TOP 15 Sega Saturn Racing Games

I didn't realise I could have so much fun playing an almost 30 year old 3D system, today we are looking at the top 15 Sega Saturn Racing games.

[@shinra2755]

Sega Rally is one of the best games ever made.

[@thegamelounge659]

Agreed! 💪🏻

[@notturok7841]

Scorcher is beautiful. The soundtrack is amazing. I would play this for hours to beat it on hard . And would master the first person aspect on tracks. So immersive

[@thegamelounge659]

Agreed, the style of the game is amazing. It really sets a tone and keeps it

[@PSXGamingMemories]

Excellent list & great video. There are some great racing games here i agree. I mainly grew up in the 90s with the PlayStation but never got the chance to own or play any games on the Saturn but when i was collecting games a few years back i when & bought a console and a load of games & there are some incredible titles on the system with the racing games being among my favourites. I totally agree with Sega Rally at no1 as i did manage to play this in the arcade quite a bit & the Saturn version is epic, i still go back to play this often as its just so good and as enjoyable as ever. It is a true timeless masterpiece for sure.

[@thegamelounge659]

Thanks for the kind comment. Glad you enjoyed the list. I 100% agree with everything you say. The PSX is an incredible system but the Saturn was unique and had some special games

[@Mx64MaxyImpress]

Sega Rally just timeless classic

[@thegamelounge659]

Yep, still great today!

[@LucianTheWorldGamer]

Another excellent video, there are some games I never heard, like that Scorcher weird thing ahahah

[@thegamelounge659]

Hey Lucian, thanks very much. Appreciate the comment. Yeah Scorcher is a strange one. It’s a fun game though

[@oldschooldriver]

Love old racing games!

[@thegamelounge659]

I wasn’t expecting to enjoy playing these as much as I did!

[@Al8lack]

Good list and a great video, thanks for putting it together. Such a shame they never released the original Sega Rally on the 360/PS3, as they did with Daytona. Easily one of the best arcade racers of all time. I still find it hard to believe how close the Saturn conversation was to the arcade.

[@thegamelounge659]

Thanks, yes they did a fantastic conversion with Sega Rally. They did port it to the PS2 which isn’t a bad version.

[@Al8lack]

@@thegamelounge659 That's true, I'd forgotten about the PS2 version!

[@thegamelounge659]

Yeah it plays really well actually but it’s a straight model 2 port. Lacks the extras of the Saturn versio

[@BlueEyedVibeChecker]

@@Al8lack The PC CD/DVD version is cheap these days and is a straight port of the Saturn version for anyone who wants to play it. I picked one up recently myself and can confirm it still works on Windows 10, and with a controller/steering wheel.

[@Al8lack]

@@BlueEyedVibeChecker Good to know, thanks. I still play the Saturn version occasionally (on original hardware). An amazing port.

[@volkte37]

Fun video, try to cut down on the ums and ahhs though! Shutokou Battle 97 definitely deserves to make the top 10, it's soooo good!

[@thegamelounge659]

Thanks Martin, yes this was actually put together in 1 day. No script, so I have to think about what I am going to say. I just started playing Saturn games and thought it would make a good list. I think nostalgia comes into it. I didn’t play SB 97 when the console was active. So view it as positivly. Unlike Hardcore 4x4 which is a terrible game. But I loved!

[@AaronHendu]

I had a weird appreciation for Scorcher. At first I thought it looked dumb, but rented it more and more and eventually bought it.

[@thegamelounge659]

Totally with you there, it’s slowly grown on me over the years. It wasn’t even a game I looked at when the Saturn was out

[@gleful262]

Drift king 97 prequal was translated into highway 2000 fwi for other genki fans

[@thegamelounge659]

Nice, thanks for the ckmment

[@gundstaff]

Of these games, only Metropolis would be able to compete in visual quality with racing games released for the Playstation. Gran Turismo and Ridge Racer for PS1 make the Saturn look like it's from the stone age.

[@thegamelounge659]

I agree the PSX, in particular GT had the edge, but you can’t deny SEGA Rally was a pretty incredible game for the system. It looks great.

[@gundstaff]

@@thegamelounge659 I sometimes think about purchasing a Saturn, but not for racing games, but in arcade games today we can play many in their original versions on MAME, so there is little that can be used exclusively on the Saturn. At the time I was frustrated because I didn't have one and today I'm frustrated because he wasn't what I expected.

[@bizarroeddie1]

at least half of these are available on Playstation and very similar to what they look here. So, hardly all that difference.

[@Darth001]

Daytona USA was graphically rubbish but like also house of the dead on the system it played really close to the arcade original. I owned a Saturn during the day for the marvel Vs games. As they were really close again to the arcade original. Playing them round friends who had them on psx I could tell they were rubbish and not compare to Saturn. Saturn MK2 pad was best for fighting games aswel. Only reason I got a psx was for English release of suikoden and the final fantasy games as I started to love RPG games back then

[@thegamelounge659]

100%, I think the true value of Saturn and its 2D capabilities has only really been realised many years later. For anyone who wasn’t gaming in the 90’s though ports like SEGA Rally were truly incredible.

[@CasperEgas]

Daytona CE (Japanese) is a very good one. Much better than the Western CCE. It also has great link up play. Road Rash is also one of my favourites.

[@thegamelounge659]

Yes I decided to go with 1 game per series but the Japanese version is better than the CCE, totally agree.

[@slashrose3287]

@@thegamelounge659 Actually i remember the Netlink US version is the best one, it includes all jap CCE "fix" and more.

[@thegamelounge659]

I did not know that. Thanks!

[@costumeninja1914]

Jap version of Daytona CE has improved visuals over the American version of CCE. Also, Sega Rally (Jap) is superior visually to the Western releases.

[@user-cs9fc9ws3j]

Game over yeeeaaaaah

[@thegamelounge659]

Legendary!

[@richwilde6550]

Great vid!.

[@thegamelounge659]

Thanks Rich, appreciate the comment.

[@richwilde6550]

@@thegamelounge659 was interesting to see hard core in there. I got it for my Saturn in 1998 when games were getting difficult to find. I always really enjoyed it despite its shortcomings.

[@thegamelounge659]

Yeah I’m with you there. Liked the bumpy terrain. Simple visuals. It is not well regarded but I enjoyed it

[@BigGainer98]

Got Sega Rally Championship for $5. Will arrive soon.

[@thegamelounge659]

Nice, the game holds up today in my opinion. Hope you enjoy it

[@NoriboshiArielle]

Power Drift was on the Y Board, not System 32. Other than that, great video! I've been wanting a Saturn for myself.

[@thegamelounge659]

Ahh I should have fact checked myself. I just assumed System32 😂 Thanks, more and more people seem to be picking up Saturns nowadays.

[@igorpoco2420]

Actually, there is Power Drift on 3DS in 3D.

[@thegamelounge659]

I did not know that, good to know 👍🏻

[@deadagain222]

I'm wondering where the Ion RL in the thumbnail is from

[@thegamelounge659]

You mean the car in the thumbnail? What’s an Ion RL?

[@simonhouel1984]

The Need For Speed should be way higher IMO. A lot of tracks and cars for the pre-Gran Turismo era. But yes, Sega Rally - Wipe Out 2097 - Daytona USA are the top 3 racing games on the Saturn ; in any order. Destruction Derby was actually pretty good. I may recall wrongly but I believe Tunnel B1 was ported on the Saturn and it was kinda racing games.

[@thegamelounge659]

Need For Speed I never played when it originally came out so maybe that’s why I don’t rate it as highly, lack of nostalgia but it is a great game. I really need to try it more. I never played the Saturn conversion of Destruction Derby. I always heard it was a terrible port and avoided it. Maybe I should give it a go.

[@simonhouel1984]

@@thegamelounge659 Once you'll get the bonus car, you'll discover a whole new game. For DD, yes it was much better on the PS and Saturn never saw the 2 which was a good mix between Daytona and DD.

[@thegamelounge659]

Nice, I’ll have to jump in and play it some More. The Saturn version of DD is actually super cheap. May have to try it. Can’t be worse than DOOM on Saturn

[@simonhouel1984]

@@thegamelounge659 True ! And while you're at it, have a look at Digital Pinball and Cyber Trooper : Virtual On Not racing games but I bet you'll havr a good time !

[@kenshirootomo6993]

I have not played all the games on your list, but many of them... For me Scorcher is better than MANX TT, Sonic R and even better than wipeout... I played trough the six levels of the game with a first person perspective and the game runs even better... The visuals are awesome (some of my friends tought it was a Dreamcast game). It took me 6 months playing the game 5 out of 7 days a week to finally finish the sixth level at second place.. I still play the game when I want to play something hyper fast.

[@thegamelounge659]

Thanks so much for the comment. It’s interesting, Scorcher is a game that certainly didn’t get enough attention during the Saturns run. The amount of people I have spoken to that discovered the game late and loved it. It certainly has a steep learning curve.

[@kenshirootomo6993]

@@thegamelounge659 I bught it since day one.. To this day I still play it and it is the only racing game that gives me a headache after playing it on first person view for 3 hours in a row.. And I have many newer games like WIPEOUT on PS4

[@roberto1519]

These videos are interesting, but I think the title should be "My Top..." instead of a generalization of "Top Insert Console Name..." With that, I'm surprised how high F1 Challenge is on this list, it was released in 1995 for the Japanese market and there it's called F1 Live Information, it has Japanese narration. It's an effort, but wow, it's above Manx TT, NFS, Sonic R and VR here, I don't even think it would make a honorable mention in my personal list. Your honorable mentions are actually better than most games that made your list, in my opinion, but the important part is that you had fun with it. I remember I enjoyed GT24 back in the day, and Sonic R is probably the racing game I played the most. One thing that is really interesting with the Saturn and sometimes we forget to mention is that most of its racing games and first-person-shooters support analog acceleration, so we have analog triggers and a stick for throttling/breaking/steering/strafing two generations prior to when it became a standard. Manx TT and Duke Nukem 3D/PowerSlave are nice examples how well the analog control works.

[@thegamelounge659]

Hey Roberto, thanks for the comment. Yes agree all lists are personal. No list is the definitive ‘TOP X’. It’s all subjective. For me, I love F1 games, and this is fast, fluid, with plenty of tracks. Manx TT is incredible but with 2 tracks it’s very limited. Not that it’s not a great game. Sonic R I love but I don’t think it’s a true racer. I also finished it in just a few hours. A big reason I make these lists is to get other peoples opinions. The amount of people who will say “Try this game…” or “that game is too low, give it some more time”. Etc. it’s great to get that feedback. I know for example Hardcore 4x4 is a bad game, it’s a 6/10 if I’m feeling generous. But for some reason I enjoyed it. It’s one of those guilty pleasure games.

[@TheV2EliteGamer]

Hi fellow Retro Gamer, I might be wrong but why are the Saturn graphics generally quite poor?

[@thegamelounge659]

The Saturn’s 3D chip was not as good as the PlayStations and the architecture meant it wasn’t easy to program for. Rumour has it they saw the PS spec and simply threw in a 2md processor. This meant games could look great but it was far more difficult for developers. The other thing worth considering when looking at this footage is that this was captured at native resolution with a classic CRT filter to look as authentic as possible. A lot of PS One footage you see on YT is heavily upscaled and cleaned up image (The PS had notoriously ‘wobbly’ polygons). But in short, the Saturn wasn’t really designed as a 3D machine. SEGA thought that 2D would still be dominant. Which is ironic because at the time in the arcades SEGA was pushing the latest greatest 3D tech!!!

[@TheV2EliteGamer]

@@thegamelounge659 thank you very much. Yes I have been more impressed with Saturn 2d fighting games over any 3d game they released.

[@S.Madman]

Have you tried them with a steering wheel?

[@thegamelounge659]

I managed to get a steering wheel for £1 many years ago. I only have played Sega Rally, Manx TT and Daytona USA. Daytona and Sega Rally were awesome! Manx TT I couldn’t get full lock and went back to the controller

[@slashrose3287]

Ehm, Touge King of Spirits 2, probably the most graphically advanced SS (the only "3° generation" SS developed around)?

[@thegamelounge659]

I only heard about this recently. Never played it. Will have to give it a try. Thanks for the tio

[@Castallan]

My favourite racer was the Megadrive game Road Rash

[@Castallan]

Actually I guess it’s actually Forza Horizon, but in retro gaming it’s Road Rash

[@thegamelounge659]

The first one or the second one. Personally, Road Rash 2 was the best in the series but the Saturn/PS game wasn’t bad at all!

[@S.Madman]

@@thegamelounge659 The Saturn had a great soundtrack that sadly it was not used during the race.

[@Blas4ublasphemy]

@@thegamelounge659 I enjoyed Road Rash CD most! A fun hybrid between the 16 and 32 bit titles IMO.

[@thegamelounge659]

I never had this. Always assumed it was just the Md version with load screens 😂

[@davidlefley7782]

Hardcore 4x4 would be higher on the list for me, I really enjoyed the game.. and Manx TT with a joypad pretty much unplayable, but with the Saturn Arcade Racer controller it goes in my top 3.

[@thegamelounge659]

I enjoyed Hardcore 4x4 too. I totally understand all the criticism the game gets, the graphics are simple, car models basic but for me it works.

[@Cendi83]

Virtua Racing on SS is a bad port. The first Wipeout, Sega Touring Car and Destruction Derby (bad port too, but fun to play) should be in the top.

[@thegamelounge659]

It’s certainly not a great port. But like your opinion on Destruction Derby. I had a lot of fun. The first Wipeout is great. Personally went for one per series and prefer the sequel. As for Sega Touring Car. I was wo disappointed when I got that game it can never rank highly for me

[@rodrigopimentel9380]

Oh, Sega Rally...

[@thegamelounge659]

💪🏻🪐

[@karimcheese7257]

I think what you meant to say was Sega Rally was 3 tracks. Was there 4?

[@thegamelounge659]

There were 4, there was desert, Forest, Mountain and Lakeside which unlocked if you won the Championship.

[@karimcheese7257]

@@thegamelounge659 lol I see. I never unlocked Lakeside

[@thegamelounge659]

It’s worth the effort 😃

[@alfredohernandez7067]

Soundtrack del intro?

[@thegamelounge659]

It’s ‘Heartlands’ from the Metropolis Street Racer soundtrack on the Dreamcast

[@alfredohernandez7067]

@@thegamelounge659 sabía que lo conocía, gracias.

[@doozeruk2000]

I've never got into Saturn emulation, even though my setup is perfectly capable. However after watching this vid with my favourite genre I think I'm going to give it a go

[@thegamelounge659]

Saturn emulation has always been a little laggy vs real hardware but Mednafen (personally I use the core through Retroarch)

[@n64fan60]

10:43 *Wipeout 2097 Saturn version opinions* I do not share these opinions. Played the PSX and Saturn versions back-to-back the other day, and I think the Saturn version is terrible by comparison.

[@thegamelounge659]

Thanks for the comment. Was this on real hardware or via emulation? I have a 14 inch CRT and it the PSX is better, but the Saturn version is a decent port. Obviously if you emulate the PSX upscales better and with the amount of enhancements you can make there is no comparison to the PS version.

[@n64fan60]

​@thegamelounge659 No enhancements were used. Original presentation for both. I basically found that the Saturn version ran at a lower framerate, with no transparencies, and the amazing soundtrack had been replaced by generic blandness. I just about won the race on PSX, and on Saturn I kept hitting the walls and was ultimately killed by other racers lol. I'm sure you could acclimate to the Saturn version if you really forced yourself to, but the 20fps frame rate just doesn't compare. Both were PAL version.

[@miguelkourie2200]

The filter in use in this video looks very ugly, with that apart, great top 15!👌

[@thegamelounge659]

It’s the CRT Royale Filter + Bloom. It is very authentic if you are looking for what it looked like back in the day on a CRT. But agree not for everyone.

[@waterheart95]

CRT Royale is a good shader for 4k screens or when watching on a 4k screen. It doesn't downscale well due to how it's works, so ends up looking wrong especially on lower res. Hylian, Caligari, and geom shaders are great for non 4k screens and videos. NSTC shaders are great for games and systems that need dithering to get the effects looking correct. Tv-tweaks is great for CRT PC Monitors and HD CRTs to get scanlines at higher resolutions.

[@thegamelounge659]

That’s really interesting. I’ll have to try these. Shaders are a very personal thing. What some love others hate

[@lucauva6576]

Per un appassionato di Racing Games come me, è stato un bene aver scansato il Saturn... Venivo orgogliosamente dal MEGADRIVE, e vedendo la differenza di prezzo tra kendue console Saturn e Psx, stando nel negozio stesso capii che le cose per il Saturn si mettevano male, anzi malissimo!!! Ammetto che forse le console 32bit erano le più sbagliate per convertire i cabinati da sala, troppi compromessi e troppo divario di potenza tra Home ed Arcade, biaognava aspettare il Dreamcast per la vera rivoluzione degli Arcade direttamente in casa propria!!!! Ma a quel punto, Electronic Arts e la mancanza di Final Fantasy hanno precipitato anche ik Dreamcast in un pozzo senza fine!!!

[@FlorderreyVello]

Missing Daytona CCE.

[@thegamelounge659]

Yes I actually prefer the original. CCE looks better, better frame rate and draw distance, but I actually think the original plays better.

[@shinra2755]

@@thegamelounge659Agree. The first Daytona is much better. CCE handles terribly.

[@MrTOM845]

Hardcore 4x4 is probably one of the worst racing games I have ever played. Hnadling is non existent,draw distance too,graphics are incredibly poor and framerate reaches single digits.Would not take it even for free

[@thegamelounge659]

I don’t necessarily disagree but there is something about it I actually enjoyed. Maybe I was just captured by the fact it was the only game I could afford back in the day.

[@stefanomazzarello4771]

32x version of Virtua Racing, was not just a good port of Virtua Racing, but with the introduction of Stock cars, they actually made Daytona USA on 32X , framerate can be low than Saturn version of Virtua Racing, but it give more feeling of Daytona Usa than any other port of that game... that is what makes Virtua Racing Deluxe such a special title, Virtua Racing Saturn , is just ugly because it does not give give anything that remind coin op version, even if graphic aren't that bad.

[@thegamelounge659]

I agree, the 32X was a truer representation of the original model 1 game but the Saturn version certainly isn’t as bad as I thought it was. I always wonder how far they could have pushed the 32X

[@jairisongs]

Ótimo console. Mas que tem uma biblioteca de jogos de corrida bem sofrível.

[@JaggedMercenary]

God I love those scanlines.

[@thegamelounge659]

A few people have commented that the filter doesn’t look great scaled down. I can assure you it looks glorious on a 4K screen!