Best Of Saturn
Time Bokan #BestOfSaturn
A late 1997 “complete version” of a 1996 PS1 release, Banpresto’s Time Bokan is a colorful vertical cute-em-up featuring all the vehicles from all the Bokan series up until that…
Articles by Peter Malek
Best Of Saturn
Best Of Saturn
Ronde #BestOfSaturn
Released in time for Halloween 1997, Atlus’ Ronde is an SRPG set in the Majin Tensei universe. Strange crystal statues have been unearthed, and one comes to life as the…
Best Of Saturn
Gekirindan #BestOfSaturn
A 1995 science fiction-themed shmup, Taito’s Gekirindan, or “Time Travel Shooting,” is an overhead vertical scroller in the vein of the DonPachi games. The Saturn conversion of the arcade original…
Best Of Saturn
Time Commando #BestOfSaturn
The 1998 Japan-only Saturn port of Time Commando sees you taking on the role of Stanley Opar, a special forces soldier thrust through various time periods with a goal of…
Best Of Saturn
NiGHTS into Dreams #BestOfSaturnGold
“I wanted to make a game about the sensation of flying…” so said then-Sonic Team head Yuji Naka. After pumping out Sonic hit after hit on the Genesis / MegaDrive,…
Best Of Saturn
Jungle Park: Saturn Island #BestOfSaturn
Jungle Park, developed by several software houses and unleashed on Saturn in Japan in 1998, is an unusual point-and-click puzzle / action game, with mini-games here and there. You live…
Best Of Saturn
Minami no Shima ni Buta ga Ita ~Lucas no Daibouken~ #BestOfSaturn
Released by Scholar in 1996, Minami no Shima ni Buta ga Ita ~Lucas no Daibouken~ (roughly: The Pig of South Island: Lucas’ Great Adventure) sees you control a portly pig….
Best Of Saturn
Blue Breaker #BestOfSaturn
Ported from the PC FX by Success and published on Saturn by Human in 1997, Blue Breaker is an RPG that features anime FMV scenes, lots of gorgeous still art,…
Best Of Saturn
Baku Baku Animal #BestOfSaturnSilver
Released first in arcades on the Titan board, then ported to Saturn, Master System, PC, and Game Gear in 1996, Baku Baku Animal: World Zookeeper Contest is one of the…
Best Of Saturn
Waku Waku Puyo Puyo Dungeon #BestOfSaturn
Released in 1998 and fan-translated by Maud in 2025, Waku Waku Puyo Puyo Dungeon (Exhilarating Puyo Puyo Dungeon) is a roguelike that sees the player take the role of either…
Best Of Saturn
GunBlaze S #BestOfSaturn
Originally released on PC in 1994 as GunBlaze, the game was ported to Saturn in 1998 with upgraded graphics and retitled GunBlaze S. An RPG done in anime-style, it is…
Best Of Saturn
Re-Loaded #BestOfSaturn
Initially slated for 1996, then a 1997 release, Re-Loaded by Gremlin Interactive was eventually cancelled completely — but not before a demo snuck out on a couple of European demo…
Best Of Saturn
Loaded #BestOfSaturn
What do you get when you mix up some pew pew with some splat splat? Loaded, that’s what! A 1996 top-down run and gun, you take control of one of…
Best Of Saturn
Shining Force 3 Scenario 1 #BestOfSaturnGold
Unleashed in December 1997 in Japan, and subsequently in mid-1998 in the West, Shining Force 3 Scenario 1 is the beginning of what is perhaps Camelot’s magnum opus. Arriving late…
Best Of Saturn
Shinsetsu Samurai Spirits Bushidou Retsuden #BestOfSaturn
A summer 1997 SNK port of the (arguably superior) NEO GEO CD title, Shinsetsu Samurai Spirits Bushidou Retsuden is an old-skool JRPG universe set in the Samurai Shodown universe. Play…
Best Of Saturn
Sound Novel Machi #BestOfSaturn
An early 1998, Japan-only Chunsoft production, Sound Novel Machi presents a “day in the life” perspective of eight characters living in the same town. This visual novel consists of still…
Best Of Saturn
The Mysterious World of El Hazard #BestOfSaturn
Developed by TamTam and published by Pioneer LDC in 1996, The Mysterious World of El Hazard is a visual novel-style game based on the anime of the same name. The…
Best Of Saturn
DecAthlete #BestOfSaturnSilver
Developed by AM3 for the ST-V “Titan” arcade board and then ported to the Saturn for a summer 1996 release, DecAthlete (Athlete Kings in Europe) is an Olympic-style sports game…
Best Of Saturn
Dragons of China #BestOfSaturn
Imagine heading to China to learn about the nine mythical dragons, only to discover one has reawakened… and he’s evil! As the foreigner Ken, your task in Imagineer’s 1997 graphic…
Best Of Saturn
Tactics Formula #BestOfSaturn
A late 1997 Japan-only release, Tactics Formula is a self-described tactical board game. It’s a racing game but rather than controlling your vehicle in real time, you select moves in…
Best Of Saturn
Mahou no Janshi: Poe Poe Poemy #BestOfSaturn
Mahjong games were plentiful in Japan, and this 1995 Imagineer-published title gives the strategic game the “18+” yellow-label treatment. Mahou no Janshi: Poe Poe Poemy boils down to a riichi…
Best Of Saturn
Daytona USA #BestOfSaturnGold
Daytona USA roared into gamers’ Saturns at launch in the West as the most hotly anticipated arcade conversion of early 1995. SEGA’s promise of “arcade in the home” was fully…
Best Of Saturn
Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner #BestOfSaturn
Demons lurk all over Japan, and Shin Megami Tensei’s Devil Summoners exist to combat them! Play as a student who gets caught up in a titanic struggle between evil supernatural…
Best Of Saturn
Pocket Fighter #BestOfSaturn
Capcom released buckets of Saturn titles, one of these being the mid-1998 Japan-only Pocket Fighters. Utilizing the 4MB cartridge, this arcade port packs a punch — super-deformed “kids” characters from…
Best Of Saturn
Planet Joker #BestOfSaturn
In early 1997, Imp produced and NaxatSoft released a polygonal vertical-scrolling shmup Planet Joker. Players take control of a flying mech and proceed to blast, bomb, and otherwise destroy their…
Best Of Saturn
Atelier Marie: The Alchemist of Salburg Ver. 1.3 #BestOfSaturn
Life is tough for young, budding alchemist Marie, toiling away in her workshop in Salburg. Atelier Marie: The Alchemist of Salburg Ver. 1.3 is a Gust-developed December 1997 enhanced port…
Best Of Saturn
The House of the Dead #BestOfSaturnSilver
In late 1996, arcade-goers were treated to AM1’s The House of the Dead — a light gun game with a horror theme. The enigmatic Dr. Curien, hell-bent on discovering the…
Best Of Saturn
Druid: Pursuer of Darkness #BestOfSaturn
Druid: Pursuer of Darkness is a mid-1998 Koei port of a British 1995 MS-DOS Ultima-like game. In the land of Navan, four master Druids keep peace in the land, but…
Best Of Saturn
Message Navi Vol. 2 #BestOfSaturn
Online dating on the Saturn? Sort of! In 1998, SIMS and Dreamcube released the second Message Navi “game” in Japan. The disc is essentially a catalogue of more than 1,000…
Best Of Saturn
Code R #BestOfSaturn
Quintet’s Japan-only 1998 genre-blender Code R is part racing game, part dating sim because, let’s face it, it is the ’90s! Featuring various modes including battle mode, time attack, and…
Best Of Saturn
Panzer Dragoon #BestOfSaturnGold
It began on the wings of an armored blue dragon… the Panzer Dragoon series is perhaps the premier Saturn franchise, helping launch the system in the West with the first…
Best Of Saturn
Tokyo Shadow #BestOfSaturn
Taito’s 1996 release Tokyo Shadow is a cool mix of FMV and graphic adventure. You are Hide, and along with your girlfriend Kyoko, you are investigating a supernatural lightning strike…
Best Of Saturn
Exciting Slot Shooting #BestOfSaturn
Exciting Slot Shooting is a curious game, fusing top-down shooting with… a slot machine component! Looking like a Technicolor reverse Space Invaders, different colored monsters are released in waves from…
Best Of Saturn
X Japan Virtual Shock 001 #BestOfSaturn
Published by SEGA and released in late 1995, X Japan Virtual Shock 001 can best be described as an FMV walking simulator where the player takes on the role of…
Best Of Saturn
Deep Fear #BestOfSaturnSilver
Something mysterious has fallen from space and crashed into the Pacific, near the underwater military research facility the Big Table. As a member of the Emergency Rescue Service, you take…