Under the Microscope: Layer Section II
Today we’re looking at Layer Section II, also known as RayStorm. The Saturn port came out in Japan in 1997, but it wasn’t released in North America or Europe (the…
Today we’re looking at Layer Section II, also known as RayStorm. The Saturn port came out in Japan in 1997, but it wasn’t released in North America or Europe (the…
[Editor’s note: This story was updated March 29 to add Sascha’s name, clarify that Project Neon does not use WiFi for online multiplayer, add details about the cartridge prototype’s expected…
In this edition I’m putting Thunder Force V back under the microscope. I examined a prototype version of the game last year, but this time I’m taking a look at…
The publisher of vertical shooter Radiant Silvergun’s PC port on Steam patched the game Sunday after a player discovered a way to score endlessly during a boss fight. Live Wire’s…
Here’s a quick-hit roundup of recent stories around the Sega Saturn scene. Video demonstrates Saturn sound chip calculating graphics A SegaXtreme homebrew developer named Jollyroger demonstrated that the Saturn’s audio…
In this edition I’ve got a couple of new cheat codes for some games from Technosoft: Hyper Duel, the horizontal shoot-em-up that was released for Saturn in late 1996. Blast…
Steam-Heart’s is a game for Saturn that combines passable shoot-em-up gameplay with NSFW anime scenes. The visuals are less explicit in the Saturn version than the PC-98 original, but some…
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…
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…
In this edition we’re looking at Thunder Force V Sample ROM, a demo disc for Thunder Force V. It normally lets you play a single stage, but there’s data for…
Radiant Silvergun is a well-regarded shoot-em-up from Treasure, whose game Silhouette Mirage was previously covered on Rings of Saturn. I looked into this game’s code a while back, but didn’t…
In this edition I’m examining Strikers 1945 (Saturn and PlayStation) and Sengoku Blade (Saturn), which are both shooting games from Psikyo. In wrote previously about patches for the Saturn versions…
In this edition I’m examining Gunbird, the vertical shooter from Psikyo. I found four new cheat codes for it: The Test mode menu. NoDeath mode, which makes you invincible. Skip…
Modern platforms got two new Saturn games Wednesday when City Connection released Advanced V.G. and Steam-Heart’s — even in the West, for which there was no formal announcement. They’re part…
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…
The Xbox One versions of Advanced V.G. and Steam Heart’s (sic), both part of City Connection’s Saturn Tribute line, have been canceled, the publisher announced Tuesday. In a statement on…
In this edition: I found some previously unknown cheat codes for the Saturn game G Vector, the 3D shooter. They give you extra modes, invincibility, a new character, and more!…
A late 1997 release, Athena’s Dezaemon 2 is a shmup-builder. Although it features some pre-built levels, the game’s focus is to allow players to put together the shmup of their…
The 1980s were a golden age for anime in Japan, with Super Dimension Fortress Macross standing amongst the greats with a tale of aliens attacking a futuristic Earth. The Saturn…
Shmup fans are well-catered to on the Saturn, having access to fresh titles as well as compilations of past-generation games. Enter Salamander Deluxe Pack Plus: Salamander (1987), LifeForce (the 1988…
A pair of Saturn shooters, Wolf Fang and Skull Fang, are out now on modern digital storefronts, including Western ones. City Connection published the two-game package Wednesday for US$29.99 on…
The thrilling conclusion to the inaugural year of the SHIRO! Community Challenge begins Friday as participants will compete in the Raizing-developed, shooter-racing game hybrid “Kingdom Grandprix.” Throughout the month of…
Xing Entertainment did a series of ports of old arcade titles for the Saturn and PlayStation under the Arcade Gears banner. One of the titles was Gun Frontier, a Taito…
The Saturn version of Metal Black is a port of the 1991 Taito arcade game. In its story, Earth is suffering under an uneasy truce with a hostile alien force….
A recreation of Tomb Raider 2 on Saturn, new firmware for Retro-Bit controllers and a line of model kits recreating robots from Saturn shooter Wolf Fang — they’re a few…
The next title in City Connection’s Saturn Tribute line of modern re-releases will be a double pack — a pair of shoot-em-ups named Wolf Fang and Skull Fang, the publisher…
A new patch for Saturn shmup Radiant Silvergun adds features from other versions of the game as well as a brand new scoring system. It was created over the course…
We are living in the Great Saturn Renaissance… Kingdom Grand Prix, the Japan-only shmup/racing game hybrid, has been translated to English! The King has had enough of decades of conflict…
A patch for Blast Wind — a 1997 Saturn-exclusive vertical shooter from the heralded shmup specialists at Technosoft that only released in Japan — came out over the weekend that…
A bevy of updates to the Saturn core of the MiSTer FPGA have targeted problems with specific games’ graphics. One prominent one that was fixed recently was Cotton 2, whose…
If The Rocky Horror Picture Show and the Saturn ever made a baby, it might be named Cho Aniki (Big Brother). A shmup, it features homoerotic digitized man-sprites on hand-drawn…
Konami’s Parodius saw Saturn release in Japan and in Europe in late 1995 — a planned North American release was ultimately cancelled. A side-scrolling shmup consisting of two older Parodius…
The Saturn community has become accustomed to fans creating translations for Japan-exclusive games and inserting them via patches. But it’s not every day that an official translation is found hiding…
An early 1996 Japan-only release, Konami’s Gradius Deluxe Pack features straight conversions of the mid-1980s arcade classics Gradius and Gradius 2. In these side-scrolling shmups, you take control of the…
Welcome to the SEGA Saturn, SHIRO! Podcast!Episode 5: Saturn TreasuresAir Date: 2023-12-12Patreon Early Access: 2023-11-14
Join Dave, Ben, and Peter as we chat about the three Treasure games released for the Saturn: the fighting sprite-fest Guardian …