Panzer Dragoon Saga Sega Saturn
.: 1998.: 1998.: 2000Units sold9.26 millionMedia,2× Hitachi @ 28.6Memory2 MB, 1.5 MB, 512KB Sound RAM, expandable with Extended RAM CartridgeStorageInternal RAM, cartridgeGraphicsVDP1 & VDP2 video display processorsSoundOnline servicesPredecessorSuccessorThe Sega Saturn is a developed by and released on November 22, 1994 in, May 11, 1995 in, and July 8, 1995 in. The successor to the successful, the Saturn has a dual- architecture and eight processors.
Jul 12, 2010 SEGA's popular dragon shooter series continues with a four-CD adventure for the ages. Blending time-tested Panzer action with some of the most impressive graphics and gameplay the Saturn has ever seen, this installment is packed with mysteries and puzzles. Sep 13, 2017 Longplay of Panzer Dragoon Saga, played as the NTSC version on the Sega Saturn. This game's version was released on June 5th, 1998. Please give the video a like!
Its games are in format, and its game library contains several as well as original games.Development of the Saturn began in 1992, the same year Sega's groundbreaking debuted. The system was designed around a new CPU from Japanese electronics company.
Sega added another video display processor in early 1994 to better compete with 's forthcoming.The Saturn was initially successful in Japan, but failed to sell in large numbers in the United States after its surprise May 1995 launch, four months before its scheduled release date. After the debut of the in late 1996, the Saturn rapidly lost market share in the U.S., where it was discontinued in 1998.
Having sold 9.26 million units worldwide, the Saturn is considered a. The failure of Sega's development teams to release a game in the series, known in development as, has been considered a factor in the console's poor performance.Although the Saturn is remembered for several well regarded games, including, the series, and the series, its reputation is mixed due to its complex hardware design and limited support. Sega's management has been criticized for its decisions during the system's development and discontinuation.
Contents.History Background Released in 1988, the (known as the Mega Drive in Europe, Japan and Australia) was Sega's entry into the of video game consoles. In mid-1990, Sega CEO hired as president and CEO of Sega of America.
Kalinske developed a four-point plan for sales of the Genesis: lower the price of the console, create a U.S.-based team to develop games targeted at the American market, continue aggressive advertising campaigns, and sell with the console. The Japanese board of directors initially disapproved of the plan, but all four points were approved by Nakayama, who told Kalinske, 'I hired you to make the decisions for Europe and the Americas, so go ahead and do it.' Magazines praised Sonic as one of the greatest games ever made, and Sega's console finally took off as customers who had been waiting for the (SNES) decided to purchase a Genesis instead. However, the release of a CD-based for the Genesis, the (known as Mega-CD outside of North America), was commercially disappointing.Sega also experienced success with.
In 1992 and 1993, the new arcade system board showcased 's and (the first ), which played a crucial role in popularizing 3D polygonal graphics. In particular, Virtua Fighter garnered praise for its simple three-button control scheme, with strategy coming from the intuitively observed differences between characters that felt and acted differently rather than the more ornate of competitors.
Despite its crude visuals—with characters composed of fewer than 1,200 polygons— Virtua Fighter's fluid animation and relatively realistic depiction of distinct fighting styles gave its combatants a lifelike presence considered impossible to replicate with. The Model 1 was an expensive system board, and bringing home releases of its games to the Genesis required more than its hardware could handle. Several alternatives helped to bring Sega's newest arcade games to the console, such as the chip used for Virtua Racing, and eventually the add-on.
Development Development of the Saturn was supervised by Hideki Sato, Sega's director and deputy general manager of. According to Sega project manager Hideki Okamura, the project started over two years before the Saturn was showcased at the Tokyo Toy Show in June 1994.
The name 'Saturn' was initially only the codename during development. In March 1994 reported a rumor that 'the Sega Saturn. Will release in Japan before the end of the year' for $250–300.In 1993, Sega and Japanese electronics company formed a joint venture to develop a new CPU for the Saturn, which resulted in the creation of the 'SuperH Engine' (or ) later that year. The Saturn was designed around a dual-SH2 configuration. According to Kazuhiro Hamada, Sega's section chief for Saturn development during the system's conception, 'the SH-2 was chosen for reasons of cost and efficiency. The chip has a calculation system similar to a digital signal processor, but we realized that a single CPU would not be enough to calculate a 3D world.'
Although the Saturn's design was largely finished before the end of 1993, reports in early 1994 of the technical capabilities of 's upcoming console prompted Sega to include another video display processor (VDP) to improve the system's 2D performance and texture-mapping. CD-ROM-based and cartridge-only versions of the Saturn hardware were considered for simultaneous release during the system's development, but this idea was discarded due to concerns over the lower quality and higher price of cartridge-based games.According to Kalinske, Sega of America 'fought against the architecture of Saturn for quite some time'.
Seeking an alternative graphics chip for the Saturn, Kalinske attempted to broker a deal with, but Sega of Japan rejected the proposal. Silicon Graphics subsequently collaborated with Nintendo on the.
Kalinske, Sony Electronic Publishing's, and Sony America's Micky Schulhof had discussed development of a joint 'Sega/Sony hardware system', which never came to fruition due to Sega's desire to create hardware that could accommodate both 2D and 3D visuals and Sony's competing notion of focusing on 3D technology. Publicly, Kalinske defended the Saturn's design: 'Our people feel that they need the multiprocessing to be able to bring to the home what we're doing next year in the arcades.' In 1993, Sega restructured its internal studios in preparation for the Saturn's launch.
To ensure high-quality 3D games would be available early in the Saturn's life, and to create a more energetic working environment, developers from Sega's arcade division were asked to create console games. New teams, such as developer, were formed during this time.In January 1994, Sega began to develop an add-on for the Genesis, the Sega 32X, which would serve as a less expensive entry into the.
The decision to create the add-on was made by Nakayama and widely supported by Sega of America employees. According to former Sega of America producer Scot Bayless, Nakayama was worried that the Saturn would not be available until after 1994 and that the recently released would reduce Sega's hardware sales. As a result, Nakayama ordered his engineers to have the system ready for launch by the end of the year. The 32X would not be compatible with the Saturn, but Sega executive Richard Brudvik-Lindner pointed out that the 32X would play Genesis games, and had the same system architecture as the Saturn. This was justified by Sega's statement that both platforms would run at the same time, and that the 32X would be aimed at players who could not afford the more expensive Saturn. According to Sega of America research and development head Joe Miller, the 32X served a role in assisting development teams to familiarize themselves with the dual SH-2 architecture also used in the Saturn. Because both machines shared many of the same parts and were preparing to launch around the same time, tensions emerged between Sega of America and Sega of Japan when the Saturn was given priority.
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A first-model Japanese Sega Saturn unitSega released the Saturn in Japan on November 22, 1994, at a price of 44,800. Virtua Fighter, a faithful port of the popular arcade game, sold at a nearly one-to-one ratio with the Saturn console at launch and was crucial to the system's early success in Japan. Though Sega had wanted to launch with and Panzer Dragoon, the only other first-party game available at launch was Wan Chai Connection. Fueled by the popularity of Virtua Fighter, Sega's initial shipment of 200,000 Saturn units sold out on the first day.
Sega waited until the December 3 launch of the PlayStation to ship more units; when both were sold side-by-side, the Saturn proved more popular.Meanwhile, Sega released the 32X on November 21, 1994 in North America, December 3, 1994 in Japan, and January 1995 in PAL territories, and was sold at less than half of the Saturn's launch price. After the holiday season, however, interest in the 32X rapidly declined.
500,000 Saturn units were sold in Japan by the end of 1994 (compared to 300,000 PlayStation units), and sales exceeded 1 million within the following six months. There were conflicting reports that the PlayStation enjoyed a higher rate, and the system gradually began to overtake the Saturn in sales during 1995. Sony attracted many third-party developers to the PlayStation with a liberal $10 licensing fee, excellent development tools, and the introduction of a 7- to 10-day order system that allowed publishers to meet more efficiently than the 10- to 12-week for cartridges that had previously been standard in the Japanese video game industry.In March 1995, Sega of America CEO Tom Kalinske announced that the Saturn would be released in the U.S.
On 'Saturnday' (Saturday) September 2, 1995. However, Sega of Japan mandated an early launch to give the Saturn an advantage over the PlayStation. At the first (E3) in Los Angeles on May 11, 1995, Kalinske gave a keynote presentation in which he revealed the release price of 399 (including a copy of Virtua Fighter ), and described the features of the console.
Kalinske also revealed that, due to 'high consumer demand', Sega had already shipped 30,000 Saturns to, and for immediate release. The announcement upset retailers who were not informed of the surprise release, including and; responded by dropping Sega from its lineup. Sony subsequently unveiled the retail price for the PlayStation: Olaf Olafsson, the head of Sony Computer Entertainment America (SCEA), summoned Steve Race to the stage, who said '$299', and then walked away to applause. The Saturn's release in Europe also came before the previously announced North American date, on July 8, 1995, at a price of 399.99.
European retailers and press did not have time to promote the system or its games, harming sales. The PlayStation launched in Europe on September 29, 1995; by November, it had already outsold the Saturn by a factor of three in the United Kingdom, where Sony had allocated £20 million of marketing during the holiday season compared to Sega's £4 million.The Saturn's U.S.
Launch was accompanied by a reported $50 million advertising campaign that included coverage in publications such as. Early advertising for the system was targeted at a more mature, adult audience than the Sega Genesis ads. Because of the early launch, the Saturn had only six games (all published by Sega) available to start as most third-party games were slated to be released around the original launch date. Virtua Fighter's relative lack of popularity in the West, combined with a release schedule of only two games between the surprise launch and September 1995, prevented Sega from capitalizing on the Saturn's early timing. Within two days of its September 9, 1995 launch in North America, the PlayStation (backed by a large marketing campaign ) sold more units than the Saturn had in the five months following its surprise launch, with almost all of the initial shipment of 100,000 units being sold in advance, and the rest selling out across the U.S.A high-quality port of the arcade game contributed to the PlayStation's early success, and garnered favorable media in comparison to the Saturn version of Sega's, which was considered inferior to its arcade counterpart. Namco, a longtime arcade competitor with Sega, also unveiled the arcade board, based on raw PlayStation hardware.
Although the System 11 was technically inferior to Sega's arcade board, its lower price made it attractive to smaller arcades. Following a 1994 acquisition of Sega developers, Namco released for the System 11 and PlayStation. Directed by former Virtua Fighter designer, Tekken was intended to be fundamentally similar, with the addition of detailed textures and twice the. Tekken surpassed Virtua Fighter in popularity due to its superior graphics and nearly arcade-perfect console port, becoming the first million-selling PlayStation game.On October 2, 1995, Sega announced a Saturn price reduction to $299.
High-quality Saturn ports of the Sega Model 2 arcade hits, and (running at 60 frames per second at a high resolution) were available by the end of the year, and were generally regarded as superior to competitors on the PlayStation. Notwithstanding a subsequent increase in Saturn sales during the 1995 holiday season, the games were not enough to reverse the PlayStation's decisive lead. By 1996, the PlayStation had a considerably larger library than the Saturn, although Sega hoped to generate interest with upcoming exclusives such as. An informal survey of retailers showed that the Saturn and PlayStation sold in roughly equal numbers during the first quarter of 1996. Within its first year, the PlayStation secured over 20% of the entire U.S. Video game market.
On the first day of the May 1996 E3 show, Sony announced a PlayStation price reduction to $199, a reaction to the release of the Model 2 Saturn in Japan at a price roughly equivalent to $199. On the second day, Sega announced it would match this price, though Saturn hardware was more expensive to manufacture. Changes at Sega. 'I thought the world of Hayao Nakayama because of his love of software. We spoke about building a new hardware platform that I would be very, very involved with, shape the direction of this platform, and hire a new team of people and restructure Sega. That, to me, was a great opportunity.'
—Bernie Stolar, on his joining Sega of America.Despite the launch of the PlayStation and Saturn, sales of 16-bit games and consoles continued to account for 64% of the video game market in 1995. Sega underestimated the continued popularity of the Genesis, and did not have the inventory to meet demand. Sega was able to capture 43% of the dollar share of the U.S. Video game market and sell more than 2 million Genesis units in 1995, but Kalinske estimated that 'we could have sold another 300,000 Genesis systems in the November/December timeframe.' Nakayama's decision to focus on the Saturn over the Genesis, based on the systems' relative performance in Japan, has been cited as the major contributing factor in this miscalculation.Due to long-standing disagreements with Sega of Japan, Kalinske lost most of his interest in his work as CEO of Sega of America. By the spring of 1996, rumors were circulating that Kalinske planned to leave Sega, and a July 13 article in the press reported speculation that Sega of Japan was planning significant changes to Sega of America's management team.
On July 16, 1996, Sega announced that had been appointed chairman and CEO of Sega of America, while Kalinske would be leaving Sega after September 30 of that year. A former executive, Irimajiri had been actively involved with Sega of America since joining Sega in 1993. Sega also announced that and Nakayama had resigned from their positions as chairman and co-chairman of Sega of America, though both men remained with the company., a former executive at Sony Computer Entertainment of America, was named Sega of America's executive vice president in charge of product development and third-party relations.
Stolar, who had arranged a six-month PlayStation exclusivity deal for and helped build close relations with while at Sony, was perceived as a major asset by Sega officials. Finally, Sega of America made plans to expand its PC software business.Stolar was not supportive of the Saturn due to his belief that the hardware was poorly designed, and publicly announced at E3 1997 that 'The Saturn is not our future.' While Stolar had 'no interest in lying to people' about the Saturn's prospects, he continued to emphasize quality games for the system, and subsequently reflected that 'we tried to wind it down as cleanly as we could for the consumer.' At Sony, Stolar opposed the localization of certain Japanese PlayStation games that he felt would not represent the system well in North America, and advocated a similar policy for the Saturn during his time at Sega, although he later sought to distance himself from this perception. These changes were accompanied by a softer image that Sega was beginning to portray in its advertising, including removing the 'Sega!' Scream and holding press events for the education industry.
Marketing for the Saturn in Japan also changed with the introduction of ' (played by ) as a character in a series of TV advertisements starting in 1997; the character would eventually star in a Saturn video game.Temporarily abandoning arcade development, Sega AM2 head began developing several Saturn-exclusive games, including a in the Virtua Fighter series. Initially conceived as an obscure prototype 'The Old Man and the Peach Tree' and intended to address the flaws of contemporary Japanese RPGs (such as poor routines), Virtua Fighter RPG evolved into a planned 11-part, 45-hour 'revenge epic in the tradition of ', which Suzuki hoped would become the Saturn's. The game was eventually released as for the Saturn's successor, the. Cancellation of Sonic X-treme.
A screenshot of Chris Senn and Ofer Alon's version of. The game's cancellation, and the lack of a fully 3D platformer, is considered a significant factor in the Saturn's.As was working on Nights into Dreams, Sega tasked the U.S.-based (STI) with developing what would have been the first fully 3D entry in its popular series. The game, was moved to the Saturn after several prototypes for other hardware (including the 32X) were discarded. It featured a camera system that rotated levels with 's movement. After Nakayama ordered the game be reworked around the created for its boss battles, the developers were forced to work between 16 and 20 hours a day to meet their December 1996 deadline. Weeks of development time proved fruitless after Stolar rescinded STI's access to Sonic Team's Nights into Dreams engine following an ultimatum by Nights programmer. After programmer Ofer Alon quit and designers and Chris Coffin became ill, the project was cancelled in early 1997.
Sonic Team started work on an original 3D Sonic game for the Saturn, but development was shifted to the Dreamcast and the game became. STI was disbanded in 1996 as a result of changes in management at Sega of America.Journalists and fans have speculated about the impact a completed X-treme might have had on the market.
David Houghton of described the prospect of 'a good 3D Sonic game' on the Saturn as 'a 'What if.' Situation on a par with the dinosaurs not becoming extinct.' 's Travis Fahs called X-treme 'the turning point not only for Sega's mascot and their 32-bit console, but for the entire company', but noted that the game served as 'an empty vessel for Sega's ambitions and the hopes of their fans'. Dave Zdyrko, who operated a prominent Saturn fan website during the system's lifespan, said: 'I don't know if X-treme could've saved the Saturn, but. Sonic helped make the Genesis and it made absolutely no sense why there wasn't a great new Sonic title ready at or near the launch of the Saturn'.
In a 2007 retrospective, producer Mike Wallis maintained that X-treme 'definitely would have been competitive' with Nintendo's. Reported in late 1996 that X-treme would have harmed Sega's reputation if it did not compare well to contemporary competition.
Naka said he had been relieved by the cancellation, feeling that the game was not promising. Decline From 1993 to early 1996, although Sega's revenue declined as part of an industry-wide slowdown, the company retained control of 38% of the U.S. Video game market (compared to Nintendo's 30% and Sony's 24%). 800,000 PlayStation units were sold in the U.S.
By the end of 1995, compared to 400,000 Saturn units. In part due to an aggressive, the PlayStation outsold the Saturn by two-to-one in 1996, while Sega's 16-bit sales declined markedly. By the end of 1996, the PlayStation had sold 2.9 million units in the U.S., more than twice the 1.2 million Saturn units sold.
The Christmas 1996 'Three Free' pack, which bundled the Saturn with Daytona USA, Virtua Fighter 2, and Virtua Cop, drove sales dramatically and ensured the Saturn remained a competitor into 1997.However, the Saturn failed to take the lead. After the launch of the Nintendo 64 in 1996, sales of the Saturn and its games were sharply reduced, while the PlayStation outsold the Saturn by three-to-one in the U.S. The 1997 release of significantly increased the PlayStation's popularity in Japan.
As of August 1997, Sony controlled 47% of the console market, Nintendo 40%, and Sega only 12%. Neither price cuts nor high-profile game releases proved helpful. Reflecting decreased demand for the system, worldwide Saturn shipments during March to September 1997 declined from 2.35 million to 600,000 versus the same period in 1996; shipments in North America declined from 800,000 to 50,000.
Due to the Saturn's poor performance in North America, 60 of Sega of America's 200 employees were laid off in the fall of 1997. 'I thought the Saturn was a mistake as far as hardware was concerned. The games were obviously terrific, but the hardware just wasn't there.' —Bernie Stolar, former president of Sega of America giving his assessment of the Saturn, in 2009.As a result of Sega's deteriorating financial situation, Nakayama resigned as president in January 1998 in favor of Irimajiri. Stolar subsequently acceded to president of Sega of America. Following five years of generally declining profits, in the fiscal year ending March 31, 1998 Sega suffered its first parent and consolidated financial losses since its 1988 listing on the.
Due to a 54.8% decline in consumer product sales (including a 75.4% decline overseas), the company reported a net loss of ¥43.3 billion (US$327.8 million) and a consolidated net loss of ¥35.6 billion (US$269.8 million).Shortly before announcing its financial losses, Sega announced that it was discontinuing the Saturn in North America to prepare for the launch of its successor. Only 12 Saturn games were released in North America in 1998 ( was the final official release), compared to 119 in 1996. The Saturn would last longer in Japan. Rumors about the upcoming Dreamcast—spread mainly by Sega itself—were leaked to the public before the last Saturn games were released. The Dreamcast was released on November 27, 1998 in Japan and on September 9, 1999 in North America.
The decision to abandon the Saturn effectively left the Western market without Sega games for over one year. Sega suffered an additional ¥42.881 billion consolidated net loss in the fiscal year ending March 1999, and announced plans to eliminate 1,000 jobs, nearly a quarter of its workforce.Worldwide Saturn sales include at least the following amounts in each territory: 5.75 million in Japan (surpassing the Genesis' sales of 3.58 million there ), 1.8 million in the United States, 1 million in Europe, and 530,000 elsewhere. With lifetime sales of 9.26 million units, the Saturn is considered a, although its install base in Japan surpassed the Nintendo 64's 5.54 million. Lack of distribution has been cited as a significant factor contributing to the Saturn's failure, as the system's surprise launch damaged Sega's reputation with key retailers.
Conversely, Nintendo's long delay in releasing a 3D console and damage caused to Sega's reputation by poorly supported add-ons for the Genesis are considered major factors allowing Sony to gain a foothold in the market. Technical specifications. Video Display Processor 1 (VDP1)Video Display Processor 2 (VDP2)Saturn motherboardFeaturing eight processors, the Saturn's main are two Hitachi SH-2 at 28.6 and capable of 56. It uses a running at 11.3 MHz as a sound controller; a custom with an integrated Yamaha FH1 DSP running at 22.6 MHz capable of up to 32 sound channels with both and at a maximum of; and two: the VDP1 (which handles sprites, and ) and the VDP2 (which handles backgrounds).
Its double-speed is controlled by a dedicated processor to reduce load times. The System Control Unit (SCU), which controls all and functions as a co-processor of the main SH-2 CPU, has an internal DSP running at 14.3 MHz. It features a cartridge slot allows for memory expansion, 16 of work (RAM), 12 Mbit of, 4 Mbit of RAM for sound functions, 4 Mbit of CD RAM and 256 (32 KB) of RAM. Its video output, provided by a, displays at from 320×224 to 704×224, and can display up to simultaneously. The Saturn measures 260 mm × 230 mm × 83 mm (10.2 in × 9.1 in × 3.3 in).
It was sold packaged with an instruction manual, one control pad, a stereo AV cable, and its 100 V AC power supply, with a power consumption of approximately 15W. 'One very fast central processor would be preferable. I don't think all programmers have the ability to program two CPUs—most can only get about one-and-a-half times the speed you can get from one. I think that only 1 in 100 programmers are good enough to get this kind of speed nearly double out of the Saturn.' —Yu Suzuki reflecting on Saturn developmentThe Saturn had technically impressive hardware at the time of its release, but its complexity made harnessing this power difficult for developers accustomed to conventional programming. The greatest disadvantage was that both CPUs shared the same bus and were unable to access system memory at the same time. Making full use of the 4 kB of in each CPU was critical to maintaining performance.
For example, Virtua Fighter used one CPU for each character, while Nights used one CPU for 3D environments and the other for 2D objects. The Visual Display Processor 2 (VDP2), which can generate and manipulate backgrounds, has also been cited as one of the system's most important features.The Saturn's design elicited mixed commentary among game developers and journalists. Developers quoted by Next Generation in December 1995 described the Saturn as 'a real coder's machine' for 'those who love to get their teeth into assembly and really hack the hardware', with 'more flexibility' and 'more calculating power than the PlayStation'.
The sound board was also widely praised. By contrast, programmer Ezra Dreisbach described the Saturn as significantly slower than the PlayStation, whereas of observed little difference. In particular, Dreisbach criticized the Saturn's use of as its basic, in contrast to the triangles rendered by the PlayStation and the Nintendo 64. Ken Humphries of remarked that compared to the PlayStation, the Saturn was worse at generating polygons but better at sprites.
Third-party development was initially hindered by the lack of useful and, requiring developers to write in. During early Saturn development, programming in assembly could offer a two-to-fivefold speed increase over higher-level languages such as.The Saturn hardware is extremely difficult to. Sega responded to complaints about the difficulty of programming for the Saturn by writing new graphics libraries which were claimed to make development easier. Sega of America also purchased a United Kingdom-based development firm, Cross Products, to produce the Saturn's development system. Despite these challenges, CEO Masato Maegawa stated that the Nintendo 64 was more difficult to develop for than the Saturn. Founder felt that while the PlayStation was easier 'to get started on. You quickly reach its limits', whereas the Saturn's 'complicated' hardware had the ability to 'improve the speed and look of a game when all used together correctly'.
A major criticism was the Saturn's use of 2D sprites to generate polygons and simulate 3D space. The PlayStation functioned similarly, but also featured a dedicated 'Geometry Transfer Engine' that rendered additional polygons. As a result, several analysts described the Saturn as an 'essentially' 2D system. Model 2 North American controllerSaturn multitapRAM backup cartridgeSeveral Saturn models were produced in Japan. An updated model in a recolored light gray (officially white ) was released at ¥20,000 to reduce the system's cost and raise its appeal among women and younger children. Two models were released by third parties: Hitachi released the Hi-Saturn (a smaller model equipped with a car navigation function), while released the V-Saturn. Came in various color schemes to match different models of the console.
The system also supports several accessories. A wireless controller powered by AA batteries uses infrared signal to connect. Designed to work with Nights, the Saturn includes both a control pad and an analog stick for directional input. Sega also released several versions of arcade sticks as peripherals, including the Virtua Stick, the Virtua Stick Pro, the Mission Analog Stick, and the Twin Stick. Sega also created a peripheral, the Virtua Gun, for shooting games such as Virtua Cop and The Guardian, and the Arcade Racer, a wheel for racing games. The Play Cable allows two Saturn consoles to be connected for multiplayer gaming across two screens, while a multitap allows up to six players to play on the same console. The Saturn was designed to support up to 12 players on a single console, by using two multitaps.
RAM cartridges expand the memory. Other accessories include a keyboard, mouse, floppy disk drive, and movie card.Like the Genesis, the Saturn had an internet-based gaming service. The was a 28.8k that fit into the cartridge slot in the Saturn for direct dial multiplayer. In Japan, a pay-to-play service was used. It could also be used for, sending,.
Because the NetLink was released before the Saturn keyboard, Sega produced a series of CDs containing hundreds of website addresses so that Saturn owners could browse with the joypad. The NetLink functioned with Daytona USA, Sega Rally,.
In 1995, Sega announced a variant of the Saturn featuring a built-in NetLink modem under the code name 'Sega Pluto', but it was never released.Sega developed an arcade board based on the Saturn's hardware, the (or Titan), intended as an affordable alternative to Sega's Model 2 arcade board and as a testing ground for upcoming Saturn software. The Titan was criticized for its comparatively weak performance by Sega AM2's Yu Suzuki and was overproduced by Sega's arcade division. Because Sega already had the license, members of working at the Sega Technical Institute developed for the Titan to clear excess inventory.
Die Hard became the most successful Sega arcade game produced in the United States at that point. Other games released for the Titan include. Game library.
Main article:Much of the Saturn's library comes from Sega's arcade ports, including Daytona USA, Sega Rally Championship, the Virtua Cop series, the Virtua Fighter series, and Virtual-On. Saturn ports of 2D fighting games including, and were noted for their faithfulness to their arcade counterparts., developed by Sega AM2 for the Saturn rather than arcades, combined characters from and Virtua Fighter to positive reviews. Highly rated Saturn exclusives include, Nights,. PlayStation games such as, and received Saturn ports with mixed results. Lobotomy Software's featured some of the most impressive 3D graphics on the system, leading Sega to contract them to produce Saturn ports of. While Electronic Arts' limited support for the Saturn and Sega's failure to develop a football game for the 1996 fall season gave Sony the lead in the sports genre, 'Sega Sports' published Saturn sports games including the well-regarded and series. With about 600 official releases, the Saturn's library is nearly twice as large as the Nintendo 64's.
A typical in-game screen shot of NiGHTS into Dreams, taken from the 'Splash Garden'Due to the cancellation of Sonic X-treme, the Saturn lacks an exclusive Sonic the Hedgehog platformer; instead it received a graphically enhanced port of the Genesis game, the compilation, and a racing game,. The platformer received attention for its eponymous main character being a potential mascot for the Saturn, but it failed to catch on as the Sonic series had. Considered one of the most important Saturn releases, Sonic Team developed Nights into Dreams, a game that attempted to simulate both the joy of flying and the fleeting sensation of dreams. The gameplay of Nights involves steering the -like protagonist, Nights, as it flies on a mostly 2D plane across surreal stages broken into four segments each. The levels repeat for as long as an in-game time limit allows, while flying over or looping around various objects in rapid succession earns additional points. Although it lacked the fully 3D environments of Nintendo's Super Mario 64, Nights' emphasis on unfettered movement and graceful acrobatic techniques showcased the intuitive potential of analog control.
Sonic Team's, a fully 3D involving a team of outer-space, garnered praise for its effects and distinctive art direction, but was released in limited quantities late in the Saturn's lifespan and criticized for its short length.Some of the games that made the Saturn popular in Japan, such as and the series, never saw a Western release due to Sega of America's policy of not localizing RPGs and other Japanese games that might have damaged the system's reputation in North America. Despite appearing first on the Saturn, games such as, Grandia, and only saw a Western release on the PlayStation. Localized several Japanese Saturn games before a public feud between Sega of America's Bernie Stolar and Working Designs president Victor Ireland resulted in the company switching their support to the PlayStation. Panzer Dragoon Saga was praised as perhaps the finest RPG for the system due to its cinematic presentation, evocative plot, and unique battle system—with a tactical emphasis on circling around opponents to identify weak points and the ability to 'morph' the physical attributes of the protagonist's dragon companion during combat—but Sega released fewer than 20,000 retail copies of the game in North America in what IGN's Levi Buchanan characterized as one example of the Saturn's 'ignominious send-off' in the region. Similarly, only the first of three installments of Shining Force III was released outside Japan. The Saturn's library also garnered criticism for its lack of sequels to high-profile Genesis-era Sega franchises, with Sega of Japan's cancellation of a planned third installment in Sega of America's popular series cited as a significant source of controversy.Later ports of Saturn games including Guardian Heroes, Nights, and continued to garner positive reviews.
Partly due to rarity, Saturn games such as Panzer Dragoon Saga and have been noted for their. Due to the system's commercial failure and hardware limitations, planned Saturn releases such as, Shenmue, Sonic Adventure, and were cancelled and moved to the Dreamcast.Reception and legacy At the time of the Saturn's release, awarded it 24 out of 40, higher than the PlayStation's 19 out of 40. In June 1995, Dennis Lynch of the and Albert Kim of praised the Saturn as the most advanced console available; Lynch praised the double-speed CD-ROM drive and 'intense surround-sound capabilities' and Kim cited Panzer Dragoon as a 'lyrical and exhilarating epic' demonstrating the ability of new technology to 'transform' the industry. In December 1995, Next Generation gave the Saturn three and a half stars out of five, highlighting Sega's marketing and arcade background as strengths but the system's complexity as a weakness.
Four critics in 's December 1996 Buyer's Guide rated the Saturn 8, 6, 7, and 8 out of 10 and the PlayStation 9, 10, 9, and 9. By December 1998, EGM's reviews were more mixed, with reviewers citing the lack of games as a major problem. According to EGM reviewer Crispin Boyer, 'the Saturn is the only system that can thrill me one month and totally disappoint me the next'.Retrospective feedback of the Saturn is mixed, but generally praises its game library. According to Greg Sewart of, 'the Saturn will go down in history as one of the most troubled, and greatest, systems of all time'. In 2009, IGN named the Saturn the 18th best console of all time, praising its unique game library. According to the reviewers, 'While the Saturn ended up losing the popularity contest to both Sony and Nintendo.
Nights into Dreams, the Virtua Fighter and Panzer Dragoon series are all examples of exclusive titles that made the console a fan favorite.' Noted 'hardened loyalists continue to reminisce about the console that brought forth games like Burning Rangers, Guardian Heroes, Dragon Force and Panzer Dragoon Saga.' In 2015, 's Keith Stuart wrote that 'the Saturn has perhaps the strongest line up of 2D shooters and fighting games in console history'.' S Damien McFerran wrote: 'Even today, despite the widespread availability of sequels and re-releases on other formats, the Sega Saturn is still a worthwhile investment for those who appreciate the unique gameplay styles of the companies that supported it.'
IGN's Adam Redsell wrote 'Sega's devil-may-care attitude towards game development in the Saturn and Dreamcast eras is something that we simply do not see outside of the today.' Necrosoft Games director felt that 'the Saturn was a landing point for games that were too 'adult' in content for other systems, as it was the only one that allowed an 18+ rating for content in Japan. Some games, like used it to take body horror to new levels, an important step toward the expansion of games and who they served.' Sewart praised the Saturn's first-party games as 'Sega's shining moment as a game developer', with Sonic Team demonstrating its creative range and AM2 producing numerous technically impressive arcade ports. He also commented on the many Japan-exclusive Saturn releases, which he connected with a subsequent boom in the game import market.
IGN's Travis Fahs was critical of the Saturn library's lack of 'fresh ideas' and 'precious few high-profile franchises', in contrast to what he described as Sega's more creative Dreamcast output.Sega has been criticized for its management of the Saturn. McFerran felt its management staff had 'fallen out of touch with both the demands of the market and the industry'. Stolar has also been criticized; according to Fahs, 'Stolar's decision to abandon the Saturn made him a villain to many Sega fans, but. It was better to regroup than to enter the next fight battered and bruised.
Dreamcast would be Stolar's redemption.' Stolar defended his decision, saying, 'I felt Saturn was hurting the company more than helping it. That was a battle that we weren't going to win.'
Sheffield said that the Saturn's quadrilaterals undermined third-party support, but because ' invested in quads' at the same time, there had been 'a remote possibility' they could have 'become the standard instead of triangles. If somehow, magically, the Saturn were the most popular console of that era.' Speaking more positively, former Working Designs president Victor Ireland described the Saturn as 'the start of the future of console gaming' because it 'got the better developers thinking and designing with parallel-processing architecture in mind for the first time'. In, Justin Towell wrote that the Saturn's 3D Pad 'set the template for every successful controller that followed, with analog and left thumbstick.
I don't see any three-pronged controllers around the office these days.' Perry of noted that, from its surprise launch to its ultimate failure, the Saturn 'soured many gamers on Sega products'. Sewart and IGN's Levi Buchanan cited the failure of the Saturn as the major reason for Sega's downfall as a hardware manufacturer, but USgamer's Jeremy Parish described it as 'more a symptom. Than a cause' of the decline, which began with add-ons for the Genesis that fragmented the market and continued with Sega of America's and Sega of Japan's competing designs for the Dreamcast. Sheffield portrayed Sega's mistakes with the Saturn as emblematic of the broader decline of the Japanese gaming industry: 'They thought they were invincible, and that structure and hierarchy were necessary for their survival, but more flexibility, and a greater participation with the West could have saved them.' According to Stuart, Sega 'didn't see.
The roots of a prevailing trend, away from arcade conversions and traditional role-playing adventures and toward a much wider console development community with fresh ideas about gameplay and structure.' Pulp365 reviews editor Matt Paprocki concluded that 'the Saturn is a relic, but an important one, which represents the harshness of progress and what it can leave in its wake'.
For this story, former Panzer Dragoon Saga character designer Katsumi Yokota filmed himself sketching heroine Azel.Rising starsTo understand what made Panzer Dragoon Saga so anticipated, it helps to know what came before it.W i th staff initially a part of Sega’s Consumer Software R&D Dept. 1, the uniquely named Team Andromeda spun off to ramp up development of Saturn-specific software. Its first game: Panzer Dragoon, a standout for Saturn not tied to an existing arcade or console franchise. Manabu Kusunoki(director, chief designer)Panzer Dragoon was a launch title for the Sega Saturn because Sega was looking to develop games for all genres.
Futatsugi and I were given the task to come up with a shooting game, so we came up with the initial idea for Panzer Dragoon. Once we had a team, I was put in charge of the art direction, character design, environments and the movies. Zwei, the second game in the series, was created mostly by the original team, and I played a less crucial role in the development. I was the supervising editor for the movies and the dragon’s design, but I didn’t play as prominent a role in Zwei as the first game. Takashi Iwade(enemy design)The team’s atmosphere for the first Panzer Dragoon was very mellow. Kusunoki is a very nice, nonconfrontational individual, so there weren’t a lot of disagreements. It was a very fun work environment.
Panzer Dragoon was the first title that we used 3D technology on, so there was definitely a sense of making a cutting-edge game. I was young and didn’t have any experience working in 3D, so it was very exciting. A full 3D real-time rendered game didn’t exist at the time, so it felt like we were pioneers in 3D technology. Manabu Kusunoki(director, chief designer)Because we were tasked with creating a shooting game, the first thing that came to mind was to make a game in outer space, like a Star Wars type of shooter. For a brief time we talked about something like that. But in Japan, we follow the Chinese New Year of the 12 animals.
I was born in the year of the dragon, and I have a lot of childhood memories associated with being born in the year of the dragon. I think that the dragon is a very fascinating creature to people all over the world. It’s probably the most universally inspirational fictional creature. I thought that as long as we preserved the core characteristics of a dragon, such as having a long tail and wings, we could experiment with drastically moving away from conventional images of dragons.So, we preserved the long tail and wings but covered the dragon in armorlike material and made it look more like a crustacean. By creating a unique-looking dragon, it helped to establish a certain sense of reality in this fictional world. I think that's what was going through my mind back then.
Kentaro Yoshida(CG, cinematics)Space Harrier as has been suggested was not actually a big influence on Panzer Dragoon. The biggest influence on the game was a 2D scrolling shooting game in arcades called RayForce. We wanted to make a 3D version of that game. The “on-rails” aspect of the game was inspired by Sky Fox and Namco’s Starblade, and not so much Space Harrier.The fact that Sega didn’t make a new Sonic game earlier was a big, missed opportunity. Sonic was a Genesis game, so they wanted to make a new IP for the Sega Saturn and created the side-scrolling game Clockwork Knight instead.
I think because they already had a side-scrolling game, upper management wanted to make a on-rail shooter, so that decision came from the top. Another reason is that Mr.
Kusunoki worked on an arcade game called Rail Chase, so he already had experience in rail shooters. Also, the main programmer, Hidetoshi Takeshita, worked on titles like OutRun, which uses 3D-scrolling sprites. So, the technological know-how was there to make the game.
Manabu Kusunoki(director, chief designer)The team that made Panzer Dragoon is completely separate from Space Harrier, so the programming was not adopted for Panzer Dragoon. Back then there was very little transfer of technology between teams, and game engines were made from scratch. But in terms of inspiration, I remember we discussed Space Harrier as a reference. For example, we thought it would be cool to be able to attack enemies that had flown past you or were behind you. We used Space Harrier to decide how we wanted to change the genre and expand on the player’s gaming experience.
Manabu Kusunoki(director, chief designer)We struggled a lot because of the size of the team. It was not always an optimum situation, and there were endless disputes between members within the team. During development, we did not get along. It took a long time to get the team to work together. That wasn’t the case for the first two titles.The original Team Andromeda members who had worked on the first two shooting games had their ideals of what a Panzer Dragoon game should be, and the planners were all new people who had joined the team for PDS, so there was a clash between the original Panzer Dragoon members and the new members who had new ideas for the game. Yukio Futatsugi(producer, original concept)The hardest thing about the project was that, for the time, we took on too many challenges at once. The game was in “full voice,” meaning we had voice-over for all the characters’ dialogue in the game.
We also put in 3D real-time processing for whole game. At the time, real-time processing was common in cutscenes and action clips, but nobody had made an entire game using real-time processing.
It was also rare for an RPG game to be made completely in 3D. That in and of itself was a huge challenge. We also had to convert what was originally a shooting game and make it into a good RPG. And because of this, we had to create things within the game that were not traditionally in a standard RPG.
Each challenge seemed doable alone, but because we tried to do so much all at once, it was really tough.These were all things that we saw as lacking in the games that we played and said, “Wouldn’t it be cool if the entire game was in ‘full voice’ and 3D real-time processing?” etc. So we put it all into the game, and we found that it was super hard to make.And, because it was such a huge undertaking, we had to bring on more people to complete the game. We had about 50 people on our dev team. I didn’t have the experience of managing such a big team, so there were challenges that arose from that. Manabu Kusunoki(director, chief designer)Yes, there’s that, but we also didn’t have anyone on Team Andromeda who had RPG experience, so we brought people from outside the team to help create the RPG. And the meshing of the two genres caused a lot of friction, and we couldn’t communicate at the same level.My impression of the game now is different from when we had just finished the game. I wasn’t satisfied at all with the game at the time.
It didn’t sell very well, so that was one thing. But I also felt dissatisfied with the quality of the game we had created.
That was my first impression. But looking back, and considering the challenges we overcame — like making a complete 3D game, adding full voice, a complex storyline — I think it was an impressive feat, and I think it was a real highlight in my career.My dissatisfaction with the game was a reflection of my loss of self-confidence at the time. I wasn’t satisfied with my managerial skills.
The biggest reason was that I wasn’t able to bring the team together. I think the team did a great job despite the circumstances. So, if I were to go back 20 years ago, I would have liked to have been involved as one of the artists, and not be in a managerial position. I would have liked to have contributed directly to improving the quality of the design and had someone else manage the team. A render of Edge in Panzer Dragoon Saga. Team Andromeda/Sega Building a better battle systemOne of the greatest challenges facing the team was that while it was quite skilled at making on-rails shooters, as evidenced by the vastly improved Zwei, none of the developers had experience creating role-playing games — a critical flaw in the plan when your next big installment in a popular series is an RPG.
Enter: Akihiko Mukaiyama, who was the closest thing to an experienced RPG developer that Sega could offer (and would go on to direct the franchise revival project, Panzer Dragoon Orta, at Smilebit). Akihiko Mukaiyama(battle planner)Before Panzer Dragoon Saga, I worked on Sakura Taisen English title: Sakura Wars. By the time Sakura Taisen had finished production, Panzer Dragoon Saga was already in development, so I was brought on midproduction. There weren’t a lot of people working on PDS who had experience working on turn-based RPGs, but I had worked on at least three titles by that point, so I was brought on as an experienced RPG developer.When I joined they already had a prototype. Tomohiro Kondo, the Panzer Dragoon Zwei producer, had created the prototype, but there were still a lot of issues. Zwei was a shooting game, a position-based shooting game, and the goal was to now create an RPG. Team Andromeda still didn’t have a solution on how to convert a shooting game into a role-playing game.
Akihiko Mukaiyama(battle planner)Visualize an invisible three-dimensional box with the enemy inside the box. The four surfaces surrounding the enemy are what the player sees onscreen, and the player plays the character riding a dragon that’s flying around the enemy. When the player moves close to the edge of one surface, the screen turns to show the adjacent surface of the box with the enemy inside. The player can move along all four surfaces surrounding the enemy by moving closer to the left or right of the screen.
The prototype was a combination of a shooting game and positioning. Kondo-san left the team to work on another game, so I was his replacement and was left to take the prototype and figure out how to make it work.
Shin Futakawame(main battle programmer)I’m still friends with Mr. Mukaiyama and we sometimes get together and meet up, but at the time we used to fight a lot. I had this idea for the battle system right after we had completed Zwei.
I thought it would be fun if we made a shooting game with the player flying on the back of a dragon, shooting at an enemy vessel up ahead, and went ahead and started creating the battle system based on this idea I had. I think the planners had a really tough time because the whole concept was just based on this random idea I had that I thought would be cool. As we started developing this brand-new system, we came upon issues that none of us could foresee because it had never been done before. Akihiko Mukaiyama(battle planner)There were many, many changes from this prototype to the finished product. When I heard about the prototype, I initially thought, “Great, it’s done.” It seemed my job was easy, since the concept was already there.
But there were a lot of problems with the prototype. First of all, we had to figure out where the strategy aspect of the gameplay was going to play out. Why did the player have to move to another angle? What was the purpose of moving around the enemy? The biggest problem was that there were two groups of people on the team: people who wanted to make a “command RPG” and others who wanted to make a shooting game.This was the first time I had joined Team Andromeda, and I quickly found out that the programmers and artists both had a lot of power and say on the direction of the game. Some teams have very strong planners, with artists and programmers who just make the game according to the directions from the planners, but Team Andromeda was the opposite.
The programmers had their agenda, and the artists had their own agenda. Their visions for the game would collide, and it was a constant battle between the programmers and artists.The programmers were very proud and had a lot of motivation from just completing a high-end shooter in Zwei, so they wanted to make another shooting game. The artists, on the other hand, wanted to make use of the 3D technology and show off cool graphics in an RPG. They wanted to spin the camera as much as possible to show all angles of the 3D characters they created. Their motivation and end goal was totally different from those of the programmers.
I didn’t think there could possibly be a solution to satisfy both parties. It took about a year, and a lot of mistakes, to find a solution. Takashi Iwade(enemy design)I think there was a conscious decision to try to make something that had never been done before.
We were trying to see how far we could break away from the JRPG mold, and that was reflected in the design of the characters and in the fighting style. It was already a time where RPGs were synonymous with Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest. But we wanted to create an RPG where the player played only one character and could fight while riding a dragon. We wanted to create an immersive 3D world, where not only the characters were in 3D but they could walk around a 3D environment in all directions. From the beginning of the project, we wanted to make these things happen despite knowing the limitations of the Sega Saturn hardware specs. Akihiko Mukaiyama(battle planner)Partway through development I was given authority to design the battles as I saw fit, but it wasn’t until the very end where I felt confident that I had found a solution.
There were a few instances where there were major breakthroughs.The first breakthrough was in relation to the invisible box I mentioned earlier. I wanted to make this box concept work and allow the player to roam freely around the enemy and in real time. At first, I thought that free-roaming would work better for this game, like in an FPS. But in reality the free style didn’t work with the camera or with the pace of the game. It felt tedious, and slowed down the pace of the game. But, by using the enemy as the axis point and pressing left and right on the arrow key to position yourself around it, it better simulated flying. This also improved the camera movement.The four focal points were adjustable depending on the size of the enemy, so it gave the artists creative freedom to adjust the camera to angles that helped to make the biggest impact and make the characters look cool.
At first I was hung up on using the four-frame model of the prototype, but by using the four-focal-point model, we were able to solve the visual and pacing problems in the battle scenes. That was the first breakthrough.The second breakthrough was probably when we decided to use three tiers on the gauge. That allowed us to differentiate the use of the regular laser, which is easily accessible with a push of a button, and the larger, stronger, cooler-looking laser that required a full tier before unleashing on an enemy.Another idea to try to please the artists who wanted to have cool visuals in the game: In Final Fantasy, the characters have these cool visual clips that play every time they do certain actions, and the artists wanted to incorporate some kind of short attract scenes in PDS, but the programmers wanted to keep it as close to a shooting game as possible. So in an attempt to please both sides, I designed the game so that the player could fire lasers with a push of a button, without a command, like the past games.
Initially, there was only one gauge, but by creating multiple gauges, it gave the players options, as well as the strategy aspect that was missing from the gameplay.There really were so many changes to the game and it’s impossible to name them all here, but one example was the dragon. At one point the dragon could morph into different offensive forms. And the programming team wanted to assign each form onto each of the four buttons, like water, fire, ice and wind. But that made it difficult and didn’t satisfy the artists who wanted to design a dragon that visually morphed into different forms. So, to please both parties, I proposed making four types of dragons but making the parameters of the dragon controllable via an analog setting. And that’s ultimately what the team went with. Shin Futakawame(main battle programmer)The planners and artists worked very closely to figure out a way to make it all work.
In order to make the morphing work, the artists had to refine the points on the polygons that would stick out or retreat back. Under normal circumstances, the artists are only concerned at the aesthetics of their work, but for PDS they had to take into consideration the technical side of the development as well. I give full credit to Mr.
Sakai, the dragon designer, and Mr. Yamajiri, a super-skilled programmer, for making that come together. We were basically handed the code for that battle system from them and inserted it into our various areas, like battles and maps.
Takashi Iwade(enemy design)Because it was such a unique battle system, you still haven’t seen anything quite like it to this day. In addition to having a unique battle experience, we were also able to make a highly artistic game consistent with the feel of the shooting games like the first Panzer Dragoon and Zwei. Apart from stopping the gauge from loading while moving, the controls feel like an action shooting game with the strategic elements of an RPG.
We succeeded in creating a unique yet highly entertaining game. I’m thankful to Mr. Mukaiyama and Mr. Futakawame for making that possible. Akihiko Mukaiyama(battle planner)There were many other discarded ideas as well. The battle director before me had proposed using active-time battles (ATBs), which are commonly used in RPGs like Final Fantasy where the player switches between multiple characters on screen. But Saga has only one character riding on a dragon, so the prior director proposed that the player could switch between different weapons on the dragon instead of characters.
-17.jpg "Panzer dragoon saga")
But it was too similar to other RPGs, so this idea was vetoed by the team. The long-lost Team Andromeda gameAlthough Team Andromeda only released three games, there was once a fourth, secret project in the works. While details of the project remain elusive, longtime Panzer team member Kentaro Yoshida says it came about when certain team members had some free time on their hands.”After the production for the first Panzer Dragoon finished, Zwei and PDS both started production not too far apart,” he says. “I was heavily involved with Zwei and Mr. Futatsugi was more heavily involved with PDS. By the time Zwei was finished, PDS was still in the midst of production but there was actually another Saturn project that was led by myself and a couple lead programmers from Zwei Junichi Suto and Yuji Yasuhara. ”That game never saw the light of day, and it was after the industry was swept away by PlayStation, so it wasn’t related to the Panzer Dragoon series.
It was a more ‘cute’ game.”.