Top 10 Games for the SEGA Saturn Mini

With recent talk about the SEGA Dreamcast Mini, I couldn’t help but wonder why they would skip a generation. Yes, of course I want a Dreamcast Mini, but you know what else I want? A SEGA Saturn Mini.

I’d be the first to admit that perhaps releasing a mini version of a console that pretty much flopped won’t exactly fill the shareholders with glee. There were several titles that were pushed from a Saturn release onto the Dreamcast, for instance. However, this isn’t about how good or bad the console was, this is about the games! Here are my alphabetically-sorted top 10 picks for SEGA Saturn Mini games.

Burning Rangers

Fight fires and save people as an action hero. I don’t think I need to write any more than that, because this exclusive was awesome. We either need a remake, a re-release on current platforms, or this one on the Saturn Mini. Preferably all three.

Fighters Megamix

You can’t have a Saturn without a fighter, so why not the one exclusive that’s remained such? What’s better is that it’s a compilation, featuring fighters from several SEGA games - and a car. Oh, and a palm tree! They had fun making this.

NiGHTS Into Dreams

I mean, obviously, this was the Saturn game and would deserve a place on the Saturn Mini even with the blurriest of rose-tinted glasses. But with addictive platforming, brilliant graphics, flying, made by Sonic Team… It had all of the hallmarks of greatness, and it was actually pretty great!

Panzer Dragoon II Zwei

A bit of a cheat, this one, as it’s actually being remade as I write this. Seen as one of the best games in the series, it retained the on-rails dragon-top shooting and improved things by giving you multiple routes through the levels. Since the remake is going to be mainly visuals, it must have done something right.

Panzer Dragoon Saga

Released at the end of the Saturn’s life, and well-received too, it dropped the on-rails shooting in favour of becoming a cinematic free-roaming RPG. If nothing else, it definitely deserves a second chance at life, and a Saturn Mini can make that happen.

Radiant Silvergun

One of the greatest shoot ’em ups on the Saturn, which resulted in one of the greatest SHMUPS on the Dreamcast. It didn’t get a release in the West until much later, and never on the original hardware, so it definitely belongs on this list.

Sakura Wars

Fitting as many genres into one game as possible, with tactical role-playing, dating sim and visual novel, it’s also the first title in a fairly well-received series that, until recently, hadn’t got a foothold in the West. The only issue would be that they’d have to get it translated first.

Sakura Wars 2: Thou Shalt Not Die

The last SEGA-made title ever released for the Saturn, it has to join the original on the Saturn Mini. If only because the direct sequel should be included on the SEGA Dreamcast Mini, and it’d be weird to not have this one available too. Plus more RPGs are always good.

SEGA Rally Championship

I’m just pandering to those who will complain that I didn’t put a racing game on this list. However, it received rave reviews, and is a milestone achievement in the genre due to it having different road conditions. You could also play co-op, so this doubles as token representation in that way, too.

Sonic X-treme

Much like the SNES Classic, the Saturn Mini should definitely come with a previously-unfinished title. And what better than the one game that everyone thinks could have saved the Saturn, the game that was in development for most of the console’s life, Sonic X-Treme? What should have been the first 3D Sonic game, finally in people’s homes.

So come on, SEGA, I’ve given you the titles, you give us the Saturn Mini.