Top Ten SEGA Saturn Missed Opportunities

As we all may know, the Wii U is due out soon, and there’s also rumblings about other new consoles on the way. It makes me look back at some of my older consoles that I’ve enjoyed very much. Some of them I think went before their time, namely the Saturn and the Dreamcast. Both consoles seemed to have a lot of fantastic games released only in Japan, but shared the same short lived fate in the West. What if some of these titles had released in overseas?

I want to take a look at the SEGA Saturn in particular. There were dozens upon dozens of great games that, even during the Saturn’s lifetime had never seen the light of day anywhere else, or at least not in the same form. I don’t want to name a bunch of niche titles, nor do I want to compile a list of the ten best Saturn games, or even a list of my favorites. So, here we go, my top ten list of games I feel may have given the Saturn a boost in the West:

10. Dead or Alive

When this little game came out, I never would have figured it to be the blockbuster hit the series is now. Yeah, there was a PlayStation version that came out, but it wasn’t quite the same thing that had been seen on Saturn. It was more of a rebuilt “Champion Edition”. The Saturn version came out two years prior to the PlayStation version and was a port of the arcade version which ran on SEGA’s own Model 2 arcade board which also powered SEGA classics such as Virtua Fighter 2, Cyber Troopers Virtual-On, and House of the Dead. It essentially had to be remade from the ground up for PlayStation and a lot of changes were made, such as the introduction of staple characters Ayane and Bass.

I’ve seen many arguments over which version is better, and I think both versions are solid in their own respects. Supposedly Tomonobu Itagaki’s favorite version was the Saturn one, which is why a reworked version appeared on Dead or Alive Ultimate for Xbox. Had it been released in the west, I feel it would be regarded as a classic and remain one of the more highly sought after Saturn titles.

9. Princess Crown

It always bothered me when SEGA’s own games didn’t make it to the West. Princess Crown was co-developed by SEGA and Atlus, and a nice chunk of the staff went on to become Vanillaware. They would later develop the spiritual sequel Odin Sphere, which did receive an English translation and did fairly well in the West. Princess Crown is a sides-crolling Action RPG with some of the nicest looking 2D sprites I’ve seen on the Saturn.

Back when the Saturn was alive and kicking I always thought RPGs and ARPGs were a genre that was ill supported in the west, and I never understood why. Princess Crown was a very popular title among the import circles, and I always felt it would have done well if SEGA had given it a chance outside Japan. It really would have shown off the Saturn’s 2D capabilities, and it’s a fairly solid game aside from that. What really surprises me is even years later, the PSP port didn’t even see localization.

8. Radiant Silvergun

One of Treasure’s arcade masterpieces brought home. Radiant Silvergun is an absolute blast to play, especially 2-player. It was one of the first shooters I remember that took it a bit beyond simply blasting everything in your path. You don’t get power-ups but your weapons level up as you move along. The enemies are all color coded, similar to Ikaruga, but with three colors instead of black and white. It has an arcade mode, and a story mode exclusive to the Saturn version which includes exclusive cutscenes and dialogue throughout.

To this day, whenever I talk about Saturn with people, Radiant Silvergun is a title that’s always mentioned. Had it come out back in 1998, I’m sure this would still be regarded as a treasured classic. Fortunately there’s been an XBLA port recently and it hasn’t been completely lost to the sands of time.

7. Lunar: Silver Star Story

What’s such a shame about Lunar is how close it came to actually being released before it’s cancellation. Due out late 1996, it ultimately got canceled due to a conflict between Working Designs and Sega of America. It disappointed a lot of fans although we did get a nice package many years later when the PlayStation version finally released. Working Designs had released a lot of the Saturn’s most sought after titles, many of which are regarded as the systems best games.

While the PlayStation version was good, it’s still a port and many things didn’t translate over as good as they could have. The graphics on the Saturn version are a little bit sharper and the music is a lot better. If you ever get a chance to compare, the most notable differences are in the tracks “Toward the Horizon” and “Mysterious Cave”. Some of the overlays in dungeons were a bit different in the Saturn version with better transparency effects. Lunar: Silver Star Story would have surely been a hit on Saturn, as it was on PlayStation.

6. Phantasy Star Collection

Oddly enough, the Saturn always seemed to be missing a lot of SEGAs flagship franchises. While they brought out a lot of new concepts, we all expect to see some of those familiar faces as well. Imagine if the N64 was missing an original Super Mario or The Legend of Zelda title?

Around 1997 RPGs were starting to gain a lot of popularity in the west, and the Phantasy Star series has always been top notch. Phantasy Star Collection is exactly what it promises, all four of the Phantasy Star games from SEGA Master System and Genesis/MegaDrive all on one disc. None of the titles were improved on other than letting you select faster walking speeds in Phantasy Star II and III, but there were a number of little bonuses on the disc. There’s a movie gallery that lets you view the commercials for the original games, an art gallery, and some nice remixes of classic tunes throughout the menus.

I was never sure why this wasn’t localized. I can’t say I would have taken a lot of work, as most of the menus are already in English and the games had already been translated. I don’t think anyone would have bat an eyelash at the Japanese commercials or the Japanese box shots in the art gallery. Maybe replace them with their respective region or add it to the gallery? The Phantasy Star games are great, and the Saturn could have really used some familiar faces during it’s lifetime outside of Japan.

5. Dungeons and Dragons Collection

Featuring both Shadow Over Mystara and Tower of Doom, these were a blast to play and still are today. Both titles were your typical side scrolling beat-em-up except with multiple paths to choose, different items and spells, and experience points to gain. I think each time I’ve run through them, I’ve gone a different path, fought different bosses.

Capcom brought this one home to the Saturn using the 4MB RAM cartridge expansion, and it ended up being nearly a carbon copy of the arcade games with the exception of being 2 player instead of 4 player. The majority of the reason this didn’t make it out is due to the 4MB RAM cart. It probably would have ended up being an expensive title if bundled with the cart. At the time there was also a PlayStation version planned, but supposedly Capcom had a hard time making the game work well with the hardware. It clearly pushed the Saturn to it’s limits and even with the 4MB RAM cartridge, there was still a lot of load time. Sadly, these never saw another home release and due to licensing issues we probably never will see them show up on any future compilations.

4. Policenauts

From the mind of Hideo Kojima comes this lost classic. Policenauts plays almost identical to Snatcher, up to and including the use of a light gun for the shooting sequences. The story is just as riveting as any Hideo Kojima title and the fully animated cutscenes really bring it to life. I found myself playing more to find out what happens next in the story than for the game play itself, which is something that I wish would happen more often. While they’re not connected in terms of storyline, if you liked Snatcher, you’re probably going to like Policenauts.

This came so close to coming out in the west that it’s hard to believe it actually got canceled. There was a mock-up cover art that showed up in a number of magazines and promotional material and it even was featured in pamphlets that were packaged with other games. While I’ve heard a lot of rumors about its cancellation, supposedly it had something to do with issues syncing the voices in the cutscenes. It’s a really great game, and had it been released it’d probably be as much of a cult classic as Snatcher is.

The legacy has not been forgotten, though. The Metal Gear series is littered with references to Policenauts, from posters hanging in offices as Easter eggs to the music played during the Konami logo in the original Metal Gear Solid. Even the character Meryl is a direct reference to Policenauts and that’s just the tip of the iceberg. There’s been a number of different versions of Policenauts since its inception. While the Saturn version is generally considered to be the “definitive” one, the PlayStation version has recently had a fan translation, finally making this classic playable to a larger audience. With the rising popularity, I’d love to see an official release as a digital download on the current-gen systems. Come on Konami, I know you can do it.

3. X-Men vs. Street Fighter

The Saturn has a reputation for having really great 2D fighters that were very close to their arcade counterparts. At the time, X-Men vs. Street Fighter ended up being one of it’s best home ports. It utilized the same 4MB RAM cart I mentioned with Dungeons and Dragons Collection, which gave the Saturn the extra boost it needed to power this incredible fighter. This was the first in Capcom’s insanely popular VS series. The only other home version was the PlayStation version, which lacked the tag-team system that gave the game it’s intense fast-paced action.

Although there’s been a number of sequels, I’ve always felt that X-Men vs. Street Fighter had a certain magic about it that was never quite there in the others, and in it’s time it was one of the first fighters to attempt something really different from everything else on the market. Sadly, due to a copyright issue, it’s probably never going to show up in any collections anytime soon.

The required RAM cart was probably the biggest reason this never showed up outside Japan on the Saturn. It was fairly pricey when bundled with the cartridge, and if released in the US, it probably would have carried upwards of an $80 pricetag. Had it been released in the West, it could have been a gateway for the other awesome Capcom fighters that used the same 4MB cart, namely Vampire Savior and Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter.

2. Grandia

Grandia was the subject of a lot of hype when it was released in 1997. I remember the magazines calling it a potential “Final Fantasy 7 killer”. I was created by the same minds behind Lunar, and you could look at it as a spiritual successor. I absolutely adored this game when it came out and it was considered to be one of the best RPGs released on the Saturn, if not the best. The art style seemed like something from a Hayao Miyazaki movie, and the music was just absolutely fantastic. Sadly, Sega of America simply passed on bringing the title to the US. Despite the growing popularity of RPGs at the time, I suppose it was just considered too risky of a game to publish.

There were rumors of Working Designs expressing interest in localizing Grandia, but nothing ever came to fruition. It’s such a shame, as the Saturn needed some strong titles during it’s last years and Grandia would have been a good card to play. It especially could have used something to rival other systems “killer app”. I almost thought Grandia would have been a game that would never see a western release but in 1999 a PlayStation port was announced and SCEA quickly snatched the localization rights, with Ubisoft releasing it in Europe. Like most ports, they’re never quite the same as a game built for a system from the ground up.

Grandia really took advantage of the Saturn’s hardware thus making it hard to replicate on the PlayStation. The sprites don’t look nearly as clean as in the Saturn version, and the biggest difference of all are the battle scenes. They’re very crisp and clean on Saturn, where the backgrounds are blurry due to the compression used on the background graphics on the PlayStation version. However, the PlayStation version did have some better transparency effects, so some of the spells looked better. In the end, we did all get a chance to play Grandia and it’s even still for sale on the PlayStation Network. I still look back at Grandia and think about what it could have done for the Saturn in the west. Could it have saved a floundering system from kicking the bucket? Maybe not on it’s own but it sure would have helped.

1. Shining Force 3: Scenario 2 and Scenario 3

The Shining series is another great example of a SEGA console staple. The Shining series itself expands into multiple RPG genres, from Action RPG to more traditional RPGs. It’s created by Camelot, once a division of SEGA, now oddly enough Nintendo is their parent company. They’re also known for the Golden Sun series, Mario Tennis, Mario Golf, and Hot Shots Golf. Shining Force was their Strategy RPG endeavor with Shining Force 3 being the pinacle of the series. It had a compelling story, very memorable characters, a soundtrack by Motoi Sakuraba, and the great SRPG gameplay you’d expect from the Shining Force series brought to life in 3D.

Now, I know what you’re going say, “Didn’t Shining Force 3 come out in English?” Yes it did, however Shining Force 3 was what was called a “serial RPG” and was originally released in three parts, or scenarios. Each scenario tells a separate story focusing on a different main character. All three stories would overlap, and in order to see the true ending to the game, you’d have to complete all three stories. Although the first scenario does stand alone, I always felt the entire scope of the game was lost by the absence of the other two scenarios. I can understand the reasoning behind not releasing all three in the west, most people would be put off by buying three full priced games to see the completed story, but there were ways around this. They could have held back the release of the first scenario to release a package of all three not unlike what eventually happened with Arc the Lad, another great SRPG series.

Even if it couldn’t save the Saturn, it still would have made a great swan song to see the entire saga show up. Granted, Shining Force 3: Scenario 3 came out fairly late in the Saturn’s life in Japan. I hope that Shining Force 3 shows up in it’s entirety on a Virtual Console so people can experience it. Although, through the magic of fan translations you can patch your original Japanese Shining Force 3 discs and play them in English if you’re savvy enough to know how to boot them. I’ve only checked out the translations for a short while, and they seem pretty spot on. I’m still left feeling like we’ve missed out on some really great Saturn SRPG action by not having these.

There are a few titles I excluded even though I think they may have sold well. Castlevania: Symphony of the Night is one of them. The Saturn version was a bit of a “director’s cut” compared to the PlayStation version. It featured both Richter and Maria playable from the start along with some new bosses, enemies, music and a small handful of areas. However, it wasn’t necessarily that much better than the PlayStation version, after all, it was designed on it. Despite the Saturn being a 2D, it had some slowdown and some of the graphical effects and flairs didn’t translate well. Thunder Force v is another one I wanted to have on the list. I adore Thunder Force, and I think it needs to be mentioned, but I think it’s a bit of a niche title and may have been glanced over. Silhouette Mirage is another honorable mention, but once again, I think it may have been a bit too weird. Both of those titles did come out in the West for PlayStation, though, so maybe I’m wrong. They’re great games, regardless.

I’m aware that a lot of these titles came out fairly late in the Saturn’s life, and that expecting some of them would have been a pipe-dream. Many of these were on release lists and simply vanished from them. The Saturn never had the best marketing, even from the beginning. It’s sad, really, as the Saturn was a great system, and it had a lot of really fantastic games. Sometimes I wonder if Sega of America or Sega of Europe had taken a bit of a different approach if we wouldn’t have seen at least some of these games. The 32-bit era was also the era of taking fewer risks. Sony had their policy of not wanting to release 2D titles on the PlayStation, and SEGA’s policies seemed rather unpredictable.

As short lived as the Saturn seemed to be, sadly, the Dreamcast was a bit worse. The fortunate thing is, while these systems have gone to the wayside, the games themselves haven’t, and there’s always time to appreciate new gems for these systems that we haven’t had a chance to experience. Fans are working on translating games that the developers never did, and independent developers are busily working on new projects. Sometimes these old systems seem more alive than ever.

Agree? Disagree? Have some other titles you want to mention? I’d love to hear! Comment it up!