9 replies to this topic

[iVYRAVE]

I have asked for my 17th birthday a Sega Saturn and it should be arriving today. I have a copy of japanese NiGHTS into dreams and Im not 100% sure its going to work. I'm also not sure what games I should get. Is NiGHTS region locked? What other games should I get?

[Nemoide]

The Saturn is region locked but, fortunately the Saturn has the easiest workarounds of any console I know. What you need to play Japanese games is a cartridge called "Action Replay 4-in-1" - the 4-in-1 is because it also functions as a 1MB RAM expansion, 4MB RAM expansion, or cheat device. You can buy one here.
Once you have that, you pop it into the cartridge slot and you're free to play Japanese games! And there are many great Japanese games for Saturn (especially shoot-em-ups), so the cart is totally worth getting.

Here's an article about some of the best affordable Saturn games.
The only problem with the Saturn is that it's been gaining popularity in the past couple years and even non-rare games have become pretty expensive. Racketboy has some other articles listing quality games for the system, so I'd recommend browsing the site if you're willing to spend more money than the titles in that article!

[iVYRAVE]

I've tried it and it didn't work.
I would only be willing to buy that cartridge if I had more than one non-EU game, would it work if I downloaded an ISO and burned it to a disk and used that?
Luckily my local shop sells saturn games but a I doubt he has NiGHTS

[Nemoide]

Burning a disc won't work on its own, but the Racketboy store also sells a modchip that would let you play burned games. It's more expensive than the cart though and requires technical know-how to install.

If you're reluctant to do either of those things, your best option would be to talk to the people at that shop and ask them about how regularly copies of NiGHTS come in and if they could put the next one they get on hold for you. That or ebay.

Hopefully you'll be flying in Nightopia before long!

[iVYRAVE]

Last night I ordered a copy of Nights, but realising SEGA has taken a bit of an interest into prting Saturn games I'm worrying whether it was a mistake to get a Saturn. The saturn cost £35 and Nights cost £17. Was the Saturn worth it? Are there any Saturn titles I should look out for that are probably not going to be ported?

[Nemoide]

There are PLENTY of Saturn games that aren't going to get ported. Since Sega's in a bad financial place, I'd be surprised if games like Burning Rangers or Panzer Dragoon Saga ever get a port (both are really expensive games, unfortunately). Some easy Saturn-exclusive recommendations with European releases from me would be Lunacy/Torico (which I admit to having not played but it looks really cool), Panzer Dragoon, or Parodius.

What genre of games do you like? That makes giving recommendations a lot easier.

[iVYRAVE]

There are PLENTY of Saturn games that aren't going to get ported. Since Sega's in a bad financial place, I'd be surprised if games like Burning Rangers or Panzer Dragoon Saga ever get a port (both are really expensive games, unfortunately). Some easy Saturn-exclusive recommendations with European releases from me would be Lunacy/Torico (which I admit to having not played but it looks really cool), Panzer Dragoon, or Parodius.

What genre of games do you like? That makes giving recommendations a lot easier.

I'm not fussy when it comes to gaming, but my preferences are ether FPSs, Beat 'em ups or Platforming

[Nemoide]

FPSs - Powerslave, Doom
Beat-em-ups - Three Dirty Dwarves, Die Hard Arcade
Platformers - Astal, Clockwork Knight, Clockwork Knight 2, Rayman, Pandamonium, Mega Man 8, Earthworm Jim 2, Croc, Mr. Bones

I'm not sure if all of those have had European releases but I've at least heard good things about all of them. They're not all exclusives, but they should give you something to keep an eye out for. (I've only played Astal, Clockwork Knight 1, and Earthworm Jim 2.)

There are also some AWESOME fighting games for Saturn - Night Warriors: Darkstalkers Revenge, Street Fighter Alpha 2, Virtua Fighter 2, and others.

Good luck finding things you like! Hopefully some other Saturn fan will post in this thread at some point and add to my suggestions...

[iVYRAVE]

Oh yeah I did manage to get Virtua Fighter 2 (but I havent mastered the controls. Also got Tomb Raider but the graphics and controls are awful. Thanks your help, Ill keep an eye out for them
The local shop said they might be getting some more games in (they only have sports ones at the moment)

[Thoughtcrime82]

Last night I ordered a copy of Nights, but realising SEGA has taken a bit of an interest into prting Saturn games I'm worrying whether it was a mistake to get a Saturn. The saturn cost £35 and Nights cost £17. Was the Saturn worth it? Are there any Saturn titles I should look out for that are probably not going to be ported?

If you like Bomberman, get Saturn Bomberman. Imo it's the ultimate, definitive version of Bomberman.