Sega Saturn

Background

The Sega Saturn was a console created by Sega to rival Sony's PlayStation that lasted from 1994-2000 (1995-1999 in North America and 1995-1998 in Europe), with sales of 9,500,000 units (compared to over 100,000,000 PlayStation systems). While the system was very successful in Japan, it wasn't as successful in North America and Europe due to a series of poor decisions done at Sega (such as forcing up the launch of the console to mid-1995 as opposed to the holiday season). While the console has gained a cult following, it is more often remembered for Sega's disastrous choices in marketing it.

1st Logo (November 22, 1994-December 4, 2000)

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Logo: On a black background, we see pieces of glass flying all over the screen. Suddenly, the camera takes a sharp turn to the left, and the pieces of glass form an abstract "SEGA SATURN", with the second "S" being larger than the rest of the letters and the top half is red, and both "A"s not containing a horizontal line between the legs. When it's finished, a bright light flashes, turning the black background into a steel gray background, and in the bottom left corner, a small blue ball with a black S-shaped ring surrounding it, next to a copyright-- "(c) SEGA ENTERPRISES, LTD. 1994 Ver. (Version number of the console's BIOS)" all appear.

Variants:

• If you press a button (mainly Start) while the startup is playing, the animation would skip to the flash and the music fades out. This also happens with the rest of the other startups.
• On JVC-made systems (called Victor Saturn), the pieces of glass move differently and the logo reads "V-SATURN" instead (with an entirely black "S"). It has the same music mentioned below. Also, the copyright reads "(c) SEGA ENTERPRISES, LTD. 1994, 1995 Ver. 1.01". The V-Saturn was never released outside of Japan, though.

FX/SFX: The glass, camera movements, flash and the metallic background, which are all in real-time.

Music/Sounds: Three rising synthesized notes (reminiscent of Also sprach Zarathustra), with the sound of glass breaking at the beginning, and a synth warble (if there's no game in the console).

Availability: Rare. This appears when you turn on an NTSC-J (Japanese) Sega Saturn console. Rare for the V-Saturn variant.

Editor's Note: This is a favorite among Sega fans.

2nd Logo (1994?-2000?)

Note: This is an alternate logo that appeared on Hitachi's Hi-Saturn console.

Logo: On a space background, we see two mirrored images of an odd shape zooming in towards us, rotating into place as they do so. They pass us, but a few seconds later, return, and it's revealed to be the text "HI-SATURN", colored gold. When the logo's in place, a bright flash can be seen, turning the 3D "HI-SATURN" into a 2D version, and the space background becomes a blue starburst-sky background. As in the previous logo, the small Saturn logo appears on the bottom left, but now, there are two copyrights next to the small Saturn logo: "(c) SEGA ENTERPRISES, LTD. 1994, 1995 Ver. 1.02" and "(c) Hitachi, Ltd. 1995" below that.

FX/SFX: All the animation in the logo, which again is all in real time.

Music/Sounds: An ascending synthesized sounder, then a harmonic synth choir is heard. Again, if there's no game in the console, the same synth warble on the Sega Saturn/V-Saturn plays.

Availability: Extremely rare. Appears on the Hi-Saturn line of consoles, which only saw release in Japan. While Hi-Saturn consoles can be found on online auction sites such as eBay, they are generally expensive due to their limited production.

Editor's Note: This is another favorite of many.

3rd Logo (May 11, 1995-1999)

Logo: It has the same background and the same pieces of glass as the first logo, but the pieces of glass move differently and form the Saturn logo (blue ball with a S-shaped ring), but this time bigger and above the SEGA SATURN text, and with the ring silver instead of black. "SEGA SATURN", stacked, can be seen below the logo after the flash. Below the text, we see the copyright "TM & (c) 1995 SEGA. All rights reserved."

FX/SFX: The pieces of glass flying around and forming the logo.

Music/Sounds: A synthesized "twinkling" chime-organ tune, followed by a whoosh, then what sounds like a jail cell door closing.

Availability: Same as the 1st logo. This appears when you turn on an NTSC-U (North American) or PAL (European or Australian) Saturn console.

Editor's Note: A good take on the Japanese startup, along with its animation and calming theme makes this logo another favorite.