The Saturn sold far less than the Genesis or any of the Sony, Microsoft, or Nintendo consoles (Virtual Boy excepted), so you shouldn't expect to see as much Saturn stuff as you do games for those other systems. There aren't as many of them out there -- remember that it only sold a few million systems in the US! Around here, like in most places, yeah, Saturn stuff's not too common. There are a couple of places around here with small Saturn collections, but they rarely get new titles, it's mostly the same stuff that isn't selling. At those places or elsewhere, new Saturn games only show up occasionally. When I do see one I often get it, but I probably have as many or more Saturn games from EBay than I do from stores, something not true about any other consoles I have except for the Turbografx, which has that same problem but worse. Apart from the system itself, which I did get locally, everything else I have for the TG16 is from ebay...
In The Hunt has a lot of slowdown in general. My North American copy of the game won't even boot past the publisher logos with my PAR card inserted though.
In the Hunt is a game to buy for Playstation and not bother with on Saturn. Oh, sure, the Saturn version is a good port of the arcade game, bad slowdown and all, but the Playstation version (which also has a US release) is improved all around. It's got greatly reduced slowdown, backup save for options menu selections and your high scores (the Saturn version does not save anything, stupidly), and a second, CD audio soundtrack option, instead of just the original arcade PCM music like the Saturn has (ie, the PSX has both, the Saturn PCM only.). There are no advantages to the Saturn version. It's too bad that it's one of the three US-released Saturn shmups, because it's one of the least worth having versus the Playstation...
I should note that these two versions have very different Marias playable. If I recall correctly, the PSP Maria is based a lot more on her Rondo of Blood incarnation, while Saturn Maria instead has some kind of chargable ranged attack. It's been a while since I played either, so I don't really remember specifics...
Good point, the Saturn version does indeed have a unique, and better, version of playable Maria.
On the other hand though, I entirely agree that the load time waiting for the map screen in Saturn SotN is a real pain. You get used to it, kind of, but it's annoying for sure. But still, better Maria.
Yeah, the Saturn Maria uses a variety of spells and martial arts attacks. I have heard that she is incredibly broken and the game is a cakewalk with her.
Yeah, PSP SotN Maria ditches the punches, kicks, and magic in favor of stuff more reminiscent of RoB Maria's attacks. I prefer the Saturn style, myself. And yes, I think she was nerfed a bit of PSP as well.
