Is a Sega Saturn worth buying?

[TheNewGuy]

Thinking of getting a Saturn console, 2 arcade sticks and a bunch of fighting games.

However its going to get pricey, especially since a lot of the games like XVSF or the Fatal Fury games are usually around $60AUD on ebay

Depending how much I want to get into the collection it will cost from $500 to $1000

On one hand I would like to play these old games (and have things like training mode) but on the other its hard to justify this as there will be no one to play these games

So what do you guys think, worth getting

[Vargus]

Hi,

First of all, I don't think a Sega Saturn (SS) is worth getting unless you get a mod chip for it (to play overseas games of course and a 50/60 Hertz switch installed.

No point in playing fighting games at the PAL 50 Hertz speed.

Having said that, you really need to see if you'll play the damn thing enough to warrant the cost, some people really have a hard time playing old fighters, especially 3D ones as they can really feel archaic compared to their most recent version eg VF1 or VF2 compared to VF5fs.

Yes XvSF is great, if that is your thing, but would you rather play MVC2 or UMVC3?

There are some other good 2d fighters like SFA2 or if you like MK (practically no one here at oh.net does) MK2, MK Trilogy and UMK3 might be worth a look. I'll list a few more here, but bare in mind I don't know of anyone who still plays these titles, nor am I sure how broken they are in terms of balance.

Already mentioned and Available in PAL

VF
VF2
XvSF
SFA2
MK2
MK Trilogy
UMK3

Practically every other fighter for SS PAL region

SFA1
SF Collection 1
SF Collection 2
Super Puzzle Fighter 2 Turbo
KOF 95
VF Remix
VF Kids
Fighters Megamix
Fighting Vipers
Last Bronx, The
Golden Axe: the Duel
X-Men COTA

US NTSC Region
Battle Arena Toshinden Remix
Battle Arena Toshinden URA
Night Warriors - Darkstalkers Revenge

Most, if not all of the PAL Region fighters are available in US NTSC, but PAL ones may be easier to find here in AU

I never bothered to check for JAP NTSC only fighters, but I'm sure they probably have something great that is exclusive to that region.

If you are gamer that plays more than just fighters, there are plenty of good titles you could spend your time playing, so you would get more value out of buying the console and games, as opposed to just buying/playing fighters.

Just make sure your not the type to...

Buy it without knowing what your getting, if possible play the games you want to buy before actually buying them. maybe ask a friend if they still have an SS with some games.

Nothing worse than booting up a game and the game plays nothing like you remember it did. If that happens you could be so disgusted that you'll turn it off within 5 mins and never want to play them again! All that money down the drain!

Well I hope that helps

Thanks

- Vargus

[Shmick]

Playing Fighters Megamix with the Daytona Car as a character, or Last Bronx with joke weapons enabled is totally worth it.

Plus you get to play Cyberbot! =)

[XNDL]

A few things:

• I don't think you actually have to get a modchip to play non-PAL games on an AU system, you just need the Datel 4M Action Replay cart (which you need for a lot of the later 2d games anyway)
• You'd definitely want to get a 50/60Hz switch
• A lot of games have terrible, terrible loading times
• The other big problem with arcade ports of that era (Capcom games especially) is that they tended to get patched/rebalanced/fixed/botched during the conversion process, which usually ruined the game. For instance the Saturn port of Alpha 3 shortened the invulnerability window on VC activation and the port of Marvel Super Heroes changed the air dash command. So the issue is whether or not you want to shell out to play versions of older games that aren't arcade perfect

[zaneiken]

Bad loading times are really only a problem with the SNK fighters (aside from KOF 95 due to it being a cart/CD combo game).  The earlier Capcom fighting games don't load any worse than SFIV on PS3.
I wouldn't bother getting any Saturn arcade sticks as none of them are any good without modding - a better route to go is to mod a Xbox 360 stick with a MC Cthulhu.  Even the giant HSS-0130 Astro City control panel lookalike comes with generic stock buttons and needs modding.