Sega: How Far Should I Venture...

[Rayek]

Okay, so...

I bought the Sega CD (Model 1) and it worked fantastically... Till it quit on me. Something with the power was wrong... I dunno. Anyway, I loved it to death. I have Silpheed and Android Assault, which are fantastic shooters, and very, VERY difficult.

I bought a Dreamcast next because my local EB Games was selling them for a mere 15 USD. I don't think I could've found a better deal online.

With the slew of games I have for it, I'll be busy for quite a while. I completely wasted Soul Calibur within the first 4 days of having the game, my Seaman is about to exit his terrarium (tomorrow, possibly) and Sonic Adventure 1 and 2 I have about 60% completion on both... I haven't even started Shenmue...

And I bought another Sega CD, this time, a Model 2, and I should be getting a matching Model 2 Genesis and 32X in the mail tomorrow.

Wheew! I'm swamped. There are so many games I haven't even looked at, let alone played that I just can't wait to.

I think I've moved from fledgling to Sega fanatic.

Sorry to all the mods who will lock up this topic because I'm 'gravedigging the forums', but the question still stands... What's next after all that?

 

[daclassicgamingmaster]

*spots opportunity*

my Seaman is about to exit his terrarium

Oh ho ho ho. My seaman will be exiting their terrarium in around 10 minutes LOL

 

[Rayek]

LOL. Didn't see that one.

Honestly I didn't.

 

[Rayek]

What's next after all that?

Well, I bought a Japanese White Sega Saturn and an Action Replay Cart so I can play all the US and UK games I want on it. The only game I have worth playing, though is Samurai Shodown 4, whihc is sweet nonetheless. Does anyone have any other reccomendations as to what Saturn games I get? Any KOFs good during the Saturn days? IS Metal Slug worth spending a load to get? Tell me.

 

[gaterooze]

The "problem" with the Saturn these days is that most of the best games are ludicrously expensive and quite difficult to find. My (dis)honest suggestion is to chip it, so you can at least play them until you can track down the originals.

This may come out of left field, but I'd consider the "next" Sega console to be the Xbox. It is heavily influenced by the Dreamcast, and much of its early support came from Sega. With Panzer Dragoon Orta, Gun Valkyrie, the best version of Shenmue 2, Sega GT 2002, an updated PSO1/2, Otogi, Jet Set Radio Future, Crazy Taxi 3, House of the Dead 3, Toejam & Earl 3, Headhunter:Redemption, Outrun 2, etc, it really is the "spiritual successor."

 

[lol3222]

I'm doing a research paper on SEGA at the moment, and...

I can say I've become quite the fanboy. And no doubt DrMDx is helping

By most accounts, Sega made some very crucial marketing mistakes that eventually led to their demise as a hardware producer. But really, I couldn't care less. That's all in the past, and all that matters now is wether or not their consoles were GOOD. Which, surprisingly, I have little to no information on.

My dilemma: I recently purchased a Sega Genesis, and I love it. I want more.

Which of the addons are worth buying? The Sega CD has a lot of potential, simply because it has a larger catalogue of games than the 32X, but is more pricey. Are these even worth buying?

If they aren't, what console should be the next step in my journey to discovering Sega?

One question... do you own a Sega?

 

[shinneri]

The "problem" with the Saturn these days is that most of the best games are ludicrously expensive and quite difficult to find. My (dis)honest suggestion is to chip it, so you can at least play them until you can track down the originals.

This may come out of left field, but I'd consider the "next" Sega console to be the Xbox. It is heavily influenced by the Dreamcast, and much of its early support came from Sega. With Panzer Dragoon Orta, Gun Valkyrie, the best version of Shenmue 2, Sega GT 2002, an updated PSO1/2, Otogi, Jet Set Radio Future, Crazy Taxi 3, House of the Dead 3, Toejam & Earl 3, Headhunter:Redemption, Outrun 2, etc, it really is the "spiritual successor."

Yeah, they supported Xbox early on (and fooled me into buying one), but, as soon as they saw that the console was an abysmal failure in Japan, they quickly changed focus to the PS2 (and GameCube to a lesser degree).

And best version of Shenmue 2? You honestly prefer the terrible English voice acting over the Japanese? Even if the load times are a little longer, I still believe the Euro DC version wins any day.

 

[beanfarmer]

at the moment i have a sms2 MD1 saturn and dreamcast all behind me i love SErvice GAmes
go soinc (now all i need is an sg-1000 and sc-3000 and i will rule the world) mwahahahahahahahahahahhahahahaha
oo but then ill also need a game gear, 32x and sega/megaCD... Damn and a nomad to grrr oh well i will gain world domanation somehow

 

[Kyalami]

Poor Sega. It's hard to watch such innovative and wonderful consoles just die like that. One thing surprises me though. When Nintendo released their monochrome Game Boy, SEGA released their Game Gear, which far surpassed the Nintendo Game Boy, save for the battery life and the bulkiness of it. I think that, in terms of hardware, SEGA was always better. The NOMAD, now that I see it had the ability to play Genesis games off the exact same cartridge, makes me think that the Game Boy Color wasn't even as tough as that! And plus, when SEGA went out of business as a console manufacturer, and Nintendo released the Gamecube, the Gamecube was always the cheapest one of the three consoles (Xbox, PS2, and Gamecube). And there wasn't such a big number of games released for it, a larger library was present for the PS2 and Xbox consoles. All there was was Mario, a couple of average shooting games and racing games, and that's about it! And, once again, the Gamecube was always the cheapest at 99.99 USD after a while of selling.
I'm hoping SEGA will come back one day, with Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Amy Rose leading the way!

 

[nem]

The only game I have worth playing, though is Samurai Shodown 4, whihc is sweet nonetheless. Does anyone have any other reccomendations as to what Saturn games I get? Any KOFs good during the Saturn days? IS Metal Slug worth spending a load to get? Tell me.

As someone who has owned some 300 hundred games for it, I might have a go. First, I have to congratulate you on your excellent buy. Most of the great games were never released in the West, so people here tend to pick the PlayStation as the better console. That is not the case, though; if you're a fan of 2D arcade action games, the Saturn is the console for you! It has the best shoot'em-ups, platformers and fighting games out there. RPG's are another one of its fortes, however, they tend to be either 1) costly or 2) only available in Japanese.

Anyway, here's some great games that don't cost all that much ($5-15). The ones that are only available in NTSC-J versions have been denoted with a (J) at the end of the description. As a rule, all of these games can be bought in Japanese versions, since most of text in them is in English, and the ones that are in Japanese are so straightforward you won't have any difficulty in playing them. Besides, NTSC-J versions tend to be the cheapest.

Japanese names first, Western titles after (if any)

Layer Section (Galactic Attack) - Consired by many to be the best shoot'em-up ever. Stellar game.
Sonic R - Superb racing slash platform game. Really showed what the Saturn could do when pushed
Astal - Utterly gorgeous 2D platform game. Good game to boot!
Panzer Dragoon 1 & Zwei - A seminal 3D railshooter series. The RPG follow-up is great, but pricey.
Virtua Cop 1 & 2, House of the Dead - Great lightgun games.
1999 (Exhumed, PowerSlave) - Another 3D title that blew away sceptics with jaw-dropping graphics. Conversion of Quake and Duke Nukem 3D made by the same dev house are also worth a look.
Nido Arukoto Ha Sando-R - Utterly mad mini game compilation. Best played with a friend! (J)
Magical Drop 3 - The single greatest action puzzle game ever. (J)
Dynamite Deka (Die Hard Arcade) - Great 3D beat'em-up title
Saturn Bomberman - Best Bomberman game... EVER!
Necronomicon - Even if you don't like console pinball games, try it. It will make you a convert. (J)
Street Racer - Not a patch on Mario Kart, but an enjoyable 2D scalar racer nonetheless

Then there's all the premium titles (>$30), Guardian Heroes, Keio Yuugekitai, Radiant Silvergun, the Parodius series, Batsugun, Astra Superstars, X-Men VS. Street Fighter, etc.

This may come out of left field at but I'd consider the "next" Sega console to be the Xbox. It is heavily influenced by the Dreamcast, and much of its early support came from Sega. With Panzer Dragoon Orta, Gun Valkyrie, the best version of Shenmue 2 [snip]

*cough* ... say WHAT? Are you kidding me? The english subs are a joke, AND the graphics weren't all that better, either. You could even say the graphics look better on the Dreamcast, since it gives a much better picture than the muddy one on the 'Box. In short, the Xbox "update" is in fact the "inferior port".

 

[gaterooze]

Okay, fair enough I was wrong about the Xbox Shenmue 2. I'm still on the third disc of Shenmue 1 (must get back to that...), so I haven't actually played #2 yet (still sitting in the cupboard) -- someone has clearly led me astray on which is the better version...

 

[Rayek]

Thanks for the suggestions... I was wondering about the shooters in specific, because I know Saturn had loads of them, and all were.. pretty much fantastic. I'm also pretty sure that the Robo Aleste title for Saturn was sweet, but I can't recall the name. I'm pretty crazy about SNK at the moment, are any of the Saturn ports worth playing? Or spending upwards of 30 USD for? Samurai Shodown 4 is great on it minus the load times...

Edit: I was also wondering of the Action Replay cart allows me to play burned games... Someone in this thread said it worked, but i read somewhere a disclaimer that states: WILL NOT WORK FOR BURNED GAMES, YOU NEED A MOD CHIP INSTALLED etc. racketboy sells them, but I have no soldering expereince.

 

[epitaph]

Edit: I was also wondering of the Action Replay cart allows me to play burned games... Someone in this thread said it worked, but i read somewhere a disclaimer that states: WILL NOT WORK FOR BURNED GAMES, YOU NEED A MOD CHIP INSTALLED etc. racketboy sells them, but I have no soldering expereince.

If you've got a model two Saturn, they're super-easy to install -- hardly no soldering experience required. I wouldn't call myself an experienced solderer - I've done it when I've had too - but I managed to get it right on my Saturn.

Model one is a fair bit harder, however... I wouldn't try to mod one of those.