If there’s one genre where the Sega Saturn excels, it’s racing games.
Whether it’s Daytona USA’s power-sliding, Sega Rally’s gear drifting, or Sega Touring Cars … music, the arcade goer of the mid’90s was eating well on Saturn. That said, throughout its lifespan, Saturn would accumulate a multitude of racers from a variety of developers, all keen for a slice of the pie Sega was enjoying.
However, as the years and decades have rolled by, the Saturn’s racing genre seems to be confined in conversations to the big arcade ports, with perhaps only Psygnosis’ WipEout series receiving any mention otherwise, and even then only in dismissive comparisons with PlayStation.
Sega’s arcade racers inspired developers, and while results varied in terms of quality, many of these games tried to add something extra on top of a bare bones arcade experience, with story modes, campaigns, car mods, and influences from real life Japanese culture.
In this video, I take a look at 10 Sega Saturn racers from a variety of third-party developers including Genki, Jaleco, Cave, and Atlas. Weaponised cars, hovercraft, drift street racing, highway battles, and many more … how many of these have you played?
See you on the SEGA side!
Leave a comment