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Between Sega Saturn and Nintendo 64, which console do you think was better?

Between Sega Saturn and Nintendo 64, which console do you think was better?

  • Sega Saturn

  • Nintendo 64


Results are only viewable after voting.

Kyo

Member
It's a tricky question, really. The N64 was given a lot more fully polygonal 3rd person games whereas the Saturn basically had... Tomb Raider. On the one hand, this would make the N64 seem more modern. On the other hand, since these games were just early examples of what would be significantly evolving over the next few decades, a lot of that has clearly been bettered in terms of controls and overall feel (not to mention the visuals). Quite a few of the 3D games running at a lousy 20 fps (and even worse 16.7 fps on PAL consoles) and often still dipping below that also doesn't help at all.

So the games that were more cutting edge at the time actually seem quite outdated now in many ways. This does not apply to a lot of the Saturn library as many of its games were either 2D at what could be considered the height of 2D game design in many ways or so unique that they still seem fresh and manage to hold their own today. And here it helps that a lot of the 2D stuff ran at flawless 60 fps, which holds up very well today, unlike the choppy performance of many 3D titles (on both systems).
 

Three

Member
Saturn for me. Its close

N64 had some of the best games ever in OOT, Majoras Mask, Mario 64, Golden Eye etc.

But if you like 2D fighters, or JRPG's, Shmups, then Saturn is one of the best consoles

-Best 2D fighters of any console at the time

-JRPG's like PDS, Shining Force, Grandia

-CastleVania Symphony of the Night, Guardian Heroes and more
The problem I think was that it had little to set it apart. PS1 came out 2 weeks after Saturn. A lot of the Saturn games like Castlevania SotN, Grandia (late) released on PS1 too and the popularity of the PS1 made it suffer unlike the N64. Having just an N64 was probably painful in terms of JRPG and fighters (I think this is why smash bros was greenlit too) compared to just a Saturn. If you already had a PS1 though the N64 library was a must own and the Saturn less so.
 

EruditeHobo

Member
If you already had a PS1 though the N64 library was a must own and the Saturn less so.

This was my thinking too, well said... and this is why I didn't own a Saturn!

Mario 64 and Zelda, those are system sellers. Saturn has nothing like that... and neither did PSX!

Nights looks cool, Panzer Dragoon games have always looked good, but those doesn't seem at all on the same level as those absolute classics. On top of that, shmups are my least-appreciated genre, which Saturn seems to go heavy into, and arcade-style stuff in general is again not really my thing. Racing games, which everyone points to as among the best on the system, seem to skew arcade-y and unless they're either super fun multiplayer or super deep sims racers have never really compelled me. So Saturn seems to be a lil handicapped, for me personally.

I do like Saturn's fighting game roster, after taking a look... but back to your overall point, PSX more than satisfied in that regard.
 
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Kokoloko85

Member
The problem I think was that it had little to set it apart. PS1 came out 2 weeks after Saturn. A lot of the Saturn games like Castlevania SotN, Grandia (late) released on PS1 too and the popularity of the PS1 made it suffer unlike the N64. Having just an N64 was probably painful in terms of JRPG and fighters (I think this is why smash bros was greenlit too) compared to just a Saturn. If you already had a PS1 though the N64 library was a must own and the Saturn less so.

Sure.
Im just talking between N64 and Saturn so I would class them as Saturn games. Having all 3 consoles was awesome though. We got lucky and got an N64 for really really cheap.

I had a Saturn first before the PS1. It was games like Virtua Fighter 2, Shining Force 3, Guardian Heroes, Fighters Megamix, Nights, Virtual Cop And some more that kept us going. My brother got a PS1 later and we loved it too.

PS1 overall the best of the generation but Id put Shinning Force 3, Guardian Heroes and PDS up there with any of the best games from PS1/N64 for my personal taste. I love all 3 consoles
 

K' Dash

Member
Come On Please GIF by NBA
 

Romulus

Member
I can argue N64 was better than all three because while it had fewer games, they were more impactful on me as a gamer. They pushed gaming forward in ways PS1/Saturn did not. I loved all three and you couldn't lose with any of them, but N64 just felt like it was the a true leap forward. Ocarina of Time for example felt like looking into the future. And I definitely rode the wave as the rebellious PS1 edgy teenage gamer. I had all the PS1 greats and loved it.
 
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Bond007

Member
I was there.
Nobody wanted that mess(Saturn). I was 10 at release so maybe the demographic for the console was too high for me along with the price. To my social circle and friends- the console was trash. PSX was king.
It does appear people are more fond of it today or games aged well to alot of people.

I eventually owned an N64 as a second console. While it was not my primary or my favorite - I probably have the best memories on it due to fresh exposure to the sort of multiplayer offered.
Wresting games, shooters, Mario Kart, Star Fox.
 
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Kagoshima_Luke

Gold Member
Saturn by far. Of course, I was the only one with a Saturn in my friends group growing up and I guarantee most people will vote N64 here simply because they never had one. If you consider the Japanese game libraries for both systems it becomes even more obvious that Saturn DECIMATES the N64.
 
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Holammer

Member
I'll have to go with Saturn, I owned neither of them as PS1 was the place to be. But my buddy had both so we played shitloads of games both systems, he also had a Doctor64, so we basically tried most N64 games in existence and the vast majority were complete garbage tbh and they looked blurry and ugly (with the exception of Nintendo's own games, even if they were blurry).

Saturn on the other hand had an exciting & diverse library and we had more fun with Golden Axe: The Duel than most N64 games. The system had Darkstalkers and the wonderful 6-button controller! There's no contest.
 
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Threads with Sega in them are fun to read, because Sega fans are very entertaining, angry and full of passion. They even made an anime about an insane Sega fanboy. lol
 
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Robb

Gold Member
I did not care for the Saturn nor found its software very impactful or interesting, even at the time. N64 on the other hand had games that I still re-play to this day. So pretty easy choice for me.
 

diffusionx

Gold Member
N64's best games are better than anything on Saturn, but Saturn obviously had a much bigger, deeper, wider library. Does the N64 have one good fighting game? Or any good shmups outside of Bangaioh and Sin & Punishment? Or any good RPGs? Or any good compilations? Or light gun games?
 
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AJUMP23

Parody of actual AJUMP23
One was an amazing console that had a game that revolutionized the platformer. They other was the SEGA death nail.
 
I only owned the SEGA Saturn for about six months before I traded it in for a (second-hand) PlayStation. I always remember being very disappointed at the lack of games for the console even though I thought the games were good.

I absolutely loved the N64 though. Like the Saturn, it had a games drought at launch but I was blown away by the quality of the visuals and the games, so much so that it became my main gaming console over the PlayStation until the Dreamcast game out. The N64 was also my first Nintendo console. Games like Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Banjo-Kazooie, Conker's Bad Fur Day, Mario Kart 64 and Super Mario defined the console for me and offered a gaming experience that was leagues ahead of everything else out at the time.
 
It's really hard for me to compare them.

N64 was something that moved the needle with some very innovative high quality games. It was tops if you had several friends over thanks to all the multiplayer games. Its accomplishments are somewhat diminished by a small library, mostly poor third party offerings, and a lack of many 2D titles. Still Wave Race, Smash, OoT, Ogre Battle 64 rank amongst some of the best games I've ever played.

Saturn brought the Arcade experience home. It made importing popular (for me at least). The library was deep and covered most genres well. Bomberman, Virtual On, XM vs SF, etc. Some really great stuff. I even had the Virtua Stick. The 3D wasn't the best and it loses a little glory due to all the overlap with the PSX library.

Can't vote 🤷‍♂️
 
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What are people’s favorite Saturn games? I’m curious and I would like to check them out on YouTube or something Atleast.

Saturn Bomberman
Cotton 2
Magic Knight Rayearth
Fighters Megamix
Virtua Cop 2
X-men/Marvel vs. Street Fighter
Bulk Slash
Batsugun
Grandia
Sega Rally
Die Hard Arcade
Panzer Dragoon Saga
Virtual On
Nights
Street Fighter Alpha 2 Gold
 
The titans of legendary games that were on the N64 are undeniable for sure (Mario 64, Ocarina of Time, Majora's Mask), but I think the overall library of the Saturn was superior.
 
As a kid I only had access to an N64 and loved it back then. Today, when I take a look at the libraries between the two systems, I think the Saturn is the clear winner.
 
n64 if your dongus goes boing
saturn if youre a weeb

once i played nights, i knew saturn was a dead console
(has some good games though)
 
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SpiceRacz

Member
Strongly prefer the Saturn’s controller and overall library. N64’s library is kind of weak outside of the 1st party stuff. I’ll take Saturn for the RPGs, sports, racing, and fighting games. With that said, there’s nothing on Saturn that compares to Mario 64 or Ocarina.
 

SirTerry-T

Member
I was there.
Nobody wanted that mess(Saturn). I was 10 at release so maybe the demographic for the console was too high for me along with the price. To my social circle and friends- the console was trash. PSX was king.
It does appear people are more fond of it today or games aged well to alot of people.

I eventually owned an N64 as a second console. While it was not my primary or my favorite - I probably have the best memories on it due to fresh exposure to the sort of multiplayer offered.
Wresting games, shooters, Mario Kart, Star Fox.
To be fair, most 10 year olds wouldn't really have been able to see past the Nintendo and Sony "playground hype" to judge Sega's machine fairly.
 

tkscz

Member
The people that voted N64 probably never owned a Saturn with a pile of import games.
Or, and this may sound crazy, but the N64 library appealed to them more. What's bothering me the most with some of these post are replies like "Oh if you take away first party and rareware games, then you have nothing" like what kind of argument is that? If you take games away you have fewer games, well no shit. You're basically saying if you remove the good games then you're left with bad ones. But the N64 has games outside of Nintendo ones that are still fun to this day. Doom 64, The Turok games, Mischief Makers, Resident Evil 2, Space Station Silicone Valley, Bomberman 64, Beetle Racing, Body Harvest, I can go on.

On that note I would go with the N64 as I have better experiences with it especially multiplayer. Hours staying up with friends and cousins playing Goldeneye and Perfect Dark and Diddy Kong racing and Turok Rage Wars among many others. Even smaller multiplayer modes like Kirby 64's would keep us playing for hours. Even now we go back to these old games and still have fun. The Switch giving them online makes it easier.
 

Katajx

Member
Saturn Bomberman
Cotton 2
Magic Knight Rayearth
Fighters Megamix
Virtua Cop 2
X-men/Marvel vs. Street Fighter
Bulk Slash
Batsugun
Grandia
Sega Rally
Die Hard Arcade
Panzer Dragoon Saga
Virtual On
Nights
Street Fighter Alpha 2 Gold
Thank you. I haven’t even heard of some of the games you listed.
 
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Crayon

Member
Hmmm you know... your appreciation of the saturn library would have a lot to do with your feelings on arcade games at any given time.

So thinking back to the 90's i was hungering for more complex games. I kinda got pushed out of that when the family computer was falling behind on games, but still fine for everything else. So we were not going to replace it. Then PS1 came out and it was getting a fair number of pc ports like xcom. At that time, I was not as interested in the saturn library. I could take something arcade or arcade-ish if it was vey unique like nights or of outstanding quality like sega rally. For the most part though, a lot of what I see as the standouts in the library now did not have as much sway on me back then.

So for instance, I've been playing a good amount of saturn lately because I can get those arcade games in a short burst. I'm moving through Rebirth, and when I don't have time for a decent sesh, I am playing putting in a shooter for an hour at a time. An hour there is enough to get the cobwebs off from a few days ago, make some progress as far as my scoring, and even start "getting worse" as my brain gets taxed and it be time to put it down.

Back then I would have picked N64. It's tough to say should we judge by the landscape back then, including ourselves changing, or judge them as things are today. Nobody is cross shopping saturn and n64 for their only consoles today.
 

Knightime_X

Member
I pick N64 because ps1 does things a lot better than saturn in most regards.
If I had to pick it would still be N64 due to games like Mario Kart, Paper Mario, Smash Bros, Doom 64, mario 64 etc.
 
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The problem I think was that it had little to set it apart. PS1 came out 2 weeks after Saturn. A lot of the Saturn games like Castlevania SotN, Grandia (late) released on PS1 too and the popularity of the PS1 made it suffer unlike the N64. Having just an N64 was probably painful in terms of JRPG and fighters (I think this is why smash bros was greenlit too) compared to just a Saturn. If you already had a PS1 though the N64 library was a must own and the Saturn less so.

Most anything 2d on Saturn annihilated their PS1 counterparts, which lost a lot in transition (barring SotN, which was built for PS1 but underoptimized for SAT). Radiant Silvergun and the AD&D ports never made it over, for instance.
 

Vandole

Member
If I'm in a bubble in the PS1 doesn't exist, the Saturn would beat the N64. However, since it does, the Saturn doesn't quite have as much of a need. I've got all my solo gaming on The PS1 and my multiplayer/ group gaming on the N64. Even with a damn fine group of fighters and exclusives, it just doesn't quite fit a need for me.
 
Fkin poll is RIGGED!! RIGGED!!!!

J/k...well only sorta. Me personally, would choose Saturn as the better of the two WRT the library I'd play today. However, in terms of which system had the most impact on driving the industry forward? That is easily the N64. In fact the N64 isn't too far behind the PlayStation 1 in that regard.

The Saturn was mostly reflective of a system burdened as a relic of the past, trying to somehow compete with what would become the future, despite lacking a lot of the tools to do so. SEGA got too caught up in trying to directly compete with Sony, when they should've learned from Nintendo and diversified their market approach while synergizing their core strengths. But that's hard to do when you have two branches looking to slit each other's throats over pettiness.

The N64 gave us monumental gamechangers like Super Mario 64, Ocarina of Time, native 4-player couch multiplayer, GoldenEye 007 and more. Compared to that, there's very little the Saturn provided both in a software or feature sense that wasn't matched or bettered by the PS1. VF2? Great fighter. So is Tekken 2 and I'd argue Tekken 3 is better than the both of them. SEGA World Touring Championship? Interesting, but then Gran Turismo showed up and mopped it out of relevancy. Clockwork Knight? Fun game, but Crash Bandicoot did 2.5D better and with more style. Hi-Octane? OK, but then Wipeout showed up and redefined futuristic racers forever. I could go on and on.

The amount of 3P who gravitated towards PS1 (both naturally and in deals SIE pursued with them) was just overwhelming for SEGA, but it was SEGA's choice to try competing with that directly despite spreading themselves way too thin and even kneecapping the Saturn to some extent so as not to encroach on their arcade market. I think SEGA should have either truly focused everything onto Saturn from the get-go (including it's design, meaning developing something tuned for 3D gaming specifically), or synergized their Saturn platform with their arcade business in more optimal ways. For example, games like Daytona USA, VF2 etc. needed to target the Titan arcade board chiefly so that Saturn ports could take less time and leave room for tons of extra home-exclusive content, THEN port those Saturn versions back up to the Model 2/Model 3 systems with better graphics & the added content plus maybe additional content.

Had they done either, they would have done much better that gen. Instead of the 9 million or so they sold, they probably could've gotten closer to 40-50 million (completely all-in, redesigned-for-3D Saturn, same 1994 launch frame) or at least 20-25 million (same Saturn we got but with much better pipeline optimization & synergy between home & arcade operations). Both of which are obviously better than what they actually wound up doing, and would've been enough to secure a space for them to keep making console hardware with Dreamcast and beyond.

Because rounding back a second, that is in big part what ultimately hurt the Saturn everywhere outside of Japan: it was just an inferior PlayStation to the vast majority of people, and the library of localized games bore that out to mostly being true. It was perceived as an off-brand PlayStation, whereas the N64 actually offered a good number of things the PS1 couldn't, hence why it competed pretty well with Sony in Western markets. The Saturn's perception as an "off-brand PlayStation" is basically the exact problem Xbox consoles have today, which is why Xbox Series is seeing a similar trajectory of market irrelevance. People don't need two PlayStations, especially when one's a copycat. The legit one is more than enough.

That said, nowadays with both systems libraries fully available and (mostly) playable to a global audience thanks to fan translations...I personally can't prefer the N64 over the Saturn. Many of N64's best games have since been iterated on and perfected with sequels on future Nintendo consoles, so in a way if you want to play the best versions of those games or the systems & ideas they represented...just play their Gamecube, Wii, Wii U or Switch sequels instead. Like how many people are really checking out the N64 Smash Bros. when Melee exists and wrecks it on every conceivable level? Super Mario 64 might be evergreen for its reverence and speedrunners, but if you're a casual or mainstream gamer, or even just a typical core enthusiast looking for a great Mario platformer, I don't see why you'd "put up" with a lot of SM64's inconveniences when games like the Mario Galaxy series, 3D World or Odyssey are just as whimsical, more polished, and have much better QOL features.

With the Saturn, that's not as common a scenario you run into. There really haven't been a lot of rail shooters with the type of atmosphere or elaboration of ideas that games like Panzer Dragoon Zwei presented, as that genre fell out of fashion during the 6th gen and some of the only few afterwards were horror-themed games (the Wii Resident Evil titles, House of the Dead, etc.). The Shining Force series peaked on Saturn and there have not been new entries quite like SF3 or Holy Ark since the 5th generation. Strategy RPGs have definitely persisted since then, but very few have specifically carried on the spirit or mentality of those Camelot Shining Force games. And there's practically been no modern day equivalent of the Dragon Force games beyond the 5th gen, either.

I'm not saying the N64 doesn't have games like that which still make it worth playing preferably in the modern context. Iggy's Wrecking Balls is seriously slept on and there hasn't been much of a game like it beyond that gen, to my knowledge. Space Station Silicon Valley is still quite unique for what it is, as is something like Hybrid Heaven, Mischief Makers or Sin & Punishment (which did get a sequel, but like decades later). There's just way less of them than on Saturn, and despite it having so many popular games that have seen been iterated on towards making the 5th gen installments redundant, the PS1 has more "unique" offerings specific to its era with little iteration beyond the gen than both Saturn AND N64, probably combined. Like I'll never skip a chance to tell folks to play Planet Laika now that it's finally in English (seriously, play it already if you haven't, especially if you like weird Enix games with themes of space dementia, mental illness, multiple personalities, transcendence and touches of horror in a retro-inspired semi-psychedelic sci-fi post-modernist atmosphere not that much dissimilar of '90s anime like Evangelion or Betterman).

So yeah, that's my take on the two systems. Love them both, though, for their unique reasons. As should anyone.
 

Valonquar

Member
Saturn ports of Capcom fighters with the add-on cart and the Saturn controller was perfect for fighters. SFZ3 we played all day everyday for a few years! Pretty much king of 2D anything really. 3D stuff and video was jank as fuck but still had standouts like Grandia and Panzer Dragoon Zwei & Saga\RPG. Saturn JP imports were where the titty was at too. Strip Mahjong? Check. Strip paper rock scissors? Check.

I suspect if you put up a poll for age ranges you'd see a similar split as well.
 
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