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All Roms > Saturn Roms & ISOs
| The Sega Saturn |
The Sega Saturn had its beginnings in Japan under a different name, just as the Genesis began as the Mega Drive. The Saturn was originally given a name that was basically a play on the Mega Drive’s moniker and was labeled the Sega Giga Drive, implying that the machine was more powerful and a step up from its predecessor.
The Saturn was the first 32 bit console and was also Sega’s first CD-ROM based console. Other machines had these capabilities through the use of add-ons or peripherals, but the Saturn began as such. When it was designed, the people at Sony had the 3DO Interactive Multiplayer in mind, hoping to create a product superior to the 3DO and tap the market. It ended up being designed to compete with the PlayStation. The concept Saturn was going to have 2D graphics with 3D capabilities. When the design was released for the PlayStation, Sega knew it had to step up its game and redesigned the Saturn’s specifications to be more powerful right out of the gats.
Saturn made some errors in judgment when considering the pending PlayStation. First of all, they hurried production to try and get their product on the market first. Shortcuts in design and manufacturing showed. Moreover, Saturn games were not as well-thought out or easy to program as PlayStation games and the library was limited. While Virtua Fighter was bundled with the console, game designers were unable to complete Saturn games before its release, making it a great concept with nothing to play. Still, Nintendo, Sony and Sega managed to split the market almost equally. Eventually, Nintendo fell behind in performance, and Sega fell behind in gaming choices, leaving PlayStation to emerge as the real winner.
Many of the Saturn games that were released were later re-released in their entirety, having been cut short to speed completion. It helped, but it wasn’t enough to keep people interested in Saturn games. Saturn ROMs are still available, often in both versions: the original release and then the full game (many of the original releases were so rushed that they were slightly bigger than demos). |
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