Great Visual Effects on the Sega Saturn - Part 2 

I never noticed that the Saturn was called the Saturn because it was the 6th home console Sega produced (SG1k, SMS, MD, MCD, 32X, Saturn) it hit me when you said, "Segas 6th rock from the sun".

RU-vid’s SEGA Saturn expert returns!

Panzer dragoon saga is my Childhood I had it on release day never had an experience like it since

Saturn had such a cool look. The geometry didn't wiggle all over the place like PS1 and it scaled sprites so smoothly. Bright colors without a permanent dither. Good Saturn games had this super-scaler kind of look. It struggled to do 3D at the same framerates as PS1, but I wish more games made the most of the specialized processors like Street Racer. Mode7 style floor and sky/ceiling, mid -level 3D geometry and sprites for the characters. That combo is beautiful, and the different math behind the scaling gives everything this ethereal stylistic vibe that tickles my brain in a pleasant way.

Part of me really misses console limitations. It forced developers to really think outside the box and resulted in some gorgeous, and absolutely unique looking experiences.

For Sonic Jam, that was the Sonic Adventure engine before it was ported over to the Dreamcast. I wish we got a Sonic 3D on the Saturn.

One other thing that is super impressive about World League Soccer 98 is the commentary. It’s much more dynamic, varied, responsive and accurate to the on screen action than any other game I played in that era and so played pretty much all the football games across the platforms as I was working in a game shop at the time. Really sets a high benchmark.

The art quality and visual presentation of Grandia are very exquisite. Still timeless after decades.

Shining Force 3 Scenario 2 and 3 for best looking Sega Saturn games (they're improved over Scenario 1). Very clear unpixelated textures, lighting, effective VDP2 use, good art style, great towns, battlefields, etc. Even uses some clever programing to hide load times. Not only best looking Sega Saturn game, but best Sega Saturn games to me.

Yes! I can't believe the random soccer match, you showed featured Kilmarnock, my team from the Scottish Premier League. Amazing. I've been watching your channel for years and you just did a call out to my local town. Thanks. So cool.

Say what you will about Yuji Naka in the 2020s, but in the 1990s, his Sonic Team were gods on the Saturn with Burning Rangers. They managed to perfect 3D transparencies, not dithered meshes, when the Saturn was not supposed to be able to do it. It blew my mind as a teenager. It still does all these decades later.

I love the unique look of Saturn games that relied on the VDP 1 & 2 combo. I wish Sega US and Europe emphasised this back in the days rather than trying to compete directly with the PS1 in the 3D department.

Man... Radiant Silvergun throws at your face something so impressive that you can't/can believe what Saturn was able to do. It's a must-play. There are tons of great FX that wasn't shown here for obvious reasons.

As usual, SLX delivers quality Saturn vindication. It feels like SLX loves the Saturn more than Sega themselves did.

A few suggestions, Shining Force III: Scenario 3, specially its battle scenes (please apply the patch to remove the black borders as they wanted to give it a cinematic look but basically cuts the scene by half in the process). Goiken Muyou: Anarchy in Nippon uses the hi-res and smooth gameplay (probably the same engine as VF2), Advanced World War: Last of the Millenium, if you get deeper into this game, you'll see great effects, particles, dynamic lighting in the dark and more. Albert Odyssey makes great use of 2D capabilities. While I see you making the Saturn being the underdog compared to the PS1, note that the more impressive titles for Sony's console started coming out as the Saturn was abandoned, from late '97 onwards, rushed titles such as Burning Rangers and canceled projects such as Shenmue were mere glimpses of what could have been achieved in the upcoming years. With that, know that Courier Crisis and Independence day run better on Saturn, Courier Crisis actually looks better because of the way its engine works, backgrounds are glitched on the PS1 and the menus run at 60 FPS on Saturn. Dragon Ball Z: The Legend seems to have been tailor made for the Saturn too, as the PS1 runs choppier and the mode-7-like backgrounds look different too, while the Saturn release is smooth overall. Grandia looks great, as it was also tailor-made for the Saturn, even the so called remaster, based on the poorly made PS1 port can't best it. Gungriffon titles are great examples of the Saturn capabilities as well. Soviet Strike is slightly better than the PS1 release, too, this and many games benefited from 3D analog controls and triggers, something we would only see in the PS3-X360 era, we were steering, throttling and breaking with analogs since 1995 on the Saturn.

I only just discovered your channel and I have binged watched your content and listened to it while I'm working. I loved Sega back in the day and always defended having a Saturn over a Playstation to my friends when i was a kid. This is great content. I love your enthusiasm and knowledge. Great job!

J League Pro Soccer Wo Tsukurou 2 has incredible graphics dor me.

I also love great details in destruction much like the Metal Slug series.

That soccer in the end is a pleasant surprise!

World league soccer was really god back then. Super smooth. Remember being super impressed with the demo from Sega Flash 7 back in '98

A sonic game that used infinte planes to draw the ground could result in some insane high speed gameplay where sonic is moving super fast over a large environment. Such a missed opportunity.

I would have to cast my vote for Shining Force 3. The attacks and shading of spells in the combat mode were fun to watch.

I'm going to vote for Virtual On. It was a pretty good arcade port, the game ran at a pretty fair pace and the amount of projectiles that could be thrown out at once was impressive. The only negative I can think of is that the end-of-round replays suffered from frame rate drops for some reason. It was one of the first fast and fluid 3d games I encountered on the Saturn and I got the first stage for free on a demo disk. That convinced me to get the game even with it's unintuitive controls. Once you got good at Virtual On the game could be really hectic with two players moving, firing, evading and counter-attacking. Add to that a split screen multiplayer mode with the option of either horizonal or vertical split screen... A fantastic game in my opinion. It's a travesty that it's so difficult to get the games in this franchise out of Japan and onto western shores.

Yes! Shienryū & Assault Suit Leynos 2 are the definition of hidden gems. Leynos 2 is somehow still affordable too, I have no idea how a Cybernator follow up has gone under the radar for decades. And Shienryū has gotta be the best Raiden-like out there. That one's not cheap, but Hamster just picked up the Warashi license so hopefully people will be able to play it on Arcade Archives soon. I liked seeing World Soccer '98 too, I'd love to see a roundup of the best running & playing sports titles on Saturn. There's almost no coverage of the import scene there, and while Japanese sports titles are cheap, it's luck of the draw when trying to pick a good one.

NEVER knew about smooth mode in OutRun!! Watched this video and then ran to my Saturn! Finished a run and then WOW!!

For Episode 3, Princess Crown from Japan. It's definitely in need of a English translation though. However, it's visually stunning.

Great video per usual, boss 👌 I’m happy to see you give Shienryu some love, it’s one of my favorites for the Saturn and is terribly underrated

The Saturn was such a great console, Japan was it's true home though and it had all the best games by a wide margin.

I was an Nintendo/Sony "fanboy" back in the day. But you have done something to me. As a 50 year old chump I often go back and play the classics you present. Gaming was more fun then, not so much now....

astal and radiant silvergun are proof that the saturn could do transparency effects well in the right hands

I remember some 2D games for the Saturn, but I've never seen anyone talk about them. Hercs Adventures, Legend of Oasis and Three Dirty Dwarfs.

Thanks for yet again showcasing some of these accomplishments and showing that Saturn love, SLX. I hope you’re having a great weekend, this was a very pleasant watch for me

Princess Crown is a beautiful 2D game with the “pre-vanillaware” signature artstyle

I am extremely late to the Japanese side of things party for the Saturn but man O man "better late than never" couldn't be more truer words. I am really enjoying picking up new games I've never played on my favorite console. Really good video. Some games are too rich for my blood and whether or not I have the spread to spend..I am the type of gamer that refuses to pay those ridiculous prices. Good thing there are many games to check out in the Saturn library that don't require a kidney lol...I've been scoring my pick-ups for really reasonable prices. Again, really good video once again. I look forward to part 3.

Nanatsu Kaze no Shima Monogatari should be mention in part three as the 2d graphics are amazing on the saturn.

Street Racer is a great blend between 2D and 3D with amazing effects including transparency

Just want to take a moment and give mad props for your videos. I'm always thrilled when a new one pops into my feed. Good work sir. Good work indeed.

Shienryu is definitely an under appreciated shooter. Great video!

Great Visual Effects on the Sega Saturn ???? You´ve already mentioned, those who came to my mind. Panzer Dragon is one game, that always comes to my mind when i think about, visual effects on the Sega Saturn.

Seeing this makes me wish I was a game dev back then, because everything seems so much more simple, but there probably weren't nearly as many tutorials. Being left alone to figure it out with code/machine manuals, I'm definitely feeling phantom brain pains. VIVA LA RU-vid TUTS!

I think Bulk Slash would be great in part 3.

Even if I’m more of a Playstation fan, your videos have really helped me appreciate the Saturn, with it’s unique hardware and library

SLX..... Thank you so much for this one, your best video ever imo, perfect choice of games to showcase. Honestly this made dig out Shienryu from my treasure box to play it again. Keep up the amazing work. (how you can manage to pump out so much quality content on such a regular basis is beyond me, but kudos for doing it, and please keep it up) have a good one and thanks again. 😇🙏

I just wish they released more games like Lunacy and Mansion of Hidden Souls. I wanna play Ranpo so damn bad but I wouldn't understand any of it 😭

Some deep cuts here, thanks for the content and nostalgia!

They could have and should have done a 3D Sonic just like Crash. It was the best setup given the memory limits. Some geometry could be flipped or reversed on course to stretch the course out. They just didn't have the drive to get it done. If they had a proper Sonic title ready to go when I was 15 or 16 there's no way I'd have skipped out on the system.

You really need to check out Mass Destruction. That was super impressive- hi-res mode, explosions all over the place and very fun to play

Love your channel. Grew up w a genesis. Cheers.

Silhouette mirage has good visual effects for the Saturn

I totally agree about Assault Suit Leynos 2. However, that annoying train mission is almost too easy if you qualify for the mini/spread/homing missiles in the previous mission. But if you get it, the screen turns into a slow, laggy, mess. Not fun, but at least you can move onto the last mission. Also, I always appreciated the art in Atlus games on Saturn: Prikura Daisakusen, Groove on Fight, and the SMT games. Those sprites are so good looking. I bought Maken X on Dreamcast just because of them, and I wish they made a sequel to that other than Maken Shao.

Nascar 98 was a cool underrated racing game. Crusader no remorse was another hit.

I love Sega Lord. Sega focused on arcade exciting games. Where Nintendo focused on consistent, well produced home styled products. Sega was ahead of the curve so many times. 3D glasses with a zap gun on Sega Master system with missle defense blew me and my bros away in the 80s. Sega Saturn was respectable

You make me want a Sega SOOOOO bad

Allways good production... Quality videos. Thanks!

I've owned/played dozens of Saturn games and a lot of them are still quite graphically impressive. Sure, early 3D games are a bit rough, but a lot of developers worked around the system limitations to create some noteworthy graphical effects. Two shmups that I owned on Saturn *Dodonpachi* and *In The Hunt* both had some really great visual details! I owned some 2D action titles and would also vote *Mega Man X4* and *Earthworm Jim 2* as still looking great on the Saturn today!

Great list. Alpha 2 Gold was incredible.

Understated system the Saturn for sure, still love playing and creating content using it today!

Another great Saturn video!

Just love Saturn, of all angles.

Excellent video Sega Lord X! I loved! For the third part I recommend Scorcher, Amok and Grandia! Big hug!

@Sega Lord X ...You nailed it in your Description of Loaded brother... Damn Right... Great Episode...

That shoot em up looks good full stop. That combination of 2D and 3D is what I like to see in these games. Defo gonna try that out. Just hope I remember the name 😅

While not a contemporary Saturn Game - the Unreal port by XL2 puts pretty much everything else to shame, even on other platforms. If there’s something that proves Saturn can do good 5th gen 3D, there’s no better example.

Ótimo vídeo como sempre! Obrigado Sega Lord X ! :)

I'd like to see what a maxed-out sprite scaling/rotation engine could do on modern hardware with a AAA budget.. I don't feel that the technique is played-out just yet. Bring on some 256-layer parallax scrolling!

Great work

Great video, man. I’d love to see you do the same type of overview but with the other 32bit consoles of the era, even the lesser known/popular ones.

They are a few games here I have never played. Thanks Sega Lord X, they are now on my list.

Bulk Slash for part three! Nanatsu Kaze no Shima Monogatari looks great, too.

Awesome! I really enjoyed this!

The deuterocanonical books are indeed the best of the Old Testament canon.

woohoo new video.....we love you so much SLX

While it doesn't necessarily do anything crazy, I think Super Tempo is an absolutely beautiful game worthy of praise. Amazing 2D animation, lots of sprites and effects, and no slowdown. A perfect sequel to one of the better looking 32X games, both forgotten to time (don't even mention its even more forgotten Game Gear little brother). I also really enjoy the presentation of Linkle Liver Story; very colorful and lots of little touches that make it seem like a "super" 16-bit game. I wish that era had more of those and less clunky 3D attempts.

British devs tend to be really clever

Shining Force III Scenario 2 & 3 3d models highlights to the summons magics

simpler times. good ol days

I love this series ! 🙂

I really thought Gun Griffin would have made this list

I always though Battle Garegga’s destruction animations were cool as well. They really go nuts with all the shrapnel

Alpha 2 Gold and Sonic Jam are absolute gems

that 3D era on Sonic Jam looks better than what upcoming 3D sonic games ended up looking like. It seems more fluid an easy to control. Sonic Adventure were good, but just good. A game like that level of Sonic Jam would have been amazing even on the Dreamcast.

The obvious ones are already listed, but I was impressed by Stage 2 of Skull Fang: Kuuga Gaiden. It's just another example of pixel art sprite scaling wizardry that Saturn could do it its sleep, but the presentation of flying in and out of the ravine was really intense

Awesomeness video please do more thanks ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

I loved Astal too. Heck, Astal is your theme!😁😁😁😎😎😎✌️✌️✌️

Sega Lord X Thanks For Doing More For Sega Than Sega Does

I remember picking up Street Fighter 2 Collection back in the day, and while I wasn't the best at fighting games, I loved how arcade true it was. I wish I would've gotten more involved with import games, because the Saturn had so many great games that never made it to the states. Unfortunately, I sold my Saturn collection years ago, and all the great games I had are now hundreds of dollars. Yes, I had a complete Dragon Force. Loved that game!

I got my sega Saturn Christmas 1996 along with dragon force. I spent my whole Christmas break playing Dragonforce all day and night. I always wanted to play dragon force 2 but it never made it to the USA. Alot of the really good Saturn games were never released here in the states

Saturn is a gaseous planet and not rockky like the earth. Keep up the great work 👍 A huge fan

Good choices😎

Missed out on Saturn as I bought a Playstation. Always envious of House of The Dead and Virtua Cop though!

I'm glad I bought the import sega ages of Outrun, such a good port with all the extra features

Great video! I'd say Ubisoft's Street Racer and Sonic Team's NiGHTS would be great to cover.

2d was so awesome looking on the Saturn

Sonic R is a visual masterpiece

NFS was the best version! Thanks great videos.

When it comes to troop types in Dragon Force 2. I've found the best strategy is to use 10 mages at the front and then 90 of whatever else you want to use. One game you haven't covered yet is Mr Bones and that's for the quality of it's FMV.

Sagat is an absolute beast in alpha 2 gold

Dragon Force was such a superb game. I did t buy DF2 but I played the heck out of DF. I also played the heck out of Mystaria. The visuals weren’t great but I was jonesing for a Shining Force type game for the Saturn and Mysteria fit the bill. I wasn’t a big fan of Shining the Holy Ark, but loved SF3 on the Saturn. I moved on to the Dreamcast on launch day then the OG Xbox’s, aka Dreamcast 2, and did t play my Saturn a lot after the DC came along. I sold Saturn, all games, light guns, etc. to a dude who,loved retro games for $400, which was a good deal for him but I’m pretty sure it went to a good home.

Sega Saturn games in general aged more gracefully than PlayStation games for sure - I'll give Sega that.

Imma get that sega ages on saturn soon, It looks sooo nice