The Sega Saturn Awards

[Music] [Applause] [Music] what's up everybody and welcome to my completely unofficial very subjective and completely for fun Sega Saturn Awards here we're going to go over my picks for various categories such as best graphics best RPG and best overall game for the Sega Saturn no doubt some of these picks will incite disagreement so feel free to list your picks in the comments and let me know what you think I have also taken some liberties with some of the genre definitions to keep things streamlined and doable in a single episode let's get started [Music] when it comes to like guns the Sega released stunner is one of the best and it needed to be because Sega had a number of arcade games just begging to be released on the Saturn if you have watched my channel long enough you know I am a big fan of the genre mainly because they can be picked up and played by anyone of any skill level it didn't matter if I had a friend or family member with me that didn't play video games once that gun was in their hands and the flow of enemy started they knew exactly what to do these type of games were some of my favorite arcade experiences so I just had to add a category when talking about my favorite Sega Saturn games and the Saturn sure did get some great gun games I adored the port of Virtua cop when it landed as a big fan of the arcade version the Saturn take on the game was spot-on I love the graphics sound and challenge I also really enjoyed house of the Dead despite its technical shortcomings it's true House of the Dead didn't look a run so great but you still had to admire the atmosphere in the fun factor of shooting zombies and other assorted monsters hell so fond of the genre was I that I even enjoyed crypt killer a game often hated on by the Saturn community but when it comes to the best light gun experiences on the Saturn there is only one game that springs to mind is the perfect blend of arcade goodness gunplay and content and that my friends is Virtua cop 2 released in November of 1996 this Sega am-2 release was an improvement on the first in every single way the graphics were improved considerably most notably the texture detail and complexity of the geometry the gameplay was more dynamic as well this time with car chases and multipath gameplay it's also one of the best model to arcade ports on the system sustaining a great frame rate no matter what was happening on screen if you haven't fired up Virtua cop 2 on a Saturn with a sick-ass stun or light gun in tow you truly are missing a great experience [Music] puzzle games I can't say I'm a big fan of the genre personally but every so often one pops up that hooks me this actually happened a number of times on the Saturn I was a big fan of Tetris plus a new take on Tetris that had you trying to help a little Explorer dude escape traps when I consider what hooked me the longest though it was a pretty easy choice my pick for best puzzle game on the sega saturn super puzzle fighter 2 turbo released in December of 1996 by Capcom this one came out of left field for me I had never played the arcade game at that point so it wasn't on my radar at all but the guys I knew kept talking about it you got to try it they'd say but how good could a damn puzzle game about breaking crystals be as it turns out pretty damn good the gameplay is deceptively challenging different colored blocks fall from the top which can then be connected to light colored blocks to form bigger blocks breaking these causes blocks to rain down on your opponent the twist comes in which character you choose as this determines the pattern that the reigning blocks fall it can be a hell of an addictive multiplayer game but even against the CPU it's a blast the super deform Street Fighter theme adds a ton of charm and music for various characters and their games adds even more love super Puzzle Fighter 2 turbo is my kind of puzzle game top to bottom be sure you have it in your Saturn collection [Music] the dreaded retro sports category many collectors pass them by like the plague unless they are some ultra rare release worth tons of money when you find a mom-and-pop shop out in the wild they are usually loaded to the brim with sports games for every system old and new alike the Saturn was no stranger to some great sports games however particularly the ones developed by Sega themselves the World Series baseball line would be well represented on a Saturn this complete package of MLB action looked great and had the best gameplay of any baseball game at the time the Saturn had a slew of great soccer games on it some of which ran as smooth as butter and were some of the better-looking games on the machine EA would load the Saturn up of some good sports games itself particularly mat in 98 easily the finest American football game on the system when I consider what I need in a great sports game though there was a clear-cut choice that game was decathlete dropped in July of 1996 by Sega this our key track-and-field button masher was another one that shocked me when it was released sporting the Saturn's high-resolution 60 frames per second mode this one is still a looker today the game is made up of 10 events that can be practiced individually or played in succession in an arcade mode the colorful cast of characters to choose from add some personality and the competitive multiplayer is truly devious a friend coming over and breaking your world records would mean his initials would be plastered all over your game the drive to erase this stain could mean hours of trying time that would fly by because the game is just that fun it's called athlete kings in Europe and if you have any love for offbeat sports titles I urge you to give it a try [Applause] [Music] during the 32-bit era the first-person shooter was in its infancy on consoles we already had a few here and there but they tended to be simple and both concept and gameplay it didn't mean they weren't fun but things really began to heat up thanks to an explosion of interest in games like dune one such game Duke Nukem 3d which show up on the Saturn with a fantastic port it was smooth had multiplayer and was an overall good looking game for the time alien trilogy was another fun game in the genre mimicking the menacing atmosphere on the movies on which it was based but one game puts the genre so far forward on consoles that it leapfrogged the competition entirely that game was powerslave also known as exhumed first scene in September of 1996 lobotomy software would build an engine from the ground up to push their vision of what a first-person shooter should be what they created was in effect a completely 3d Metroid like first-person shooter the gravity of this cannot be overstated it was a completely different experience from anything else on the market you started out with nothing but a peashooter fighting Krabs but four or five stages in you were finding power-ups that allowed you to backtrack and find items and weapons and stages you had already visited the enemies got stronger - and you were soon facing goons that could stand toe-to-toe with you in a firefight the story was even strong with excellent narration and clear instruction on where to go and what to do to this day it's still a great game and the Saturn version is the one to own the genre would grow and evolve incredibly in the coming years but in the mid-90s powerslave was truly something special [Music] platformers have been around for a long time and were the core of gaming for literally the entirety of the 8 and 16-bit eras Sega's own Sonic games would help launch their 16-bit Genesis and Mega Drive to stardom despite Sonic's huge successful in there the Saturn would not actually have a mainline Sonic game to call its own this left a void on the machine not easily filled but that didn't mean that the Saturn went without I was a big fan of a stall for the Saturn it's true its gameplay offered little new for a 32-bit release but she had to love the game style it was beautiful to both look at and listen to and those boss battles were top-notch I also really enjoyed Megaman x4 I had always been a Mega Man X fan over the traditional Megaman games and this was one good-looking and playing experience I even like the Saturn port of earthworm jim - lots of great upgrades in this one and it challenged your skill at every turn when considering this category I had to take into consideration the introduction of multiple genres into platforming games sometimes a game simply wasn't a platformer it was also a run-and-gun shooter or sometimes mixed with many other genres as long as the core gameplay remained platforming I considered it though and with that in mind there was once again a clear-cut winner Dracula X Nocturne in the moonlight released in June of 1998 this port of the ps1 original is notorious for its shortcomings yes there is slowdown in this game that can be intrusive at times yes many of the original transparencies have been replaced by ugly meshes that look bad the thing is none of these things change the fact that this game is still incredible the things that made the original one of the best games of the 32-bit generation remain intact here the great world design and atmosphere is still intact though also music is here with even more added for your enjoyment there are even two new areas complete with bosses to explore you can play as the game's three main characters right from the beginning with one of them Maria being new to this version and quite different from the incarnation of her and PSP edition and yes this is still very much a platformer sure adventure and RPG elements have been added but I'd say that this is a natural evolution of the genre itself and those elements still take a backseat to the core platforming mechanics in any event it's easy to level criticism at this version of the game and if its shortcomings are too much for me to bear I completely understand for me however this game was still also on the Saturn and even with its mixed elements of other genres it's still the best platformer by a mile [Music] [Music] Racing and driving games would get one of the biggest booms in the move to polygons most games until that point were simple sprite scaling affairs that while sometimes incredibly fun still lacked the actual feeling of driving a vehicle all that changed when Sagan and Namco assaulted the arcade with their new polygon efforts and all of a sudden racing games were the talk of the gaming world and the Saturn had no shortage of some great racing games Road Rash was a fantastic racing combat motorcycle game with a brilliant soundtrack and some of the best gameplay that generation Need for Speed would get an ace version on the Saturn that I dare say was every bit as good as its ps1 counterpart a sharp improvement of the 3do original Sega's own efforts didn't go unnoticed by me either and I love Daytona USA even with a short draw distance and rough framerate even minks TT was a solid racer especially once you added some analog control tool but when I think racing and Saturn there is an experience that I simply can't deny that my friends is Sega Rally released in December of 1995 it was one of the early examples of the improved development tools Sega was pushing out to third parties and what a difference a year it made for Saturn development Sega Rally was everything Daytona USA wasn't visual it had a much further draw distance a much better framerate and even the texture quality was greatly improved the audio didn't get shortchanged either as the new Redbook audio made for the game did the original justice and I daresay was even better but what made Sega Rally so memorable wasn't just its visual and audio prowess but rather it's nearly perfect arcade style gameplay the gameplay is nearly flawless here that's not an over exaggeration or BS statement the car physics and handling are so good that once you get a feel for it it becomes a natural extension of your controller the lone weakness of this package is Sega's reluctance to Adam few more cars and tracks but the game plays so well it's an easy thing for me to overlook [Music] [Music] the adventure genre is an interesting one it often incorporates elements of other types of games such as RPGs these kinds of games would make terrific strides during the 32-bit generation particularly with deeper and more mature stories as well as new gameplay styles and refinement of existing ones games like resident evil would take the world by storm giving gamers attention and drama rarely seen before Sega's own deep fear would take that very style of game and put it into a new environment and create a pretty good game itself there was something out there so wholly unique that I simply couldn't look past it though it's my pick for best adventure game on the Saturn dark saviour dark saviour is a mix on our adventure game released in August of 1996 and developed by climax entertainment it's part platformer part RPG and part fighting game the excellent opening act sets up an intriguing story of a bounty hunter exporting a captured monster to a prison island where he can be kept away from decent society of course the [ __ ] hits the fan and depending on how you play the first act it will have a profound effect on the rest of the game utilizing what developers called the parallel system your gameplay and choices will branch off to new story elements that can lead to a completely different conclusion of the game the core of the gameplay is wandering around talking to people and exploring the environment the battle system switches entirely to a one-on-one fighter and gives you all new moves to learn and master it was a saturn experience that really didn't have an equal and if you enjoy games where you can alter the story in a variety of ways you should absolutely adore this one [Music] the beat'em up genre would cool down in the mid-90s and the Saturn would not see as many of these games as you may have wanted stake ozone Streets of Rage series would not make a showing on a Saturn nor would any of their arcade greats like Golden Axe The Revenge of Death Adder this was disappointing but the Saturn would still see some good games in the genre the at the time exclusive Dungeons & Dragons collection is a near perfect mix of arcade freedom of action the graphics and sound are also all top-notch and it's a package of games that every Saturn owner should consider adding to their collection the katsuo yakko channels the days of final fight in streets of raids fairly well with a fun cast of characters great locations and a kick-ass soundtrack there's one beat'em up on the Saturn that just nails every beat nearly perfectly on the system that game is Guardian heroes treasures January 1996 release of Guardian heroes was a godsend for me and my friends we were co-op and competitive multiplayer gamers and this one represented both extremely well the story was multi path meaning that you had control on where things went these paths could splinter the story into very different outcomes ensuring a ton of replay value a leveling system was in place to power up your characters and each hero had a huge amount of news to master in fact if you just went into the game mashing buttons like most other beat'em ups you were missing a huge assortment of combos and special moves hidden away in a robust moves list as if that wasn't enough it also has an arena based competitive mode that can pit up to six human or CPU characters against one another this mode is pure chaos and can be fun as hell adding yet another reason to love this package of pure awesome Guardian heroes was a quintessential experience on the saturn it was unique it threw around 2d graphics like they were nothing and there was simply nothing else like it anywhere else at the time [Music] when talking about the RPG category on the Saturn there is no single genre where Western fans of the system were screwed over harder than here the Americas in Europe would see a small percentage of the RPGs released in Japan where Japanese gamers got enough RPGs to fill a generation and then some western saturn owners had no idea most of these games even existed these games would define the Japanese gaming experience and keep the Saturn fighting strong in its home country even playstation favorites would see releases on the saturn in japan sometimes with exclusive content as a non japanese speaking fan of the saturn the vast majority of these games were cut off to me there wasn't any walkthroughs to help me deal with the language barrier back then so most of these games would pass me by unplayed what was translated and released in the West ranged in quality I really enjoyed signing for three it's a solid turn-based strategy RPG with great graphics and sound we'd later see English fan translations for the second and third episodes that were previously Japanese exclusive although I don't hold Panzer Dragoon saga in the same esteem as many in the community I still feel it's a great game with a truly unique combat system and a soundtrack from the Gods shining the holy ark was a first-person RPG with a great story and a solid combat system itself it was the kind of game that was easy to overlook because it had virtually no marketing behind it coming and going with little fanfare the best RPG games to me were always about friends coming together and building unforgettable relationships to overcome insurmountable odds and no game in the genre did this better than magic knight rayearth originally released in japan in August of 1995 having to deal with a bevy of hurdles during development working designs wouldn't get this one to the North American market until November of 1998 making it the last retail Saturn game ever released their magic knight rayearth is about three young friends who must go on a journey of discovery in the fantastical world of suffer oh and rescue princess emerald there's plenty of antagonists along the way to make the job difficult and they will do their best to stop you at every turn this is what is often called an action RPG with a battle system that focuses on real-time gameplay over turn-based or random attacks you still get plenty of ways to upgrade your characters during the course of the gameplay and there is a ton of story elements for you to deep dive into to get a better feel for the characters and their motivations magic knight rayearth is a beautiful game visually with lush color great hand-drawn sprites and special effects that often fill the screen with nice transparencies it also has a truly memorable soundtrack which fits the game like a glove and always adds to the atmosphere and ambience to the scene it's paired with whichever way you need to do it take some time and play this gem of a release it remains exclusive to the Saturn and is nothing less than a true classic [Music] [Music] the shoot-'em-up genre is often considered one of the Saturn strongest it's got a great mix of games that range from arcade ports to system exclusives like the RPG genre many of these games remained in Japan unreleased anyplace else in the world this would of course be ashamed incredible titles like Shion Ryu jizz beg to be played by gamers everywhere its blend of incredible graphics sound and gameplay made it an easy game to love my personal favorite was a shooter that embodied everything I loved about the Saturn it had to take advantage of the hardware in ways few other games could and it had to have unique gameplay additions that made it stand out that game was cotton - magical night dreams based on the STV Titan arcade game and released in December of 1997 by success this direct sequel to the original cotton fantastic night dreams takes everything you loved about the original game and takes it up a level the graphics have been built from the ground up to take advantage of the Saturn sprite and bat ground abilities like few other games on the hardware sprites scale and rotate beads filling the screen with tons of action that rarely misses a beat transparencies are thrown about like they're nothing and bosses are often huge and fill the screen cotton two's gameplay is just as engrossing as its graphics this is still very much a shoot-'em-up with a great powerup system based around crystals representing various elemental attacks and specials but you also have the ability to grab and throw enemies and their attacks at will creating a sort of mini game around melee attacks that can be both offensive and defensive in nature finally cotton - also nails the music side of the equation giving you some great tunes to beat down your foes - as if all that wasn't enough there's also a remixed version of this game called cotton boom arranged this changes around a few things like playable characters as well as enemies and stage layouts it's a welcome addition to an already memorable game it's the kind of experience to Saturn excelled at and there was nothing like it that generation [Music] [Music] the fighting game category here was without question the single hardest category to pick a game that I would put above all others x-men vs. Street Fighter was of course a must play introducing us all to Capcom's take on the tag team vs. fighter and coupled with the Saturn's 4 megabyte ram cartridge brought home the arcade version nearly perfectly Capcom would again while with the 4 megabyte ram cartridge in the form of vampire savior a fighting game that introduced various legendary characters mixed with Street Fighter style controls even the weird and wonderful Japanese fighters like groove on fight would represent the system well filled with excellent animation and solid gameplay this was one that was easy to pick up and enjoy there was a fighter on the system that was simply the total package though and that game was Street Fighter 0-3 released in August of 1999 by Capcom and exclusive to Japan this was the ultimate evolution of the 0 and alpha play mechanics sporting a cast of characters both familiar and new there was no shortage of play styles to choose from the four megabyte RAM car tried to would again show up and allow great things to happen in this port character animation is intact and faithful to the original arcade once you are done messing around with the mini single-player modes at your disposal you then have a host of dramatic battle options to choose from want to beat the computer up with a buddy go for it wanna beat the computer up with a computer-controlled buddy you can do that too you can also turn the tables and pit to AI controlled computer opponents against yourself a mode that can challenge even well-seasoned Street Fighter fans no matter how you slice it Street Fighter zero 3 is a game well represented on the Saturn and whether it's variety of play modes and toad is easily my pick for the best fighting game on the system [Music] the sound category is mainly a look at music composition within a game when I looked at games here I wanted music that conveyed powerful feelings of emotion driving the gameplay at played to and made the experience that much better a great musical score can be transformative it can define a feeling an atmosphere and it can even tell a story without saying a single word there are a number of games on the Saturn that feature incredible music damn near every shooter on the system has a soundtrack worth listening to and of course a number of RPG games show up with soundtracks that can easily stand on their own as some of the best work from that generation when I think back to the music that moved me to my very core there was a clear winner for me and that game was Panzer Dragoon originally released in March of 1995 Panzer Dragoon is a rail shooter of the highest quality it was an early winner that showed the Saturn could do 3d graphics with some competency and had gameplay that redefined what a shooter could be for me but it was the absolutely unforgettable music that stuck with me all these years from the opening cinematic crawl to the streets of the Dragon as it's dying Master Falls from its back to the atmospheric and scene setting tunes that punctuated each stage Panzer Dragoon epic audio presentation is the thing all games should aspire to the ability to move you not just with a visual cue but also set the mood and emotion of a scene with audio as well all the Panzer Dragoon games had soundtracks that did their experiences justice but for me the first is simply untouchable and my choice for best music on the system [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] the graphics award here was another conundrum that left me wondering exactly how I should approach it do I choose a game that pulled off technical tricks that the Saturn supposedly couldn't do or did I choose a game that simply pushed the Saturn hard with sky-high frame rates and resolution there's also the artistically beautiful games that simply look like nothing else on the machine some games use the hell out of the Saturn special functions to such a degree where other systems simply had nothing that looked like them the Saturn also had a number of system enhancement peripherals to consider such as its ROM and RAM cartridges the sheer amount of beautiful animation on display via these devices again gave the Saturn games you couldn't get anywhere else at the time there was also the consideration of how to approach the divide that was often between the 2d and 3d sight of themes many 3d polygons games on Saturn reports of games from other systems and left much to be desired this gave the impression the Saturn was a more capable 2d system and its massive library of shooters and fighters lends a fair bit of support to this thinking but when the Saturn was in the right hands and an engine was built from the ground up for its many processors and unique rendering methods something special would often come from it Sega themselves would of course grace the system with a number of great 3d arcade ports and home exclusives but even a number of third parties had some kickass 3d engines on display when I finally settled on a winner it was a game that truly showed the hardware in a way nothing else could and that was Panzer Dragoon 2 zwei released in March of 1996 and developed by team Andromeda Panzer - was a full-on evolution of the previous engine seen in Panzer Dragoon the framerate was smoother the detail turned up the environments more varied and the scope and scale of the levels increased dramatically there's also a number of big improvements in the complexity of the enemies and boss battles everything looks meaner bigger and often paired with an environmental effect that looks incredible Panzer 2 seemingly takes advantage of everything the Saturn was capable of doing technically but it's also an artistic bombshell as well this world is both alien and familiar serene and threatening magical and mechanical and pulls it all together and perhaps one of the most visually arresting games of that generation it was hard to look away from the game once you saw it running every detail so unique and every creature peeking your curiosity it set expectations for Saturn graphics so high few games ever came close to living up to it made owning a Saturn a little less painful with all the other shortcomings happening and I'll never forget how it felt to own it that year [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] best overall game you are talking about choosing a single game out of hundreds to call the definitive best experience on the Saturn no matter what you choose and try and justify it you will be leaving countless awesome experiences by the wayside making this choice has to be something bordering on an experience you couldn't get anywhere else and would have to expose the player to content so engrossing few games could even compete and despite every word I just said this was one of the easiest decisions I had to make in this episode the best game on the Sega Saturn is Dragon Force originally released in Japan in March of 1996 working designs would do the honors of translating it to English and releasing it in December of the same year it's a strategy RPG game at its heart but incorporates a number of elements from other game types as well you choose your character in the beginning a leader forced into war by the awakening of a dark God you control a small piece of the map at this point and have a handful of generals that follow you each general controls an army and with those men you will storm castles and fight battles all over the map as you level up you have the ability to gain more troops different kinds of troops more special abilities and recruit more warriors to your calls armies eventually grow to a maximum of a hundred per side giving way to battles with 200 sprites on screen these massive battles take place in real time with you having the ability to command your troops with various strategies on the fly some troops have advantages over others forcing you to think on your feet if a mismatch is thrust upon you generals have a turn-based special attack system in place that can do damage to the opposing general army or both at the same time these special attacks can swing the entire tide of the battle on their own and are pivotal considerations when entering into a confrontation you can go about conquering the map any way you see fit you can be aggressive and go right after your neighbors or you can play it safe and let them come to you the story unfolds as you make progress and take over more areas of the map eventually you'll be Harold the Lord of lords and true evil will be revealed Dragonforce is a spectacular looking game it renders armies of hundreds of sprites on screen at the same time with special effects often filling the screen on top of those the soundtrack is epic - with battle music you'll be hearing in your head long after the power to the system has been turned off it can be an intimidating game the first time you fire it up and the game doesn't hold your hand in the beginning leading many to believe it's overly complicated or not truly understanding how to play it I assure you it's actually quite easy to come to terms with and once you get started you'll have all kinds of trouble putting it down [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music]

Channel: Sega Lord X

Views: 94,651

Rating: 4.9173422 out of 5

Keywords: segalordx, sega lord x, sega saturn, sega genesis, sega dreamcast, mega drive, megadrive, game gear, 32x, seca cd, mega cd, genesis, saturn, master system, best saturn games, best saturn rpgs, best saturn games of all time, sega rally, dragon force, guardian heroes, street fighter, dracula x, magic knight rayearth, powerslave, dark savior, cotton 2, cotton boomerang, panzer dragoon, sega

Id: TPT-5HIfv0w

Length: 38min 36sec (2316 seconds)

Published: Sat Sep 29 2018