During the heat of the console war of the mid-’90s, as gamers turned to Sony’s PlayStation in droves, one of the things us Saturn owners constantly heard when the latest and greatest release came to Sony’s system was, “Saturn couldn’t do this.”
Fast forward almost three decades and one man is on a mission to show the world that the naysayers were wrong, that the Sega Saturn could absolutely replicate the very best the PlayStation had to offer — and that man is Frogbull.
Frogbull has had a meteoric rise to fame in the Saturn community, coming to prominence with his demo of the opening set piece in Konami’s Metal Gear Solid. He followed this up with another demo, this time of Square’s Final Fantasy VII, showing the opening cinematic and Cloud’s first battle upon leaving the train.
And while he’s been busy helping the Dreamcast community fine tweak the current (and utterly incredible) Grand Theft Auto 3 project, somehow Frogbull also has found time to bring another PlayStation classic to the Saturn in the form of Crash Bandicoot.
The SEGAGuys and SHIRO! were privileged to be given full access to a playable build of Crash on Saturn, with the demo set on the “Road to Nowhere” level which is notorious for its tough jumps and distracting fog effects. The bridge in the level has missing planks and plank formations of varying width, with each section of the bridge ramping up the difficulty of the jumps.
You begin on a familiar side-scrolling stage with metal boxes and some crates to destroy, before leaping into a portal to make your way to the infamous bridge.
The demo feels and plays exactly as Crash Bandicoot should, with Crash’s jumping mechanics feeling perfectly weighted. The fog effect on show is absolutely gorgeous, handled by VDP2 using a flat plane. The final effect is fantastic, blending perfectly with the polygonal assets underneath that also look incredible. From the carved tribal pillars at the start of the bridge, to the tiled floors in-between, the presentation here is top notch.
And that’s the best thing for us about this demo, because while it is undeniably Crash Bandicoot, it also has that wonderful “chunky” Saturn aesthetic to it, giving Crash his own unique Saturn-style personality. I’d also like to add this point that this is running on a real Sega Saturn console with a Fenrir ODE installed.
In terms of comparisons with the PlayStation version, there are several things missing from the Saturn demo but, keep in mind, this is still a work in progress.
The crates, apples, disappearing planks, and enemies aren’t in place yet, but even so this demo provided us with plenty of entertainment because it’s just so damn addictive. In fact, I’d go as far as to say it’s infuriatingly addictive, because each missed jump makes you all the more determined to go one step further next time … which you inevitably don’t, and so the cycle continues!
Crash himself is wonderfully animated, and if you press B while facing the camera, he’ll pose and make facial expressions.
We’re really excited to see how Crash Bandicoot on Saturn progresses, and if there’s one thing we can be sure of, it’s that Frogbull will chip away and this and improve it build on build, as we’ve seen with his recent Metal Gear Solid update showing us Shadow Moses in all its Saturn glory.
Once again, a massive thank you to Frogbull for entrusting us with a playable build of his project, it truly was a privilege to get to try out his Saturn work first-hand.
Stay tuned to both the SEGAGuys and Sega Saturn SHIRO! for updates on all of Frogbull’s incredible Saturn work, and until next time we will see YOU on the SEGA side … and you MUST play Sega Saturn!
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