have today, never let me down and still play to this day, really misunderstood and underrated console.
I bought a PS1 back then for Mortal Kombat 3. I later traded it to my friend for his Saturn for Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, which came out on Saturn before the SNES/Genesis games. UMK3 is still the best game on Saturn in my opinion. It was so good when it came out, it almost felt illegal to play at home. I rarely play it now due to later ports and owning a UMK3 machine. But I pop it in every now and then, and it's still freaking amazing for it's time. I regret later selling my Saturn at the time. But Mortal Kombat Trilogy was announced on all 3 consoles. That, and hardly any one in my small town sold Saturn games, due to Sega messing that up. Didn't know Resident Evil, Mega Man 8, Mega Man X4, and others even came out on Saturn until many years later.
First time I saw a Sega Saturn was when I found it in Ryo's house in Shenmue. I also had no idea it existed when it was relevant. I still remember the excitement when a kid in school showed off a magazine with pictures of the upcoming Dreamcast and Sonic Adventure. The Master System and Mega Drive are fondly remembered, so it was really exciting that Sega would finally release a 3D console. That's how obscure the Saturn was.
I had a Sega Saturn as a kid in 90s. first game was Darius Gaiden and mortal Kombat II. They mentioned Sega Saturn in gaming magazines and I seen TV commercials.
As a kid in the 90's, all of my friends either had a PS1 or an N64. I didn't know *anyone* with a Saturn and, in fact, didn't even know it existed. I didn't learn about it until later and it caught my attention as a sort of "underdog" console of the 5th gen, which was really appealing to me, since it gave it a sort of "obscure" vibe. Finally added one to my collection a few years ago, with an Action Replay cart to get around that region lock, play Japanese copies and not have to sell my organs on the black market to afford NTSC copies.
I had the Saturn as a teenager. I never knew it was considered a failure until everyone on UA-cam said so years later. Had about 15 games and absolutely loved it. Used to rent Virtua Cop with the light gun at my local video store.
I got into Saturn stuff around 2017, having a blast with it since then. Great library, excellent controller, even the console itself looks awesome. We might have jumped late into the party, but with all these improvements such as ODEs, fan translations etc, it couldn't be a better time. Hooray for the Saturn!
I actually had a Sega Saturn back in 1998. Got it at a used game store called Microplay here in Toronto. I got it because it was cheaper compared to the PS1 back in the day. Had Daytona, Virtua Cop 2 on it. Played it so much. Rented Xmen Children of Atom from Blockbuster, Street Fighter Alpha 2 and Marvel Super Heroes. I later sold the Saturn and got the PS1. Rented the same fighting games on it and noticed it wasn’t as good compared to the Saturn versions and felt really disappointed and didn’t understand why people kept saying the PS1 was better. Now years later we all know the Saturn was king at 2D fighting games, but people were only comparing it to 3D games back in the day and didn’t care much about the 2D stuff.
My first experience with the Saturn was in the summer between 1st and 2nd grade I believe. I was in a summer camp/daycare thing at my school since my mom worked during the day and didn't want me to be home alone. There was another kid whose family was apparently a "Sega family" as he brought in both a Saturn and a Game Gear, neither of which I had ever seen before. He left them there all summer so every day kids would circle around them and play them. I don't remember much about the Game Gear other than I think he had one of the Sonic games for it. The only games I remember he had on the Saturn were Need for Speed and Virtua Fighter. Apart from that, it was many years before I had seen (in real life) a Saturn or known someone who had a Saturn.
Adam, wish I was able to go to the Dallas convention to meet you in person. Been watching you for 10+ years. When I start my channel, would love to share one of my videos with you cause you inspired me to collect and make videos. We’re lucky to have this channel.
I’ll never forget as a kid wanting House of The Dead for Saturn, I almost won a cib copy on an auction, but got outbid by a penny at last second. $40 or so back then. RIP
Excellent video as always! I was a huge Genesis and Dreamcast fan, but i sadly skipped on the Saturn at the time. The PlayStation marketing campaign won over 15 year old me, but looking back in hindsight this really was a great console.
15:27 😂 That part got me. But anyway, watching you over the years has shown me that you are by far, the most luckiest person when it comes to collecting games and systems.
I do like to see these Anniversary videos, partly to see your views of these consoles years after you’ve talked about them and how the narrative of these consoles changed in retrospect.
As a kid I used to see things like multi switches and things like that, that said Saturn on it. I never knew what it was. Like Adam I never knew what it was until after it was discontinued. I first found out about it around 2001. I already had my PS2, but not the point. My mom made me go with her to her friends house and had to play with the son. He had a Saturn and a bunch of games. That's how I found out about it.
My immature humor ass self cracked up at 15:28 But yeah jokes aside the Saturn is criminally underrated, even to this day. Fun fact: On the Nintendo 3ds there's a game called "Project X Zone 2" which is a crossover between Sega, Namco and Capcom. Of the Sega characters, of course you have Ryo Hazuki, but Segata Sanshiro is actually included as well. Really funny.
As a long time viewer, every time Adam asks (or answers) the question out loud "Why do I have a Sega Pluto in front of me", we just know how much he likes his Sega Pluto lol :)
Ironically I got a saturn about 2 weeks ago. I did have a couple in the past but never really got into them, so i ended up selling them. But now...omg I am loving it, playing some amazing and unusual games is just fantastic! Its become one of my top 5 consoles of all time!
Good stuff. My much older brother acquired a Saturn around 1998. We had a football game and Daytona. I got in a fight at school and my dad put it in the closet to punish me. There it was totally forgotten until we moved house in 2007. Gave it back to my brother for his kids.
I love this console the Sega Saturn. Back in 2013 after my 18th birthday but before launch of the PS4 , I was going through a rough time in my life. I was looking for more GC games but that day I ended up going home on the city bus with a Sega Saturn with a copy of Night Warriors Darkstalkers Revenge all for $50 cad including the controller and hookups and the game being cib with the foam. It was one week later I got Sega Rally Championship, Gex , Die Hard Arcade and X-Men children of the atom in that first month. Over time my library has only grown . It's easily my most favorite Sega console ever. It carries a lot of very sentimental value that I love showing off anytime I get the chance. On a friend's online discord group we did a small fun debate of the Sega Saturn vs The N64 . It was less about which console was better and more about what made these consoles so great. I will never forget when someone said that because of the stuff I showed on Sega Saturn, it had got him interested in the console. He still prefers the N64 but has a new appreciation for the Sega Saturn after seeing someone show how much passion he has for the console.
Speaking of anniversaries. I've been watching this channel for 11 years! How time flies by. You've always been a constant in my subscription feed and it's awesome seeing you keep going! Here's to 11 more (well, provided our AI overlords don't turn us into gray goo first.)
The only builds of Sonic 1 to have the spindash was Sonic Jam, Sonic 1 GBA, The 3D Classics port on the 3DS, the Android/IOS ports and Origins which is just the Android/IOS port with added content
I got the Saturn when it was released. Playstation never clicked with me. I had tons of games and tons of fun. The japanese library... That's something else. Nice video!!
Love how just like Ashens videos, the "set" doesn't really change. I appreciate the consistency Adam! I got Virtua Fighter Kids in my Saturn at the moment 😊 And yeah, my Saturn is the first Japanese grey ❤ Edit: never heard a Yankee call my country The Maple Empire before 😂
I got my own Sega Saturn this year (the Japanese Model 1) along with a Pseudo Saturn Kai cartridge after being interested in the system for a long time now, and it's quickly become one of my favorite consoles. It's library is just so unique, unlike any other console I've played that it makes for a pretty fascinating lineup to dive into (especially with how much still has yet to be ported to anything else). Off the top of my head some of my favorites on the system are Nights into Dreams, Sonic Jam, Daytona USA, Virtua Racing, Virtual-On, and Astal, and I still have a lot that I'm interested in playing.
It’s funny how you’ve gone from a kid who never heard of the Saturn to owning the most rare prototype version in the world 😂. I got my Sega Saturn December 1995, with Panzer Dragoon, Virtua Fighter 2, and Sega Rally. That was one of the best video game year memories of my life! I sold my SNES and game gear and my games to get it. No regrets. I only regret missing out on getting Panzer Dragoon Saga for $50.00 at EB games when I had the chance.
Just a thought about that Saturn launch price: While initially, 400 sounds a lot more than the ol' "299", when you factor in having to buy a game (another $50 - $60) and buying a memory card to be able to save (like $20 - $25) for a PS1, that's around $375-ish Saturn came with Virtua Fighter (which was what most people wanted [nobody knew Panzer Dragoon was awesome yet] ), and built-in saving for $399 So that's only really a $25 difference (if not just $20 depending on what PS1 game you got), for a new 32 bit console, a game, and the ability to save. And since it's very common practice for the established brand to be a few bucks more than the new comer in any market: That' really pretty standard fare, right? Like it's not this massive $100 dollar difference that we all initially think of (unless you just bought a PS1 by itself to use as a tv dinner plate or something lol)
One of these days illl actually get around to buying a saturn memory cart so i can finally play saga. Never once played it past the first flying section. The shame is immense.
My first experience with the Saturn was similar to mine with the Dreamcast where I played both at my cousin's house, both were racing games Daytona USA on the Saturn and then Crazy Taxi on the Dreamcast, and I'd go on to later get both consoles for myself. Good memories with both, even on sports games.
I bought a Sega Saturn back in 1998, after I bought my original PlayStation. Due to the lack of demand in my country, the Saturn and its games were extremely expensive, costing anything between $400 for a used console and anything between $80 to $120 per game (with 1998 USD value/purchase power). Then I finally came across a used Japanese console for around $200 with Clockwork Knights and Virtua Fighter 2. And as I was already determined to get one since 1995, I snatched used copies of Virtua Cop with a light gun, Sega Rally, and Daytona USA a couple years earlier than the console itself for a round $120, $50, and $50 respectively. This remained my only Sega Saturn collection for about a decade until I came across a spindle of used Sega Saturn games on ebay for like a 100 bucks and added it to my collection in addition to the official VCD module for about $70. However, a couple of years later my country turned into a war zone before I could ever take these games and try them on my system. I still have the spindle with me here, and it's now been with me for 16 years and I still haven't tried any of the games in it as I don't go home anymore because of the war! I'm so inclined to get another cheap Saturn from ebay just to try these out.
I admit that I never heard of anything Sega related or even remember seeing anything Sega related as far as video games go at all until WAY after they stopped making consoles. I don't even remember advertisements. I only knew of Sonic and even then, I thought it was just a cool cartoon character. Honestly, I never heard of or saw basically any other video game console or company. Except for PS1, I remember those advertisements and I played the first NFL Blitz with a friend one time. Otherwise, all I knew of was Nintendo. That's all I knew of until the Wii because of its Virtual Console. Keep up the great work Adam!
Guess you're quite a bit younger than me, because I was in 8th grade when this thing launched, and literally everyone I knew was fully aware of the Saturn's existence. I recall this console well because I was on my big middle school week long trip to Washington DC with it launched in the U.S. I went into a game store at a mall in DC in May 1995, when my friends and I were all in a complete state of shock seeing the thing on the shelves, months before we were told it would be available. I recall being really hyped for it, only to find out the Playstation was coming out soon after, with a better library of games and $100 less, with the N64 also just over the horizon. Needless to say, neither I nor anyone I knew ever ended up getting a console. Still blows my mind how badly Sega F'd everything up between the Sega CD, 32X, and Saturn - failures which I strongly believe led directly to the Dreamcast's unfortunate failure, despite Sega doing an excellent job with that console.
I imported a japanese Saturn and Virtua Fighter in December '94. It was awesome and VF was a shiny new next-gen fighting game with incredible character movement. On the other hand, the Saturn from the beginning faced the looming shadow of the Playstation, which launched in Japan shortly after. In the pre-launch months there were stories in magazines about the Saturn's troubled hardware development and about the momentum that Playstation was building among game developers. I was a big fan of the Genesis and Sega was my "home team" back then. But to hedge my bets, I also imported a japanese PS1. The Saturn had some early bangers like VF, VF2, Panzer Dragoon, Layer Section, X-Men, Virtua Cop and Sega Rally, but there just weren't enough of them - compared to the deluge of high-quality titles that the PS1 was getting already during its first year. By '96 it was obvious which console would end up on top. I stuck with the Saturn until the end though. The last game I bought for it was Marvel Superheroes vs. Street Fighter in late '98. Overall I played the PS1 more throughout the generation, but I had a fair amount of Saturn games as well and I rate the Saturn's game library pretty highly. Especially since I'm a fan of shoot'em-ups and the Saturn excels in those. The unfortunate thing about the Saturn is that it caused significant financial losses to Sega, which made it an uphill battle for the DC also.
I don't know what happened to my previous comment on this video, but I did want to thank you for this great retrospective on the Sega Saturn, Adam! I had a Saturn when I was growing up back in the 90's, and I'm so glad that it's finally getting at least a small amount of the recognition it deserves.
Thank you very much for your generosity.
@AdamKoralik thank you for the excellent content, sir!
Adam fans are eatin’ good this week!
That's what it feels like 👍
Video game videos taste like chili~ mnnnn
Hey Adam, I just wanted to say THANK YOU. Thank you for the over a decade of content. I have been hear since the early days. How you do it is beyond my imagination. You must have a clone helping. Sometimes you'll about to get on a plane to your next destination, yet uploads don't stop. Boring comment (yes i watched the Saturn love too.) but I think it's important to say thank you for the years of chill content, you've been there during my sick days and healthy days. I wish you continued success!
Much appreciated!
And he looks the samd lol
Absolute best youtube channel!
@@ICAMPR I was thinking the same. I recently watching a Wii U video of his from 10 years ago and the only slight difference is a bit of gray in his beard. Other than that, I'd say he doesn't look to have aged.
Agreed 100%. Having 126k subscribers is impressive, but given the level of content, this feels like a channel that should have way more.
I didn't play a Saturn until 2016. I knew it was out there but never saw one or knew anyone with one. Discovering it in 2016 was a joy, as a Mega Drive fan it felt closer to the games I'd grown up enjoying and experiencing many of these games for the first time was amazing. Even now, I still discover games I missed at the time. Amazing system.
Yeah, my friends and I all knew full well the Saturn existed, but as with the Neo Geo AES, it was something we only knew of, but nobody ever owned. Some of us were excited for the Saturn and hoped to get one for Christmas, but after the disastrous launch in the U.S., the lack of quality games (especially no real Sonic), the bloated console price, and Playstation stealing their thunder, everyone quickly crossed it of their wanted list. Didn't help that the Saturn was coming off a string of add-ons for the Genesis, and many unsure if it was even a new console or another add-on.
I swear i follow you on instagram.
Is it strange to feel nostalgic not because of the Saturn but because of Adam talking in this format like the recap videos🔥🔥
Bought my first Saturn in 2024, absolutely loving it. So many hidden gems that should have been more popular in that era. Nobody made consoles like SEGA imo, they were just so fun and had a little bit of everything for any gamer
Adam you need to lump all these "20 years later"and "30 years later" videos into 1 Playlist, and call it:
"WANT TO FEEL OLD?"
Probably saving that for next year when he can do NES 40 years later
Just got a Saturn yesterday! Excited to play it!
It's a lot of fun. Use Adam's recommendations. He definitely knows what he's talking about
i could literally listen to you talk about the sega saturn in the background while im doing other things for hours and hours thank you
This the one everyone was waiting for this week.
Hey Adam,
You always thanks for many videos contents, especially for video games consoles anniversaries.
Looking forwards for NEO-GEO CD 30th anniversary.
Always watching your channel from KSA.
The Saturn is a console I never played back in the day. I bought mine a couple years ago and it quickly became one of favorites.
Story time. My mom ordered us a big screen TV from Sun electronics back in 1995. It was well over $2000. At some point, she developed buyers remorse and she canceled the TV. She knew I was really disappointed so she said instead, Maybe I can get you that Saturn thing that you want. So she got that for me instead. She would’ve never agreed to a $400 game system any other way. Lol.
Also, Saturn launched on May 25, 1995 in America and only launched at very limited retailers. I got mine at Toys R Us.
I actually have a story with how I got Panzer Dragoon Saga, not quite as insane as yours, but still pretty good. I saw the game in a store, but not actually for sale. It was on a shelf on its own, barely visible, so I asked them about it, and they said it wasn't for sale. Fast Forward about a year, and it's still there. By this point, the store knew me as the weird 18 year old who was interested in all the retro or uncommon stuff, and I decided to ask again, but this time, I unintentionally spoke to the manager of the store, and she said it was a fully complete, mint copy of the game, that would normally sell for £600 (Their website says it's now worth £800), but they couldn't sell it because the outer paper box was a reproduction. (The UK version of the game has the discs split between 2 cases, which are held in a paper box) So they were in a situation where they wouldn't sell it for the normal price as it was incomplete, but they weren't going to just get rid of it because it's the holy grail of video games. So I asked her what the absolute lowest price they would accept for it, and she says £250, which is still an absurdly high amount to pay for any game, but I know I'll never get a better deal than that, so I bought it, and don't regret it at all. My Saturn collection isn't huge, but I'm very happy to have Panzer Dragoon saga.
If you think about it, people pay tens of millions of dollars for paintings no one gave a crap about when they were made. What's 250 compared to that?
@chaospoet Very true, and at least I got something I can use with my investment, rather than just a thing to look at.
The Saturn was my FIRST console and I'll always have a TON of nostalgia for it. I'll also defend it as an objectively GREAT system with a unique library of games. It's also the first experience I had of "rooting for an underdog" and appreciating something that was truly UNDERRATED.
It shaped a big part of my life and my personality - to this day I'm a big supporter of "HIDDEN GEMS" in the music communities I am a part of.
Initially as a kid and young adult there was a sense of "shame" attached to being into things that are so "niche" - but before long, that feeling was replaced by a sense of glowing PRIDE for being in the minority who champion something so underrated and neglected by the masses.
The reason I bought a Saturn was because of the huge success of the Mega Drive (Genesis) here in the UK - many of my school friends had a Mega Drive so SEGA seemed like the coolest brand to go for.
Little did I know that it was the start of a journey that would define a major part of my personality and give me memories I'd cherish for a lifetime.
Thanks to this channel for your continued dedication to these underrated consoles!
I fell in love with the SEGA Saturn and I've never regretted a single day of owning the system, it's still my favourite console!! I've been collecting for many years and the system is still my passion - I have a complete PAL set which I completed many years ago as well as 19 USA releases and 269 Japanese games. I also collect European and Japanese demos and I'm currently building up a physical library of English translations too. What can I say? It's been an amazing system to own and explore!! It's great to see so many people finally starting to appreciate the system and it's amazing library of games.
**Thanks so much for the video - SEGA Saturn AND 32x - you are killing it Adam!!
3 videos in 3 days?! Fuck yeah!
I always come back to this channel. Year after year. You never disappoint, Adam.
I'll work on being more disappointing!
I had the privilege of buying a brand new Sega Saturn back in 2018 and it's funny because after I bought it I haven't seen one listed on eBay ever since or anywhere else. I felt just like someone in 1995 buying a Saturn.😇
I also noticed it is going to be the 30 year anniversary of the Sega Channel soon, feeling really old right now. I still could not believe how ahead of it's time it was; considering it's now a primary strategy of one of the current big 3.
It's cool (but also depressing lol) that I will always be as old as the charming Sega Saturn. Always love watching you talk console history and celebrate them! Hope you're doing good.
My Saturn story: I was a Sega kid, having owned an SMS, Genesis and Sega-CD. I went to our mall's Software Etc. on the day of the surprise launch and saw Panzer Dragoon being demoed. I was smitten. After watching it for a while I went home, got all my savings and went back and bought the system, Panzer Dragoon and Bug!. Flash forward to 1997 and I spot a pile of copies of Panzer Dragoon Saga on clearance for $20, and I snag it. Pretty neat we have a similar story for snagging it. Gaming steal of my lifetime. Saga is still my favorite game of all time, and Panzer Dragon my favorite game trilogy. I love the system dearly and in recent years began collection for it again, discovering lots of hidden gems.
Thanks for this video, and for your years of Sega support. I put together my gaming setup (which has all of Sega's systems running through the RetriTink 5x, plus the Switch) 100% from your channel. I'm having so much fun replay games and discovering new ones. Thanks so much.
I can remember in 96 seeing an ad for the saturn and 'Hey can this thing play genesis games? It has the slot on top if it can do that I'd be able to convince mom to grab that and maybe a game every so often.
I spent the next MONTH scouring everything I could find to see if I could find out and was utterly crushed when I found out that no it couldn't play genesis games.
Figure it out!!!! I always wanted a Saturn, and that Nights game with the special controller. Still on my wish list to this day!
Fantastic console. super underrated system, with lots of unique games. very underutilized on the market. so much potential. Saturn is always in my heart.
Segata Sanshiro smiles upon thee!
Happy 30th SATURN!!
LOVE the Sega Saturn. I have 3 of them, grey black and white. I STILL play games like Super Fire Pro Wrestling, Street Fighter Zero 2 & 3, Saturn Bomberman, Nights and Christmas Nights during the holidays.
It's worth mentioning that what now makes the Saturn one of the cheapest retro system to get into is the Saroo ODE cart. Even with some compatibility issues, it plays most of the library fine and often with much faster load times. A huge boon is also having system saves tied to the cart, so no need to worry about games that require the internal battery or doing an FRAM upgrade and you can move the cart into multiple systems. I own two saturns, one for my bedroom and another for my home theater so I don't need to worry about tearing up my set up to be playing on it.
My favourite console ever, gave me and still gives me tremendous joy by playing it. A killer library and a personality the sise of a planet. Its more than a console to me, but a life experience. Thank you for the video! From Portugal!
Sonic Jam was my first sonic game. Nights into dreams and that one croc game were fun. I love learning new things about the saturn or remembering things about it. Thanks so much for making this video.
I recently purchased a Saturn. Love that thing. And have been importing games from Japan non stop.
The Sega Saturn is older than me by 2 years but exploring it's library definitely makes this a gem of a system.
It’s about time
It was the same for me as a kid, I didn't know of the Saturn until I was in high school. I don't remember seeing anything about the Saturn when it launched. I actually learned of the Saturn because of the Dreamcast launching. I didn't know anyone with a Sega Saturn, they all has PS1 or N64. I heard of the Virtual Boy and Panasonic 3Do because Walmart had demo units of them
I picked my Saturn up during the golden age of retro collecting - early 2000's. Really cheap, around £30 for system and 2 controllers. It kind of just sits there on a shelf...
It's Saturday, I'm gonna wake it up!
Thanks Adam, for reminding me of that little black box of fun!
The greatest console ever made 🙌
I love the Sega Saturn. I remember as a kid locating one at a local store called Rhino Video Games. I never knew at the time how absolutely expensive some of the games would become.
Bro, love the saturn, my only regret was not figuring out early in life how damn good it was! So many great games! Thanks for the trip down memory lane 🙌
Yeah son!
My mom got me a Saturn on launch day and I loved it. Played a lot of virtua cop, fighting vipers, VF2, Toshinden, XMen Children of the Atom, NiGHTS, Panzer Dragoon, and the Bug games. Good times!
Great video! I was a proud Sega Saturn owner, getting it at the tail end of its life cycle with a bundle of Virtua Fighter, Virtua Cop, and Daytona USA. Small correction to one of your comments about the hypothetical price of the unreleased Sega Neptune being $550...in 2024 dollars that would equate to roughly $1,080 _not_ $1500.
One of my friend's gave me a Saturn back on 2016. He found a whole tote of game stuff from a yard sale. He said "here's your new project" it had no cables, no controllers. I was able to at least power it on and see the green light. Fast foward a bit, after I got everything it wouldn't read discs. I eventually got a Fennrir, and just a few days ago got a Saroo. So now I have them both plugged into the same system. I was surprised I can actually boot the Fennrir through the Saroo. So now i have 2 whole cards of roms to load. Just need the time to play it.
3 days in a row! What if physical media makes a big comeback and 30 years from now Adam is having to do a different console every day. 😂
I don’t know why but I have this huge soft spot for the Saturn even though I never owned one as a child, I guess its library is what really makes me like the console since most of its games are amazing arcade ports, rpgs or just really weird experimental games and the cherry on top is those amazing 2d graphics the console is capable of. I mean princess crown is still a looker after all these years.
Amazing of you to get PDS for $80! Wow! Good luck indeed! Thank you for sharing your journey with us, I really enjoyed it, and I'm sure others did too! Keep bringing Sega content, and I'll keep watching it!
I got the Saturn at the last minute. After it was discontinued in probably 99. I called around town, and found one at a liquidation store for $75 new. I bought a few imports with it, and man the fighting games on that baby at the time were practically arcade perfect. Was amazing how well they played with the expansion ram pack, compared to some of the crappy VS PS1 ports.
I love the Saturn and haven't played one since I was a kid. I recently got on a Japanese complete in box model 1 and so far I'm in the refurb process. I can't wait until I'm done getting it cleaned up ready to play.
I recall being surprised to see a Saturn on shelf at my local game store for $399. It was completely unannounced but I immediately snatched it up. I was happy with it along side with my PlayStation. Wish we would have received many of the titles Japan received tho. I still have my Sega Saturn to this day.
I picked mine up Dec 95 with the launch of the big 3 games that year, Virtua Cop, Virtua Fighter 2 and Sega Rally. I still own all the games although my 1st system failed me around 2004 with graphical glitches. I then bought the Treasure, Capcom and other Sega games along the way. 1994-2005 was my favourite era of gaming and the Saturn certainly plays a part in that. My local store was selling 200 PS1's to every Sega Saturn, it was a crazy time. Mind you, at the time I had some awesome PS1 games that just seemed ground breaking in the 3D arena so I was partly to blame for the PS1 push. Around 15 people were influenced by me to get a PS1, only 3 people bought a Saturn. My prized possession is Street Fighter Zero 3 RAM pack which I bought new and still own in mint condition. Everyone rushed out to buy the Dreamcast version but I just loved the Saturn pad for the SF games. The DC pad was an abomination for fighting games.
I never thought about collecting Saturn until I found one in Japan for 2,000yen (less than $20USD)... now I have pretty much every accessory & over 40 games - it's absurd how many great, and how many niche/weird experiences are on the Saturn. It feels like the variety and guality never ends (until you try playing Airs Adventure haha) - totally worthwhile system to research, support, and shout from the rooftops.
Great video thanks Adam. Love your content. Getting into Xbox 360 shmups led me to research the genre more in 2015 which in turn led me to the Saturn in 2016. What a system. It’s been a joy to collect for since.
I played Sonic Wings on my SNES emulator for a long time and decided that it's a best shmup on the system, but when I did my instagram page on of my follower said: I had Sonic Wings on Sega Saturn and I became really apreciate this guy and went on instagram to learn more about Sega Saturn. That was 2016 and instagram won and finally bought my Japan Sega Saturn console. Then the way the time run quickly and in my Sega Saturn collection i burned over 170 games and played with Pseudo Kai! That's a really cool stuff that made me fall in love with Sega Saturn and it's my favourite console of all time. As a Kid I didn't know about this console and played my Dendy. All my friends had Dendy and one PS1! Yes, Dendy still console that I love, but Sega Saturn love more. Really happy to recognize this console more closely.
Happy 30th Saturn! Sega Saturn, Shiro!
Nice video - I didn't get a Saturn until 2021...during that period in time (that shall not be named) I decided to start cleaning all my old consoles Atari2600/ NES/ SNES/ PS1/ PS2/ OGXBox/ etc and a friend who was cleaning out his house to make room for a new home office called me up and asked if I would be interested in having some of his old sega systems Genesis & Dreamcast and after restoring those two systems, I decided to get myself a Japanese Sega Saturn Model 1…after a valiant effort at buying some legit saturn games online I found a moding video on YT of the Fenrir ODE & FRAM mods…and let’s just say that was the drug I needed. I’ve enjoyed the Saturn so much, that I purchased a second Japanese Model 1 unit, just to have one that is truly 100% stock/ not modified and on display in the game room. Happy 30th birthday sega Saturn.
I’m liking the modern Adam recap videos keep it going.
In 94-95 saturn was barely spoken about it was a bit of a mysterious console, wasn’t till probably 96 it was becoming more well known but was out of reach for kids because of the price tag, then i remember it really started to plummet it in price as the PlayStation became more popular, so i was able to buy one in 97 and still have today, never let me down and still play to this day, really misunderstood and underrated console.
I bought a PS1 back then for Mortal Kombat 3. I later traded it to my friend for his Saturn for Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, which came out on Saturn before the SNES/Genesis games.
UMK3 is still the best game on Saturn in my opinion. It was so good when it came out, it almost felt illegal to play at home.
I rarely play it now due to later ports and owning a UMK3 machine. But I pop it in every now and then, and it's still freaking amazing for it's time.
I regret later selling my Saturn at the time. But Mortal Kombat Trilogy was announced on all 3 consoles. That, and hardly any one in my small town sold Saturn games, due to Sega messing that up. Didn't know Resident Evil, Mega Man 8, Mega Man X4, and others even came out on Saturn until many years later.
First time I saw a Sega Saturn was when I found it in Ryo's house in Shenmue. I also had no idea it existed when it was relevant. I still remember the excitement when a kid in school showed off a magazine with pictures of the upcoming Dreamcast and Sonic Adventure. The Master System and Mega Drive are fondly remembered, so it was really exciting that Sega would finally release a 3D console. That's how obscure the Saturn was.
I had a Sega Saturn as a kid in 90s. first game was Darius Gaiden and mortal Kombat II. They mentioned Sega Saturn in gaming magazines and I seen TV commercials.
As a kid in the 90's, all of my friends either had a PS1 or an N64. I didn't know *anyone* with a Saturn and, in fact, didn't even know it existed. I didn't learn about it until later and it caught my attention as a sort of "underdog" console of the 5th gen, which was really appealing to me, since it gave it a sort of "obscure" vibe. Finally added one to my collection a few years ago, with an Action Replay cart to get around that region lock, play Japanese copies and not have to sell my organs on the black market to afford NTSC copies.
I had the Saturn as a teenager. I never knew it was considered a failure until everyone on UA-cam said so years later. Had about 15 games and absolutely loved it. Used to rent Virtua Cop with the light gun at my local video store.
I got into Saturn stuff around 2017, having a blast with it since then. Great library, excellent controller, even the console itself looks awesome. We might have jumped late into the party, but with all these improvements such as ODEs, fan translations etc, it couldn't be a better time. Hooray for the Saturn!
I actually had a Sega Saturn back in 1998. Got it at a used game store called Microplay here in Toronto. I got it because it was cheaper compared to the PS1 back in the day. Had Daytona, Virtua Cop 2 on it. Played it so much. Rented Xmen Children of Atom from Blockbuster, Street Fighter Alpha 2 and Marvel Super Heroes. I later sold the Saturn and got the PS1. Rented the same fighting games on it and noticed it wasn’t as good compared to the Saturn versions and felt really disappointed and didn’t understand why people kept saying the PS1 was better. Now years later we all know the Saturn was king at 2D fighting games, but people were only comparing it to 3D games back in the day and didn’t care much about the 2D stuff.
My first experience with the Saturn was in the summer between 1st and 2nd grade I believe. I was in a summer camp/daycare thing at my school since my mom worked during the day and didn't want me to be home alone. There was another kid whose family was apparently a "Sega family" as he brought in both a Saturn and a Game Gear, neither of which I had ever seen before. He left them there all summer so every day kids would circle around them and play them. I don't remember much about the Game Gear other than I think he had one of the Sonic games for it. The only games I remember he had on the Saturn were Need for Speed and Virtua Fighter. Apart from that, it was many years before I had seen (in real life) a Saturn or known someone who had a Saturn.
Adam, wish I was able to go to the Dallas convention to meet you in person. Been watching you for 10+ years. When I start my channel, would love to share one of my videos with you cause you inspired me to collect and make videos. We’re lucky to have this channel.
I’ll never forget as a kid wanting House of The Dead for Saturn, I almost won a cib copy on an auction, but got outbid by a penny at last second. $40 or so back then. RIP
Got the Saturn at launch and loved it though its run was short. It will always have the top spot in my gaming heart.
15:28
LOL!, other UA-camrs would have edited that out, thanks for leaving that in Adam.
Let's fucking go!!
Excellent video as always! I was a huge Genesis and Dreamcast fan, but i sadly skipped on the Saturn at the time. The PlayStation marketing campaign won over 15 year old me, but looking back in hindsight this really was a great console.
Many Saturn games are still very enjoyable for me. This console deserved more love.
15:27 😂
That part got me.
But anyway, watching you over the years has shown me that you are by far, the most luckiest person when it comes to collecting games and systems.
I do like to see these Anniversary videos, partly to see your views of these consoles years after you’ve talked about them and how the narrative of these consoles changed in retrospect.
As a kid I used to see things like multi switches and things like that, that said Saturn on it. I never knew what it was. Like Adam I never knew what it was until after it was discontinued. I first found out about it around 2001. I already had my PS2, but not the point. My mom made me go with her to her friends house and had to play with the son. He had a Saturn and a bunch of games. That's how I found out about it.
My immature humor ass self cracked up at 15:28
But yeah jokes aside the Saturn is criminally underrated, even to this day. Fun fact: On the Nintendo 3ds there's a game called "Project X Zone 2" which is a crossover between Sega, Namco and Capcom. Of the Sega characters, of course you have Ryo Hazuki, but Segata Sanshiro is actually included as well. Really funny.
As a long time viewer, every time Adam asks (or answers) the question out loud "Why do I have a Sega Pluto in front of me", we just know how much he likes his Sega Pluto lol :)
Ironically I got a saturn about 2 weeks ago. I did have a couple in the past but never really got into them, so i ended up selling them. But now...omg I am loving it, playing some amazing and unusual games is just fantastic! Its become one of my top 5 consoles of all time!
A really good game you must play is Three Dirty Dwarves..I starting collecting in early 2010's and found this gem and fell in love...
Good stuff. My much older brother acquired a Saturn around 1998. We had a football game and Daytona. I got in a fight at school and my dad put it in the closet to punish me. There it was totally forgotten until we moved house in 2007. Gave it back to my brother for his kids.
I didn’t have video games until 1997 and I’ve heard of the Sega Saturn back in 1995.
I love this console the Sega Saturn. Back in 2013 after my 18th birthday but before launch of the PS4 , I was going through a rough time in my life. I was looking for more GC games but that day I ended up going home on the city bus with a Sega Saturn with a copy of Night Warriors Darkstalkers Revenge all for $50 cad including the controller and hookups and the game being cib with the foam. It was one week later I got Sega Rally Championship, Gex , Die Hard Arcade and X-Men children of the atom in that first month. Over time my library has only grown . It's easily my most favorite Sega console ever. It carries a lot of very sentimental value that I love showing off anytime I get the chance. On a friend's online discord group we did a small fun debate of the Sega Saturn vs The N64 . It was less about which console was better and more about what made these consoles so great. I will never forget when someone said that because of the stuff I showed on Sega Saturn, it had got him interested in the console. He still prefers the N64 but has a new appreciation for the Sega Saturn after seeing someone show how much passion he has for the console.
I played Astal recently, truly an amazing experience. Thanks for another awesome video ❤
Speaking of anniversaries. I've been watching this channel for 11 years! How time flies by. You've always been a constant in my subscription feed and it's awesome seeing you keep going! Here's to 11 more (well, provided our AI overlords don't turn us into gray goo first.)
The only builds of Sonic 1 to have the spindash was Sonic Jam, Sonic 1 GBA, The 3D Classics port on the 3DS, the Android/IOS ports and Origins which is just the Android/IOS port with added content
I love the fact that we are getting new fan translations for this console
I got the Saturn when it was released. Playstation never clicked with me. I had tons of games and tons of fun. The japanese library... That's something else. Nice video!!
Love how just like Ashens videos, the "set" doesn't really change. I appreciate the consistency Adam!
I got Virtua Fighter Kids in my Saturn at the moment 😊
And yeah, my Saturn is the first Japanese grey ❤
Edit: never heard a Yankee call my country The Maple Empire before 😂
I got my own Sega Saturn this year (the Japanese Model 1) along with a Pseudo Saturn Kai cartridge after being interested in the system for a long time now, and it's quickly become one of my favorite consoles. It's library is just so unique, unlike any other console I've played that it makes for a pretty fascinating lineup to dive into (especially with how much still has yet to be ported to anything else). Off the top of my head some of my favorites on the system are Nights into Dreams, Sonic Jam, Daytona USA, Virtua Racing, Virtual-On, and Astal, and I still have a lot that I'm interested in playing.
It’s funny how you’ve gone from a kid who never heard of the Saturn to owning the most rare prototype version in the world 😂. I got my Sega Saturn December 1995, with Panzer Dragoon, Virtua Fighter 2, and Sega Rally. That was one of the best video game year memories of my life! I sold my SNES and game gear and my games to get it. No regrets. I only regret missing out on getting Panzer Dragoon Saga for $50.00 at EB games when I had the chance.
Just a thought about that Saturn launch price:
While initially, 400 sounds a lot more than the ol' "299",
when you factor in having to buy a game (another $50 - $60) and buying a memory card to be able to save (like $20 - $25) for a PS1, that's around $375-ish
Saturn came with Virtua Fighter (which was what most people wanted [nobody knew Panzer Dragoon was awesome yet] ), and built-in saving for $399
So that's only really a $25 difference (if not just $20 depending on what PS1 game you got), for a new 32 bit console, a game, and the ability to save.
And since it's very common practice for the established brand to be a few bucks more than the new comer in any market:
That' really pretty standard fare, right?
Like it's not this massive $100 dollar difference that we all initially think of
(unless you just bought a PS1 by itself to use as a tv dinner plate or something lol)
Great video Adam. I always loved these trips down video game memory lane.
Α good friend of mine got the Saturn back in the day. That's where I played Resident Evil for the first time and hot hooked!
One of these days illl actually get around to buying a saturn memory cart so i can finally play saga. Never once played it past the first flying section. The shame is immense.
I loved the Sega Saturn more than the 32X and Dreamcast 💯🎮💙
My first experience with the Saturn was similar to mine with the Dreamcast where I played both at my cousin's house, both were racing games Daytona USA on the Saturn and then Crazy Taxi on the Dreamcast, and I'd go on to later get both consoles for myself. Good memories with both, even on sports games.
Adam does such a good job with retrospectives makes me wish the old Giant Bomb crew were still going and have Adam on as a special guest
I bought a Sega Saturn back in 1998, after I bought my original PlayStation. Due to the lack of demand in my country, the Saturn and its games were extremely expensive, costing anything between $400 for a used console and anything between $80 to $120 per game (with 1998 USD value/purchase power). Then I finally came across a used Japanese console for around $200 with Clockwork Knights and Virtua Fighter 2. And as I was already determined to get one since 1995, I snatched used copies of Virtua Cop with a light gun, Sega Rally, and Daytona USA a couple years earlier than the console itself for a round $120, $50, and $50 respectively. This remained my only Sega Saturn collection for about a decade until I came across a spindle of used Sega Saturn games on ebay for like a 100 bucks and added it to my collection in addition to the official VCD module for about $70. However, a couple of years later my country turned into a war zone before I could ever take these games and try them on my system. I still have the spindle with me here, and it's now been with me for 16 years and I still haven't tried any of the games in it as I don't go home anymore because of the war! I'm so inclined to get another cheap Saturn from ebay just to try these out.
Luv the Saturn today just as much as the day it released. Imagine being so lucky to have experienced it day one : D
I admit that I never heard of anything Sega related or even remember seeing anything Sega related as far as video games go at all until WAY after they stopped making consoles. I don't even remember advertisements. I only knew of Sonic and even then, I thought it was just a cool cartoon character. Honestly, I never heard of or saw basically any other video game console or company. Except for PS1, I remember those advertisements and I played the first NFL Blitz with a friend one time. Otherwise, all I knew of was Nintendo. That's all I knew of until the Wii because of its Virtual Console. Keep up the great work Adam!
Guess you're quite a bit younger than me, because I was in 8th grade when this thing launched, and literally everyone I knew was fully aware of the Saturn's existence. I recall this console well because I was on my big middle school week long trip to Washington DC with it launched in the U.S. I went into a game store at a mall in DC in May 1995, when my friends and I were all in a complete state of shock seeing the thing on the shelves, months before we were told it would be available. I recall being really hyped for it, only to find out the Playstation was coming out soon after, with a better library of games and $100 less, with the N64 also just over the horizon. Needless to say, neither I nor anyone I knew ever ended up getting a console. Still blows my mind how badly Sega F'd everything up between the Sega CD, 32X, and Saturn - failures which I strongly believe led directly to the Dreamcast's unfortunate failure, despite Sega doing an excellent job with that console.
Just stared my Saturn Collection love it Not Going For full set but im getting amazing games like Albert Odyssey
I imported a japanese Saturn and Virtua Fighter in December '94. It was awesome and VF was a shiny new next-gen fighting game with incredible character movement. On the other hand, the Saturn from the beginning faced the looming shadow of the Playstation, which launched in Japan shortly after. In the pre-launch months there were stories in magazines about the Saturn's troubled hardware development and about the momentum that Playstation was building among game developers. I was a big fan of the Genesis and Sega was my "home team" back then. But to hedge my bets, I also imported a japanese PS1. The Saturn had some early bangers like VF, VF2, Panzer Dragoon, Layer Section, X-Men, Virtua Cop and Sega Rally, but there just weren't enough of them - compared to the deluge of high-quality titles that the PS1 was getting already during its first year. By '96 it was obvious which console would end up on top. I stuck with the Saturn until the end though. The last game I bought for it was Marvel Superheroes vs. Street Fighter in late '98. Overall I played the PS1 more throughout the generation, but I had a fair amount of Saturn games as well and I rate the Saturn's game library pretty highly. Especially since I'm a fan of shoot'em-ups and the Saturn excels in those. The unfortunate thing about the Saturn is that it caused significant financial losses to Sega, which made it an uphill battle for the DC also.
Sega Saturn is the only console I’ve never owned. Great video 👍