18/30 The Top 100 best Saturn games, according to Saturn Fan’s readership
I’ve mentioned Sega Saturn Magazine a few times already. It was the reference and quasi-official magazine for the machine in Japan. Nowadays, the magazine might be most remembered for a gimmick called the 読者レース dokusharēsu (something like “The Readers’ Grand Race”); an ongoing poll allowing the readership to send the magazine a graded ranking of their 10 favorite and most disliked Saturn games after each issue.
Notoriously, the erotic adventure game EVE Burst Error came out on top (with a staggering average score of 9.5014 out of 10.0000) when the competition closed in March 2000, out of a total of 1156 eligible games, while the magazine had already digivolved into Dreamcast Magazine for about a year and a half. Honestly, although the game always received good press and a warm welcome from Saturn gamers in its time, this final ranking says more about the Dreamcast and magazine’s audience at the time, than it does about the Saturn.
However! Sega Saturn Magazine didn’t hold a monopoly on the hearts of Japanese Saturn fans, and indeed, its main competitor was a magazine appropriately called Saturn Fan. Truth be told, until around 1997, the Parisian that I was could only find and would only know about Saturn Fan, which would sometimes appear in the magazine racks of bookstores for Japanese expatriates.
Saturn Fan had its own readers’ ranking, which was less well known and/or less promoted in the magazine than SSM’s version. Fortunately, the great SSSG Youtube channel recently posted a handy recap of that readership’s Top 100 games, which I’ll share with you here.
Before I do that, a few preparations are necessary. First, I need to help the less Kanji-friendly among you decipher the chart:
The 総合 score in red, in the middle, is the overall score out of a maximum of 30 points. The six criteria around it, each rated on a 0-5 points scale are, from the top and clockwise, ① キャラ the characters, ② 音楽 the music, ③ 買得度 the perceived value (or, roughly speaking, the amount of content), ④ 操作性 the quality of the controls , ⑤ 熟中度 something like the game’s capacity to absorb/ engross the player and ⑥ 独創性 its originality. You’ll notice at the end of the video that, through this cumulative scoring system, there is a tiny margin between the hundredth (23.45 points) and first (27.46 points) title in the ranking.
The system and rules employed by SaturnFan were very different from that employed by SSM. Readers only had one chance to give their opinion on each game, in each issue following that of the review for game in question. This explains some seemingly strange rankings (Virtua Fighter above Virtua Fighter Remix, for example) and, generally speaking, a game released at the end of the console’s life was theoretically penalized by being compared with more titles than a title released in the first two years. Not to mention the unfortunate few games released after November 1998, i.e. after the column had already closed, as Saturn Fan gave way to Dreamcast Fan.
Most crucially, this process also penalized games that had a slow start but gradually gained in popularity through word of mouth. Nevertheless, I find this Top 100 a little more representative of the average opinion of Japanese gamers than SSM’s sometimes far-fetched ranking. I have also transcribed the list below the video, in case there’s a title that catches your eye but you can’t read the title. Here’s the video:
100 X-Men: Children of the Atom (Capcom)
098 Thunderforce V (Technosoft)
098 Can Can Bunny Premiere 2 (KID)
097 Yūkyū Gensōkyoku 2nd Album (Mediaworks)
095 Sakura Taisen Teigeki Graph (Sega)
095 Shining Force III Scenario 2 (Sega)
094 Kidōsenkan Nadesico: The Blank of 3 Years (Sega)
093 Digital Pinball ~Last Gladiators~ Ver.9.7 (KAZe)
091 Linda³ Kanzenban (ASCII)
091 Princess Maker 2 (Micro Cabin)
090 Twinkle Star Sprites (ADK)
089 Bulk Slash (Hudson)
088 Puyo Puyo Tsū (Compile)
087 Sonic Jam (Sega)
086 Tactics Ogre (Riverhill Soft)
085 F-1 Live Information (Sega)
084 Phantasy Star Collection (Sega)
082 Grandia ~Digital Museum~ (Sega)
082 Yūkyū Gensōkyoku (Mediaworks)
081 SuchiePai Adventure Doki Doki Nightmare (Jaleco)
080 Gun Griffon (Game Arts)
078 Tokimeki Memorial Drama Series Vol.3 Tabidachi no Uta (Konami)
078 Ojōsama Tokkyū (Mediaworks)
076 Azel –Panzer Dragoon RPG– (Sega)
076 Street Fighter ZERO (Capcom)
075 Söldnerschild (Sega)
074 Guardian Heroes (Sega)
073 Black Matrix (NEC Interchannel)
071 D no Shokutaku (Acclaim Japan)
071 Virtua Cop 2
070 Bio Hazard
068 Marvel Super Heroes Vs. Street Fighter (Capcom)
068 Victory Goal ’96 (Sega)
067 Langrisser IV (Masaya)
066 Dōkoku Soshite… (Data East)
065 Lunar –Silver Star Story– (Kadokawa)
064 Tokimeki Memorial Drama Series Vol.1 Nijiiro no Seishun (Konami)
063 Darius Gaiden (Taito)
062 Akumajō Dracula X ~Gekka no Yasōkyoku ~ (Konami)
060 Dōkyūsei 2 (NEC Interchannel)
060 Culdcept (Ōmiya Soft)
059 RealSound ~Kaze no Regret~ (Warp)
058 Vampire Savior (Capcom)
057 Idol Janshi SuchiePai II (Jaleco)
056 Fighting Vipers (Sega)
055 Layer Section (Taito)
054 Hanagumi Taisen Columns (Sega)
053 Tokimeki Memorial Drama Series Vol.2 Iridori no Love Song (Konami)
050 Dōkyūsei if… (NEC Interchannel)
050 Langrisser V (Masaya)
050 World Advanced Daisenryaku (Sega)
049 Idol Janshi SuchiePai MechaGenteiban (Jaleco)
048 The King of Fighters ’95 (SNK)
047 Advanced World War: Sennen Teikoku no Kōbō (Sega)
046 Policenauts (Konami)
045 Lunar 2: Eternal Blue (Kadokawa)
044 Shinseiki Evangelion 2nd Impression (Sega)
043 Panzer Dragoon (Sega)
042 Himitsu Sentai Metamor V (Mainichi Communications)
041 DESIRE (Imadio)
038 Shinseiki Evangelion Digital Card Library (Sega)
038 Virtua Fighter Remix (Sega)
038 Dragon Force (Sega)
037 Dennō Senki Virtual On (Sega)
035 Nonomura Byōin no Hitobito (Elf)
035 Kidō Senshi Gundam: Giren no Yabō (Bandai)
034 Street Fighter ZERO2 (Capcom)
032 Marie no Atelier Ver.1.3 (Imadio)
032 Cross Tantei Monogatari (Workjam)
031 Shin Megami Tensei Devil Summoner (Atlus)
030 X-Men Vs. Street Fighter (Capcom)
029 Pia Carrot he Yōkoso!! 2 (NEC Interchannel)
028 Fighters Megamix (Sega)
027 Vampire Hunter (Capcom)
026 Tengai Makyō Daiyon no Mokushiroku (Hudson)
025 Mahōkishi RayEarth (Sega)
024 J.League Pro Soccer Team wo Tsukurō! 2 (Sega)
023 Senkutsu Katsuryū Taisen Chaos Seed (Neverland)
022 Shining Force III Scenario 3 (Sega)
021 Radiant Silvergun (Treasure)
020 Enemy Zero (Warp)
019 Devil Summoner Soul Hackers (Atlus)
018 EVE Burst Error (C’s Ware)
017 Dead or Alive (Tecmo)
016 Silhouette Mirage (Treasure)
015 NiGHTS into dreams… (Sega)
014 Panzer Dragoon II Zwei (Sega)
013 Super Robot Taisen F-Final (Banpresto)
011 Sega Rally Championship (Sega)
011 Grandia (Game Arts)
009 Virtua Cop (Sega)
009 Kakyūsei (Elf)
008 Super Robot Taisen F (Banpresto)
007 Daytona USA (Sega)
006 Tokimeki Memorial ~Forever with you~ (Sega)
005 Ko no Yono Hate de Koi wo Utau Shōjo YU-NO (Elf)
004 Virtua Fighter (Sega)
003 Sakura Taisen (Sega)
002 Sakura Taisen 2 (Sega)
001 Virtua Fighter 2 (Sega)