Remembering the SEGA Saturn.
Sept 17, 2020 21:06:01 GMT -5
Post by Ex on Sept 17, 2020 21:06:01 GMT -5
When I played Street Fighter Alpha 3 I can see the improvement on the Saturn
IIRC the Saturn handles 2D a lot better than the PlayStation, but the PlayStation handles 3D a lot better than the Saturn. It's almost like SEGA was working on a super 2D system initially, like the next iteration of the Genesis, but then begrudgingly added 3D tech to the Saturn halfway through. However the PlayStation was meant for 3D since its inception. Well that's how it's always come across to me. I've not done super technical research on the Saturn personally. Although I recall something about the Saturn using quads instead of triangles for its polygons, which caused issues for programmers. But anyway, yeah 2D fighters and shmups on the Saturn are going to be superior to their 2D PS1 versions.
Legend of Oasis, Shinning in the Holy Ark, and Guardian Heroes.
I've not played Legend of Oasis, but I put 20 hours into Shining the Holy Ark (then quit in disgust), and I beat Guardian Heroes. If you're interested in my thoughts on those two, from my HLTB notes:
Shining the Holy Ark
Shining the Holy Ark aimed to be a first person dungeon crawler with good intentions. The primary draw being the well animated CG rendered enemies and 3D environments to traverse. Thus graphically Holy Ark was accomplished for its time. Unfortunately, everything else that relates to actual gameplay is a chore, or just outright punishment in this game. The encounter rate is far too high, coupled with an incredibly slow battle system. Shopping for your characters takes ages, due to an entirely tedious interface for that. Dungeons are large, but are extremely repetitive, with bland maze designs and limited textures. Shining the Holy Ark at least has a nice OST, and that helps set the tone and immersion. Ultimately however, Shining the Holy Ark is an exercise in absolute tedium, its overall design is to play slowly for the sake of a longer completion time, at the cost of actually being consistently entertaining. 5/10
Guardian Heroes
Guardian Heroes is a 1996 beat 'em up developed by Treasure, and published by SEGA for the SEGA Saturn. In 2011, Guardian Heroes was ported to Xbox 360 Live Arcade, and that's the version I played through. The plot concerns a rag tag group of medieval heroes trying to stop some wizard or something, I don't know, I didn't care for the plot at all (I started skipping the dialogue halfway through). Guardian Heroes supports co-op campaign play and a versus mode, with a large variety of playable characters. Although the graphics are 2D, this game has a pseudo-Z-axis; a series of horizontal planes on the battlefield are able to be independently fought within.
+Above average OST.
+Lots of playable characters.
+Branching mission paths encourages replayability.
+Game engine uses the Saturn hardware in intelligent ways.
+You can level up your characters stats.
-Lackluster plot with WAY too much try-hard "funny" dialogue.
-Combat engine initially seems more complex than it actually is.
-Stages offer little meaningful variety / environmental interactivity.
-Less TALKING more FIGHTING.
-Character portrait art is amateurish to a distracting degree.
Guardian Heroes is a cult classic, a legendary beat 'em up I've often seen praised to the rafters on forums. I'm afraid the experience did not live up to the hype for me. We've all got our own tastes, fair enough. I can certainly understand how '90s players would have found Guardian Heroes' frenetic mob battles exciting, and possibly even enjoyed its lame sense of humor. However the combat is extraordinarily repetitive, even for a beat 'em up, with boring stage designs, and button mashing tactics winning the day. Despite all the reams of dialogue and branching narrative, the plot doesn't offer tangible payoff, with the ending I received being bland to say the least. That said, I appreciated the strong OST, base concept, and Treasure's usual sense of grandiose bravado. However other contemporary fantasy beat 'em ups to Guardian Heroes did the same thing it did, but they did it better. I'd take Dungeons & Dragons: Shadow over Mystara or Golden Axe III over this any day. 7/10
+Above average OST.
+Lots of playable characters.
+Branching mission paths encourages replayability.
+Game engine uses the Saturn hardware in intelligent ways.
+You can level up your characters stats.
-Lackluster plot with WAY too much try-hard "funny" dialogue.
-Combat engine initially seems more complex than it actually is.
-Stages offer little meaningful variety / environmental interactivity.
-Less TALKING more FIGHTING.
-Character portrait art is amateurish to a distracting degree.
Guardian Heroes is a cult classic, a legendary beat 'em up I've often seen praised to the rafters on forums. I'm afraid the experience did not live up to the hype for me. We've all got our own tastes, fair enough. I can certainly understand how '90s players would have found Guardian Heroes' frenetic mob battles exciting, and possibly even enjoyed its lame sense of humor. However the combat is extraordinarily repetitive, even for a beat 'em up, with boring stage designs, and button mashing tactics winning the day. Despite all the reams of dialogue and branching narrative, the plot doesn't offer tangible payoff, with the ending I received being bland to say the least. That said, I appreciated the strong OST, base concept, and Treasure's usual sense of grandiose bravado. However other contemporary fantasy beat 'em ups to Guardian Heroes did the same thing it did, but they did it better. I'd take Dungeons & Dragons: Shadow over Mystara or Golden Axe III over this any day. 7/10
While I've only beaten a handful of Saturn games, I've sample played loads of them. So I know I'm a jerk for saying this, but I think a lot of Saturn games are overrated, due to forbidden fruit syndrome. Saturn games were costly and rare (in the west), and especially so if they were imports. People often attribute higher acclaim to things they perceive as being rare and expensive, regardless of their actual merit.