SATURN vs PS1 vs N64

Vilken konsol är egentligen bäst från den femte generationen TV-spel?

Det finns inget entydigt svar, men för den som är novis ger jag här lite jämförande data. Min fokus blir på det japanska utbudet, eftersom jag helt enkelt inte är insatt i PAL.

Rankingordningen kanske är vinklad, men läs därför också texten som ger en förklaring, så att du kan bedöma själv.

Det kan sägas att jag växte inte upp med dessa konsoler utan har bara spelat dem när jag började med Japanspel. Det finns alltså inte nostalgi inblandat, och jag tror det kan hjälpa den som vill börja testa spel och konsoler från denna era på egen hand. Min kunskap om konsolerna beror, förutom på vad jag läst och upplevt på egen hand, också på vad jag upplever säljer bra i japanska utgåvor.

SPELUTBUD

1. PS1 

2. Saturn 

3. N64

Ingen kan nog ifrågasätta att PS1 har det överlägset bästa spelutbudet. De har ett massivt bibliotek inom vilken genre som helst, PS1 är överlägset när det gäller rollspel, men också när det gäller racing, fighting (antalet titlar) och plattformsspel. Det är svårare att hitta något som är bättre på de andra konsolerna.

På N64 har vi Mario 64 och Zelda: Ocarina of Time. Dessa spel är alltjämt favoriter hos många (och säljer bra även i japanska versioner). Men utöver det? Det finns inge större poäng spela Wave Race, annat än att uppleva denna launchtitel. Vill man spela Mario Kart och Smash Bros, två av de högst rankade N64-spelen, är väl Gamecube och Wii bättre på alla sätt? Det som var N64:ans försäljningsargument var att de hade bättre grafik, men det är svårt imponeras av idag. 

Det finns enstaka udda och spel till N64, som (de japanska) Sin & Punishment och Perfect Dark. GoldenEye spelar folk fortfarande. Men jag har svårt tro att ens en N64 entusiast aktivt spelar mer än 10 spel. De är så få att jag nästan kan nämna dem alla.

Vad gäller Saturn så finns det bra spel, men många av de bästa finns också på PS1. Det finns ett fåtal SEGA-utvecklade spel och Saturn-exklusiva spel som man kanske bör testa om man är gamer, som Panzer Dragoon, NiGHTS, Guardian Heroes, Daytona, Sega Rally, Bomberman och X-men fightingspelen. 

Det ska påpekas att många av de bästa spelen till Saturn bara gavs ut i Japan. (som jag skrev i ett inlägg för någon månad sedan) Notera att till och med bilden ovan som jag hittade på nätet har en japansk konsol. De var svarta i USA och Europa. 

HÅLLBARHET

1. N64

2. PS1

3. Saturn

Köper jag 10 N64 konsoler förväntar jag mig att 9 fungerar lika bra som när de såldes -- kanske att reset glappar och att man behöver rengöra Jumper Pak-connectorn och spelconnectorn bara. Saker som går lätt fixa. 

Saturn innebär mer lagande och fixande. Det finns minst 4 olika konsolmodeller som alla har olika laseranordningar. Och förutom det är det inte ovanligt att Saturn har grafikproblem eller ljudproblem. 

PS1 har, liksom alla laserkonsoler, också tendens att sluta läsa skivor. Allt fler behöver också kondensatorbyte. Men köper man ett paket med PS1 konsoler är det större sannolikhet att de fungerar än för Saturn. Att byta kondensatorer eller laser är också enklare.

Däremot kan sägas att N64 kontrollers är eländiga och behöver ständig uppgradering. När jag spelade genom Mario 64 för några månader sedan (beskrivit i ett tidigare inlägg) gick det åt tre handkontroller. Inte för att någon började i nyskick och de slutade inte heller fungera, men jag bytte kontroller två gånger under tiden. 

GRAFIK:

Oavgjort.

N64 har tekniskt sett den bästa grafiken med sina 64 bitar. Men ser man på spelen idag så kan man imponeras mer av 2D-spelen till PS1 och Saturn än den föråldrade 3D-grafiken på N64. Det är helt enkelt svårt göra så mycket bättre 2D spel än Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, som finns till både Saturn och PS1, jämfört med det mediokra Castlevania 64. 

När det gäller skillnaden mellan Saturn och PS1 så har PS1 grafiska effekter som brukar göra att det ser bättre ut än till Saturn. Bland annat transparenseffekter, vilket var anledningen till att Final Fantasy bara finns på PS1. 

Visserligen var Saturn mer kapabel som maskin, men den var svårare programmera för. Därför blir det oavgjort mellan dessa två, även om spel till PS1 nästan allt ser bättre ut än de gör på Saturn. Tydligast ser man det kanske i racingspel, som alltid har högre fps på PS1. 

Fightingspel brukar å andra sidan sägas vara bättre på Saturn. 

BILD- och LJUDKVALITET

1. PS1 & Saturn

2. N64

En sak man inte tänkte så mycket på på den tiden men som nu är viktigt, är den om bildkvalitet. N64 ger ut RCA (komposit) och S-video, medan Saturn och PS1 ger ut RGB. Möjligheten att modda japanska N64 konsoler så de ger ut RGB är anledningen att RGB-moddade N64 konsoler alltid varit en storsäljare för oss. Bara i shoppen har vi sålt runt 100 tror jag, plus flera på Tradera.

Ärligt talat får man rätt bra bild med s-video, men inte alla TV-apparater har S-video. Vill man kunna se pixlarna är ändå Saturn och PS1 att föredra. På N64 är det ibland svårt att ens läsa bokstäver.

Med CD blir förstås musiken bättre på Saturn och PS1. 

Jag kan inte komma på någon skillnad vad gäller bild- och ljudkvalitet mellan PS1 och Saturn. Båda spelas bäst med en RGB-kabel med c-sync. Vi säljer skärmade sådana till Saturn för runt 150 kr, men inte till PS1. Oskärmade kablar surrar en del, vilket man kanske får ta med i beräkningen om man vill ha den optimala upplevelsen.

TILLBEHÖR

1. Saturn

2. PS1

3. N64

Saturn har en massa tillbehör utvecklade av Sega själva. En racingkontroller (som ingen iofs verkar vilja köpa) som är rätt imponerande i sin storlek. Kanske det fysiskt största tillbehöret jag har. 3D-kontrollern, multitap, 4MB kassetten, MPEG-tillbehöret (som visserligen bara fungerar i ett fåtal spel) och de coola pistolerna för Virtua Cop.

PS1 har också många tillbehör. Men Namcos pistoler ser inte bättre ut än den japanska Virtua Gun. Ps1 hade visserligen PocketStation och NegCon och en del otympliga rattar som ingen vill köpa, men det är nåt speciellt med originaltillbehör. Det är det folk vill ha. Det är därför som Segas Virtua Stick och Virtua Arcade Stick alltid säljer (sålde en i veckan faktiskt), även om den förstnämnda egentligen inte är någon höjdarsticka. 

Vad gäller N64 så har de inte ens en expansionsport, om man inte räknar Expansion Pak. Det finns ett fiskespö, och så har de rumble pak. Avsaknaden av ljuspistoler hade räckt som anledning att placeras sist. 

BAKÅTKOMPABILITET

1. PS1

2. Saturn & N64

Ett starkt kort hos PS1 är att spelen kan spelas på en PS2 konsol. Det är kanske delvis därför vi säljer så många moddade PS2 konsoler, även om de inte spelar PS1 spel från motsatt region i rätt hastighet. 

Saturnspel och N64 spel kan bara spelas på sin konsol.

REGIONSKOMPABILITET

1. PS1

2. Saturn

3. N64

Vi säljer regionsfria PAL PS1 för runt 750 kr, och då kan man spela i princip samtliga spel från alla regioner, och dessutom i rätt hastighet.

Saturn kan också regionsmoddas, men det är mer jobb och konsolen i sig är dyrare. De går då i rätt hastighet och spelar alla spel. Men det kan vara värt påpeka att det är få spel där PAL är att föredra framför den japanska regionen, så de flesta köper helt enkelt en japansk konsol hellre än att köpa två konsoler eller regionsmodda. Det finns action replays som gör man kan spela spel från andra regioner, men de kommer då gå i "fel" hastighet. 

Vad gäller N64 så finns inget billigt sätt göra dem regionsfria. Det vanligaste är att kunder köper en japansk konsol för att spela japanska och eventuellt amerikanska spel, och har en PAL konsol för att spela PAL spel.

EVERDRIVES OCH ROMS

1. N64

2. Saturn 

3. PS1

Vad gäller PS1 tror jag att de flesta spelar sina ROMs på en PS2 konsol med hårddisk. Vår SATA Network Adapter är i alla fall en storsäljare. Det finns också Bitfunx SD-adapter och Free McBoot som vi säljer många av, men det är också till PS2. Det är lite krångel, och frågan är om jag ska räkna in det eftersom det kräver en PS2 konsol. 

N64 Everdrive säljer vi för 649 kr, och så vitt jag vet spelar den alla spel. N64 spel är inte så stora så man får plats med väldigt många på ett SD-kort. 

Till Saturn säljer vi Saroo kort som är som Everdrive. Brukar säljas rätt snabbt när vi får in. De kostar f.n. 1090 kr. Saturn spel är dock lite större än N64 spel så man får inte plats med lika många på ett kort, och jag tror inte det fungerar spela spel som kräver RAM kort. Det finns även vissa andra spel som inte fungerar. 

Därför placerar jag N64 som den konsol som är lättast använda Everdrive på. 

DESIGN OCH STIL

1. Saturn

2. N64

3. PS1

Det är svårt att bortse från att Sega designade några riktigt stiliga Saturnkonsoler.

De kommer dessutom alla med en matchande handkontroll, och även andra tillbehör tillverkades i färger som matchar konsolen, som minneskort.

N64 finns också i olika färger, men eftersom mer än 90% av alla konsoler är svarta är det sällan man ser på en N64 och tycker den är stilig. I veckan la jag exempelvis ut en japansk ljusgrå Saturnkonsol som i princip var i nyskick, och det kändes lite magiskt.

Designen på en PS1 konsol är ikonisk. Men det är nog också allt man kan säga. 

Vad gäller spel är det något speciellt med Saturn spel som inte matchas av PS1. PS1 spel gavs ut i så många utgåvor, "Best of", PSOne-relase, Best Price, och liknande. Man släppte igenom allt. Det finns till och med en utgåva av toppshootern Ray Crisis som "Simple 1500", ett slags lådbudgetutgåva för 1500 yen.

Det är något speciellt med japanska Saturnspel. De är svårare få tag på, och har en mer stilren design. Här är motsvarande spel som till Saturn hette Layer Section:

Vad gäller N64 så är det en speciell känsla att få ha en japansk box som är närapå nyskick av ett spel som Paper Mario, Mario 64 eller Ocarina of Time och beundra hur den glänser i ljuset. Det är inget som matchas av ett 5kr-Playstation fodral.

Just stil och design kanske är det starkaste argumentet för föredra Saturn framför PS1, om man nu fokuserar på annat än att ha det bästa spelbiblioteket. 

Älskar man Mario, Zelda och Nintendo är det en N64 konsol man ska ha.

Sega Saturn appreciation

Det var så länge sedan jag skrev att det är värt skriva något om Sega Saturn igen.

En sak med Saturn jag ofta funderar över är hur deras dåliga launch i USA i princip innebar slutet för SEGA som konsoltillverkare. Från en genialiskt aggressiv kampanj som Segas dåvarande USA-chef drev för Mega Driven ("genesis"), som innebar att man sänkte priset på konsolen och sålde spelet tillsammans med Sonic, plus alla välkända reklamer med budskapet "Sega does what Nintendon't", så tog en ny chef över när Saturn skulle släppas.

Den nye chefen beslöt att tidigarelägga släppet av Saturn, för att komma före Playstation. Problemet med detta var att ingen av de stora kedjorna var beredda och de bojkottade då Saturn. Dessutom fanns knappt några spel klara. 

När Playstation sedan släpptes som planerat blev det en enorm succé. Allt medan Sega gick kräftgång och bland annat vägrade ta in några av de bästa japanska titlarna, som Grandia. 

Den europeiska marknaden följde i princip den amerikanska. Hade Saturn blivit stor i USA och tagit in spel som Grandia så hade Saturn sannolikt blivit mer populär i Europa. 

I Japan sålde Saturn faktiskt bättre än Nintendo 64, om än knappt (cirka 5 miljoner sålda konsoler för båda) 

Vad som gör Saturn rolig är att den, till skillnad från N64, har ganska många udda spel. Men det krävs att man har tillgång till de japanska spelen. De spel som kom till Europa är, enligt min mening, torftiga. Detta inkluderar även de mer kända titlarna, som Panzer Dragoon, Daytona, Nights into Dreams, Sega Rally och Virtua Fighter. Alltså de spelen som Gamereactor nyligen utsåg till de bästa Saturn spelen. 

Jag säger inte att spelen är dåliga, men jag tycker inte heller de är något speciellt. Kanske är det just för att de är kända som mitt intresse för dem minskar. Men jag tycker också att den typen av pseudo-3d-spel visar på Saturnens begränsningar snarare än dess styrkor. Det finns bättre spel i alla kategorier. Flera 2d-fightingspel, som X-men-serien. Det finns 3d-fightingspel som Dead or Alive. Det finns FPS som Die Hard (två stycken till och med). Plattformsspel som Astal och Silhouette Mirage. 

Och det finns fantastiska scrollande shooterspel, varav flera är väldigt dyra, men Layer Section är ett exempel. Det finns även kompileringsspel av Parodius, Twinbee och Gradius. (mina favoritserier)

Jag kan nämna fler spel men folk brukar inte gilla det jag gillar, så...

Här exempelvis det absurda Yellow Brick Road:

Här fightingspelet, eller vad man ska kalla det, Savaki som jag ägnade en kväll åt att spela genom:

Sen är spel som Virtua Cop eller någon av de andra ljuspistolspelen perfekta som "pick up and play"-spel. Eller Saturn Bomberman, med stöd för upp till 10 spelare. Det är förstås inte mycket nytt i det, men jag tycker i alla fall att det är roligt. 

Andra kul titlar är exempelvis Three Little Dwarves, Braindead 13, Nanatsu Kaze no Shima Monogatari. Margic Carpet spelade jag mycket av, liksom Destruction Derby, och till och med äventyrsspel som D no Shokutaku och Enemy Zero som få verkar uppskatta. 

Det är sånt jag tycker är det roliga med Saturn, snarare än det fåtalet spel som kom hit och känns allmänt "meh".

PS1 hade visserligen också många kul udda spel, men jag tror att PS1 hade ett sånt överflöd av spel att man känner sig överväldigad. Till Saturn finns ju faktiskt möjligheten att samla på sig allt bra och spela genom det. Totalt släpptes 1028 Saturn spel (ungefär lika många som till Famicom), men av dessa släpptes 775 endast i Japan. 

Till PS1 släpptes många fler spel, så många att jag hittar olika uppgifter. Många spel släpptes dessutom i flera utgåvor, budgetversioner osv. Det släpptes minst sex NBA Live spel, och åtta olika Madden NFL. Eller kanske beror det på att Saturn spel känns lite stiligare? Att Saturn konsolen känns stiligare än den väldigt enkelt designade PS1?

En Dreamcast sticka som inte fungerar

Jag fick precis in en DC sticka i fint skick som jag sett fram emot. Vi säljer dessa för 700-800 kr, vilket är rätt bra pris, särskilt med tanke på frakten från Japan. Ofta är de tyvärr gulnade eller slitna men denna var fin.

Till min förvåning fungerade dock flera knappar inte. Jag testade den på en PC med en Dreamcast adapter vilket är smidigt för då kan man i Spelenheter testa handkontrollens ganska enkelt. Jag säljer inte DC adapters pga jag tror efterfrågan är låg, men vi har en för Saturn till salu.

Den är av bra kvalitet så förvånande att ingen köpt den än.

DC adaptern visade att flera knappar inte fungerade. Två av knapparna var väntade, eftersom stickan har två knappar mer än vad en vanlig handkontroll har, och de kan därför inte testas. Men flera andra knappar fungerade inte.

Jag tänkte att det kanske var något fel på adaptern eller något med datorn som inte fungerade. Det hade inte varit första gången för ibland ställer olika drivrutiner till det för varandra. Så jag fick koppla upp en DC konsol och testa stickan igen, och mycket riktigt var det ett par knappar som inte fungerade.

I detta läget har man två val. Antingen säljer man stickan som defekt, eller så försöker man fixa den. Säljer man den som defekt får man förstås mycket mindre för den. Å andra sidan finns det en risk när man ska försöka laga att det tar lång tid, och än värre att man i slutändan ändå inte lyckas fixa det. Jag måste ju trots allt försöka hålla en viss timlön och kan inte kasta bort flera timmar varje dag.

Men jag öppna upp stickan och den såg fin ut. Testade alla säkringar invändigt så ingen var trasig. Säkerställde att knapparna inte glappade genom att flytta runt de olika kopplingarna. Testade byta sladden från stickan till datorn, utifall det var kabelbrott. Provade rengöra de invändiga kontakterna lite.

Sen googlade jag på det och hittade en instruktiv video där någon annan hade samma fel och lagade det:
_

Han öppnade dock upp fronten och plockade ut alla knappar och rengjorde. I detta läget bestämde jag mig för att ge upp, för ska man öppna fronten också finns risk att saker börjar trilla ut. Jag vet faktiskt inte eftersom jag inte gjort det innan men det började kännas krångligt.  C och Z knappen vet jag t.ex. inte ens hur jag ska testa.

Särskilt när man gör något första gången kan det vara extra tidskrävande. Det har hänt flera gånger att jag skruvat ihop allt och insett jag missat något (t.ex. ett kontaktgummi ligger fel så en knapp inte kan tryckas ner) och då är det bara öppna allt igen och rätta till det. Eller så fixar man den "nästan", men upptäcker att något inte fungerar 100%. T.ex. en knapp som kanske är precis lite för seg för att vara acceptabel och så vet man inte om man ska sälja den som defekt eller fungerande. 

Vissa konsoler öppnar jag och försöker fixa, men det gör jag eftersom jag numer har erfarenhet att veta vad för fel som kan fixas snabbt. T.ex. på Super Famicom konsoler är det ofta connectorn som behöver rengöras och ibland bytas. Jag testar även säkringen och regulatorn. Är det något annat så säljer jag hellre konsolen som defekt för då är det ofta mera tidskrävande problem, såsom att byta kondensatorer, vilket inte skulle löna sig eftersom jag säljer konsoler för 250-300 kr om de är i normalt skick och cirka 150 kr defekta.

Nintendo DS och DS Lite säljer jag också defekta. Det är för pilligt att öppna upp skalet och de är värda för lite för att det ska löna sig. Jag säljer dem fungerande för 300 kr och defekta för 100-150.  Jag tänkte jag skulle försöka laga en defekt touchskärm på en DS Lite en gång så jag köpte in sådana, men det var så mycket jobb med att öppna och försöka få loss kretskorten invändigt. Det sitter en kabel under DS connectorn som jag inte lyckades få tillbaka in där den satt. Så nu säljer jag bara skärmarna:

39 kr på Tradera

En halvt fungerande DS eller DS Lite är ett mycket prisvärt sätt att spela GBA spel förresten. Det räcker ju om ena skärmen fungerar i så fall. Jag brukar ha någon sådan på Tradera (ska lägga upp en till snart).

GBC och GB vet jag däremot hur man får att fungera och det är inte så pilligt så de fixar jag alltid till, om det går.

Hur som helst, jag la ut stickan på auktion. Går ut 7:e juni:

Jag säljer ganska ofta defekta varor, och det är bra för det finns många som har mer tid än vad jag har och gärna sitter några timmar som hobbyprojekt med att försöka fixa dem.

Just stickor kan ofta modifieras också till att fungera till andra konsoler vilket vissa gör, men det skulle vara för tidskrävande för att vi skulle tjäna på det.

Jag har just nu även en auktion på 3 st icke-fungerande Saturn konsoler. De har legat på vinden i 2 år nu så jag tänkte se om någon vill ha dem, annars kastar jag dem. Och så har jag 2 st defekta famicom konsoler på Tradera.

Video gameplays lately (Saturn, FDS)

I haven't been slacking off playing lately but I have been visiting some friends who have a youtube channel with videos they upload where they play games.

It is in Swedish language. I am the guy to the left with the cap!

Here is Twinbee on Saturn. I have previously written about what a fun two-player game it is, finally I have a video:
_

Here is Guardian Heroes. I hadn't played this before, but I quickly found out what a great gameplay it has, especially in multiplayer.

_

Here we played two games on FDS:
_

Well, there is a couple of more videos we've made and more will be uploaded. If you are interested, check out their youtube channel and subscribe.

Next time I visit them I plan to bring a couple of famicom games.

Three Dirty Dwarves on Sega Saturn

I meant to make a longer review but the game already sold. I'll still write something down, hehe.

Three Dirty Dwarves is a beat'em up game for the Saturn. I had never even heard of it until I got it last month, so I was happy when I found out how much fun it was.

This gameplay video I made starts with the cut-video after the first stage. Then a boss level, and then stage 3.
_

I nearly gave up on the third stage and maybe the fourth stage, because I kept on dying and had to replay the stage. But it was fun enough so I kept on playing. And it wasn't too hard, once I understood the special weapons of each character and how to use them properly against enemies.

The fun and original aspect of this game is: you have three characters and if one of them gets hit, you can use the second one to revive him! If he also dies, you can use the third. But if all of them die, you have to restart the level. As you see, it happened to me.

Now, the game is maybe the most humorous game I have played and I am grateful that I got to discover it. It may be worth to get a Saturn just to play this game, as it was not released on Playstation.

Not only are there beat'em up stages, but weird bosses and even a cart stage.
_

There is more I could say about gameplay, but as I said I won't bother with the details for this review. For further reviews , details and info, I suggest gamefaqs: http://www.gamefaqs.com/saturn/574012-three-dirty-dwarves/reviews.

The main negative thing about the game is that it is short. It took me around 3-4 hours. Although there is a Hard mode too that may offer more challenge.

I made a video of the ending too. It won't show how to beat the boss, although it is easy anyways.
_

Even more fun is that you can play 2 player and even 3 player with a multitap!

I looked up the developer because the credits made me curious... It was a Hungarian based company! They also made Echo the Dolphin and a few other games, but I didn't see anything else like this.

Dracula X (Castlevania) on Sega Saturn, short review

Another tribute to the Sega Saturn? You may be surprised to find that I didn't actually like playing Dracula X on Saturn. The game has great reviews elsewhere, but I'll tell you why I didn't like it.

Sold for 448 SEK (70$, incl tax)

Castlevania (known as Symphony of the Night on playstation) is a game in Metroid-style. The main challenge of the game is to find your way around, and to buy the right weapons and items. You use spells, buy items, and transform to an animals at times. It certainly is a great game, but I was disappointed because it will be impossible to play it without a guide. It is hard enough to find where to go, and then everything is in Japanese. All items and weapons. Unless you have played the playstation version, I don't think you would be able to play through the Saturn version without a walkthrough.

The gameplay itself isn't actually that hard. Almost all enemies are easy enough with the upgrades you'll have when you face them. There are also many save points that restore your health.

Technically, the game has great atmosphere and music. It does suffer slowdowns at times. Personally slowdowns don't bother me, maybe because I have played so much game boy and NES/famicom, but I often read that others find slowdowns very annoying.

The start is cool, where you revisit the end of a previous game to beat Dracula (or whatever his name is), and only after that do we see the intro and get the new story going.

I recommend this game to anyone who can play it or who has lots of time. I couldn't play it and soon got stuck.

Here is a video I made with some gameplay around 15 minutes into the game (not counting the intro). I entered the shop at around 04:20 and it made me confused.

Magic Carpet on Sega Saturn

When I was young my friend had a game called Magic Carpet on his PC. The game was released in 1994, and I think I played it around 1995. I remember we had a lot of work installing it.

The game was made by Bullfrog, a company that made several highly original games. With unique ideas and gameplay they were a true innovator. Their titles were primarily for PC, although they were also released on many other consoles: Populous, Syndicate (I have written about that game earlier), Dungeon Keeper, Theme Hospital (Very humorous, my sister loved it) and Theme Park (I played this for hours, very fun!) are still enjoyable today. In fact I know that people still play them and they are talked about.

Magic Carpet was never was a big hit on the PC or any other console. I think it was marketed as an action-paced shooter, while in my opinion the gameplay is more of a strategy/puzzle game with action elements. Most of the time it's about collecting the Mana you need to get to the next level.

I have now found out that Magic Carpet was released on the Saturn, and got a hold of the Japanese version.

See, it has support for the analogue Saturn controller ("3D controller") too.

I've played about 20-30 hours during the Christmas holiday but only made the first 15 levels. It takes such a long time to beat each level. According to Wikipedia (Magic Carpet), there are 50 levels, so I have decided to focus on other games instead. Also, although I was fascinated by it when I was 14 years old, I have to admit that it is tiring.

The purpose of the game is to collect enough mana on each level to get to the next. The needed amount is shown as two white marks next to the castle icon. You store mana in the castle you build and have to upgrade the castle when it gets full.

You have a primary and a secondary spell you can throw. When you kill enemies, mana blobs will appear, and you have to mark them with your color. Then your balloon will leave your castle to collect them. Usually you have to compete with other wizards for the mana. The game supports multiplayer too, but in this video the wizards are AI controlled.

When you have killed all enemies on a stage, the mana is running out and you have to attack enemy castles to get the rest of the mana you need. When a castle explodes, it releases a bunch of mana all around that you can collect.

Here is a video of me playing level 10.



I died twice in the beginning. Third time begins at 02:10. I also cut away the rest of the video because it got long. In the end I had to attack the enemy castle to take his mana, and after I had enough I could exit the level. Some things you need to know to play this game:

• Press L+R to see the map. In the map, press C to see all character stats.
• DO NOT press X or you will destroy your own castle one level.
• When your castle is full of mana, you have to upgrade it.
• At 15:40 I picked up a jar with the useful lightning spell.
• If you die without a castle you have to restart the level. If you die with a castle you simply respawn at your castle. In the castle you will regain health and mana power.

The main problems with the game are:

• It is slow. If things moved faster and the levels were shorter it would have been more fun.
• The 3D graphics look old. You can't see enemies until they're close, and everything looks blocky.
• The balloon thing is fun, but it is boring to have to wait for the balloons to arrive. They could have moved two or three times as fast.

If they ever remake this game, fixing these things would make an excellent game. Maybe they could add better music too.

Savaki, Sega Saturn

This is an uncommon 3D fighting game for the Sega Saturn which was never released outside of Japan. My colleague fredJ played this game on original console and recorded a video, and here is the result. It's divided into two parts because of YouTube's restrictions.



The characters are named after different fighting styles. You have a kick and a punch button. You can aim high or low with the up and down buttons. You block just by standing still, but there is also the extra super block that will try to cancel the opponents attack and make him open for a counter-attack.

This actually works well (unlike in Dead or Alive for Saturn), but you have to guess if he will attack high, low, or middle. FredJ didn't have to use this special block during the first part of the video because the opponents were not very strong, but when he played against the last boss he had to learn how to play the game properly.



This second video shows him playing against the final boss. He says:

"I played the first guys in 20 minutes, then was stuck with this big ugly guy for 1,5 hours while I improved and learnt the moves. He hits you hard once he gets going and you have to learn the removal-block function. His kicks take a lot of health too. I found a weakness that I exploited as you see here. This video shows my last battles with him until I finally won."

It is a very original fighting game which aims to be more realistic. And it actually works, which is unusual for a fighting game. If you're interested, we currently do have the game for sale, right here: at our webshop where you can also find lots of other Sega Saturn games and more.

Magic Knight Rayearth (saturn) and Youtube, and other saturn intros

I uploaded the intro of Magic Knight Rayearth a while ago.
After that, I got a "contentid" warning on youtube, and my account is now restricted to max 15 min long videos... This restriction will last for 6 months, if I don't get more contendId warnings.

I read alot about the contentId thing they have on youtube. If your clip is restricted by its copyright owner worldwide, you will get this warning.

It isn't the same as a copyright strike though. A copyright strike is more serious -- if you get three stikes your account will be permanently deleted. That would be pretty devastating for me...

I have uploaded around 200 videos now. Many of them have third party matches, such as the song from Super Mario Bros that is copyright by nintendo. Bomberman songs is also copyright, but not be Hudson but by a company they work together with: iosyshaitenai. This is confusing. All it says is: the music is owned by iosyshaitenai.

This video has copyright material from a greek geological / weather company. I have no idea what. I thought it could be the logo in the intro, or maybe that the game developers used 3d graphics material.


My videos of Super Mario Bros 2 also have copyright song from "Taigherwuds-Bravo Mario! (Original Mix)" by InGrooves. Another Super Mario Bros 2 video has copyright music from "Organ Donors-Super Mario", by [Merlin] Essential Music.
Basically this means that they get money from the ads that are shown by the video. They can also chose to block access to my video, if they want. (by the way, I don't get or have signed up to make money from the ads by my videos)

If you get a contentId warning you can dispute it. It took me a while to understand what this is and what it does. Youtube has several warnings about doing it wrong, that it might get your account banned and such. You can't actually dispute that material is owned by the copyright holders, so I can't dispute that I use material from "Organ Donors-Super Mario", by InGrooves, whoever that is. I think it is a copyright troll.

You can claim fair use though. What happens is that they send your message to the copyright owner, who then decides if they want to allow me to use their copyright material. Youtube has all kinds of warnings about this. Fair use you only be claimed if your material is non-commercial, does not infringe on the original material, creates something new from the original or is used for critical commentary....

Well it isn't the easiest thing to try and figure out if my Magic Knight Rayearth video is fair use. After reading around, it seems that it might not be, but that you probably won't get penalized for asking a few times. So I sent in a fair use request on my intro of Magic Knight Rayearth, and until TMSanime has decided, the clip will be available for viewing. So take your chance to watch this beautiful intro.
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I really started to like Saturn intros. I like them more than the intros on any other console, for some reason, including on later consoles.

Here is the intro for Langrisser III
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I have NO IDEA on how to play the game so I just shot the intro. LOL.

Here is Cyber Doll. I actually played that game, and I liked it. Check out part 2 and 3 for gameplay.
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Very imaginative story, maybe they used drugs.

I have made a couple more Saturn intro videos that are on Youtube.

O-chan no Oekaki Logic, Sega Saturn

Article by Kristin

This game works exactly like Mario Picross, the only difference is that our well-known plumber is exchanged for Sunsofts characters from the Hebereke series. It's a puzzle game where you try to figure out a pattern based on numbers on the side of the board. If you are unfamiliar to the Mario Picross series, you can read about it in our previous blog entry from last year: http://japanspel.blogspot.se/2012/09/mario-picross.html. Also, now that we have a video recorder, here is a video that Fredrik made recently of the Game Boy version of Mario Picross:



O-chan, the cute cat-girl (who is changed into the Lizard boy Freeon-Leon in the NES game Ufouria), is the main character of O-chan no Oekaki Logic, in comparison to all other Hebereke games where Hebe (or Bop-Louie in Ufouria) acts as the main character. The games has been released on many platforms: Sega Saturn, Sony Playstation, Super Famicom and Wonderswan. The Playstation even got two sequels, logically called O-Chan no Oekaki Logic 2 and O-Chan no Oekaki Logic 3.

I don't know much about the differences between all these versions of the game because there isn't much information about them on the internet. But we were able to try the Saturn version and uploaded a video about it on our YouTube channel:

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We recently sold the Sega Saturn version on Tradera, the auction ended at 52 SEK which is about 5 euros. You might still be able to see the auction here. None of these games are very common but they are also not very expensive, so they could be worth checking out if you like challenging puzzle games and have grown tired of Sudoku. We hope to get more copies of this game in the future. Next time, maybe even for another console.

Sega Saturn mouse

I have some Saturn mice for sale...

95 SEK loose, and 195 SEK boxed.

The mouse is compatibel with a bunch of games. The best list of compatible games seems to be: http://www.sega-saturn.net/mouse.htm
I don't know if all regions of a game supported the mouse though...

Personally it is my preferred way of playing Virtua Cop 2. I don't even suck at the game with the mouse (unlike the lightgun or the normal controller). I made a video of me playing.
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Sega Saturn Racing controller

I received this huge thing from Japan, among other stuff.

So I decided to try it out. There are some 20-30 racing games on the Saturn.
First I tried Sega Rally. Sega Rally is a beloved racing game on the Saturn. It is an unusual in that it looks very standard, but the whole idea is to play every course perfect, and the steering is super sensitive. With the racing controller I was powerless, it seemed even more sensitive than a normal controller. So I was not happy with playing that

Then I tried Daytona USA. This game has more speed and is more exciting. Saturn-lovers say the steering is perfect and what great game it is, but I couldn't figure out how to break and again I felt powerless as I crashed at every turn. Not happy with that.

Next, Vatlva. This is a racing shooter in an overhead perspective. Your goal is to kill the other car. So it is more like a destruction game in a way, as Virtual On or such. The game seems like fun, but the steering wheel made it clumsy because you have to press up and down, and the wheel doesn't have up and down. Instead it has two pads on the side and it feels awkward to drive when you have to press those pads and steer, especially when you go backwards. So I give this game a fail aswell; I would rather use a controller for it.

Next I wanted to play Sega Ages: Outrun. I have always been fascinated by this game, because it was so popular on the ferry I often travelled. I never played it there.

I have the wrong model Saturn for it though. As Saturn owners might know,  the Saturn with round buttons (model 2) cannot play Outrun, Space Harrier and Metal Slug. Luckily I still have my HiSaturn Navi that I have written about earlier. The Navi has a BIOS v. 1.02 but internally I suppose it is like a model 1.
It played Outrun just fine. It is nice that I was able to make some use of this system that cost close to 1000$.

I think the Navi has too much stuff on it to look really "cool" but I will say that it looks special. It has so many buttons, relays and inputs and outputs that you wonder if it is a Saturn or what? Mine has the serial number 51100378 and I assume I have 378th console that was made, if they really only produced a few thousand. I would like to buy another one, just because having two Navis is cooler than having one Navi, and so I could see what its serial number is.

Here it is in action next to my white Saturn. The big thing behind it in white protective plastic is the special power supply it uses. I haven't bothered removing the protective plastic from it.

I played around with buttons on the Navi called "Pitch" and "Echo". With Pitch, I think you speed up and down the game. The music and sound in the game definately got a higher pitch and I assume that you speed up the game to give the music a higher pitch.

Playing Outrun with the Racing Controller worked well, but I don't know if the controller improved anything. I don't think you can make sharper turns with it. I felt that you really only turn left and right as you would with a normal controller. There are no steep left as far as I could tell.

After that, I played Manx TT Superbike. Manx is to me what a racing game should be. There is speed and there is good control. I played it for a while, I think I will give it OK rating.

Then, Sega Touring Car Championship. In this game, the car was easier to control than the Sega Rally or Daytona USA. There was also more speed. I wasn't good at it, but the controller worked fine.

I haven't yet played a racing game on the Saturn that I feel strongly about. On the GBA, I spent a couple of hours with V-Rally 3 and some other game, and on the SNES I played Drift King Shutokou Battle 2 for 10-20 hours. But on the Saturn, most games so far have been pixelated and hard to control. They have a very short story mode, sometimes none at all. Sega Rally for example only has four courses.

Well, there are many games left to try.

More Saturn games 2-player. Such as Marvel Super Heroes.

I had a friend to visit yesterday and I decided we'd play some Saturn games.


First we played Twinbee Deluxe Pack. I seem to play it with all my friends. It was fun. I have already written about that game in an earlier post ("did we play co-op"). I have this game for 150 SEK, which is 23$.


Then we played Marvel Super Heroes. With my experience from Street Fighter II, I have to say I was superior. Fun game, at least for me.

I went back today and played it 1-player mode. The game has support for a 1 MB RAM cart. Some say it won't work well with a 4MB RAM Card. If that is true, then it probably won't work with the Action Replay 4M because I experienced that the action replay sets itself to 4M mode. But with a 1MB Ram Card, such as the HSS-0150 that is included in several other games, you will get an option in the option menu called "3M Mode" (whatever that means), it indicates that something happens. In my opinion, the game runs smoother in this 3M Mode and there is never any slowdowns. 

What I liked about this game
First of all, it has all the Street Fighter II (SF2) move scheme. Block the opponent, use a few special moves, hit opponents on their way down, throw the opponent when close, and all that stuff that a SF2 player would take for granted. (It isn't something that was taken for granted before SF2, as I mentioned in a review of early fighting games (http://japanspel.blogspot.se/2013/02/kieta-princess-and-fuuun-shourinken-for.html)).

Some stuff that isn't in SF2 is that you can jump real high with the R button. With R button I mean the Right shoulder button, that is called R on the SNES/SFC. While high in the air you can punch several times, and you can also throw the other guy in the air if you catch him. I think it works well.

You can press Forward-Forward quickly to run forward, and Back-Back to jump back. This will often surprise the opponent. As with the Jump thing I found it to feel like a natural move that you will soon use all the time.

The cartoon like animation is nice and colorful. The sound and music is as good as you can wish for. Here is a little clip.
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In 1 player mode, there are only 8 fighters to beat. I like this, because it goes much faster to beat the game. I was able to beat the second highest level today without too much difficulty, I think I died a total of 5 times. 3 on the last boss. So it isn't too hard for someone who knows how to play these games. Your computer opponents aren't too smart. Even on the second highest difficulty level you can often use the same moves over and over, and they often come running right at you so you can attack them.

In the game you can collect gems. This, however, isn't that useful. The gems are like powerups. I think you activate them by pressing a half-round on the D-pad and then the L button, after your Power meter has become full enough. I don't care about this idea, it seems unnecessary.

In the end I'd say this is like a more playful and colorful version of SF2. I have this game for sale at 95 SEK which is around 15$, so it isn't too expensive.


After that, Striker 1945 II, a shootem up game I received recently. I think we played it on Easy mode because we had unlimited continues. We did finish it rather quickly. A nice arcade shootem up with classical airplanes. No complaints there. My price for this one is 275 SEK,  43$. Here is a clip (not of us).
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After that, a 3D fighter. I thought we would be more even here, and we were quite even. Dead or Alive. I mentioned this game in a recent post. It is a tricky game because you can have different strategies. You have a grab move that lets you grab your opponent if he is too aggressive. And there are a lot of special moves ou can use. The manual lists around 25 for each character, although most are simple. I think it is a good combination of strategy and action, but I think I've only scratched the surface of how to play. This one is 75-95  SEK.


Necronomicon Pinball has a 2-player mode, as it says on its back, so I thought it would be interesting to try it out. Pinball was never my type of game but I have recently learnt that the Saturn has a couple of cool pinball games.

I think I'm starting to understand what pinball is about in general. You select a Mission, then you accept it. Then you try to hit the ball where the board indicates in some way. At this stage, Necronomicon would often throw out lots of extra balls that will give you many extra points.
I suppose that as long as a pinball game has cool music and flashing graphics, and the gameplay is fine, the game is pretty enjoyable. In 2 player mode, you play one player at the time while the other one watches (as you would in Super Mario Bros.), so it isn't that much 2-player mode. But I thought it was fun to watch the show when he played. Here is someone else's clip.
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I think the story behind the original Necronomicon is interesting. According to Wikipedia, a story of a Necronomicon, a book of the occult, was invented by someone around 100 years ago in a horror story. The book was then believed by others to actually exist. Believing in the occult is silly and only makes for good horror stories.  The Japanese people know this, but anything related to "the occult" can be a sensitive subject in the West. But it's just a pinball game, and a good one.

Comparing with the graphics of playing a real pinball game, I can't see how Necronomicon on the Saturn could have been improved really.  It's a blast. This one is 125 SEK.



We also played a little Sega Rally in a 2-player competing mode. It's a fun and easy game to pick up and play. But I have to say that the graphics is dated, and when you hit a wall because the road and wall are a mess of pixels from a distance, it is annoying. Other than that, the game is perfect at what it sets out to do. And at 30 SEK, it is cheap. Maybe I'll hook up the graphically improved Sega Rally 2 on the Dreamcast some day, after I feel finished with Saturn games.

Darkseed for Saturn

I played a very bad game yesterday, Darkseed.

The game was released on PS and Sat in Japan, and also on DOS (PC) and Amiga in Europe and maybe USA.
The game has Japanese text but all the dialogue is in English, and the artwork is amazing. I assumed the game would be a decent point and click adventure game. But, no.

Having all the text in Japanese is of course a problem, but this game is so weird that even with a walkthrough it is difficult to finish. The reason is that many things needs to be done at a certain in game time. The first time you enter the store, there is a bottle of whisky you can buy. But the second time you enter the store, the bottle will be gone forever. If you miss one of these things, you can't complete the game. You may not know until a much later stage.

The in game time lasts for 4 days and many things need to be done before a certain time.  On day 2, I think you should look into the mirrow at a specific time to reach a different dimension. I read this afterwards because I didn't get that far. I think there is a clue in the note stuck on the mirrow, but I couldn't read the note because it is in Japanese. So I never made it that far.

Walking around the town relaxing, and the music and speach isn't so bad either. The game has a certain kind of lame humor that is fun in its own way. It is really just the gameplay that is terrible. The game was made by an American, so don't blame the Japanese for this one.

What I wanted to know when playing the game without a walkthrough or any guide, was "is the game playable without reading Japanese?". My answer is "the game is hardly playable even if you know Japanese". Having all the clues in Japanese will make it close to impossible. But if you have played it to the end in the DOS or Amiga version, or you enjoy following a walkthrough, I think you might appreciate the Saturn/PS game for what it is worth. I priced it at 35 SEK, which is 5$ or so.

Here is a video someone made of the first couple of minutes of gameplay. I never made it this "far" in the game because I didn't pick up the scoth. I put "far" in quotations because if you miss something early on, the game will be unwinnable later, no matter how "far" you made it. A sadistical theme that was in style with many point and click games of that time by Sierra Online. (King's Quest, Leisure Suit Larry) 



Saturn videos often have bad graphics in youtube videos. With a good RGB cable on a TV it will look a lot better and brighter.

Looking at some other gameplay video, I also notice that I missed some other things.  You sometimes need to scan the screen with the cursor to locate a specific path or item on the screen. You have been warned, haha.

Dead Or Alive and Virtua Cop 2 for Saturn

Yesterday I received this item from Japan.

I have had hundreds of Saturn games and dozens of consoles, but never seen a Video CD card.  It allows you to watch Video CD (VCD) on your Saturn. What VCD is? It is a format developed in 1994 to view full length MPEG movies on CDs, before DVD came.

You shove it into the back just above the battery. It will also improve the video of a few games. I tried the intro of GunGriffon and it is a noticable difference. The animation or more fluid and you don't have the top and bottom borders. But it doesn't make any difference for gameplay so it isn't really useful.

A list of games show some other games. http://segaretro.org/Video_CD_Card
The list says it may not be complete, so I got this idea that maybe lots of games had VCD support. I thought that if it said "TrueMotion" on the back, it could have VCD support. 

I found that Dead Or Alive and Virtua Cop 2 said TrueMotion, so I set out to try... I was wrong! But I got to play a lot of Dead Or Alive and Virtua Cop 2.

Dead Or Alive is probably my second favorite fighting game, after Street Fighter II Turbo. I also played it on the PS2 once. I don't think adults should waste time with modern consoles like PS2 or Xbox, but I was at a friend's house, and the gameplay is alright. Coincidentally, the two games have the same rating on gamefaqs: 8,6.

I haven't tried other games in the DoA so I can't compare with for example the Dreamcast version. I assume they are all well playable. Though as usually with fighting games expect the Sat version to play better than the PS1 game if you get to chose between just those two.

I like that the basics play is simplistic: you block and counter attack. The game doesn't depend on long combo moves or weird meters and complicated special moves. You can start off by some button mashing, and after a while you'll find special moves and combos that work.

The characters are also appealing, I mean they are well animated. Here is a random video I found.
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The manual lists the special moves and they don't seem too complicated. When you improve you can combine your moves. The graphics is nice and the gameplay is fluid. I think you'll enjoy this game. I wouldn't mind playing it some more but as usually with fighting games it will take a while to get the hang of all the moves.
Good thing with CD games that in 95% of the times you will get a manual with your game so you'll get the special moves.

After that I played Virtua Cop 2 with my normal controller. I felt that it was easier to play with a normal controller than with the light gun. Maybe I'm a bad shot. However, I don't think it is technically possible to avoid getting hit with the controller because it moves too slowly. But since the enemies are always in the same spot, you'll be able to memorize them after a while. If it is too hard, you can increase your lives and continues.

As with other arcade ports, your goal is to get a high score. It gets saved to battery memory. Most likely you'll play it just to enjoy shooting around. The game is not that different from Virtua Cop 1, if you happen to own that.

You have to hold the controller like an arcade stick sort of. The A button shoots, B-button speeds up the controller (probably keep this pressed all times), and the C button reloads.

I admire the fluid action and the arcade feeling. It is also fun to shoot all around the place to hit the items and see what happens... 

When I get the Saturn mouse I'll report how it plays with it.

As for the video card, I think it was a good idea, but I think there were these problems:
* The developers would need to put both a VCD version and a normal version on the CD, which require extra space.
* Slightly improved cut scenes doesn't improve a game much.
* The Dreamcast was being developed so why bother.

Of course the DC is a much better machine with full 3D graphics, but retro freaks like me continue their dedication to crippled consoles like the Saturn and all their weird accessories.

D for Sega Saturn

Yesterday I wrote about some Saturn adventure games. In a youtube video of R?MJ, a guy said that game was like D. So I looked into D, because I happen to own a copy of D. I never cared about it before because it looks kind of cheap and boring.

I sell it for 29 SEK, which is around 5$. The game was also released in the US and PAL countries.

Turns out that the game is perfectly playable even in Japanese and that I enjoyed it. Some  reviewers say it sucks, has aged badly and so on, but I liked it. I think it is mainly because the game is short and I could beat it in 4-5 hours. It also has a low frustration level.

The game has a very slow pace, you move very slowly. But after a while you get used to it. The developers took care so that you never have to walk very far. At most I think there are only 7 or so rooms you can walk to in each scene.

The graphics does look quite bad but it was made by a small company. Later they made Enemy Zero, and later followed D with D2 for the Dreamcast. D2 has a cult following for its goriness and dark weirdness. I just researched these games, and read that the master mind of those games, Kenji Eno, sadly passed away a month ago from a heart condition, 42 years old.

In a detailed interview with him that is linked from the 1up link, he says that the normal ending of D is actually the bad ending, because you wouldn't normally think of doing what is necessary to get the good ending.

I also got the Bad End, but I don't care as long as the game gets beaten. I will make up my own translation for the text above:

BAD END - You got eaten by your own father and will never understand what this game was about. Nor did you stop the terror. PLEASE TRY AGAIN

The game has some puzzles that are not too hard, but they can be tricky. The limited inventory and lack of items to click on makes this game the most FMV (full motion video) of the adventure/horror Saturn games I've played so far.  Not counting Brain Dead 13 and Strahl but they are more like movies than games.

Sega Saturn games today

I received some Saturn games yesterday, so I happily started investigating them. ( I didn't know what titles I would get ) The usual stuff: some RPGs, many sports and adventure games, many fighting games, a lot of quiz and  "misc" games, a few shooters, and several rally games. So it is quite normal of the Saturn releases in Japan.

I was happy to see a game called Transport Tycoon because I played that a lot when I was younger, on the PC. It is sometimes voted the greatest game ever. A few years ago I played until it said "you can't build more stuff unless you replace your other stuff". I had hoped that the Saturn version would be an improvement on this issue, but what a disappointment...

The graphics is only in 640x480 mode, and you can't zoom out. The controller is more clumsy than the mouse, and the game is entirely in Japanese. The good thing is that I was able to rip the soundtrack from the CD, so now I can listen to it. (legally, I think, because I own the CD) I made a video of track nr 5, so you can read this blog to some nice background music.
I think the music was made by a professional jazz musician.

Another game was Destruction Derby, that I also played that on my PC when I was younger. In destruction derby, you get points for pushing the others' cars and not just win races. I played it for some 5 hours or so. The PsOne version has better graphics but the Saturn version is fun too.  The save function is weird, because you save in a save slot, but the newest save slot will always be placed last. So if you have 5 save slots, and you replace save slot 2, then your new save will actually become number 5. This cost me 1-2 hours before I understood.

Here is a video from the Ps1 version:
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I also received some of the horror/adventure games that the Saturn had a couple of. I have already revied Resident Evil (Bio Hazard) here. I don't think I have mentioned Enemy Zero, Virus and Deep Fear. All of these games have a strange English/Japanese mix of text and language, and they are "import friendly" but may require a FAQ at times.

Enemy Zero has a lot of first person shooting in it. But it isn't actually "Quake" good. If I remember correctly: In Enemy Zero you have a stupid weapon that needs to reload after each shot while you are being chased by invisible aliens. The frustration level is high. A lot of running around narrow corridors, Alien (the movie) style. The game was very popular in Japan, but it is too slow paced for me.

I tried out Virus and I liked the control scheme. Virus also has the anime graphics that is nicer than the "pseudo 3D" of most games from that time. Since the game is point-and-click, and the items are all pictures, I think it should be well possible to play without knowing Japanese. Unlike Enemy Zero it was only released in Japan so you have no other language choice. But maybe not very exciting if you can't understand Japanese. All those FMV (Full Motion Video) clips take a long time, and there's a lot of dialogue for the story. 

Let's go to Deep Fear. I haven't tried it out so I'll just show a video of it. It is definitely well made with a good atmosphere. This game was released in Europe, but it is quite pricey. The Japanese version costs like 10$ ( I sold one today for 75 SEK = 10$), while the European is 100$ or more these days.

Here is a video of someone who plays the Japanese version, so you can see the mix of Japanese text, English speech, and English menu. 
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After that I had a look at R?MJ, which is an adventure game only released in Japan for the PS1 and SAT. And I liked it, unlike other reviewers.

All the dialogue is in Japanese but it can be played with no problem. The game is more FMV than all the others I have mentioned and seems to be linear. You don't need any save game slots because I don't think you can die or get stuck. The game autosaves for you if you want to quit.

You have two buttons: One is for Use, and one for Investigate. There isn't any point and click, and no action moments. Just walk around and Investigate and Use in every place you face.  When you have done right, you will be able to progress.

Sometimes you need to bring up the Inventory (press Start) and take an item from there. Then use it while you stand in the right spot. Note that there are 3 screens of inventory, and you press Right several times to go from the first to the second screen.

The game doesn't require much of you, and I think that's nice. It is also interesting to try and see what has happened inside the Mystery Hospital. I didn't get very far though, because it took a long time to figure out these things with the inventory and the buttons and stuff. I couldn't find a video that wouldn't spoil the game, so here is a commercial.
If I had more time I would have played it more.

Hi Saturn Navi arrived

It is the most expensive retro thing I've bought.  I am excited about it but also a bit disappointed. It is smaller than I thought and has a flat top. I think the skeleton This Is Cool looks cooler. I also didn't get an LCD screen with it. I did get some other accessories, such as straps and the GPS thing. But without the LCD screen there isn't much special about it and not worth its price.

I took a chance and bought it as "junk" and I am still happy I did, because these things are hard to find and very expensive. The console is in great condition, even if the box looks like it has been beaten up.

Supposedly "a couple of thousands" copies were sold. I am always sceptical about those claims. You find "fewer than 2000" mentioned and taken as a truth. In reality, the numbers aren't known. "Someone" claimed it... Based on what? Stop believing in whatever anonymous people write on web forums...

But still I think it is more fun to have a items that are uncommon because they didn't sell well. This console was too expensive at the time, 3x the price of a normal Saturn. Items that are released as dedicated "limited editions" are often collectibles and often they can be found in 10 000 unopened copies, and that takes away the fun I think. At least the Hi Saturn Navi was made to be an extreme product for high end users to be used, and not to put in a shelf to collect dust.

It is unlikely anyone would give me what I paid for it, so I think I'll keep it. It can play CD+G -- karaoke discs. Might be useful some day.

Update: I put it up for sale: http://www.tradera.com/hi-saturn-navi-system-auktion_302266_176318275

Trying to play the Island Story of Seven Winds for Saturn

Also known as Nanatsu Kaze no Shima Monogatari which I will never remember. Except that Monogatari means Story.

But it was too hard to play without knowing Japanese. I really liked the hand drawn graphics so I hoped it would be possible... But you can't even exit the house if you don't write the name of the clock in katakana (the Japanese syllable alphabet).

After you have managed to exit the house, you reach this stage.


The reviewer didn't complete his walkthrough so it's too bad we can't see all the scenes.

The game also comes with a CD with artwork from the game. I was able to access the CD with no problem. :)

I think that apart from the graphics, the gameplay is generic point-and-click. The story is linear so you do things in a certain order. I think a lot of it has to do with catching the right bugs and then you store them in your house. It is slow paced and the menu is complicated to navigate. Not sure if there is music in the game, but not much.

It looks a little like Wonder Project J for the SFC and I read the graphics were made by the same contractor.

Wonder Project J screenshot, from hardcoregaming101.net

If you can read and understand Japanese well, and you like these kind of adventure games, I'd give it a chance. It is also playable with a FAQ and a katakana chart, but will take time and effort.

And you need a Saturn console.... If you don't have a Saturn, maybe you'd be interested in my transparent Saturn for 300$.

I also have normal Japanese Saturns for 495 SEK but they get sold quickly...

Kid Icarus and Bio Hazard (Resident Evil)

I have played a bit of Kid Icarus for a couple of days and it has been pretty fun. It's not like in Metroid where you just jump around. In Kid Icarus there are different levels you progress and even the fortress was hardly a maze, it took me only 15-30 minutes to find the boss.

I looked at the FAQ and there are five different endings to the game. That's  important information. The ending you get is based on how many of the five stats that you have maxed out on. I don't remember them exactly, but the game has some RPG element in that you upgrade your experience points and get stronger, have weapon upgrades and so on. But it is still is a very basic platforming game and it isn't required to know Japanese to play it. It may however be useful to look at a FAQ or a manual to tell what the different upgrades and weapons are useful for.

I don't plan on getting the best ending but I hope I will get at least ending 3 out of 5.

The platforming part of the game is more tricky than it looks. It is easy to jump outside of the small platforms even though there aren't that many difficult enemies. Since the game allows you to save and continue at each level it is still a fair game, in my opinion.

What brings it down is that there is nothing spectacular about it. The graphics and enemies feel generic, the music has memorable tunes but doesn't have the effects of later NES games. The main hero is probably one of the least memorable Nintendo characters, and the platforming is standard jumping around. I do appreciate the difficulty level, as there are no "insane" moments and the only boss so far was very easy to defeat (maybe a kid drew the boss with crayons).

I spent two or three hours trying to collect hearts on the first level, because Game Center CX said so, but later found it it was completely unnecessary. I also spent two or three hours fixing the A-button on my controller (finally thank you aluminum paper), a button that must be in perfect condition for this game. That's the two things I've spent most time with so far, so it's not that hard. I would rate the game 4/5.

However, I had to take a break from playing that game because yesterday I got some Saturn consoles and wanted to try if Bio Hazard was completely in English if you set your Bios to English. I have read that Dynamite Deka actually does that. But turns out I was not lucky with BioHazard. All dialogue in the game is in English, but the item description is still in Japanese. I want to see if it was possible to play the game without knowing Japanese and I played it for an hour or two. It's one of those games where you have to find items. I'm quite bad at such games and usually spend most of the time running back and forth, clicking everywhere, trying to put everything on everything.  We'll see if I can make much progress.  I suspect that the game is quite big and I will soon lose patience.

It's a pretty good game, but it feels stupid that I play as a woman who gets rescued by the "big man" all the time. Maybe it was an intentional joke.