CNET: Sega Saturn is the worst major console of all time
Seriously, Sega Saturn the worst console of all time?! Did Don Reisinger even own a Saturn? He basically said that Saturn was to blame for Sega pulling from the hardware industry.
That isn’t fair, for the Saturn and all the great games that came out for it. This is Sega’s own fault for making bad decisions. We don’t judge consoles on corporate decisions, we judge them on games. Now that I have disagreed with this part of the article lets move on.
The sad part is, that I played the Sega Saturn more than my Nintendo 64, Gamecube, and Wii combined.
Amazingly, only two Saturn games sold over 1 million copies — Virtua Fighter 2 and Grandia. Aside from those, the Saturn quickly became the cesspool of gaming.
So now it the quality of the game is determined by the number of units it sold? Seriously, so he is saying that Zack and Wiki sucks compared to Madden 08? He should have at least brought up review scores.
After all, can anyone actually name 30 great games they played on the console?
Yeah, I can since I have actually played and owned a Sega Saturn.
- Panzer Dragoon
- Panzer Dragoon Zwei
- Panzer Dragoon Saga
- Fighters Megamix
- NiGHTS into dream…
- Street Fighter vs Marvel
- Astal
- Burning Rangers
- Shining Force III
- Policenauts
- Virtua Fighter
- Virtua Fighter 2
- Daytona USA
- Sega Rally
- Virtua Cop
- Virtua Cop 2
- Grandia
- Dead or Alive
- Bomberman
- Dragon Force
- Guardian Heroes
- Metal Slug
- Die Hard Arcade
- Virtual On
- Waku Waku 7
- House of the Dead
- Shinobi Legions
- Clockwork Knights
- Last Bronx
- Fighting Vipers
All these titles are available outside of Japan. Now, don’t get me started on the Japan only list or we will be here forever. All these games came out in about two and a half to three years. Can you name thirty great 3DO, Atari Jaguar, Virtual Boy, CD-I, or Neo Geo games?
[via the forums]
Tags: Fan Stuff, George, SaturnPOSTED IN: News
39 opinions for CNET: Sega Saturn is the worst major console of all time
segaprophet
Jan 30, 2008 at 6:02 pm
Outrageous, Saturn was my first console and I’ll always regard it fondly . .
thunderscope
Jan 30, 2008 at 6:19 pm
I agree that all those consoles are far worse than the Saturn, however none are MAJOR consoles, which cnet is referring to
udx
Jan 30, 2008 at 6:24 pm
*smacks head on the wall many times*
I swear, CNet’s reputation is sinking really low since the Jeff Gertsmann situation.
George
Jan 30, 2008 at 6:26 pm
I have to disagree, major meaning a big company and Atari is a big company.
I could name, maybe 5 games I thought where really great on N64.
ribbitking17
Jan 30, 2008 at 6:46 pm
I think this kid likes the wikipedia.
All that he said is what the wiki page says, and it really doesn’t appear that he has played a saturn.
khancharsi
Jan 30, 2008 at 6:50 pm
this shithead has no idea what he’s talking about. Saturn was a gem and only a few lucky one got to own it. There is no experience like panzer dragoon saga out there.
Machenstein
Jan 30, 2008 at 7:46 pm
About that list… you forgot Astal. That’s all I wanted to say.
zoopKid
Jan 30, 2008 at 7:58 pm
Nice rebuttal to this CNET article. While I never owned a Saturn, i highly regarded it as being a worthy Sega console. I used to work at a video game rental store and the Saturn was a very popular system rental, rivaling the PlayStation in popularity, until MORE games started coming out on the PSone.
Bad CNET… first the Gerstmann fiasco, now hating on Sega. What’s next?
Emmett The Crab
Jan 30, 2008 at 8:03 pm
This guy’s an idiot.
Maybe he has this opinion because there were some 3rd party games that were really bad, because they didn’t know how to program for its complex hardware.
Raidens Huge Laser
Jan 30, 2008 at 8:22 pm
L. O. L.
Dumb.
Stupid.
Sega Saturn was fantastic.
Bryan
Jan 30, 2008 at 8:29 pm
I think the inherent problem with this guy is that nothing he says is an “I think” or “My opinion is” statement, so no matter what he does, he’s gonna have people pissed at him. I might (and probably would) say the XBOX is the worst major console of all time, but that would be my opinion, and I’d be sure to note that. This guy acts like everything he’s saying is fact, he needs to quit it.
nuckles87
Jan 30, 2008 at 9:27 pm
This is fucking OUTRAGOUES.
As if their various hate articles regarding PS3 and Wii wheren’t bad enough, now they are assing on SATURN?!
For the love of God! The Sega Saturn is probably the most underrated console of ANY generation, bar maybe the Neo Geo Pocket. The game didn’t have AS MANY great games as it’s competitors (Playstation anyway) but it easily had most of the best and most creative and most groundbreaking games of it’s generation. I’ll take quality over quantity anyday, thank you, CNet. NiGHTS into Dreams alone makes the console worth owning, and lets not even get started on Panzer Dragoon, Shining Force, Burning Rangers, Dragon Force, Daytona USA, Sega Rally, and all the other great games that can be found on the console.
Articles like these make me sick. They just show how low and unproffesional gaming journalism is. At they VERY LEAST, Saturn’s library can go toe to toe with the N64. It may not have been as popular, but it was as sure as hell awesome. Crushed the Gamecube, easily. It may have done better then the Saturn, but THAT was a “main console” with an incredibly weak library. It only had a handful of ground breaking games, and most of the games where ported over to the PS2 in less then a year. Indeed, it’s only stand out titles where the Metroid Prime series.
Pathetic, CNet. Forget the overblown Gertsmann fiasco, they’ve been assy like this for awhile now. Never thought they’d do it to Sega though…
nuckles87
Jan 30, 2008 at 9:28 pm
By the way, replace Radiant Silvergun with Astal or Mr. Bones. It was a Japanese only title.
cube_b3
Jan 30, 2008 at 10:30 pm
So what is the worst Sega Console?
Technically the 32x and CD don’t qualify as consoles as they are unoperatable on there own, without the genesis they do not work therefore if they suck, they just bring the Genesis down.
Am I correct?
Kokomadeta
Jan 30, 2008 at 10:43 pm
Should we, as a community, write a letter or something? I don’t think we’re just being Sega Nerds here, we’re honestly providing a viable rebuttle to the article written. Naming 30 great games on the system was a breeze. I can’t do that for the N64 or PS1/2, and it’s impossible to do it for the Wii, PS3, Jaguar, Atari 2600, Virtual Boy, and others. I hope then that Dreamcast, Gamecube, and Xbox 360 were named the 3 best systems. Saturn was, and still is, a great system. I’ve been playing it more than my Wii and 360 combined recently. For crying out loud, I didn’t even boot up a game in my 360 until the 25th this year (since last year)! But I’ve played my Saturn about twice a week for 2 months recently, and my Dreamcast 4 days a week this month alone.
Shut up CNET, you don’t know what you’re talking about anyway. What’s next? Are you going to call the iPod the best digital audio device ever? Are you going to declare Sony ruler of the electronics world? How much are you being paid to trash Sega?
nuckles87
Jan 30, 2008 at 10:56 pm
Sega Game Gear is Sega’s worst console. It kinda felt like their Gamecube to me. Some nice titles, but very few really cool ones.
George
Jan 30, 2008 at 11:13 pm
Thanks for the correction guys, I just fixed it.
STORM!
Jan 30, 2008 at 11:33 pm
?????
They are CRAZY!!They are talking about sale???I cant understand….Saturn was the BEST SELLER Sega’ console in Japan.Have a LOT of amazing titles.
I think this guys wants attention…
Graham
Jan 31, 2008 at 1:11 am
Well I guess I could show my outrage, but it seems like you all have done so well already. :)
I’ll just go by saying I own about 50 Sega Saturn titles - and I think they are all great. And I own more “brilliant” games on my Saturn than any other system.
P.S - nuckles87, you’re wrong about the GameGear. If anything the Mastersystem was Sega’s worst console. The GameGear had better versions of MS games, plus a ton of exclusives and even some games were better than Megadrive versions (take a look at G-Loc).
radrappy
Jan 31, 2008 at 1:37 am
The Saturn’s games had a fanciful quality to it that no longer exists in games for the most part. Even the not so great games were incredibly appealing (Robo pit anyone?) The 64 had it too. The playstation, felt completely souless to me and still does. The same could be said for the Ps3 and 360. They’re so dedicated to providing mature, realistic, online competitive experiences, they seem completely indifferent to anything else.
To put down the saturn as the worst system ever is a truly depressing. It had high quality games, was a financial failure and now is getting kicked in the teeth for it? Especially when this guy never even owned one.
City Hunter
Jan 31, 2008 at 6:21 am
Saturn the worst console of alla time?
Don’t make me laught.
It had some of the most beautiful game of the 32 bit era…
The real worst console of alla time?
I would have said N64 some times ago, but now it’s Wii.
ratix240sx
Jan 31, 2008 at 8:14 am
Hey now just because this guy is obviously a sony fanboy, doesn’t mean you need to bring the NeoGeo into it.
dragoon
Jan 31, 2008 at 8:43 am
It’s pathetic.
I loved my dreamcast, had a great deal of great moments between panzer dragoon, virtua fighter 2 and nights.
Going to digg down for inaccuracy…
F-Unit
Jan 31, 2008 at 9:14 am
N64 is generally the most overrated system ever IMO, but that’s me. Saturn wasn’t the best by far, but I wouldn’t be so quick to call it the worst. Then again I hear it was a b**** to program for, so in that sense…but in terms of games, oh haiiiiiil na.
F-Unit
Jan 31, 2008 at 9:16 am
And I can easily name more than 30 games worth playing, so if anyone’s serious about responding to that article I’m down.
ChaosAngelZero
Jan 31, 2008 at 9:49 am
I’d replace Clockwork Knight with it’s second installment in that list, the first one was pretty crappy but the second is brilliant.
Other than that I agree with most of what you people previously said, but we shouldn’t be as simple-minded as to think “big sales mean good games”, or the complete opposite. There were many good games for Neo Geo, the original Xbox, the 360 and even the TurboGrafx-16, though I don’t know much that are really must-plays for the GameCube.
Of course, it’s not that easy to blame a company’s demise on its very decisions instead of a single product that was the direct victim of said decisions.
Simon
Jan 31, 2008 at 10:24 am
So I’ve been playing solely with the worst major console of all time for a month ? Thank you for the news, CNET, I tought Daytona CCE or Panzer Dragoon Zwei were fun, but now I can see the light…
This is a clear indication of the state of the videogame industry since Sega gave up the hardware fight. Any good looking HD game selling a large number of copies is by definition a good game having a chance to receive a GOTY award. Looking at the list of games coming in 2008, I have a very hard time finding anything else than souless sequels or copycats. So I’ll stay in my Saturn/Dreamcast world, thank you (By the way, I had and sold a PS2, Xbox and Gamecube, so I tried to get out of it).
Neal
Jan 31, 2008 at 1:22 pm
This C-net article was horrible, and just one more reason I’m hating the current video game market. Everybody out there seems to think quality is less important than quantity. And while theres no ignoring the fact that Sega of America made some questionable decisions when it came to the Saturn, that wasn’t the console’s fault. The article should be titled “Why the Saturn is the major console with possibly the worst US support.”
I was the kid with the Saturn back in middle school, while all my friends had N64s and Playstations, and I can state that we played just as much Virtua Fighter 2 as we did Tekken 2 or Goldeneye. We just played what was fun and didn’t concern ourselves with console image or popularity.
And whats with all this hate on the Gamecube in these comments?
Ghaleon
Jan 31, 2008 at 1:24 pm
Weak. Saturn is still the most fun I had of any console.
Plus it was the last generation of the “old guard” — 2-D overdrive power; exceedingly creative, genre-busting games; arcade hits; BLUE SKIES; snappy, well-composed videogame soundtracks (as opposed to RAP and LIKE A FILM SCORE BUT SHIT of today). Makes me so sad.
Saturn owners were the few and the proud. The top Saturn games have aged much better most of the PSX hits, as well.
nuckles87
Jan 31, 2008 at 2:01 pm
@ Graham: Name titles. I’ve had fun with Game Gear, but nothing I’ve played measures up to what I’ve played on other consoles.
@ Neal: Gamecube is the worst console I’ve owned. Being that the Wii is my favorite this generation, I say that with confidence. You can’t name 10 exclusive must play titles on the console, as most of it’s best exclusives where ported to the PS2. There really isn’t much to play on the console compared to any other major console in history.
dagore91
Jan 31, 2008 at 2:18 pm
This console its greats!!! The best!!! :P
paly
Jan 31, 2008 at 2:32 pm
the saturn had a lot going on and brought lots of great franchise from sega …
saturn and dreamcast are my fave consoles and really show sega’s development creativity and what sega was capable of this is what i was comenting on sega not being recognized for their creative efford, they should be recognized more about what they did for the industry mostly what we se today is a copy of what sega and nintendo healthy competition and true development creativity show in the past so…
its sad but anywya i dont care … sega is out of teh business …. but why not mention atari jaguar … wierd
Kokomadeta
Jan 31, 2008 at 4:44 pm
Looks like we, as a community, don’t need to write a letter or anything in order to get a good point across…
http://blogs.cnet.com/8601-13506_1-9861122.html?communityId=2017&pageNum=2
pzykotikjp just kicked his non-gaming face in (in other words, read his post).
Neal
Jan 31, 2008 at 6:04 pm
nuckles87:
I recognize that a “must play” to one person isn’t a “must play” to another person, but lets see if I can name 10 exclusives. Quite a few of these are multiplayer games
Wind Waker
Metroid Prime
Metroid Prime 2
Smash Bros. Melee
Mario Kart: Double Dash
Mario Sunshine
Zelda: Four Swords Adventures
Resident Evil Zero*
Eternal Darkness*
Paper Mario 2*
*recommended by friends, so I can’t claim how good they are myself, but reviews were positive
In addition to exclusives, the Cube had great ports of Dreamcast games as well, which helped bring them to a wider audience:
Sonic adventure 2: Battle (with more multiplayer levels)
Sonic Adventure DX
Skies of Arcadia Legends
Ikaruga (only official US release)
Sonic Gems (only released in US on gamecube)
Not to mention updates of other games that were exclusive to the cube, like the Resident Evil 1 update and the Ocarina of Time Master Quest.
Cube also had the best version of Soul Calibur 2 - and I have played all three versions, and the best version of Sonic Heroes.
Additionally the cube had the sweet GBA Player adapter, which I love and use to this day. Playing games like Sonic Advance, Metroid Fusion, Ninja Five-O and Advance Wars on a television screen is pretty awesome in my opinion.
Theres more great cube gems out there, but if it isn’t your thing then it isn’t your thing. I just feel like the Cube is Nintendo’s version of the Saturn - generally overlooked despite having some awesome games and ideas.
pakkitman
Jan 31, 2008 at 6:06 pm
Virtual Boy…
CaptainUlt
Jan 31, 2008 at 7:50 pm
to nuckles87, you rock.
The GCN and Saturn need more respect.
eday_2010
Feb 4, 2008 at 2:18 pm
Who cares what this guy says? It’s obvious from reading that article as well as the one on the SNES that he doesn’t really know anything. At all. That’s probably why he works at CNET. They do own GameSpot afterall.
SaturnMan
Mar 6, 2008 at 2:41 am
This is crazy. Saturn wasn’t the worst console. There’s loads more crap out there. Jaguar anyone?
The Saturn has loads of great games especially from Japan…i’ve finished many Japanese RPG even with the language barrier… :)
And why the dissing of PS1 i detected here? PS1 was a great console as well, in fact the best RPG machine ever beating out PS2 by a long shot.
I would have voted XBOX worst console ever if it wasn’t for Ninja Gaiden (and the fact i can mod it to become a mini media centre). There’s nothing exclusive on that console worth playing other than that.
Personally, i hate Dreamcast the most…it was good for Soul Calibur and nothing else. And it’s mainly becoz SEGA wasted my investment by dumping the DC just one year after i bought a DC…and there’s not even Japanese support like the Saturn have.
arcadegamingforever
May 12, 2008 at 1:45 am
Great Saturn Games
NiGHTS: Into Dreams
Christmas NiGHTS
Panzer Dragoon
Panzer Dragoon Zwei
Panzer Dragoon Saga
Radiant Silvergun
Soukyugurentai
Gunbird
Waku Waku 7
Samurai Spirits IV
Street Fighter Zero
Street Fighter Zero 2
Street Fighter Zero 3
Vampire Saviour
X-Men vs Street Fighter
Marvel vs Street Fighter
Princess Crown
Sakura Wars
Sakura Wars 2
Langrisser III
Langrisser IV
King of Fighters ‘95
King of Fighters ‘96
Metal Slug
Astal
Guardian Heroes
Shining Force III (count that as three games)
Shining the Holy Ark
Dragon Force
Dragon Force 2
Lunar
Sega Rally
Virtua Fighter
Virtua Fighter 2
Demon Castle Dracula X: Nocturne in the Moonlight
That’s more than thirty right there. Whatever your opinion of the Saturn’s lacklustre European and North American incarnation, to deny the Saturn’s place in gaming history is absurd.
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