Shmups: Sega Saturn vs. Sony Playstation
I don’t claim to be a shmup expert, but I did a lot of research on this subject about a year ago. The findings of “superior ports” are not a result of a great amount of testing on my part, but rather the general consensus that I found among the shmup community.
We all know how awesome the Saturn is when it comes to shmups and other 2D games, but it is a fact that Sony’s mainstream counterpart has plenty of shmups to to keep retro gamers happy. I want to compare and contrast each system’s shooter library in order to help shooter fans build the best shmup library they can.
I will try to provide links to game reviews when I can. This list will be a bit of a work in progress and I eventually hope to provide more documentation on each game and port. Please contribute any additional information you might have in the comments section.
Sony Playstation
Hardware pros:
- Inexpensive, widely available
- Can produce awesome 2D in the hands of talented programmers.
- Backwards-compatible on the PS2.
- Excellent emulation support
Hardware cons:
- Not very import-friendly (internal mod is required)
- Dontroller d-pad isn’t the best for shmups
- Generally flimsy manufacturing.
- Generally not as skilled in 2D processing
Exclusive games:
- Raiden Project
- Raiden DX
- Gradius Gaiden
- Harmful Park
- Toaplan Shooting Battle vol. 1 (Kyukyoku Tiger)
- R-Types
- R-Type Delta
- Cotton Original
- Cotton 100%
- Gatchaman
- Einhander
- G-Darius
- Night Raid
- Nichibitsu Arcade Classics
- Philosoma
- RayCrisis
- Vacuum Kids
- Zanac X Zanac
- X2
- Dragon Spirit (Namco Museum)
- Dragon Sabre (Namco Museum)
- Ordyne (Namco Museum)
Superior versions:
- DonPachi
- DoDonPachi
- Strikers 1945 II
- RayStorm (?)
- Kaitei Daisensou/In The Hunt
- Sonic Wings Special
Sega Saturn
Hardware pros:
- Capable of some truly amazing graphics
- More RAM, built-in save memory
- Quite arguably the best controller ever
- Easy to play imports
- System failure rate is very low compared to PS1.
Hardware cons:
- Emulation has not matured
- No backwards-compatibility options
- Complex multi-processor architecture
- 3D graphics processors were a last minute addition to the system.
Exclusive games:
- Radiant Silvergun
- Batsugun
- Guardian Force
- Gun Frontier
- Battle Garegga
- Blast Wind
- Metal Black
- Cotton 2
- Cotton Bommerang
- Layer Section/Galactic Attack
- Kyukyoku Tiger II Plus
- Sengoku Blade
- Twinkle Star Sprites
- Game Tengoku
- Shippu Mahou Daisakusen/Kingdom Grandprix
- Hyper Duel
- Thunderforce Gold Pack 1
- Thunderforce Gold Pack 2
Superior versions:
- Soukyugurentai
- Shienryu
- Gunbird
- Konami’s Deluxe Packs (Gradius, Salamander, Parodius and Twinbee)
- Chatting Parodius
- Sexy Parodius
- Strikers 1945 (?)
- Image Fight/X-Multiply
- Thunder Force V
- Darius Gaiden
I gave the nod to Saturn versions of the Konami Packs/Parodius 3&4, even though the PS1 versions are identical from what I’ve heard, due to Saturn’s better controller and ease of importing. Same with Image Fight and Sonic Wings Special.
Overall, as you can see, Saturn has a larger and much more versatile library of shmups, but the PS1 has Raiden, R-Type, Tiger Heli/Kyukyoku Tiger, better versions of the ‘pachis (which should count for like, 10 games by themselves), and several others. Clearly the serious shmupper needs both systems to get the most out of 32-bit era home ports.
Feel free to correct me on any games or information I left out.
And just an FYI, I plan on doing more comparisons like Genesis vs. SNES, Dreamcast vs PS2, and other great matchups.
Additional Resources:
DigitalPress: Did You Know - PSX Shmups
SHMUPS! Saturn Profile
SHMUPS! Playstation Profile
Related Posts:
Dreamcast Shmups Library - 2D Shooters Galore
Survive Bullet Hell On Your Gameboy Advance
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Sega, Saturn, Playstation, Shmups
13 Comments:
Ugh, shmups on the PSX d-pad..it makes my thumb hurt just thinking about it.
Looking forward to a Genesis and SNES comparison.
That’s the kind of topic that I like, as long as the Saturn wins in the end
.
Alonzobots here, I said that psx version of Dodonpachi is better, and in many ways it is, but you can only play as one ship…which for me is fine since I only like the helicopter…but for some people that might bother them. The saturn version has quite a bit of slow down and looks kinda junky, especially compared to the arcade. Thats rather shocking considering the saturn should absolutely have been able to handle it, but it was just a very poorly made port.
I thought with a Gameshark, you can play imports, no internal mod is needed???(or else made this a con for saturn also?
What system are you referring to?
I read on many sites that sega saturn’s 3d capabilities was NOT added in the last minute. He should check this before saying that.
I know for a fact that it was added one later. That’s why there is two graphics processors. One is for 2D another is for 3D.
Read this great piece on the history of the Saturn:
http://www.eidolons-inn.net/segabase/SegaBase-Saturn(Part1).html
Most PSX shooters are just plain ugly imo and not as effectful as those available for the Saturn. Also, the PSX controller, while excellent for RPGs and the like, isn’t that great for shooters.
Also, please don’t refer to those SegaBase-articles as historical fact as they’ve been proven to have numerous factual errors.
Capcom Generations 1 is not a Saturn exclusive, it was released for both PS1 and Saturn.
Excelent site, congratulations.
Are you sure about the controller thing?
It’s like… The PSX controller has analog sticks wich are very neat when you need to control speed.
I burnt Raiden to play on my PS2, though, and the analogs didn’t work =/
And the Saturn 3D processor was not a last minute add to the console. A proof of it is that the first games that made it into the console were Daytona USA and Virtua FIghter, both fully 3D. It’s fun to think that Sonic didn’t debute this console, as it did on the Genesis and all the others ^^
Yeah, I’m sure about the 3D thing — it’s a pretty established piece of trivia. It’s not as if the Saturn couldn’t do 3D without it, but it would have been even more limited.
You may also notice that Virtua Fighter’s original port was very poor and Daytona wasn’t the greatest either. Probably due to a short deadline.
This topic is fairly old, but upon reading it, which I like ;D and don’t care to really point out very trivial things, but I will just say to set the record straight. That you guys are all right, just exaggerated somewhat. Originally Saturn was supposed to be 2D (which as racketboy states the reasoning for the dual processor configuration) but the 3D wasn’t really added “last minute”. Sega had been designing the console since 91′ and then sony raised the bar an entire year early at E3, giving SEGA about a 3rd of the time it took to finish its design, with a 3D engine. And then they still released earlier than the PS. But common, the idea of 3D is always in SEGAs thoughts, who’s to say they weren’t gonna do it anyway, regardless if Sony was… as far as the ports being not so great, this happens for many other reasons, mostly development of games, not capabilitys of said console.
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