Cute sometimes, but not little... sort of. He's the size of our old Maine Coone, but he was supposed to be 30-40 pounds; we wanted a bean bag chair that hops, and we wound up with a big rock that has long ears. That said, it's kinda funny how his ears never grew; when we got him he would almost fit in the palm of your hand, but his ears were still that big; almost longer than his own body. I guess it's good that he didn't get that big, since we have to give him baths now and again, and trying to keep a 40-pound rabbit in a bath tub would be almost impossible; 10 is hard enough, though he doesn't really mind the water. He didn't even scream last time!

I don't even understand it: the lore just rummages around in Tolkein's attic, like any other generic fantasy thing, but the decor, the character portraits, the color palettes; there's just something really enchanting about it. The music is great, too; Kemco's usual sound on the SNES, but with a rock edge to it; Phantom Hill is probably my favorite, but I also love all the ones you mentioned. Oh, and Voloh; Voloh might be a close second to Phantom Hill for how it's so simultaneously grave and outright mystical. Speaking of which, when we'd take the train out to Chicago, I used to see a train station that reminded me a lot of the church in Poper, and I've been waiting for someone, ANYONE, who might be interested in hearing that. Never got the name of the town, unfortunately, but I'd guess it's somewhere near Maryland, maybe? It's somewhere on Amtrack's route from Philadelphia to Chicago, but I don't think it's as far west as Indiana or Illinois. Anyway, Lagoon is one of those games I've been mentally accruing for someday checking out what the Sharp X68000 has to offer, and apparently, that version is a bit different, including the ability to hold your sword out and charge enemies, similar to the old Ys games, but not as obtuse. Etoile Princesse is another, since its decor reminded me a lot of the castles in Lagoon.

Dezaemon; that's the game I was trying to think of! The SNES Dezaemon had Daioh Gale, which I remember being really good, and that's partially how I found out about it. It was pretty good for creating games, too, since it had mouse support. The only thing I remember about Biometal (other than that it always makes me think of the Mega Man ZX games) is that one of the songs was that song they used for the commercial for EVERY SINGLE SPORTS MOVIE EVER RELEASED IN THE '90s; you'd be blasting aliens while thinking about... iunno... Air Bud. There was another one that was everywhere in the '90s, too... was it Psykosonik's Silicon Jesus? I always get that one mixed up with Welcome to my Mind, for some reason. It sure wasn't Shock on the Wire, I know that; I think the only game that featured that was X-Kaliber 2097.

I'm pretty bad at Dungeon Crawlers, because I don't actually see in 3 dimensions, so games like that leave me really disoriented; I love the Wizardry games, but I can't actually play them. Hell, even games like Duke Nukem 3D have me pretty lost; I couldn't even find the exit to the FIRST MAP in Shadow Warrior, and that was after about an hour of wandering around. Shining in the Darkness and Arcana are among the very few examples of games in the genre that I could handle and did enjoy. As for the similarities between the two, I wouldn't say they were very strong; Shining in the Darkness has everything in a single dungeon, for one thing, and it has a lot more tricks, like spinning tiles and enemies that arise from the environment, whereas Arcana is a lot more basic in its design. Simply put, I hadn't even guessed that one might have influenced the other until you'd said something.

I'm getting an ODE for my Saturn some time down the line when my new Saturn's laser dies, because sad as it is, those thing's days are numbered. Until then though, I'm going to use discs on it. There are a few more games I wouldn't mind going through (RE1 again, perhaps Legend of Oasis, maybe Croc? Maybe Warcraft 2? Then I'd like to finish Grandia, and maybe start the Saturn SOTN)

Is Shining the Holy Ark better than Shining Wisdom? I kind of hated how the game made you dash over crumbling pits and avoid enemies at the same time, and you had to do it ALL again if you fell down.

My very first Saturn, I actually got on a Saturnday.

And once again, I read this on an actual Saturnday with a lovely cloudy backdrop; excellent timing! I'm going to break this up into paragraphs, because I crashed pretty hard last night, so my brain's still waking up, and my thoughts aren't really organized just yet. Mental health is fun! WOOOOOO!

Rabbits are indeed cute; we've been keeping rabbits for quite a few years now, though unfortunately, head tilt is pretty common, and I'm not sure I want to go through that again. But I'll send you a picture of Chungus! We lost him one day, and were wondering how the HELL we could've lost a 10-pound rabbit. Then, this happened: [Link] [Link]

Ah, Shining Wisdom... I recently watched a review of that, and though I'd been excited to try it out, that incessant tapping looks awful; even worse than the incessant clicking in the original Diablo. If you're looking for a good top-down Action-Adventure in the Shining franchise, I'd recommend Shining Soul 2 (not 1) for the GBA; it's a bit more arcadey, but I had an absolute blast with it as almost all 8 of the playable characters. But Lagoon! Lagoon is wonderful, even if the gameplay is pretty sketchy; it creates such a fascinating world (and that SOUNDTRACK!) that I'd love to see more of. Apparently, Alphadia Genesis takes place in the same world, but it doesn't have the same flair to its design, unfortunately.

O-Chan no Oekaki Logic was a bit of a surprise; I'm something of a picross junkie, so that might be something for me to look into, whenever I get around to Saturn.

I did also discover Biometal Gust somewhat recently, and the weapons look absolutely BANANAS; if you're into Vertically-Scrolling Shooters, it might be worth checking out.

Also looking forward to your eventual thoughts on Shining the Holy Ark, since I'm pretty torn on that one. I did really like Shining in the Darkness, but Holy Ark doesn't seem to have the same visual charm that drew me into it's spiritual predecessor on the Genesis. Can't really speak to Shining Force, though, since I'm too much of a bulldozer to do well at most Strategy games, RPG or otherwise.

Shinin' the Holy Ark kicks ass. Today's gamers certainly are missing out on lost masterpieces such as that. I'd to settle for a Japanese copy, but that's okay since there were scripts and detailed walkthroughs available.

Thanks! Hope you had a good Christmas and New Year, yourself.

Definitely. I really like the color scheme you went with, as well; they're nice shades of blue. I'm glad you're enjoying the Saturn as much as you are. I've always had a fondness for that console, even more so than the Dreamcast. I had a Dreamcast before owning a Saturn, but once I discovered how expansive the import library was, I was hooked. Got my first Saturn in 2017, but I was emulating it for years before that. (as much of a hassle that was, it was worth it lol.)

That's interesting. I never thought the handheld Croc games would be any good, but perhaps I'll try them out at some point on emulator just out of curiosity. I adored Croc 2 when I was very young, but I grew to like the first one more as I got older, haha.

I'll be looking forward to that! I still think your last one was fantastic, and probably the best one yet. I'm also down for just more Saturn reviews in general, kind of like that Astal review you did.

Hope you have a good day!

SteamGear Mash! Now that's a game I definitely want to know your thoughts on. I've been wanting to try it out for a while.

Also this new theme is great! Excellent banner and avatar.

It's been a long time coming, but I've finally changed my Backloggery theme and colors:
Welcome to My Pad 🎮

No worries! I tend to be slow with my response time, as well.

I played Fighters Megamix before Vipers. I really should give Vipers a shot, though, 'cause I like the characters from what I played in Megamix.

I'm not typically into those old-school hard point-and-click games, but Discworld seems interesting. Maybe a bit ambitious. Having to wait up to half a minute just to save is pretty crazy, haha.

Gex was a competent platformer for its time, yeah. Not sure how much the 3D games hold up, though. Haven't played those since the days of PS1 demo discs.

Finally got around to Saturnday II. Another excellent article! I like that you explore the Saturn BIOS itself a little bit at the start. I love how it has that spaceship theme going on.

Croc was one of the first games I ever played, and loved. I never did get to play the Saturn version, so it's cool reading more about it! I honestly don't think I knew there was any connection between Croc and Vortex on the SNES, in terms of the people involved. That also kind of sucks about the image cropping and the missing music, but the Saturn did have its limitations, I guess. I liked Croc 2 a lot as a kid, but I was like 5 when I last played it, so I don't remember much. I do still have my copy, though. There was a Croc game on Game Boy Color, but I'm unsure if that came out before or after Croc 2.

I quite liked the first Clockwork Knight, so the second game is definitely on my to-do list.

I never knew about those Sonic 3D Blast special zones and how they compare to Sonic Mania, so that's kind of mind-blowing. I knew they were going for a Saturn aesthetic, but I hadn't realized it was a direct reference to that. That's cool. If I ever do play 3D Blast, it will certainly be this version.

The rest of the games you talked about were interesting, too. Even Bug is something I'd be willing to at least try out at some point. I can vouch for Panzer Dragoon being a damn good Saturn game, and the sequels only get better. Zwei is one of the best rail shooters I've ever played, and Saga is one of the most unique JRPGs I've ever played; although, you may have to burn a copy of the latter seeing those eBay prices.

Let me know if you do another Saturnday! Hope you have a good day, too.

It was lovely! I was hoping for a rainy day to read it, since that's usually the best atmosphere for these kinds of things, but oh well; ya can't control the weather. It's interesting wordplay, too, since that's what Saturday was named after; I know this (and all 6 others) because I'm a mythology dork.

I take it that's one of the expensive ones; I have no idea what anything costs these days, except that games like Shantae, Little Samson, and Panzer Dragoon Saga are just absurd... and my factory sealed copy of Ocarina of Time isn't worth nearly what I figured it would be. I looked into the Saturn library several years ago, just to see what was there, and not much really caught my eye; Legend of Oasis and Super Tempo were the only ones that seemed like must-plays to me, and there were maybe a dozen others I'd like to try. I do have the Panzer Dragoon remake that I'll get to eventually, but I'd like to try that before jumping into any Saturn version, just because I'm iffy on Rail Shooters. I could probably also get into... oh what was it called... Something Something Rainbow Town, I think? It's basically Picross, and I'm always down for that; wouldn't be the first one I played that was entirely in Japanese.

Damn nice banner, first off; the sphere in the Saturn logo really looks great! I also echo your thoughts on Super Mario 64; I always say it's one of those things that's fun to play, but not to . I do understand what you're saying about the tank controls, but I still don't feel that it's a good solution. First off, there are plenty of 3D games that play very well with just the D-Pad, some as recent as Metroid: Other M. Granted, there is plenty about Other M that is completely indefensible, but running around in 3D worked just fine, and it was a more action-heavy game than many others in the series. As far as the camera goes, there were games that used this kind of 3D movement with a D-pad, and did change camera angles, but when it switched, your direction didn't automatically change; you would keep going along the same path unless you stopped (kinda like wall/ceiling running in Blaster Master), and I think that works best. Now, I've also been told that the path through a Tomb Raider game is more methodical than something like a Mario, and if the level design unfold more like a puzzle like that, I think that's fine; 3D Zelda basically did that with its level design, and while I am of the opinion that 3D Zelda doesn't usually feel good (aside from Wind Waker, which doesn't completely lock you down like that), it is a valid type of design.

As for the rest, it was neat to see Sonic 3D Blast; I'd thought that I was the only one who liked that on the Genesis, and in my opinion, it might even have a better soundtrack than Sonic 3&K; COMPLETELY underrated! If I ever get into Saturn, I might consider picking that up, especially if the overall layout is the same. The only recommendation I'd have to look at is Super Tempo; pretty standard 2D Platformer, but it's weird and colorful, like the 32X original could be at spot, but never quite lived up to.

Thanks! And you're quite welcome; I do genuinely appreciate your journey.

I'm very glad that you did; I've been dancing around the Saturn for years, trying to find some kind of a hook. I'm very interested in Legend of Oasis because Beyond Oasis is one of my all-time favorites, and Super Tempo because it seems like the Tempo game I've always wanted, but I can't think of much else for it that interests me. There's Panzer Dragoon, I guess, but I already have the remake waiting for me in its digital shrink wrap. For stuff like this, it's better to read something like your article that talks about "These are some games I have; this is what they're like," rather than "Top 10 Saturn games you NEED to play!!!!" that are the same 10 games your 90-year-old blind grandmother even knows about; you find a lot more neat hidden treasures that way.

Beyond that, I also appreciated the journey. It's so rare to get a new console and actually be really interested in it, rather than, "It's the new console, so if I want to keep playing new games, I'm obligated to get one." The last several consoles I got were kind of like that; I'm more on PC now, but if I werent, there'd probably be some of that pressure. The Switch seems like it might be kinda neat, but most of what interests me are indies, and a lot of them I have already. I'm rambling. Anyway, I did really enjoy the personal narrative of it all, so thanks; it was a good read!

Awesome article. I'm glad you enjoyed your introduction to the Saturn! Fighting Vipers would be a good investment. I'd almost recommend Fighters Megamix more, because of the sheer amount of content you get with that game. Definitely play both, if you can. I like how you went into how Clockwork Knight was supposedly inspired by Mickey Mania. I never knew about that. Oh, and Discworld is pretty interesting. I consider myself a big PS1 fan, but I haven't heard of it. Those load times sound absolutely brutal, though.

Solar Eclipse is a little familiar to me. I actually happen to own its predecessor Total Eclipse on the 3DO! I remember that was a neat little game, if a bit difficult. You're honestly not missing out on much, though. I'll have to give Solar a try at some point. (HyperZone is freakin' awesome, by the way)

Gex was another competent platformer. I beat that game on 3DO, a while back. Love the television theme it had going on.

"I think Tomb Raider is superior to the Nintendo 64 launch title Super Mario 64"
I agree! I actually have more fun going back and playing Tomb Raider, and I can even attest to that, because I only beat the PS1 version of Tomb Raider last year. I played it on PS2 via Component on a Wega, so it looked about as good as it could possibly get, outside of RGB on a PVM, maybe. I think the visuals are still quite great for the time. The atmosphere was just simply unmatched, too; there wasn't anything like this in '96. I don't know if I'm in the minority when saying this, but I think the first game is the pinnacle of the series, from what I've played. Tomb Raider 2 and 3 didn't exactly have that same feeling of isolation, exploring ancient ruins and tombs. The reboots, while great in their own right, feel more like an Uncharted game than classic Tomb Raider. You can't beat the original game. I hear Last Revelation was a lot more like the original in terms of atmosphere, so I'll have to try that out, someday. Pretty sure it was on both PS1 and Dreamcast.

I always assumed those spongey things in the Saturn cases were for holding the disc in place. In case it falls out, or something.

"I saw somewhere that apparently with an Action Replay Plus cart you can bypass the region block, and if that's true that is quite tempting to consider"
They call it PseudoSaturn. I highly recommend getting one set up, if you're willing to follow the steps online. Not only can you use it for imports, but you can also play backups.

Sounds awesome! I'm down for a good Saturn write-up. I've checked out your blog a couple of times in the past, and you have a pretty cool site going there. I'll try to give it a read tomorrow and let you know what I think when I do. I can already tell we have a couple of games in common, such as Astal and Clockwork Knight.

Tomb Raider on Saturn! Now, that's an uncommon one. I've played that port off a CD-R copy, and you can definitely tell it predated the PS1 version. It's pretty charming in its own way, though. Feels almost like playing a prototype, if you're already used to the other versions. I'd like to get more into that one, someday. Hope you see it all the way through!

[covers mouth, disguising voice] Shining Force III.

What? Who said that?

I need to get Hoppin' Mappy myself but I'm waiting until they inevitably put Dragon Spirit or Saber up so I can get both for $20.

Belated, but Happy Anniversary!