Sega Saturn

The Sega Saturn , whose name in Japanese is writtenセ ガ サ, is a video game console conceived by Sega as the successor to the  Sega Mega Drive / Genesis . Its launch, which came hastily a few weeks before  PlayStation was released, was one of the reasons why its games were not as good quality as those of its competition. Initially released in 1994, the  Sega Saturn was a game console based on a compact disc.32-bit. This console was a key piece in what is now known as the fifth generation of video game consoles. The Saturn was first launched on November 22, 1994 in Japan, May 11, 1995 in North America, and July 8, 1995 in Europe.

History of the Sega Saturn

The Sega Saturn could be described as one of the Sega company’s most successful consoles of all time or it could be seen as one of its biggest commercial failures, especially in North America . Despite being a very powerful console for the time in which it was developed, its hardware was too complex and suffered from a great inability to meet the expectations and demands of consumers who quickly placed it in a distant third place. in the western world . However, a combination of 2D sprite games, 3D arcades, and strong marketing campaigns to benefit the Sega console made it more successful in Japan .

Sega Saturn Features

Some of its most important features are:

• It is used to play video games .
• It had little success in the United States and Europe .
• In Brazil and Japan it was very successful.
• It was succeeded by the Dreamcast on November 27, 1998
• It has two processors Hitachi SH2 7604 of 32 bits RISC to 28.6 Megahertz with an integrated cache of 4 KiB each one of them.
• Has one processor Hitachi SH1 32bit RISC 20MHz which is responsible for controlling the functions of the CD-ROM reader.
• It has 32-bit VDP 2 (same features as VDP 1).
• Processor sound Motorola 68EC000.
• 24-bit 22.6MHz Yamaha FH1 Digital Signal Processor (DSP).
• 4-bit Hitachi MCU processor, “System Manager & Peripheral Control” (SMPC).

Models

There are different models of Sega Saturn and their presentation varies in shape and color. The differences between the systems are not as drastic as the Sega Mega Drive : the same basic set of features and the same component designs were used throughout the life of the console in all regions. The main models are:

• HST-3200 / HST-3210 : First seen on launch day in Japan, the HST-3200 is commonly known as the  gray Saturn and was the basis for all Sega Saturns released between the Japanese launch and early 1996. These they use blue buttons mounted on black plastic on the front of the unit and have ” power ” and ” access ” LEDs similar to the Sega Mega-CD.
• HST-3220 : It was launched in March 1996, and it is presented as the only significant change in the Saturn design. The only feature that changed was the LED “access” that had the previous models with the aim of attracting a public more young and female . They were probably easier to build and sold at a lower price, but from a user point of view the change is negligible: the console was the same size and has no problem running any Saturn software.

Sega Saturn Featured Games

Some of the most prominent and popular Sega Saturn games are as follows:

• Panzer Dragoon and Panzer Dragoon II Zwei
• Virtua Fighter 2
• Nights into Dreams
• Sega Rally Championship
• Guardian heroes
• Deep fear
• Shining Force III
• Sonic R
• Dragon force
• Daytona USA: Championship Circuit Edition
• Burning Rangers

Curiosities

• One of the most curious models is the one that SunSeibu manufactured was for Japanese hotels, those that operated on the basis of coins .
• Games could be saved on 3.5 ″ floppy disks so Hitachi released a disk drive that stayed in Japan.
• Another use for the Sega Saturn’s expansion port was to access the Internet through Net Link .
• Some titles did not have regional protection and could be played without having to modify the console.