Sega Saturn

The Sega Saturn is a 32-bit video game console, first released in November 1994 in Japan, in 1995 in North America and in 1995 in Europe. The system was supported in North America and Europe until late 1998 and in Japan until the end of 2000.

The Japanese Sega Saturn was rushed to the market in November 1994, a few weeks ahead of its rival, Sony’s PlayStation. The difficulties in programming for the system along with the early release led to very few games being available at launch. Approximately 170,000 machines were sold the first day the console went on sale. Sega Saturn outsold the PlayStation in Japan between 1995 and 1997, and Saturn software enjoyed higher sales, a fact boosted by their successful Segata Sanshiro advertising campaign, leading to the perception that the Saturn was the platform of choice for more dedicated gamers while the PlayStation had a more casual audience.

In addition to playing games, all of the Saturn models could play music CDs and CD+G discs. A software disc was sold by Sega to allow the playing of PhotoCDs. An MPG decoding hardware module was released by Sega, JVC and Hitachi, allowing VideoCD playback. JVC later released a VideoCD module that included the software for displaying PhotoCDs, eliminating the need for a software disc. While the Sega Saturn did not see much success during the fifth generation, there is something of a cult following fan base around the console and it is sought after by hardcore gamers and collectors.