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The Saturn was brilliant in reality too, if you programmed it properly: see the beautiful 720x480 port of VF2. But most 3rd party devs didn't want to spend the effort on really getting their hands dirty.

Hence my argument that the PS2 is effectively the Saturn of this generation. While the XBox and the GCN essentially have one main CPU, the PS2 has what, the main processor and then two vector units? The fact of the matter is that not all companies have the funds or the wherewithal to uncover all of the console's potential power (much like the Saturn), but those that do (see: Insomniac games with the unparalleled Ratchet & Clank series) produce stunningly gorgeous pieces of software (much like the Saturn).

Burnout 3 on the PS2 is amazing too. Flat 60, latest-gen-PC-quality visuals, and it's a fun game too :pac:

Nights wasnt in Saturn high resolution mode bnut still looked amazing. By todays standards teh clipping is kind of odd though.

Actually, Model1/2 can use triangles too, not only quads

Yeah, but the tris are pretty much degenerate quads for the hardware.

OG.

The two processor stucture of the Saturn was a really bad move, well commercially. Sega first created the ultimate 2D system, but when they saw the PSX specs they threw in a new processor. The only ones being able to do somthing with those processores were AM2. Nevertheless developers we're lazy, including Sega, instead of creating an arcade perfect port of House Of The dead and Virtua Cop 2 they opted for reusing older engines. One of the best conversions was Last Bronx, with 3 dimensional backgrounds and the high resolution mode in game. They didn't take the time to perfect teh shadows though. But then again, Saturn never was a model 2 system.

Oliver Galibert, I was wondering. As you are one of the two creators of the Model 1 implementation in Mame you are the right person to ask this. Why isn't there a website where the two of you post your progress? A place dedicated to the great work you guys are doing would be great

The "Sega paniced when they saw the PSX specs" story is incorrect (I believe the morons at Next Generation magazine started that). Dual processors were planned all along - that's why the 32X had them too. And pretty much all the games used them to some extent - there are very few games on ST-V or Saturn that don't boot the sub and have it do work. The real problem was that VDP1 was slow to draw polygons (slower than the PS1's GPU by roughly a factor of 2). To my knowledge, most games were draw limited, not CPU limited.

Also, given that at least 2 and possibly all 3 of the next-generation consoles will be multiprocessor it looks like Sega was just ahead of their time once again.

Too bad they couldn't market anything to save their life. I was one of the stupid few who spent all $500 to get the Saturn, just...to...play...daytona . I was the biggest idiot I could remember.

Then I saw it for the PC a year later at CompUSA for 20 bucks and I wanted to kill myself. :dead:

I did the same thing, I bought a Saturn for around $400 so I could play Daytona & Panzer Dragoon. I also owned a 32X so I could play Star Wars Arcade, Virtual Racing, After Burner II Complete, and Doom. Sadly Sega of America's marketing department was asleep at the wheel in between 1996-1998 there were soo many good games in japan that they failed to bring out over here. It is as if they wanted the system to fail.


carrotroot: still bitter over SOA's decision to replace SonicCD's music with Neil Anderson's lamest hits.