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Sega Saturn

Sega Saturn, as with nearly all consoles, was initially released in Japan. On November 22nd 1994, the Saturns' launch date, over 150,000 machines were sold, and this number rose to half a million by the time Christmas arrived. It continued to sell well, and it is estimated that over five million consoles were sold in Japan, making it a more successful machine there than the Nintendo 64.

The Sega Saturn was released in early 1995 in the United States, and shortly after in Europe. This was ahead of its previously announced release date of 2nd November 1995, and was dubbed 'Saturn-Day' by the video game press. Most people saw this 'rush release' as an attempt to secure some of the market before Sony released its already hyped Playstation, the 32 bit rival to the Sega Saturn.

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The Sega Saturn received a 'lukewarm' reception in the states, and this can be put down to two main factors, cost and marketing. The Saturn cost $100 more than the Playstation, which at $400 made it too expensive for most gamers. But the main factor for the Saturns' poor start, and ultimately its decline altogether was Sonys' experience in the PR department. This last factor is definitely the reason the Saturn failed in the UK; Sega basically had no marketing for the Saturn and solely relied on its reputation and the success of the Megadrive.

Even before the Playstation was released in the US, Sony had been hyping its console with regular TV adverts, billboard posters and adverts in game magazines. This had already whetted the American gaming publics' interest, and when the Playstation was released it almost immediately out-sold the Saturn at a ratio of 2-1. But the real stroke of genius was the audience that Sony decided to target once the Playstation had gained a foothold.

At this time, games consoles & video games were still perceived by many people as nerdy - something kids played on their own in their bedrooms, or beardy 'dungeons and dragons' type folk played over the internet! Sony took a risk and decided to try and make its new console seem appealing to the twenty-something's. They used popular recording artists in their game soundtracks - Psynogsis' Wipeout game featured The Prodigy & The Chemical Brothers to name but a few. They placed advertisements in gentlemen's magazines such as GQ and FHM. They produced games aimed at a more mature audience; Tomb Raider being the most obvious example along with Resident Evil which also carried a 15 certificate. The risk worked.

Sony had tapped a previously unexplored market, and effectively changed the face of video games altogether. Gaming was now seen as more of a social thing, rather than a solitary thing. It was seen as cool to be into video games. People openly discussed the latest game releases, and even popular TV shows such as Friends had references to the Sony Playstation. But it also changed other things. Unlike die-hard gamers, the new breed of fickle gamers wanted quantity over quality, and despite the fact that the Saturn had produced some quality games, it was the sheer number of games on the the Playstation that eventually ended the ill fated Saturns' life.

But even the amount of games on the Playstation could be put down to Sega and the Saturn itself. The machine was initially designed for 2D games, while the Playstation was built for 3D polygon games, something gamers were now demanding as standard. This lead Sega to redesign its internal architecture in a hurry, but the end result was something game developers found messy and time consuming. The Playstation had always been built with 3D games in mind, and as such contained many of the techniques used to generate 3D effects within its hardware i.e. light sourcing, transparency etc. The Playstation also had built in video & audio compression routines, something the Saturn programmers to include within the software.

This encouraged many software developers, especially the smaller publishing houses, to favour the Sony Playstation as they found it difficult to get to grips with Sega's hardware and dual processor technology. The outcome was a switch to Sony by some of the biggest names in the business - the most well known being Squaresoft who introduced their Final Fantasy series to the Playstation, and in a lot of people's eyes, increased the popularity of RPG's with one single move.

The Saturn was eventually taken off the market in 1999. When the Dreamcast was released in 1998 it is said that the Saturn virtually disappeared from the shelves overnight in favour of the new 128 bit machine. It had never achieved the success that Sega had hoped for in the Western market, and most people view the machine as a failure. While there were a number of very well written games produced for the console, due to the lack of popularity for the system they remained 'undiscovered' by many gamers until the recent advent of retro gaming. 

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Sega Saturn Japanese Virtua Stick Loose

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Box: 
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£25.00
Manual: 
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£25.00

The official Japanese Sega Arcade Style Joypad. Works with UK consoles. This is a tough, solid arcade style joypad, designed to sit on a flat surface, with all the buttons re-positioned on top of the Joypad. Absolutely fantastic for beat-em-up games, you can vent your anger on the control pad as they are very durable (trust me on this one!). This item is fully tested and comes unboxed without instructions.

Sega Saturn Japanese Scart Lead Boxed

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£15.00
Manual: 
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£15.00

A Scart connector cable to connect your Japanese Sega Saturn to your TV set via Scart port instead of the RF socket. This cable outputs full stereo sound to your TV, and gives improved picture quality as there is no interference! The other advantage is that you do not need to fiddle around at the back of your TV every time you want to play on your console!. This item comes boxed, and is tested and works fine.

Sega Saturn Japanese RF Lead Boxed

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£10.00
Manual: 
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£10.00

This is the official Japanese Sega Saturn RF Lead. Used to connect your console to your TV's RF port. Please be sure your TV can display a Japanese NTSC RF Signal before buying these else it may not work! Item has been tested and works fine. This item is comes boxed in it's original packaging without instructions.

Sega Saturn Japanese Mark One RF Lead Boxed

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£10.00
Manual: 
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£10.00

This is the official Japanese Sega Saturn RF Lead. Identical to the lead above except in a different box that matches the Mark One Sega Saturn Console. Used to connect your console to your TV's RF port. Please be sure your TV can display a Japanese NTSC RF Signal before buying these else it may not work! Item has been tested and works fine. This item is comes boxed in it's original packaging without instructions.

Sega Saturn Controller Official Grey Loose

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£18.00
Manual: 
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£18.00

The Official Sega controller. This is the funky Japanese controller with grey casing and was originally included with the Mk1 Console. These work fine with the PAL or US NTSC machines. These controllers are very hard to come by on their own and most people have to settle for third party controllers. Well the good news is I've got plenty! They are all clean and don't have any chunks missing like some controllers I've seen! I test all controllers by giving Street Fighter Alpha a good thrashing before I send them! This item comes unboxed.

Sega Saturn Controller Official Grey Boxed

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Box: 
yes
£25.00
Manual: 
yes
£25.00

The Official Sega controller. This is the funky Japanese controller with grey casing and was originally included with the Mk1 Console. These work fine with the PAL or US NTSC machines. These controllers are very hard to come by on their own and most people have to settle for third party controllers. Well the good news is I've got plenty! They are all clean and don't have any chunks missing like some controllers I've seen! I test all controllers by giving Street Fighter Alpha a good thrashing before I send them! This item comes boxed.

Sega Saturn Controller Official Clear Loose

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£25.00
Manual: 
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£25.00

The official Sega controller. This is the funky Japanese controller with clear plastic casing. These work fine with the PAL or US NTSC machines. These controllers are very hard to come by on their own and most people have to settle for third party controllers. Well the good news is I've got plenty! They are all clean and don't have any chunks missing like some controllers I've seen! I test all controllers by giving Street Fighter Alpha a good thrashing before I send them! This item comes unboxed.

Sega Saturn Japanese Backup Memory Boxed

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£35.00
Manual: 
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£35.00

The official Japanese Sega Backup Memory Cartridge.  Used to save your game progress in most games - absolutely essential for any serious Saturn collector / player. This item is particularly rare as the sticker has no writing on it and it is boxed. This cartridge is Japanese but will work on any Sega Saturn. This item has been tested and works fine. This item comes boxed.

Sega Saturn Dual RAM Cartridge Loose

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£14.00
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£14.00

A third party RAM cartridge for games that require a 1MB/4MB RAM Upgrade. These are Capcom & SNK games - check the requirement of your game for further information. This item comes loose and is in good working order.

Sega Saturn Controller Official Black Loose

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Box: 
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£18.00
Manual: 
no
£18.00

The official Sega controller that comes with the console. These controllers are quite hard to come by on their own and most people have to settle for third party controllers. Well the good news is I've got plenty! They are all clean and don't have any chunks missing like some controllers I've seen! I test all controllers by giving Street Fighter Alpha a good thrashing before I send them! This item comes unboxed.

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