The Best Looking Sega Saturn Games

Video game graphics are perhaps the most debated topic in the hobby in every generation, even since the Atari 2600 and its rivals. I can remember my friends and family talking about how the

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looked and ran. It often involves discussions about the overall capability characteristic of a piece of hardware. set or specialization, it can also be an interesting entry point to discuss the deficiencies of the system. The Sega Saturn is possibly one of the most interesting pieces of console technology ever produced. It was a complicated design that most software engineers at the time couldn't understand. However, that didn't stop the system from getting some very attractive

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, and in this episode, we'll take a look at some of the most attractive Sega Saturn games, be they artistic. technical or both, these are the games I personally found to really define what the Saturn was capable of.

There's no way I can cover every single cool Sega Saturn game here, but I'll try to cover the things that really blew me away visually. I hope you enjoy the

best

Sega Saturn games. When it comes to 2D fighters, Saturn is absolutely divided with great content, from Capcom to SNK and everything in between, there's something here for everyone and my goodness. some of them graphically impressive. Capcom had great presentations with characters like Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter, the continuation of x-men vs. Street Fighter used the four-megabyte RAM cart to impressive effect, filling the screen with well-animated characters that were sometimes as big as the entire playing area.

Capcom also released Street Fighter 0-3, which also used a four-megabyte RAM cartridge. This one was good enough as an arcade translation, but Capcom even added some really awesome dramatic battle options that you can't. goes back to any other version of the game, the beautifully animated characters stood out among some of the

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2D games of the time, some of us in Kay's work would also be worth mentioning, especially Samurai Shodown for the Neo Geo version. trimmed to run on a CD system with a pittance of RAM compared to the original cartridge, but they did a pretty solid job in the process, the animation color and art style here are fantastic and really stood out in 1997.

Also I was very impressed. SNK, the actual Fatal Fury special, returns with some great animation art direction that easily rivals the stuff Capcom was doing at the time. Saturn would also see a couple of ports of its arcade Big Brother, the STV Titan board which looked pretty cool. on Fight by Atlas has an incredibly unique look in both the technical and artistic presentation, it uses the RAM expansion cart to show off some pretty decent animation and Sunsoft would show off their talents with the wild superstars Astro, another arcade port from STV, this one is fast and ultra colorful with gameplay that often keeps the entire screen filled with super special attack moves and animations that just don't stop.

There is so much happening so fast in this one that you often lose track of where you are. I could easily continue with a great 2D look. fighting games on the Saturn, but I have to settle for my favorite and it happens to be Vampire Savior. This came at the end of the Saturn's life in mid-1998, never coming west for the machine but materializing on the PlayStation as Darkstalkers three, the Saturn version was something special though. First, you had the characters, each with their own appearance in the animation, the variety in these animations was unreal and there were no two characters overlapping, there were simple palette swaps, just as impressive were the settings in which these characters fought.

Again, each was gorgeously animated and provided visual dynamism that added tones to the atmosphere and setting. The sheer amount of personality in this game that comes from its visuals sets it apart from the other things I just reviewed. It uses four megabytes of RAM. card and is one of Saturn's most impressive 2D technical achievements. The 3D fighting genre on the Saturn wouldn't see the sheer volume of options that the 2D material would bring, but that didn't mean some of these games weren't truly impressive. We saw an incredible evolution of Sega's 3D engines in the Saturn. We went from the launch title Virtua Fighter to the vastly improved Virtua Fighter remix to the vastly improved Virtua Fighter 2 again, all in one year.

Virtua Fighter 2 had been a triumph. of game design with an incredible resolution and frame rate increase over previous efforts am2 wasn't the only one to really join in on Saturn with an m3 that arrived late with the latest Broncs in 1997, this one used the vdp2 background for drawing arenas that looked and felt different than anything else at the time, the depth here was a truly sad reminder of what could have been if Saturn had had a few more years of mature game development. 1997, this was originally an arcade game based on the Model 2, lovingly ported to the Saturn with similar results to Virtua Fighter 2, crystal clear and butter smooth, you have to mention it every time the best ones are discussed games.

He was also a big fan of Fighters Megamix. It had a great collection of Sega properties and I really liked how we got closed, caged arenas to fight in. It had the same smooth, fast flow that the other Sega fighters had and the sheer variety and visuals were enough to merit a mention, but I keep coming back to Virtua Fighter 2 every time I think of a 3D fighter that looked like it would run and play. like a million dollars. You had to respect both of their achievements here and it holds up very well all these years later.

It's my pick for the most attractive. Saturn 3D fighting game, the 2D action section includes platformers and beat'em ups, which would see a sharp decline in the Saturn era with all the newfangled 3D polygon games appearing, fortunately few people wanted more of the games they had. defined the previous generation. Saturn would still see really good games here, but some of them easily rank there. It has the most attractive 2D graphics the console has ever produced. One Post was one of the first stylish platform games. Their unique world came to life with colorful art. style that completely blew away everything that had been possible on the previous generation of machines, it also had full screen scaling, tons of transparencies, and tons of parallax scrolling.

Victor Entertainment would take on the challenge of putting out a sequel to KO Flying Squadron to Saturn, not content with just making a by-the-numbers sequel, they really enhanced the visual impact here - transparencies everywhere, big, colorful sprites and great detail in every background, it's the kind of game I still use to show off the system whenever someone needs a lesson in how great this hardware could be Capcom would come out strong here and release the truly impressive Dungeons & Dragons collection on the Saturn, complete with RAM card support 4 megabytes, not even the frequent loading times could stop you from being impressed with the visuals of this game every time.

The only thing that moves in the game is impressively animated, from the smallest enemy to the massive bosses. This was the kind of thing Saturn excelled at. We also got wildcard releases among the big name titles that showed off the 2D power of the machine liquid kids was a very good adaptation of the Taito arcade game and super tempo was a crazy game that visually blew her away, but when I want to recommend a game to newbies Saturn owners to show what their hardware was capable of, I always fall Back in Treasures Guardian Heroes, it's impressive to show off as a beat'em up that zooms in and out with the ax and places tons of enemies on the screen while special attacks and magic appear with transparency effects throughout the place.

It is for two players. In Mint co-op mode, you can watch it all with a friend, and if you have a Saturn 6 player adapter, you can fill the screen with six players, all going crazy. Everything about this one still impresses me to this day, the color and art are fantastic. The large and small sprites are well animated and loaded with special effects that really show what Saturn was capable of. The games I grouped into the 3D action category span tons of different genres, of course you have Panzer Dragoon with its beautiful world and art style. presentation I never get tired of Sonic Teams Nights into Dreams is a great title that has some really solid technical aspects, but there were other unique Rangers that won games that really showed us great use of machine architecture, lots of transparency effects and light source. filled out the game's large environments, there were some trade-offs with a bit of polygon cropping, but you couldn't help but be impressed and wonder what a burning Rangers 2 would have been like in a more mature engine.

I also dug up a ton about carrying a dungeon crawler with an overhead weapon that places a bunch of transparencies in the light source. I would find myself shooting at walls for the hell of it just to see the special effects of the weapons. Mass Slash is a third-person mechanical action. game that mixed the incredible use of Saturn's infinite vdp2 plane abilities with 2D sprites and 3D texture mapped polygons. It was the kind of game that really took advantage of all those chips in a Saturn by fusing everything into one great

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and running engine, although there are a lot of them. others I could mention I want to highlight a game that has excited me in the past when it comes to excellent 3D Saturn visuals and that is Panzer Dragoon 2.

It improved everything over the first game from a graphical point of view, more things in screen, better frame rate and scale man, things look bigger, more open and more menacing here, the boss battles are more dynamic and visually pleasing and that sky assault stage is point blank, some of the graphics most attractive of that entire generation, it's a package that really gave Saturn owners a lot of pride upon its release, its art style keeping cues from the first game intact. Wild looking machines mixed with crazy organic designs to create a world that was strange and menacing.

If you don't have this one yet, get on it. As soon as possible, the RPG genre would be totally and completely dominated by PlayStation during the time that Saturn was on the market, if only because of the sheer volume of releases, but Saturn also had its own hits and games that just weren't loaded with great game characters and stories. but also stunning visuals, magic knight rayearth was a great combination of art style, color and animation, it was exclusive to

saturn

and the only place you could play it. Dragonforce was a technical marvel thanks to its hundreds of sprites in each battle, as well as beautiful. special attacks that were often full-screen transparencies that went back and forth between enemy generals.

Shining Force 3 spanned three separate episodes with three different points of view and each one of them looked and ran like a champ. This one mixes 2D sprites with 3D environments – some pretty clever results. I love how soft it is and the texture work is uncommon during the era. The battle animations are peppered with excellent light sources and transparency effects showing that Saturn had the versatility to do these things when a developer was so inclined. Grandia burst onto the Saturn scene. back in 1997 and just like Shining Force 3 used 2D sprites against gorgeous 3D environments, the amount of detail, textures and animations here make it a joy to look at even today and there's even an English translation in the works which should reach a Saturn nearby.

Soon, when I think of the most attractive 2D RPG, I have to go if the action RPG princess crown, the huge and incredibly animated sprites have a distinctive art style that would become known for Vanillaware, but it all started here with this. I just love the way this game is designed and presented and you won't find anything like it on the Saturn. The backgrounds look great many times and have details that put other games to shame, even among systems that would come out after the Saturn. Choosing the best 3D RPG becomes a little more complicated because many of them would have a fairly large combination of 2D and 3D elements.

Would I go for the technically impressive and stick with a game that uses polygons better or just enjoy the full package of 2d, 3d and art design, the choice was clear after some considerations and that was Panzer Dragoon saga Panzer saga gave you an explorable world that was unlike any other at the time, a rare combination of impressive technical aspects as well as incredible art design in everything from the environments andenemies, elevated Saturn's visuals far beyond the usual simple polygonal elements and gave us truly impressive use of machines, abilities, textures, special effects, performance, all combined into a great looking game, imagine if there were others.

Gains had reached their own third-generation engines on this hardware, much like the 2D fighter. The 2D shooter had a pretty solid representation on a Saturn. Ella and Ryu is a vertical scrolling shooter that has stunning backgrounds and lots of enemies and animations. Transparency effects happening around you are often sprinkled throughout the stages to add some variety and there's always some parallax scrolling to keep you happy. Proteus' super colorful games get top-notch representation on the Saturn in multiple releases, often called kuta mobs. Huge variety and animations that keep you coming back for more Hyper Dual was a transformative shooter following that sported stunning parallax and line scrolling effects.

The backgrounds always told a story in this one, from massive space battles going on around you to huge ships crashing in the distance, it never ceased to amaze me that sugan was missing the finer detail of something like her and ryu, but It more than made up for it with the sheer volume of gun fire on screen at any given time, no joke, the screen states are full of attacks both enemy and own, the backgrounds aren't bad either and you get some really cool wild moments. in each section of stage layers, it was an early Saturn.

A 2D shooter that ages exceptionally well, parallax scrolling effects and excellent background detail are the visual highlights of this one. It's easy enough to continue with great looking 2D shooters, but the video here would be 2 hours long if I did. just drop what I think is the best looking 2D souter on the system or in this case the two best looking shooters on the system Cotton 2 and Cotton Boomerang. These are some of the most unique shooters in the system. They have special effects. It goes off like a fireworks display and the scalable and rotating sprites just add to the presentation.

Large, multi-articulated bosses aren't unusual, and you get copious amounts of transparencies in both the environment and weapons to remind you that Saturn was very capable of doing them. The games originated on the STV Titan arcade system, so the Saturn ports were one hundred percent identical and you still can't play them anywhere else. Shoot'em-ups that had 3D or polygonal elements were not as plentiful as their 2D cousins, but there were a few notable titles worth discussing Tsukioka rent. I was a port of the STV original Titan and while it's primarily a 2D experience, it has polygonal elements here and there, plenty of touches like enemy scaling, screen filling, boss attacks and parallax scrolling highlight the excellent visuals.

Here Thunder Force Five appeared to represent the classic franchise with a lot of polygonal elements. It also continues the series' tradition of being an incredibly engaging game. Huge enemies. Great background effects and lots of touches like transparencies and abstract background designs. This is one of the most unique games in the Saturn layer section 2, it is an attractive game in itself with polygonal environments and great looking pieces. The first time you see the waterfall, you can't help but appreciate it as the most attractive shooter. on Saturn that uses 3D elements it has to be Silvergun radiant, however, many vdp2 effects make up the game's impressive backgrounds, while the enemies and bosses are often composed of polygons, it moves fast and its effects always catch your attention and make you they get noticed regardless. how engrossed you are in the game, this is another one that came from the STV arcade board, so again, the Saturn port is absolutely perfect.

Many compare this to treasure, others shoot Ikaruga, but I think Radiant Silvergun is the best game by far. See, the first-person shooter was a nascent genre during Saturn's run, especially on consoles, while its presence was strongly felt in some really good games during the era where Saturn only saw a handful of them compared to the general library, luckily for us. A little company called lobotomy software burst onto the Saturn scene and really made some titles that made the system proud. The Saturn version of Duke Nukem 3d was glorious running at a rock solid frame rate with plenty of detailed textures and excellent light source effects. ported the PC classic Earthquake to the Saturn and what has to be one of the most technically impressive efforts on the hardware you're looking at is a fully 3D world with fully 3D enemies and fully 3D weapons and items, all running source of light at a playable frame rate.

For a system that most of the gaming world considered weak in 3D engines at the time, this is nothing short of a miracle in game development, and even more so, this was done with budget and time constraints, giving you makes you realize that it could have been even better if this hadn't been the case, as good as the two games mentioned above, it's Mayton's lobotomies on Saturn that I still adore the most and that's Powerslave, it has all the elements that made of Duke Nukem 3D a winner, but the world is level here. Most impressive due to its exploratory design, this is very much a 3D Metroid style game years before a 3D Metroid game existed, the fact that these levels were designed to be explored, re-explored with new powers and abilities and still looking this good is really a testament to both the versatility of the Saturn hardware and the stranglehold that lobotomy had on it without Powerslave.

Saturn's landscape would have been a much colder place. The racing genre really started to flourish when polygons came out, while the genre had great representation before that. Started getting a better sense of visual depth and driving physics with polygons. These advancements started in the arcades and slowly trickled down to console releases, eventually settling into the Saturn era with some truly exceptional experiences. Some of them not only worked very well but also looked pretty. Also very good for the time, Need for Speed ​​had been a greatly expanded adaptation of the 3do original, now with improved frame rate textures and an overall visual style, it was so solid that it even gave the 3do version a chance.

PlayStation game and in those early days, that's something that was rarely seen. Wiliout Accel had been in a similar situation, improving the original Wipeout port quite a bit, proving that even some of the best-looking PlayStation games could be ported to the Saturn by third parties without sacrificing visuals. To the point of affecting the quality of the experience, Scorcher was a beast of a game, visually fast as hell, with impressive texture work in detail, it was the kind of visuals that made you wish these guys had been working with Sega to Porting some of their other models to arcade racing like Indy 500 Sonic R wasn't my cup of tea when it came to gameplay, but you still have to respect the technical side of things here.

Great details and special effects highlight its 3D world and exploratory gameplay. Sega's second attempt at Daytona. Championship Circuit Edition was a greatly improved engine that fixed large jumps and smoothed out texture details and draw distances. There was even a really good superscalar rendering on a Saturn, starting with the big superscalar port. This was really the first time we'd seen a version of This Is So Good that was actually superior to the buttery smooth arcade original, with great color and detail. It's still one of my favorite versions of this game. I also call the translation Power Drip The Saturn Guy and never got tired of its rollercoaster style.

The images give you I also appreciated the unique style of Street Racer Extra, a kart racer with a cartoon aesthetic, the screen remains loaded with impressive details that are crystal clear and extremely smooth, visually surpassing even the Playstation version when you have to choose just one for your favorite I just had to choose Sega Rally, it was a vastly improved attempt to port a model to the arcade release on the Saturn, surpassing the previously released Daytona USA in every visual category, it did the Saturn proud with its sheer smoothness and improved draw distances and physics system made it stand out among other games at the time, even next to the arcade original you can't help but be impressed with what was achieved here, it's Sega's masterpiece on the Saturn and a work teacher even today for the latter category.

I wanted to review dedicated light gun games for the Saturn. This category isn't particularly big, and honestly, most of the games aren't that attractive. There are some games based on full motion video that play well, but the video is pretty mediocre. and while games like crypt killer and House of the Dead are pretty fun, they're pretty weak technical representations of their source material, pretty much leaving the Virtua Cop series on the Saturn as the only bastion of technically impressive fun and the genre's first game. among the initial releases showcasing the Sega graphics libraries of a.m. two and it was a solid game visually, especially when it came to the action and on-screen performance, but to be honest, there's cop virtue here too and then there's pretty much everything else in the genre.

The Saturn edition of the game is very similar to Cigarroa, an incredibly close representation of the model to the arcade original, rock-solid performance, backed by much more dynamic environments and scenes such as car chases and the ability to choose your own routes during the game. game, it's so far ahead of the other stuff here that you can't help but wish Sega had kept this team together and made them the House of the Dead port because you know damn well it would have turned out so much better. Virtua cop 2 is a must have game for fans of the genre and easily the best looking gun game for the Saturn.

Well, there are my thoughts on the best looking games for the Sega Saturn. This was an incredibly difficult episode to make, guys, mainly because of the sheer amount of stuff. I wanted to mention that it wasn't possible unless the video was incredibly long. I had to point out each genre and narrow it all down to just a handful of titles and I hope I at least entertained you in the process, I'm sure. Many of you have different opinions than me and I would love to know what you think are the best games. I'm follow Lord X, thank you all for watching and I'll see you next time.