Top Ten Sega Saturn Games - News
by VGChartz Staff , posted on 28 February 2011 / 14,798 Views
Background:
Last year VGChartz ran a series of articles that ranked the top ten games for a number of modern systems including the 360, Wii, and PS3. The voting was handled by the staff and a small “reader’s choice” section was added with the reader’s opinions. A year has come and gone, and tastes change, so we decided to see what kind of games you guys wanted listed in a top ten this time, except we are handling things differently this time. Not only will the list be compiled entirely by you, the fans, but we will go through a large number of game systems all the way back to the 1970’s with the Atari 2600 to modern day. We hope to do these over a few months, so stay tuned for your favorite systems! Since our readers are a diverse group, be prepared for some surprises!
Method:
Our voting was carried out on the forums, where we asked patrons to list their top five Sega Saturn games in order, and numerical values were placed on the rankings. After compiling all the totals, this is the list that we came up with.
History Lesson:
In the twilight years of the 16-bit gaming era, a handful of new consoles began to pop up toting 3D renders and disk-based media. Known as the 32-bit era, this series of consoles was kicked off in 1994 by The Sega Saturn. In Japan Sega had a moderate amount of success with the Saturn, and as such most of its most beloved games were Japanese RPGs and other staples of gaming in the Far East. This was definitely helped by a humorous marketing ploy in Japan starring a character named Segata Sanshiro. In other regions the success of the Saturn was not as rosy. The U.S. release of the console got off to a notoriously bad start as it was announced that "Saturnday" (Saturday, September 2, 1995) was to be a big event marking the release of the system. Without any warning for retailers, gamers, and media, the system actually released secretly in May. This was well ahead of the proposed date causing a backlash from retailers and some fans alike. This mistake would haunt Sega for years in the States. In Europe the System had a bit more success than in the U.S. especially in the U.K.
Without further ado, here are the games, all ranked for easy consumption.
Grandia
Released originally in 1997, Grandia had a comfortable amount of success on both the Sega Saturn and Sony PlayStation consoles, and even spawned a few sequels. The story of the original entry follows a character named Justin, a young boy who desires to be a great adventurer. While exploring ruins, he hears a voice telling him to travel to the East in order to find out why the ruins are there.
Lunar 2
Although the Lunar games have been re-worked and re-made many times, most people fell in love with the series on the Sega Saturn. Lunar 2: Eternal Blue is a sequel to the earlier game Lunar: Silver Star and shares some characters and a general setting of its predecessor. I won’t get too much into the plot, because it could spoil the ending for the first one.
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
By far the most well loved and played Castlevania game of all time, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night still sits up there as one of the most impressive 2D games of recent memory. The game stars Alucard, a character that previously appeared in Castlevania III, as he tries to unravel the sudden appearance of Dracula’s castle and stop his rebirth.
Panzer Dragoon Zwei
A prequel of the first Panzer Dragoon game, Panzer Dragoon Zwei stars a character named Jean-Luc Lundi. Lundi has been tasked with trying to get revenge for the ultimate destruction of his village when he was out flying on his dragon. The game is a rail shooter in the vein of other Panzer Dragoon games or even Star Fox and is well loved for its difficulty and sweeping story.
Dragon Force
In Dragon Force, the player assumes the role of one of the continent's eight rulers and sets out to help stop an ancient evil by way of uniting all the people of all eight Kingdoms. From here, the game is a fairly typical tactical role playing game, similar in vein to some of Sting’s more recent forays into the genre.
Sega Rally Championship
There must be a lot of racing fans on here, as Sega Rally Championship comes out in the middle of our list. During a time when most racing games were pretty archaic, this game gave the player the unique opportunity to drive on different surfaces such as asphalt, mud, and even grass, all having different properties. This game’s technical achievements gave it a status of realism much like the Gran Turismo of its time.
Radiant Silvergun
Fans of scrolling vertical shooters may look at Radiant Silvergun as one of those games that really “shook up” a genre that at the time was fairly stale. Rather than having the typical power up system in which one picks up icons and trades old weapons for better ones, Silvergun gave the player access to all weapons from the beginning. After use, these weapons “leveled up” giving the player crazy amounts of awesome power later in the game.
Guardian Heroes
Guardian Heroes took the tried and true “beat ‘em up” genre and injected some RPG elements to the mix. This gives the player the ability to rack up experience points and maximize six stats to their heart’s desire. Fans and critics alike often rank this game as one of, if not the best “beat ‘em up” game out there.
NiGHTS into Dreams
In 1996 Sonic Team, the guys obviously behind the Sonic the Hedgehog series, decided to try something different and created a game unlike any other at the time. NiGHTS into Dreams follows a group of children pulled into a fantasy world where they meet a character named Nights. Nights traverses the 2D and 3D platforming levels by way of a unique flying mechanic where Nights is flown on a liner path, much like a rail shooter, but the player is given control of which way he turns. This was helped by the inclusion of a new analog controller, a device that would later be the standard for much of gaming.
Shining Force III
In the West, gamers were utterly robbed as we never saw the release of the second and third scenarios of fan favorite Shining Force III. Despite only playing one-third of a game, many gamers truly love the game and the series. The game stars a man named Synbios, who works as a general of a kingdom named Aspinia. Due to manipulation by outside forces, Synbios is drawn into a war with a neighboring country called Destonia.
Panzer Dragoon Saga
HERE WE HAVE IT! The number one game as voted on by our forums! Panzer Dragoon Saga is an odd duck amongst the other games in the Panzer Dragoon series as it is not a rail shooter, and instead exists as a hybrid RPG. The game follows a character named Edge as he attempts to free the world from the will of the Ancients using his laser firing dragon.
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My personal top 3...............
- Guardian Heroes (Treasures best game ever........ sorry Radiant Silvergun/Ikaruga fans)
- Fighters Megamix (Virtua Fighters & Fighting Vipers facing off in one AMAZING package)
- Sega Rally/Daytonaaaaaaaaaaaaaa USA (they are both that damn good that i can't seperate them)
@linlhutz
I thought SSF stoped at Alpha form? or did I missing something? it lacks of enhancement and is very buggy plus running very slow.
well, I'd say you got all my faves in there. Nice Job!!
@Pk9394
There already is a Saturn emulator able to play PDS. In fact I played Saga start to finish on SSF over three years ago.
I run a compatibility list over at segasaturn.org. Pretty much any Saturn game worth playing is working and has been for years.
@Pk9394
Agreed; I definitely think it's one of the best on the system along with Street Fighter Alpha 2, both missing from the list. For shame! :P
i completely agree with the top 2, but id of put them the other way round and i'd have shining force 3 at topspot and panzer dragoon saga in second place. i also agree that nights into dreams and grandia should be in there.
It's so strange that I played SegaSaturn at 6 or 7 years old and I still feel it nowadays so clearly. I know most of these games, and would also add Duke Nunkem and Virtua Fight II. Both games censored to my age that I appreciated so much ^__^
good list but I think Marvel Vs Capcom should get a unique spot among the list, I know its not the best game on the system but its the best 2D console fighter at its time with the Memory cartrige addon.
How is clock work knight and mr bones not on that list lol I loved those two games its all good though haha
Loved Panzer Saga, the best investment I made in gaming history. Even though my Saturn broke but I still hold on to the game hoping a perfect emulator will be release some day so I can enjoy it again. Now I just wish Sega remake or make a new Panzer Saga RPG with the same unique design and the same combat system. Imagine a map 10x bigger than the original game and full of eye candies. It'll be a dream come true.
Respect...
I loved my Sega Saturn yet none of my favorite games are really on that list. Was I the only Saturn owner that didn't import a bunch of Japanese games?
Never owned a Saturn unfortunately... Would love to play Radiant Silvergun (Treasure!) and Nights into Dreams.
Now where's that Dreamcast top 10 ;-)
Saturn is my big skip in VG.... Dreamcast to an extent too, I don't have any of their RPGs :-x
Glad to see Grandia on the list. Great game great game.
Happy to see Shining Force III on the list. It's indeed superb, a masterpiece. I still own the 4 discs. :) It is a shame it was not remade yet and translated so that people who can't understand Japanase could enjoy all the 4 discs.
Where is Virtua Fighter 2? Good List, Sega Rally and Panzer Dragoon Saga are All Time Classics.
Panzer Dragoon Saga is definitely my favorite Saturn game and one of most prized items in my collection.
I'm surprised by the amount of Japan-only games on this list. We either have a ton of Japanese speakers who love JRPGs or members who's love of their PSX English translations confused them.
Toss the Japanese only Grandia/Lunar 2 tie, and SOTN and you have room for Burning Rangers and Virtua Fighter 2. Radiant Silvergun is a different story since it's a shooter and the story doesn't make much sense in any language. I'm just surprised anyone can enjoy dialog heavy RPGs like Grandia and Lunar 2 in anything but their native tongue.
I'd love a remake of Saga or collection port/remake of the first two Panzer Dragoons on probably the 3DS.
I know with Saga, most of the programming has been lost to the ages but someone must be able to track down one copy of the game and with the other two, they are looking at a decent new market with a 3DS release.
