The Sega Saturn version was not as well-received as the PlayStation original. The four reviewers of "Electronic Gaming Monthly" complained of the fact that the graphics were not improved from the PlayStation version, and felt that the game was overshadowed by the recent release of "Battle Arena Toshinden 2". While Rob Allsetter of "Sega Saturn Magazine" greatly praised the visuals of the game and judged the button configuration to be superior to that of the PlayStation version, he criticized the "slow" gameplay and the limited variety of moves, concluding that "Battle Arena Toshinden" is "still decent enough, but ... lacks the speed and depth of its more illustrious successors." A reviewer for "Next Generation" said that the visuals of the Japanese release were not up to par with those of the PlayStation version, and advised Saturn owners to wait for the U.S. release in hopes that Sega of America would fix the graphical shortcomings. "GamePro"'s Tommy Glide commented that there is not enough additional content in the Saturn version and the graphics do not look as smooth as the PlayStation version's, assessing it as overall "a poor conversion." "Maximum"s Rich Leadbetter stated that it fails to recreate the graphical effects of the PlayStation original, which he opined were the only saving grace of an extremely dull game. He held the additional character and the PAL conversion's lack of borders to be its only advantages over the PlayStation version.