I think the Sega Saturn itself is kind of a hidden gem

I haven't read the other 200+ comments so it's likely that someone already mentioned this 10 different times but now it's MY TURN!!! -The Magic Knight Rayearth cart is just for Backup RAM. Like the official Sega carts that came out in the US it allows you to save your game directly to the cart. Keep in mind that the Pro Action Replay and other 3rd party carts do not allow this. Instead you need to manually transfer your save files from the Saturn to the cart and then when you want to use them again you need to manually move them to the Saturn. Also, the Action Replay allows you to bypass the region protection. The official Sega carts will not. You can mod your Saturn with a switch like I did so you can use the official carts and save directly to them and not have to worry about the battery in the Saturn dying (which happens after about a year).

Actually, I would consider MOST of the games on the Saturn to be hidden gems lol

The two official carts in the video have two completely different function: The transparent blue cartridge is a 4MB RAM cartridge. Like the N64 Expansion Pak, it's a system upgrade that adds 4MB of RAM to the Saturn, primarily so Capcom 2D fighting game ports can retain all the animation from the arcade version and reduce the load time. Also works with later SNK fighting games that is designed for the 1MB RAM cart. The black cartridge (with the Magic Knight Rayearth sticker) is a backup memory cartridge. It's the same as a memory card, which is external storage for game saves, so it doesn't upgrade the system like the 4MB RAM cart does to allow for better games. The Action Replay 4M cart is an unofficial cart that combines the above two carts' functions into one and adds cheat codes and region bypassing as additional features.

Tempest 2000 was also released on DOS, Windows & Macintosh. DOS version allows you to switch from the CD soundtrack to an AdLib/Sound Blaster one, which is rather unexpected.

I hope you guys know that Manx TT Super Bike is made for the 3D Analog controller! Because I didn't know that for a long time! It controls SO much better with the analog stick. Its like the same night and day difference as playing NiGHTS with the 3D pad instead of using the d-pad.

I'm a huge, HUGE fan of the Saturn. I had an amazing collection at one point that I had to liquidate due to financial problems...then built it back up with many of the rarer games, and had to liquidate it again. I'm afraid I'm just not going to bother trying to collect Saturn again T_T I'll wait for part 2 before I throw a bunch of my personal recommendations in!

Well, I now have a new favourite Metal Jesus sidekick!

They´re not caveman in Metal Slug. They´re beard vietnam hostages. Did you guys never watched Rambo 2? It has a guy exactly like this hostages.

The Saturn is a great system...but boy is it expensive to collect for.

More Anna! I have become a Saturn collector recently and am having a great time collecting for the system. Latest acquisition Cyberbots collectors edition. I have started with all the awesome Capcom fighters on the system including XMEN, Streetfighter, Darkstalkers, etc. that is the true strength of the system. For the Glory!

i had a Saturn when i was a kid growing up, when it released. i luckily found a Saturn console while shopping at a local vintage store. picked it up immediately (wife wasnt too happy about that). but have been watching your videos on the games to grab. thanks for this! i recently placed an order at the store you recommend as well. going to be reliving my childhood this thanksgiving! haha

Manx TT is named after the Isle of Mans TT, famous motorcycle race

Glad to see a Saturn-focused video. Lots of excellent games mentioned here! :)

What Saturn Imports are MUST OWNS for the console?

This is one of your best episodes for hidden gems MJR that I have ever watched! I am glad that you talked a little about the cover for Magic Knight Rayearth. The NA cover for Astal is really bad when compared to the one in Japan.

Fun fact: Magic Knight Rayearth was the last game released for the Saturn in North America.

clockworks knight is not a hidden gem... its a well known Saturn game. I'll throw a few of my Saturn hidden games out there for you guys... 1.) All 3 Mobile Suit Gundam Side Story games (unbelievable FPS gameplay) 2.) Dungeon Master Nexus 3.) Savaki (Absolutely amazing graphics/fighting game) 4.) Fire Pro Gaiden: Blazing Tornado (Similar to Saturday Night Slam Masters) 5.) Blazing Dragons (Great point and click game) 6.) Impact Racing (No expensive but over looked... a true rare gem on saturn) 7.) Powerslave 8.) Quake 9.) Rampage World Tour 10.) Crypt Killer

Great video! My US saturn collection is reaching it's limit and it's really good to see some import reccommendations. Great to see Anna in a video, glad she's been back on KZfaq. Great video, thanks MJR!

For the Sega Saturn, I recommend getting the Action Replay Plus RAM cartridge because it will allow you to save your game data, perform cheats on your games and it breaks the region lock allowing you to play overseas Saturn games on your American Saturn. The Action Replay Plus RAM cartridge will also work on other Saturns from different countries. The Sega Saturn that I had back then came with Virtua Fighter 2 and Daytona USA.

Wooohoooo! My *second* favorite console of all times gets a hidden gems! Metal Jesus Rocks!

That Richmond tshirt is excellent

“Manx TT” is based on the famous “Isle of Mann” Tourist Trophy event, it’s not an actual race but a timed motorcycle event where each rider puts in a time for the course, the Isle of mann is a small island off the west coast of England, the race literally covers the whole island, it’s quite dangerous as they race on the actual public roads (not a smooth track) , sadly riders are killed every year competing.

Saturn is one of the few classic systems I never ever sold and have owned for the majority of my life, Im 28 and had one for 20 years and counting! To me it is one of the few systems from back in the hayday of gaming that is worth actually paying for and buying a collection. I mean for me I prefer to have everything at my fingertips so I prefer to emulate any system I can, plus I am disabled and cannot exactly buy a lot of games lol. But, Saturn just has such an amazing collection worldwide, along with being the first true online console, first online multiplayer on a console, first console that could play video quality cd's (VCD Adaper) and the first TRUE same quality arcade port console. Most of the arcade ports were more enjoyable to play with the Saturn controller than at the actual arcade for damn sure, I mean so many people used those things in a public arcade, I loved getting everything from the multiple am-2 titles, including all the Virtua series like Tennis Racing Cop Fighter On Striker etc to the fighting games from Marvel and Capcom that revolutionized the entire fucking genre. Yes Saturn didn't have the big Sonic game that everyone wanted, but they had 3 amazing sonic titles still, Sonic 3d blast was good but Sonic R and Jam are like, games I will play till I die, and technically Nights WAS a 'sonic game', with a character other than Sonic. The work done on Sonic Xtreme lead to Nights, the graphics levels and gameplay concept all were used in Nights among other things. Basically, they wanted to prove they could do what Nintendo has failed to do: Make the best core title on their system a game WITH AN UNKNOWN STAR CHARACTER! I mean fuck Nights basically is Sonic Xtreme. There are modded versions of Nights with Sonic replacing Nights, watch some gameplay of that and it gets a little clearer that Sega indeed did it on purpose. They had enough Sonic shit, and they proved they could draw together a random character and put them in place of Sonic in a high quality game and it would sell! Nowadays its not about quality, its about selling the same characters over and over. That was one of the things Sega got right! They didn't need stupid knockoff characters like Wario and Waluigi and Diddy Kong and shit to make a game good. They made games good with the best graphics possible at the time, the best gameplay possible, best sound and visuals, best controls, the most fun, what games should be about!!!! I definitely appreciate you guys giving some suggestions on Saturn titles worth getting that even a Sega lover may have missed.

Dream theater!

I'm digging the Richmond shirt.

Richmond's on her T shirt, he's not in his room, he's suppose to be in his room, why is he out of his room?

Nice video. I never had a Saturn originally, but am interested in playing some Saturn games. By the way, Manx (pronounced "Manks") refers to the Isle of Man, located in the Irish sea, to the west of the U.K. The Manx TT race is held on the island annually. Manx can refer to people born on the island, or to a breed of cats originating from there. The defining characteristic of these cats is a genetic mutation that causes them to have extremely short tails!

I never played the Saturn before, but now I really want to. Thanks guys.

MetalJesus and Anna = best episode yet.

My friend moved here from Hawaii. Import games would come in pretty regularly to Hawaii form Japan and he had a ton. Lots of great fighting games.

Grandia is always overlooked when it comes to any Saturn/PS1 list. Its a real shame as it is such an underrated game

vampire Savior is just darkstalkers lol

I think it has to be clarified that the official Sega RAM Expansions don't make your console region free. So the best option by a long shot is the Action Replay 4M Plus. It's also worth mentioning that if your gonna collect Japanese import games, it's best to get a Japanese Saturn. The problem with those "branded" expansion cartridges is that they go into the slot where your Region Free AR cartridge has to go in. So if you have an American/European Saturn, you won't be able to use those branded expansion cartridges unless to mod your Saturn. And I think that most of the time, if not all the time, you need those branded cartridges to play the corresponding game. As for hidden gems: Gungriffon Mobile Suit Gundam Sidestory: The Blue Destiny Looking forward to part 2!

She is so badass! Also, this is an awesome hidden gems episode, i've been on the fence about getting a Saturn but after watching this, i'm definitely going to be on the look out now!!!

In the Hunt is definitely a gem.

8:40 that's Darksiders! I had that for my PSP!

The MANX (mancs - not be bd confused with Mancunians) are natives of the Isle of Man in the British Isles and the TT is a race held there every year.

One of my all time favorite under appreciated systems finally covered here, thank you for this great video MJR! Looking forward to part 2.

My guess as to why that game is called Manx TT. People from the Isle of Man are called Manx (like people from America are American). Every year the Isle of Man hosts a super bike Grand Prix around the island called the Isle of Man TT. Im guessin this game takes place on the Isle of Man. if you've never heard of the Isle of Man dont worry, even people in the UK dont know it exists, its a tiny island between Liverpool and Ireland and they have a awesome flag with a three lagged man and are famous for having cats with no tails called "Manx cats" (all of this is fact, just ask google). Also you pronounced it right the first time.

I love my Saturn! Downside is alot of the best games for the console are REALLY expensive! Also I love Anna's Raymond t-shirt! Nice to know The I.T. Crowd gets some love in the US! Finally I don't know if it's already been mentioned but the Manx TT (pronounced manks) is based off the annual TT Super Bike Race that happens on the Isle of Man in the UK. Manx is the name of someone or something that comes from the Isle of Man!

If you take the screws out of the bottom of the Saturn, and take the lid off, then I am pretty sure it's trivial to play games out of region. You put a game in region to play, start it, 30 seconds in it'll stop spinning, and at that point you physically grab the disc off and put the foreign/copy disc in. It may sound extreme but actually it's pretty mundane to do it in practice. It's a commonly known flaw of the Saturn's disc protection.

Saturn Bomberman! Culture Junkies Panzer Dragoon Series! Guardian Heroes! Radiant Silvergun! Hell the Sega Saturn was a Hidden Gem!

A Saturn girl collector?? this is awesome !

Happy 20th Anniversary SEGA Saturn!! ^_^ ♥

Not sure if anybody answered this already but generally the special RAM carts such as the Magic Knight Ray-earth cart had special game data on them sometimes required to run the game and sometimes to provide extras, I have a King of Fighters 95 cart that has to be used with the KOF 95 game otherwise you cannot run the game as it has extra textures and also serves as extra ram, a Action replay will not work for certain games like this so it can only be ran on a Japanese Saturn or modified NA console due to the region lockout and the need for the game data on the cart at the same time. I believe the MKRE cart also has this extra game data but was optional.

Blastwind on the Saturn completely rocks! Definitely deserves a slot in your next Saturn hidden gems Metal Jesus.

Vampire Savior = Darkstalkers

you rock metal Jesus!

The 4 in 1 Action Replay Plus is a 4megs Memory Card + Action Replay (cheat codes) + RAM (additional memory for some Capcom/SNK fightings games) + bypass region locking (like the ST Key region converter cartridges). The 4MB RAM is a an Extended RAM Cartridge (additional memory for the system) ONLY, no saving datat, there are 2 versions 1MB and 4 MB, some games REQUIRE them, some work with both, some require the extra 4MB. I recommend the 4 in 1 Action Replay Plus (~25$), I use it for my all region games on my PAL Saturns.

Been anticipating this video since I started watching your channel. Saturn is the definition of "Hidden Gem" :-) So many great imports, shmups, etc. Can't wait for Part 2. Thanks MJR!

I've wanted to own Magic Knight Rayearth for years but it's too damn expensive

Hey Metal Jesus I know this doesn't have anything to do with the video but I was wondering if you are excited about the new ACϟDC album that's coming out in december? I know I am! \m/

I played an interesting Saturn game recently called Bulk Slash. Its a really bright and flashy mech game, sort of like Virtual On meets Macross. Definitely would recommend it to anyone who likes mech action games

My experience with third party expansion carts is as follows: They are good to keep around for the cheats. But, just remember these alternatives were designed under the assumption that you’d be using original games and hardware with them. I have a Fenrir SD card reader hooked up to my Saturn. And it works best with the original Ram expansion carts that were designed by Sega. My all in one Action replay works on a hit or mis basis with the Fenrir. But, would be working perfectly if I was using original discs like they did. That’s the trade off. If you try to combine different third party options to try to save money. Like using back up discs, Fenrir, and Action replay carts together you’ll eventually hit a wall and some of your games might not run on the Saturn. I use my Fenrir with original Ram expansion carts. And all the games have been playing.

"Addicting"? Not you too. Metal Slug is not addicting because addicting is a process. The word is addictive. 1. Verb: The man was slowly addicting himself to TV. I am slowly addicting myself to TV. The process of addicting one's self to something that is addictive. 2. Adjective: The thing he was using was addictive. TV is addictive. Games are addictive. It has become very addictive. I like this but it is a bit too addictive. Metal Slug is addictive. Settled once and for all.

How is Metal slug a "HIDDEN" gem? I mean it is a gem for sure, but I think everybody have heard of Metal slug :-)

The Sega 4MB RAM cart doesn't bypass the region lock, it's only for extra RAM for certain games (such as Vampire Savior). You see it sold alot with fighting and action arcade games that required alot of memory for extra frames and animation. (I also don't believe it works with a non-Japanese Saturn either). That Action Replay Cart is the best way to go for imports.

Mysteria, also called blazing heros is extremely underrated and is for sure a hidden gem.

Soak yogurt does not sound tasty...

That girl sorta looks like David Tenant what with the long side burns and strong jaw line.

The racing game is based on The Isle of Man Tourist Trophy which is a very dangerous street race held once a year in Britain.

Man I completely forgot about Clockwork Knight, I used to play that game literally all the time when I was a sprog - I remember it being pretty tough but it was insane amounts of fun and I loved it to death. Well, I guess I better start saving up if I want to build a Sega Saturn collection!

The chick is really cute

The panties reference made her uncomfortable lol watch her face!

Soukyugurentai Otokuyo is an enhanced port of Soukyugurentai released months before on Saturn and PS1 Soukyugurentai is a port of the arcade game Terra Diver for ST-V (Sega Titan Video game system) Awesome shooter.

Saturn was my first system and I love the hell out of it to this day.

what a cute lady - i want to play Sega with her and have a beer :)

My favorite Sega Saturn Games are: Alien Trilogy, Mortal Kombat Trilogy, Mortal Kombat 2, Doom, Deep Fear, Resident Evil, Tetris Plus, Galaxy Fight: Universal Warriors, Virtua Fighter 1-2, Virtua Cop 1-2, X-Men: Children of the Atom, X-Men vs. Street Fighter, Alone In the Dark 2, Enemy Zero, Star Fighter

Magic Knight Rayearth is a certified hidden gem for this system.

Btw MetalJesusRocks , that beautiful cover art on Magic Knight Rayearth is thanks to Clamp, the artists who created and drew the Magic Knight Rayearth story and manga :) That's definitely some of their beautiful work.

Tempest2000 was actually intended only for the jaguar, and the developer for it actually was way way ahead of his time saying 60fps should be the standard back when it was first shown off at what eventually became E3, and he could school a lot of modern developers that really only come up with excuses instead of stating actual problems they put the blame on things that really are not the actual problem.

Gameshark will also allow you to play imports, save games, and use cheat codes. It just doesn't have the option to expand the RAM. Also, the Gameshark is a bit more affordable the the Action Replay 4-in-1.

That hand drawn one in the beginning would be worth it to play for the art alone. Really impressive and to me that console really stood out for combining 2d-3d in games. I think treasure company had a few on there.

You can also use a GameShark to play imports. From the GameShark menu, hold down XYZ and press start. I like playing Sega Ages imports: IE, Power Drift, Out Run, Gale Racer (AKA Rad Mobile), etc.

Vampire Savior was released as Darkstalkers in NA. Not on the Saturn, but on other consoles. Also, there is no "english translation" on the case sides. Just a transliteration of the name in roman letters. As you can see, for Vampire Savior, that's also what's written on the front so of course it's in English.

Finally got to see the video and wanted to pop on with some notes (also on Facebook): The official 4MB RAM cart does NOT defeat region protection. That was ONLY to expand the RAM. It is the Saturn equivalent of an N64 expansion pack. the 4MB RAM cart was packaged with certain games or sold separately. There is a list of games that either support it or require it, and I'd be happy to post that list if it is desired. The 4MB RAM cart was mostly used for Capcom games. The Saturn also had a 1MB RAM cart. The 4MB RAM cart could be used to play most of the 1MB RAM required games, but some would have graphical glitches if you tried to use a 4MB cart in place of the 1MB cart. The Action Replay Plus identifies itself to the Saturn system as a 4MB cart. It bypasses the bootloader however, and allows the cart to run its own code. That code happens to have the Cheat code program and a Memory manager, which is kind of neat. The Action Replay has a built in feature to defeat region protection. Recently, the Action Replay and several other carts were hacked to allow the use of backups without a mod board or swap trick. They lose the ability to use cheat codes or the built in memory manager, but for some this is worth it. You can see that on my channel: Pseudo Saturn: Hacked Saturn Action Replay 4M Plus The Magic Knight Rayearth stickered cart was either an Official Sega Saturn Backup Memory Cart or a 4MB RAM cart that had its cartridge replaced. If this was the Backup Memory cart, it will not let you play games that require the 1MB or 4MB RAM cart, nor will it let you bypass region protection. It should be noted that if you bought Dragon Force, that game included a cartridge sticker that you could place over the existing sticker of any compatibly sized Sega Saturn cartridge. I wonder if the japanese Magic Knight Rayearth had the same. Side note: Dragon Force II partially translated into english shown here: Dragon Force II Translated In any case, if you want to defeat region protection, you'll need either an Action Replay cart, and ST Key or S-Satellite, a Game Shark, a region switch modification, or a region free bios. The other carts will not work. Here is a region free bios modded saturn: Universal HiSaturn Mod (Complete) next up: Magic Knight Rayearth came out with 3 variant discs, each with a different image on them: Hikaru/Red, Fuu/Green, and Umi/Blue. This was a common thing with Working Designs. Dragon Force has 4 disc variants and 3 Cartridge Sticker variants. Albert Odyssey has 2 disc variants and 2 different manuals. Easter Egg: If you beat the game, you can listen to a hilarious voice actor blooper reel. MANX TT Super bike: This was also a US release. Vampire Saviour: This game was released in the US as Darkstalkers 3. You can find an HD remake collection on the PS Network and on Xbox Live Arcade called Darkstalkers Resurrection. The modern versions of these games come with the previous two entries in the series as well. Pocket Fighters: Also known as Super Gem Fighter MiniMix, a port of this game was released in North America on the Playstation, and in the PlayStation 2 exclusive "Street Fighter Alpha Anthology". MetalJesusRocks, make sure you check out Mr. Bones. I think this game is right up your alley, if you can get past the first level and somewhat cheesy FMV acting.

I never had a whole lot of titles for my Saturn, but one I would definitely say doesn't get enough praise nowadays (though I have no idea how popular or unpopular it was at the time) is Guardian Heroes. I'm not usually a huge brawler fan, but DANG. The RPG elements combined with the alternate paths and the use of a three-lane path rather than just wandering around hoping you just happen to be on the same field as your enemies... it was an AMAZING game, and probably my favorite game I've played on the Saturn. Well... other than Death Tank.

all of those cartridges are in fact memory cards and you can save games on them. you go into the sytem settings to set them up as the default game save location.

There is just so much to say about the Saturn. I proudly own most of the rare games, such as Radiant Silvergun, Panzer Dragoon Saga, Dragon Force, Shining Force III, Albert Odyssey, The House of the Dead, Burning Rangers, and Shining the Holy Ark (I guess this one is becoming rare?). This remains one of my favorite consoles of all-time. Sadly, I only own about 40 games for it, but I have just about all of the great and underrated gems for it :D

That clearish cart with the 4MB and all the Japanese on it, all it does it expand the ram on the saturn so it can play games like the vampire savior game you showed as well as street fighter alpha 3, x-men vs street fighter, and some others. You would still need to change the region on the saturn to make it useful. It's possible to put a switch on the back that with some internal soldering to the saturn motherboard of 6 wires to specific jumpers will make it to where you switch it one direction or the other and it tricks the saturn to be either USA or Japan. It also appeared that the magic knight rayearth cart was just a saving memory card that looked fancy.

Your action replay doesn't have the com port on top interesting. Anyways you can't save games directly to that cart just can transfer save files from the system to cart. It's a bad limitation on an otherwise fantastic product and well the cart connectors are different from an official Sega cart so they can damage cart port. The MKR cart is a standard backup cart with fantastic artwork by WD.

I just got a Saturn with a Fenrir ODE so these videos are incredibly useful all these years later!

The Saturn truly was a unique system, with great games!

I remember my foster mom bought me a Sega Saturn when I was 18 years old it came with three games

Soukyugurentai Otokuyo. "SEW CUE GOO REN TIE, OH TOE COO YO" It's widely referred to as just Souky by the fans. But yeah, it's a really fun game, and I'm happy to see it get pimped in a 'hidden gem' video like this. Protip: The game is as hard as you make it. It uses a gameplay mechanic referred to as "rank," which basically means that whenever you grab a power-up, it gets incrementally harder. Only grab what you need, and the enemies' bullet patterns are more manageable. Other games by the same developer Raizing (such as Battle Garegga, another great Saturn shmup, of which there's a demo on Souky's disc) use this gameplay gimmick. Your "rank" is not visibly displayed in the HUD, but worry not, it will reset every time you die. (or at least lower drastically, depending on the game.) In case you didn't know about that, I hope it helps you with future high-score runs. Loved the review. Great to see Metal Slug and Tempest on there, too. :)

Not sure if you read the comments you get but Put Pocket Fighter in a PC and you can actually get a screen saver to show up with all the characters running across your screen until they turn what's on your desktop to just a black screen of them constantly running. I always showed people it when that first came out.

That Magic Knight Rayearth cart just has the sticker on it from the game's manual. Somebody just placed the sticker on a regular cart

Someone's probably covered this already, but if they haven't, Manx TT refers to the annual Isle of Mann TT motorcycle race, possibly more famous in Europe than the US.

Vampire Saviour rocks! theres always a tournament for it at Evo. It along with Super Turbo are probably the most influential fighting games ever!

I did not know Tempest was on Saturn! Must buy now!

I'm surprised you didn't mention it, but Vampire Savior was eventually released here in the states as Dark Stalkers for the PlayStation. I believe that those Sega branded memory cards are so expensive because they are required for some games like the King of Fighters series. For whatever reason, those games just do not work when using the generic cartridges like the action replay. As a matter of fact, some of those games were originally packaged with the cartridge, given that you needed one to play it. although you lose the ability to play other region games when using the official cartridge, it's fairly easy to mod the consul with the switch to let you change between regions, if you're pretty handy with a soldering iron.

I imported Vampire Savior for the Saturn. I grabbed a combo cart that allows imports and has the 4meg expansion built in. I also imported House of the Dead for the simple fact that the japanese release is a lot cheaper than the US version.

Not sure if anyone mentioned this already, but there is a half-finished english version of the game Soukyugurentai (probably pronounced as Shock-You-Gah-Rent-AYY!) right on the disk called Terra Diver. Manx TT is an arcade port that was also released in North America under the same name, though will probably cost you a bit more. The name is a reference to a superbike race around the Isle of Man. Oh - and for other hidden or semi-hidden gems - there is Keio's Flying Squadron 2 - a wonderfully wacky Japanese shooter/platformer - totally worth a look!

Used to play Manx TT in the arcades, here in the UK. Nice to see they made a console version.

That shmup at 7:33 looks pretty sweet, never heard of that one

a few of my all time favourites on the saturn are sega rally, house of the dead, exhumed, galactic attack, tomb raider and panzer dragon 2

Manx TT is based on the TT(tourist trophy) motorcycle race that takes place on the Isle of Man. Check out the videos of it on KZfaq. It's one of very few racing styles that will raise your heart rate by just watching it!

I have a copy of Astal. It was one of the first games that I got for the Saturn. I remember the game being really challenging because players could only take 3 hits. Plus, during production, the game was translated halfway. So, the US release of the finished product was in Japanese AND English. Not only that, the title of the game doesn't appear on the spine of the box.