Sega Saturn With LCD Screen, GPS, Karaoke?

Thanks to InsertCredit for pointing to a feature on the NFG Games site discussing the HiSaturn Navi, a rare and bizarre Japanese incarnation of the Sega Saturn from 1995, which included an add-on LCD screen, a car adaptor, GPS navigation software, karaoke compatibility, and lots more. The unit even has some strange car safety features courtesy of a sensor attached to the handbrake cable - "Game playing was prohibited while the car was in motion - without the handbrake sensor installed and the handbrake applied the screen would shut off after a game started to load." Still, at $2000 (with screen) when launched, and $1200 even now for second-hand models, it's only a toy for the truly insane Sega fan.

Comments

Suggestions?

[Tom Courtenay]

Slightly offtopic, but since there aren't any posts here...

I recently picked up an inexpensive US Saturn. The only problem is, I don't have any games for it! The local shops only carry the standard sub-par US games.

My question: What games should I be looking to get?

I'm a huge fan of RPGs & slower paced games. They're generally the ones that tend to age better. Are there any Saturn gems out there that I need to pick up?

Re:Suggestions?

[lightspawn]

NiGHTS: into dreams
super puzzle fighter 2 turbo
guardian heroes
daytona usa championship circuit edition

There's maybe 7-8 RPGs, I think all of them are OK: Panzer dragoon saga which costs $150+, albert odyssey, magic knight rayearth, shining force, shining wisdom, dragon force, shining the holy ark, couple of others.

Check out the reviews at www.sega-saturn.com

Re:Suggestions?

[neostorm]

Here goes:

-Panzer Dragoon Saga
You must have this game. It's expensive, but well worth the price for RPG fans. Excelent game.

- Dragon Force
A fantastic strategy title.

-Albert Odyssey
RPG localized by Working Designs. Good game.

- Shining Force 3
There are three scenarios, all of which are fantastic, but only the first was localized in the US. Still a must have.

- Guardian Heroes
A great Fighter/RPG for a large number of people. It's more fast paced, action style gameplay (along the lines of Final Fight of Streets of Rage), but has several characters all of which level up gaining new spells and skills, and you can play with up to 4 people (in story mode) or 10 in vs. mode. Good times at a party.

- Beyond Oasis
Really good Action RPG in the vein of Zelda, but much heavier emphasis on dungeon puzzles. Good game though.

- Mysteria
I have not played this game more than 5 minutes. It's a fantasy turn-based strategy RPG, but the graphics are absolutely horrendous. From what I have heard the game itself is good, but I could not work my way past the appearance. I can usually look past that as well, but this game just did not age well.

Some other games work looking into -
The Saturn was a shooter machine. It's what it did best. With that said:

- Radiant Silvergun
I personally think this is the best shooter ever developed. Over the top action with elements of an RPG in the form of weapons that level up. Fantastic weapon and scoring system. This is a must have. I'm an RPG fan, but I coulnd't live without this experience. Good stuff.

- Panzer Dragoon 1
If not just for the series roots. This is a great shooter.

- Panzer Dragoon Zwei
Probably the best shooter in the Panzer series. This is a fantastic game all around.

- Sol Divide
Expensive and hard to find. Worth it for the collection, but you can download the arcade ROM for MAME instead. Still worth mentioning.

- Sengoku Blaede
Fun but short shooter.

Lastly...

- Bomberman
12 player Bomberman. Good times.

Anything else in the Shining series is pretty decent, though I tend to feel Shining Wisdom is a bit lacking in both the graphics and innovation department. It's like a colorized port of a gameboy zelda clone, so you may want to avoid that one.

Have fun.

Re:Suggestions?

[Gizzmonic]

The Saturn is not the machine for you if you like RPGs (unless you can read Japanese).

The Saturn has the best selection of:

1)2D fighting games

2)racing (okay, not really, but it has Daytona)

3)Puzzle games

4)Shooters

Also, the only home conversion of the great Dungeons & Dragons arcade games made by Capcom is only available on Saturn. Of course, you could just download the ROMs and play in on CPSMAME in English, with 4 player support, and no load time, but what fun would that be ?

Yes, I'm a crazy Saturn owner...the car and the console!

Safety feature

[cloudless.net]

Someone who doesn't RTFA is going to joke about the handbrake safety feature, so let me quote from the article:

"If you happen to own one and dare use it in the car, you can bypass this 'feature' by connecting the sensor cable to anything grounded."

it's only a toy for the truly insane Sega fan?

[toddhunter]

Nonsense, any type of insane person could probably enjoy this.

Re:it's only a toy for the truly insane Sega fan?

[Anonymous Coward]

Damn, where are those mod points I didn't use the other day. "Funny" I believe is the appropriate comment.

P.S. If someone mods me off topic rather than mod's this up, shall they and all their offspring be forever cursed! Maybe I'll just post A.C....

Re:it's only a toy for the truly insane Sega fan?

[Allison Geode]

I thought all sega fans were insane? (before anyone rips my head off, I love sega, and don't make any claims at sanity, either.)

Where's the gundam feature?

[Anonymous Coward]

this is nuts. I can imagine two salarymen at hitachi are given a barrel of saki and told to go "make the ULTIMATE CONSOLE". I'm suprised this thing can't walk. I wonder how close they were to integrating the giant robot and cat-girl features...

Damn if sega isn't rad!

[Descartes]

Ok, I've never played saturn so I guess this is off topic.

Man, I friggin LOVE soul calibur on the dreamcast. Frankly, it's the only reason we kept the damn console plugged into the TV for so long. Although Sega seems pretty bad at business, their system are still pretty badass! Alas, those who ran Amigas understand my sadness, to see such a good system die is quite depressing...

Ahh...back to GTA vice city on PS2, that will make me forget about the beauty of Soul Calibur.

Ok, now the (slightly) on topic section. One of my buddies was buying a CD player for his car the other day, and we went with him (for some reason) to the various auto audio stores. Holy crap, they have some badassed systems available. The thing I don't understand is the DVD players. Why whould someone pay $1000+ for a car DVD player when you could buy a DVD capable laptop for the same price. I mean just set the frigging laptop on the dash and it's just the same, 'cept you payed about $500 less for it and it is a functional computer...

hello, navi.

[Anonymous Coward]

all i need now is the network adaptor so i can connect to the wired. =P

Re:hello, navi.

[lidocaineus]

Shhhhh! No one seems to ever get that reference.