I was bored with my SNES and the Megadrive was old news... so what now? There was word of a new SEGA machine and a next generation machine from the unheard of Sony, and Nintendo were, even then, years behind. Whilst saving for my purchase, I waited until the PlayStation was launched, so I could make an informed choice.
So with my impatience growing and remembering that my parents bought a Sony Betamax video recorder, the PlayStation would probably be a short time fad, I decided to purchase the SEGA Saturn. Surely SEGA with all their experience would not fail against the inexperienced newcomer and with more than a year's headstart on the upcoming Nintendo machine the Saturn would be king for a long time to come!
On launch day I went to my local electrical retailer with the intention of spending the £400 pound I had saved, on a new Saturn, SEGA Rally and Virtua Fighter and possibly an additional control pad if my budget could stretch that far. Imagine my shock when I realised the machine
was retailing at £399! I was gutted and with two weeks until pay day I thought why bother, however I purchased the machine thinking there would be at least a demo CD inside the box that I could play.
Disappointment, dejection and deceived were all emotions I experienced after getting home and setting the machine up to realise there was no hidden game inside nor a demo CD, not even a CD with game videos. So with two weeks to wait before I could get my hands on a game I fiddled with the settings played my music CDs and watched the Starship screensaver for an hour then turned it all off.
Pay day came at long last and I went straight down to local games shop and bought SEGA Rally and Virtua Fighter then rushed home. After being blown away by SEGA Rally which in my mind was arcade perfect, and the greatest video game I had ever played (it would still be in my top 10 of videogames ever). I decided to load up Virtua Fighter only to be left feeling let down, perhaps it was because SEGA Rally was so good or because I had believed the hype in the gaming press telling me how great it was, but I was nonetheless disappointed with this game.
After that I embarked upon a lengthy journey with my Saturn of buying and playing games and ignoring the attention the PlayStation was receiving, trying not to notice that the machine not only cost £100 l
ess on launch day and had way cooler games with real soundtracks and being associated with all sorts of famous people.
I couldn't fail to notice shelf space in the shops was no longer of equal proportion, and that the newly launched Nintendo 64 was looking promising too. For a long time I resisted temptation, and continued enjoying top quality games along the way however triple AAA titles were very few and far between. I eventually conceded and bought a PlayStation when the price fell low enough. I kept the Saturn for a long time after that mainly for SEGA Rally and the other racing games but they never ever bettered SEGA Rally, which to this day puzzles me!
My Saturn was eventually traded in for a measly three games for my PlayStation, I realise now that I made a tragic mistake trading in and, until I purchased one on eBay, still longed for SEGA Rally, Virtua Fighter 2 and the Panzer Dragoon series amongst others.
Since then I have tried to recreate the collection I traded in, but I had some titles that are now **RARE** in eBay speak and finding them at a sensible price is proving to be rather challenging, I also want to play all the games I desired first time around but just could not afford!
With this site I would like to bring the attention of the SEGA Saturn to a wider audience and provide an interesting resource for other fans of SEGA's forgotten machine. Hope you enjoy the site!
Date: 08 July 1995
Price: £399.00
Available Games: Four
lockwork KnightGraphically amazing game and some very well structured gameplay made this an entertaining game, however far too short with only 4 levels.
Stunning racing for the time with some top notch graphics, let down only by some 3D clipping and no two player option, later rectified with Daytona USA Championship Circuit Edition.
This was a terrible attempt to recreate football and thankfully this sneaked out quietly and most people failed to notice! Many MegaDrive football games had more to offer than this.
Looked dated on release, more attention to detail than on the 32X version, but hurried for launch. Some of the best video game fighting and introducing 3D fighters to great effect. Best of the four launch titles.
A New Beginning
Robbie Williams disappointed thousands of fans by leaving Take That.
Let Me Hear You Say Whay'oo
The Outhere Brothers topped the charts with Boom Boom Boom, the first of 4 weeks at the top.
Summer Blockbusters
Crimson Tide, Die Hard: With a Vengenace and Casper.
Upcoming Movies
Trailers for Braveheart, starring Mel Gibson, were showing in cinemas. Toy Story was released in the autumn of 1995, heralding a new animated style.
Alcopops
A huge furore erupted when lemonade-flavoured alcopops like 'Two Dogs' and 'Hooch' hit the shelves in 1995.
Slogan T-Shirts
In the nineties, the T-shirt exploded to three times its normal size to fit in with the grunge look.
The Combat Look
Not only boots but camouflage pants and jeans with side-pockets hit the High Street. By the end of the year the whole of the UK looked like a military training camp.