Saturn: Unrivalled for modern shootemup conversions... Sega's Saturn console is a much maligned beast. While it failed badly in Europe and the US, it was always popular in Japan, perhaps because they got a better selection and variety of games. Saturn titles often failed to make the trip to the west, and this included dozens of modern shooter conversions - Battle Garegga, Strikers 1945, Salamander 2, Shienryu, Soukyugerentai, Thunderforce V, and Layer Section to name a few.

For many dedicated arcade and shootemup fans, the Saturn remains a prized machine, it's 2D sprite shunting capabilities far exceeded those of the Playstation. But with the western love of 3D, this wasn't enough to keep the masses happy, and the machine died quickly in America and Europe. Fortunately, picking one up very cheap is the result! Good luck in finding imports!

[NOTE] : Many thanks to Grant Windsor for compiling an utterly MASSIVE list of Saturn shooties, filling in many blanks and adding a stackload of games!! I've nicked his format of orientation listing for this one, so you can check out which shmups fall into which category.