Top 50 Sega Saturn Games You Couldn't Play! - Japanese Saturn Exclusives!

[@leecroft1983]

Recently bought a region free modded VSaturn on eBay. Picked up X-Men vs Street Fighter for it, my God. It looks and plays like a dream. The Saturn is the Aladdin’s cave of consoles. I love looking through eBay and scrolling through it’s never ending list of quirky, mostly forgotten collection of games. What an amazing system, certainly more interesting then the consoles we have today.

[@BobbyHo2022]

Yep. It's almost an insult to Americans it wasn't marketed better. Alot of the gsmes were exactly what i was playing in arcades in the mid to late 90s.

[@carlosaugustodinizgarcia3526]

And now we have Sakura Taisen and Grandia fully translated for Saturn.

[@dingusbingus7463]

I'm surprised this hasn't gotten more views; Most SS best of videos are just a top 10 of the same old games everyone knows by now. This give a whole different perspective and I also appreciate the fact you only included games that have an English translation or are playable as imports with no heavy language barriers

[@MegamanM]

I love the sega saturn. Over 50% of my saturn collection (about 100 games) are japanese imports. Luckily its easy to play imports with just the action replay 4m+.

[@flatcapman]

how do you play the RPGS on it?

[@icemuckbanggg]

@@flatcapman the same way.

[@ElasticGiraffe]

"There are no games on this list that are not playable if you're English-speaking only." We appreciate that! Still waiting on Princess Crown's translation from 10+ years ago.

[@LadyDecade]

Loving the Dominatrix character on Magical Drop 3. Only in Japan would something like that make it into a childrens' game!

[@SpiralPegasus]

Not to mention The World, who only has a scarf for attire...

[@tHeWasTeDYouTh]

HELL YEAH!!! TODAY is my birthday and I go this video uploaded from Top Hat!!!!!!! thanks

[@birchmahogany2718]

Outside of the Genesis, the Saturn is easily the best Sega console. It's my personal favorite. The Dreamcast always gets praise but in my opinion the Saturn shits all over the DC.

[@gregwalker121]

I had more fun with my Saturn than Dc

[@diegokasady]

Man if those Japan games would have came to the USA history could be different

[@thepooroldsoul8179]

Yeah, it would have helped the Saturn here in the US.

[@NiGHTS1980]

Definitely would have opened a lot more eyes towards the Saturn.

[@tHeWasTeDYouTh]

it would have helped but there was no stopping the ps1 and 3d polygon games.

[@alpzerlaken]

Especially Doukyuusei and Sakura Taisen series

[@ChronikSpartan]

Great video buddy! Sega Saturn is a console is one I haven't yet played and I sorely need to add to my collection! I might do a first time playing video when I finally get one!

[@aceofhearts573]

15:05 that penguin game is the first game Hideo Kojima ever worked on. Pretty cool

[@absoluteclownworld]

Dungeons and dragons collection is a very good beat em up.

[@carlosalexandrearaujodossa9117]

Saturno era um verdadeiro gigante , excelente vídeo e essa lista de jogos é coisa de outro mundo muita qualidade envolvida.vida longa a sega casa do Sonic 🙌🏿🙌🏿

[@CrimRui]

Sakura Wars was one of the highest selling titles on Saturn in Japan and the big shots in Sega America didn't want to localize it.

[@cessnaace]

Great job on this topic, Mr. Top Hat! The Wikipedia article devoted to Saturn games lists more games released in Japan than North America and Europe combined. Even if you sort the games by publisher it's plainly obvious that Sega left a lot of their own games home. What makes sense is that the Saturn is so good at handling 2-D Sprites, after all it was designed to be a Sprite-pushing powerhouse. What doesn't make sense is the policy that Sega of America had in regards to these games. That policy was purely insane, as they refused to release most 2-D games (the Saturn's strength), but rather those that were 3-D (the Saturn's weakness) so as to compete better against Sony and their PlayStation. Had Sega of America released the games on your list (and those like them), not released the system 3 months early, and not priced it beyond affordability, things might have turned out differently. -Mark H.

[@TwoBlackMarks]

I think Sony had the same policy, "NO! 2D games". And at the time, 3D really was the way stuff went at the time, so in a way I can understand them. Maybe afraid of being "old fashioned" if they launched too much 2D games. I remember how huge "3D" was at the time with Tomb Raider and such when they came out and really changed gaming. It kind of became like an "brainwashing" of gamers to think 3D was the one and only future. But seeing how succesful games like Oddworld was and how bad some 3D games are in retrospect.. Well, it is strange. I think even Castlevania SOTN was called "old fashioned" in reviews at the time, but I am glad I bought it back then! I also think SEGA had a hard time letting go of Arcade type games, it was their thing, but maybe not what most home gamers wanted, atleast I enjoyed longer and deeper games, at the time. I think if SEGA had not totally screwed up the Saturn launch, and if they had made an good Sonic game as an system seller + focused on what the Saturn was good at, it could have been a totally different story. To me it seems like Saturn has no "identity", same with Dreamcast. I was very hyped for the Dreamcast though.. What if there had never been a Mario 64 on N64? I think that would have been a catastrophe for the big N at the time.

[@awwrelic]

Speaking of Necronomicon Pinball, for Dream Theater fans the opening and ending music is performed by John Petrucci from that band. I've owned this title for nearly 20 year now, and still love to pop it into my Saturn every so often.

[@ThoughtformsOfTheSubconsciousM]

Very nice video TGHM! Thanks so much for covering the Saturn, IMHO the best console ever.👍

[@masashi547]

If you like Mech games, I recommend the excellent "Mobile Suit Gundam Side Story" and "Gun Griffon 2" playable with the Twin Stick Controller.

[@bazdaniels7420]

Great run-down but I do think Battle Garrega deserves a little more detailed description! That is a legendary arcade game and the Saturn version is a pretty much arcade-perfect port. I never knew about Dragonforce! I wonder if the metal band thought of that when naming their band!

[@personavisceration371]

Good list, but Keio Yugekitai, Steamgear Mash, Tryrush Deppy, Bokan to Ippatsu/Time Bokan, Twinkle Star Sprites, Sokko Seitokai/Sonic Council, Astra Superstars, Groove on Fight, Pocket Fighter, Capcom Generation series, Assault Suit Leynos 2, Puyo Puyo Sun, and Prikura Daisakusen stand out for their absence.

[@TopHatGamingManChannel]

I'll boot up IMG burn now!

[@gurriato]

Tryrush Deppy is overrated trash.

[@ThoughtformsOfTheSubconsciousM]

@@gurriato Nope.

[@SharifSourour]

It's surprising Hudson never again used that very attractive style of "Fight!" in other Bomberman games.

[@eldoctoremad]

Great list of the best and hard work from the Tophat Man!

[@willharris9139]

liked this video, i have been collecting saturn imports for 8 years my collection is big, i havent played all the games yet but i will

[@akira808state4]

You can play these if you have an ODE (Optical Drive emulator) such as a Fenrir. I have a Japanese Model 2 Saturn with a Fenrir installed in the optical drive bay. It bypasses the region lockouts allowing games from any region to be played.

[@devoid5637]

So many incredible games on this amazing console! ^^ SOUKYUGURENTAI has ever been one of my favorite shoot'em up! (yep! It is one of my first imported games back in the days, amongst some other like Burning Rangerss, Thuder Force V, Sexy Parodius, etc. It is not as beautiful, long and "groundbreaking" than Radiant Silvergun, but it is way much more enjoyable! And its kind of "electro-epic-martial" soundtrack is unique and phenomenal. Fun fact: the music is composed by the great RPG's composer, Sakimoto Hitoshi... who also composed the amazing epic score for Radiant Silvergun. (Although I really think the one for Soukygurentai is better., if less memorable.)

[@volvoguy804]

Totally agree, my favorite shmup of all time. Played it through Mame over 10 years ago. Awesome music too!

[@JT-nd6qp]

Top Hat, you seem to have overlooked the sword weapon in Radiant Silvergun. You need to use it to chop pink bullets in order to charge up your super scissor attack. That may have improved your experience with the game

[@TopHatGamingManChannel]

I often forget to try out buttons!

[@Mamiya645]

That cheeky AI in the Magical Drop 3 clip :D

[@SharifSourour]

Great list! Hats off to you!

[@N7uy66u]

Castlevania: SOTN also had extra levels, areas to the castle, and new enemies. I think it had a new boss and a few new items as well but unfortunately I misplaced the game before finishing it and haven't found it sense.

[@ThoughtformsOfTheSubconsciousM]

Two new bosses and quite a few new items to be precise. The amount of content left out of the PS1 game is quite staggering.

[@darinherrick2503]

Nice list but Skull Fang, Batsugun, Elan Doree, Night Strikers, Super Dimension Fortress Macross, Chase HQ, and Princess Crown belong on this list more than many of the games listed. Oh and Parodius. Can’t skip Parodius.

[@TheDeathOfLucifer]

I know for sure Princess Crown breaks the "Japanese games you can understand without knowing Japanese" but yeah, great game

[@NiGHTS1980]

This is a fantastic group of import games for the Saturn mate. Thanks for sharing. :)

[@IsaacKuo]

I was lucky enough to be in the USA getting into Saturn gaming in the late 1990s. Blockbuster video was dumping their Saturn systems and games dirt cheap. You could get a system and a ton of games for $50, easy. But in Japan, they were still making games like D&D and Vampire Savior and such, and you could easily get imports at a local game store (or mail order). You could easily get Radiant Silvergun at original price. So, you get a system dirt cheap, and can get affordable new imports from Japan. And ironically enough, this was the best thing for SNK fans, since the Saturn ports were pretty good and the Neo Geo systems/games were just so expensive. (Not that the Saturn controller can replicate that sweet Neo Geo digital thumbstick, but the Saturn arcade stick was good.) So. I visited Akihabara in 1999 and picked up a whole ton of used Saturn and Playstation games real cheap. I had little or no idea whether the stuff I was picking up was any good. But here are some recommendations I can make: 1) Cyberbots - I got my hand on a big box copy of this. It's a cool Capcom fighting game. Maybe not popular enough for Top Hat Gaming man's fans to care about but ... well, it's a bit different from the usual Capcom fighting game fare so that's something. 2) Macross Do You Remember Love - this is a simple shooter; it's a bit short and on the easy side. But if you want a more casual shooter game and/or you're a fan of Macross/Robotech, it's a fun play. Nice graphics and music. Absolutely no need for Japanese language understanding. It's just a shooter. The story follows the movie, so if you watch the DYRL movie (released in translated adaptions), you'll understand the story just fine. 3) Gundam Side Story 2,3 - I didn't see Gundam Side Story 1, but I picked up the other two and they're fun. Good first person 3D graphics for the Saturn, and a nice feel for giant robot combat. D-pad moves, with L+R buttons for rotating left/right. I don't know about you, but this is my favorite way of doing this. They also made a Dreamcast Gundam Side Story game, which added command of two other units, and of course vastly superior 3D graphics. Unlike the Saturn games, the Dreamcast game was released outside Japan also. I didn't get very far in them; maybe understanding Japanese would have helped. But regardless, it's fun to just go around attacking things with your Mobile Suit. 4) Assault Suit Leynos 2 - This action mecha game is highly regarded, but I never made it very far. It does have really nice graphics and feeling of action. Maybe understanding Japanese would help make some progress, but it was fun to shoot up stuff anyway. 5) Sakura Taisen and Sakura Taisen 2 - Okay, there is a LOT of Japanese in these, but to be honest you can just answer the dialog portions more or less randomly; maybe take some notes for trial and error. The point is ... you can just muddle your way through them to get to the tactical combat portion. The options are still all in Japanese, but there are few enough options that you can figure them out. I know. I did it myself. What you get is a relatively simple isometric tactical combat game, but with some fun tactics because of the way the different characters have different tile patterns covered by their special moves. It's a lot of fun to figure out how to advance on the enemy and set up geometrical line ups. The fact that it's all tile based gives you Chess-like precision lacking in the later Sakura Taisen games. The bottom line is that Sakura Taisen 1 and 2 are actually doable and fun games even with little or no Japanese comprehension.

[@boxerblake1]

Great video. Thanks for putting the effort into it.

[@Vlad-bu3mr]

that was a great Video :)

[@billcook4768]

My bank account cries out in pain just thinking about picking up many of these.

[@brianoconnell6459]

I can play them, only because I have a JP Saturn now. Both US and Japanese consoles use NTSC (though there are mods so you can run it through PAL), so all you need is one of those handy cheap red cartridges that allow you to play games regardless of region.

[@monkbond3516]

Excellent video man

[@neogenesis7706]

I collect exclusively for the japanese saturn and appreciate this video.

[@absoluteclownworld]

Hyper Duel is insanely good.

[@robsonmartiliano7351]

Gungriffon 2, Princess Crow, Sakura Taisen games, Sonic Council, Advanced V.G., Burning Fest Asuka 120%, Soukyugurentai, Twinkle Stars Sprites, Time Commando, Liquid Kids, Ninja Jajamaru, Ninpen Manmaru, Try Rush Deep.

[@Theshark15z]

For Vampire Savior, it was odd that footage from Vampire Hunter was shown instead. Also, I was kind of hoping Astra Superstars would have been mentioned.

[@Kensterrrrr]

Excellent video

[@LBPreviews]

Just found your channel. Instantly subbed. Really well presented video.

[@niggacity5424]

Devil Summoner

[@etrotm12thebluewolf15]

Zero Divide giving me some Virtua Fighter 1 vibes, and Savaki and Goiken Muyou are looking pretty damn good!

[@TheRealDustinNunn]

My advice to you Sega Saturn owners out there: if you want to play all of your Japanese Sega Saturn games, then I highly recommend getting a Japanese Saturn and avoid the USA and PAL Saturns.

[@manueljesus3147]

So glad I just picked one up for a song ...so much fun to be had.

[@willfenholtart]

Shining Force 3 not getting localization for scenarios 2 and 3 was a travesty. Scenario 1 is one of my favorite childhood gaming memories.

[@personavisceration371]

The Cotton games also feature fighting game controls for different shot types. Not a gimmick, it actually works well.

[@EugenioAngueira]

There's quite a number of awesome shooters on this list! Wow!

[@goatbone]

21:37 You mixed the two game titles here, Dark Savior is a different game entirely.

[@Color-Theory]

vertical: up/down horizontal: left/right :)

[@joycekopatch8872]

radiant silver gun would give giga wing on the dreamcast a run for its money graphics-wise

[@TheBlackshear]

Shinrei Jusatushi Taromaru was one of my favorite games I randomly found after first purchasing my Saturn. You get to convert enemies into companions to fight along side you! Super unique gameplay for the time.

[@NoelComiX]

Policenauts is such an amazing game.

[@Skysmeller1]

This was a really cool video. It might be better to get a japanese Saturn over an American Saturn with this kind of selection

[@tec5x5]

I need Bulk Slash in my life

[@atarimonkey]

Looks up Super Tempo to buy on Ebay! £350 :(

[@DanielAyy]

*Looks up price for Hyper duel* Wallet disliked that

[@Maggerama]

Simply gorgeous.

[@nickotoka]

Where is Grandia?

[@DontPaniku]

Bomberman 64 was fucking awesome! Top Hat Man is missing out.

[@duhdeedee]

Three Wonders is itself the arcade game with the three games to pick from. Probably a clever way to make several games with recycled assets. It's included on Capcom Classics Vol. 2. Supposedly IGA will get mad if you bring up the Saturn version of SoTN.

[@littlewalkway8171]

Dead Or Alive wasnt the first of the fighting genre to use counter attacks. Virtual Fighter did and probably others i cant think of

[@sogero2]

I don't remember all that interlacing playing the NeoGeo version of Waku Waku 7. Is that how it really looks on the Saturn? Or, does it not play nice with capture cards because of something like a 240p vs 480i conflict?

[@ThoughtformsOfTheSubconsciousM]

The Saturn port of Waku Walu 7 definitely is not interlaced, but it has its own issues. For some reason the background images look very low resolution, like they took a smaller image and upscaled it, no idea why as surely it wouldn't have been an issue for the Saturn. Maybe they couldn't get the full BG to fit into the RAM or something, just seems like bad programming honestly.

[@emmychansuper]

Somehow Policenauts was also released for the PS1, which was also Japan Exclusive

[@TopHatGamingManChannel]

It was on the 3DO too.

[@dc5330]

@top hat gaming man -- Could you summarize the 50 in your description pls?

[@brandonconrad3735]

Believe it or not, I actually have a copy of Shinrei Jusatsushi Taromaru, (Psychic Killer Taromaru).

[@cd4playa1245]

Magical Drop 3 is on the PS4. It’s amazing.

[@9ner]

finally dedicated time to understanding the history of the saturn and discovering its library. this should've competed very well with the n64 in the west, SoJ fumbled this system so badly.

[@episepdiatmoko9594]

There was a game called Choro Q park. Have you ever played it

[@CraicPype]

You seem to often describe vertically scrolling shooters as horizontally scrolling.

[@TwoBlackMarks]

The weapon "system" in Shinrei looks similiar to Alisia Dragoon, atleast it looks similar with the "auto aim" looking lightning attack.

[@TwoBlackMarks]

@@JetWolfEX I have never played Shinrei, but it also looks like you have an power meter of some sort, like in Alisia. I dont know what it does in Shinrei though. I have never owned an Saturn anyway. And will probably not, but I wanted one in the 90`s though. I ended up with a used PSX and getting superhyped for the Dreamcast launch through the magazine articles. In real life though, I don`t think I even saw an Dreamcast in stores...

[@reydreem5705]

Does any one know the name of the 1st game as soon as the video starts?

[@reagandow850]

Nobody can touch the Saturn when it comes to 2d games and graphics!!

[@maroon9273]

Especially when you utilize the vdp2

[@reostars00]

PC-98: hold my beer

[@ThoughtformsOfTheSubconsciousM]

@@reostars00 The PC98 series couldn't hold a candle to the Saturn, must be a joke right? Not to mention comparing a series of PC's with differing specs over the years to a static home console seems difficult to put it mildly. The library of was mostly static image, visual novel type games anyway, though yes they did look nice. A game like Astal for example, i don't any PC98 platform could run that game, not even close.

[@thepooroldsoul8179]

What is the PC-98?

[@ldrelick]

Linkle Liver Story is a great action RPG from the makers of Crusader of Centy, which recently got an English fan translation. A lot of my favorite Saturn games are unfortunately text-heavy RPGs. The Langrisser games, Tengai Makyou IV, Princess Crown, Blue Seed, Farland Story. Hoping one day someone decides to translate them...

[@ThoughtformsOfTheSubconsciousM]

@@HollowRick Hasn't it been almkst finished for like 10 years though? Would absolutely love if it ever came out.

[@JamesMtl]

Great video top hat

[@joshuajockstrap1253]

there's also Top Hate Gaming man but I think that fella's a chick

[@atolm1]

Raced to look up Hyper Duel for purchase and ran into a brick wall to see the start price of 500.00 :/

[@TopHatGamingManChannel]

Buy an action replay cartridge with Psuedo Saturn on it for 20.00 use img burn software to make your own copy. Problem solved!

[@atolm1]

@@TopHatGamingManChannel 😳 ooh didn't know that was an option #ghettogamer, thank you attractive and cooly accented sir 😂.

[@kellysiu9967]

How can you play this retro games now without the console?

[@devoid5637]

Sorry to point at this, but you actually added footages from Vampire Hunter (aka Night Warriors) instead of Vampire Savior. Not a "tragic mistake" ^^, but... -Vampire Savior is even more amazing! ^^

[@floralpoboop]

Other than the sonic games, croc, nights, bug, rayman, resident evil, wipeout, D, this is mostly all we got other than Sports games, miltary games, and movie tie in games is all we got in the USA. There were a few other games but they were very far and inbetween, So pretty much once you own those games that are all priced in the $100-300 bracket in the used market thanks to waka ruining the used game market. If you want any games for the saturn that are decent you must learn to be either not care about not being able to read japanese's 3 languages and get a over priced action reply that by passes region locks. UK got a bunch of games neither US or japan got as well. Mostly didn't hit the states because of how bad sales of the saturn was in the states.

[@ThomasSerruques]

Savaki, not to be confused with souvlaki :D

[@janfreidun]

Man there we have it, I am about to Place on oder of Bubble SYMPHONY in the near future say tops 3 months from now! happy to see this list but cannot keep concentrated enough to end up watching all of it at once, will probably be back for commenting more later.

[@ericcoombs]

I totally have Digital Monsters ver. S Tamers

[@opaljk4835]

Watching someone play Radiant Silvergun without using the weapons and chaining system is painful

[@janfreidun]

Hah! I have some imports because I have a Game Shark Cartridge! yet see this top 50! TOP 50! FIFTHY is a large number of games, my imports at hand right now is five(5!) games and one ninja Penguin on the way ordered via Gameshop in South Stockholm and I got the imports not to long ago, that said remember that I have been playing Saturn since 1998! I will watch this vid on a bit by bit basis.

[@allhailnehemiah]

Bro you're awesome

[@AFSkull]

Many arcade ports, don't know if they count as exclusives. Well, great job anyway 😁

[@ThoughtformsOfTheSubconsciousM]

Of course they do, unless you're a millionaire and can afford to collect a huge room filled with insanely rare expensive arcade boards/machines?

[@retrogamernes3121]

Dead or Alive got a PlayStation port a couple of years later

[@LyingSecret]

Radiant Savile Gun. Now then now then.

[@stefanoiulli5462]

Dragon Force 2 Is An Innovative RPG Genre To Emulate on Computer

[@Mitjitsu]

19:53 - That game does exist in the west in the form of the Netlink Edition. 25:05 - Waku 7 is a terrible port and greatly inferior to it's Neo Geo counterpart.

[@Shannon-ul5re]

Wow I live in Australia and I'm shocked at most of these games, why did sega hold back.. 😒 they designed a 2d power house of a machine that could do good 3d, should have just supported what they had.. instead sega worried what sony was doing.

[@MathiasMaximus]

Just so you know, someone named Lady Decade completely ripped off your video. Word for word

[@000-u9x]

Is the Saturn copyright protected with any security measures?

[@PTminatoPT]

Good luck collecting most of them...

[@absoluteclownworld]

Ya most shown are very high in value for sure. X men vs street fighter is good price, and bomber man fight. The most expensive game on this list that I have is Hyper Duel, I'm sure that up there in value now.

[@Yakobu90]

Shame most of these are expensive already, maybe I'll procure them once in a while, Bulk Slash, for example is currently around £130 on ebay, the most I've paid for a Japanese import is £80, in fact that's the most I've ever paid for a single game. BTW Touge is pronounced "toe gay" not "tooj" it means pass refering to the narrow mountain passes that drifters like to race down, a valiant effort none the less as I know you sometimes struggle with pronuncing things like FM Towns Marty which despite being easy and simple to read on first glance is a deceptive tongue twister, yeeeeaaaahh.

[@TopHatGamingManChannel]

Price does not really matter though these days as you can just buy a cartridge with Psuedo saturn installed and use img burn to make your own copies of every game. The games were never sold to our market so no harm done lol

[@leecroft1983]

Just eBay searched for Hyper Duel... £540+ 🙁😢😭

[@porkflaps4717]

Is the Saturn region locked?

[@TopHatGamingManChannel]

It is indeed, but you can just buy a cartridge that slots in the back to unlock it.

[@Shorai_3]

I have almost no Saturn games outside of Dragon Ball Z: Idainaru Dragon Ball Densetsu.

[@ciredecgellar8232]

yes you could play with it, you just had to buy some import .....