Genre by Genre: Sega Saturn and Sony Playstation worldwide libraries comparison

**Barone** · 11-19-2013, 09:53 AM

Originally Posted by bultje112

not sure if serious because it's widely known to be a horrible game. I have never met anyone who liked it and it got tons of bad ratings for all the right reasons.

Originally Posted by TmEE

About the load times, technically the Saturn should really have no load times at all besides the initial one... the CD cache is ginormous and CD subsystem fully autonomous, games could very well start loading things while action is happening or aobut to end and transfer over the data from the cache to main RAM for use and even keep data in that cache to be used at any later time without a load. That thing there has so much potential....

Some developers, especially some western ones, were really bad/lazy about the Saturn ports...
OTOH, World Heroes Perfect is an early game which uses no RAM Cart and has minimal loading pauses after the first match; it works more like you described.

**midnightrider** · 11-19-2013, 11:01 AM

I liked both the WWF fighters, and I had Wrestlemania on the Genesis, and In Your House on the PC(which, by the way, should be a consideration for this thread, as a lot of multiplatform games also got a PC release during this generation). Of course, I was really into MK at the time too.

For the record, if it hasn't been brought up yet(sorry, 15 pages in, I don't feel like reading through it all), the Batman Forever game on these consoles is actually based off the much better arcade game, and not the 16-bit console/8-bit handheld game.

**Da_Shocker** · 11-19-2013, 06:05 PM

Originally Posted by Barone

World Heroes Perfect sucked I think I paid 70 dollars for that game on ebay back in the early 2000's. BTW you're so thorough with your shit. WWF was hailed as being somewhat revolutionary since most of the memory went to the wrestlers and not the background.

**Barone** · 11-22-2013, 02:57 AM

Originally Posted by midnightrider

I liked both the WWF fighters, and I had Wrestlemania on the Genesis, and In Your House on the PC(which, by the way, should be a consideration for this thread, as a lot of multiplatform games also got a PC release during this generation). Of course, I was really into MK at the time too.

Those PC ports were great, the best available for home platforms at the time (MK, MKII, WWF... The PC ports were far superior to the console ones IMO, especially the first MK games).
About including the PC as a platform for comparison here, IDK... Initially I was thinking about really comparing only PS1 to Saturn libraries, but lately I'm inclined to include the other 5th gen consoles/add-ons as well. Given the nonsense amount of hate and disrespect the PC gaming has received in this forum, I'm really thinking about including the PC platform too, just for "fun".

Originally Posted by midnightrider

For the record, if it hasn't been brought up yet(sorry, 15 pages in, I don't feel like reading through it all), the Batman Forever game on these consoles is actually based off the much better arcade game, and not the 16-bit console/8-bit handheld game.

OK. I'll remember about this when we get in that genre, we're still in the first one (lmao): 2D fighting games.

Originally Posted by Da_Shocker

World Heroes Perfect sucked I think I paid 70 dollars for that game on ebay back in the early 2000's. WWF was hailed as being somewhat revolutionary since most of the memory went to the wrestlers and not the background.

Never heard that comment about WWF before, interesting...
I paid like $15 for WHP some time ago, but, yes, for $70 it would have been a bad deal. The game is nothing special in terms of gameplay but it runs smoothly and loads really quickly, which was a good achievement compared to the awful Garou Densetsu 3 port.

Originally Posted by Da_Shocker

BTW you're so thorough with your shit.

I know...

From the 5th gen comparison thread:

1) WWF Wrestlemania: The arcade Game
PS1: transparent generic shadows for fighters and objects. Animated shadows for the ropes.
Arcade: dithered generic shadows for fighters and objects. Animated shadows for the ropes.
32X: fake-transparent generic shadows (using Genesis shadow effect) for the fighters and objects. Painted static "shadows" for the ropes (ropes move but their shadows don't).
SNES: dithered generic shadows for fighters and objects. Painted static "shadows" for the ropes (ropes move but their shadows don't).
Genesis: dithered generic shadows for fighters and objects. Painted static "shadows" for the ropes (ropes move but their shadows don't).
Saturn: dithered generic shadows for fighters and objects. No shadows for the ropes.

2) Mortal Kombat II
SNES: transparent animated shadows for fighters.
PS1: transparent animated shadows for fighters.
Arcade: opaque animated shadows for fighters.
32X: opaque animated shadows for fighters.
Saturn: opaque animated shadows for fighters.
Genesis: opaque generic shadows for fighters.

3) Mortal Kombat 3
SNES: transparent animated shadows for fighters. Transparent health bars.
PS1: transparent animated shadows for fighters. Transparent health bars.
Arcade: opaque animated shadows for fighters. Transparent health bars.
Genesis: fake-transparent animated shadows (using Genesis shadow effect) for fighters. Dithered health bars.

4) Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3
Arcade: opaque animated shadows for fighters. Transparent health bars.
Saturn: dithered animated shadows for fighters. Dithered health bars.
SNES: transparent generic shadow for fighters. Transparent health bars.
Genesis: fake-transparent generic shadow (using Genesis shadow effect) for fighters. Dithered health bars.

5) Mortal Kombat Trilogy
N64: transparent animated shadows for fighters. Transparent health bars.
PS1: transparent animated shadows for fighters. Transparent health bars.
Arcade: opaque animated shadows for fighters. Transparent health bars.
Saturn: dithered animated shadows for fighters. Dithered health bars.

6) Primal Rage
3DO: transparent animated shadows for fighters.
Arcade: opaque animated shadows for fighters.
Saturn: opaque animated shadows for fighters.
PS1: opaque animated shadows for fighters.

7) Street Fighter Zero 3
PS1: transparent overlays and health bars.
Arcade: dithered overlays and health bars.
Saturn: dithered overlays and health bars.

**Da_Shocker** · 11-23-2013, 05:47 PM

@Barone I bought it and Metal Slug paid like 86 dollars for that game back in the early 2000's. I probably got caught in some bidding war. As for WWF there was an interview in Gamepro that stated something about since they had one backgroud all of the other memory went to the characters. That is why they looked and animated better than the MK series. Not sure why the Saturn and PSx ports turned out a little less than impressive.

**Barone** · 12-30-2014, 01:17 PM

Pyron just shared the link to this amazing series of detailed comparison videos of games on the Saturn and on the PS1:

**goldenband** · 12-30-2014, 02:20 PM

Wow, those are great! I wish we had translations of the annotations, but most of it can probably be surmised.

**Thief** · 12-30-2014, 04:02 PM

Originally Posted by TmEE

About the load times, technically the Saturn should really have no load times at all besides the initial one... the CD cache is ginormous and CD subsystem fully autonomous, games could very well start loading things while action is happening or aobut to end and transfer over the data from the cache to main RAM for use and even keep data in that cache to be used at any later time without a load. That thing there has so much potential....

Er, yeah, I guess that makes sense? I mean, Shining Force 3 seemed to have done quite a few things right to completely remove/mask load times so that it plays like a cartridge game a la Shining Force 1 & 2 for Sega Genesis.

Heck, overall, I don't think SF3 is even possible on the PS1? At least nowhere near the quality of the Saturn game + load times galore or at least removing the attack animation switch and just have it all take place on the map screen a la lame-o Final Fantasy Tactics. So yeah, SF3 sure seems to use the Saturn exclusve features just right. And texture quality is top notch too (especially for Scenario 2 & 3). To bad so few know of the greatness of these games. Especially Scenario 2 and 3 which was never released overseas and where the quality in graphics really jumped up.

**Barone** · 02-08-2015, 12:47 AM

Some interesting stuff to be put in this thread for future info compilation and further analysis:

Gokujyou Parodius

From Kollision's blog:
Let it be known that I started playing the game on the Playstation, but then moved to the Saturn for a very particular reason: it's got random extends - sometimes you get them at different points and sometimes they don’t come at all! There are other reasons why the Playstation port is a clear loser in this case, such as abusive slowdown (almost unbearable in the candy level), longer loading times, manual save function (automatic on the Saturn) and weaker sound effects, among other minor things.

Road Rash

Road Rash has noticeably better frame rate on the PS1/SAT versions than on the 3DO, and the PS1 version has a alternating 2P mode that the other versions lack. I usually go with the PS1 version because its sfx are better than the Saturn ones IMO and the 3D buildings lack the lighting variation/shadowing on the Saturn (the draw distance seems to be a bit shorter here too).
The Saturn version has the clouds movement a bit weird IMO.
The 3DO version has a smooth draw in/fade in effect in the horizon, some sort of volumetric fog, which the other versions sadly lack. Also, I think the 3DO version has smoother colors than the other versions. It definitely looks better than the other ones.
According to this video (starts around 6:35), the 3DO version uses a deeper color depth than the PS1 version (and probably than the Saturn's as well): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zsqqideaiXY

Rayman
Here (I'd just take the part in red with a really good grain of salt, because AtariAge + Jaguar, you know: BOOOM!):

Originally Posted by TheSonicRetard

The graphics in the PS1 release are in no way superior to the Jaguar version. the Jaguar version runs at a higher resolution, and has more layers of parallax. The people at atari age claim the Jaguar version displays 65,000 colors at once while the PSX version displays 32,000 colors, but I dunno if that's true. In any case, the PSX version is visually inferior.

The Saturn version is a bit of a push compared to the jaguar version because the lots of the art is different (exclusive to the saturn). They're displayed at the same resolution, so it comes down to which art you prefer.

The Jaguar version also has a few areas that are very different from their Saturn/PSX version, and band land is way better on the Jaguar because you don't slip and slide around. It's much less frustrating and better designed.

Originally Posted by TheSonicRetard

The first version of Rayman I got was the saturn version, near launch. I liked it, but gave up at bandland when it got infuriatingly difficult. I gave it another go on the GBA years later and found it unplayable due to how scaled in the screen is. I yet again gave it another chance when I got the PSX version at a garage sale, but found that version far inferior to the saturn version in many, many ways.

Finally, I got the jaguar version last and absolutely fell in love. There are a lot of minor level design changes in the jaguar version that aren't in other versions that make it slightly easier in some spots, and much harder in other. For example, Bandland no longer has slippery floors where you constantly push forward without the ability to stop, so in that regards it's easier. However, in the other version, the intertia mechanic of bandland facilitated a number of jumps that would be impossible on the jaguar version - a like timing your jump to a dip in the road so that you go flying through the air to a far off platform. Since you don't have this built up high interia in the jaguar version, the space between where you leap and where the end platform should be is filled in with complex platforming paths, rather than air.

It adds up to a game that I found much more enjoyable after numerous attempts to get deep into the game. I've since completely beaten the jaguar version 100%, and even went back and finished up the saturn version (using a PAR code to get past bandland with infinite lives) and I found that, even in later levels, I found myself enjoying the level design in the jaguar version quite a bit more.

It's a preference thing, I can completely understand how the entirely different graphics in the saturn version would be more appealing to one person, or how they might prefer the slippery bandland over the complex platforming, stuff like that. The Jaguar version really clicked with me. I can't personally understand how anybody could prefer the PSX, GBA, or GBC versions of the game, though, since they're inferior to the Jaguar, Saturn, and PC versions in a number of technical ways, but I don't sweat it.

Keep in mind that the Jaguar version of Rayman was the lead version. It helps that Rayman is one of the best jaguar games, too. I'll admit that, when i picked up the jaguar version, I wasn't going in looking to fall in love with the game again, but rather attempting to obtain every must-have jaguar game. My enjoyment was a pleasant surprise.

The Saturn version colors and music really shine IMO.
This rather old comparison also points some other interesting details:
http://www.gamezero.com/team-0/artic...d_head/rayman/

Another good comparative info source:
http://www.game-rave.com/psx_galleri...yman/index.htm

Also:

And here's a recent review of the Jaguar version, using real hardware capture, which seems to be the only one on YT to actually make justice to the awesome coloring of this version:

**Kollision** · 02-09-2015, 08:33 AM

Some other little notes about Gokujyou Parodius:

The Saturn version has an "arcade" aspect ratio and a "fullscreen" stretched ratio. The differences between both are pretty minimal imo, and the PS1 ver. presents the game in the "arcade" aspect ratio only.

I also read somewhere that the SAT port has better graphics because it's got more frames of animation.
I didn't notice anything really remarkable in that regard, but maybe those who enjoy digging into this kind of detail might want to take a look.

**RPGbandit** · 02-09-2015, 01:25 PM

next genre

**TrekkiesUnite118** · 02-09-2015, 09:38 PM

Originally Posted by Kollision

Some other little notes about Gokujyou Parodius:

The Saturn version has an "arcade" aspect ratio and a "fullscreen" stretched ratio. The differences between both are pretty minimal imo, and the PS1 ver. presents the game in the "arcade" aspect ratio only.

I also read somewhere that the SAT port has better graphics because it's got more frames of animation.
I didn't notice anything really remarkable in that regard, but maybe those who enjoy digging into this kind of detail might want to take a look.

If I remember correctly it's actually not a stretched image on the Saturn when you select full screen. It's actually rendering more. It's the same in the Gradius Deluxe Pack and can make certain parts easier.

**Thief** · 02-10-2015, 10:18 AM

Great topic. Hope all genres get covered.

Originally Posted by TrekkiesUnite118

And these would fall into the questionable category (A lot of this is what remains from the list on Satakore that I have either heard bad things about, next to nothing about, or haven't seen or enjoyed myself). The bolded titles I've seen be both praised and bashed so they really depend on the players point of view I guess:
Mortal Kombat II

MK2 is pure trash. Bought it back in the day and it broke my heart like nothing else. So badly wanted a decent MK2 port that matched the Arcade in graphics and sounds back in the day. But this, this is an abomination.

**goldenband** · 02-10-2015, 12:55 PM

Anyone have a good link to a list of every game that's on both consoles? I looked for one but had no luck, though a partial list of Saturn exclusives helps (the Japanese exclusives are incomplete).

**Barone** · 02-10-2015, 10:46 PM

Terry's animation on the PS1 is disgusting.

Thread: Genre by Genre: Sega Saturn and Sony Playstation worldwide libraries comparison

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