I've been a patient and loyal Saturn gamer for the past two years, following and savoring the system's few moments of glory ("NiGHTS... Into Dreams", "VC2", "Fighters Megamix", "Sonic R", etc.) and experiencing the many disappointments associated with owning an American Saturn game library ("Scud", "Mr. Bones", "Sky Target", "NHL '98", etc.).  The funny thing is that now, with the knowledge in 1998 of the demise of the system all but confirmed, it is easy to concentrate in the stregth of the system's games rather than the chips-under-the-hood argument used to defend the system against other gamers with PSX/N64 biases.  Which makes me wonder why Sega even bothered to show up at this year's E3 show in Atlanta this past May; they shamelessly ripped off every stalling, hype and innuendo element that Nintendo used to launch (and delay) the N64 to promote their new system, Dreamcast (cool name!).  And by all accounts, despite having the third biggest space of the show, their Sega booth was barely packed with PowerVR-powered demos of upcoming SegaPC ports ("NiGHTS", "Sega Rally 2", "Sonic R") and the handful of confirmed 1998 Saturn releases.   Dreamcast, the technology of the show along with its impressive demos, wasn't even on display for public viewing.  Well, call me stupid but I think that by de-emphasizing the Sega Saturn for the remaining time between now and the launch of Dreamcast here in the States (scheduled for Fall '99) SOA is needlessly upsetting their hardcore followers and developing bad blood that shouldn't be there.  It's like if both gamers and SOA are going on some sort of "creative welfare" until things clear up a bit with the Saturn, and this shouldn't be the case.  With that in mind, here are some random thoughts:

IMPORT GOES MAINSTREAM, WARTS AND ALL:
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With Software Etc/Babbages and Electronics Boutique now officially selling Saturn imports, an underground hobby gets the retail treatment in order to get and feed a need of games for hardcore gamers that have been let down by SOA's pathetic schedule (quantity-wise pathetic, because this last batch of American Saturn games are all quality product through and through).  Those in the know have been importing for years those games that are so hot they must be owned upon release ("Super Mario 64", "Tobal #1" and it's infamous "FFVII" demo, "Tekken 2", Enix's "Bust-a-Move", etc.) or are left in Japan with no possibility of an American release ("Tobal 2", "Gun Griffon 2", "Sakura Taisen 1 & 2", etc.).  Now gamers with (a) deep pockets and (b) willing to put up with untranslated menu screens and Japanese cultural tidbids can pick up some of the games that SOA chose not to bring to the United States for economical reasons that, sadly, are backed by the dwindling user-base of Saturn owners here in the States.  I don't know about your neck of the woods, but retailers here in NYC are not selling-out of "Burning Rangers" the same way they did with "Panzer Dragoon Saga" and "House of the Dead", despite both games being available on limited quantities and receiving generally positive buzz.  The recent addition to several Japanese games of a Language Option between English and Japanese ("Yoshi's Story", "Vampire Savior", etc.) showed that companies like Capcom and Nintendo understand the economic impact of import gamers, and are actually easing the gameplay for those brave souls.What ticks me off is that E3 was the perfect opportunity for Bernie Stolar and his cronies to acknowledge the loyalists that have bought Saturn games at retail despite being surrounded by (arguably) superior Sony and Nintendo product, and throw them a few bones for the remaining eighteen months.  But the closest Stolar came to thanking the Saturn faithful was to express his shock that "Panzer Dragoon Saga" was selling-out on its initial release, and saying that the series might continue on Dreamcast.  Where are the token Q3/Q4 1998 and Q1/Q2/Q3 1999 Saturn game releases that Sega MUST release at a monetary loss in order to instill the feeling to Sega gamers that they count?  I'm not asking that Sega takes a huge loss by bringing expensive games to America that will flop at retail (Capcom's "X-Men versus Street Fighter", "Grandia", etc.), but to bring Sega-exclusive releases that are past their Japanese prime, and use the untranslated code gathering dust in Japan as a token American release; stuff like "Phantasy Star Collection", "Sakura Taisen", etc.  That would go a long way toward giving us a little more to look forward in the next few months than the August release of Working Design's "Magic Knight Rayearth", after which there is this thick black hole with nothing but empty promises.

Until something (anything!) gets announced, it's every gamer for him/herself, which means that education is still the best way to avoid being burned by a really bad piece of junk sitting at retail, domestic or import.  Even if it's a bargain for $10-15, I wouldn't suggest you waste time on a Saturn game like "Amok" or "Toshinden URA" when you could watch "Godzilla" and have a pop-corn/soda combo with that (by this I'm suggesting that watching the painful and sorry waste of film that is "Godzilla" offers, by comparison, more fun than many cheap Saturn games... shame on you Scavenger and Takara!).  And even the imports have plenty of dogs hidden among the good games, and getting burned by these stinkers is an expensive proposition (check out sites on the net for someone else's opinion to help you out); I got a $25 copy of an import version of "Destruction Derby" for the Saturn, and fully expect it to blow big-time.  I wasn't let down by the total lack of worth in this game, which may sound like backward-thinking but isn't really that much different than going to see a movie that has received nasty reviews and word-of-mouth, just to see how bad things get.   As Saturn importing becomes the norm over the next few months for the loyalists, beware of the quality of these games... as with domestic releases, their worth is suspect and the asking price questionable ($79 for Saturn "Thunderforce V"??!!   Gee, I think I'll wait for the Dual Shock-compatible PSX version, thanks!).

ARE YOU GETTING YOUR DOLLAR'S WORTH, GAMEPLAY-WISE?:
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Although I could if I really wanted to, yours truly has chosen not to dive head-first into the import gaming scene; this may deprive me of goodies like the Saturn version of "Vampire Savior" and Squaresoft's "Tobal 2", but it reminds me that I have a N64 and PSX, and that there are really good domestic games that I have yet to experience before I go about playing games that I'll have a tough time playing AND understanding.  I only have three imports in my collection ("Sailor Moon R" for the 3DO, and "Sword & Sorcery"/"Destruction Derby" for the Saturn), with a fourth one coming in the distant future (Crystal Dynamics' Japanese version of "Unholy War", which will feature "Sailor Moon" characters).   Gamers with unlimited passion but small budgets will recognize the plight of the multisystem owner syndrome: we want it all, but rarely can we afford to do so.  In a sick and sad way, the demise of the Saturn in the US has meant that the bargains out there might influence the purchase of good games out there that are newer or more cutting-edge, but twice as expensive as an old Saturn game that offers a comparable gameplay experience... and it's still all about gameplay, right?

Here are a few examples of games that play similarly, but are worlds apart when it comes to their retail price, with the Saturn game usually playing better (or just as good) than the overpriced alternative on another system.  Give these a thought before making that impulse buy next time you walk by your Target or Toys'r'Us videogame section:

-SNOWBOARDING:  the graphics may be less than stellar (clipping bugs galore!), but "Steep Slope Sliders" (Saturn's only snowboarding game) offers a mean and fun arcadey one-player snowboarding game with a cool Replay mode that customizes your best runs with TV-style effects, and a weird but eclectic soundtrack.  Sure, the PSX "Cool Boarders" series looks just as good and (in "CB2") offers a two-player option, but it has that annoying announcer and those weird "pinball" physics when you hit a tree.  "1080 Snowboarding" and "Snowboard Kids" on N64 are better-looking games (one's very realistic-looking and even has Tommy Hillfinger-endorsed clothing for the characters, and the other one is just as fun as "Mario Kart 64"), but the extreme realism and unforgiving nature of one ("1080") and the cartoony simplicity of the other ("...Kids") are two extremes of a gameplay scale.  Prices for the competing snowboard games on N64/PSX: $40-$55; "Steep Slope Sliders" can be found (if at all) for $20-$30.  If you can tolerate graphical glitches and a snowboarding game with digital controls (why no analog support?), give "SSS" a shot.

-SOCCER:  have you noticed that "soccer" is pronounced "sucker"?  Well, don't be one and buy an expensive N64 soccer game like the "FIFA" series (just how many freaking soccer games does a 64-bit cartridge system without RPG and strategy games need??!!), or Konami's "International Super Star Soccer 64" IF you just happen to be a casual gamer that has been bitten by the World Cup bug (needless to say, hardcore gamers already own the above-mentioned games).   The Saturn has two great soccer games that are considerably cheaper than the $49-$60 asking price for a N64 cartridge: the latest "FIFA" game from Electronics Arts (doesn't look as hot as the N64/PSX version), and "Worldwide Soccer '98" (now you too can get the expertise of Coby Jones on your side, which will lead to Team USA's disqualification from the World Cup in the qualifying rounds, YEAH!! -sigh-).  These two are selling for $20-$25, and play just as mean a soccer game as a PSX or N64 soccer game, for half the asking price.

-MISCELLANEOUS: Sure, a two-player session of "Quake" on N64 with those sweet graphical effects would be nice, but an acceptable one-player "Quake" for Saturn is only $20 while the N64 version one is $50-60... "Starcraft" on N64 by the end of the year?  Great news (if it doesn't get delayed... yeah right, this is Nintendo we're talking about), but why not have a round of "Dragon Force" or "Warcraft II: The Tides of Time" for $20-25 while you wait?... While N64 brawlers are getting better, the fact that "Fighter's Destiny" and "Mortal Kombat 4" (both $49) are the best the system has to offer reminds you that "Fighter's Megamix" and "Last Bronx" (both superior, gameplaywise) are selling for $20-25; still, for fighting games I would either import ("Dead or Alive" for Saturn comes to mind) or get a PSX ("Tekken 3", "Bloody Roar", etc.).

I hope you get the drift of what I'm trying to say folks.  Good (but not great and flashy) graphics + Gameplay + Low price = a good deal for the gameplay conscious.  If you can afford to buy the expensive alternatives to the genres and games listed above, congratulations on your profitable job (you are also saving for your retirement and investing on T-bonds, right?).  But a dollar saved is a dollar kept... or something like that (??!!).

THE EVERGREEN MONEY GAME:
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Ever heard of 'the money shot?  In sports terms it means the game-winning basket/goal/hit/touch-down, or one that was so spectacular and awe-inspiring it made the ESPN highlight reel.  In TV/movie terms, it is the shot that catches the atmosphere of the entire production or is just plain cool to look at (White House explosion for "ID4", the shot of the dead Confederate soldiers in "Gone with the Wind", etc.).  To me, a 'money game' would be a title that " you purchased and that, if you had to pay 25-50 cents for every time you sit down and play, would cover its initial retail cost and then keep on going (even if the game wasn't an arcade game to begin with).  A good game will cover its cost ("Super Mario 64", "Tekken 2", "Shining the Holy Ark", etc.), and then you can resell it with the confidence that you got your gaming dollar's worth and move on to the next.   Many a poor gamer does this all the time in order to maximize their limited resources.  I know a guy that lives for Midway games, especially fighting games like "Bio Freaks" and "Mortal Kombat 4"; he played his library of brawlers to death ("Mace: the Dark Ages", "Bloody Roar", etc.) until he could play them no more, and then traded them for credit toward "MK4".  You can bet when the "next big thing" hits retail, he will play "MK4" to death the weeks leading up to the release of that game so he can trade "MK4" and repeat what Elton John described as the viscious 'circle of life' in gaming geekdom.

Well, to each gamer his/her own.  But we all have a game that trascends the usual rules and becomes our personal favorite, the game that you'd never sell or trade even if it meant depriving yourself of a hot new release like "Zelda 64" or "Metal Gear Solid"; an evergreen title that turned out to be the best $50 you've ever spent on videogames.  In my case, despite being impressed by fun stuff like "Extreme-G", "Yoshi's Island" and "NiGHTS", I can honestly say that I have never had as much fun and wasted more hours playing a pointless piece of software than with Traveller's Tales' "Sonic R".  This is the game I play everyday, regardless of how tired I come from work, what World Cup game is on TV, what Breaking News CNN is airing or what expensive movie HBO is premiering that day.  The music is a work of repetitive lyrics looped into an ever-incresing pitch of melodies... and I love it to death!; anyone who has ever heard the music in "Sonic R" either likes it a lot or is turned-off by it and hates it to death (there's no middle-ground).   The graphics are a sleek 3D update of the 2D artistic designs seen in the series' 16-bit games, and they move by at blazing speeds with minimal polygon glitches (although the Sonic World in "Sonic Jam" looked and controlled much better).  And finally, the game was designed as a one-player cartoony racer (despite the inclusion of a mediocre two-player split-screen mode) in which finishing first is a combination of speed, control and use of the five courses' many shortcuts and alternative paths; this is very differnet from the multiplayer emphasis taken by competing cartoony racers like "Diddy Kong Racing" and "Mario Kart 64".  Traveller's Tales, whose work ranges from "Mickey Mania" to the disastrous "Rascal", took over a year to develop the game for the Satun, and it shows.

"Sonic R", when viewed with an analytical eye and with the impartiality of a reporter, doesn't stack up to many videogames and actually has a truckload of flaws that keep it away from being an 'A' title.  Check my Reader Review in which I give the game a 'B' and profile the game's many positives and negatives, in which "Sonic R" resembles "Scocher" for its wasted potential sinking down a potential killer app.  But we're all human beings with individual ideosyncracies that affect who we are and what we like; I like Volvo cars, John Ford movies, Dean Kootz novels and TV's "Sailor Moon", "Dennis Miller Live" and "The Secret World of Alex Mack"... don't ask me why, I just do.  There is something magical about the way every element of "Sonic R" comes together for me and gives me (and only ME) a gameplay experience that is flawed to the average gamer, but that it just fills me with the joy of having this as my main hobby.  Maybe I have something for short, repetitive games that allow me to master a set of tracks through constant attempts ("NiGHTS" is another favorite of mine). I hope this makes you think about what game YOU and only YOU think is the greatest piece of software code ever assembled together, regardless of what the press and other gamers think.  Somewhere in these United States, believe it or not, there are gamers that think that "Batman Forever: the Arcade Game", "Fantastic Four", "Spawn", "Scorcher", "Clayfighter 63 1/3" and "Battle Monsters" are the closest thing to "Pong" and "Centipede" in the list of videogame classics.  God (if he/she/it exists) knows it's better to think about those few videogames that were worth the dough spent than those STILL in your collection waiting to prove their worth in gameplay time... it has costed me $8.50 for every time I've given PSX's latest "Tempest" clone, "N20", a shot (played it four times since I bought it for $33, you do the math).  And to come full circle with this premise: the most expensive game I have ever bought would have to be the 3DO version of the fighting game "Sailor Moon R".  Played it five times since I bought it, and it costed me $100 to import; 100 divided by five equals a whooping $20 for every gaming session.  We must be crazy, because me and my shadow don't mind a bit the cash wasted because experiencing a "Sailor Moon" fighting game DURING the peak of Moonie fever I was going through... well...uhhh...