Saturn vs Playstation Round 1 - The Need for Speed 

Already love the premise of this video please make more ps1 vs saturn focusing on one game please. Really enjoyed this one

Nice video. I like this. The PS version also features full-screen dithering like so many of its games do. It's personal preference if you like this or not, but just remember the internet rule: Dithering is BAD on Sega consoles and makes Sega worth hating, but it is perfectly acceptable and beneficial on non-Sega consoles.That's the internet for you. As far as Dolby Surround, that's encoded into the stereo signal. Super easy. Your capture will capture it fine. Hell, even a stereo tape deck will. Basically all it does is send sounds that are in phase (same sound, same volume in the left and right) to the center speaker and sounds that are out of phase (same sound, same volume in the left and right but out of phase slightly) to the mono surround channel if you have it hooked up. The Saturn version likely has this, but they didn't wanna pay the license to advertise it. Anyway I bought the PS version when it came out (same with the 3DO version) and was pretty happy with it. I bought the Saturn version as a convention 2 years ago but I still haven't played it yet. I figured it would be much worse that it actually is but honestly I think it looks a touch better, especially since the road doesn't warp when lines are on it, etc. But I do like the shading and light affects on the PS.

Had this game day one on the Sega Saturn back in the day. Not only do I absolutely adore the game but it remains till this day, one of my favorite racers of all time - despite all the amazing advancements in the genre since. This game was really WAY ahead of its time back then, presentation-wise. Along with this I also thoroughly adore the Sega Saturn version of Road Rash. Massively fun games, can play those two all night long!

The way the Saturn renders the road makes it look a lot better. When I was a kid playing this for the first time on Playstation I was blown away by the graphics. Plus my parents were away, so my brother hooked it up to the home theater TV & surround sound. So it was the full experience.

Wasn't expecting it to be smoother on the Saturn for a non Sega release. Score one for the Saturn

i would love to see more comparitive videos like this personally especially between the saturn and ps1.

If there's something I've noticed thanks to this video, it seems that the Saturn colors are just a touch more vibrant too. Amazing how close they are to each other. Would be fun to see an episode about this with Mega Man x4 and Mega Man 8.

I got to admit when reading the channel name I was a bit skeptical about the creators ability to maintain objectivity, I can only say I was wrong and pleasantly surprised. Good and interesting video. I love these comparisons of classical games.

You deserve way bigger numbers for your dedication and the quality of your work! Always a pleasure to watch your videos! Cheers from Japan!

Need For Speed: Before The Excessive Greed.

The best part was having the CPU wreck at top speed down the road in front of you and having to drive through it as cars went flying through the air. The physics blew me away.

Only ever played the PS version but seeing them side by side i gotta say the Saturn version looks nicer, the much smoother road makes a big difference.

Saturn version looks faster and smoother

More differences between the two versions: - Transparent shadows (psx) vs black shadows (sat) - Darker textures in the distance (psx) vs consistent texture brightness (sat), giving psx graphics more "depth" - Locked but stable framerate on saturn (30fps) vs unlocked (psx). Consider that an unstable framerate is a much bigger problem nowadays using lcds etc than it was on crts.

You’re right, man. Hot Pursuit was great. I remember the first time I downloaded the demo and raced past the cable car house. When it started raining and my wipers came on, it blew my mind. That was the most impressive racer I’d play to that point.

SLX, I seriously gotta thank you, dude. You got me back into retro-collecting. I'm looking to add a Saturn to my collection soon.

Fantastic review as always - Please keep these comparison videos coming! Side note: I have the Saturn PAL version and can confirm it also has the music and working dials.

I actually prefer the graphics and bolder colors of the 3do version. Cool to see these versions side by side though.

Definitely would like to see more of these comparisons. Fascinating.

Love the intro! Most RU-vidrs do ones that are too long but that's spot on, looks ace too.

This new comparison series will be FUN! Can't wait for Dead Or Alive, Mass Destruction, ID4 and even Resident Evil!

I remember playing them both and noticing at the time that most colors on the Saturn version seemed much more vivid and I even noticed on your video capture when entering a dark tunnel I could see more on the inside of the tunnel in the Saturn version.

Great video, one thing I've noticed in a few comparison videos by other RU-vid creators is they compare games that aren't actually running on real hardware, instead choosing to compare them running on an emulator. It's baffling to me. Hope to see more content as usual keep up the good work.

You've earned a 35 year old subscriber today. Great vid.

man I played this game on my saturn more than I want to admit. loved need 4 speed back then.

3DO: quietly sits this one out

I remember in 8th grade my friend had this for the PC and we played the hell out of it. Then later we of course all got it for the PS1. Still one of my favorites to play. Viper on Coastal

I had all 4 versions (actually 5 including special edition on pc). 3do, pc, psx and saturn. Pc was obviously best version having svga graphic option and even having the special edition version. 3do was still 2nd best version imo with many cut scenes having been removed from all other versions and even a rival guy called x man subsequently removed from all other platforms. The psx and saturn were as Lord x said pretty much identical. I didn't notice many of the differences he mentioned other than transparencies/lighting effects in tunnels and smoke from tyres being better on psx . Btw there s no lamborghini countach in any version of this game .

This is going to be a GREAT series! Good work!

The Need for Speed was such a great game! I played it on pc back in the day but it looks great for both of these systems. If I had to pick a winner it would be the Saturn by a hair due to what looks like a smoother frame rate and a little better visuals over all.

Great comparison video. There are many out there on RU-vid and I think this one probably best made with nice commentary detailing the differences. Keep it up your videos are great.

FINALLY I've been waiting for you to make vs series between the Saturn and it's nemesis

My feedback is as follows: many channels have done side-by-side comparisons but this is easily one of the very best, thanks to your analysis and great commentary. So yes, I would LOVE to see more of these.

Thanks for keeping this channel alive, this is where I come when I want to escape adult life for my dose of nostalgia.

The Saturn version has better frame rate.

Hands down the best racing game of that era! I owned the Saturn version, and my teenage years were filled with countless hours of joy. I wish EA was to re-release/ refresh that same game with updated graphics and physics!

That game intro is so deliciously 90's.

This is a great idea! Would love to see more videos along these lines.

The working dials and music are in the Pal Saturn version too; Its quite clear that DF Retro used a Copy or worse still played via an Emu. One can also get issues when using Action Replay to bypass the region lock mind. Also, there is no Dolby support in the Saturn version, but there is analogue support for the steering, via Mission Stick support. The lack of a 3D background (which was also in the 3DO version) was an issue for almost all Saturn games, only Exhumed/Powerslave did it on the Saturn. The issue of transparency effects was a Saturn Hardware issue and nothing could be done over that.

Impressive.. The draw-in is virtually nonexistent.. 💪

Very interesting comparison. There's also a misconception that most SNES games are vastly superior to Genesis versions of the same titles. Usually other than having less colors, often Genesis games were superior: they ran smoother and faster without slowdown, thus having better gameplay. Genesis games also had a higher resolution, while sometimes the SNES was cropped with top and bottom black bars. Even when it comes to sound, depending on the developer, many times the music sounded muffled and riverbed on the SNES in comparison. Pretty impressive considering the Mega Drive was released more than 2 years prior to the Super Famicom in Japan.

Love this kind of videos. Please continue!

Im loving these comparisons!

Can we talk about the lack of perspective correction in the PS1 version ? There's simply not a straight line on the road ! .....

I can't believe I just spent 12 minutes watching a video about a game series I've never played.

Great video; I loved the side-by-side format.

Great vid. Love the side by side comparison on these old systems

I had Sat version, it is fun as hell to go around with a friend causing accidents

p.s. really loving your channel - looking forward to more of this series as well (:

I always thought the 3D0 version played best ... I have to get this again 👾

I really enjoyed this episode of Sega Lord X Foundry ;) I look forward to more of these videos, but am afraid that any comparison of games released mid-1996 onwards will not be kind on the Saturn.

Outstanding review as always

Both consoles have both intros. It’s randomized.

I have the PAL saturn release and can confirm that the dials animate and every track has music

**I worked on the PS1 version** and _this video is AWESOME!!_ (I've never played the Saturn version but this is REALLY cool to see this analysis.) I'm not sure who did the Saturn version but for PS1 we ported the PC version to the PS1 since the PC version was the "reference" version. (Internally it used 16-bit art but displayed as 8-bit.) Here is a breakdown of the programming team: * Wei Teh - Physics * Brad Gour - Rendering & Optimization * David Lucas - Physics and machine gun Easter Egg. * Laurent Ancessi - Rendering & Optimization * Daniel Teh - Gameplay and HUD * Shelby Hubick - Front-end UI * Daniel "Funky" Swadling - Sadly, I can't remember. Sorry Funky! :-/ Might have been AI ? * Michael Pohoreski - Front-end UI, Savegame, Profiling, Crash Analysis, and POHORESK Easter Egg -- could be used to tell if the Saturn version came from the PSX codebase. * David Bullock - Track Editor Apologies if I got anyone's job wrong! We ran the physics at 100 Hz, rendering at 33.33 Hz but I'm not sure if we had vsync at 29.97 Hz. I know that the PAL version displaying at 25 Hz was a minor headache. Not sure if gameplay was faster on them? The road was represented as thin horizontal "strips" if you were looking down starting from the middle progressing outwards to the edges of the road. This is why you can't drive "off road". We didn't have the tech for it (yet.) The "looped" tracks were also problematic but we treated them as a linear track and just have "wrap-around" for physics and rendering. @5:50 Brad and Laurent spent a lot of time trying to work around the affine texture mapping on the PS1 since perspective correct texture mapping wasn't available (until the PS2.) They dynamically sub-divided triangles to minimize "swimming" but you didn't want to sub-divide TOO much else you would spend all your time doing Transforms instead of actual Rasterization. One of the comments below mentioned software rendering. We did **hardware rendering** on the PSX / PS1. Transform and Lighting was done on the CPU (specifically the Geometry Transform Engine) before DMA'ing the Rendering "packets" to the GPU. We also used the Scratchpad memory but I don't recall what for. Probably physics or rendering. We were one of the first games to have "hot air balloons" -- something that I see Forza Horizon 4 has copied which brings a smile to my face. IIRC it was Scott Jackson who did those? Alistair did the kick-ass music. I gotta dig up my Original Sound Track CD sometime. =P

I'm not a fan of 'The Need for Speed' series having never 'got into it' originally, but the production value and quality of content presented here is 10/10 and a great watch! As others have said, would be great to see more videos in this series of VS. Maybe Tomb Raider or Croc?

I have been eagerly awaiting these PS vs Saturn episodes! Can't watch it until after work tonight, though...

Really enjoyed this comparison video!!!! Keep them coming please. I'm a 90s kid so this video brought a huge smile to my face!

This and road rash is what made me want a saturn initially. My cousin brought over a black console to show those games to my dad and me. The only black console i knew of was sega saturn. My mom would talk me into playstation later, and it turned out the console my cousin brought over was 3DO. I didnt find that out until like ten years after the fact.

This is one of the 1st games i played on PS1 and always played it with a friend. Great times in the beginning of my teen years.

Did you see that in the Saturn version there is no clouds on the rearview mirror? Good video, I'd like to see more like this one!!!

Definitely LOVE this kind of comparisons, more so if with your commentary on the background. Please do more and keep up the great work! And thanks for all your great content!

Excellent comparison Slx it's great to see a video with quality commentary. Looking forward to more. One game I love playing on both systems is powerslave /exhumed and I'm hoping you have this planned 🤞.

Thanks for this comparison, I always wondered how they compared. I never played the PSX version but I used to play the Saturn port obsessively, it’s the game that (pre-GT and pre-F&F) got me really wanting a Supra.

I always liked the looks of quads over tris in games rotating object distortion

This was my first PS1 game that my dad bought me. Nostalgia!

Great Video as always. It is a great idea for a new Video format imo and it would be great seeing more similar videos in the future. Keep up the great work Sega Lord .

I remember playing this game on the Saturn in 1997 with the comet Hale-Bopp in the sky.

We had a 3do as a kid and my dad used to play this and road rash all the time. Seeing it brings back good memories, I remember my friends coming over one day and having their minds blown seeing the game in action. We never had the playstation re-release althoug I had the later games. I did play it on my PSP a few years ago and loved the improved frame rate and music and more content. I need to track it down for my PSX although playing it is a little emotional for me as a big part of my childhood with my dad was this game and watching him play it and playing it myself. I remember him urging me and teaching me ho to drive manual in the game haha.

Oh awesome. I love comparison videos, especially when it comes to the much derided Saturn and its comparison to the often preferred Playstation.

3DO is easily the best version of this game, should have included it in the comparison.

fantastic video SLX keep up the awesome work man and shine on you crazy diamond love your channel

8:56 - for the PS version, the utilization of an analog controller makes the steering fully capable of what's on the Saturn and to a very high degree of accuracy on the wheel/knob.

I had this on the Saturn and loved it so much . Great memories

SEGA Saturn was a more powerful machine than the Sony PlayStation however the Saturn couldn’t run 3D polygons correctly, the Saturn was a 2D machine with a glorified ‘Mode 7’ that imitates native 3D.

I like these kinds of videos, especially since I own both of these consoles and am frequently needing to decide which console version I should seek out.

I have both and I always felt that the playstation version looked better but the saturn version played and sounded better. The 3do version is still my favorite.

Keep these comparisons coming man. I just bought NFS for the Saturn on ebay ,thanks to you! I'd like to see a comparison between the two for "Croc" i love that game!

16-year old me thought this and Road Rash had some of the most realistic graphics ever. They were pretty impressive for the time. NFS: Porsche Unleashed was another looker.

Start of a great series! So please continue the eternal PSX vs SAT battle! :D As a PSX guy I love and play both consoles. 32 bit rules Round 2, fight!

If the PC was able to get up and running on modern PCs without knowing how to use DOSBox, these versions would be irrelevant. It is nice to know that since I now have the Saturn version, I can just get rid of the 3DO version I've been holding on to in the event I eventually own one. If the Saturn version looks and runs better, there is no reason for me to have the 3DO version.

I own two Saturns, an original model and a later revision. NFS when played on the early model has graphical anomalies that don’t occur on the later model. These include tachometers and speedometers that are missing the moving dial needles and the mini maps show the car positions with colored dots but the road lines are missing.

I don't think I played any version, but other than lighting in the tunnel, they appear identical to me. Thanks for the show!

Our Lord! PSX vs. Saturn!!! I am Stoked! And i have both systems. I mean i have more than 1 Saturn or PSX. I love them all

This very game is the reason that I bought a Corvette ZR-1 when I grew up. Im never selling it and I still have my Saturn and PC copies of this game intact! I remember being shocked at how well it ran on the saturn because the first time I played it was on my friends PC. I played the Saturn version in what was called at the time Dolby Pro Logic and I can verify that on that system, surround sound worked and you could hear your tires screeching in the rear of the sound field and cars would pass from front to back and all that stuff.

Excellent comparison video. The Saturn version is quite clearly smoother, with a better overall framerate. The main difference I see is that while the Playstation version uses gouraud shading on pretty much every single polygon on screen, the Saturn one doesn't, and it can be noticed as the backgrounds tend to have a more homogeneous "flat" look, rather than having the color smoothly transition. It can be clearly seen at 8:11, where the tunnel is appropriately shaded on the Playstation, but it is not on the Saturn, and at 8:51, the road on the Playstation version becomes darker in the distance while it doesn't on the Saturn. I am a Saturn fan, but I also used to be a developer back in the day of these machines, so I am quite familiar of what compromises would be reasonable of both machines. Overall I like this game better on the Saturn, as the graphical differences are less of an issue for me and I prefer framerate to shaded polygons in racing games.

I had both the Saturn and the Playstation, and one thing that really bothered me that not a lot of people mention is the Playstation's dithering. Yeah, the playstation versions of games have smoother lighting and layered transparencies, but at the cost of making the entire screen look like an animated gif.

I think this was great please do more. The challenge will be objectivity as always and of course opinions on texturing etc can be subjective. In any event this first entry into a series (I hope there are more) was an excellent start.

I bought a 3D0 just for this game and Samurai Shodown. Work all summer just to buy it. I always love the Alpine stage.

Grandia 1, Lunar Silver Star, RockMan X3 or X4, Resident Evil, or some Capcom Fighting game

X, mix it up and add some fun quick complete playthroughs to your channel. Would love to see Comix Zone/Nights playthroughs to start things, and see how it resonates with the crowd, I know I'd watch those.

Great analysis ;-) Had many a late night back then, up with friends playing NFS on the PS1.

The playstation version features better draw distance, the lines on the asphalt is also rendered all the way, in the saturn version if you look carefully the lines of the road far away are not visible at all. And also the road appears blueish for some reason like many other saturn racing games.

The Need For Speed. Or Road & Track Magazine Presents: The Need For Speed. The best Need For Speed game ever.

Interesting content, as always - love to see how the channel's grown, 38.7k subs as I write this! Love this stuff

The sega Saturn was a power house, way more power than the upcoming ps5, they should start developing sega Saturn games again...

Man,your intro is awesome!

Great game! I have the PAL Saturn version and sometimes the dials are shown, sometimes not.

Great video, SLX 🖒 I did enjoy this type of video from you and your added commentary makes this video stand out from other "comparison" type video's which usually consist of gameplay footage with no dialogue. I had to test my Pal copy of Need for Speed after watching this just to see if there was truth to any of the online complaints you debunked with your footage. While I can confidently confirm that music does indeed play during racing - I unfortunately have to mention that the needles on the dashboard do not move. At least not with the 2 cars I raced with. This is a luxury that only U.S. Saturn owners get to enjoy by the looks of it. 😉 Keen to see more vids like this 😁

You know, you could always compare the best 2D fighters of the 32-bit era, but I think that would be a tad unfair. ;)