Gaming Memories - Part 17

I think I've been into video games ever since I first discovered them back in the 80's thanks to OutRun, but if there was one period where I fell out of touch, it would've been around 1994-1995-ish. I still don't remember the reason for this - I don't think anything very dramatic was going on in my life at the time beyond my continuing to stew in the realisation that being an adult sucked - but whatever the reason, the result was I missed out on an important and eventful period of time.

This included the demise of some wonderful systems like the Amiga and PC Engine, the introduction and equally quick failure of fancy new systems like the Jaguar and 3DO, and even the polygon-filled 3D boom. Okay, I didn't miss all this stuff completely - I was kind of aware of most of it to varying degrees so I guess I was still following things, but there was one pivotal transition I have barely any memory of - the end of the 16-bit era and the introduction of their 32-bit replacements. The MegaDrive and SNES's final year saw some flashy and innovative games which wrung every last ounce of strength out of their ageing innards before the focus was shifted to the new systems. Relative newcomer Sony had been readying their almost-Nintendo machine, the PlayStation, while Sega had finally finished pissing about with the Mega CD, 32X, Nomad, Multi-Mega, and lord knows what else, and had their system ready too.

This was known, of course, as the Saturn. I missed its launch as well as that of its big rival, but as I soon found out, it wasn't the roaring success both Sega and their hordes or weary fanboys had been hoping for. This was apparently down to a disappointing line-up of games, but also a rather sizeable RRP - a bewildering £399 here in the UK I believe, which was, crucially, a hundred more than the PS1's launch price which, also crucially, did not have a disappointing line-up of games.

So, even though I semi-missed these important events in gaming history, or at the very least did not give them my full attention, I soon rediscovered my passion for gaming and quickly caught myself up. As part of this I decided to buy a new console and, having hitherto been a Sega fanboy myself, it was obviously the Saturn I went for. By this point I was able to pick up a second-hand example for significantly less than its bewildering launch price, and I was also able to snaffle a handful of games, a couple with the system itself, and a few more shortly afterwards.

Sega Rally (1995)

As one of the most popular games of its time and the Saturn's first genuine 'killer app', this conversion of the arcade hit by AM3 was an obvious choice for one of my first purchases, especially since its popularity meant there was tons of copies around and it was therefore quite cheap in my local second-hand store. I think it was the first game I tried too, so impressions of the game, and indeed the console itself, were initially favourable as you might imagine. The ultra-slidy cars took a lot of getting used to but technically this was leaps and bounds ahead of any racing games on the Saturn's predecessor and amazingly close to the arcade behemoth. Unlike many others, I didn't remain quite as keen on the game after prolonged play due to the poor number of courses (three plus one secret) and cars (two plus one secret), but there was no doubt that Sega Rally was a fantastic advertisement for Sega's new 32-bit powerhouse.

Virtua Fighter 2 (1995)

Along with Rally, this was another early must-have Saturn title and one that owners used to justify their purchase when confronted by belligerent PS1 owners. They soon had Tekken, sure, thanks to those pesky Namco copycats, but Virtua Fighter was the original and best. Right? Well, I don't doubt many felt that way, and some probably still do despite the demise of the VF name, but I wasn't really among them. Not that I preferred its rival you understand - I just didn't really like 3D fighting games generally at that time. I was much more of a Street Fighter man, but VF2, like Rally, was undoubtedly a fine technical achievement. The backgrounds were decent, the characters looked great, and everything was in hi-res and running at 60fps which was a remarkable achievement! AM2 also managed to pack in lord only knows how many moves which helped prolong the game's appeal still further. Even though I wasn't a huge fan of the gameplay style, I still spent a lot of time with this one.

International Victory Goal (1995)

As I recall, this game was actually given to me by some kind fellow at wherever I worked at the time. I've never really been into football games for some reason, but I didn't exactly have a lot of games for my new Saturn at the time so I spent a fair amount of time with it anyway. Its slightly overhead 3D viewpoint was fairly novel for the time, and quite impressive to someone used to 16-bit graphics, but the novelty didn't last very long, simply because there isn't all that much to it. There are no club sides or corresponding leagues for one thing, with only twelve national teams making up the selection. There are several play modes including exhibition, league, cup, penalties, etc, but I wasn't overly enamoured with poor old Victory Goal, even if it was free. Still, I guess it did show me more of my new console's abilities...

Shining Wisdom (1996)

I think I would be correct in saying that this fine adventure by Sonic Software Planning was my first ever JPRG, having somehow missed all of the amazing examples on the SNES a few years earlier. As with most of those, it's viewed from a 2D (almost) overhead perspective and is fantasy based in its setting and story, so there are lots of swords and castles and magic and evil monsters and that other stuff. Indeed, even with my somewhat limited experience I knew this was not a particularly original title, but I've never really needed that from a game as long as it's enjoyable and keeps me playing, and this had both of those qualities. Until I got stuck, that is, and since it was the days before internet walkthroughs, I never made any more progress and just kind of moved on to other games. I really need to give this one another try though. I always felt that the music seemed a bit out of place (although it's still decent) but aside from that it's a nice, fairly simple action RPG with tons for dedicated players (i.e. apparently not me!) to see and do.

Guardian Heroes (1996)

As I recall, this one was an impulse purchase simply because it had stonking-looking anime-style 2D graphics, but the fact that it was by the much-celebrated Treasure didn't hurt either. My impressions of it were great too - it's basically a multi-plane scrolling brawler but with swords and spooky spirits and various adventurey elements, and it works very well. Sadly for me, I found that it got quite tough quite quickly, but that was before I realised the big skeleton warrior in the gold armour that follows you around can be commanded to attack enemies. Yes, that is as cool as it sounds! There were a lot of other reasons to like this game too. The audio/visuals were superb, there were several characters to play as, and the branching stages and multiple endings gave it great replay value. It might not have had the flashy 3D graphics that many players demanded in the early years of the 32-bit machines but it was hard to find anything to complain about once you played it.


After my years as a devout Sega fanboy during the Master System and MegaDrive eras, I still strongly sided with Sega without hesitation upon the release of the 32-bit systems. They did a lot wrong in the mid-90's but their stock was still pretty high, and most fans were expecting them to continue the MD's huge success, so the Saturn's relative failure came as a shock, especially to me as a new owner.

There were a number of reasons for this. It was at least partly due to the difficulty developers were having in getting the most of out of the Saturn's complicated hardware, but the reasons mentioned earlier didn't help their cause either. Sony just got everything right from the off, capitalising on every mistake their veteran rivals made. This was a period of great sorrow for me and it was genuinely painful to bear witness to Sega's gradual fall, but I think I kind of expected it too. Even I wasn't particularly enamoured with my Saturn if I'm being totally honest.

I liked it at the time but, looking back, I think it was just as much out of a sense of obligation than anything else. There were few games that really excited me and most of those that did were 2D ones which weren't a huge step up from the ones I'd been playing for the past 5-6 years. It has been a favourite with collectors for many years now though, of course, and I think that's the key to real Saturn appreciation for Western gamers - imported Japanese games.

In retrospect, the number of awesome Saturn games that were unavailable to most of us in the mid-90's is quite amazing and it's with these in mind that I, and probably most other Saturn fans, can now proclaim love for the system, but at the time I was much less sure. Was I alone in my disappointment with the sleek black (and grey, and white, and transparent) machine in its day? Were you a happy owner at the time or were you slayed by the relentless Sony monster?