Games you would have loved to see on the Saturn

[thebtmaniac]

Let's suppose Sega wasn't in financial straights during the latter half of the 90s, for whatever reason. To make our our alternate timeline a little more realistic, suppose Sega was still losing to Playstation, but it remained competitive in the North American and European markets. It is the summer of 1997; the N64 just launched internationally a few months ago. There are no plans for a Dreamcast until 2001-2002. What software do you try to encourage or finance?

For me, I would look at the games that seem to be giving the PS1 wide-scale appeal, and I would do the same with our own 1st party or 2nd party software. Those games in the late 90s seem to be action-adventure, 3D platformers, and JRPGs.

On top of Panzer Dragoon Saga, I desperately would want a title with similar longevity to Final Fantasy. If I had the ability to direct resources and a broad set of plans, I would push for a Phantasy Star game using pre-rendered backgrounds and 3-D character models. For households that can afford two consoles, let's try to court the RPG fans out there by showing them we have what they want far in excess of the N-64. 

As for 3-D platformers, I think the obvious choice is an actual Sonic game. Even if production wouldn't be complete until 1999, Sonic was still too HUGE of a mascot in the US market throughout the 90s to not justify the expenses. He's one of the main reasons the Genesis became competitive in North America after the console was already out for a few years. 

I would also try to court Capcom and Konami to make 1-2 exclusives for our platform outside of just another fighting game. Square seems dead-set on remaining loyal to the Sony brand, but these other titans have recently worked with us, and at the time, they seemed to be at the top of their game.

[segafan2000]

Excluding games from developers who completely rejected the Saturn like Square and Namco…


First party games
- Fully 3D Sonic by Sonic Team
- Golden Axe: Revenge of Death Adder
- Streets of Rage game using Die Hard Arcade Engine
- Motor Raid (Model 2 port)
- Dynamite Cop (Model 2 port)


Third party/multiplatform

- Metal Gear Solid
- Silent Hill
- Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
- Tomb Raider II/III
- Resident Evil 2/3
- Dino Crisis 1/2
- Quake 2
- Oddworld: Abe’s Odyssey/Exodus
- Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver
- Gex: Enter the Gecko/Deep Cover Gecko
- Driver 1/2
- Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1/2
- ISS Pro Evolution (Saturn needed a great football game, it never got one)
- FIFA 99/2000 (the 3D series started to get good at this point)

[marc]

Apr 9, 2024 20:29:18 GMT segafan2000 said:

Excluding games from developers who completely rejected the Saturn like Square and Namco…


First party games
- Fully 3D Sonic by Sonic Team
- Golden Axe: Revenge of Death Adder
- Streets of Rage game using Die Hard Arcade Engine
- Motor Raid (Model 2 port)
- Dynamite Cop (Model 2 port)


Third party/multiplatform

- Metal Gear Solid
- Silent Hill
- Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
- Tomb Raider II/III
- Resident Evil 2/3
- Dino Crisis 1/2
- Quake 2
- Oddworld: Abe’s Odyssey/Exodus
- Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver
- Gex: Enter the Gecko/Deep Cover Gecko
- Driver 1/2
- Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1/2
- ISS Pro Evolution (Saturn needed a great football game, it never got one)
- FIFA 99/2000 (the 3D series started to get good at this point)

Tony hawk 1 would have been great on Saturn…such a good game, the console could have easily handled a decent port at the time.

Castlevania sotn was on Saturn, albeit Japan.

[roboyle]

Being of the era and thinking back to what I wanted at the time, FF7 just wasn't high on my list when it came out. The only RPG I had completed up to that point was Link's Awakening, and RPGs didn't seem that important to me and my friends.
For me, playing Colin McCrae Rally on my neighbour's PS was a game changer, I really wanted to see that on the Saturn. It had so much depth compared to Sega Rally that I still prefer it to the home version of SR.
I like segafan2000's list as a reminder, the Silent Hill games should have been eminently possible but I think a timely release of Resident Evil 2 would have been much more sustaining.... I think I'm now veering towards games that I thought would've keep the Saturn alive, rather than the hypothetical basis of the thread without limits! But I'll list another - the hype around Gran Turismo long before its release seemed to give the PS a big profile boost among my peers - of course by the time GT2 came out the Saturn was no longer a consideration.

Too many Saturn arcade ports only gave you a dopamine hit up front but then faded too quickly... I think games with greater depth to balance up the multitude of ports of Sega's arcade hits would've been great. And that's not just RPGs - for example, Saturn Bomberman had a campaign that took hours, a Master Mode that could be played repeatedly for hours and a Battle Mode that could've been played for days if sleeping patterns didn't interrupt things!

[Team Andromeda]

Without going OTT and thinking what was possible on the Saturn even if it sold well in the West here's what I would have liked to have seen 


Sonic Adv 

Shenmue 

GTA  - The flat roads should have been easy for VDP2 

Ghost In the Shell - Those flat floors and flat scrolling would have been perfect for VDP2 

F1 - The game that TT were working on before it went on the be Sonic R

SOR IV - Should have been a 2D showcase for the system and used the multi Tap for 3 player mode 

Golden Axe- Revenge Of Death Adder 

AM#2 Drivers Megamix - After the wonderful Fighting Megamix I was so hoping the rumours of AM#2 doing the same for a racer with a mix of their cars and tracks had me hyped.

Water World - Gutted this was dropped when it was 'said' to be a showcase for the system

Tomb Raider 2 

Xexex - To this day I have no idea when Konami never brought it to the Saturn 

Metal Slug 2 - Using the 4 Meg Cart 

Last Resort - Using the 1 Meg Cart 

Pulstar - Using the 4 Meg Cart 

Croc 2 - Given the wonderful work the team did on their 1st ever Saturn title. I would have liked to have seen what the team would have been able to do with the sequel on Saturn

Wing Commander 3 - Using the Mission Stick 

Battle Bakraid 

R- Type Delta & R- Types

[marc]

Apr 12, 2024 6:15:03 GMT Team Andromeda said:

Without going OTT and thinking what was possible on the Saturn even if it sold well in the West here's what I would have liked to have seen 


Sonic Adv 

Shenmue 

GTA  - The flat rounds should have been easy for VDP2 

Ghost In the Shell - Those flat floors and flat scrolling could would have been perfect for VDP2 

F1 - The game that TT were working on before it went on the be Sonic R

SOR IV - Should have been a 2D showcase for the system and used the multi Tap for 3 player mode 

Golden Axe- Revenge Of Death Adder 

AM#2 Drivers Megamix - After the wonderful Fighting Megamix I was so hoping the rumours of AM#2 doing the same for a racer with a mix of their cars and tracks had me hyped.

Water World - Gutted this was dropped when it was 'said' to be a showcase for the system

Tomb Raider 2 

Xexex - To this day I have no idea when Konami never brought it to the Saturn 

Metal Slug 2 - Using the 4 Meg Cart 

Last Resort - Using the 1 Meg Cart 

Pulstar - Using the 4 Meg Cart 

Croc 2 - Given the wonderful work the team did on their 1st ever Saturn title. I would have liked to have seen what the team would have been able to do with the sequel on Saturn

Wing Commander 3 - Using the Mission Stick 

Battle Bakraid 

R- Type Delta & R- Types

I fully approve of this list, especially xexex, maybe zanac x zanac as well eh?

Metal slug 2, yeah 3 as well

Pulstar and last resort, yeah. That said, ng:dev could have easily done Saturn games as well as neo geo and DC, would be cool as anything.

Battle bakraid… a no brainer, a missed opportunity

r type delta would have been cool as well

[Team Andromeda]

Apr 12, 2024 11:23:21 GMT marc said:

I fully approve of this list, especially xexex, maybe zanac x zanac as well eh?

Metal slug 2, yeah 3 as well

Pulstar and last resort, yeah. That said, ng:dev could have easily done Saturn games as well as neo geo and DC, would be cool as anything.

Battle bakraid… a no brainer, a missed opportunity

r type delta would have been cool as well

Thanks mate. Yeah Xenex was amazing that 1st level background made my eyes pop out when I played that for the 1st time down the local chippy 

I could never work out why Pulstar, Last Resort and few more Neo Geo games weren't brought to the Saturn more so given they were on the Neo Geo and would have been a nice simple port using the 4-Meg cart or maybe even the 1- Meg. I think Battle Bakraid date of hitting the Arcades worked against it but it would been lovely to have that as one of the last ever Saturn titles.

What might have been had SEGA not had to kill the Saturn off a little early and move towards the DC

  

[davyk]

Full on new 2D Sonic game. This would have aged like the finest of wines.

Raiden 1,2,DX. PS1 got these but would have been great to see them on Saturn

2D update of Micro Machines or an isometric option.

An original R-Type game

Sub-Terrania II

Dragon's Fury / Devil Crash II

Castlevania IV - linear - none of that backtracking Metroid bollocks.

The version of Doom that should have been released (the one Carmack didn't allow).

[segafan2000]

Apr 12, 2024 6:15:03 GMT Team Andromeda said:

R- Type Delta

Now that brings back memories, lovely game

[manticore]

I personally would've always loved to have seen Resident Evil 2 and Resident Evil 3 on the Saturn. But it's some consolation that the Dreamcast got them and they were great ports.

[martiniii]

Apr 18, 2024 12:11:49 GMT manticore said:

I personally would've always loved to have seen Resident Evil 2 and Resident Evil 3 on the Saturn. But it's some consolation that the Dreamcast got them and they were great ports.

Crazy coincidence, I just finished playing Resident Evil 2 for the first time. Definitely a game well-suited to the Saturn. And since the Dreamcast isn't launching until 2001-2002, Resident Evil - Code: Veronica is an obvious one that I would want on the system too.

After the M2 was cancelled, Warp started converting D2 to the Saturn. (For those who don't know, D2 for the M2 was a completely different game from the D2 eventually released for the Dreamcast.) Even though it probably wouldn't be a system seller, that's one I would want to encourage, since Warp were one of the few third parties staying loyal to Sega at that point, and you want to treat your third parties right.

Go ahead and make that Virtua Fighter 3 port. I don't care if it can't be arcade perfect; some of the Saturn's biggest hits were ports that weren't arcade perfect, and Virtua Fighter 3 was the talk of the gaming industry at the time.

Sony had an exclusivity deal on the Tomb Raider series from II onwards, and I don't think this thread's premise would change that. Of course, if it is somehow possible to get them, Tomb Raider II and III would help, but I don't think it would be possible.

It was nice that the Saturn proved it could do Croc, but the system needed a free-roaming 3D platformer all of its own. Bug 3 is an obvious candidate; while the first two games weren't certifiable hits, they established Bug as a viable character, and one who was certainly more ready to make the leap to free-roaming 3D than Sonic was.

The system could also have used a really good space shooter/simulator, something to compete with the likes of Colony Wars.

[segafan2000]

May 2, 2024 5:35:33 GMT martiniii said:

Virtua Fighter 3 port. I don't care if it can't be arcade perfect; some of the Saturn's biggest hits were ports that weren't arcade perfect, and Virtua Fighter 3 was the talk of the gaming industry at the time.

It was talk of the gaming industry due to its next gen graphics, in a way it kicked off the next generation of gaming as early as late 1996, incredible.

As I’ve said in other threads I don’t think Saturn would have been capable to the undulated stages, 3D detailed backgrounds and inverse-kinematics used for the animation system.

The closest we got was Fighters Megamix and there’s a good reason for that.

As for a fully 3D Bug!, yeah that’s something I’d have liked to have seen as the 3D platformer genre was hugely lacking on Saturn at a time when it was becoming hugely popular. I agree that Sonic in full 3D would have been difficult, Sonic World (part of Sonic Jam) was mainly flat making use of VDP2 while proper Sonic games need lots of varying slopes, and Sonic R only worked because of the tracks restraining movement.

Bug! 3 using the Sonic World engine as a slow paced 3D collectathon style game would have been very welcome.