Daytona USA on the SEGA Saturn - You’ve Been Lied To. 

My first exposure to the game was when my dad bought me a Saturn strategy guide that included Daytona, Panzer Dragoon and Clockwork Knight, even though we didn't have a Saturn or the games. Of course, I later got all of them, bless his intentions, and I still have it. In the states there was a Christmas promo in '96 where if you bought a Saturn, you'd get 3 free games: Daytona, VF2 and Virtua Cop. I hadn't played the arcade original at the time, but I played the hell out of Daytona and despite its imperfections, I just loved it for its atmosphere, track design and the soundtrack. Sure, I played the heck out of Circuit Edition and Sega Rally, but those memories racing, exploring the tracks and listening to the music in my portable CD player are things I'll never forget. Glad to know I'm not the only one who loved this port.

When I got this for the Saturn, I'd never even seen the arcade version, so I didn't have that as a point of comparison. It was the first game i ever played on Saturn and the jump from the Mega Drive experience was massive, noone could tell me otherwise that Daytona was a poor game if they tried. Doing 40-lap 777 Speedway runs were a joy.

As someone who was too young to remember this, I greatly appreciate the effort you made on making this video James. This was the actual reception that Daytona USA had in respect to that time, and there has been alot of personal bias against the game over the years, which highlight it as a failure. If you go back, how many games on consumer devices were producing 3D at a stable 30fps at that time? I’m certain it was only Ridge Racer. The problem is people compared them for the wrong reasons. Daytona USA is a much harder game to translate. You can have upto 40 cars on track, all with dynamic levels of a.i, you also a have a physics model that can tell apart terrain, a crash model, bounding boxes for all the models/objects and car handling physics that were real time and not in rails. To operate this at a smooth 20fps was impressive and there was nothing else like it on the consumer market. They even made use of functions like render to texture on the certain surfaces (windows) and good optimisations for LOD. It’s crazy to think they had 6 months or less on the project. If they continued on, we probably would have seen a better clipping/discard algorithm and removal of the boarders. In the end, it was a good deal and I can’t thank you enough for clearing this up!

The technological feats that the teams from Sega and Namco were able to do with their arcade ports like Daytona USA, Tekken 3 and Virtua Fighter 2 need to be talked about more in the history of the industry because its absolutely incredible what the programmers and developers were able to accomplish in porting these high end games and making them look almost arcade perfect.

Saturn Daytona is simply one of the best racing games of the 32/64bit generation, even though i had purchased Sega Rally before i got my copy of Daytona, it was still very impressive, to have Daytona running in my bedroom, let me tell you, all my friends who hadn't upgraded to 32bit were certainly envious enough, they certainly weren't complaining about pop up and frame rate!

I bought a Sega Saturn on launch day... nothing prepared me for being able to play Daytona USA and Virtua Fighter at home. Yes, a few months later I also bought a Playstation on launch and it was amazing as well, but the jump from Genesis/SNES/Jaguar to Sega Saturn was so huge, no other launch blew me away the way the Saturn launch did.

I've got got the two Daytona Saturn games and the Dreamcast version too. Seeing games like Daytona as a kid was mind blowing when moving away from the 2D world of the Mega Drive. Tomb Raider 1 on the Saturn really hit me hard though. Out of all the Sega consoles I owned, then and now as an adult, the Saturn will always be my favorite. I personally didn't know a single person who was talking about pop in, or FPS or refresh rate back then. The tech was new in home consoles and we were all moving away from 2D sprite based games in that wonderful period of time.

The arcade version was one of my favourites and having it on the Saturn was an absolute joy. I loved it. Everyone that played it when they came over thought it was great. Interesting that you brought up Stunt Car Racer on the Amiga. It was one of my top favourite games to play on my Amiga 500. It's mind blowing to think of how it ran on a 7 MHz system and fit on a single floppy disc.

I know some people hated on it but coming from a Megadrive I was so impressed at the time. Thanks for making this video!

I played it to death on Saturn when it came out. yes, it didn't look as good as Ridge Racer, but I'd rinsed RR in a few days. I was playing Daytona for months. The handling on Saturn was sublime, somehow they translated the arcade feel on a digital pad. Playing the Saturn version upped my arcade game. Shame about Daytona CCE. Typical Sega, they miss an open goal.

I'm a fan of Daytona and enjoyed the Saturn version but even the digitizer review acknowledges that there were contemporary reviews that were disappointed by it, and modern reviewers are right to point out its flaws given the better options that are now available. I personally can't see much reason to play it today other than nostalgia.

Why someone hasn't done a USA directors cut in the community yet is beyond me. It would be truly fantastic.

I saw the first time on a 33" tv in 1995, was awesome. For me 3d was something like hard drivin', flat polygons, no lighting. And saw this on a console, amazing!. Textures, lighting, full of objects, cd quality music. C'mon, ridge racer was a good racing game. But daytona is another level. Long and incredible courses, with a lot of elements. Like a rollercoaster, with elevations, borderline curves. And on crt tv looks really good, the sound is incredible too. And works with digital pads like no other racing game, reaaally good.

I didn't remember any negative reviews about Daytona USA on the saturn in those early days, but I also didn't think it was a reach to assume it was incomplete due to the unexpected early release of the Saturn console. The comparisons to Ridge Racer on the PS were something I did remember, when you look at the Japanese releases of both consoles it was like Sony and Sega were trading blow for blow. PS got Ridge Racer, Saturn got Daytona USA. PS got Toshinden, and Saturn got Virtua Fighter. I even remember seeing both Japanese consoles for sale in CA Games in the west end of Glasgow round about December 1994, he was asking for £1000 for each console and had them both up and running and guess what... the PS had Ridge Racer and the Saturn had Daytona USA running... it was only natural to see the comparisons. I too remember the era before frame-rates and HD and all that jazz, and none of that mattered in those days as both RR and Daytona were excellent games to play.... but I did prefer RR if I am honest.... I just thought the soundtrack was better and more suited to the game.

Thanks for reminder about this technical marvel that was underappreciated at the time. This game cost Sega a console sale. I had put down a deposit on a Saturn. Shortly thereafter Gamesmaster showed a clip of Ridge Racer in one of their outros. The next working day i popped into my Game to watch the Saturn's demo pod. This game seemed so poor next to Ridge Racer that i went to the counter and got my deposit back. Gallantly, the chap serving tried to talk me out of it, but to no avail (i later saw him on TV as one of Bad Influence's reviewers). My redemption arc is that i did buy a Saturn a few years later, with the option of one free game from a choice of two. I chose Virtua Fighter 2 and left Swagman on the shelf (oops). More recently i bought a multi region cart and imported Daytona USA Circuit Edition from Japan, which is supposed to run slightly better than the launch version, and i do mean slightly. I think i recall it being mentioned that the XBox360 digital version was the closest to the arcade version. Now removed from the XBox store i believe. Yay for the digital future!

Absolutely loving your output mate, the Segaguys podcast has become a staple for me, and I only recently jumped on the Sega train after a lifetime of somehow missing their consoles and games. Just wanted to say keep up the amazing work. And how on earth are you finding teletext posts from 1995?!

finally someone who understands the impact of seeing daytona on the saturn in 1995 taking into account of what we would normally get ie starfox, virtua racing md.

Yeah Daytona USA on Saturn was so much fun. I don't care what the critics say, I love the game. There were too many people stating that the PS1 version of a game was always better that the Saturn version. I had both systems since the original Japanese launch and I can tell you 99% of the time, the Saturn version was always better for 2D games. And for 3D games, it depended on the game, but none were evar as bad as people made it out to be. I think Sony paid those people to trash the Saturn version of so many games.

Meu maior motivo de compra do Saturn em 95 pra mim o jogo é incrível me diverti e divirto até hoje com essa versão um jogaço

Good to hear your passion, as a fellow Daytona USA fan this is still a greatly underappreciated series in the modern era, probably because Sega have turned their back on their arcade heritage. So, I start with this statement "Daytona USA single headedly destroyed the Saturn in the West". In March 1995 I visited Sega and was shown an early version of Daytona, I confess it was a shocking mess, the pop-up was even worse than the final build. The Account Manager pointed out that the developers aimed for speed, to be faster than Ridge Racer. In this end it was a shoddy mess visually and clearly a rush job. The handling was in there but just about everything else had to be sacrificed and I don't know how those review scores were so high, perhaps some shilling, perhaps just fanboys, perhaps still lacking vision of the good and bad of the 3D era. Whatever the reason it was always underwhelming. By September 95 this conversion was history and Daytona had sealed the Saturn's fate. As for the PAL version, it was so poor, it didn't even impress average joe on our store demo pods, and that was before the PS1 was even released.

I just found your channel, being a huge sega fan (of their arcades, saturn and Dreamcast in particular) your channel is like finding a hidden gem - i find your content to be far better than the competitions. Please keep it up.

I got this game with my Japanese imported Saturn. Got the racing steering wheel also. Fantastic memories due to an absolute cracking game!

Not sure I would take a jab at Ridge Racer for running at half the frame rate of its arcade version when Daytona USA ran at 1/3 of the frame rate of its arcade counter part. That being said Ridge Racer had features and enhancements over its arcade version, more cars, music, challenges and 3rd person camera. Daytona USA CCE shows we could have had these graphics with 30fps and better draw distance. While the game did review well back in the day it is clear SEGA felt the need to release another version.

It's nearly impossible to keep framerate high on 32bit home consoles when there are 40 vehicles on screen at once. The truth is, that Daytona USA is technically superior that first Ridge Racer game. -Just imagine how "well" first Ridge Racer would had run on PlayStation if there would had been as much moving stuff on sceen as Daytona USA.

Well put James! I enjoyed hearing your take on this - it's good to hear someone talk positively about this.

I had the game at the time. I can promise you I wasn't disappointed with what I got. I'd compare it to Virtua Racing Deluxe in a lot of ways. Sure, it's graphically inferior than the original and not the best showcase of what the machine was capable of, but they nailed that gameplay experience. And I'll tell you right now - if the reviews were shite I wouldn't have bought it. That's all I based my purchases on. What else was there?

I completely agree that the Saturn version of Daytona is amazing, I’ve been saying it for years too. It plays identically to the arcade version IMHO and I own a stand-up version of the Daytona arcade machine so I get plenty of chances to compare them. Graphically they aren’t too far apart I think. It’s like they took the arcade textures and just reduced the resolution so the colours and atmosphere of the game are the same. Championship Circuit not only doesn’t play right, it also doesn’t look anything like the arcade game. It’s fascinating to hear Edge gave it 8/10, I could have sworn they slated it! 😅 I’m sure I remember them saying the lack of lighting changes when the car goes through the tunnel was poor. It’s funny to see them highlighting the 40 cars on track too, for years I’ve been saying that feat goes completely unremarked when it’s a real achievement. That said, if you count the cars on-screen during the ending it’s actually 38, but it’s still a huge number! The Saturn port of Daytona reminds me of the DC port of Sega Rally 2, they were both rushed and could have looked much better if Sega hadn’t been in such a rush to be first to market, yet both play identically to their arcade counterparts, which is what really counts.

Whilst i never had it at the time or played the arcade version, im thankful i completely missed any ov the "daytona saturn bad" narrative. Ive always considered it to look cool. Then i got to play it and even being piss poor at it, its incredibly enjoyable - and ive only played the PAL version.

I had a saturn in the day and my go to was the first need for speed. The driving physics was amazing

the thing about the first port is it nailed the gameplay of the arcade game, even though the re-releases had better graphics they were made on a different engine and didn't feel the same.

Perhaps I'm not in the right circles, but I've never heard of Daytona USA being review bombed or badly reviewed upon its Saturn release. What I had always heard for years was its poorer state visually compared to the likes of Ridge Racer on PlayStation. I still like, and commend AM2's work on the port. But I will be the first to admit my enjoyment of the game on Saturn does nictitate me to accept some short comings that I don't commonly see on Saturn. The very harsh pop up, and the 20 (16.67 PAL) framerate, and (in the case of racing games) the lack of a Multiplayer mode. I will still give Daytona this though from a technical viewpoint, it's a heck of a lot more visually pleasing than Destruction Derby, Hardcore 4X4 or Sega Touring Car.

Back then I was a kid and had no idea how it was reviewed or received but I remember my feelings toward those arcade ports (or arcade originals itself I had few interactions with) - even then it was a mix bag. Frankly I was not impressed by Daytona games in 90s and it holds up to this day. Probably the reason for this is that I was introduced to it somewhere later (around 97) and by that time this game felt like past gen product compared to more recent racers on PSX.

I've always felt the Saturn version actually plays better than the coin op version personally. The control is just so tight.

It's weird. I was a teenager back then and I guess I assumed nobody would totally overwrite my experience, but I didn't know about the internet then... For ages, I had Daytona and Virtua Fighter as the only games on my Saturn and I was so happy with both. Replay value was in the gameplay, not the number of options. And yeah, it looked great to me even in PAL. This is part of a wider issue which is the total disregard for the UK's games history. Gamers, even British, of recent generations talk about the 'Genesis' and 'blast processing' and the 'crash of the 80s' as if they were a thing to us. They think Richard Jacques was a respected composer!

I've always been in both alleys with Saturn Daytona. I lived and breathed this game in the arcades back in the day. I even remember getting my copy of Saturn Daytona from Cash Converters during lunch time in school back in 1996. But I instantly felt the difference between the arcade version, more in its frame rate than graphics, but still, the graphics also. Also, playing Sega Rally on the Saturn at the same time as this version, yeah, night and day for me. Saturn Daytona will always play great, but it's one of the few arcade conversations that I felt was impacted by the greatness of the arcade version and I couldnt help but feel disappointed; Whereas I go the other way with Sega Rally and say that the Saturn port is better than the arcade. Great video James.

I recently purchased the Japanese version of this. I had championship edition but didn't realise the gameplay is far superior in this! Plays alot like the arcade. Great port of an awesome game!

My first Saturn game was Championship Circuit Edition and I loved and still love that game to this day. Mags used to say how much better the original Daytona USA port was, however, so, when I finally found a video store that rented Saturn games, I rented the original port and fell in love with it. The sheer playability and infectious nature of the gameplay and soundtrack kept me coming back time and again to beat my lap and track records. Thank you for continuing to disprove the lies about the Saturn.

Even with emulation and the ps3/360 port, I still love to play the Saturn port. It’s just fun and controls very well. Everyone bitching about pop up either didn’t grow up then or has been brainwashed by modern gamers trashing on it. Made me want a Saturn like nothing else.

the fact is Ridge Racer looked better in motion and regards to draw distance. This hurt how the game was received. I had a Playstation but I eventually got a Saturn after my N64 about a year and a half after the Saturn released here in UK. I'd played Ridge Racer and it was certainly impressive but in terms of the gameplay itself, Daytona had a depth that didn't exist with Ridge Racer. There's a beautiful knack of learning how to wrestle your car's control in Daytona that is simply lacking with Ridge Racer. Of course I think we can all agree Ridge Racer is fun and I especially love Ridge Racer IV but looking objectively, Daytona's driving model is layered and rewards the more you know of it. At one stage I had a couple of official Sega steering wheels and I was on Daytona very often enough that I had concluded it one of the finest racers ever along side Stunt Car Racer. Something I still think holds true actually. I imagine a lot of people that declare Ridge Racer a better racing game are coming at the argument from what is the most fun from being the most accessible an experience. And that makes sense because a game too difficult to play from a lack confidence in how you play it isn't fun for a lot of players. Daytona isn't as fun for a lot of players for this reason but it's exactly the reason it probably would be if they understood it's layers more. It's objectively a better game for it, even if it's not subjectively so. A lot of folk wont be understanding to the joy Daytona's driving model has compared to a more accessible and therefore for some a more likely enjoyable Ridge Racer experience, which is fine but Daytona was always on another page regardless frankly. Beautiful game oh and I miss Teletext

This game is so fun still - thanks for making this video! I agree that there was some slander against the Saturn (despite having built in internal memory unlike ps1 and I think a better color spectrum if I remember the specs right ) - however Sega definitely felt there was enough issues w the game to re release it for this platform 2 times in the states and two times in Japan(their CE version was superior ) - as well as the insanely expensive net link version (which I’m still curious about playing myself). The Xbox arcade/ps3 versions were absolutely amazing and so glad we got those. Maybe a the new Sega IP remasters we will see more Daytona !

Sega has been sitting on gold with the titles on the Sega Saturn for 2 decades now. Paid for the OLED Steam Deck to have the closest things to a portable Sega Saturn.

Ridge Racer fan here, absolutely hated Daytona in any iteration on any system, but watched regardless because I was curious about what misinformation you were wanting to talk about. Each to their own, but I very much disagree with the suggestion that the gameplay was good but graphics poor. I actually thought graphics were never Daytona's weak point. It looked great graphically in the arcades for it's time, but handled like shit when actually playing, not a fan of the twitchy unrealistic handling and scripted crashes. I personally feel this way about ALL 3D sega racers though through the years, with the only exception being Outrun 2 where they FINALLY got it right, and as a result Outrun 2 is one of my all time favourite arcade racers. Ridge Racer on the other hand felt great to play, apart from the camera leaning the wrong way during cornering when using the in car view. But again, you mentioned the playstation version of the game was regarded as arcade perfect, and as a fan, not a chance in hell. Graphics and sound were vastly inferior on the console just as you'd expect, and was also expected and accepted for Daytona on the Saturn too for that matter. I'm old enough to have been playing them in the arcades, and I don't recall anyone ever claiming either were arcade perfect. Nor did anyone expect them to be really. 👍

After the disappointment of the Sega Mega CD, i was put off Sega consoles for a while at the time, so I didn't get a Saturn until the mid 2000's when I was buying up loads of retro gear from boot fairs, 2nd hand shops etc, and although the graphics on the Saturn version were a bit on the rough and ready side, I do agree that the most important aspect - playability - was there 100%. It had that "just one more go" aspect to it. Very addictive game, and i eventually began to love the rough and ready look to it. It's a must - have game for the Sega Saturn.

Nice video. Having played them again a few years ago as I was trying all games compatible with the racing wheel, I also prefer the original version to CCE. Personally, I had never heard that Daytona USA was poorly reviewed; I remember on the contrary Ridge Racer getting (unfairly) blasted for only having one track (with two variations) compared to the usual three that Sega had made standard in its arcade games.

All magazines in Brazil at the time had positive Daytona reviews. It was incredible. I was super lucky to get a saturn in 95, even people who later had the n64 loved daytona and virtua fighter. Negative people towards this are looking back. In 94, 95, this was incredible.

All arcade racing games of SEGA are awesome!!! I always play Out Run 2, Sega Rally Revo and of course Daytona in my Xbox 360

I was very unimpressed when I first played it but I only got this game about when ridge racer 4 came out. Nowdays I enjoy it but think the controls are a little twitchy but haven't tried the analog controller yet. I think putting it on maximum laps and the hardest difficulty is the most fun.

I had no idea people thought it was bad... even back then! It stands great alongside ridge racer, they’re both excellent but very different games really.

Alot of my favourite Saturn racing games were slated, Daytona, Destruction Derby, Sonic R, STCC. But it never stopped me having the best time with them back in the day and again now. Music and gameplay has alot to do with it for sure

I have always hated ridge racer. Never liked the gameplay or graphics. Need for speed also. (NFS1) Saturn forever!!!

Well said! this type of echo chamber extends to all sorts of things like the why it failed rubbish videos.

Someone needs to decompile this version and iron it all out. Make it the 30fps, hires, no pop-in monster it was always meant to be.

Absolutely love this game. Played it for hours. Hundreds of hours- easily, lol. I was 13yo, doing 500 lap marathon races as the unlockable _horse_ pausing only to pee or inhale pizza rolls, lmao. It's hard to think of many memories on Saturn that are fonder for me than with Daytona USA.

Past Super Mario Kart on the SNES and Wacky Racers on my 486DX2, the first racing game I played was Gran Turismo 1. That's also one great game but I figured I am more a fan of arcade style racers, thus I am somewhat sad I played neither Daytona USA or Ridge Racer when those games were on sale in stores.

I have always thought that the videogames media manipulation to badly affect some games is not of recent years. Younger I used to let myself be driven by reviewers when deciding to buy a game. Now that I'm older I have realized how many good opportunities in gaming I also lost.

I loved this game so much when I got it bundled with my Saturn. The musiiic! Oh god 🤩 Didn’t get to see the arcade version back then so no disappointment for me.

Daytona on the Saturn was the best selling game in North America. People clearly liked it back then.

Thank you! I still have my 1st issue of Saturn Plus, and that gave Daytona 82% While it did criticise the pop-in and it having a "pixelated feel", it still reiterated how it was still incredible fun to play nonetheless.

Well said brother! You can't experience game play in pictures and videos. You must play the game to experience gameplay. I was around when Daytona USA arrived in the arcades. After having my mind blown seeing Virtual Racing in the arcades my mind was blown beyond belief seeing and hearing Daytona USA. As a Sega Saturn owner when the system came out, words could not express how happy I was to be able to play Daytona USA at home and I loved this game because of the gameplay. You are spot on with your words. It is just sad we have so many people ready to spout negative nonsense on things without really knowing what they are talking about.

As someone who was in the industry back then as senior editor of VGA magazine I appreciate an unbiased look at Daytona and the Saturn in general. Revisionist RU-vid gamers not even born when the Saturn was available are part of generation fail. They will actively want things they love to fail simply for the memes. Look how they reacted to E3 ending. 🤦‍♂️ The Saturn unfortunately was a victim of the PlayStation hype and Sony’s Yakuza type tactics. One day I’ll give an interview about it. The Saturn is a wonderful system and now prices are out of the reach of many as collectors have scooped up most of the games. I’m glad I got my collection when they were new.

Interesting video piece. As much as I'll FOREVER Love the Championship Circuit Edition of Daytona for the Saturn, I have new eyes for the OG Saturn Version! It was INDEED a RUSHED, FLAWED Product, but it took a HUGE game from the arcades to a System with CHUNKY, MESSY 3D Graphics and did a decent Job recreating said experience from THE FIRST DAY of the Console's LIFE! Sega knew what they were creating AND made it rather solid FWIW for it's limitations!! Not only that, but this Sugar Baby of a Saturn Title INADVERTANTLY Taught Sega how to evolve a flawed product and change it over the years. Maybe that should be an unspoken lesson in gaming; Games CAN be flawed, but if it works; it STILL can work (patches or no patches). If X problem is in Y Game, just find a Z Path to fix X problem as we currently do so today. Sega FOR THEIR MANY Flub-ups taught developers that it's okay to be flawed, your game CAN STILL Work. If enough pushes for a decent game where features need to happen; be like Nike and "Just Do It"! Daytona USA's initial Saturn port is a flawed game, but still is A MASTERPIECE with enough effort (rushed or not). Ports of GREAT GAMES are hard to do on weaker systems, but Doable nonetheless (and can STILL Work). - Takeshi "Mr. Jiswa" Kinniku

Ridge Racer would eventually be (near) arcade perfect running at 60FPS as a bonus disc with Ridge Racer Type 4.

Great video. Really interesting to see how well it reviewed given how quickly the narrative became ‘Ridge Racer puts Daytona to shame and the Saturn is terrible as a result.’ It still plays great now.

I played the arcade religiously and I still loved this port because it wasn't $1.00 a play.

This was a great game at the arcade and on the Saturn. Played it all the time

it's nice to see a youtube video with a more nuanced take on this game. that said, it's been my impression that a lot of peoples' opinions on this port nowadays don't really have anything to do with what reviewers said, and more just what the general public thought. i mean the way graphics don't just pop in but sort of pop in and out and back in again does look like a bit of a glitchy mess. but the saturn was also just an absolutely crazy console from an era where sega were really flying by the seat of their pants on the home console front. when you understand that the saturn is literally not a 3d console and every game doing "3d" on the saturn, including daytona, is just made up of nothing other than 2d quadrilateral sprites with a ton of affine transformations happening simultaneously (think of it as thousands of SNES "mode 7"s happening all at once) it's kind of amazing the console did what it did on any level at all. also while ridge racer was certainly better / cleaner looking on the playstation, the idea that it was arcade perfect is not even remotely true, especially visually, where plenty of the playstation's own texture limitations were on full display. we really didn't get anything that looked "arcade-perfect" in that generation til the N64 showed up. and for me, while i love daytona usa and ridge racer as well, i always liked cruis'n usa the best of that generation of arcade games anyway. 🤷‍♂ anyway, always love watching your videos and i can definitely see how if this is the game you had when that console generation launched, you've probably got a soft spot for it. things were changing so rapidly on the home console front during the 32/64 bit generation, that some of these games could go from seeming groundbreaking to antiquated in very short time. as it stands, i've always found it odd that the saturn never really did get an arcade accurate version of daytona, though. there was this version that was graphically messy, and then the "improved" versions that were technically superior graphically but changed so many other things for seemingly no good reason. sega makes some odd decisions sometimes.

What do you mean I've been lied to about Daytona USA on Sega Saturn?! WHAT DO YOU MEAN?!

I loved it. It was misunderstood, just like the Saturn.

I remember spending a whole day in hmv playing this. 😂

Ladies and Gentlemen, Start Your Engines!

RU-vid has its own complete alternate universe of videogame history. Where Final Fantasy VIII was a flop because it’s a tiny bit less popular than its predecessor. Games that sold millions of copies are “hidden gems” because we stop talking about them for 5 seconds. And EVERYONE knew in 1995 that they shouldn’t have bought a Saturn. Hell, I still wouldn’t go back and unbuy the Saturn and this game with what I know now. The Saturn arcade ports made the PS1 feel like the bro box in 1995, while the Saturn master race was playing the same games you enjoy at the arcade.

Agreed with pretty much everything you said.

any way we might be able to get an English translation for this video?😂 Just kidding man, I think you're the only major scotsman Sega Saturn RU-vidr, great video and I agree having been in my early 20s when Saturn launched. All of this was awesome back then, jumped into Sega with the 32x lol so if anyone should have a bad take you'd think it would be me but this was an awesome time and playing this at home was incredible (and I would read ALL the gaming magazines at the grocery store while my wife got the groceries...but I always PAID for and wore out diehard gamefan) this was reviewed positively everywhere

I'll always have a soft spot for Daytona. But, Ridge Racer was easily one of the biggest reasons, and the first game, I bought for the PS1. A buddy of mine got a Saturn when it launched early. I thought Daytona was awesome. But, then I played Ridge Racer on a PS1 another buddy of mine rented (renting a PS1 wasn't cheap btw) and I was sold. My buddy with the Saturn was furious that I betrayed Sega (and that we couldn't share games). I did give Sega another chance and snagged a Dreamcast on at 9am on 9/9/99.

I rented this a couple times just because it Was FUN,didn't care about the graphics at all. 95 kicked ass to me.

i was playing this last night and it's so fun.

4000 pound coin-up? If they were that cheap, Sega would have been bankrupt long before the Dreamcast ever launched

Thanks much for this video! Daytona USA is one of my go to games for a quick fix even today ❤ I got Daytona USA Saturn on my Polymega, Daytona USA Arcade on my Ayaneo handheld, and the amazing 360 port with widescreen & HDR on my Xbox Series X ❤

I think one of the best parts of Saturn Daytona is the soundtrack! It's better than the arcade version and Champion Circuit. It's the main reason why I prefer the original Saturn version.

I had both regular and cce, i remember i would do 80 laps marathon and just drive for 20 minutes straight lol

I honestly can’t remember seeing review scores back in the day but I did end up buying the game and as much as I tried, I just couldn’t enjoy it. It just didn’t feel enough like the arcade game. I returned it a few days later, and exchanged it for Sega rally, and I guess because it was such an incredible port, it worsened my opinion of Daytona even more. Great video. Has genuinely piqued my interest. Maybe now that I have a better appreciation of the hardware limitations, I’ll finally be able to enjoy it for what it is and not what I wanted it to be.

Bought a Saturn on UK launch day (coming from a Mega Drive and CD) and I do specifically remember avoiding the original Daytona port and never bought it because it was poor but did pick up the second version (Championship Circuit Edition) as soon as it was released.

Loved this video. I was happy to hear someone defend this gem. I always loved this game on the Sega Saturn, and the bad rep it gets in the modern era is an injustice... ...But I must admit, because I wasn't actually watching the video while it was playing, I was only listening to videos autoplaying on my phone and have it playing in the background while working, I literally thought this video would end with the narrator saying, "go away now."

I’ve owned and tried all the high end upscalers over the last couple of years and even used the scan line options but reverted back to a 14inch crt. Daytona and other polygonal games look so much better and feel so much better on crts than the pixel look, which is pretty much true of all the old consoles. I’m turning into a crt purist unashamedly.

Daytona USA on the saturn? Appsolutely fantastic! Played it to death with my friends. I tend to play the 360 Version nowadays. But the game play on the Saturn was second to none!

On launch it was a 7 out of 10 game. Problem was it quickly became a generation of pure visuals and it really was destroyed by the Sega Rally port. So it didn't stop being fun, but it quickly became a 5 outta 10. But it still felt purer than CCE which was absolutely painful for handling.

It game played great, very close to the arcade. The graphics were a little rough around the edges but by no means bad in 1994 when it was released.

I often wonder why the 20fps Daytona USA port got panned because "20 fps bad" while other 20 fps games like Mario 64, Ocarina of time etc. went down as some of the best despite being the same frame rate as SEGA's titles that got panned for it. Like I know the US was anti-SEGA at the best of times, but I don't get how such obvious bias passed unnoticed. (no hate to Mario 64, it's among my favourite games of all time) but the fact it was only bad when SEGA did it, and not others like the countless 20 fps PS2 and N64 games is wild to me. Personally, Daytona USA isn't one of my favourites, SEGA Rally and Outrun have that spot, but Daytona was unfairly criticised for something it wasn't the only, or worst offender in.

I loved the arcade game and lived through the Saturn rollout, peak and fade out and admit I loved the system. It provided hours of great gaming for me. I never expected an arcade perfect port, I was just hoping for something close enough to the original that was playable and on that front I'd say they succeeded. I think they did the best they could with what they had and I had many good times with it. Never regretted buying the console or this game.

Had my Saturn hooked up to a Yamaha 2070 Dolby surround system, and an NHT subwoofer, and used a Sharp 80-inch projector when Daytona Saturn was released. One of my top 3 gaming experiences in my life. Doing 40 laps marathon runs listening to Roling Start. The subwoofer blared. Having perfect concentration for an hour. One or two mistakes and you had to accept not winning or restart. Even today with 4K OLED screens, 4090 graphics, and CPUs with 16+ cores. Still, no other arcade racer can touch Deytona.

As you rightly stated in the video, there really wasn't anything coming as close to Daytona USA in the home, back in 1995, besides Ridge Racer on PlayStation ofcourse. Even if it runs choppy, has bad pop-in, and lacks proper multiplayer, I think Daytona USA on Sega Saturn handles comfortably and is very, very playable. The myth surrounding the negativity likely comes from those early RU-vid reviewers, you know the ones, they made angry videos about games alot of the time and often got their facts wrong. Sadly, Sega Saturn's failure in the West meant it became the butt of many bad jokes, Daytona included.

Wish I had a Saturn nowadays to make up for the disappointment that was playing Daytona 2001 on the DC. If you have one lying about let us ken :D happy to buy it aff ye

I remember playing the game on import on a Japanese Saturn and deciding Playstation would be purchased first. It was THE most important Sega conversion of all time up to that point and it was a disaster compared to the PS1 launch game Ridge Racer. Until the holy trinity of VF2, VC and Sega Rally popped out Xmas 96 (or 95?) when sales of the Saturn console took a rapid upturn.

Saturn Daytona is a good port. Even at 20 FPS it is more impressive than PS Ridge Racer. Take that there are 3 tracks with more ambitious design than RR's one, 20-40 cars on the track, and visible damage from crashes to name a few things. I wish Sega would've given the Daytona port a little more dev time to go for 30 FPS. If the playing field were leveled on frame rate, I think Saturn DUSA would've outsold PS RR. As for the pop-in, even the Model 2 arcade has some.

Crikey, Teletext? Now that's something I haven't heard spoken about in years! Interestingly I had my review of Shining Force III published on this service... and Panzer Dragoon Saga in Sega Saturn Magazine 😁

I really wish the pal version of the game was full screen especially if you have modded a Arcade1up machine to play the Saturn version of Daytona USA because on a arcade machine you want full screen and there’s not even any options to make it full screen either 😢

Sometimes this sort of error works out in Sega's favor, with collective cultural memory putting tremendous importance on Streets of Rage, and forgetting (or underrating) numerous other examples of the genre. Nobody remembers Sega's vector graphics games (e.g., Tac Scan) while everyone remembers the Vectrex. Was the Vectrex really more influential than Sega's (arcade) Star Trek? It is what it is.

agree, I remember at the time the popping bothered me a lot… but now the I have both editions, I think this port is excellent except but the popping but gameplay and response is exact as Arcade. Circuit edition is bit more poliseh but main car is smaller. I prefer much more the first one. Great video!

Had this one on Saturn back in the day, terrible port. Terrible pop-in and frame rate. I had the Saturn arcade racing wheel too which was an embarrassing peripheral. I still played the heck out of it but my god is it ever rough looking compared with the arcade. (Just one man’s opinion)

Ironically I remember us kids that had Playstations being jealous of Saturn owners back in the day at school for this and especially Sega Megamix. We conceded that Ridge Racer had the better graphics, but Daytona had the game play. I remember also being excited when I got a PC powerful enough a couple years later to play the Windows port.