So after doing a routine update on my MiSTer FPGA after far, far too much neglect, I was shocked to find that the venerable Sega Saturn was added to the list of consoles that are officially supported. I guess the experimental core is out of beta and into the official release! After some brief testing with a patched version of Bulk Slash, I can actually confirm things run really well.
This is super nice. Every attempt I've made at emulation via desktop has been plagued with some manner of issue - Graphical hiccup, timing issues, slow framerate, audio crackle, control responsiveness. Plus, there's not really a friendly ecosystem of emulators available for the Saturn, at least in my experience. With the MiSTer able to play things with reasonable fidelity, I'm all set to delve into the world made possible by none other than Segata Sanshiro!
Uh... Except...
I don't know anything about Saturn games. It was an era in gaming I entirely missed.
Does anyone have suggestions on "Must Play" Saturn games? I'll be playing through Bulk Slash, since I love me some mecha, but beyond that and maybe Virtual-On I don't have many plans. I'm not much of a SHMUP gal, I confess, but anything else is fair game. Any suggestions would be appreciated!
I recently sent a list of games I recommended over to my friend Neli. I'mma post that same list here. This isn't every game, obviously, but it's a big list of ones I recommend, along with a basic description. There ARE some shmups in here, just pick em out =w= And pick out all the other stuff that don't sound as good to you~
Pretty much all these games can either be played without any knowledge of Japanese, or have an English fan translation.
Symphony of the Night: Has unique Saturn content, though the Saturn version is a bit shitty lol
Albert Odyssey: RPG
Arthur to Astaroth: a puzzle game themed around ghosts and goblins, based on Sid & Al's Incredible Toons.
Astal: Really pretty action platformer, real hard. One of the prettiest 2D games.
Astra Superstars: Wild and weird fighting game, very unique
Asuka 120 Limited: Pretty good 2D fighter
Atlantis - The Lost Tales: Point and Click game
Baku Baku Animal: Block stacking puzzler
Baroque: Roguelike, really fucking wild
Batsugun: Hard shmup
Battle Garegga: Hard shmup
Blast Wind: Shmup
Bubble Symphony: Bubble Bobble sequel
Bulk Slash: Rad 3D mech game, has great translation!
Burning Rangers: 3D Platformer, real good vibes
Chou Aniki: Very gay shmup
Christmas Nights: A Nights DLC thing basically, it's Nights but new Christmas levels!
Clockwork Knight 1 and 2: Cute 2D platformers
Cotton 2: Cutesy shmup
Croc: 3D Platformer
D: Point and clicky horrory game
Darius Gaiden: Great shmup
Daytona USA: Racer
Deep Fear: Pretty good Resident Evil inspired survival horror
Dero'on Dero Dero: Puzzle game
Die Hard Arcade: Pretty good 3D beat em up
Discworld: point and click adventure
Dragon Force I and II: AMAZING JRPGs, very unique strategy RPGs
Elevator Action Returns: Arcadey shooter action! VERY good!
Fighters Megamix: Amazing 3D fighter
Fighting Viper: 3D fighter, same series as Megamix
Goiken Muyou - Anarchy in the Nippon: Hard but fun 3D Fighter
Guardian Heroes - Classic Treasure RPG Beat Em Up
Gunbird: Plane combat
Gungriffon 1 and 2: Mech combat
Gussun Oyoyo: Puzzle game
Hebereke's Popoitto: Dr. Mario with a twist
Herc's Adventures: top down beat em up RPG
Jikkyou Oshaberi Parodius: Goofy shmup
Jung Rhythm: Parappa the Rapper clone
Keioh Flying Squadron 2: Great platformer
Kururin Pa!: Puzzle game
Last Bronx: 3D Fighter
Layer Section 1 and 2: top down shmups
Legend of Oasis: Zelda clone
Link Liver Story: Zelda clone
Lunar - Silver Star Story: JRPG
Lupin Sansei - Pyramid no Kenja: Really neat 3D Platformer, but kinda jank (in a good way)
Magic Knight Rayearth: JRPG. Get the un-working designs patch!
Magical Drop 3: Puzzle game
Mega Man 8 and X4: It's Megaman! I think these have unique Saturn content.
Minnesota Fats Pool Legend: Pool game. Trust me on this.
Monster Slider: Unique block stacker
Mr. Bones: THE LEGEND
Mystaria - The Realms of Lore: D&D beat em up
Nights into Dreams: Unique 3D... platformer kinda?
Ninpen Manmaru: Cute 3D platformer
Ogre Battle March of the Black Queen: I will shill this game at every opporunity.
Pandemonium!: 3D Platformer
Panzer Dragoon 1 and Zwei: Amazing on rails shooters, think Star Fox.
Panzer Dragoon Saga: One of the best RPGs ever made. NOT an on rails shooter, and worth playing even if you do not like on shmups or on rails shooters, and did not play the other Panzer Dragoon games.
Parodius: Goofy shmup
Policenauts: Kojima visual novel
Powerslave: Metroidvania FPS
Prokura - Princess Clara Daisaku: Arcade top down action
Radiant Silvergun: Best shmup ever made
Rayman: Classic platformer
Resident Evil: You've prolly heard of this
Sakura Wars: Dating Sim Visual Novel Mech Strategy Game
Saturn Bomberman: Classic Bomberman
Sega Rally Championship: VERY good racing game
Sexy Parodius: A "sexy" goofy shmup
Shadows of the Tusk: Strategy RPG, only in Japanese currently, but being translated soon
Shining Force III: Tactics JRPG
Shining Wisdom: JRPG
Shining the Holy Ark: JRPG
Shinrei Jursatsushi Taroumaru: Run and Gun
Shoujo Kakumei Utena: Self insert Utena fanfiction dating sim. Quite good!
Silhouette Mirage: Amazing Treasure run and gun
Sonic 3D Blast: Classic Sonic game
Sonic R: CAN YOU FEEL THE SUNSHINE
Steamgear Mash: Top down Metroidvania
Stellar Assault: Space combat, story driven game. Has a new english dub!
Super Tempo: Amazing beautiful 2D platformer
Tactics Ogre: Has a unique voice track from all other Tactics Ogre ports.
Super Adventure Rockman: Memey rockman game
Tempest 2000: Amazing arcade action
Tetris Plus: Cute tetris with a unique twist
Three Dirty Dwarves: MY favorite beat em up
Thunder Force V: Amazing shmup
Tryrush Deppy: Cute platformer
Uno DX: Anime Uno
Vandal Hearts: Tactics RPG
Virtua Fighter 1 and 2: 3D fighter
Virtual Hydlide: One of the worst experiences that should still be experienced.
Virtual On: Amazing mech 3D fighter
Willy Wombat: 3D platformer
Zanma Chou Ougi - Valhollian: JRPG
Advanced V.G.: certainly not the best 2d fighter but still pretty neat. be warned that it has suggestive post match images
Assault Suit Leynos 2: part of the same franchise as target earth and cybernator, but quite difficult
Cleopatra Fortune: interesting puzzle game from taito, also has a dreamcast port
Cyberbots - Fullmetal Madness: arguably better than the arcade version with extra characters and voice acted story dialogue
Darius II: taito shmup with tuna sashimi
Dezaemon 2: shmup maker with a very large scene back in the day, look for the save game manager that contains a lot of fan content
Digital Pinball - Necronomicon: decent video pinball with some nice theming
Dungeon Master Nexus: old school dungeon crawler that just recently got a translation
D-Xhird: decent 3d fighter
Elan Doree: unique mount based fighting game
Falcom Classics collection series: updated ports of classic japanese computer games, Ys 1 has a translation and the rest on the first disc are almost entirely in english
Game Tengoku: jaleco parody/crossover shmup
Groove on Fight: goofy fighting game from atlus, part of the power instinct series
High Velocity: neat racing game, also worth checking out the sequel Touge King: The Spirits 2
Hyper Duel: nice shmup from technosoft
In the Hunt: submarine shmup by the people who would later make metal slug
Kyuutenkai: technosoft pinball game
Magical Night Dreams - Cotton (2 and Boomerang): side scrolling witch shmups
Metal Black: unique taito shmup
Mobile Suit Gundan Side Story series: 3d mech games
Mouja: puzzle game with cats
Nekketsu Oyako: 2d beat em up
Night Striker S: port of taito space harrier like
Parodius: all parodius shmups are playable on saturn, even the msx one in the konami antiques collection
Rabbit: interesting 2d fighter
Salamander Deluxe Pack: contains salamander, life force, and salamander
Sega Ages: all japanese versions contain unique options
Sengoku Blade: side scrolling psikyo shmup
Shienryuu: dragon shmup
Side Pocket 3: follow up to Minnesota Fats with its own unique charm
Sonic Council: 2d fighter
Sokyuugurentai: excellent 2.5d shmup
Street Fighter - The Movie: memeable fighting game with a cult following
Street Fighter Alpha 2 Gold: available in the street fighter collection or as a standalone jp release
Sword & Sorcery: port of 3do jrpg
Thunder Storm & Road Blaster: laserdisc games
Time Gal & Ninja Hayate: see above
Wolf Fang SS: port of one of my favorite data east games with extra content
Yumimi Mix Remix: excellent fmv game with a lot of charm
(not counting ports of a games already on the mister like capcom and snk fighting games or games that only received translations on other platforms like galaxy fraulein yuna 3)
