SEGA Saturn

First footage of recently discovered Sonic X-Treme build released

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Brace yourself for this one folks, because it’s pretty big!

Recently, a previously unearthed build of the infamous cancelled Sonic game, Sonic X-Treme for SEGA Saturn, made its way into the hands of AssemblerGames member jollyroger. It was a PC executable, supposedly tying into SEGA’s SEGA PC initiative that took place at the time of X-Treme’s development and saw several Saturn titles ported to PC. This initiative was also intended to help launch nVidia’s first GPU, the NV1, which worked similarly to the Saturn: this build required the NV1, as a result. This led to the interest of our fellow site Sonic Retro; and as one thing has led to another, jollyroger and Sonic Retro members cooljerk and Andrew75 (who has been working on a Sonic X-Treme remake project, Project AXSX in the Sonic GDK engine) have worked together to try and get the code running, with Cooljerk having sent off an NV1 to jollyroger, and Andrew75 testing parts of the code in SEGA Saturn emulators. And lo and behold; they’ve succeeded, in what I can only describe as a superb team effort.

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Classic SEGA Ads: The Saturn takes on the N64’s itty-bitty library

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If you asked me to make a list of what characteristics define the SEGA of the 90s, at the top of the list would undoubtably be “mocking the competition”. In an era where Nintendo was the family friendly choice, SEGA’s decision to be the rowdy cool kid in town who wasn’t afraid to shake things up and shit talk the competition got people’s attention. During the Genesis era, this sort of practice paid off. The Genesis made SEGA a household name in North America, and the company reigned supreme in the early 90s. However, due to unsuccessful launches of the 32X and Saturn, SEGA slipped in the market and in turn, attack ads like the one above lost much of its bite. Regardless, SEGA soldiered on with such ads, attacking the Playstation in claiming its single processor can’t handle a game like NiGHTS into Dreams and stating that the Saturn kicked Pretendo’s ass when it came to the respective console libraries.

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My Life with SEGA revives a dead format and plays some Video CDs on his SEGA Saturn

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The celebration of the SEGA Saturn continues as A.J. Rosa takes a look back on the Video CD format, and the VCD movie card available for SEGA’s 32-bit powerhouse.

In addition, you’ll get a brief glimpse at his VCD collection, as well as the Dreammovie VCD player for SEGA Dreamcast. If you’ve been wanting a “crash course” on the Video CD format and how it all works with our beloved Saturn, look no further.

Like this video? Subscribe to the SEGAbits YouTube channel.

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SEGA Tunes: Virtua Fighter 2’s Sarah and her Black Moon Cat

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Virtua Fighter 2 was the most popular game for the SEGA Saturn for many reasons, the most popular of those being the graphics and gameplay. But for me, I could never get over the excellent soundtrack. Virtua Fighter 2 featured one of the most impressive soundtracks that came out of the SEGA Saturn era. This week we look at Sarah’s theme ‘Black Moon Cat‘ and its various remixes including the Virtua Fighter Kids remix and more!

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This is Saturn sees giant robots battle it out in Cyber Troopers Virtual-On for the SEGA Saturn

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This is Saturn kicks off SEGAbit’s Saturn Month in style, with a look a SEGA mech-shooting bundle of action, Cyber Troopers Virtual-On. Widely hailed as one of the most memorable titles for Saturn, is this game really all it’s cracked up to be? Or does it belong in the scrapyard?

This is Saturn is a video series created by British teenager Liam ‘TrackerTD’ Ashcroft, aiming to give an alternative and in-depth look at the good, the bad, and the ugly of SEGA Saturn gaming, all whilst maintaining a somewhat strong accent.

Like this video? Subscribe to the SEGAbits YouTube channel.

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Round Table: Our SEGA Saturn Memories

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As the SEGA Saturn’s 20th anniversary nears, and Saturn Month heads into day two, the SEGAbits team looks back to the first time we experienced the console. For this week’s round table, we’re joined by George and Barry, as well as three content creators from the SEGAbits YouTube channel – A.J. of My Life with SEGA, Liam aka TrackerTD of This is Saturn, and our newest member Adam aka Gunstar who will be producing a new series set to premiere soon. After the break, read how we were first introduced to the Saturn!

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The Year of the Console – This is Cool, This is SEGA Saturn Month!

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2014 has been a fantastic year for SEGA hardware anniversaries, with the SEGA Genesis turning 25, the SEGA 32X turning 20, the SEGA Pico turning 20 as well, and the Dreamcast turning 15. This month marks our final Year of the Console month long celebration as we turn our sights towards the SEGA Saturn, which turns 20 years old on November 22nd. All month long we’ll be celebrating SEGA’s under-appreciated 32-bit console with video reviews, let’s plays, podcasts, classic ads, retro reviews, and more!

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SEGA Cinema Halloween Special: Sonic the Hedgehog Double Feature

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SEGA Cinema has risen from the dead with a spooktacular boogielicious Halloween Special! Okay, so it’s actually not scary at all. Barry and George are joined by Sonic Retro’s David the Lurker to watch two Sonic the Hedgehog cartoons featuring clowns, ghouls, sea monsters, and a half-man half-sponge who lives in the sea. No, it isn’t Spongebob.

First up is Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog‘s “Boogey-Mania”, which plays out like a cross between NiGHTS into Dreams and A Nightmare on Elm Street. And then, interrupting the Sonic cartoons are a compilation of cutscenes from the SEGA Saturn’s Deep Fear and Mr. Bones. Ending the special is the scariest thing of them all, an episode of Sonic Underground titled “The Deepest Fear” in which Sonic faces his fear of water. Don’t worry, he doesn’t drown and the story ends with an awful song. Enjoy the special, and Happy Halloween!

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Retro SEGA themed console boxes will hold your trading cards

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Are you a Collectible Card Gamer (CCG)? You know, like Magic: The Gathering or even Pokemon? If so you might be interested in the variety of deck boxes, collection boxes and even card sleeves based on retro SEGA consoles that are offered by Amazon Japan. With SEGA Saturn’s anniversary coming next month, I think i’ll order myself a SEGA Saturn themed deck holder.

They  have them based on a variety of SEGA’s retro consoles, sadly nothing older than the Mega Drive and no handhelds. Hit the jump to check out the gallery.

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My Life with SEGA cranks up the Aerosmith and plays SEGA Saturn’s Revolution X

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Time to get back in the saddle, rockers, because the New Order Nation has declared war on everything we hold dear: rock music, movies, video games, sex and red meat….

Good lord, it sounds the “Moral America” in Escape from L.A.

Anyway, the oppressive New Order Nation, led by Head Mistress Helga, has abducted Aerosmith (no shit, folks). Now it is up to A.J. Rosa and Erica Winter to save 90’s pop culture. 1996 is gonna’ EXPLODE!

All kidding aside, this gimmicky arcade rail shooter was first released in 1994 and ported to several gaming consoles of the day, including the SEGA Genesis, SNES and PlayStation. While it claims it was a “#1 arcade smash hit”, Revolution X received a lukewarm to negative reception upon its release.

But how can this be?! It has AEROSMITH! There’s guns! There’s hot chicks in bikinis! There’s blood! How can this game suck?!

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This is Saturn puts out some fires in Burning Rangers for the SEGA Saturn

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After a month or two away, This is Saturn strikes back with Burning Rangers, another cult hit from Sonic Team!

Burning Rangers remained considerably obscure upon release, being one of the final games released for the Saturn in the UK – this also makes UK copies quite rare. Is it really a hidden gem, or does it deserve to stay buried in the blaze?

This is Saturn is a video series created by British teenager Liam ‘TrackerTD’ Ashcroft, aiming to give an alternative and in-depth look at the good, the bad, and the ugly of SEGA Saturn gaming, all whilst maintaining a somewhat strong accent.

Like this video? Subscribe to the SEGAbits YouTube channel!

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Lazy Game Reviews covers the Diamond Edge 3D card that brought the SEGA Saturn experience to PC

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Bringing the home console experience to a personal computer has always been a trying experience for game developers. With varying degrees of hardware and dear god, playing Virtua Fighter on a keyboard? Back when SEGA was making a big push for PC gaming, they teamed up with NVidia with the Diamond Edge 3D card for Windows 95. The package brought you Virtua Fighter Remix and Panzer Dragoon as a couple of free games as well as two SEGA Saturn controllers. Why? Because the video card also featured an adapter that lets you plug in any Saturn controller to your computer all while rendering 3D via quadratic texture mapping (In lieu of any OpenGL compatibility), much like an actual SEGA Saturn. YouTube content creator Lazy Game Reviews has recently posted a review on this rare piece of hardware and shows off the card and the games in action.

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SEGA reveals Hi☆sCoool! SEGA Hard Girls Anime

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A few months ago, SEGA has announced that they were green-liting a new anime project based on SEGA Hard Girls, a group of female humanoid consoles based on SEGA’s hardware consoles. Now, a brand new preview of the anime has been released titled Hi☆sCoool! セハガール (SEGA Hard Girls) produced by TMS Entertainment, known for their work on other SEGA related anime adaptations such as Virtua Fighter, Sonic X, & Hero Bank.

The plot centers around the SEGA Hard Girls (MegaDrive, Saturn, & Dreamcast) who all are enrolled in the Tokyo Haneda and Torii to “Sehagaga Gakuen” as they are issued a challenge for graduation credits from dubious teacher. To clear the problem, they must enter the game world of SEGA featuring tons of cameos. But can they graduate successfully?

The anime is set to air on ANIMAX on October 8th, 2014 every Wednesday and Saturday. Nico Nico Channel and pre-orders for Blu-Ray/DVD will be announced on a later date. Hope to expect translations soon.

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This is Saturn looks back on the SEGA Saturn Action Replay 4M Auto

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In this episode of This is Saturn, I look at something that’s not a video game! Shock, horror!

Rather, we look at the Saturn’s most well-known and most common Action Replay device, the 4M Auto. I was first introduced to this through My Life With SEGA, and made it my goal to get one – and after some delivery shenanigans that involved it being sent to the wrong person, I finally got one! It can do a whole lot beyond the typical cheat device setup of most Action Replays, but is it actually a worthy investment? Watch, as I try and answer that question for you!

This is Saturn is a video series created by British teenager Liam ‘TrackerTD’ Ashcroft, aiming to give an alternative and in-depth look at the good, the bad, and the ugly of SEGA Saturn gaming, all whilst maintaining a somewhat strong accent.

Like this video? Subscribe to the SEGAbits YouTube channel!

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Retro Review: Sky Target (SEGA Saturn)

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In the mid-nineties the rise of 3D gaming left many of SEGA’s older franchises behind. While most were either abandoned or received largely forgotten two dimensional entries, some were completely reinvented for the third dimension. Though it doesn’t bear the After Burner name, Sky Target was in fact the first 3D entry in SEGA’s After Burner franchise. Released in 1995, the arcade version of Sky Target never achieved its predecessor’s success, failing to even leave Japan. Western gamers wouldn’t get to play Sky Target until SEGA ported the game to the Saturn in 1997, where it would be quickly forgotten.

At first glance, After Burner looks like the perfect candidate for a transition to the third dimension. After all, the game is already trying to simulate 3D play. In reality, Sky Target’s design decisions actually perfectly illustrate why so many SEGA franchises struggled (or failed) to make the 3D jump to begin with. Sky Target would introduce many drastic changes to the After Burner formula, many of which would find their way into 2006’s After Burner Climax. Do these design decisions work, though? Does Sky Target live up to the reputation built by its predecessor?

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