Sega Saturn: We Salute You

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Blue, blue, skies![/align]If there never was a Sony Playstation, we would never read an article called Why the Saturn was the worst major console of all time. It's no secret that the Saturn was a market failure in the United States and the Sony Playstation triumphed. And that's why we've got a Playstation 3 and not a Dreamcast 3. Sadly, Sony vs. Sega fanboyism still exists years later, and those who still cling to their anti-Sega dogma (much like Nvidia vs. 3dfx or the modern Nintendo vs. Sony or the old) still don't get it -- so I decided (as a Saturn owner) to share my own biases on the subject. *ahem*

[digg]http://www.digg.com/software/Sega_Saturn_We_salute_you[/digg]Perhaps the biggest letdown in my gaming life was Christmas day of 1987, when I unwrapped the Atari 7800 my uncle bought for our family. At this point, I had been playing Atari 2600 since I was four, and was already enveloped into the worlds of Jungle Hunt, Breakout, and Kaboom. I did not know much about the Nintendo yet, but I knew from the expression on my disappointed brother's face that we didn't get the good one. If you owned an Atari 7800 in the late 80s and your friends all had an NES, you were at a severe disadvantage, to say the least.

I've always rooted for the underdog. I owned a TurboGrafx-16, and years later found another Duo in a clearance bin for $20 (<3 TurboZone Direct). I've owned two Saturns now. I played it last night, and perhaps that's why I felt the urge to reply to the article linked above.

I purchased my Sega Saturn at Good Guys in Silverdale, Washington. I had saved up fifty bucks or so each month from my paper route and decided to buy a next-generation game console one night at about 9:30 PM, after I had counted up over $80 in change. My dad rushed us down to the store, which closed at 10 PM. We stuck around the store past the time it had closed while they counted the dimes and quarters for me on the counter.

If my mom knew I spent $400 and change a Saturn over a Playstation after reading a site like Cnet, she would probably be upset with my decision. But she had never played Virtua Fighter 2 in an arcade.

[nq]Almost every game on that system had Sega magic in it.. Almost every one felt unique from what was on the PSX or n64.
-James K[/nq]

Despite poor sales numbers, criticism, and an overwhelming opposition by all that is Sony, the Saturn had a few crowning gems and should never be brushed under the bed as “worst” anything. Why was the Sega Saturn a great console? Here's my abbreviated list: Baku Baku, Panzer Dragoon, Virtua On, Dragon Force, Virtua Cop 2, Virtua Cop (dual guns), Shining Wisdom, Iron Storm, Sega Rally (checkpoint), Bomberman, Clockwork Night, Daytona USA (hey, you're driving the wrong way), Panzer Dragoon Saga, NiGHTs, Virtua Fighter Remix, Virtua Fighter 2, Decathalete, Fighters Megamix, Fighting Vipers, and even the CD player feature was cool... dammit.

Saturn game cases are about the size of an eeePC.
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The game I was playing last night was Iron Storm. I just replaced the watch battery in my Saturn because the save games were not working anymore, but I often leave it on for hours on-end, even if it's older than most cars on the road and has probably seen more miles. It squeaks a bit when loading, but it's never had a hiccup. If all consoles were built like the Saturn, our most popular guide wouldn't be our Playstation 2 Repair Guide.

As a teenager during what I consider to be on of the best times to live for a gamer, going from the Atari 2600 through the SNES, having owned a TG16 and played a handful of arcade games, the Saturn was an epic success. Playstation aside, it had great graphics, 3D models, the compact disc format, and had one of the most amazing arsenals of legendary games ever released upon the world. There's a reason why a search on Ebay still finds Sega Saturns going for upwards of $100, and some of the better games are worth hundreds. This console offered something, some kind of magic, that's been missing in many game consoles since.

While it certainly was not the best game console in history from most respects, the Sega Saturn was another crowning achievement in the archives of gamer history and we should salute Sega with respect for their noble efforts.
-Dan Kennedy