Emerald Nova Games

SEGA Saturn 28th Anniversary Game Competition

It's everyone's favorite time of the year! Once again, to celebrate the birthday of the SEGA Saturn, I am holding an extended game competition.

The competition starts on September 2nd, 2022. Anyone can enter their SEGA Saturn game into the competition. Games can be entered into either the Original Game category, Hacks, Patches, and Translations category, or Utilities category. Even if this is a longer term project, if you have made significant progress on it in 2022, it can be entered. For multi-year entries, please document what changes have been made in 2022 (judges should make judgements based on these changes primarily.)

You can enter as many games as you want, (as long as they are substantially different.) Final disc images (bin/cue) should be uploaded and/or linked to the contest thread by 12 AM UTC Janaury 4th, 2023 (7 PM EST, January 3rd, 2023).

Judges from the online SEGA Saturn community will score games in each category by ranking based on personal preference by February 2nd, 2023. Ranks will be added as scores, with the lowest scores being higher ranked. Ties will share their rankings (and potential prizes.) Final rankings will be announced on a live stream on February 3rd, 2023. An example of how games are scored is below.

Judge A Rankings Judge B Rankings Judge C Rankings
1 Game 1 Game 1 Game 2
2 Game 2 Game 2 Game 4
3 Game 4 Game 3 Game 3
4 Game 3 Game 4 Game 1

The rankings are tabulated into scores.

Game Score
Game 1 1+1+4=6
Game 2 2+2+1=5
Game 3 4+3+3=10
Game 4 3+4+2=9

And the scores determine final ranking.

Rank Game
1 Game 2
2 Game 1
3 Game 4
4 Game 3

The top six entries in the Original Game category will receive cash prizes. The top three entries in the Hacks, Patches, and Translations category will receive cash prizes. The top entry in the Utilities category will receive a cash prize. All prize winners will also receive a 3D printed item from the list below, courtesy of That's It Guys 3D Printing Service.

  • SEGA CD/Saturn Game Case Snap Hinge Replacement
  • SEGA Saturn Battery Door Replacement
  • SEGA Saturn Controller Stand
  • SEGA Saturn Display Logo
  • ODE Tray Insert
  • This year the cash prize pool is growing and open to donations! If you want to contribute to the prize pool, donations are accepted via Paypal link below (please note that Paypal takes 3.2% as a fee.)

    Thanks to all donators for making this year's prize pool possible.

    Name Amount Note
    Emerald Nova $120.00
    SEGA Xtreme $40.00
    SEGA Saturn 27th Anniversary Competition - Estimated Shipping Remainder $70.00
    SEGA Saturn 27th Anniversary Competition - Original Games 5th Prize - slinga $30.30
    SEGA Saturn 27th Anniversary Competition - Hacks Patches and Translations 1st Prize - Danthrax & the Bulk Slash Localization Team $90.90
    SEGA Saturn 27th Anniversary Competition - Hacks Patches and Translations 2nd Prize - A Murder of Crows $48.48
    Haze $970.61
    Estimated Shipping Costs $-70.00 The remainder will be rolled over into next year's competition.
    Total Prize Pool $1,300.29

    Cash prize winners will receive a percentage of the Total Prize Pool.

    Ranking Original Game Hacks, Patches, and Translations Utilities
    1 15% ($195.04) 12% ($156.03) 10% ($130.02)
    2 10% ($130.02) 7% ($91.02) 3% ($39.00)
    3 8% ($104.02) 4% ($52.01) 1% ($13.08)
    4 7% ($91.02) 3% ($39.00)
    5 6% ($78.01) 2% ($26.00)
    6 5% ($65.01)
    7 4% ($52.01)
    8 3% ($39.00)

    Meet the Judges!


    Hi, I'm David Gámiz Jiménez. Happy dad. I am from Loja, a town in Granada, Andalusia, a large region in southern Spain. I am an Industrial Design Engineer. But mainly I define myself as a 3D artist, although I do not close anything on an artistic level, I really like everything. My relationship with the Sega Saturn really comes from my relationship with SEGA. About 12 years ago, my first SEGA Saturn fell into my hands, as well as the first one that came to my town from the first European batch of 1995. It was broken, I fixed it as best I could and this relationship did not stop growing. After playing and passing Panzer Dragon Saga and its previous installments. I was so crazy to see the quality that the machine really had. One day I decided to make an entry about PDS and its technical graphic milestones. And that resulted in an investigation of almost 3 years that ended a few months ago with 5 parts on my blog. Where I have been able to learn together with the generous community everything that made me curious and more. My relationship with the homebrew community started with the research for the posts itself. Finally seeing that few people, at that time, contributed to this great machine. Little by little I was participating and trying to contribute what I could. Currently I want, and am working on it, to make graphic content for the community. My great passion for 3D graphics and SEGA.


    Jason Steele is a writer, animator, occasional indie game developer, and retro game enthusiast. Has been playing Sega Saturn games since falling in love with the system in 1996. Hosts “The Video Game Valley,” a retro game stream that airs seven nights a week, with every Saturday dedicated to the Saturn.


    Jenovi. Host of Retro Impressions, a video game documentary, and analysis show with a heavy focus on the Second - Fifth Generation eras. Video game preservation and aftermarket(homebrew) advocate. Co-Host of the r/RetroGaming podcast.


    Johannes Fetz is a Project Manager & Senior Developer at Eureka Technology (Volaris group.) He also teaches C, Windows, and Unix at Etna (Paris.) He is the creator of JoEngine for the Sega Saturn.


    PandaMonium is reviewing every North American Sega Saturn game by order of release date in an effort to document its strange history in the west. The project involves developer interviews and thorough research. He is a proud member of the Sega Saturn Shiro podcast. PandaMonium is also known for compiling accurate commercial release dates of almost every North American Saturn game using a wide array of sources. Some of his favorite Saturn games are Darius Gaiden, Asuka 120%, Powerslave and the Panzer Dragoon series.


    RevQuixo has been bouncing around the Sega Saturn scene since the earliest days. He purchased his first Saturn during the surprise E3 launch of the system in the US and fell in love instantly. Seeking out like-minded online friends he eventually found a fledgling SegaXtreme website and quickly joined on as a staff member. In those days sharing games mean low quality ISO+MP3 rips, but it was a rare chance to try out all those imports that no one had heard of. He later started the Video Game Rebirth website which was one of the earliest online video game databases. Fast forward 20 years later and the Saturn love endured. RevQuixo started working with the team at TerraOnion to test the M.O.D.E. (Saturn/Dreamcast ODE) and found himself once again ripping Saturn games, this time for Redump using archival grade equipment. What will happen in the next 20 years? Who knows, but Rev is confident the Saturn will still be front and center.


    Saturn Dave since Christmas '96, Dave is enthusiastic about growing the community and spreading that Saturn love and knowledge to fans old and new. Co-founding the SEGA SATURN, SHIRO! podcast back in 2017 and creating the SHIRO! SHOW in 2020, his goal is to create interesting and engaging Saturn-related content for the community, and to seek out interviews with old and new developers, preserving the stories of Saturn game development for all to reference and enjoy. He also enjoys creating period-accurate hypothetical long box artworks and complete English manuals of games that never received a North American release. Twitter link.


    Saturn Memories. A SEGA Saturn fan. Posts SEGA gameplay videos on Youtube, and administrates the SegaNet discord server.


    Patrick, AKA TraynoCo is a co-founder of Sega Saturn Shiro. Patrick has a passion for Saturn projects such as homebrew and fan translations. Putting a spotlight on them in both podcast and video forms, trying to bring more attention to the ever growing Saturn homebrew scene. You can also find him on Twitter.


    Entries

    Entry Original Games Hacks, Patches, and Translations Utilities
    1 The Case of the City Botucaiba - sansigolo Lunar 2 Eternal Blue Translation - Mr Conan Sega Saturn FILM Muxer - TrekkiesUnite118
    2 SHMUP SALAD - DamageX Drift King 97 / Syutoko Battle 97 - Malenko NetBand - SEGA RPG FAN
    3 Irréel - XL2 J.B. Harold: Blue Chicago Blues - English Patch - Arjak ponésound - Ponut64
    4 GalaXmas - Emerald Nova NBA Jam TE Walrus Edition Hack - Malenko Netlink OS - Knight 0f Dragon
    5 Bridget Bishop - Fran Matsusaka Sakura Wars 2 - TrekkiesUnite118 QR Save Transfer - Ervilsoft
    6 Magic - vbt Bastard Baroque - Emerald Nova
    7 Sonic X-Treme (homebrew version) - Voxel Stellar Assault SS Taikenban - ShadowMask
    8 Multiboot (Wolf 3D) - vbt Gungriffon II - The Southern Sega Gentleman
    9 CHIP-8 Emulator - Ervilsoft Bomberman Netlink OS Patch - Knight 0f Dragon
    10 Sky Blaster - ReyeMe
    11 Disasteroids - Slinga
    12 Unnamed Shooter App - Knight 0f Dragon

    Results

    Original Games Category Rankings

    Game David Gámiz Jiménez Jason Steele Jenovi Johannes Fetz PandaMonium RevQuixo Saturn Dave Saturn Memories TraynoCo
    The Case of the City Botucaiba - sansigolo 5 4 - 6 9 - 4 - 9
    SHMUP SALAD - DamageX 6 7 - 8 8 - 6 - 10
    Irréel - XL2 3 1 - 2 1 - 2 - 2
    GalaXmas - Emerald Nova 10 10 - 10 10 - 9 - 11
    Bridget Bishop - Fran Matsusaka 1 2 - 1 2 - 1 - 1
    Magic - vbt 12 12 - 11 12 - 12 - 12
    Sonic X-Treme (homebrew version) - Voxel 4 5 - 4 5 - 3 - 6
    Multiboot (Wolf 3D) - vbt 9 8 - 9 4 - 7 - 3
    CHIP-8 Emulator - Ervilsoft 2 3 - 5 7 - 11 - 8
    Sky Blaster - ReyeMe 7 6 - 3 3 - 8 - 4
    Disasteroids - Slinga 8 9 - 7 6 - 5 - 7
    Unnamed Shooter App - Knight 0f Dragon 11 11 - 12 11 - 10 - 5
    Rank Game Score
    1 Bridget Bishop - Fran Matsusaka 8
    2 Irréel - XL2 11
    3 Sonic X-Treme (homebrew version) - Voxel 27
    4 Sky Blaster - ReyeMe 31
    5 CHIP-8 Emulator - Ervilsoft 36
    6 The Case of the City Botucaiba - sansigolo 37
    7 Multiboot (Wolf 3D) - vbt 40
    8 Disasteroids - Slinga 42
    9 SHMUP SALAD - DamageX 45
    10 GalaXmas - Emerald Nova 60
    11 Unnamed Shooter App - Knight 0f Dragon 60
    12 Magic - vbt 71

    Hacks, Patches, and Translations Category Rankings

    Game David Gámiz Jiménez Jason Steele Jenovi Johannes Fetz PandaMonium RevQuixo Saturn Dave Saturn Memories TraynoCo
    Lunar 2 Eternal Blue Translation - Mr Conan 6 5 - 5 5 - 5 - 5
    Drift King 97 / Syutoko Battle 97 - Malenko 2 1 - 1 2 - 1 - 4
    J.B. Harold: Blue Chicago Blues - English Patch - Arjak 4 9 - 8 9 - 9 - 7
    NBA Jam TE Walrus Edition Hack - Malenko 9 8 - 9 6 - 8 - 6
    Sakura Wars 2 - TrekkiesUnite118 5 3 - 6 3 - 4 - 2
    Bastard Baroque - Emerald Nova 8 4 - 4 7 - 2 - 9
    Stellar Assault SS Taikenban - ShadowMask 1 6 - 3 4 - 3 - 3
    Gungriffon II - The Southern Sega Gentleman 7 2 - 2 1 - 6 - 1
    Bomberman Netlink OS Patch - Knight 0f Dragon 3 7 - 7 8 - 7 - 8
    Rank Game Score
    1 Drift King 97 / Syutoko Battle 97 - Malenko 11
    2 Gungriffon II - The Southern Sega Gentleman 19
    3 Stellar Assault SS Taikenban - ShadowMask 20
    4 Sakura Wars 2 - TrekkiesUnite118 23
    5 Lunar 2 Eternal Blue Translation - Mr Conan 31
    6 Bastard Baroque - Emerald Nova 34
    7 Bomberman Netlink OS Patch - Knight 0f Dragon 40
    8 J.B. Harold: Blue Chicago Blues - English Patch - Arjak 46
    9 NBA Jam TE Walrus Edition Hack - Malenko 46

    Utilities Category Rankings

    Game David Gámiz Jiménez Jason Steele Jenovi Johannes Fetz PandaMonium RevQuixo Saturn Dave Saturn Memories TraynoCo
    Sega Saturn FILM Muxer - TrekkiesUnite118 2 2 - 5 5 - 3 - 4
    NetBand - SEGA RPG FAN 4 3 - 1 2 - 1 - 3
    ponésound - Ponut64 3 4 - 3 4 - 4 - 5
    Netlink OS - Knight 0f Dragon 1 1 - 2 1 - 2 - 1
    QR Save Transfer - Ervilsoft 5 5 - 4 3 - 5 - 2
    Rank Game Score
    1 Netlink OS - Knight 0f Dragon 8
    2 NetBand - SEGA RPG FAN 14
    3 Sega Saturn FILM Muxer - TrekkiesUnite118 21
    4 ponésound - Ponut64 23
    5 QR Save Transfer - Ervilsoft 24

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