title	Sega Saturn
logo
manufacturer	Sega
type	Video game console
generation	Fifth generation era
Lifespan
Discontinued	September 10, 1998December 4, 2000 (Japan)
Cpu	2 × Hitachi SH-2 32-bit RISC (28.6 MHz)
Gpu	VDP1 & VDP2
media	CD-ROM, CD+G
modem	2400 bauds modem
storage	Internal RAM, cartridge
onlineservice	Sega NetLink, SegaNet (XBAND spin-off)
unitssold	9.5 million
Topgame	''Virtua Fighter 2'' (1.7 million in Japan)
predecessor	Sega Genesis / Mega Drive
successor	Dreamcast }}

The is a 32-bit fifth-generation video game console that was first released by Sega on November 22, 1994 in Japan, May 11, 1995 in North America, and July 8, 1995 in Europe. The system was discontinued in North America and Europe in 1998, and in 2000 in Japan.

The Saturn sold 9.5 million units worldwide. While its installed base in the United States ended at 2 million, its installed base in Japan was more than 6 million units. While it was popular in Japan, the Saturn failed to gain a similar market share in North America and Europe against its main competitors: Sony's PlayStation and later the Nintendo 64.

In 2009, video game website IGN chose the Saturn to be their 18th best video game console of all time, out of their list of 25.

Development

Sega's 27-member Away Team, comprising employees from hardware engineering, product development and marketing, worked for two years beginning in February 1993 to design the Sega Saturn's hardware. Since the project was top secret, Hayao Nakayama dubbed the project "Aurora".

Rumors suggest that the original design called for a single central processor, but upon hearing of the PlayStation's capabilities, a second processor was added late in development to increase potential performance. At the roll out of 3DO in 1993, Sega of America president Tom Kalinske boasted that "we have a more powerful machine waiting in the wings, but the time's not ready yet." However, one major design change was forced on Sega, and the culprit was the Sony PlayStation.

Architecture

Dual CPUs

The Saturn had impressive hardware at the time of its release, but its design, with two CPUs and six other processors, made harnessing this power extremely difficult, for developers used to conventional programming. Also, many of the ancillary chips in the system were "off the shelf" components, increasing the complexity of the system because the components were not specifically designed to work together. The hardware also lacked light sourcing and hardware video decompression support, the latter being a major disadvantage during a time when full-motion video was quite popular.

The Saturn's dual-CPU architecture was the source of some difficulty for developers. The biggest disadvantage was that both processors shared the same bus and had problems accessing the main system RAM at the same time. The 4 KB of cache memory in each CPU was critical to maintaining performance. In general, very careful division of processing, in addition to the already-challenging task of parallelizing the code, was required to get the most out of the Saturn. One example of how the Saturn was utilized was with ''Virtua Fighter'''s use of one CPU for each character.

Many of the Saturn's developers, such as Lobotomy Software programmer Ezra Dreisbach, found it difficult to develop for compared to the PlayStation because of its more complex graphics hardware. In order to port ''Duke Nukem 3D'' and ''PowerSlave''/''Exhumed'' to the Saturn, Lobotomy Software had to almost entirely rewrite the Build engine to take advantage of the Saturn's unconventional hardware. Also, during testing of an unreleased ''Quake'' port for the PlayStation, the Saturn's performance was found to be notably inferior for the game. Arcade conversions like ''Virtua Fighter'' were often criticized by the videogame press for its poor, glitchy graphics.

Other developers have contested that the Saturn's shortcomings in these respects are overstated at best. WARP leader Kenji Eno, when asked how WARP managed to produce the impressive 3D visuals of ''Enemy Zero'' (a game originally developed for the PlayStation) on the Saturn, replied, "...the PlayStation and the Saturn aren't that different, so moving it[''Enemy Zero''] to Saturn wasn't too difficult."

Third-party development was initially hindered by the lack of useful software libraries and development tools, requiring developers to write in assembly language to achieve good performance. At least during early Saturn development, programming in assembly could offer a two to fivefold speed increase over the C language. To save development costs and time, some programmers would utilize only one CPU, such as with ''Alien Trilogy''. Sega responded to these criticisms by developing a new set of graphics libraries which it claims makes the job of programming the machine much easier. In fact, Sega of Japan has presented the new graphic libraries as an entirely new operating system.

Saturn games also improved with time, as with nearly every other console system. (Virtua Fighter 2 was only 70% done and is said to be the fastest and best looking Sega Saturn game to date)|From Next Generation Magazine "So many 32-Bit Systems To Choose From" issue: (vol 1, #12)}} For instance, later programming techniques employed by Sega's AM2 saw an improvement in performance. Video exists of a canceled version of Shenmue - later released on the Sega Dreamcast - running on a stock Sega Saturn. The video was included in the Dreamcast title Shenmue II.

Quadrilaterals

Unlike the PlayStation and Nintendo 64 which used triangles as its basic geometric primitive, the Saturn rendered quadrilaterals. This proved to be a hindrance because most of the industry's standard design tools were based on triangles. One of the challenges brought forth by quadrilateral-based rendering was problems with making some shapes, notably triangular objects. This can be seen in the Saturn version of ''Tomb Raider'', in which triangular rocks are not rendered as well as other systems' versions of the game.

If used correctly, the quadrilateral rendering of the Saturn had advantages. It could potentially reduce the texture distortion common in PlayStation titles, as demonstrated by several cross-platform titles such as ''Wipeout'' and ''Destruction Derby''. The quadrilateral-focused hardware and a 50% greater amount of video memory also gave the Saturn an advantage for 2D game engines and attracted many developers of role-playing video games, arcade games and traditional 2D fighting games. With creative programming, later games like ''Burning Rangers'' were able to achieve true transparency effects on hardware that used simple polygon stipples as a replacement for transparency effects in the past.

Cartridge

The cartridge slot gave the potential for adding extra RAM or storage devices for saving games to the system.

Two ROM cartridges were released with Sega Saturn games: one with ''King of Fighters '95'' and the other with ''Ultraman: Hikari no Kyojin Densetsu''. The ROM cartridges contained part of the game data because not enough system RAM was available.

Two different RAM cartridges were released for the system; a 1 MB RAM cart by SNK for ''King of Fighters '96'' and a 4 MB RAM cart by Capcom for ''X-Men vs. Street Fighter'' and ''Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter''. A RAM expansion cartridge was also required for the games ''Groove on Fight'' & ''Final Fight Revenge''. Both companies were known for their sprite-based 2D competitive fighting games and many of their subsequent games utilized their respective cartridges. (such as "Vampire Saviour" & "Cotton 2" [by Success]).

Performance in the marketplace

Japan

The Japanese Saturn was released in November 1994, just six weeks ahead of its rival, Sony's PlayStation. Approximately 170,000 machines were sold the first day the console went on sale.

Many of the games that made the Saturn popular in Japan, such as the ''Sakura Taisen'' series and various role-playing video games, were never released in foreign territories as it was assumed at Sega of America and Sega of Europe that they were not appealing to a Western audience.

The last commercial licensed release in Japan and last official game for the system was ''Yuukyuu Gensoukyoku Hozonban Perpetual Collection'', released by MediaWorks on December 4, 2000.

North America

By the end of 1994, the 16-bit video game era was in twilight in North America and gamers were eagerly anticipating the new 32-bit machines from Japan. In early 1995, Sega of America president Tom Kalinske announced that the Saturn would launch in the U.S. on "Saturnday", (Saturday) September 2, 1995. This date was greatly anticipated by gamers and the media. It also allowed Sony to announce that the PlayStation release date would be one week later on September 9, 1995.

However, on May 11, 1995, at the first Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), Kalinske announced that the "Saturnday" date was a ruse and that the system was being released nationwide by four select retailers (Toys "R" Us, Babbage's, Software Etc. and Electronics Boutique) immediately. It appeared that Sega had a real opportunity to take a commanding 4-month lead in the 32-bit race by beating the PlayStation to the market.

The surprise launch backfired on Sega for several reasons. The Saturn was released at a high price point of US$399, while Sony announced a US$299 price for the PlayStation at E3 itself, as a response to the Saturn's earlier release.

The early launch also meant that the Saturn had only 6 games available at launch, as most third party games were slated to be completed and rolled out around the original September 2 launch date, and as many successful Japanese titles were not imported. Third party publishers, particularly those based in North America, were angered as the surprise launch prevented them from capitalizing on the momentum inherent in an anticipated, planned release. Essentially the only software available on the shelves at launch was software released by Sega. Many within the gaming industry viewed the early launch as a calculated move to give Sega larger sales of Saturn software at the expense of independent developers.

In addition, the retailers who were not included in the early launch (most notably Wal-Mart and KB Toys) felt betrayed, with some retaliating by supporting Sega's rivals. This resulted in Sega having difficulties with these distributors for the Saturn (and also for its successor, the Dreamcast). For example, Sega's actions so angered KB Toys that they refused to release the Saturn at all, and actually went as far as having some retailers remove anything Sega-related in stores to provide more retail space for the Saturn's competition instead.

By the time of the PlayStation's release on September 9, 1995, the Saturn had sold approximately 80,000 systems. The PlayStation, on the other hand, managed to sell over 100,000 units in its first weekend of availability in the U.S.

From 1995 to 1997 the Saturn became the "other" system, running a distant third behind the Nintendo 64 and the PlayStation. However, it was the preferred system for many arcade and import gamers. Sales of the Saturn would generally spike as new arcade ports were released, but would die off again shortly after. By the end of 1997, Sega had announced that it would develop a successor (the Dreamcast), causing console sales and game releases to drop dramatically.

The Saturn's commercial failure caused Sega to lose US$267.9 million and lay off 30% of its workforce.

Europe

Despite the success of Sega's previous consoles in Europe and although the Sega Saturn was launched in Europe in July 1995—a few months before the newcomer PlayStation's release—the momentum for Sony's console amongst consumers began to build rapidly, stalling Saturn sales in the region. As a result, the Sega Saturn never enjoyed the success it achieved in Japan or even the post-launch hype the machine was awarded in North America, leaving the market almost solely in the competition's hands. By the time that the Nintendo 64 hit European shelves in early 1997, the Saturn's sales had long since stagnated.

The last commercial licensed release in Europe was a survival horror game called ''Deep Fear'', released by Sega Europe in November 1998.

However, support for the Sega Saturn in the UK was bolstered by the successful publication of Sega Saturn Magazine.

Decline

As price drops continued throughout the 32-bit era, the system board design of the Saturn was not as easy to condense in a cost-saving manner and Sega fell behind after price drops offered by Nintendo and Sony. As a marketing strategy, Sega bundled three of its best selling games (''Daytona USA'', ''Virtua Cop'', ''Virtua Fighter 2'') with the system in order to keep the more expensive Saturn competitive with its rivals. This gave the console a boost in sales, but it wasn't enough to cause any significant impact in the console race.

By early 1997, the Saturn was trailing the Nintendo 64 and PlayStation in both North America and Europe to such an extent that senior management began planning a new platform and, by E3 in 1997, had begun talk of the system called the Katana (which would later be named the Dreamcast). Sega of America President Bernie Stolar, who was strongly in favor of the upcoming console, announced "The Saturn is not our [SEGA's] future."

As Sega began public discussion about their next generation system, barely two years after having launched the Saturn, it became a self-defeating prophecy, some citing it as an example of the Osborne effect. This move, combined with Sega's recent history of short-lived consoles, particularly the Sega CD and 32X which were considered ill-conceived "stopgaps" that turned off gamers and developers alike, led to a chain reaction that quickly caused the Saturn's future to collapse. Immediately following the announcement, sales of the console and software substantially tapered off in the second half of 1997, and many planned games were canceled, causing the console's life expectancy to shorten substantially. While this let Sega focus on bringing out its successor, premature demise of the Saturn caused them financial problems. Even though the Dreamcast did address many of the problems with the Saturn, Sega's damaged reputation caused customers and publishers to be skeptical and hold out to see how it would fare against Sony's PlayStation 2.

The aggressive move to replace the Saturn resulted in a rift between Sega and many of their third-party developers and publishers. North American developers were already hostile to the Saturn because it was difficult to program for, and because they were left out by its early release, so the future project alienated what remaining support Sega had in that region. However, many Japanese developers had strongly supported the Saturn in its homeland and saw little reason for Sega to rush another platform to market. The announcement caused a substantial drop in software sales, causing frustrated third parties to cancel many planned releases. The early abandonment of the Saturn hurt third party software support not only for that system, but also for Sega in general. Several major publishers such as Electronic Arts declined to support the upcoming Dreamcast, which played a part in its discontinuation as well.

Several games intended for release in North America or Europe were canceled. These titles include ''Sonic X-treme'', ''Policenauts'' and ''Lunar: Silver Star Story'', the latter two remaining as Japanese market exclusives. Further cancellations in 1998 followed cutting the western release lists down to titles such as ''Steep Slope Sliders'', ''Panzer Dragoon Saga'', ''Burning Rangers'', ''The House of the Dead'', ''Shining Force III'', ''Magic Knight Rayearth'' (North America) and ''Deep Fear'' (Europe).

The Saturn was discontinued in 1998 in most countries, and in 2000 in Japan.

Saturn models

Asian models

In Japan, Sega licensed the rights to produce Saturns to their hardware partners – Hitachi, who provided the CPUs and several other chips, and JVC who produced the CD drives for most models, although functionally identical Sanyo drives were sometimes used. SunSeibu released a model with a seven CD-changer for use in hotels, called the SGX. The concept of a multi-game player for hotel use is very common in Japan.

Marketing techniques

In 1996, Sega started a marketing campaign that featured a naked woman with blonde hair and blue eyes. It used screenshots from the games to cover her breasts and pubic area. It was very successful, and ''Electronic Gaming Monthly'' selected the campaign as the best ad during the 1997 Buyer's Guide.

For a time, Sega mailed out videotapes containing an infomercial advertising its system to potential customers. It ran roughly eight minutes long and featured gameplay footage and a collection of Saturn commercials. It has become somewhat infamous for its bizarre content (a bald woman with a ring around her head, a dancing slacker, etc.). The launch advertising campaign in the United States, titled "The Theater of the Eye", was also in this unusual style, describing psychological effects of playing the Saturn.

One marketing technique used by Sega to promote the Saturn was , a parody of Sanshiro Sugata portrayed by Hiroshi Fujioka. He is a Judo master who tracks down and punishes those who do not play the Sega Saturn. He uses two catch phrases, and , which sound similar to his name. Sanshiro lives as a hermit high on a mountain, devoting his life to intensive Sega Saturn training. He trains physically every day by carrying around a giant Sega Saturn on his back and punching buttons on its giant controller. The character dies in his final commercial, where he sacrifices himself to stop a missile launched at the Tokyo headquarters of Sega. He appears in the games ''Segata Sanshirō Shinken Yūgi'' and ''Rent-a-Hero No. 1'' and was also considered for ''Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing''. He was received with critical acclaim in Japan. The Sanshiro character was originally planned to be in the Dreamcast title Segagaga, but licensing issues prevented this from happening.

Another notable commercial was released right after the Nintendo 64's launch. It consisted of Nintendo 64s launched into the air like clay pigeons and then shot one at a time. It was referred to as a "Pretendo" and at the end of the commercial the narrator said, "Face it Pretendo, you weren't worth waiting for."

During the first year-and-a-half of the Saturn's US life, Sega also had a marketing campaign similar to the one used for the Sega Genesis in the early 1990s, where they would directly attack the PlayStation through a series of aggressive MTV-styled ads. Typically, they would showcase a Saturn exclusive like ''Nights Into Dreams...'' and end with a reminder that such a game was "not on PlayStation." In some advertisements for the core Saturn system, Sega also boasted that the system had two 32-bit processors while the PlayStation only had one.

A device resembling a Saturn appears briefly in ''Neon Genesis Evangelion'' episode 23, with a Sega-badged TV. Sega was a sponsor of the program and the movies. Another device resembling a Saturn also appears briefly in ''You're Under Arrest'' episode 48, with the case opened and being repaired by ''Miyuki''. A Sega Saturn can be seen in the movies, ''Mallrats'', ''First Kid'', and ''Dead man on Campus''. Also in the Jet Li movie ''Black Mask'', Tracy Lee is playing a Sega Saturn with various games while she is being held hostage by Tsui Chik, with two of the games being ''Virtua Fighter'' and ''Darius Gaiden''.

The Sega Saturn was also prominently featured atop Drew Carey's TV in ''The Drew Carey Show'' for some time, even after its discontinuation. Eventually, in Season 6, it was replaced with a Dreamcast. In ''Shenmue'' for the Dreamcast, a Sega Saturn can be seen in Ryo's TV Room in his house, which can be played on later in the game. In ''Choukou Senshi Changerion'', the main character owned a Sega Saturn that was prominently displayed on top of his TV; this was done also because the toys and show were sponsored by Sega. In ''Neon Genesis Evangelion'', Toji Suzuhara and Kensuke Aida are seen with a Sega Saturn, and Asuka Langley Soryu is seen playing a video game with a Sega Saturn-type controller.

Curiously, in the game Alpha Protocol, the protagonist Michael Thorton can find a white Sega Saturn game console below the TV set in his safehouses in Rome and Saudi Arabia.

Accessories

DirectLink

The DirectLink, also known as Link Cable, is a device that enables two Sega Saturns to connect to each other for multiplayer gameplay. The device requires two televisions and two copies of the same game.

Only 8 Games utilize the Link Cable:

Daytona USA (CCE Netlink Edition)

Doom (European and Japanese Versions Only)

Geoblockers

Gungriffon

Hexen (accessed through debug mode)

Steeldom

Virtual On: Cyber Troopers

Wipeout (Japanese Version only).

Action Replay

The Action Replay can be used to change the code of certain games in order to gain access to features not meant to be accessed or to advance further into a game using cheats. It can also back up save files from the Saturn's internal memory, play imported games from any region without any modification to the system, and expand the RAM capacity by 1 Megabyte for certain games.

Arcade Racer

The Arcade Racer is a type of joystick designed after a steering wheel for the Sega Saturn. As the controller is an analog control mechanism instead of the digital input of the standard controller, it possesses a smoother response. It was compatible with games such as ''Virtua Racing'', ''Daytona USA'', ''Sega Rally Championship'' and ''Sega Touring Car Championship''.

3D Pad

The 3D pad was an analog controller, released in 1996 to coincide with the release of Sonic Team's ''Nights into Dreams''. It featured a ball shaped analog stick, replaced the shoulder buttons of the regular Saturn pad with analog triggers, and included a D-pad so that it could also serve as a standard controller. A number of games were compatible including racers such as ''Daytona USA: Champion Circuit Edition'', ''Sega Touring Car Championship'', and Manx TT; first person shooters such as ''Quake'' and ''Doom''; and specialized platform games such as ''Sonic 3D''. Most first-party Saturn games released after the 3D pad were compatible, even games in which analog control has no function, such as ''Shining the Holy Ark''. The 3D pad was also able to emulate the earlier "Mission stick" analogue joystick, and in some cases the arcade racer, allowing for games written to take advantage of the mission stick or arcade racer's analog control to be played using the 3D pad.

Storage Cards

Utilizing the cartridge slot behind the CD drive, Storage cards are inserted to store game information such as high scores and saved game files. This was one of the few accessories for the Sega Saturn to be available to third-party manufacturers.

NetLink

The Sega NetLink was a 28.8k modem that fit into the cartridge slot in the Saturn for direct dial multiplayer. In Japan a now defunct pay-to-play service was used. However, all compatible games work today with the western version because it was direct dial. It could also be used for web browsing. Only five games are compatible with the North American version: Daytona USA (CCE Netlink Edition), Duke Nukem 3D, Saturn Bomberman, Sega Rally (Plus) and Virtual On.

See also

List of Sega Saturn games

References

External links

SEGA Saturn UK Sega Saturn community

SEGA Saturn News Sega Saturn Homebrew News Website

SEGA Saturno Spanish Sega Saturn site

SEGAShiro

Sega Saturn Database

Category:Sega consoles Category:Fifth-generation video game consoles Category:1994 introductions Category:1990s toys

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