Question: on which console could you first play Tomb Raider? Answer: Sega's Saturn. Yup, Lara Croft debuted on Sega's 32bit machine but she only hit the front pages of the style magazines when Tomb Raider was released on the PlayStation. The Saturn arriverd in the UK shops back in 1995 and after the massive success of the Mega Drive, Sega expected to dominate the 32bit market. Unfortunately, the quantity and quality of games available for the machine was lamentable. Virtua Fighter was okay, Sega Rally pretty darned good, but Daytona USA, that great arcade game, stank. Meanwhile, Sony's PlayStation had Tekken, Ridge Racer and a trendy, disco-tracked Wipeout.

Although capable of shifting sprites to nth degree, the Saturn wasn't as happy with polygons - just at the time when everybody wanted 3D, free-roaming environments. And when it came to third-party developers, Sega weren't nearly as helpful as rivals Sony who went out of their way to court the softies. Having said that, the Saturn outperformed the N64 in Japan for a long time but Sony had grasped the nettle. Can the Dreamcast save Sega? Hmm...