Best Of Saturn
Gale Racer #BestOfSaturn
A man with a reputation and a mission, you are the Gale Racer! Released to Japanese gamers in 1994, Gale Racer is based on the 1991 SEGA arcade game Rad…
Articles by Peter Malek
Best Of Saturn
Best Of Saturn
Mega Man X3 #BestOfSaturn
For such a huge franchise, it’s surprising that Mega Man X3 only saw Saturn release in Japan and in Europe. Perhaps it being a straightforward, visually bordered port of the…
Best Of Saturn
Magic School Lunar #BestOfSaturn
Sandwiched between the two mainline games, Lunar Magic School is a remake of the Game Gear original, releasing exclusively on Saturn in Japan in late 1997 with obvious audiovisual enhancements….
Best Of Saturn
Virtua Cop #BestOfSaturn
A hugely important game in Saturn history, 1995’s Virtua Cop was the first of Christmas 1995’s “Big Three” arcade conversions meant to showcase that the Saturn had what it took…
Best Of Saturn
Nanatsu Kaze no Shima Monogatari #BestOfSaturn
Enix published the graphic adventure Nanatsu Kaze no Shima Monogatari / Tale of the Island of the Seven Winds exclusively on Japanese Saturns in late 1997. With gorgeous hand-drawn visuals,…
SHIRO Shorts!
Minor New Cheat Code Discovered for Dragon Force
Exciting news today as a new cheat code is discovered in the North American version of Dragon Force! Unfortunately, the newly discovered code doesn’t appear to work on the Japanese…
Best Of Saturn
Parodius #BestOfSaturn
Konami’s Parodius saw Saturn release in Japan and in Europe in late 1995 — a planned North American release was ultimately cancelled. A side-scrolling shmup consisting of two older Parodius…
Best Of Saturn
Tokyo Highway Battle ’97 #BestOfSaturn
Part of a long-running series of Genki-developed racers, Tokyo Highway Battle ’97 / Shutokou Drift ’97 is a racing game through the streets of Tokyo. Race in six different cars…
Best Of Saturn
X-Men vs. Street Fighter #BestOfSaturn
First of Capcom’s “vs.” series, X-Men vs. Street Fighter released in Japan in late 1997 to critical acclaim. Utilizing the 4MB expansion cartridge, the game retains nearly all of the…
Best Of Saturn
Tomb Raider: Unfinished Business #BestOfSaturn
The 1997 expansion pack to the first Tomb Raider, subtitled Unfinished Business, finally hit Saturn in 2023 courtesy of Retro Raider John. The Atlantis levels pick up from the conclusion…
Best Of Saturn
Lunar 2: Eternal Blue #BestOfSaturn
One of the most acclaimed traditional JRPG games, the SEGA CD remaster of Lunar 2: Eternal Blue hit the Saturn mid-1998 in Japan. While the Goddess Althena sleeps, a mysterious…
Best Of Saturn
JunClassic C. C. & Rope Club #BestOfSaturn
Did you know that the folks who brought us Pebble Beach Golf Links developed another four golf games on Saturn?? Their 1997 Japan-only JunClassic C. C. & Rope Club is…
Best Of Saturn
Time Gal & Ninja Hayate #BestOfSaturn
Time Gal and Ninja Hayate is a double-pack of two mid-’80s Taito Laserdisc quick-time event arcade FMV games. Time Gal tells the story of Reika as she tries to stop…
Best Of Saturn
Valhollian #BestOfSaturn
Valhollian hit the Saturn in 1998 courtesy of Datt Japan. A strategy RPG game in the vein of Shining Force III, you take the role of Rey Brightforce and fight…
Best Of Saturn
Savaki #BestOfSaturn
Best MMA game on Saturn? Step up to Savaki, a mid-1998 Japan-only hidden gem from one-hit wonder studio Cynus. Choose from 14 fighters, each with their own martial art ranging…
Best Of Saturn
Gradius Deluxe Pack #BestOfSaturn
An early 1996 Japan-only release, Konami’s Gradius Deluxe Pack features straight conversions of the mid-1980s arcade classics Gradius and Gradius 2. In these side-scrolling shmups, you take control of the…
Editorial
MYST: A Page Out of Gaming’s Past…
Editor’s Note: This article was originally published on March 27, 2018 and has been revised and republished. Saturn Myst: some people love it, some hate it, and a whole lot…
Best Of Saturn
Madden ‘97 #BestOfSaturn
Sports titles were a huge reason for the success of the Genesis in America, so it was perplexing that the Saturn didn’t follow suit. The system was sorely lacking a…
Best Of Saturn
Impact Racing #BestOfSaturn
A bit of a hidden gem, Impact Racing sees you combat-race on large courses, with the condition of winning being not only crossing the finish line in first place, but…
Best Of Saturn
NBA Jam: Tournament Edition #BestOfSaturn
NBA Jam: Tournament Edition “pumped up the Jam” from the title’s first iteration, retaining its progenitor’s 2-on-2 over-the-top, exaggerated arcade-style basketball fun while adding player substitutions, in-game commentary by the…
Best Of Saturn
Arcade’s Greatest Hits: The Atari Collection 1 #BestOfSaturn
Compilation games were of varying quality on the Saturn, but Digital Eclipse’s Arcade’s Greatest Hits: The Atari Collection 1 is one of the best. Six classics: Missile Command, Tempest, Breakout,…
Best Of Saturn
Assault Rigs #BestOfSaturn
The Psygnosis releases continued with Assault Rigs hitting the Saturn in late 1997, this time only in Japan. Again performing markedly worse compared to the PS1 original, the game features…
Best Of Saturn
Destruction Derby #BestOfSaturn
SEGA briefly basked in the positive news that Psygnosis games — some of the flashiest early PlayStation exclusives from the Sony-owned studio — were all coming over to Saturn. Then…
Best Of Saturn
G Vector #BestOfSaturn
G Vector is a 3D, third-person shmup that reminds of games like Space Harrier and Panzer Dragoon. You are equipped with both a standard shot and a lock-on laser, and…
Best Of Saturn
Blast Wind #BestOfSaturn
This is the third week in a row showcasing a Saturn shmup, and this time it’s TechnoSoft’s Blast Wind. Released in Japan in January 1997, its limited print run means…
Best Of Saturn
Hyper Duel #BestOfSaturn
Partly inspired by the ThunderForce series, Hyper Duel is a 1993 TechnoSoft arcade horizontal shmup that got a Japanese Saturn release in late 1996. Man one of the highly experimental…
Best Of Saturn
DoDonPachi #BestOfSaturn
Oh, Cave. Your bullet hell shmups are such a delight, and DoDonPachi is no exception. Hitting the Japanese Saturn in late 1997, players choose from three ships each with a…
Best Of Saturn
Prisoner of Ice #BestOfSaturn
Based on the Cthulhu mythos created by HP Lovecraft, the 1995 PC and Mac point-and-click Prisoner of Ice got a Japan-only Saturn release at the very end of 1997. Presented…
Best Of Saturn
Hissatsu! #BestOfSaturn
Based on a very long-running Japanese period drama, Hissatsu! is a side-scrolling action game very much in the vein of the Shinobi series. You and your associates travel from town…
Editorial
Why Didn’t She Just Get the Drain Cleaner??
Phantasma-what now? Phantasmagoria is a mid-1995 PC point-and-click graphic adventure from the studio that essentially pioneered the genre: Ken and Roberta Williams’ Sierra On-Line. Written by Roberta, mastermind behind the…
Best Of Saturn
Phantasmagoria #BestOfSaturn
Ohh, what a game. Coming in at a massive eight CDs, the recently fan translation patched Phantasmagoria has you, as writer Adrienne Delaney, solve the mystery of the creepy old…
Editorial
Mr. Bones Editor’s Guide – Promo Item
In the rather long list of Halloween-themed Saturn titles, one game that never seems to get the attention it deserves is Mr. Bones. A 2-disc affair, Mr. Bones is a…
Best Of Saturn
Horror Tour #BestOfSaturn
A Japanese MYST-style point-and-click horror adventure, Horror Tour (Zeddas: Servant of Sheol for the PC and Mac English release) takes place in the maze-like Rodvydel Castle. The castle was taken…
Editorial
Back to the Mansion…
This isn’t Dr. Curien’s Mansion The Mansion of Hidden Souls hit the Saturn in early December 1994, barely a month after the Saturn launched on its epic – but fleeting…
Best Of Saturn
Haunted Casino #BestOfSaturn
A red label title, the Japan-exclusive Haunted Casino is an odd mix of castle exploration and gambling. You arrive at the haunted casino and must find the gambling rooms —…