Obligatory real life screen cap. A year ago, something dear to me died. It simply stopped being. There was nothing of its prior verve or excitement left to be seen, no lights. Mostly, it was dead weight. But I still loved it, and tucked it away in the closet, thinking that keeping it out of sight made it less real. I remember how crushed I was, how I couldn't really believe it had left me. It had be something dear to me for almost 15 years. That's nearly the same shelf-life as most pets, you know. And as most pets do, it gave me an inordinate amount of enjoyment.

Obviously, with the image, the runaround is needless. Yes, I'm talking about my Sega Saturn.

Given to me on Christmas of '97 or '98, I can still remember that midnight. See, after I was 11 years old or so I never really did go to sleep on Christmas nights. My sister and I were put in our rooms while my parents let 'Santa' put the gifts out. And that Christmas I was beyond excited. So it was when the bedroom door opened and I was allowed out, I raced into the living room, scanned the presents under the tree, and grabbed up the Sega Saturn. I might have squealed a bit, as most young boys are wont to do when they're elated. After that it probably took all of three minutes for me to get the system out the box and hooked up to the t.v. Then, after racking my brain over which game I'd play first, the choices being Virtua Cop, Virtua Fighter 2, and Daytona USA, I put in Virtua Fighter and began my love affair with the Saturn. At that time, the Saturn graphics blew me away. The sharp edges, the vanishing pixels, the boxy outlines, it was so incredibly lifelike. Since all things in life are made of squares... But at that time, the graphics were like nothing I'd ever seen. I hadn't owned a Playstation, and didn't know anyone who did. So the Saturn was my introduction to the 32-bit era. And I loved it. How much sleep I got in those following days, I can't say. Maybe my growth was stunted, maybe my friends were shunned. Regardless, the Saturn was spectacular.

Over the years, even with advancing consoles hitting the market, and the Saturn steadily falling to the wayside, I never gave up on it. Sure, I bought newer systems, but they were always placed beside the Saturn, and games like Dark Savior, Blazing Heroes, Croc, Sonic R, Daytona USA, Virtua Fighter 2, Panzer Dragon, Scud, and the like were never ignored. I loved them. I still love them. And that's why, after learning of the sudden reincarnation of my Sega Saturn last night, and spending a couple of hours revisiting old virtual realms, I've decided to write a blog post that veers quite severely away from anything resembling Fantasy writing. Unless of course you count my upcoming comments on Dark Savior and Blazing Heroes, in which case it only veers somewhat severely.

So, after playing a handful of games last night I feel sufficiently prepared to give a detailed examination of their playability and quality. Onward to the reviews!



Let me start with Croc: Legend of the Gobbos, the game that was to challenge Super Mario 64. This wasn't exactly the case. It was kind of like a Wheelchair tennis player challenging any professional Top 100 player. There really was no challenge there, even if you allowed for the two bounce rule, which they don't in video games.

The game centers around a crocodile who has to save a bunch of furry creatures called Gobbos, hence the title. It's a good ol' fashioned platformer with terribly frustrating controls. I even had the analog controller, which was supposed to make controlling Croc easier, but only made it all the more difficult because he refused to turn to the left when I pressed left, Argh!, Left! Anyway, each stage has a certain number of Gobbos you're supposed to save. It doesn't tell you how many, and these little bastards are hidden all over the place. Some are even locked in cages that require keys that located above Jello humps. So a lot of time is spent looking around the board, figuring out where these guys are located, which is tons of fun, at first.

Then, there's the platforming. This is the main concept of the game. Jumping from one thing to the next. And with the sometimes unresponsive controls, this is a nail-biting experience. I'm surprised I never developed some kind of nervous tick after spending hours on this game. Yeah, then you reach level 1 - 3 ...



Let me move on to a game that carries somewhat better memories, Blazing Heroes. I can sense it from you know: "Oh, the Fantasy author liked a Fantasy RPG, how startling (end sarcasm)." Of course I liked Fantasy games! From the NES's Zelda onward, I've loved Fantasy games. Something about a sword and a little magic, right?

The game. Blazing Heroes is a Strategy RPG, which means you have to think a little bit when you play. It's not a typical hack and slash by any means, so settle in for the long haul when playing. Your characters move along a grid, and depending on what class they are they can only move a certain distance, and attack at a certain distance. Example: An archer has a limited number of squares he can move along the grid, yet his range for attack is further than most, I mean arrows vs. sword, c'mon. A swordsman can move a longer distance, but his attack range is limited to an adjacent square. So that's the battle plan. It's reminiscent of the Sega Genesis' Shining Force series, which I love!

The game was absolutely dynamic with a ton of characters, weapons, spells, and locations in which to battle. Let me give you the blurb from the back of the case:

Oldeland, once a land of peace and serenity, is now embroiled in turmoil. The evil Lord Bane and his ruthless band of marauders have overtaken the four kingdoms that rule this land.

Now you must rely on the special power of a Prince, a Ninja, a Priestess, a Lion Man, an Archer and others to reclaim your kingdoms and regain control of this beautiful land you once called your own!

If that doesn't get your blood pumping for adventure then it's probably because the game relies more on innovative graphics rather than story ... But, man, this game was good. So good in fact that I remember ditching my female friend at the time just so I could spend a couple more hours playing it. Needless to say, she wasn't my friend long after that.



Next up, Virtua Cop 1 & 2. These games were a thrill ride. Tense action, disposable enemies, interactive environments, they had it all.

You existed as a flashing reticule that you moved around the screen with the D-pad, a long holler from today's analog controllers. Enemies would pop out of everywhere, and I mean everywhere. Boxes, rooftops, windows, semi-tuck trailers, the side of the television screen, the bottom of the television screen (it was like you had no peripheral vision), tops of cranes, cars. Any opening on the screen could harbor a man with ill-intent. Which, come to think of it, there weren't any badguy women. They were all men. Well, some of the enemies were masked, so in the spirit of equality I'll assume those were females. Bad guys and girls all around

You had to be quick in this game. The screen moved on its own, but you had to be ready to follow it, and ready to shoot anyone or anything. This wouldn't be so bad if not for the innocents that roamed these area, jumping out yelling, "Don't shoot me!" and waving their damn hands around for thirteen minutes (or close enough). And, as if that weren't bad enough, they'd run in front of the guys trying to shoot you, in which case you'd need perfect aim to shoot around the innocent and hit the bad guy. And, if you 'accidentally' shot the innocent, you lost a heart. Hearts are precious in this game.

That frustration aside, there was nothing more satisfying than blowing up a barrel and killing four or five enemies. Or destroying a barrel and seeing a tower come down. Or shooting out a cars tires and watching as the vehicle pirouetted off the side of the road.

Plus, bosses shot rocket launchers and fireballs at you. In one case, a rather 'roided up boss tosses a police truck at you, which your handy-dandy police revolver is able to shoot aside. Oh, the false reality of video games.



Finally, I'm gonna touch on a game that is truly dear to my heart. Fuckin' Dark Savior.

Damn, this game. This game was incredible. From the story to the gameplay to the graphics, I adore this game. You can never really know heartbreak until your Dark Savior saved game data is lost because your Sega Saturn battery craps out and you never thought to buy a memory cartridge. I invested far too many hours in this game, because not only can you beat it once, but you can beat it five(?) different times, with the story changing based on how slowly or quickly you proceed through the opening level.

The story: You're a kind of bounty hunter that has to escort a mutant-like prisoner to an island jail. During the boat ride, the villain breaks free of his cage and you have to go and stop him. Depending on how fast you make it to him, he either escapes to the prison island or you have to fight him on the boat.

The game uses a unique 3D style, similar to the Genesis game Landstalker. The mix of platforming, puzzle-solving, and fighting, made the game fun and ever-changing. At times, I suppose it became monotonous, but the wide array of new characters, and the unique setting really makes the game something to return to.

A quick aside. When I started writing "The Pale Hand of God," and used the prison city as the main backdrop for the novel, I never once considered how closely is comes to resembling the prison island of Dark Savoir. Firstly, the idea for "The Pale Hand of God" came to me in a dream, of which I think I've talked. But I can't help wonder whether or not the concept of Dark Savoir wasn't tucked away in my subconscious, manifesting itself, even if slightly, in my dream.

After the aside . . . One of the really cool things about this game was the way that after fighting an opponent, you had the chance to capture them, and then use them in any other fight that you happened upon. In this way, I thought the game did an excellent job of creating new experiences at different turns. I can recall using a wheelchair-bound, machete-weilding prisoner in quite a few fights.


After spending this last hour talking about these games, the itch as returned. I really need to get back to playing my Saturn. Especially because I'm not sure how much longer this rise from the grave might last.

Hopefully a few of you out there had the chance to play this system, and while it wasn't the greatest by any means, it provided me with a worthwhile experience. And I'm sure I'll own mine long after its final turn of the disc.