Sports games on the Saturn
May 19, 2016 21:58:48 GMT
Post by Shinra on May 19, 2016 21:58:48 GMT
I thought I'd make a thread where we can discuss the highs and lows of sports games on the Sega Saturn. They're probably some of the cheapest and most common games you can find so I figured most of us would have at least 1 or 2 in our collections. Bundles you find on ebay are often packed with them because they seem to be hard to get rid of for any price. I've got 8 of them myself (not including racing games) so I thought I'd make some comments about them.
PGA Tour 97: I'm not a golf fan by any means but I think this is a pretty good game, it's got nice big courses and it's not been too hard to get used to. I know there are a few other golf games but I've not tried them as I'm not really seeking them out.
NBA Live 97: This is also a really good game, you can kind of tell EA put a lot more effort into this and PGA compared to say FIFA 96. The ever elusive Michael Jordan is in the game but he's been skilfully named "Roster Player" since he wouldn't sell his rights to EA for games. Fortunately you can create your own players in this one.
NHL All Star Hockey: This is the 1995 game and I do like it but it's not as easy to master. I have manged to score a few goals, again the player editing features are excellent in this and the other touches like having the commentators guiding you through the menus and a virtual tour of the hall of fame was really cool. Being able to create players, teams and whole leagues is great, the only drawback I found was players seemed to go missing and way out of position a lot, I suppose they just hate playing defense.
I've also got Euro 96, Worldwide Soccer 97, International Victory Goal, FIFA 96 and 98. I found Euro 96 to be so bad it was almost unplayable, how the heck are you supposed to score? Worldwide Soccer and International Victory Goal are very similar and while they're playable enough they're lacking in features and content. Graphically they're not a great step up from the Mega Drive. The same goes for FIFA 96, this game does have licenses which is nice but the rest of the game hasn't evolved much from 95 and International Soccer.
FIFA 98 is my favourite footy game on the Saturn so far. I had it on PS1 as a kid so it's one I know well and the Saturn port is not bad at all. Ok some of the quality is scaled down but it makes up for it with better licensing (Ronaldo is Ronaldo and not the mysterious No. 9). I like the customization options in this one as well, I think EA looked at the success they were having with their other sports games and finally put them in to FIFA. My favourite feature was the first, albeit crude, implementation of player transfers (that I know of anyway) never played 97 to really know for sure but 98 is just great for it.
What have you got? What's good? What's bad?
PGA Tour 97: I'm not a golf fan by any means but I think this is a pretty good game, it's got nice big courses and it's not been too hard to get used to. I know there are a few other golf games but I've not tried them as I'm not really seeking them out.
NBA Live 97: This is also a really good game, you can kind of tell EA put a lot more effort into this and PGA compared to say FIFA 96. The ever elusive Michael Jordan is in the game but he's been skilfully named "Roster Player" since he wouldn't sell his rights to EA for games. Fortunately you can create your own players in this one.
NHL All Star Hockey: This is the 1995 game and I do like it but it's not as easy to master. I have manged to score a few goals, again the player editing features are excellent in this and the other touches like having the commentators guiding you through the menus and a virtual tour of the hall of fame was really cool. Being able to create players, teams and whole leagues is great, the only drawback I found was players seemed to go missing and way out of position a lot, I suppose they just hate playing defense.
I've also got Euro 96, Worldwide Soccer 97, International Victory Goal, FIFA 96 and 98. I found Euro 96 to be so bad it was almost unplayable, how the heck are you supposed to score? Worldwide Soccer and International Victory Goal are very similar and while they're playable enough they're lacking in features and content. Graphically they're not a great step up from the Mega Drive. The same goes for FIFA 96, this game does have licenses which is nice but the rest of the game hasn't evolved much from 95 and International Soccer.
FIFA 98 is my favourite footy game on the Saturn so far. I had it on PS1 as a kid so it's one I know well and the Saturn port is not bad at all. Ok some of the quality is scaled down but it makes up for it with better licensing (Ronaldo is Ronaldo and not the mysterious No. 9). I like the customization options in this one as well, I think EA looked at the success they were having with their other sports games and finally put them in to FIFA. My favourite feature was the first, albeit crude, implementation of player transfers (that I know of anyway) never played 97 to really know for sure but 98 is just great for it.
What have you got? What's good? What's bad?
