Today marks Sega Saturn 25th anniversary of the Sega Saturn in Japan, November 22, 1994. Not until May 11, 1995 the 32-bit fifth-generation home video game console would release in North America, July 8th in Europe. The console wasn’t a huge success in the United States compared to Japan. During its release, the console competed with juggernaut consoles like the first PlayStation and the Nintendo 64. After Sony and Nintendo made their release, the Saturn began to lose sales rapidly. The Sega Saturn brought in many anime-related games, similar to what the Super Nintendo has done and before the PlayStation release.
Sega Saturn 25th Anniversary – Games Galore
While there were some Sonic the Hedgehog games, there wasn’t a groundbreaking game to carry the Sonic flag. However the Sega Saturn did produce some classic games and new franchises such as Nights into Dreams. One of the hardest games to find, Panzer Dragoon Saga, made its debut on the Saturn and was highly rated for gameplay. Other highly rated games such as Panzer Dragoon Zwei, Dragon Force, Shining Force 3, Grandia, and Guardian Heroes were great games in the Saturn library.
Aside from the new installments, the Saturn had many arcade port titles: Night Warriors: Darkstalkers’ Revenge, Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter, and Street Fighter Alpha 3. Let’s not forget the Saturn had classic Sega arcade games: Daytona USA, The House of the Dead, Last Bronx, Sega Rally Championship, the Virtua Cop series, the Virtua Fighter series, and Virtual-On. Mega Man also made an appearance of its games for the Saturn. With these many games, how could the Saturn lose?
Familiar Vibes with the Saturn and Wii U
Comparing to home game consoles in the last decade, the Wii U had a similar fate as the Saturn. Both the Saturn and Wii U were great consoles with great games but both shared similar issues, marketing. In the 1990s, Sega Saturn was to be the successor from Sega’s previous console, the Sega Genesis. Very similar, the Wii U was to be the successor of the Wii. With Sega, they were creating multiple add-ons to the Genesis just before the Saturn’s launch. Remember the Sega 32X? Sega made their famous console on life support as long as they could but cost them dearly when they could have focused on the Saturn. As for the Wii U, the name was too similar to its predecessor name, Wii, making it difficult if the console was an add-on or a new console. Third-party support was nowhere to be found for the Wii U. Nintendo has had difficulties with since the Nintendo 64.
Despite all the mishaps, videos games wouldn’t be the same without the Saturn. Maybe one year we’ll get a Sega Saturn Mini? Happy birthday Sega Saturn!