A hand-drawn farewell, painted right as everyone turned to face the third dimension.
Sega released Astal early in the Saturn's life, a 2D side-scroller of colorful, highly detailed hand-drawn sprites with cutscene animation by Tokyo Movie Shinsha. The Saturn was built to be a 2D powerhouse, and Astal spent that strength on small, generous things: a bird that flies off to fetch fruit, light that warms a creature's edges in the dark, a camera that leans in close to make a giant feel huge. It sold fewer than 24,000 copies in Japan and was largely ignored. You notice, years later, that what looked like a technical demo was really someone painting beauty into a doorway the whole industry was already walking out of.
About this game
Astal is a 1995 platform game for the sega saturn, developed by セガ, with music by Tatsuyuki Maeda.
Gallery
Tricks & Tales
The cutscene animation was handled by Tokyo Movie Shinsha, the anime studio behind works like Lupin III — a rare touch of film-grade animation on an early Saturn platformer. Astal's bird companion has its own gauge: it can fetch fruit (and sometimes extra lives), dash-attack, or unleash a screen-wide blast. A second player can even take direct control of the bird in a limited co-op mode. Despite its acclaimed visuals, Astal sold just 23,919 copies in Japan according to Famitsu; IGN later named it among the Saturn's best, blaming the obscurity partly on its garish box art.
Collector's Guide
Region & Compatibility
The Sega Saturn enforces a strict regional lockout in hardware. A Japanese NTSC-J console will not boot PAL or NTSC-U discs, and vice versa. To play import software you need one of three solutions: a mod chip soldered to the board, a cartridge that plugs into the expansion slot and overrides the region check (such as an Action Replay or dedicated region-free cart), or a replacement region-free BIOS chip. Note that region unlocking alone does not change the video refresh rate — a PAL console playing an NTSC-J disc will still run at 50 Hz unless a separate frequency mod is also applied.
Maintenance Tips
The Sega Saturn reads GD-style discs but uses a standard CD-ROM drive, so lens care is the same as any optical drive: keep discs clean, handle them by the edges, and store them in cases. The more well-known maintenance issue is the internal CR2032 battery that backs the SRAM save memory and the real-time clock. This battery was typically rated for one to two years of standby use; on any console manufactured in the 1990s, it has long since expired. The first symptom is the system asking for the date and time at every boot. If that prompt appears, replace the battery promptly — save data corruption or total loss follows shortly. The battery can be swapped while the console is powered on (hot-swap) to avoid losing existing saves.
Going deeper
Explore the machine this game ran on, and what to check before you buy or care for one:
What to Watch Out For
Before buying, these are the points worth knowing — from someone who handles original Japanese Astal copies regularly.
Is Astal a Japan-only Saturn game?
No — it saw release in both Japan (1995) and the West. But Japanese copies sold in very small numbers, so original NTSC-J discs are scarce and can carry a collector premium. Check region and disc condition before buying.
Is this a 3D game, or pure 2D?
It's pure 2D — hand-drawn sprites and backgrounds, with sprite zoom/scaling and lighting effects rather than polygons. If you're hoping for early 3D, this isn't it; its whole appeal is the craft of 2D animation.
Before You Buy
Things worth knowing before you buy Astal
A short checklist for buying a used Sega Saturn disc wisely — useful with any seller, anywhere.
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Choose a seller who tests it before shipping
A copy that has actually been powered on and checked is a known quantity. An untested one is a gamble you only settle after it arrives.
Look for a seller who states it was function-tested and says what they confirmed. A serious seller can tell you exactly what was checked.
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Check the disc for scratches
Deep scratches on the playing surface cause freezes and read errors. Light surface marks are usually fine.
Ask for a clear photo of the disc's underside. A seller who tested it will confirm it loads and plays through.
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Make sure it fits your console
This is a Japanese Saturn disc. The Saturn is region-locked, so a Japanese disc needs a Japanese console or a region workaround.
Play it on a matching Japanese console or a region-free system, and confirm the listing states the region.
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Saturn saves rely on a console battery
The Saturn keeps internal saves on a CR2032 battery in the console (not the disc). A dead console battery loses internal saves and resets the clock.
This is about your console, not the disc — but worth knowing so saves aren't lost.
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Read the seller's reviews and return policy
A 100% positive record across thousands of sales is close to a guarantee — packing, communication and problem-solving all work for everyone. A return policy protects you if something is off.
Read the feedback and confirm a clear return window before you buy.
The last step before buying anywhere is knowing what it's worth.
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Rooms this game lives in
Wander deeper — explore the themed rooms where Astal sits alongside its kin.
Memories from around the world
This is a young museum, and this page is still waiting for its first voices. The memories people send reach Taisei personally, and the ones that move him find a home here over time — always with the writer's blessing. Yours could be the very first for this game.
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