Oh, did you not know that the Sega Saturn was one of the many consoles of the era to have Sampler CD's? Oh, please, sit down and let me tell you a thing or two this Christmas Eve, lads and lasses. This is some of the greatest joy and terrible sorrows we had as a collective back in the day. The Sega Saturn, Dreamcast, early Playstations and the PC had this enormous assortment of jewel cases, paper sleeves and cardboard cutouts that held CD's in magazines, other games, or included with the consoles themselves. Now, would we like them stuffed within our stockings Christmas Eve? Of course! Can we open them early? NO!
The games on these CD's ran the gambit of some of the greatest in their respective genres to some of the scum of the Earth pifitifulness that doesn't deserve to lick the dust off of your Gamegear. Either way, you were usually well entertained. How great or terrible a game was was normally VERY well showcased within the bounds of the demo discs because that's where you want to show your audience what you're capable of.
Now, not all of these discs actually had playable demos. Some of them were just trailers, and even the ones with playables mostly just had the long commercials. The real problem was not so much when the game sucked, but when the game was never officially completed and/or released. Sometimes, it was regional. It'd release in Japan or PAL or America or any mix of the three. The demo would release in all three regions but then only release in Japan, this was quite a common occurance.
When you found a Sample CD with a good amount of playable demos, it also varied quite a bit with how much of the game you could actually play. This could also run quite a long gambit from one single fight, one single boss fight or one whole level of a game. If you were lucky, some of them even had two or three shorter levels, ending with it being one of the longer demos. Was this always a good thing? Absolutely not. Some games, the demos weren't even worth playing and that's great! That means you paid nothing for it (hopefully) and now you know to steer far clear. Fantastic!
This really goes to show how valuable these demo discs really were. Now, you basically need to either buy the demo disc itself (sometimes in a collection, which is what you SHOULD do) or somehow find an original console from the era, complete, fully wrapped and/or brand new. Good luck on the latter, there, because if that's the deal you got then the demo disc would be the least of your fangasm. Buying these demo discs in bulk is really and truly keeping with the spirit of their original purpose. The games you play in them, as stated early, were either never released, are extremely old and/or ridiculously rare and expensive.
So, the true purpose of these demo discs has taken a hit. Most of these games you've either already played or already know enough about to not bother buying them. If you really and truly want to get the game footage, these titles have endless amounts of footage on streaming. These demo discs are nothing more than novelties, much like the original systems themselves in some cases.
One great and valuable thing these discs do is they do showcase the work of many game developers that would otherwise go completely unnoticed. If the demo disc is literally the only remaining source of the game file (Sometimes quite literally. Some game developers have straight up lost the source file), then the value of that demo disc basically skyrockets and even gives it a bit of historical importance in some cases.
We mainly had two good demo discs with good playable games on them. One was the Scream Volume 1, it featured a very good bunch of games and definitely is the star of the show. The next was the Saturn Bootleg demo disc. It had a less than impressive list of playable demos but there were some tiny gems at least.
Bug Too! is the first that was played on Scream Saturn Volume 1 Demo Disc that came with the console. This one was played the very least because the platforming was stiff and awkward while the gameplay was rather boring. Will I ever review this full game? Maybe? If anyone really cares, please, I am all ears.
Daytona USA: Championship Circuit, or as I called it in 1996, the lame version of Daytona USA. Yes, this opinion has not changed other than slightly. This was played once or twice because of the interesting graphics, but as far as we were concerned, it didn't hold a candle to the full free game we got with the system along with it.
Baku Baku... going to be honest, I forgot this game existed, but now that I see it, I remember loving it. Yes, I loved this weird, Japanese, horrific fever dream of a block game. For some reason, it was rather addicting and we found ourselves actually playing a lot of what little of the game was included with Scream Saturn 1. Now, is there any actual substance or anything gained other than shallow entertainment for throwaway fun? No, don't think that going into this game.
Virtual On came with my Sega Saturn in the form of the very first fight. You fought Temjin with his laser sword and small laser cannon. He also can throw laser bombs with some rather large laser explosions. The variety in the enemy wasn't good but you were able to literally fight him with any of character you chose. This was a great alternative. I'd rather play mutliple characters than play one character against multiple enemies. Both options are fine but definitely went the high road here. Because of this, I was able to know that Raiden was my cream of the crop that rose to the top and allowed me to win 3rd Place in a Virtual On tournament. That's right, this was the practice I needed to succeed. This, and then Virtual On for the Dreamcast gave me that edge and the arsenal to blast my enemies into metal dust!!!
Then there came Three Dirty Dwarves. This was the boss level where you literally throw things and jump at a building. Once you've gotten the enemy down enough, the building will come out on legs as the patrons inside (it being a bodybuilding gym) carry it while still throwing dumbells and whatever else at your three dudes. This was hilarious and it was so much fun. This game was really, really hard to find, but that just made it that much more rewarding when I finally was able to play it in its fullest. It's a great game, for certain.
Once we get into the Bootleg Saturn Demo, we see that Bug! is a trailer while Bug Too! was available to play on Scream Volume 1. Weird crossovers happening on a few of these titles, actually. World Series Baseball. Guess what it was? It was batting practice! That's it! Guess how much we played it! RIDICULOUS AMOUNTS! We literally had tournaments to see who could get the most home runs between us. For some reason, that one single batting practice thing took up TONS of time on our console. Why? I don't know, we weren't even teenagers! Stop judging!
Sega Rally Championship is said to be one of the best racers on the Saturn for its control, graphics as well as its track designs. To me, it was a car game and I wasn't great at car games, nor did I like them all that much. Not to mention, Daytona USA had already taken up anything that I actually liked about a racing game. I liked to crash the car and maybe beat my record sometimes, so the subtleties of excellence were lost on me with this title. Now, I can enjoy it to that extent.
Clockwork Knight II was kind of just a nothing experience at this point. I wasn't fond of the first one, nor did I find the old graphics all that endearing. They're a little too shiny if I'm really being honest. This demo did nothing for me other than show me that this title had a very boring first level. Moving on.
The Horde. No, this game is not nice and not cool. This was a single demo on a disc, coming off of Scream Saturn Vol. 1 and Bootleg. You can like it all you want but with the FMV cut scenes, the stiff and awkward gameplay and controls along with all of the cheesy tongue-in-cheek humor, this was less than a stellar experience. I do not remember what disc this came on but I do remember playing at least the first level on it. It made it quite clear that I should not rent it, let alone purchase it.
Alien Trilogy was on a single demo disc and I watched my brother play it. The problem was that it froze and went crappy because the disc it was on was absolute garbage. It was a shame because I feel like if I played it more, I could have appreicated it a bit more today. Life goes on.
Sadly, none of the demos I received were interesting on the level of being extremely obscure or never being released and/or lost to time. While that did happen, it was still pretty rare in the grand scheme of things. Still, finding these for a retro console you own is actually an exciting experience, especially if one of the games it demos is something like Burning Rangers or Panzer Dragoon Saga. It gives you the chance to play games you wouldn't otherwise, no matter in how much of a small way. That much is something we can be thankful for.
This Christmas, remember to share the joy of Saturn, even if it's just playing the game with someone. Give the gift of a good Saturn game and a good friend to go with it. Get a fire going if you can and get warm with family in front of the TV with your controllers of choice and have a good old time. Waiting for Santa can be a long sit, but for now, let's keep each other company and have a great holiday season warm with loved ones. Now is a good time to open the Christmas Eve presents, just remember to be grateful for what you get or you will pay next time we get to the next holly jolly fighting game! Virtua Yuletide Slap!
