Sega Saturn on PS1? | Sega's plans which never were

When Sega shocked the world by going third party, we all knew what this meant - Dreamcast games on competitors consoles, but Saturn games on PS One?...

The announcement was made on the 31st of January 2001 and from later interviews we know the games would have retailed at $19.95. The plan was for them to be released around Summer, with announcements made as to which games in April - though Panzer Dragoon was quickly ruled out as being one of them. We would also go on to learn that not only would we have got straight ports of Saturn games, but enhanced versions also.

When it came to the announcement, they only made a brief comment of Saturn ports making their way to PlayStation, mentioning titles "such as the 'Sonic' series for PS-one. A renewal port is also planned!". From this wording, it seemed possible that 2 Sonic games were planned. 

Following on from the announcement, we later learnt that Sony's PlayStation wasn't the target platform initially, that would go to the GBA. However Sega found limitations the GBA's RAM which is why it shifted towards targeting the PlayStation instead. Fitting, seen as there would have been a convergence of demographics with Sony pivoting the newly release PSOne as a budget console for younger gamers. This may also go to explaining why the GBA port of Sonic the Hedgehog - originally scheduled for 2001 to fit the anniversary - was pushed back and released in a horrendous state. 

So based off what we know what could the games have been and could this renewal port have been Sonic Jam? The Sonic Jam contained the original game, as well the other Mega Drive sequels, and could fit a "renewal" of some sort.

My best guess is that this was planned as a release on PS One to fit Sonic's 10th anniversary and would be a perfect catch up for those who had jumped ship to Sony's machine before Sonic Heroes. It would have also coincided nicely with the Sonic Hedgehog GBA port too also scheduled for 2001. However, technical difficulties with the GBA port meant both got cut to make way for the more extensive Mega Collection. This makes some sense; as why would a collection celebrating Sonic's history miss the anniversary? Only being announced in July 2002, just a few months before release. 

When it comes to the other Saturn Sonic games, we're left with just Sonic R and Sonic 3D Blast. So let's look at the reality. Sonic R I think we can definitively rule out as a realistic contender. Redeveloping a port of a 3D Saturn game, one which pushed the console pretty well, would be a nightmare to port - leaving just 3D blast. Being originally released on the Mega Drive, it's not the most graphically intensive of games. I wouldn't put it pass Sega to have just released the Mega Drive port with some minor changes like Saturn's UI and menus. I mean, game budgets must have been pretty low 2001 for PS1 and Sega has done worse *cough* Sonic the Hedgehog GBA.

It's also important to remember Sega's original third party plans also segregated their IP's across GameCube, Xbox and PS2 based on demographic - hence why Sonic initially resided on Nintendo with Adventure 2 and Mega Collection - another possible reason why these plans got axed. 

Whilst that's the only confirmation we had about what would be ported, there was a follow up from IGN a few days later, pushing for some more info. Interestingly, there were strong hints of Shining Force III being ported, though this was not confirmed; just a "perfect example". Technically speaking, it would be perfectly doable and would pump new life into this very late western Saturn release.

The only other information to go off from this was some rumours floating around at the time. In the US PSM Magazine (unfortunately can't find to verify the issue, so take with huge grain of salt), the Lunar games were mentioned as being a potential candidate. Though not sure how well this hold up to scrutiny seeing as the only Saturn exclusive Lunar game is Mahou Gakuen Lunar!

Finally, while not connected to Sega and their porting program, there was a rumours of Radian Silvergun making its way over too according to a post on Neogaf back in 2004. Whilst it's easy to dismiss this, there were some interesting discussions being made as to it's alleged cancellation. According to someone allegedly at Sony, the port was cancelled due to a couple of factors. First of which was due to lack of texture RAM on PlayStation which hindered performance and wasn't going to work without a full re-write - something unjustifiable for a genre which was dying in popularity in the age of 3D. 

So there you have it. We can only speculate which Saturn games could have made their way over as the April reveal never happened with the last wish list articles from IGN being in May. Just want to leave you with one thing .. Sega were also considering Dreamcast ports to PS One. Yes, you heard that right... Links below:

References

• https://www.ign.com/articles/2001/05/30/sega-on-playstation-virtua-fighter-kids
• https://web.archive.org/web/20020206225742/http://www.zdnet.co.jp/gamespot/gsnews/0101/31/news15.html
• https://www.ign.com/articles/2001/02/03/saturn-to-playstation-wish-list
• https://www.ign.com/articles/2001/02/03/shining-force-iii-headed-to-playstation
• https://forums.sonicretro.org/index.php?threads/sega-released-two-ps1-games-planned-saturn-ports-also.31887/
• https://web.archive.org/web/20010220071011/http://www.gameweek.com/features/Charles_Bellfield/index.shtml
• https://www.ign.com/articles/2001/02/09/tetsu-kayama-speaks
• https://web.archive.org/web/20010220124215/http://www.gameweek.com/features/Charles_Bellfield/index2.shtml