Yeah some of the Japan Only PS1 games are pretty mediocre at best, but i do feel Sega Saturn imports were a bit much more better than the PS1 until after Final Fantasy 7 and maybe a few games around late '96 - '97 were somewhat decent.
My proof with this experience was with a couple of terrible/not so great titles like Hakaiou King of Crusher, The Firemen 2 Pete & Danny (Not entirely crap at all but the overall gameplay of it felt shallow and nothing of a great follow-up to the Super Famicom/SNES original), Metal Jacket, Hard Edge, Rapid Reload aka Gunner's Heaven, Sōkaigi, and Steeldom.