timppu: So what are the must-have games on Saturn, ones that were not available for Playstation or PC, and which are not inferior coin op ports (like Virtua Fighter 2 etc.)?
I always felt the first XBox had a similar problem, there weren't necessarily that many must-have games for it that were not available for other systems too. Maybe some, but not nearly as many as for e.g. Playstation or PS2, or SNES, or even Genesis/Megadrive.
moho_00: I'm a huge Sega Saturn fan and here are the exclusives that I'd highly recommend:
Albert Odyssey - It's not the best RPG on the system, but it's great if you enjoy old school JRPG grind fest 2D anime games...like me :D
Astal - Absolutely beautiful game, but don't let that fool you, this one is tough as nails.
Blazing Heroes / Mystaria - Although not well-received, I thoroughly enjoyed this game...but then again, I'm a sucker for tactical RPGs. I'm eventually going to play the unrelated precursor, which was Guardian War on 3DO.
Burning Rangers - This is an excellent, though quite short, action game.
Dark Savior - I recently played through this for the first time and loved it. It's a pretty cool action pseudo-RPG game.
Die Hard Arcade - Sure, you can roll through this game in about 30 minutes, but it's still a blast to play, especially if you have a co-op partner.
Dragon Force - This is in the running for my favorite game on the system. I think it DID have a PS2 re-release....but it was Japan-only (much like the sequel, sadly).
Fighters Megamix - I don't think this one had an arcade version, so it can qualify for this list hehe. You can fight as the car from Daytona USA.
High Velocity (aka Touge King: The Spirits) - Very underrated "duel" racing game.
Magic Knight Rayearth - I picked this one up when it was first released and I've loved it ever since.
Mr. Bones - Admittedly, I haven't played much of this game because it's way too hard for me...but it's an interesting experience.
Panzer Dragoon Saga - Another one of my favorites that's every bit as good as everyone says.
Saturn Bomberman - One of the best Bomberman iterations and supports up to 10 (!!) players.
Shining Force III - This is probably my favorite Saturn game.
Shining the Holy Ark - This is an often overlooked dungeon crawler.
Winning Post - A horse racing...simulation? Oh yeah, I sunk TONS of hours into this one as a kid (no, seriously).
There are plenty more great, exclusive games, but I suppose that's enough :P
to add to this list
sega rally
virtua fighter kids ( just to be off beat )
tomb raider ( the source version tomb raider was originally developed for the saturn before getting ported )
sonic jam ( all the sanic you could ever need )
nights in to dreams
christmas nights
panzer dragoon
panzer dragoon zwei
super puzzle fighter 2 turbo
street fighter alpha 2 ( superiro animation )
x-men vs street fighter ( switching partners actually works on the saturn version )
radiant silvergun
layer section
virtual on
dark savior
shining wisdom ( more like shining zelda )
darius gaiden
darius II
deep fear
disc world
discworld II
enemey zero
dungeons and dragons collection ( only version of these games untill they were rereleased on psn xbla and steam )
fighting vipers
final fight revenge ( ...good luck with that one )
last bronx
langrissser 1-5
the story of thor 2
lunacy\torico
D
mansion of hidden souls
megaman 8
megaman x3
megaman x4
mystaria
sega ages v1
phantasy star collection
bomberman
night warriors ( darkstalkers 2 )
and sonic R for the hell of it
and the ports of
virtua fighter
virtua fighter 2
daytona
virtua cop
and virtua cop 2
are not what i'd call ...inferior
vf2 is damn impressive for the hardware its running on
and except vf1 all these games are stuffed to the gills with secrets extar options and unlockables
actual unlockables
not dlc crap
the saturn has more then enough great games going for it
either souped up arcade ports
or great original titles
or better ports compared to the ps1 versions ( the saturn is a 2D powerhouse almost every 2D beat em up looks better and is better animated on the saturn )
the resident evil port for example has an added mini game ( battle mode ) 2 exclusive enemeies in the mini game
more gore
new enemies in the main games a second tyrant and exclusive outfits
the biggest problem with the saturn is that sadly most of its best titles were left behind in japan
edit:
sega was impressively thorough with locking down the saturn
>> To prevent regular old CD-Rs from working on the system, Sega had the Saturn disc drive check for a microscopic "wobble" pattern etched into the outer edge of the game disc itself (a CD-R's pre-set spiral pattern makes replicating the pattern with a regular CD burner pretty impossible).
In addition, the Saturn has an extra CPU dedicated exclusively to handling the CD sub-system. Before now, that CPU has been a frustrating black box for hardware hackers; they could send commands and get data, but they couldn't decipher its inner workings to try to develop a workaround. Even opening the chip up to examine the ROM via microscope failed, thanks to an implant ROM process Sega used in creating the chip.<<
http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2016/07/after-20-years-a-new-hack-gets-around-the-sega-saturns-copy-protection/
as thorough as sega were with the saturn so lax they were with the dreamcast
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MIL-CD though thats just one of the many things that killed the dreamcast but thats a discussion for some other time
( lack of funds lack of trust pr disasters bleeding money the ps2 hype the ps2 having dvd support sgea's in ability to drop the price of the dreamcast )
