Since it’s the 30th anniversary of the Sega Saturn this week, I was looking up articles from back in the day.

First up this feature from Sega Pro 30 - April 1994 (UK)

This magazine can be downloaded in full here:
https://www.outofprintarchive.com/catalogue/segapro.html

#retrogaming
#Sega
#SegaSaturn

feature on the Sega Saturn from Sega Pro 30 - April 1994 (UK)
feature on the Sega Saturn from Sega Pro 30 - April 1994 (UK)
feature on the Sega Saturn from Sega Pro 30 - April 1994 (UK)

  • @[email protected]
    2•2 days ago

    This brings back memories of when my dad decided he was going to get me a console as a gift so he took my cousins to the game rental store and they played the 3do, jaguar and Sega CD side by side to evaluate which one was the best. They concluded the 3do had the most fun games so that’s what I ended up with. Worth it for star control 2 with voices. And return fire was very fun as well.

    • Out of Print ArchiveOP
      2•2 days ago

      @[email protected]

      While I do have a Jaguar (bought one about 17 years ago just to play Tempest 2000), and I have a Sega CD, although with very few games.
      I never even seen a 3DO in real life.
      I’m not even sure if they were ever sold in Belgium actually, as I never came across one in second hand shops either here.

      Only ever got to play a NeoGeo AES one time in a random little shop back in the day.
      Played Last Resort and I wanted one ever since.
      Had to wait another decade for that to happen though.

  • JTO is Typing
    1•2 days ago

    @[email protected] As an American who very much did not know about the Saturn (despite owning a Genesis), the thing which brought my attention to the system at all were the Japanese TV advertisements after people uploaded them to YouTube. I’ve since learned that the lyrics to the full “Segata Shanshiro” song are quite elitist, but I still think that Bomberman commercial was just the right level of WTF.

    Reading the phrase, “double speed CD-ROM,” does not make me want the hardware, though.

    • Out of Print ArchiveOP
      1•2 days ago

      @[email protected]
      Double speed cd rom was pretty much the standard at that point.
      That’s why the model 1 NeoGeo was so rough to play as it was a single speed drive.

      The loading times on Saturn also weren’t bad at all thanks to the larger memory.
      2D games especially profited from this.

      Till this day it remains my most beloved system.
      It’s the system that actually felt like it was made just for me.
      That might explain the sales numbers in the west perhaps. 😅

      • JTO is Typing
        1•2 days ago

        @OutofPrintArchive Reading about how the memory expansion cartridges didn’t work outside of Japan without an additional regional bypass sounds pretty standard for Sega’s international missteps to me. “Plug in this thing, but you’ll need two other things to do so.”

        • Out of Print ArchiveOP
          1•2 days ago

          @[email protected]
          That’s just basic region locking though.
          The Capcom cart was planned for international release at a time, but due to dwindling sales, those plans were shelved.
          Barely any games that even supported it released outside of Japan anyway.

          And hm the biggest fans had a 4-in-1 import cart anyway.

  • Blue-Eyed Vibe-Checker
    1•2 days ago

    @[email protected] I’m convinced it would’ve done better without SEGA of America’s screwing up of the launch and the 32X.

    I was honestly surprised that it has half the games of the PlayStation and over double the N64, the support was clearly there for it before they royally screwed things up.

    Never owned one myself, we had a PlayStation, but I’d love to make games for it one day.

    • Out of Print ArchiveOP
      1•2 days ago

      @[email protected]

      Oh, I have no doubt.
      They did incredibly well with the Mega Drive, but royally screwed up during the later years of the 16-bit generation.

      What still bothers me is how for well over a decade, the narrative has been created that it was all Sega of Japan’s fault, while in reality, it’s the complete opposite and the reason people ran with that story was because only SoA people were happy to talk to the press, go on podcasts and book tours.
      Completely misrepresenting what went down there

      • Out of Print ArchiveOP
        1•2 days ago

        @[email protected]

        btw, it you have any level of love for arcade style games and Japan centric 2D and early 3D games, you really need to get a Saturn.
        Heck, it’s worth it just for NiGHTS into Dreams alone.

        Installing a Fenrir or Satiator is super easy and opens up everything to you.

        While I always recommend going with real hardware and actual software, prices are insane for a big chunk of the retro scene, so it’s the only for for many people to discover just how incredible the system truly is.

  • Billiam
    1•2 days ago

    For those not aware, “Project Reality” was the codename for the Nintendo64.

    Also I get that this is a pro-Sega magazine, but the amount of shit talking they do about the competition while hyping what would turn out to be Sega’s penultimate console is really funny in hindsight.