Sega · 1995–2000

SegaSaturn

The 2D powerhouse with the cult library: Panzer Dragoon, Guardian Heroes, NiGHTS, and the Japanese imports collectors chase.

[n] Saturn games available

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Why it mattered

The 2D powerhouse that lost the 3D war

Sega built the Saturn to be the best sprite machine ever made — two CPUs, two video processors and more 2D horsepower than anything before it. Then the market turned to polygons, Sony launched at $299, and Sega's surprise May 1995 launch left half of America's retailers without stock and furious. In Japan the Saturn out-sold the PlayStation for a while; in North America it never got the chance.

The library is the reason collectors still chase it. Panzer Dragoon Saga, Guardian Heroes, NiGHTS, Radiant Silvergun, the Capcom and SNK fighters that only ran properly here — and roughly a thousand Japanese releases behind a region lock that a $20 cartridge unlocks. Early US games shipped in tall long boxes, later ones in jewel cases that crack if you look at them, so a complete, clean copy is worth checking closely. We photograph every case and disc.

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Fast facts

ReleasedMay 11, 1995 (North America, surprise launch)
Launch price$399 — Sony answered with "$299" the same day
MediaCD-ROM, with a cartridge slot for RAM and save carts
Units sold~9 million worldwide, most of them in Japan
Best sellerVirtua Fighter 2 — Japan's biggest Saturn hit
Did you know?Sega announced at E3 in May 1995 that the Saturn was on sale that day — four months early, at $399, and only at four retail chains. Stores left out of the surprise, KB Toys among them, refused to stock it afterwards. Sony's reply from the same stage was a single word: "$299."
Did you know?The Saturn has two Hitachi SH-2 CPUs and eight processors in total. Getting them to work together was so hard that most early 3D games used only one CPU, which is why the Saturn's 2D games look better than its 3D ones — the hardware was built for sprites.
Did you know?Early North American Saturn games came in tall cardboard-backed "long box" cases; by 1996 Sega switched to standard jewel cases. A long-box copy of a launch title is the early edition, and complete ones are getting scarce because the boxes crush.
Did you know?"Not for Resale" Saturn discs are real, complete games — Virtua Fighter, Virtua Fighter 2, Virtua Cop and Daytona USA were bundled with consoles in those sleeves. They play identically to the retail disc and are usually the cheapest way to own the game.
Did you know?Panzer Dragoon Saga shipped in North America in 1998 with a print run usually estimated in the low tens of thousands, after Sega had already announced the Dreamcast. It is the most expensive US Saturn game and one of the priciest RPGs on any console.
Did you know?The Saturn is region-locked, but the cartridge slot fixes that: an Action Replay or similar cart lets a US console boot Japanese discs, and the same slot takes the 1 MB and 4 MB RAM carts that games like X-Men vs. Street Fighter and Street Fighter Zero 3 require to run at all.
Did you know?In 1996 Sega released the NetLink, a 28.8k modem for the Saturn. Saturn Bomberman, Duke Nukem 3D and Sega Rally could be played online against another NetLink owner — three years before the Dreamcast made online play the headline.
Did you know?Sega of America's Bernie Stolar told the crowd at E3 1997 that "the Saturn is not our future." Sega stopped releasing US Saturn games in 1998, so the North American library is only about 250 titles, against more than a thousand in Japan — which is why the import shelf matters here more than on any other console.

Find your next Saturn game

Start with a familiar favorite, explore a theme, or browse by what’s included.

Counts are listings in stock — the same game can appear more than once in different packaging.

The grails

Panzer Dragoon Saga, Radiant Silvergun, Burning Rangers, Shining Force III, Dragon Force, Guardian Heroes — the Saturn games collectors cross the room for.

Sega AM2: the arcade at home

Virtua Fighter, Virtua Cop, Daytona USA, Sega Rally, Fighters Megamix — Yu Suzuki's arcade division was the reason to own a Saturn in 1995.

The import shelf

Japanese Saturn discs for the console with a cartridge in the slot — a thousand-game library North America never got.

Came free with the console

Not-for-resale pack-in discs and the Choice Cuts sampler — complete games, honest sleeves, and the cheapest way onto the shelf.

Also on the PlayStation

Wipeout, Need for Speed, Duke Nukem 3D, Command & Conquer, Contra: Legacy of War — the multiplatform years, and the Saturn versions collectors underrate.

Fighters: the Saturn's home turf

Virtua Fighter, Last Bronx, Fighters Megamix, Battle Monsters — plus the Capcom and SNK ports the PlayStation could not run. If it has a health bar, it lives here.

Long box, launch year

The tall cardboard-backed cases of 1995: Daytona USA, Panzer Dragoon, Clockwork Knight, Virtua Fighter Remix, Bug! — the Saturn's first edition on the shelf.

Play ball (and everything else with a scoreboard)

World Series Baseball, Frank Thomas Big Hurt, Madden 98, Victory Goal, Decathlete — the Saturn's sports shelf, from Sega's own to the EA ports.

2D lives here

Guardian Heroes, Astal, Clockwork Knight, Silhouette Mirage, Mega Man 8 — the sprite-drawn games the Saturn's hardware was actually built for.

The Working Designs shelf

Albert Odyssey, Magic Knight Rayearth, Iron Storm, Shining Wisdom, Dragon Force — the Californian publisher that translated the Saturn's RPGs and printed the best manuals in the business.

Complete in case, best condition first

Every complete Saturn game in stock right now.

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Game with manual

Cart and manual, no box — the collector's middle ground.

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Loose discs

Disc only — tested, photographed, priced accordingly.

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Sealed

Factory sealed and photographed through the shrink.

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SegaSaturn

The 2D powerhouse that lost the 3D war