skyrunner14
Saturn Player
Joined: December 2010
Posts: 107
Location:
|
Post by skyrunner14 on Aug 15, 2011 2:20:48 GMT
I'm not sure whether this applied to people in Europe, but any Saturn fan in America will be familiar with the shmuck know as Bernie Stolar, whose overall stupidity and poor decision-making doomer any success the Saturn may have gotten in America. The purpose of this topic is basically that of a list: a list of games that simply didn't come to America or Europe due to a variety of reasons.
Games like Grandia (No RPGs), Silhouette Mirage (No 2D games), and the Saturn version of Symphony of the Night (Got released in the U.S. on the Playstation, so no Saturn release here) are all examples of the above. So, any really good games that fit under these qualifications that really should have gotten a chance in countries other than Japan?
|
|
|
|
Post by Yart on Aug 15, 2011 2:30:17 GMT
Every Shmup.
Imagine if DoDonPachi and Battle Garegga left Japan. In The Hunt woulda looked horrible.
Actually even Super Tempo woulda been cool. While I'm not a fan of Tempo 32X, it woulda been a nice treat for the people who skipped on the 32X.
|
|
|
|
Post by Syntesis on Aug 15, 2011 2:43:58 GMT
Hyper Duel, Blast Wind and both Thunder Force Gold Packs were going to be released in the US but Victor Ireland cancelled all of them when SOA screwed over Working Designs at E3 over their promised booth space.
|
|
|
|
Post by Anthaemia. on Aug 15, 2011 16:26:55 GMT
The notorious five star policy robbed Americans of many high profile Japanese titles... and yet Bernie Stolar let Courier Crisis slip through the net he created! How is that fair?
|
|
RealBlue
Realistic 25 fps snowboarding action!
Joined: September 2007
Posts: 1,928
Location:
|
Post by RealBlue on Aug 15, 2011 17:12:41 GMT
I'm pretty sure Sony had a similar policy for a while but lifted it after about six months when they realised how stupid it was. There was an interview article in Retro Gamer with some Team 17 guys talking about the early 90's & how Sony at first turned them away when they wanted to port Worms to the Playstation.
|
|
NeoGeoNinja
Shadow Warrior
Joined: August 2011
Posts: 6,616
Location:
|
Post by NeoGeoNinja on Aug 16, 2011 11:14:49 GMT
All the games that used the 1M/4M RAM carts. I think I read that SoA didn't think Americans would pay for one. I MUST ADMIT... I was pretty impressed, at the time, to see KOF 95 make it over here, complete with the ROM cart. Definitely one of those games I read about in the magazines that I never expected to see released here (In the UK). I *think* I read that Xmen Vs Street Fighter was very nearly green lighted for a PAL release (complete with 4mb RAM) up until Virgin pulled the plug on it at the last minute. Not sure if anyone can shed any further light on this, as what I heard may well have been bullsh*t!  |
|
|
|
Post by Anthaemia. on Aug 16, 2011 15:30:31 GMT
I *think* I read that Xmen Vs Street Fighter was very nearly green lighted for a PAL release (complete with 4mb RAM) up until Virgin pulled the plug on it at the last minute. Not sure if anyone can shed any further light on this, as what I heard may well have been bullsh*t! As the publisher of Capcom's games in Europe, Virgin initially felt that any titles dependent on the 4MB RAM cartridge would not be financially worth bringing over here. Sega Europe then offered to release the X-Men VS Street Fighter instead (as it had done with Resident Evil on the Saturn already) at the price of just £49.99 with costs for the necessary memory upgrade absorbed internally. However, following months of negotiating on the subject, Virgin dropped out because it felt that £79.99 was a more suitable value. Besides, this would mean generating at least some profits on a game it still wasn't sure would even sell in the first place. By the time a deal was even close to being made, Sega declared that it would no longer be supporting its 32-bit console in PAL territories after a specific date - which I think was September 1998 - and so Virgin focused on getting its wares out for the PlayStation instead. Much of this ill-fated story was covered in the pages of SSM, and I seem to recall the fluctuating price definitely being mentioned in great detail. As a result of their falling out around this period, Virgin also denied Sega Saturn owners a chance to experience Resident Evil 2. For those who don't know, unlike the original this sequel didn't have an exclusivity window on Sony's platform, and porting team Nextech was busy working on a Saturn version right up until the middle of 1997 when development was restarted with the PS as its now sole platform. Meanwhile, over in Japan, there were rumours that Capcom had plans for at least two more 4MB games after Street Fighter Zero 3, with Marvel VS Capcom, Red Earth and Street Fighter III all names that are regularly brought up as possible candidates. As for back here, there's absolutely no chance any of these titles would ever have appeared on shelves due to their use of an upgrade that had already been refused a release. Sega could quite easily have issued the 4MB RAM cart as a standalone item, though I suspect part of its absence was also due to concerns of repeating the same mistakes that had been made barely a generation earlier with the 32X. Not wanting to unleash another unnecessary and little-supported hardware upgrade, management chose to wind down its activities for a few months in order to focus its resources on launching the Dreamcast to the best of its abilities. To make one very quick final point (and one I believe I'd made before, but still...), the PAL version of X-Men VS Street Fighter was even assigned a serial number and projected release date. Of course, with talks going on longer than originally anticipated this kept slipping, with January, February and finally April '98 all listed before the plug was eventually pulled. Ironically, the code allocated for this game was one above that of Deep Fear, which became the last Saturn title issued over here. For a brief period, this same number was listed as being the possible code for Sonic The Fighters and even Saturn Virtua Fighter 3! My previous discussions on the latter are notorious, so who really wants me to open that proverbial can of worms AGAIN? I'm sure you're all sick to the back teeth of me going on about that one, so for now I'll be merciful and not dig too much into this particular subject. Be grateful. |
|
mattfrie1
Saturn Player
Joined: March 2011
Posts: 78
Location:
PSN: Retro_Gamer_64
|
Post by mattfrie1 on Aug 16, 2011 15:33:03 GMT
I always wondered why the only Psygnosis game released here in the US for the Saturn was the first Wipeout. However, Europe and Japan also got Wipeout 2097, Destruction Derby, 3D Lemmings, and Krazy Ivan. Maybe SoA didn't think there was enough interest in them?
|
|
|
|
Post by Anthaemia. on Aug 16, 2011 15:59:59 GMT
According to a press statement from early 1997, publisher THQ actually signed a deal with Psygnosis to issue several of its titles on the Saturn in America. Here's the original release plan:
1st Quarter - Destruction Derby, Krazy Ivan and Assault Rigs
2nd/3rd Quarter - Adidas Power Soccer, G Police, Sentient and Life Force Tenka
Sega was looking to pick up WipEout 2097 in America, but I'm not actually sure what happened to that, especially considering the improvement in quality over the original conversion.
As for other PlayStation-to-Saturn ports, I know that Destruction Derby 2 and Formula 1 were also in development, the latter only very briefly. I've already mentioned Resident Evil 2 as well (see my previous message), so I won't go into that one again...
Finally, I always thought the first Destruction Derby was available for the Saturn in the US - I've seen box art of this one for years, not realising until now that it never came out over there! Who'd have thought it?
|
|
|
|
Post by bradcap1 on Aug 16, 2011 20:15:04 GMT
Finally, I always thought the first Destruction Derby was available for the Saturn in the US - I've seen box art of this one for years, not realising until now that it never came out over there! Who'd have thought it? After watching clips of DD on youtube as well as what I recall from the PS1 original, I can't say that I'm sad I missed out on it. However, Wipeout 2097 would have been nice. |
|
|
|
Post by Anthaemia. on Aug 16, 2011 22:08:02 GMT
Well, there's always the Japanese version, but I hear that it's quite rare...
|
|
skyrunner14
Saturn Player
Joined: December 2010
Posts: 107
Location:
|
Post by skyrunner14 on Aug 16, 2011 23:26:00 GMT
Assault Rigs is rare? That would explain why it took so long for a copy to show up on eBay... It's a pretty fun little game, though I was dissapointed too find out the multiplayer mode was cut in the Saturn release. Where there not a lot made?
|
|
|
|
Post by Anthaemia. on Aug 16, 2011 23:58:09 GMT
Actually, I was referring to the Japanese version of WipEout 2097, or XL as it's known over there - sorry, I should have made that a little more obvious!
|
|
