Catalogue No. - T-18619G

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Better know as Wipeout 2097 in Europe, Wipeout XL was released in Japan in March 1998 about 6 months after the European release. With it being one of the later Saturn releases, this version of Wipeout is extremely difficult to find in Japan. Far more difficult than the so called rare games like Radiant Silver Gun or the Dungeons & Dragons collection.

Now what you are all probably dieing to hear is how does the Saturn version compare to the PlayStation original? After all the first Wipeout on the Saturn wasn't as good as it could have been. Well, thankfully Tantalus who are no strangers to the Saturn after ports of Manx TT, Sky Target (Less said about that the better), House of the Dead and others have done Saturn owners proud ! Wipeout XL is fantastic ! There frame rate is a solid 30fps and incredibly smooth complete with everything included from the PlayStation version. Pop up is also not a problem which is great to see. Tantalus have also added fake light sourcing! I say fake because all they've done is change the textures on the ship as it passes a place where real light sourcing should be. Needless to say it looks just as good as the real thing ! Textures aren't as smooth as the PlayStation version but they are a hell of a lot better than the first Saturn Wipeout game. There's even a wire frame mode that removes all the textures leaving you thinking that this could actually be running on the PlayStation.

So, you now know that Wipeout XL on the Saturn is a feast for the eyes but how does it play? Again it's wonderful. The handling is spot on and what's even better is that it's analogue compatible so there's yet another reason to own the Saturn analogue / NiGHTS pad. Course wise there are 9 in total plus 4 classes, 5 ships and 3 game modes. Of course all of these aren't available at first. You must unlock them by getting a gold on each course.

Wipeout XL is yet another one of those games that every Saturn owner should own. The only real bummer about this version over the original is the lack of some sound tracks due to them being Sony label exclusives. Still, there are 11 great tracks by Cold Storage on there.