The Shining Source

I recently found a nice working emulator for the Sega Saturn (Cassini), so i've decided to take my game collection out of the closet (literally). I've discovered i have more games than i thought (they're actually mine and my brothers'). Many of the games i bought here in the US, terribly underpriced, sad really, but some i bought in Europe, which are really the ones that i bought because i thought i might like them, as opposed to their being underpriced.

My European games are:
. Clockwork Knight II (i can't find the cd only the box, a pity, one of my favorites, i'm downloading the ISO).
. Theme Park
. Daytona USA CE
. Christmas Nights
. Nights Sampler
. Virtua Cop 2
. Fifa 98
. NHL 97

The ones i got here in the US:
. Shining the Holy Ark (uh huh)
. Fighters Megamix
. Destruction Derby
. Bust-a-move 2 (nice game)
. NBA Live 98
. Die Hard Trilogy
. NHL All Star Hockey 98
. Enemy Zero, 4 disk game  (not my favorite)
. Fifa 97
. Battle Arena Toshinden
. Sega Flash 2 Sampler
. Pga Tour 97
. NFL Quarterback 97 (not a big NFL fan)
. Ultimate Mortal Kombat
. Sonic R (can't find the CD)

I'm trying to get my hands on SFIII ISO, i've wanted to get that game since day one, i have half of it downloaded.
Out of all the games above, the ones that work with the emulator are:
. Shining the Holy Ark (thankfully, works perfectly)
. Fighters Megamix
. Destruction Derby
. Christmas Nights (plays very nicely too)

That's about it. By the way, i used to have two Saturn consoles one European and another American. The american is all black, and the european has a grey cd cap, or used to, my brother broke it (the whole console that is). I also have a cartridge called ST Key which allows me to play import games.

How do you play Christmas NiGHTS on a PC? Do you have a controller adaptor or something? It'd be painful having to play it with a keyboard or mouse :cry:

I can't believe you don't have a full version of NiGHTS. That's really quite upsetting - get one NOW. Beg, steal or borrow if you have to.

There are some pretty rockin' games on that list, apart from having two consecutive FIFAs, which is unforgivable. The rest looks good, though. I can try and find some PAL games for you - locally there's a surfeit of Tunnel B-1, FIFA '96 and anything else sub-par (my games list to come soon)

Yes, i have a controller which is actually quite similar to the Saturn one. I actually bought FIFA 97 after i already had FIFA 98, it was underpriced .
There's plenty of games that i've always wanted to buy but they were never anywhere near me or i didn't have the money, like Baku Baku, Guardian Heros, Shining Wisdom, Panzer Dragoon, Story of Thor... etc. I'm a big fan of the mega drive version of the Story of Thor so i've always wanted to see how it came out on the Saturn.

I'll let Newts talk about all his games, but Story of Thor on the Saturn has an awesome soundtrack.

Story of Thor came out on the Saturn? And that while the Mega Drive version was already so cool!

For the SF III iso, PM me.

I loved story of thor also : )

It was known as Story of Thor II in Europe, in the US I believe it was called Legend of Oasis. It's pretty hard to track down but is a really, really cool game - just like the original on the Mega Drive, but faster and smoother, with more moves and spirits and better-designed levels and bosses. I haven't played it in years, but I'm going to have to go through it this summer now

Baku Baku is really rare over here - I had to buy a version with a beaten-up old box just to make sure I had the game. As for Guardian Heroes, I know a friend who's had five different copies, so they're definitely out there if you know where to look.

Panzer Dragoon should be pretty easy to find, but Shining Wisdom is rare and pricey these days, generally about ?20 over here at least. I'm yet to buy it, to my shame.

There's still no excuse for buying two FIFA games, no matter how cheap they were. I'd only accept it if it came with a cheque for one billion pounds from EA, saying "sorry for all this shit we keep pumping out". Maybe one day...

I'm bored and it's a stupid time, so what better opportunity to write up a list of my Saturn games?

PAL GAMES

Athlete Kings - straightforward arcade athletics game. Decent.
Baku Baku Animal - addictive if twee puzzler. Cuter than three baby mice all dressed in pink.
Bubble Bobble Collection - two Rainbow Islands games and BB. Good stuff.
Burning Rangers - classic Sonic Team adventuring.
Croc: Legend of the Gobbos - shit 3D platformer. Controls like you're going down a ski slope on the back of a fat greased-up dog.
Daytona USA - not especially good is an understatement.
Daytona CCE - slightly disappointing is a bigger understatement.
Die Hard Arcade - Streets of Rage in 3D. Too short and little to come back to. Needed Koshiro's awesome music to make it a SoR beater.
Duke Nukem 3D - reasonable FPS, made unbelievably good by the inclusion of ?ber-multiplayer boom 'em up Death Tank.
Exhumed - awesome first-person adventure-shooting-type game.
Fighting Vipers - I only bought it because it was cheap.
Fighters Megamix - much better than FV.
Guardian Heroes - enjoyable but over-rated side-scrolling RPG-beat-'em-up.
Keio Flying Squadron 2 - mad shoot-'em-up platforming weirdness. Features the world's best vomiting spinning top boss.
Last Bronx - a game I really want to like, but just can't. Being unforgivingly difficult detracts from the great graphics, characters and anime scenes.
Manx TT - "Wanx TT more like it". Fnar fnar.
Marvel Super Heroes - with a proper port a la X-Men vs. Street Fighter, this would be the best fighting game EVER. But it isn't.
Mass Destruction - therapeutic fun. Pretty explosions.
NBA Action '98 - great sports game. Lots of fun. Dennis Rodman's hair changes colour = good game.
Night Warriors: Darkstalkers' Revenge - crazily-designed 2D beat-'em-up which looks very nice, but doesn't play as well as Capcom's other efforts.
NiGHTS into Dreams - best game ever. Stunning.
Panzer Dragoon - the first level is still stunning.
Panzer Dragoon Zwei - the whole game is still stunning.
Panzer Dragoon Saga - I haven't completed it yet, so I'll reserve judgement. Good but not legendary so far.
Pinball Graffiti - time-wasting game with bizarrely addictive qualities. The basketball minigame, unfortunately, is shit.
Quake - awesome conversion which shows what the Saturn can do. Scary as fuck too.
Saturn Bomberman - legendary.
Sega Ages - three games, of which only OutRun is still awesome today. The other two are great though.
Sega Rally - legendary too.
Sega Worldwide Soccer '97 - simplistic but good-looking take on the beautiful game.
Shining Force III - say no more.
Shining the Holy Ark - say no more.
Sonic 3D - slightly less than legendary. Good game all the same though. Credit to the main man the Jacquesmeister for more "aural sensations".
Sonic Jam - genius through and through.
Sonic R - great-looking but ultimately shallow racing. Again, more great music from J to the A C Q U E S.
Steep Slope Sliders - enjoyable, great-sounding snowboard-'em-up.
Story of Thor 2 - great music from Yuzo Koshiro, well-balanced and inventive gameplay too. An under-rated classic.
Theme Park - a nonsensical control scheme and pointless FMV saps the undeniable quality of this Bullfrog masterpiece.

I'll do more when I'm not so sleep-deprived. This seemed like a good idea at the time, and you bastards better enjoy it, or I'll kill you in your sleep.

Actually, the old Fifa's were pretty decent! It's after Fifa '99 that they only started improving things at a snail's pace and things got crap.

Of course nowadays Pro Evolution Soccer >> Fifa . I picked up PES 4 during my illness and it really is the best soccer game out there. I mean: it's actually hard to score with a free kick!

LIES!

Fifa '96 was the series' downfall in my eyes. On the Mega Drive they replaced the crisp, hand-drawn graphics with terrible rendered sprites which had little to no resemblance to real people whatsoever '96 was the first FIFA game ot have the properly licenced players, and it's my theory they spent too much time procuring that instead of actually updating the gameplay.

The Saturn versions were just poor conversions - juddery, low-res abominations, especially compared to the fluidity of Sega's efforts. I am yet to play Pro Evolution Soccer, as my Gamecube won't allow it

U TWO R SUCH ASCLOWNS U R SUCH BIG GEKS1!!!!! WTF S2P BNG GEKS AND B COL LIEK ME

I've also played all Fifas since 95 on the mega drive, saturn N64 and recently Playstation. What can i say, it's the only one i know.
I'm playing SFIII right now, thanks to Elvenfyre, very very nice.

FIFA '95 is the only decent FIFA game in the world. FACT. Although the original was fairly decent too I suppose, even though Hannah beat me at it at least twice

I still remember the main menu's soundtrack in FIFA96. Pretty catchy.

Right now in SFIII i'm in the train battle. Pretty hard trying to save those civilians, and for what? Nothing probably. This game has the best storyline. How far am i from the end? I want to be able to extend this game as much as i can.