Saturn Arrives in the Old World

… and quickly becomes Old News.

The story of the Saturn’s launch in Europe isn’t nearly as dramatic as its American counterpart – there were no ‘$299’-style surprises – yet it proved perhaps even more devastating to SEGA in the region. Before the PlayStation came along, SEGA ruled Europe. Unlike in Japan where the MegaDrive was a distant third behind the Super Famicom and the PC Engine, and even America, where Genesis and SNES eternally jostled for first place, in Europe, SEGA reigned supreme for two consecutive generations. The Master System handily outsold the NES during the Third Generation, and the MegaDrive outpaced the SNES in the Fourth. SEGA had cultivated their image carefully and commanded a loyal following, and initially had no reason to think their supremacy would be challenged in the Fifth Generation.

In America, the shock launch provided SEGA with a 4 month head start in the war with the PlayStation. In Europe, that lead shrunk to two and a half months; the Saturn launched on 8 July whereas the PlayStation launched on 29 September. This meant that picky gamers did not have to wait nearly as long if they wanted to compare the two machines before making a purchase decision.

With SEGA being the biggest name in gaming in Europe, it is perhaps startling just how quickly Sony usurped market leadership away from the House of Blues. Much like in America, this was not down to any single factor, but can be summarized as the PlayStation product being exceptionally well managed in contrast to the Saturn strategy being tragically out of tune. Further, SEGA had a number of well-loved platforms already on the European market; the MegaDrive was still very viable, and to a lesser extent, so were the 32X, the Mega CD, and even the Master System. Partly a victim of its own success, the gaming giant had the task of convincing existing users that yet another SEGA purchase was necessary, or showing new consumers why the expensive Saturn – and not the MegaDrive or Master System, nevermind the Sony machine – was a good buy. Against a host of SEGA home consoles, there was only one PlayStation, and it happened to be cheaper and have flashier-looking games for that crucial first impression.

Still, when the 32-bit war began, Saturn was available first, and SEGA had learnt some lessons from the disastrous American launch. Rather that release everything all at once and have a months-long software drought, SEGA held back Panzer Dragoon and Pebble Beach Golf Links to stagger the release schedule somewhat. Available at launch were the following four games:

Virtua Fighter

The only title to feature in all three major launches, Virtua Fighter seemed perennially tied to the Saturn’s fortunes – in Japan it heralded a massive resurgence for SEGA; in America, it highlighted why SEGA was in decline. Unfortunately for SEGA Europe, gamers’ tastes seemed to mirror their American counterparts’ more strongly than their Japanese Saturn-playing brethren, and the game was not the mass-market killer app the Saturn needed.

Virtua Fighter was a nearly 8 months old title upon its European debut – plenty of time to resolve many of the technical problems with the initial Japanese release. However, no such corrections were made. All of the glitching and tearing of the Japanese (and later, American) game remained intact for the European rollout. The title was, however, optimized for the PAL format – a presentation factor sadly not applied to all PAL games. It is interesting that mere days after the European launch, the much more visually palatable Virtua Fighter Remix appeared on the Saturn in Japan, and yet the original game was still selected for the Saturn’s European debut – especially as SEGA of America gave the remixed version away for free to registered Saturn owners.

Gameplay-wise, there is little to fault here. Better and deeper than the contemporary Battle Arena Toshinden, the game features eight fighters from around the globe, each utilizing a real fighting style. A nice balance exists between the characters, with the styles ranging from fast and flashy (Sarah, Jacky) to combo-driven (Lau, Pai) to technical (Kage, Akira) to slow and powerful (Wolf, Jeffry). Ring-outs add an element of strategy to the proceedings. Two players can fight it out in Versus Mode, and a Ranking Mode opens up after the game is completed at least once. The Red Book soundtrack is vibrant and exciting. Although not as visually thrilling as the texture-mapped and gouraud-shaded PlayStation Battle Arena Toshinden, there is a beautiful simplicity to the game’s looks, and a deep complexity to the way it plays. Overall, this great game scores a C for Careless as a launch title; whilst the game is excellent, it likely hurt rather than helped Saturn sales in the region because it didn’t make a flattering crucial first impression. There was plenty of opportunity for SEGA to quickly push Virtua Fighter Remix instead.  

Fun Fact: Unlike in North America, Virtua Fighter received a regular, standalone game case, even though it was a pack-in title.

Clockwork Knight

In the absence of a certain Mr. Hedgehog, starring platforming duties were assigned to Sir Tongara Pepperauchu the toy soldier. As with the American launch, the game was met with a lukewarm reception upon release. Clearly sporting colours, effects, and 3D play fields that were not generally possible on previous consoles, Clockwork Knight still felt far too familiar to make a solid case for 32-bit gaming.

The platforming is good with a decent selection of paths and secrets, collectibles, and even end-of-level bonuses. Dispatching enemies is accomplished with Pepperauchu’s key which he uses as a foil. Some enemies are merely stunned and require Pepperauchu to twist his key into them; this is somewhat clumsy and slows down the action at times. The four worlds represent sections of the house and are further sub-divided into levels, but aside from a few frustrating sections, the game isn’t overly long or even difficult. It does feature a unique, upbeat, perhaps almost circus-like soundtrack which, again, is a step up from what would have been possible on 16-bit machines. It should also be noted that the game does not feature any PAL optimization.

Whilst nobody truly hates Clockwork Knight, it’s launch score must be C, for Campy: it’s a 16-bit game dressed up to look 32-bit, but the final product is somewhat over-reliant on the ‘bits’ that try and make it look next-generation without ever exploring any new gaming ground. A fine game when looking at it separately from the glare of the launch, but not one that convinced the masses that the Saturn does what PlayStation don’t.

Fun Fact: the game was made more difficult than the Japanese original by adding the number of hits required to beat bosses.

Daytona USA

Very popular in the arcades, Daytona USA arrived in Europe to show what a 32-bit racer can do, but whilst the gameplay and design were spectacular, the conversion left something to be desired. Unfortunately, even more criticism can be leveled against the European version of the game, which suffers from a very bad PAL optimization.

First, the good: the arcade game sports legendary track design, amazing drifting mechanics and overall thrill factor, and all of that has made it over to the Saturn game. The iconic soundtrack remains just as bonkers – in a good way – as the arcade original, and a plethora of Saturn-only modes add spice to the proceedings. The bad is still there, too: the game feels very rushed, with heavy graphical pop-in, low framerate, and muddy textures in abundance. Whilst purists will applaud the ‘soul’ of the game successfully translating over to the Saturn, the average gamer will have done a 30 second comparison to Ridge Racer and quickly made up their mind in the PlayStation’s favour. The ugly is exclusive to the PAL version: in an attempt to get the game to run at the same speed as its NTSC cousins (PAL games run 17.5% slower than their NTSC counterparts), the game was re-timed to account for the difference in speed – but this was not done exceptionally accurately. As a result, the time is inaccurate in the order of milliseconds: each in-game second lasts a 1.003 seconds in real time. Not a big deal to most, but the same gamer will not get the same times when playing the PAL and NTSC versions of the game – time passes slower on the PAL release. Further, the game picks up significant upper and lower borders in the conversion to PAL, and everything in-game is somewhat squished when compared to the NTSC releases. Whereas the NTSC game featured slight borders, the huge PAL borders are much more intrusive.

Overall result? There is a truly enjoyable, well playing game here, buried under a sizeable number of flaws and mis-steps. It scores a C, for Couple of Sandwiches Short of a Picnic. It could have – should have! – given the comparatively shallow Ridge Racer a run for its money. Instead, it highlighted to the masses how SEGA had stumbled at the starting grid.

Fun Fact: The PAL version is disallowed when submitting best times – the odd change in timing ruins any competitive comparisons.

International Victory Goal

Aha! This is perhaps the game that garnered the most attention at launch! Football is the continent’s biggest sport, and whereas SEGA of America’s choice of sports launch games missed the mark with their audience, the same can’t be said for SEGA Europe. Football game at launch? Check! GOOD football game at launch? Well…

The first thing to note is the strong visuals – the field is 3D and the swooping camera angles are very nice indeed. The players, however, are generic sprites. Sprites in and of themselves are not necessarily a problem, but a lack of proper animation is, and this was picked up on in European reviews. Further, there is no differentiation to account for body size, hair and skin colour, etc… details that are not missed by football fans. Also, complaints with the camera angles arose – whilst they look great, they are not as playable as the fixed, overhead views of 16-bit games, and comfortable equivalent angles are not available.

When the game launched in America, it was heralded as perhaps the best ‘soccer’ game ever produced, but the game underwent a much deeper level of scrutiny in Europe. Player formations were noted as not always realistic, and the ability to add spin / curve to a shot – something completely unnoticed in America – was noted as absent. The lack of play options was also considered a downer. Overall, this gave did not review well at all. Still, SEGA could be said to have pulled a Sony trick by releasing a game that looked good from a distance, even if it played poorly.

Launch score? B, for banal. Clever that it’s a football game, bonus points that it looks good on the surface, and extra bonus points for stealing a page out of Sony’s books (even if completely unintentionally) of putting out a flashy looking but so-so playing game, but football fans knew that higher quality games were available on existing 16-bit machines.

Fun Fact: SEGA avoided the debacle of calling this game Worldwide Soccer on the outside and International Victory Goal on the inside as the Americans did, although future installments of the game would indeed revert back to the Worldwide Soccer name. Odd, considering the sport is known as Football in the region.

Ultimately, the SEGA Saturn’s debut in the Old World could rightly be considered having been an expensive, underwhelming non-event. Reportedly, the UK saw sales of only 5,000 Saturns in the first week at retail, which is a damning metric by any standard, especially as there was no ‘surprise launch’ to factor in. The eventual European sales numbers are difficult to state with any certainty, but most accepted estimates place the Saturn as having shifted no more than a million units across all markets.  Launch games weren’t exciting, and arguably, there wasn’t a single title that was an absolute must-own at launch (although Daytona USA came close). Better days lay ahead for the Saturn in Europe of course, but never market leadership. The two-generation dominance of the House of Sonic had effectively come to an end.

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On the Periphery

SEGA of Europe certainly pushed the multimedia aspect of the Saturn much more than SEGA of America (though not nearly as much as SEGA of Japan). Launching in the region were most of the peripherals available in North America, as well as the VCD Card, the Photo CD Operator, and wireless InfraRed Controllers. Here’s how they fared:

VCD Card: Japan saw various models of the video card produced by SEGA, Victor (JVC) and Hitachi, whereas Europe had a singular model on sale. Region-locked to Europe, the card allowed for MPEG-1 decoding and therefore, playback of White Book video discs. The format was quite popular in Asia, saw limited support in Europe, and was a non-factor in the Americas. Certainly not an essential piece of kit, it was nevertheless a neat way to upgrade the Saturn. Unfortunately, no European games took advantage of the Video CD card, although a Video CD Music Sampler was released. The Video card remained a device purely for turning the Saturn into a sort of multimedia machine, in a limited way. As the format was abandoned in Europe, so was support for the VCD card.

All this Star Wars themed compulsive behaviour has seriously eaten into my Saturn time. To pay our goodly console back, I’ll be watching Episodes 4, 5, and 6 on my Saturn, using its VCD facility.

Father Krishna a.k.a. Simon Early, posted on the Saturn Junkyard on 4 March 2020

Photo CD Operator: conforming to the Beige Book standard of PCD format pictures (a precursor to JPEG and PNG), this format was meant to display photos at standard definition television resolutions, with various editing options. The format was never overly popular in part because Kodak, the primary supporter of PCD, did not release PCD specifications. Further, the compression of JPEG was quite superior at a time that memory was relatively expensive. As a result, the format never really caught on anywhere, and the Photo CD Operator remains a curiosity in the line-up of extended Saturn capabilities. No games in any region ever took advantage of the Photo CD Operator.

Wireless, InfraRed Controllers: for decades, these remained the only way to enjoy wireless Saturn gaming. Sold in Europe as a complete package of receiver and two controllers styled after the Japanese pad, these worked relatively well. One drawback is their thickness – AA batteries were inserted on the underside of the pad, one on the left and one on the right hand side. They were a great peripheral in the day, but have been completely supplanted by the modern Retro-bit wireless pads. Side note: In Japan, rather than a boxed set, the receiver came with one controller, and a second controller had to be purchased separately.

Other Adventures: Europe’s Virtua Guns are a pleasant blue – perhaps not as jarring as the American orange, but still bright enough to avoid being confused with a real weapon. Also, Europe played host to an official release of King of Fighters ’95 complete with ROM cart. There were only two Saturn games produced requiring a dedicated ROM cart (the other being Ultraman), and Europe saw the localization of one of them.

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Comparing the Launches

We have now run the gamut of the three major launches – Japan, North America, and Europe. Here are the titles for each launch, rated according to the impact they had on their particular market:

Japan

An excellent launch featuring several hundred thousand Saturns moving in the first few days following the launch, with gamers clamouring to get their hands on Virtua Fighter. The PlayStation launched within days, but was outsold by SEGA’s box for years to come. SEGA Saturn had arrived in style!

Virtua Fighter: A+
Myst: B
Tama: Adventurous Ball in Giddy Labyrinth: C
Mahjong Goku Tejinku: D
WanChai Connection: B

North America

Surprise-launched at the 1995 E3 Expo, the limited distribution, limited number of games, and high price tag led to the Saturn shifting a mere eighty thousand units in the first four and a half months on the market. When the PlayStation launched, pre-orders alone vaulted Sony’s console ahead of the Saturn, and SEGA’s machine never recovered.

Virtua Fighter: C
Clockwork Knight: C
Daytona USA: B
Panzer Dragoon: A
Pebble Beach Golf Links: C
Worldwide Soccer: C

Europe

Launching in small numbers and with a very skinny day-one game line-up, the Saturn was maligned in the gaming press as many British software houses had their best next-gen games coming out for – you guessed it – the PlayStation. Apart from loyalists (and gamers with taste and gusto, obviously), the Saturn failed to set Europe on fire.

Virtua Fighter: C
Clockwork Knight: C
Daytona USA: C
International Victory Goal: B

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SEGA’s Early Dominance in Europe

Part of the reason for SEGA’s dominance in the Third and Fourth generations is the relative complexity and fragmentation of the European market. A European videogame operation must contend with multiple regional languages, significantly different electrical standards from Japan and America, and signal standards being different not only from the Japanese and American NTSC standard, but sometimes from European country to country (PAL vs. SECAM, for example). At the time, Nintendo saw Europe as too complicated a market for too little sales potential, and did not invest in the region nearly as much as their rival. SEGA, meanwhile, considered the United Kingdom, Germany, Spain, and France as the main European markets and focused their attention there. That’s not to say that other European countries did not enjoy the release of SEGA consoles – rather, that the management of the territory was not nearly as unified as in Japan and America, and that countries outside of the four main markets were sometimes handled by other distributors. Still, SEGA held Europe in higher regard compared to Nintendo, and were rewarded with market leadership for consecutive generations.

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Outtakes: The Rainbow Books

The Rainbow Books are standards written for the CD format which was jointly developed by Phillips and Sony. The very first standard, CD-DA (Digital Audio, i.e. standard music CDs) was published in 1980 and was called Red Book. Often, when a game uses a music track that can also be independently played on a CD player (as opposed to programmed PCM chip music), it is said to use Red Book audio – that is, standard CD music. More applications for the compact disc were developed as time went on, some becoming much more popular than others. These included White Book in 1993 (VCD, or Video CD), Beige Book in 1992 (PCD, or Picture CD), Yellow Book in 1988 (CD-ROM), and a few others. The final specification was released in 2000 – the Purple Book standard, or DDCD – double density CD.