On the easiest difficulty and with 3 credits, I made it to the end. I wish I could read the text inbetween stages. The plot has an Armored Core-esque tinge to it. The final boss is very cool.
13 Likes
I read something about how big of a production Sakura Taisen 2 was, so I started to get curious about what would qualify as “AAA” for the system. One of the metrics I think about is just how many people worked on a project. I dove into MobyGames and the inconsistent crediting practice of the time.
I made a spreadsheet.
At the top percentile, with over 200 staff, I see Sakura Taisen 2: Kimi, Shinitamou Koto Nakare and Tengai Makyō: Daiyon no Mokushiroku - The Apocalypse IV. It’s no surprise that Red would be leading the pack after commanding so many resources during the PC Engine days. The next closest game is Virus, an adventure game from Hudson Soft, another PC Engine veteran.
Other high staff games (between 120 and 230) are almost all RPGs and adventure games. Then there’s the upper middle half (63-115) that includes most of the 2D fighting games and big studio releases. Surprisingly, those Digital Pinball games also fit here.The lower middle half (26-62) includes many ports from older consoles and arcades. Once we get down to the bottom, we’re looking at shooting games and throwbacks to a time before CD technology. At the very floor, I see
Virtua Fighter Remix (13), DoDonPachi (12), and Battle Garegga (9).
At first, it surprised me that 3D fighting games would take fewer people to make than their 2D counterparts, but it made sense once I considered how every frame would need to be individually drawn in a Capcom fighting game.
I was also surprised to see Radiant Silvergun with so many credits (83) when other shooting games got by with much less. Those animated cutscenes added into the console release made a big difference I guess!
Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this extemely unnecessary analysis.
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That’s quite surprising tbh, even as a software developer that wrote assembly code I’d have expected 3D to require more effort than 2D games, but cutscenes and spritework def could have had a major portion of that cake.
Quite interesting indeed! 
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Love seeing these every year. So wild what people can create
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Check it out, I finished Sakura Taisen.
I did not get the girl I wanted (Kohran), but I got the girl I deserved (Sumire). The finale was surprisingly grim. I really wasn’t expecting all of that. The Christian mythology angle was, well…
I don’t think that spoils anything. I don’t see anyone anticipating how the plot could get there up until the final moments.
The tactics remained simple and safe. I even discovered a mechanic that makes battles easier. Ogami can choose to cover any other team member for a turn. If they get attacked, they receive no damage and we get a slight bump in our relationship. If I had known that from the beginning, I would have been throwing Kohran deep into enemy territory and covering her every turn.
In the end, I like that the battles aren’t complicated or tricky to win. It’s nice to sit down knowing that I’m definitely going to be making progress and moving the plot forward. I’m really looking forward to trying the second game now. I just hope that I can avoid some technical issues from the SAROO.
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That literal deus ex machina annoyed me so much when I first played. But it’s ok bc they replace her with the best character in the second game 
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Wachenroder is very ambitious. The design team was writing checks the hardware was mostly not able to cash.
I dont know what is going on with the music. Seems like a mix of short live loops and synth. Is that a sampled distorted guitar or king crimson arrangements on synthesizer or? No matter what its good stuff.
this /\ design becomes this \/ sprite in battle.
The battles suffer from too much menuing. It just needs some shortcuts for things like ending a turn or switching to the next unit that hasn’t yet run out of moves/actions.
I dont have shots here but the intro movie has models that look like they could be miniatures as easily as 3D models.
12 Likes
These kinda look sculpted to me
Some is obviously cgi
the translation is uh… not a localization
It is a high effort mixed bag. Compelling though.
17 Likes
I am now at the stage where many of my thoughts gravitate toward the Saturn. I was just looking at a scan of Sega Saturn Magazine* and a section on a game caught my eye: Monica no Shiro.
Looking into it, it seems like the game’s development was started in 1995 and may have staggered along all the way to the death of the console before being canceled. It was going to be produced by Pioneer LDC, a company whose games I’m not familiar with, a company that released one of those failed multimedia consoles of the early 90’s: the LaserActive.
As one who has played and loved Dark Savior, I cannot help but lament the loss of this jank looking game:
*Also included the serialized Baroque Syndrome
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Machine translated this Panzer Dragoon Zwei review and now I want to do more.
A film that will leave you feeling moved and scared
This is a game that has made great strides since the previous title. The controls are flawless, and the camera angles even when not playing are excellent. The movements of the bosses in particular are incredibly frightening. I found myself yelling “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, please forgive me” as I played. The narration reminiscent of Western movies in the opening and mid-movie scenes inevitably gets you in the mood. Also, when the dragon grows and can fly, it’s truly moving. All in all, it’s a game you won’t regret buying. Make sure to rush to the software store on release day.
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Saturn frame rate unlocks using cheats and emulation
Meduza Team Showcases FPS Boosting Codes for Sega Saturn Heavy Hitters – SEGA SATURN, SHIRO!?
Games showing in “part 1” video:
- Dark Savior
- Linkle Liver Story
- Panzer Dragoon Saga
Games shown in “part 2” video:
- Baroque
- Bulk Slash
- The House of the Dead
- Cyber Troopers: Virtual-On
- wipEout
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I played too much Saturn this past week and change. Once I passed Sakura Taisen, I was hungry to try many of the smaller, action games. I dipped back into Soukyuugurentai to see how I’d do on default settings. I have also played a little bit of the following: Cotton 2, Battle Garegga, Sexy Parodius, DoDonPachi, Salamander II, Strikers 1945, Blast Wind, King of Fighters 95, and Fighters Megamix. Turning my CRT sideways to play in tate is so satisfying. I forgot how good Cave shooters feel. I forgot how satisfying the whole genre is.
I did more than plug a few credits into two other games: Guardian Heroes and Radiant Silvergun. I had never played Guardian Heroes before and it had built up this towering stature in my mind. Turns out it’s not so exciting as I had fantasized, but it’s still cool and worth respecting for its many novel ideas. It’s a brawler with command moves! You have a zombie partner that you can command at will! It rolls along like a choose-your-own-adventure! You can give yourself 99 continues easy as pie. Still, the encounter design is never as juicy as the level design or boss rush pacing of Treasure’s greatest.
I had played Radiant Silvergun before, but I could never make it to the end, even after lowering the difficulty, raising my stock to 10, and earning multiple credits. The game is very long! and hard!! Now, I’m playing a hack that adds the option+ menu, so I can just use stage select and jump to the stages I can’t beat. After seeing the final boss and watching this subtitled video of the end sequence, I almost cried. Oops, I guess I have to admit that Radiant Silvergun is as good as they say it is.
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a full run of Radiant Silvergun is 2 hours long. I still don’t know what to think of that.
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It works so much better when you focus on one stage per session. But then that doesn’t quite fit with how weapon levels work.
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Popped in Watchenroder today and got one story mission in, we escaped art of noise to the forest, saved the game and now mednafin hangs on loading the next screen. Tried replaying from an earlier save, same thing. I was using a prepatched rom so I got a fresh jpn rom, patched it and… same result.
Anyone have any good standalone Saturn emulator suggestions?
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i like yabasanshiro
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I’ve played like twenty minutes of Gungriffon and gah now I want a copy. I love how around 1995 the tech was finally there to do fully controllable realtime 3D but not exactly nimble, human movement, so everyone made a mech game.
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Have you really played Saturn if you haven’t beaten UNK’s time in Sega Rally?
Seriously though even if you’re not a car person at all that game is such a satisfying a dream to play.
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