New to the Saturn? Play These Games First to Understand Why it ROCKS!

Added: 2026-05-05

[00:00:12]Hello and welcome to Gamesack. Okay, so you're new to the Sega Saturn and you want to explore its library as well as its particular strengths and weaknesses.

[00:00:21]Well, this is the video for you. Now, this is not a top 10 list. In fact, there are a few games in here that I don't particularly care for, but they absolutely do demonstrate what the Saturn is all about. Some of my favorites are in here, though. Anyway, let's start off with a 3D fighting game.

[00:00:47]You can play Virtue of Fighter 2, which is definitely an excellent game. You could also play Fighting Vipers, another fantastic 32-bit one-on-one fighter. But what you want to do is play Fighter Mega Mix, which essentially combines the two and adds a whole lot more. You start out being able to choose from both the Virtua Fighter and Fighting Vipers characters. You can also play by either game's rules. You then choose a course to play, which have different groupings of characters. Beat one course and try the next. As you complete courses, you'll unlock more courses. You'll also unlock a bunch of new characters to play as, like Rent a Hero from that classic Sega game that never came out in the West called Rent a Hero or Dynamite Ducks. Who wouldn't want to play as Dynamite Ducks? Hell, you can even play as the car from Daytona. Not only is this crazy, but it's super challenging to control. A couple of the Virtual Fighter kids are in here, and that's great. Like I said in a previous episode, Virtue of Fighter Kids has no business being a full-fledged game of its own, but in here it works. There are stages from both franchises, and the Fighting Viper stages still have the cages. The Virtue Fighter stages, though, no longer have the rings. It's just an infinite plane as far as the eye can see, and the eye can see all the way to that 2D backdrop way off in the distance. That would be quite the hike.

[00:02:08]Kind of makes you wonder who paved all of this. There are no ring outs in the game, but the Viper cages can still be broken sometimes. The graphics run in the high resolution mode and usually at 60 frames per second, though there is some definite slowdown sometimes. The music is taken from both games and it's still great here. And it even has a few new tunes for certain things like the staff roll. This is a quintessential Saturn 3D fighting game, and as of this episode, you can't play it anywhere else except on the Sega Saturn.

[00:02:58]>> Sega Saturn.

[00:03:01]Here's Nights into Dreams, which was made ground up for the Saturn. Now, this is a game that personally I don't particularly care for, but it absolutely 100% oozes the vibe of the Sega Saturn.

[00:03:14]It's also basically the main mascot style game for the console, so of course you have to play it. In the game, you play as two different children who are dreaming. You inhabit the purple knights creature and take off to save the land of Nighttopia. If you work nights and sleep during the day, you're not allowed to play this game. I mean, it's in the name. It only takes place at night.

[00:03:33]Haha. No. Okay. Well, moving on.

[00:03:36]Basically, you fly around and collect blue and sometimes gold orbs. It's a video game. That means you want all the orbs that you can possibly get. You then deposit them into your orb bank account.

[00:03:48]If you have enough orbs, it explodes.

[00:03:50]You get graded and then you fly along a new course. Each stage has four courses to complete. Then, of course, you have to deal with the boss. You really want to use the analog 3D Sega Saturn controller for this one if you can. It helps the game feel a lot smoother.

[00:04:06]Having said that, I'm not particularly good at this game. At least I don't think I am. In fact, I'm not really sure what the point of it is. I heard it's mostly a score attack where you loop around the orb certain ways to get a high score or a better grade. I don't know. It's just something that never personally clicked with me. The graphics are mostly super cool and you can even play it in widescreen. The visuals all look very strange, but that makes sense since you're in a dream. The music is fantastic, and the stage music is produced by the Saturn's internal sound chip. It's not streamed, and it's also not Redbook audio. By that, I mean the game stages would sound the same if this were on a cartridge. And I don't mean that as an insult in any way. Lots of people who are not me love this one, and you need to check it out if you're curious about the Sega Saturn.

[00:05:15]How about a racing game? If you only play one, it's got to be Sega Rally Championship.

[00:05:28]Hell yeah, it's Sega Rally Championship.

[00:05:30]This game makes me think of the Saturn, even if I see it in the arcade or another game in the series on a different console. It's a rally racing game, of course, and in my opinion, the best one ever, despite how little content there actually is here, and honestly, there's not very much. You race one lap around three different courses. If you're good enough and come in first place, you unlock the hidden fourth course. You can change the lap mode from one to three in the option screen, and I always play the game with three laps per course just to make it last longer. And why wouldn't you want to? The gameplay is superb, though it does take a bit to adapt to the somewhat floaty controls the first time you play it. And even when you do adapt, it can still be quite challenging. Once you start memorizing the turns, when to bump off the walls, and all that, you'll finally make it to the hidden lakeside track. And for a hidden track, Lakeside is very welldesigned and constructed.

[00:06:22]This game, along with Virtue of Fighter 2, was responsible for shutting a lot of people up when it came to the Saturn's 3D capabilities. The visuals here are extremely impressive for the console even to this day. While it is unfortunate that it took Sega a year to get a handle on the 3D this well, it is still so good. You don't see much in the way of popup or warping. That stuff is still here if you look closely enough, but it's extremely minimal. Musically, the game is incredible as well with tunes provided by the incomparable Takanobu Mitsyoshi. You simply haven't lived until you've heard the game over tune.

[00:07:02]>> While you can play this game elsewhere, it feels most at home on the Sega Saturn.

[00:07:11]Medium left.

[00:07:17]medium left. Maybe one medium right.

[00:07:26]It's >> how you play the game.

[00:07:29]This one's called Dragon Force and it's a real-time strategy RPG brought to you by Sega and Working Designs. And holy crap, they were not kidding around when they made this one. I've never seen anything else quite like it on other consoles. You begin by choosing a ruler, and your goal is to conquer the land.

[00:07:47]You have a few generals, and each general can have up to 100 soldiers under them. You manage all of this through some rather complex menu screens. When you meet an opposing army, it's time to battle. This is where it gets even crazier. You've got 200 plus sprites on screen to show the power of the Saturn in that regard, and you can move the camera around freely. You give out different commands to your troop.

[00:08:10]And well, you're probably not going to believe this, but your goal is to defeat the other guy's army. You really only need to take out the general to win the battle, though, so focus on them. Then you go back and do administrative stuff, like giving out awards, and all of this has an effect on morale, and well, it's rather deep. For whatever reason, I've never had the patience to fully learn this game. I tend to love strategy RPGs, but this one is kind of overwhelming.

[00:08:37]These days, however, you really have to focus as there are even more distractions, especially with so many ways to play so many different games.

[00:08:44]So, I can truthfully say that while I've never gotten much into this one, it's clearly a quality title that stands on its own. I'm glad that I have this footage that I recorded a few years back when I was almost on the cusp of understanding it, using a few different guides, of course, which I recommend.

[00:09:00]The visuals and music are nothing to sneeze at. The way this one looks is quite unique to the Saturn. They did create a Dragon Force 2, which only came out in Japan, but Working Designs didn't bring it out over here because, as Victor Ireland tells me, it was bad.

[00:09:33]We are 5 years away from entering the 21st century.

[00:09:38]Here's X-Men versus Street Fighter from Capcom. Yes, this originated in the arcade and it's also on the PlayStation, but you can't play it at home like you can on the Saturn, especially during its time. This game was introduced with a 4 megabyte extended RAM cartridge. The game features two versus two matches, and you need to kill each of your two opponents during each match. You can swap between the two different characters that you choose at any time, and the one who's offscreen can get some of their life back while they wait. The fighting action is super fast and intense. You'll also notice very, very little loading during the course of the entire game after it boots up. This version really takes advantage of that RAM cart, not only to store all of the animation for up to four different characters, but large, spacious loces to fight on and highquality sampled sound effects and voices. It's not even worth bothering with the PlayStation version, which is missing so much. This is a 2D showpiece for the Saturn, and aside from the nitpickiest of things, it's absolutely the arcade at home. This is also a great example of the tremendous quality of Capcom's arcade to home ports back then, especially with fighting games. It's too bad that this game as well as the RAM cartridge stayed in Japan. A slightly more refined version of this game would be Marvel Superheroes versus Street Fighter, which is extremely similar, just, you know, refined.

[00:11:20]Every list like this needs some honorable mentions, right? Well, I've got 10 of them for you. And like everything else in this episode, they're presented in no particular order at all.

[00:11:29]Well, except in like an editing order.

[00:11:32]You know, I don't want to have two fighting games back to back. Yeah.

[00:11:35]Anyway, here are the 10 honorable mentions.

[00:11:45]I've got to mention Sakura Wars, aka Sakura Tyson. This is basically a dating sim/tactical strategy RPG. What a crazy combination. Dating simulations really aren't my thing, but you need to understand how insanely popular this game and this series is in Japan. If there's a game to define the Sega Saturn there, it's absolutely this. And the entire series started with this title right here. I can attest that the gameplay while dating and also tactical RPGing is quite smooth. There is a great fan translation so you can play in English like I'm doing here. They've also translated the second game which is also on the Saturn.

[00:12:39]Saturn Bomberman. This is a great game of Bomberman with large scrolling play fields. There is a ton of color and great artwork in this, plus the classic 2D Bomberman gameplay. And of course, we cannot forget the insane 10player local battles. If you have nine friends who love video games and enough controllers, you've just got to try this.

[00:13:15]Street Fighter 03. Sadly, the third game in the alpha series stayed in Japan on the Saturn, but it's another tremendous 2D showpiece for the console. The 4meg RAM cart helps with the exciting fighting action and the high energy. It has more animation than even the Dreamcast version of the game. It looks better, too, as it has a screen resolution far closer to the arcade original, so there's no weird shimmering during the scrolling here.

[00:13:53]Daytona: United States of America. Yeah, this launch game is extremely janky in many ways, but it has so much Sega personality in it, and the music is fantastic beyond compare. The game itself is extremely fun as well. Play this one to get a feeling of what the Saturn was like in its early days. Then compare it to Sega Rally to see how far they came on a technical level.

[00:14:28]The team who gave us nights also did Burning Rangers. This was a late game in the conso's life where you play as a firefighter who needs to rescue people in four rather large structures that you need to work your way through. The gameplay isn't bad, and for me, it's not tremendously engaging either. But, you know, that's just me. What this title does, however, is show off the potential of what the Saturn can actually do with 3D graphics. They really cranked up the lighting effects and even transparencies with this one. Might be worth taking a trip through this one just to marvel at it.

[00:14:59]>> Show till follow me.

[00:15:00]>> Yeah, right. Eat my dust.

[00:15:06]>> I've moved the survivors to safer ground. Restarting the transporting process now.

[00:15:10]>> Got it. Hang in there.

[00:15:13]>> For sports games, Decathlete is the first one you want to try. It runs in the Saturn's high resolution mode, is easy to play, but hard to master, and full of that Sega charm. Yeah, it can be pretty wacky.

[00:15:27]It's also fun trying to beat your friends world records or even your own.

[00:15:31]Even if you don't care about sports games, you might actually enjoy this.

[00:15:35]Alternatively, if you'd like some winter sports, you can try a game called Winter Heat.

[00:15:52]What have I done?

[00:15:56]Galactic Attack is one of many amazing 2D vertical shooters on the Saturn. I could mention so many of them, but I'm choosing this one as it just gets so much right. You attack enemies on your plane, and you can also lock on to the ones below you. There's something just so fun about this one, and it's tough.

[00:16:12]I've still never beaten it, but I always have fun trying. This is also one of the many games on the console that offers it.

[00:16:25]Sorry, I haven't done that in a while.

[00:16:27]But what's unique about it here is that some of the video effects are rendered differently depending on how your TV is rotated. You know, thanks to horizontal raster effects and stuff like that. This one is known as layer section in Japan.

[00:16:53]Dark Savior from Climax is interesting.

[00:16:56]It's a spiritual follow-up to Landstalker on the Genesis using a similar isometric perspective. You start out on a ship which is headed for prison island when the prisoner escapes. You wander around and platform. You can slash with your sword, but this isn't how you fight. Instead, you get into one-on-one battles similar to a fighting game, but everything remains isometric.

[00:17:17]You can even block. You have to win two out of three rounds. There are plenty of NPCs to talk to, items to get, and of course, puzzles to solve. You can even use the analog pad to look around your environment, but it's not needed. The game certainly has its issues when it comes to the frame rate dropping and slowdown, but it definitely is unique.

[00:17:51]Do you want some 2D Zelda-like action?

[00:17:54]Then check out Legend of Oasis from Ancient. Building upon the already excellent Genesis game called Beyond Oasis, this one is even better with action that's a bit faster, some more elements, and best of all, weapons that don't break. Some of the mazes can be a touch obtuse at times, but you'll figure them out. You go through the mazes to find elemental spirits to help you on your journey. For example, the water spirit can put out fires and even heal you. The fire spirit can melt ice and burn through wood. You get the idea. All of the spirits can help you fight with your enemy so long as your spirit meter has some juice in it. A lot of people overlook this one, so give it a go.

[00:18:46]If you want a great horizontal shooter, you need Thunderforce 5 from Technosoft.

[00:18:51]This is also available on the PlayStation, but it was built for the Saturn. It continues on the foundation of the Genesis games and adds some cool and weird new weapons. While the gameplay itself is entirely in 2D, a lot of the enemies are built with fancy 32-bit polygons for you to marvel.

[00:19:07]Lesser enemies are done as pre-rendered sprites, which you're still required to be impressed with. The game itself is fairly intense, but keep trying the different weapons to figure out which is the most effective on different enemies.

[00:19:18]Since it's a Thunderforce game, you know the music's going to be good, and it is.

[00:19:24]This game definitely shines on the Saturn.

[00:19:45]A pivotal experience on the Sega Saturn is Panzer Draon. And for this episode is Panzer Draon 2. Zwi, do R. I could go on and on and I think that whoever titled this game wants you to.

[00:20:15]This is Panzer Draon 2 Z. Yeah, I always just say Z. I don't try to throw a German inflection or accent into it.

[00:20:22]There's really no reason to. But since the two is there, you can just say Panzer Draon 2. Out of the three Panzer Draon games on the Saturn, this one is the Panzer Draoniest. Both of the other games are absolutely outstanding in their own right, but if you play just one, well, it has to be this one. You start out riding a dragon pup who can only run along the ground. That's okay, as the gameplay here is still just as fun as it would be if he were flying. I mean, he wants to fly and he tries, but he's just too young. So, back down to the infinite plane he goes. The PlayStation can't do an infinite plane, by the way. As you complete episodes, your dragon will go through puberty and have a growth spurt. How he grows depends on how well you did. And look at that, you can now fly. You also have branching paths if you can find them, so it adds a lot to the replay value. The world this game creates is fascinating.

[00:21:16]Sure, that world building began in the first game, but this one amplifies it greatly. There's nothing quite like it.

[00:21:22]Other games on other consoles may feature similar gameplay in many respects, but they don't quite feel like Panzer Draon. The visuals are uniquely Sega Saturn with the way that the polygons combined with the 2D infinite plane to keep the performance up and the warping minimized. I also just love the art style of these games, making everything look like it's from thousands of years ago. The music is outstanding as well. It doesn't feature the orchestra or the redbook audio of the first game, but what we get here is a driving beat that matches the visuals. A lot of the gameplay features a timed score, which is a very unique thing to do in games. Usually, music just plays regardless of what's happening on screen, but here it's often more like a movie.

[00:22:12]The first game did this as well. This game has it all. Even analog controls and true widescreen support.

[00:22:38]You thought you knew how to play the game, but no one has played this hard, this fast, this real until now.

[00:22:50]>> This is Radiant Silver Gun from Treasure. This is another great example of how many of the best games weren't released outside of Japan during the console's time. Yes, I've already mentioned Galactic Attack when it comes to vertical shooters, but this one needs even more attention if you're looking to get into the Saturn. Since it's a game by Treasure, there are more bosses than your typical game, and it may not be for everyone. I sure enjoy the hell out of it, though. You have six different attacks depending on which button you press. No power-ups and no super bomb.

[00:23:20]You can use the shoulder buttons to swing your sword to gather the purple enemy shots. Once you build up enough, you automatically do a super sword wireframe attack. That's as close as you get to a super bomb. This game is intense and it will take you lots of practice. The graphics are a great mix of 3D combined with 2D, all running at 60 frames per second. The Saturn really excelled when games were designed in this way. The game features virtually no noticeable loading after you begin playing, but you do get a bit of time to cool off as the bosses explode. It really is a tour day force for a Saturn shooter, and the equally intense soundtrack makes everything that much more intense.

[00:24:07]You won't see anything like this on any other console that exists except for the Xbox 360 where it also exists. But this is first and foremost a Saturn game.

[00:24:18]Even in the arcades, it's a Saturn game as the arcade hardware is basically the Saturn architecture.

[00:24:49]We've seen a few 2D titles here today, but at the start of the Saturn's life, Sega was swinging for the fences with this next game.

[00:25:06]The Saturn was known for its exceptional 2D capabilities, and AOL is one of the better titles to show this off. Yes, this early game is a sidescrolling platformer, something like we might have gotten back in the 16bit days. Certainly nothing wrong with that. Back when this came out, 2D games on 32-bit consoles were shunned by a lot of the gaming press. I also think that they were shunned by a lot of customers who wanted some fancy new 3D visuals on these expensive new consoles that they had just bought. It can be tough to appreciate a 2D game from that perspective. As stall as a game isn't bad at all, there's certainly plenty of fun to be had here, but in a few ways, it can come up a bit short. It feels like there could be a bit more here than a quick romp through some linear levels.

[00:25:52]But again, this was a very early game on the console. But dear god, check out these wonderfully handcrafted visuals.

[00:26:00]There is lots of parallax scrolling and plenty of examples of scaling, rotation, and even transparency. There had been nothing like the visuals here when this game came out, not even on the Neo Geo.

[00:26:11]In fact, we wouldn't often see visuals like this going forward. Even now in the modern age where 2D gameplay has finally been embraced again, rarely do we get visuals on this level. The music is great. It matches the visuals. I just wish that it were redbook audio instead of a highly compressed stream. It's absolutely worth playing through this game to experience what the Saturn can do in 2D.

[00:26:51]Sega Saturn, the most powerful, the most technologically advanced game system, anywhere.

[00:27:03]This is Bulk Slash and it's from CA Production and Hudson Soft. This is another great example of the kind of software that never made it out of Japan on the console. This is an original mech game that isn't even based on a manga or an anime. I didn't even know that such a thing could exist in the 32-bit era. It takes awesome advantage of the Saturn's peculiar hardware. Similar to Panzer Draon 2, it combines the infinite 2D plane for the ground while 3D polygons fill out the rest of the world as well as the enemies. You quickly find a navigator and she assists you in where you need to go next.

[00:27:37]Basically, you need to find and destroy different targets during each stage.

[00:27:41]After that, guess what?

[00:27:43]>> No, really guess.

[00:27:46]Wrong. What you do is you fight a boss.

[00:27:49]Then onto the next area. Sure, the game play can be a little paint by numbers, but that doesn't mean it's boring. It most definitely is not boring, mainly because it's done so well. You want to find all of those targets and you want to see how crazy the boss is and then you want to do it again in the next place. The graphics and the music are good stuff here. Like so many titles, it's a true shame that this one was left in Japan. It's no wonder that the Saturn did so much better over there than it did in the rest of the world. This one is easily playable without knowing Japanese, but there's been a complete English localization done by fans. Even the voices that are better than a lot of localizations we got back in the day.

[00:28:29]That makes this one even more enjoyable to play.

[00:28:34]>> Holy moly. Blam.

[00:28:39]>> It should be around here.

[00:28:42]>> You have come a long way.

[00:28:45]But are you ready for the future?

[00:28:50]>> This is Guardian Heroes from Treasure.

[00:28:53]This is yet another 2D powerhouse game that had nothing like it on any other console. Well, nothing quite like it.

[00:29:01]This is basically a beat him up or a hacken slash. Instead of moving around freely, you have three 2D lanes that you can cycle through at the touch of a button. You can avoid some attacks by switching lanes or even surprise attack an enemy. As you play, you gain experience, and you can power up your abilities however you choose between the levels. You can also choose what you want to do next, and that really adds to the replay-ability of this one. That's right, you'll face different bosses depending on where you go, and naturally that results in different endings. Do you have what it takes to see them all?

[00:29:32]The gameplay feels fantastic and quite solid. There weren't many beat them ups on the console, especially outside of Japan, and this definitely scratches that itch. Up to two entire people can play this game simultaneously during the main game, but there's a versus mode where six people can battle it out against each other at the same time.

[00:29:51]Graphically, again, it takes advantage of the Saturn's 2D abilities with tons of sprites on screen and just a lot of chaos. The chaos here is a good thing, though. The sound can be equally chaotic with all of the shouting and stuff that just adds to the excitement. So does the music, which itself really stands out with some energetic melodies, many of which are worth listening to on their own. And you can because this game has redbook audio. You just can't go wrong with this one. You can also play it on the Xbox 360, but like I said with Radiant Silver Gun, this is absolutely first and foremost a Saturn game.

[00:30:42]And there you go. Playing these games or hell, probably even just watching this video will give you a great idea of what the Sega Saturn was all about. And as always, this list is official and it supersedes any other similar type of lists that are out there in the world.

[00:30:56]They can go to hell. But seriously though, this list was very difficult to create. And what are some games that you feel best represent the Sega Saturn? Let me know. In the meantime, thank you for watching Gamesag Saturn.

[00:31:38]Nice.

[00:31:41]Craig Stadler, what are you doing in my bathroom mirror? Today is make or break.

[00:31:45]Craig Stadler, what in the living hell are you even talking about? Hey, Craig Stadler, look at this picture of an eastern bluebird that my friend Tom took. Great birdie. Also, look at this picture he painted a few decades ago.

[00:31:57]Great eagle.

[00:31:58]>> Do you take any pictures of wildlife, Craig Stadler?

[00:32:00]>> I'll show you my best shot.

[00:32:03]>> Craig Stadler, that's just a blur.

[00:32:05]Where's the wildlife? H, I missed it just a little.

[00:32:08]>> You don't even own a tripod, do you?

[00:32:10]>> That made my shot a little tougher.

[00:32:12]>> A long time ago, I took this picture of two foxes in my backyard.

[00:32:16]>> Great shot. And here's me wearing George jumping on my BMX bike, and I almost got 2 in of air that day. Well done.

[00:32:24]>> Oh, hey, Craig Stadler. Did I mention that I can finally do up to 15 jumping jacks in a row?

[00:32:28]>> You're in pretty good shape now.

[00:32:30]>> Well, it's been great talking to you, Craig Stadler. Catch you next time.

[00:32:44]What? Think you can get it inside mine?