Saturn VS PSX?

I know the PROs and CONs of both consoles but I never see it in practice, does anybody have a comparison of some of the games that appeared on both consoles?


Mostly 2D games the main one that I'm curious of is Megaman X4
 
Comparing ports is usually a pretty bad way of comparing systems, because the quality of the port usually depends more on who's porting it (e.g. the available man-hours and expertise) than on the system. The big exception to this that I can think of for Saturn/PlayStation is that Capcom and SNK fighters came out much nicer on Saturn thanks to the RAM carts. However this says virtually nothing about the virtues of the underlying systems.


I think Mega Man X4 was written to be portable from the start. I haven't played the Saturn version, but the PC port is almost a carbon copy of the PS1 version (right down to a two-tiered save file organization mirroring the slot/file structure used on PS1).
 
While 3D, best example I can come up with that shows how ports or recreations should have been would probably be DOA. Both versions look good, run well, and were built from the ground up to take advantage of console specific strengths. Here's a rare case where the 'better' version may be entirely subjective, but there's no denying that the game is done well on either machine. It's not a popular comparison, but the Zero Divides are like this too. There's no real loser in this case, and this is how more games in the 32-bit era should have been done.

Like ExCyber said though, the better version during this era most likely came down to whichever platform the developer was better on. Even in 2D there's no reason for the PSX version of X-men COTA to be as bad as it is when Darkstalkers 3 is a pretty fine port, and there's no reason for Donpachi on the Saturn to run like it does when Batsugun blazes on through without a problem.

Anyway, back to the topic on hand. MMX4 is a tough one because it's alot like the 1st SF Alpha in that it doesn't really tax the hardware much. I doubt either the PSX or the Saturn are breaking a sweat running this game, which is just as well because - having owned the game on PSX 1st, Saturn 2nd - it's basically the same game on both systems (few extra 2D touches vs. better FMV really). MMX4 is game that looks completely happy playing within the sandbox of just about every machines limitations.

As far as comparisons go, I think Silhouette Mirage is one of the games that might actually suffer a bit from system limitation as opposed to bad porting, here's a pretty objective comparison you can check out: http://sfkosmo.classicgaming.gamespy.com/treasure/games/silhouettemirage/comparison.html
 
I've played several games now that share ports on the 3DO, Saturn, and PSX. When it comes to 3D games, generally the PS1 has slightly better resolution graphics than the saturn, while both keep up the same framerate. However, the Saturn 6-button controller is far superior to the Playstation controller, so the "gameplay" as a result of the controller is so far always superior on the Saturn version.

On a few games, the playstation developers went out of their way to show the best visuals, and the frame rate actually suffered a bit as a result. So a few times I've ended up with a game that had crisper higher res textures and better colors on the PS1, but had a much smoother frame rate on the Saturn. In the end, I've always ended up choosing the better 6-button controller/gameplay over the slightly enhanced visuals.

The 3DO always lags in both resolution/color and frame rate to the Saturn and Playstation. And the fact that the 3DO controller D-Pad is quite poor make it almost always lose. I usually stick to 3DO exclusives on the 3DO.

However, some 3DO originals that were later ported to Saturn/PSX tend to still be better on the 3DO, just because they were originally developed for the system, like Gex. Another one is Road Rash, which even though it suffers in frame rate compared to the Playstation version, the Playstation controller is so horrible that the 3DO actually plays 1% better.
 
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