EDITOR’S CORNER PODCAST - EP 11: Saturn Collecting with Sega Lord X

Join SaturnDave & Sega Lord X as they discuss collecting for the SEGA Saturn and video game collecting in general...

[@broch.630]

I've definitely given up on widespread collecting, which thankfully ODEs and flash carts have made possible. As SaturnDave suggested, limiting my collection to my favorite franchises or specific games that have a bigger meaning for me has made the act of collecting a lot more affordable and, more importantly, a lot more fun.

[@SEGASATURNSHIRO]

This is THE WAY...

[@MrThunderwing]

Interesting chat lads! I love the description of the Dopamine hit of the whole collecting experience involving the anticipation of the game arriving and the nostalgia of reconnecting with something from your childhood. I've gone through a bit of a phase like this collecting G1 Transformers.

[@neogenesis7706]

I got into collecting sega in 2013. I had a complete genesis collection at one point and have since sold it all except my childhood copy of Sonic 2. The market was just too big and i had bills to pay. I had a decent dreamcast collection sold that. A jvc xeye and a sega cd collection sold that last year and i miss that the most. I started saturn collecting at that point too japanese only. And i havent stopped. Im glad i have most of the heavy hitters at couple hundred not 600. And i know im lucky. I have come to see on the back end of all this that i was much more attatched to the saturn and all its games fill my 2d fighting and shooter tastes. I never got a saturn as a kid. I always wanted one growing up as a genesis kid. Now that i have the library that i play on the regular. Im so happy. And glad i got into it when i did. Moreover im just glad i went japanese saturn because it was alot harder for me to sell locally when the option came to me. Im supremely thabkful for that.

[@vrakula]

I haven't heard anyone say a bad word of Sega Lord X and his videos.. you simply can't disrespect a person with that amount of knowledge and passion. SLX rules!

[@zekb6382]

I really love the podcast, I look forward to more in the future.

[@mkopke]

Great episode and perspectives about collecting.

[@captainhawdon937]

BTW you guys were talking about gaming with the family. I had a blast playing Metal Slug Saturn version with my wife. My family seems to like Vampire Savior, Cotton, and Street Fighter Alpha series too.

[@dlzchaos588]

This one’s gonna be long so strap in. First off this was great to listen to and a lot of truths were spoken here. My main thing here is that I’m 24 years old and I have never owned a Saturn as a kid. We did have a genesis and Dreamcast though so that’s why I love Sega besides from me being a sonic fan. Because of me being a sonic fan I knew about the Saturn growing up because I heard about sonic jam, R, 3D blast Saturn release, and X-treme. I always heard that the Saturn was crap and it was a failure BUT, I actually ended up getting one finally last year. I saw the prices of the games and told myself that it’s pretty much impossible for me to afford the official versions. On top for that I’m not going to support these high prices and I understand why they’re high and I understand how rare some of these games are but I have my limits. I personally believe that 150$ is the max for paying for a game in todays market and if it’s over that then I will go the repro route since I do not have a computer that can handle emulation( my laptop is from 2010 running windows 7 and it’s slow as can be. It barely ran Minecraft). I like to have a physical representation of the game and I like to be able to pull it off of my shelf and pop it into the shame and play it. As someone who has a wife, 3 dogs, and a mortgage that I have to pay I cannot not realistically pay 300+ on a game. The only exceptions is for stuff that really means a lot to me. Buying a repro of a game that’s is of good quality that gives me the complete physical and gameplay experience has allowed, not only me but many others to experience these games the same way they were released years ago and for a much cheaper price. If there are official ways to support sega with a game you actually want then of course go that route. That’ll show them that there is interest in their games. For the most part though I’ll stick to repros of expensive games like burning rangers and panzer saga. Heck some games I don’t recommend even getting the official versions of because fan translations are available which enhances the experience( looking at you shining force 3). I’m playing through the English translations of shining force 3 for the first time ever and I’ve been loving that game. I have to tell myself to get off of the game because I have stuff to do today because it’s just that good and I’m still only on scenario 1. My internet was down when I first started playing it so if it wasn’t for the reproduction manual I had then I wouldn’t have know how to do a few things in the game. Another thing you guys talked about that I wanted to mention is that people talk crap about sega consoles even though they’ve never played any and I 100% agree. I can’t stand when people do that and most of these guys are PlayStation and Nintendo fans. I personally like Sega consoles more than any other console. I mainly play my Saturn and Dreamcast and it’s only when people are over that my Nintendo consoles really get turned on unless my wife wants to play something Nintendo. Actually she didn’t even know that the makers of sonic had their own consoles. Once I showed her some of their stuff she ended up getting me my first SEGA Saturn just as a surprise because she knew I loved SEGA. As someone who was 3 years old when they left the console market I can proudly say that I am a bigger SEGA fan than any other console manufacturer. I can explore their old IP’s and enjoy them and if it wasn’t for SHIRO!, SLX, SSG, Adam Koralik etc. then I wouldn’t have know about a lot of the stuff I know now. Thanks for keeping all of this alive!!

[@gilbertonascimento8008]

I used to play Sega Saturn discs through emulation (SSF) back in 2009, at a relatively decent speed. My setup was a Core 2 Duo 2.2 Ghz with 2Gb of RAM running on Windows Vista. I've heard recent versions of SSF support ISOs.

[@kevinwng]

I really enjoyed seeing the Saturn lounge at PRGE. It was amazing. Thank you!!

[@captainhawdon937]

I love gaming on my CRT. Don't stop praising CRT gaming. Some people don't know what they are missing. Like you guys said some things are worth repeating. Not gatekeeping you are just really happy with your CRT or PVM experience and want to share that. Great show.

[@Rockhead84]

This was a fantastic interview of Sega expert fans talking to Sega expert fans. Fun and informative. Can't wait to get my hands on another Saturn!

[@SEGASATURNSHIRO]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@viewtifuljoe99]

There's a lot of great options for playing Saturn now! I got a friend going with Bulk Slash on a Retroid Pocket 2+ handheld and they loved it.

[@TGApuleius]

I live in a small-ish town near the Gulf of Mexico, and collecting has always been tough. I started using eBay in 98 or so, bought a Saturn game or two with each check (which took forever having to send off cashier's checks first). Prices were largely fine up to 2010, mostly NES stuff that went up. I got a Saturn with Albert Odyssey, Lunacy, and four or five other games for under $100 around 2009. It was very easy to build up a huge Saturn collection up to 2014ish, then I noticed spike after spike. I haven't bought a Saturn game for a few years now. I use everything to play them these days: a busted model 2 got a Rhea, my childhood model's laser went out and got a Phoebe, while my white import still plays discs. Emulators, too, which I prefer for RPGs to not worry about the battery going out and losing saves. NCSX was my main importer back in the '90s, and if I was willing to take a risk, Buy Rite.

[@SEGASATURNSHIRO]

That was an amazing deal for $100!

[@TGApuleius]

@@SEGASATURNSHIRO Whenever I start to think that the prices shot up overnight, I have to remind myself just how long ago that was ... and then the depression sets in, and the aching joints and muscles.

[@shayne1062]

Panzer Dragoon Saga and (thanks to SLX) Decathelete were the last two games I was after for my NA Saturn collection alongside which I was able to pick up at PRGE a couple months back. Once I got home, I started on my Japanese Saturn collection journey, and SLXs videos have been wonderful for recommendations outside of the games I already knew about and was excited for. I got a CIB Hi-Saturn and a handful of games to get me going, and my wife and I have been duking it out in X-Men vs Street Fighter over Christmas and New Years. Honestly, SLX videos have been one of the very few cases where I watch every one, and it's been wonderful to find a place and space to get hype about all things Sega!

[@RetroSpectors]

1:00:20 "ebay vs offerup vs flea market vs garage sale" "oh lord...." LOL

[@retrogroovtv]

i agree going the ODE route for saturn is the best way to go !

[@phazayus4041]

Gotta say I was in a livestream of yours (a year ago or so?) and I mentioned I was using a level hike with my saturn and you let me know in a not so suddle kinda way of the error of my ways lol. Now I rock the rad2x with my saturn and I'm thankful for the knowledge! In all honesty some things that may come off as gate keeperish I view as informative as someone who still is learning when it comes to this hobby. But one thing I did notice with level hike 1. They lead to audio issues due to overheating I had to take my first one apart re sauder the connections. 2 colors are off 3. Input delay. Rad 2x seems to be very good for sega saturn and model 1 genesis. BTW I also have a mode in my dreamcast but I output VGA natively into my TV ( my TV has a vga connection it's older) what do I do about games that will not run in vga? Anyway to play them? Love the Shiro show and slx btw! Rock on!

[@SEGASATURNSHIRO]

Yeah, the Level Hike looks fine on the title screen, but the problem is when you start playing the actual game... It's not pretty. Folks are often impressed though, because it may be the first time they've seen true RGB from the Saturn, and that by itself is eye catching... Anyway, I don't want anything I say to take away from the enjoyment that folks have with these games. As for the Dreamcast, MODE is definitely the way to go, and it can often force VGA on games that don't support it, though there are the outliers like Bangai-O that just don't work very well when forced... Folks in the community are working to patch this in certain games, so I recommend following the Dreamcast junkyard and asking there...

[@phazayus4041]

@@SEGASATURNSHIRO thankyou for the response. yes it is only a few games that refuse to work via force vga mode i will deffinetly be on the look out for patches! and yes the levelhike fooled me as a noob (atleast as a noob getting into the upscaler aspect of the hobby its quite confusing at first) but im quite content with rad2x(S) for my sega consoles along with my retrotink 2x pro'(s) for my nintendo consoles.

[@HadoukenX]

Couch coop is the way to go! That's the era I grew up in. 😎

[@jankmedia1985]

What a good podcast, I really appreciate the candidness in how you both approached certain topics; collecting and the absurd prices, using emulators is fine, going the ODE route, don't gatekeep, etc. There's a Saturn community on the internet, I won't say which one but my Lord, it is largely just shelf collectors and gate keepers. Anytime someone posts something they're proud of, the comments just neg the OP and critique the shit out of everything. It's so embarrassing.

[@sasquatchintime]

Nintendo definitely broke the digital system for me with tying digital games to the console and not the Network ID (back in the Wii days). Granted I should've known the process better before I gave my Wii away, but not having the original console and not being able to transfer my massive Virtual Console library to my new Wii was devastating. Nintendo refused to help and it has left a permanent apprehension towards digital. Even through all of that, I do appreciate what Microsoft has done with the digital space and Nintendo has improved it's ID system, so for many of the reasons you guys covered here (sales, exclusively, convenience and now Series S ownership) I still buy digital. Gaming is an evolver, and us Saturn Fans are survivalist experts. Embrace what you love and keep playing.

[@MasaCheez]

MS isn't any better. They locked my account about 2 years ago for violating their terms of service. I'm in my 40s and hardly ever game anymore let alone game online. My account went back to the OG Xbox and had easily 15k worth of titles. I'll never trust digital again, from anyone.

[@sasquatchintime]

@@MasaCheez Ouch, that's rough. Digital is such a finicky beast, and just like you said, one thing can change your collection drastically. I still have my old physical collections and don't see those changing unless I have to, but digital being such a fragile monstrosity, it's definitely a crushing blow when it gets altered.

[@MasaCheez]

@@sasquatchintime yeah I've reverted basically to entirely physical and moved over to Nintendo for the most part. The only caveats to that are when something is less than $5 digital and I really want to play it.

[@hotcoffeebreath]

I like SLX's technique of transforming boxed --> clamshell (1:17:00) ...I would love to see some photos shared if you have some, Mel?

[@SEGASATURNSHIRO]

Nice screen name. Hilarious! 😆

[@hotcoffeebreath]

@@SEGASATURNSHIRO 😂 👍

[@robmason5799]

I collected sega Saturn from 98-2004. Ended up with imports and collected the entire us library complete. Had to sell at the end of 2004 for rent and Christmas gifts. Biggest regret. I play now using burned disc

[@jankmedia1985]

I got NA RE for like $50, maybe less. Albert Odyssey too. This was 2009-2010. PDS was only $300 then too. Current prices are laughably outrageous. I buy Japanese games from time to time but Satiator is the only route at this point for me.

[@hypersonic8917]

Is it just me or did anyone have RacketBoy ignite their interest in collecting? Reading his blog posts about rare gems, most valuable games, and great games for cheap really opened my eyes up to the hobby of collecting and got me my start.

[@SEGASATURNSHIRO]

Yup! That's another good one I just forgot to mention.

[@aaronking9332]

They must've been unlucky with their satiators...I've had 3 satiators (1st one was maybe a month after release)in 3 different Saturns with 3 different 4 in ones with whatever memory card i had laying around at the time...maybe they got the first of the first that had some sort of issue. A few games had issues loading in the rings menu but they loaded fine in the bare bones menu

[@SEGASATURNSHIRO]

Yeah, both SLX and I got ours the day they went on sale, and they gave us problems for months, while Patrick and Nick's had no issues whatsoever. Still, mine's been fine for the past couple years, so no worries... -Dave

[@MasaCheez]

It's funny to me that the voice of SLX has become damn near synonymous with my nostalgia for gaming. I'm a 90's gamer through and through. Fun episode!

[@RaydinAE11]

I hate when individuals complain about Neo Geo CD loading times when they never had one. If you grew up in that time, it's not that bad. I also remember in the mid 90s gaming magazines had advertisements for import companies. You had to call and order over the phone and give out your credit card....

[@SEGASATURNSHIRO]

I've done a side-by-side of Metal Slug on my PlayStation and my Neo Geo CDZ, and they're basically neck and neck in terms of load time. (I do imagine the base unit is slower, though I don't have one to test).

[@RaydinAE11]

@SEGA SATURN, SHIRO! I have the one before the Z and it's not that slow. It may be slower than but it's not mind-blowing bad.

[@aaronking9332]

I would disagree that Saturn emulation is such a slam dunk...pretty higher end laptop running RetroArch beetle, yabause, or yabasanshiro on a top of the line snapdragon pick your favorite: yes you can get higher resolutions and maybe 70% of games play fairly well but i still run into plenty of audio ticks and sometimes one of the vdp's act up, save states randomly disappear...this makes it sound like it's so easy but it's a long way from the near perfect 16bit and mame emulation, playstation, Dreamcast even is way easier than saturn. I find Saturn emulation needs a little more messing around with settings, different emulators better on certain games etc. I use them but Saturn is still the most problematic of any major system through 2000 in my opinion...which is probably the main reason Saturn is my only real physical system...oh yeah and can't beat playing virtual on with the Saturn twin stick or the stunners on Virtua cop etc.