Halloween Nights

Yeah, it's true. I'm slacking even worse than usual. But, it's better late than never, I guess.

In addition to all of the unlockable goodies that have been added to the PS2 remake of Nights, there are even more date-specific surprises. For the entire month of October, playing in Mystic Forest will give Nights and Claris a Halloween makeover. Nights dons some dark clothing and generally looks a little odd, while Claris plays the part of a complete witch.

Since it's no longer October, you can either wait until next year (which is my plan) or set your date back to last month.

If there are any Thanksgiving surprises, I'll let you know in 2009 (most likely January).

Burning Rangers Review

During the Saturn years, Sega's famed Sonic Team took a break from developing Hedgehog games. But amidst the blue blur's absence, two originals came to fruition. The first appeared in 1997 and was to do for the Saturn what Sonic the Hedgehog did for the Genesis. Even though it didn't quite reach that level of success, the game still became a cult classic and eventually found a sequel on the Wii. This, of course, was Nights into Dreams. But there was another - one that managed to fly just underneath the general gaming radar. Released in '98 towards the end of the Saturn's life, little fanfare was made for Sonic Team's other gift to the Saturn: Burning Rangers.

The premise behind Burning Rangers is pretty straightforward: futuristic firefighters tackle flames and save lives. Besides some gibberish towards the end about a girl trapped in a crystal, the story is pretty bare. Fight fires with your laser. Survive, repeat. I'm not arguing though, as it's almost refreshing in its simplicity.

Players initially take the roll of either Shou or Claris, one of two identically-playing rangers. Regardless of the character, the overall story stays the same, with just a few differences in the script and subplots.

After a brief training mission to introduce the controls, the first mission begins. To extinguish fires, the Rangers must shoot the flames with either a quick laser blast or a charged-up grenade-like shot. As the flames are put out, they're turned to crystals, which function exactly like rings do in Sonic the Hedgehog. As long as at least one crystal is in possession, the characters can take a hit, but in turn, their crystals are sent flying through the surround area. Get hit with no crystals and it's game over. Careful, though, as using the grenade blast will destroy any crystals in the area. It's a trade-off: use the grenade shot to quickly put out the fires or shoot them one-by-one and hopefully survive long enough to get more crystals.Crystals do have another use - rescuing people. Hostages are spread throughout the level and they need to be saved. Now, it's completely fine to ignore them, but if enough crystals are on hand, the Rangers will transport the hostages away to safety, and possibly earn a continue in the process. These guys and gals also act as save points, essentially serving the same function as lamp posts do in the Sonic games.

Of course standing fire isn't the only obstacle, as bursts of flames will shoot out of the walls. Before a blast ignites, there is a short whistling sound. Tap back on the d-pad in time and the Ranger will jump out of the way avoiding any damage. Too slow and the kids get burnt instead. Though the move fairly easy to pull off in the first episodes, it does get tricky in later ones, necessitating a quick reaction time.

What would a Sonic Team game be without bringing time into the mix? If fires aren't being put out fast enough, then the entire level will be engulfed in flames, reminding players to hurry the hell up and completely agitate them in the process. A counter on the side of the screen shows a fire percentage level. For every 20% increase, there's a boom and a ton of flames. This level never drops below the last 20th percent, so if a 58% is reached, it can be worked down to 40%, but not lower.Levels are basically glorified corridors; nice looking corridors, that is, but still just corridors. To navigate through these, Shou and Tillis can radio Chris, the navigator, and she'll send out verbal directions. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. The game can get really frustrating when there's a switch that needs to be pressed, and Chris keeps sending the wrong directions over and over. With everything looking like one giant hallway, it's fairly easy to get lost, too.

Getting from point A to B is only part of the battle, since the controls in this game are loosey-goosey, to put it mildly. While not necessarily a bad thing, it does make accurate jumping seem tricky. And there's a ton of jumping, as the Rangers leap from one platform to another, over pits, and out of the way of fire. It's pretty easy to miss a jump or a landing along the way. To help avoid random falls, an auto-jump feature has been added. Anytime the Rangers get close to the edge of a surface, they'll jump off automatically. This can get pretty annoying. Sometimes, it'll be a life-saver, as the rangers can float back onto a platform instead of falling off entirely, but most of the time, it just feels unnecessary. Spend enough time in the game, though, and it does become tolerable.

Underwater segments appear in certain levels, and these are, well, a mess. There's a button for jet-blasting upwards and downwards, both of which push the Rangers forward. If the jumping wasn't loose enough, the water takes the cake. It's hard to control, hard to aim, and the cameras completely lose their focus underneath the waves.

That's not to say that the cameras are anything in the first place. As with the game's platforming contemporaries, the cameras in Burning Rangers are pretty bad. While not an absolute deal-killer, it's definitely Burning Rangers biggest problem. Sometimes the camera does a good job, but it's easily thrown out of alignment. Nothing is worse than trying to make a jump, only to have the camera shift into a position where the destination is completely unseen. Worse yet is when the camera gets caught in a corner, only to display portions of the wall in front of it. To help remedy the situation, cameras can be adjusted freely or in 90 degree increments.Despite the bad camera work, there's still fun to be had in the game. When it all works, the game is enjoyable and provides a good test of skills, racing through the levels, keeping the fire down, and trying to do it all in a timely manner. It's possible to get used to some of the annoying things (like cameras and auto-jump) and even learn to work around them, but it shouldn't be necessary to adapt to the game's faults.

After making it through the level, players are greeted with a boss. Most are tied in with the theme of the level, but they're pretty ridiculous, consisting of monstrosities like a fire-spewing plant and a large angry fish. Really, the bosses aren't necessary at all and feel a little tacked-on. Fortunately, they're fairly quick and easy to defeat and they do change up the pace.

Once the level is completed, players are graded, just like in Nights. Ranks go from D to S, with S being the best. The final grade is based on how many hostages were rescued, the number of crystals remaining at the end of the level, the time taken for the boss, and the flame percentage.

Repeat this for another three levels, and that's Burning Rangers. Along the way, there is a shooter mini-game tossed in for some variety, but that's pretty much it. As with Nights, Sonic Team keeps the number of levels low, but open enough to be replayed several times for higher scores. To reduce the monotony, BR features a random-level generator. This feature has been touted by the press and fans of the games, but to be honest, it's not that big of a deal. Take the same levels, open a couple of doors that were closed prior, put the hostages in a new spot, and play. Hostages and switches may never be in the exact same position twice, but once a player learns the usual locations for hostages and switches, they're set.If shooting for high scores isn't your cup of tea, then there's the Pokemon allure - "Gotta catch'em all." This time, it's the hostages that need to be collected. After rescuing someone, they'll send out a quick e-mail. Sometimes it's a code to unlock an extra feature or artwork, but other times it's just nonsense. With hundreds of hostages and several e-mails from each one, it takes a while to get them all. Whether it's worth it or not, it's up to the player, but for those 100% completists (myself included), it's a reason to play through the levels again.

Graphics are impressive. Running off a modified Nights engine, Burning Rangers takes the Saturn and pushes it to its limits, and then some - maybe too much. The graphics look great, but suffer from some pretty bothersome slowdown. It's not like Sega Touring Car, where the frame rate is awful the entire time, but when the flames hit the fan, the frame rate takes a nose dive. Excluding that frame rate and occasional clipping, this is one of the best looking games on the Saturn. There are tons of transparencies and lighting effects all over the place, perfectly suited to a game about fire. Light coming from fluorescent lamps fill the air. The after burn of the Rangers' rocket packs looks great as well. I see it all and I really think this game would be so much better on a later-generation system like the Dreamcast. The Saturn tries and it chugs along, but there is just too much for it to handle.

Sound is solid as well. There's not a whole lot of background music, so mostly explosions and radio chatter fill the airwaves. Hearing the other Rangers converse over the radio helps flesh out the barebones story and add a little depth to the very flat characters. When music does kick in (usually during a boss battle), it's pretty solid, if not generic.

All in all, I have to say that I do like Burning Rangers, but it's definitely got its flaws. For Sonic Team fans, this is another winner, but for the rest of the world Burning Rangers is pretty average. For every thing it does right, it seems like the poor cameras, slowdown, or loose controls throw it off. On the right system, with hardware that could handle the game's visuals and some extra development time to tweak up the controls, Burning Rangers could've been a real winner. As it stands, it's only average.

7/10

Saturn Batteries

There comes a time in every Saturn's life where things just aren't what they used to be. All of the gaming memories of yesteryear (or yesterday) are nowhere to be found. The system can only remember what happened moments ago.

No, your Saturn doesn't have Alzheimer's. It's only a dead battery.

One of the few systems to do so, the Saturn comes with a replaceable internal battery used to store saved game data. As with other batteries, eventually this one will wear out and any data saved on the system will be lost; new data won't be saved either.

There's any easy fix, though: get a new battery. (Obviously, right?) The Saturn uses a standard watch-size CR2032A battery - the same type that's found in the Dreamcast's VMUs. These are available at local drug stores and department stores. Or, you can even jack the VMU's battery if you want.

Replacing the battery is an easy task. Pop open the hatch on the rear of the system and find the battery located inside. Take the old one out and drop the new one in, making sure that the positive (+) side stays up.

My Saturn is going on year 12 and I've replaced the battery three times, so they can last a good while. Some tips to keep your battery lasting longer:

• Keep your Saturn plugged in. When the system is plugged in, it will draw a small amount of power from the electrical outlet and use that to keep the game data backed up. If the Saturn is unplugged, it'll use only juice from the battery instead.



• Use a quality battery. As with everything, some batteries are made better than others. A higher quality battery will last longer.



• Get a memory card. Inevitably, the battery will fail. Be prepared by saving your games to a memory card. The official Sega-licensed memory card is the best, as third party cards tend to damage the Saturn's cartridge connectors.

House of the Dead Saturn Review

In the arcades, House of the Dead impressed with a few new twists on the shooter formula. Instead of the one-shot one-kill mentality that existed in most shooters at the time, HotD included zombies that wouldn't stay down after only one bullet. The undead would just keep coming, despite losing their limbs or chunks of their bodies. HotD also introduced multiple pathways, as certain parts of the each stage contained extra twists and turns, opened by rescued hostages or hidden switches. With another arcade success up their sleeves, it was inevitable HotD would find its way to the Saturn.

And that it did in 1998, at the very end of the system's life. Is it still a success? To get straight to the point: Not really. While it is still technically The House of the Dead on the Saturn, it really doesn't look like it. The graphics are bad. Really bad. This is one of the worst looking games on the Saturn. Polygons have been removed, as expected in a Model 2 conversion, but the level of detail that has been dumbed down is just nasty. The textures used in this game are just awful, pixelated messes that at most times bear very little resemblance to their arcade counterparts. Everything blurs together in a muddy mess of brown and gray, making it hard to spot enemies. Not too mention, this graphical mess is a clunker, too, chugging along at a very poor frame rate.

Even though the graphics are bad, it wouldn't be too much of a problem as long as the game still felt like it did in the arcade. Unfortunately, that's not the case. The low frame rate makes the game harder to play than it should be, causing players to adjust to the poor graphics, rather than develop zombie-shooting skills. The Stunner gun feels really unresponsive, which is a shame, because it's one of the most accurate light guns I've used on a home console. Sega has demonstrated with the Virtua Cop series that a smooth frame rate and responsive gun control are completely possible and should be expected, but it just doesn't happen here. It seems that the poor frame rate causes the game to register hits slightly slower, and because of that, nothing feels precise.Just to double check and make sure that I'm not just sucking, I went back and played through Virtua Cop 1 and 2. No problems there. I tried adjusting the gun calibration, but it didn't seem to help. So, I went to the next logical stepped and plugged in a controller. Oddly, enough, when using a controller, the targeting reticle moves around at a good 30 frames per second while the rest of the game stutters along. The end result is that the game is actually easier to play with a controller than with the gun, which pretty much defeats the purpose of games in this genre.

The home release includes, in addition to the standard arcade mode, a new Saturn mode, where different characters can be selected. The difference between these characters include the number of lives they have per credit, how many rounds they can fire before reloading, and how much damage their guns can do. Does it add to the game? If you master arcade, it could be fun to mix it up a bit with these options, but ultimately, it's still the same levels. Lastly is a boss mode, which could be good for practice on a problematic boss, but personally, I've never had the desire to replay the bosses outside of the normal game.All in all, I'm really disappointed with this game. It should have been another classic Saturn shooter from Sega, but it just ends up being a let-down. It appears that half-way through the game, development just stopped and whatever was done was released. If the poor graphics didn't affect the controls, it wouldn't be as bad, but the low frame rate makes precision targeting and reactions really hard with the gun. Unfortunately, HotD without the gun is like a dog without a bone.

6/10

There may be no final justice for this game. It was set to be an unlockable in the Dreamcast's House of the Dead 2, but was cut due to time constraints. Supposedly it was to appear in the House of the Dead 2&3 Return on the Wii, but the graphics were deemed to be too aged.

Collectors are looking for this game, so if you really want it, I'd suggest going the import route. The Japanese version is pretty cheap and besides about $60, the only difference is that all of the blood is green instead of red.

Panzer Dragoon Saga Review

PDS has quite possibly become the most notorious game on the Saturn, and for good reason, too. Released in 1998 at the end of the system's life, the game was only available in limited numbers. Its rarity was a problem even then, and as a result, I've had the fortune of buying the game twice, the first being at a Toys 'R' Us in 1998. At the time, Toys 'R' Us kept almost all of their games locked up and in order to purchase one, a price tag that hung just outside of the case had to be taken to the check-out counter. After paying for the game, the receipt would be traded for the game itself, which was kept in a separate, locked room in an attempt to minimize theft.

I'd been keeping an eye on the game, and there were never any tags available, as the game was out of stock. One day, luck had found me. There was one tag left. They had received a new shipment and I had managed to snag the last remaining copy. I went to the counter, paid the $59.99 and then went to trade the receipt for the game. But wait, there was a mistake. They didn't have Saga. Did they put too many purchase tags out? Did some cunning employee know the value of the game and take it? Regardless, I went home empty-handed and never saw the game in stores again.

So, 10 years later, after the asking price for the game had nearly tripled, I bit the bullet and picked it up.Saga begins as a young guardian, Edge, and his fleet are attacked on an ancient ruin they are protecting. In the attack, Azel, a mysterious girl buried in the ruins for centuries is stolen, presumably to be used for evil. Left for dead, Edge is nearly ripped to shreds by ancient biological creatures, until a dragon shows up to save the day. It is mere coincidence or destiny as the dragon chooses Edge to be his rider?

The story begins and after a 10 minute long intro movie, so does the game. Instead of immediately hopping on a dragon and blasting away, Saga turns the series around and eschews its shooter roots in favor of an RPG/strategy format that's broken into sections of dragon riding, walking, and battle.

Moving from one spot to the next is done by hopping on the dragon and taking it for a ride. This time, instead of just following along on rails, the environments are free flowing to allow for exploration of the area and its surroundings. Environments usually come in one of two forms, either completely open or very cave-like. The cave variety does well to get the player from point A to point B, but sometimes seems too linear. Free-form open spaces, on the other hand, don't have this same problem.Along the way, there are objects to shoot at, some containing items, some triggering events to progress the story, and others that are merely there for scenery. The majority of the game takes place, here, on the back of the dragon. For the most part, it's easy to control, with a button for managing speed and the the analog pad handling the direction. Occasionally, bumping into an object will cause the dragon to hang or repel off of it in a bizarre fashion, but since this mode is primarily used to transportation and not quick-reaction battles, it's really not a big deal.

Walking sections are done sans dragon, controlling only Edge. This is the typical exploration area, with the character walking around talking to people, collecting information, and furthering the plot. While Saga uses the analog pad, it doesn't really take advantage of it. To run as Edge, instead of just pushing the pad a bit more in the specified direction, the B button has to be held down. This stays consistent with dragon riding portions of the game, but shouldn't be necessary. To look at an object, first the action button has to be selected, and then a target appears on the screen. The item can only be inspected after "locking on" to it. Again, this is fine on the dragon, but seems excessive when on foot.

The walking environments aren't exceedingly large, and there really isn't a huge cast of characters, despite all of the different locations in the game. It creates a very isolated feel - as if it's Edge, the dragon, and just a couple of others. Upon further prodding, many characters open up and there are several subtasks and conversations available.

When walking around, time of day changes, and of course, the people who are out and about change as well. This helps make the Saga world a little more alive, and also adds more replayability to the same area.

Most of the action, though, is in the dragon battles. These battles are rooted in classic turn-based RPGs, but rather than the "I attack, you attack" strategy, PDS incorporates time into the mix. The dragon has a total of three gauges that fills up one at a time. Once the first gauge is filled, the player can fire the dragon’s lasers for a general attack or Edge's gun to target a specific area. After two gauges fill, berzerk attacks, the equivalent of magic, become available. A full three gauges will allow special berzerk moves and a few extras to take place. But, there's a catch - the gauges only fill while the dragon is staying still.Each enemy has a radar around it and the dragon can locate itself in one of the four (top, bottom, left, right) positions. These are marked as red (dangerous), green (safe), or uncolored (neutral), depending on the severity of the enemies' attacks in these directions. As with the dragon, each enemy uses the same gauge system to determine when and how often it can attack.

The result: battles that require some strategy and positioning, as well as good timing. This can keep players on their toes, making decisions such as "Should I wait another moment and try to fire off the last shot or should I just move out of harms way? Will this gauge fill in time so that I can use an item to restore my health or am I toast?" The bad news is that once an enemy is figured out, it's pretty easy and repetitive.

As with other games in this genre, the characters can level up, gain experience, grow, and generally get bigger and badder. After finishing a battle, the game rates the player on their performance. Higher ratings mean more experience and more items. Lower will mean less. After gaining enough points, the characters level up and get stronger, learning new berzerk attacks along the way. There are several berzerk categories and what attack the dragon will learn is based on its current form.

The dragon itself can be morphed between four different types - attack, defense, spiritual, and agility - as well as the standard all-arounder. Certain types are better at certain enemies, and well, sometimes it's just nice to look at something different on the screen. After reaching certain portions of the game, the dragon will change forms entirely, just like in Zwei. These new forms come with additional upgrades as well, for laser attacks, health, and berzerk ability.

Though it's all fun, the game system and mechanics are good, but not particularly great. I enjoyed the battles, but I hadn't felt drawn to play against those creatures again. Of course, I'm looking at this 10 years after it was released, which may have tainted things for me a bit. But what keeps people talking about this game so many years later?

Graphics-wise, this is one of the better looking games on the Saturn. Zwei had some very nice water and transparency effects, but Saga takes them to a new level. The Saturn was never known as a 3D powerhouse and having no hardware support for 3D transparency really drove that point home. Saga, however, uses a few 2D (Mode7) transparency tricks to really give the game a nice shine. Water effects and the dragon itself are particularly spectacular in the game.Despite this, the environment textures are a little ugly. It's not House of the Dead ugly, but every once in a while, a wall will be pixelated top-to-bottom. Others have complained that the character models are simple and low-poly, but I haven't seen anything that would upset me for a game from this time period. Saga runs in the Saturn's standard resolution mode and has proper light sourcing, which is put to use nicely as the levels transform from day to night. Shadows on the characters change, and the overall tone of the skies go from blue to orange to black. Not only is it a nice tech demo for Sega's system that couldn't, it really helps give the appearance of a living world.

The music is on another level. As with Zwei, the music in this episode of Panzer Dragoon is done by the Saturn's onboard sound chip. The composition is quite good, as the pieces are reminiscent of atmospheric tunes in Zwei. The numbers play throughout the battle and flight sequences, ranging from completely ambient to large and engrossing. It is definitely put to great use here, creating a moody and dramatic backdrop in the somber Panzer Dragoon world.

But while the music and graphics stick out as high points, the story and universe are what’s truly engrossing. This has always been the strong point of the Panzer games. A world within a world, the story, the architecture, the artistry of design have all added up to create an environment that feels immersive. The storyline for the entire series isn't just tacked on to justify what happens on the screen.

At the end of the first two games, I watched the dragon destroy whatever tower it was fighting at the time, and then I tried to figure out what the hell was going on. There was more to the Panzer world, I just didn't know what it was, and the story was intentionally vague. Saga takes that intrigue and slowly spells out the larger picture. The storyline ties in directly with Zwei, and though it tries to tie in with the first game as well, it's safe to just ignore the storyline of the original Panzer Dragoon.

As Edge seeks revenge against the mysterious Craymen who attacked his village, he and the players learn more about the Panzer Dragoon universe. Why dragons exit, where they came from, what became of the other dragon riders are all subject matter in the game's story. The answers aren't handed out, but alluded to and hinted at throughout the journey. There are a few characters to meet along the way, but not over abundantly so. They fit into the PD world and give a glimpse of life when there's no dragon chasing down strange things. Throughout the story, as more and more questions are answered, just as many are asked with the appearance of Azel, a relic of the past.

It all culminates as a tale of fate and destiny. The end of the game feels not like winning an entire war, but just a battle. There's not an entire civilization cheering for Edge as he triumphantly marches down the streets. Instead, the rest of the world could be oblivious to the battle that has just taken place, while those involved are deeply affected. This is the game that ended the Panzer Dragoon trilogy. As unsettling as it may be, it is still the end.When it's all over, the journey is rather short. Even with some trouble along the way, it only took me about 20 hours to finish the game. After playing through it once, a box game is unlocked, but this time around the extras aren't really worth anything and hardly add any replay value. I was compelled to play through the game at length again, and there were a lot of conversations, stories, and literature that furthered detailed Saga's universe that I had missed. Seeing all of this definitely adds to the experience, but once everything has been seen (and while not likely, it is possible to do on the first try), there's not much reason to go back.

So, back to the big question: Is it worth it? Panzer Dragoon Saga is definitely a good game and a highlight for the Saturn. The bad news is that it's still an exclusive to the system. Though it's probably not worth the asking price, it is still a game any Saturn owner would be proud to have in their collection.

9/10

Beta-7

If there's a reason that I haven't been playing the NFL 2k series, I think I've found it.

Is it all a conspiracy?

http://www.beta-7.com

And for the record, it's just a marketing gimmick - a very interesting marketing gimmick, nonetheless.

Ages and Ages

It looks like the next game in the Sega Ages series is going to be Fantasy Zone. This is fine and dandy, but personally, I really don't care about this game at all. On the other hand, there's a few games that I would like to see appear, but I'm not holding my breath. In no particular order:

Burning Rangers - Another non-Sonic title on the Saturn from Sonic Team, this one involving anime-inspired futuristic fire fighters putting out flames to save people.

Why it should happen: BR pushed the Saturn to its graphical limits and manages to sell for way more than it should. While there was already a limited market by virtue of being a Saturn game, small production numbers and a release at the end of the Saturn's life meant very few people got to play it. Those that did, however, found the game's graphics to be very demanding for Sega's 32-bit system, to the point where gameplay was affected.

Sega already has created a Saturn/Titan (ST-V) emulator that is used in other games in the Ages line-up, which should help reduce the porting time. Nights has been recently redone (and redone very well, might I add) and with BR based on the same engine, it would seem only natural to bring it over, too.

Why it won't happen: Sonic Team doesn't give a crap and Sega won't be able to make a profit off of it. Burning Rangers had a vocal cast featuring some well-known actors from the anime scene and I'm sure they'd still demand a royalty for their work. Unlike Nights, the game isn't as widely known and doesn't have the fan base to support it.

Panzer Dragoon Saga - In a radical 360 turn, the PD series went from an on-rails shooter to an RPG. The result - a complete surprise and one of the better RPGs of the era

Why it should happen: With a limited release at the end of the Saturn's lifecycle and stellar reviews, Saga was highly sought by gamers and collectors alike. Unfortunately, few got to play it and it goes for top dollar nowadays. Yukio Fatatsugi was willing to lend a hand (or at least a voice) to the Sega Ages Panzer Dragoon remake, and I'm sure he'd love to be involved in this in some way.

Why it won't happen: According to reports, (although hard to believe) the original source code for the game is long gone. This means that in order to see the game in action, it would have to be either a strict Saturn emulation (not that this would be entirely bad) or if the usual Ages graphical updates were implemented, the entire game would need to be recoded from scratch - a very costly and unlikely scenario.

Daytona USA - A perfect example of Sega's arcade golden years, Daytona USA can still be found in many arcades today. Featuring just three tracks and two cars, the game has more than survived the test of time.

Why it should happen: The highest grossing arcade game of all time. Is there anything more to say? Sure. There's never been a perfect home conversion of this game and fans are still waiting for one. Lots of Model 2 games have appeared in the Ages line-up (Virtua Fighter 2, Fighter Vipers, Last Bronx, Virtual On) and elsewhere (Sega Rally). Clearly getting a Model 2 game to run is not the issue, so what is?

Why it won't happen: What's in a name? Though the game doesn't have the actual track in it, Sega had to lease the Daytona USA license from the actual race track in order to use the name. Now, other companies are leasing the Daytona USA rights (I'm not sure if it's exclusive or not) and it wouldn't be cost effective for a budget release like this.

Honorable Mentions:

The House of the Dead - Another Model 2 game, this one made it home near the end of the Saturn's life, albeit in not-so-great form. It was set to be an unlockable in the Dreamcast HotD2, but the development team ran out of time. Though rumored to be in HotD2+3 return on the Wii, it never happened and the game that started off one of Sega's larger franchises (2, 3, 4, Zombie Revenge, Typing of the Dead, English of the Dead, EX) has fallen through the cracks.

Fighter's Megamix - Perhaps it was Sega's apology for no VF3 on the Saturn, but FMM found a niche of its own. Pitting the Virtua Fighters vs. the Fighting Vipers was only the start. It was the cast of unlockable characters from Sega's past that really made the game memorable. Not as technical as the brawlers it was based on, the game still had a charm all its own.

Sonic 3 & Knuckles - The original point of the Sega Ages line was to take old games, give them a graphical update, and have people rediscover them. Why not do this with the pinnacle of Sega's console games? Take Sonic 3 & Knuckles, lock them together like they should have been from the start (with Flying Battery before Ice Cap...), render the hedgehog and its background with a 3D makeover, and keep the classic side-scrolling gameplay. Toss in a couple of extras for kicks, and you've got a winner.

Or, at the very least, don't let the folks doing the HD Sonic 2 show you up.