A lot of systems have gone from "nobody wants this" to "precious treasure" in the last decade.
That said, if you want a reasonably-priced Saturn, I recommend looking at Yahoo Japn Auctions. Japanese Saturns are still extremely common so if you put together a large YAJ order using a proxy service like Zenmarket or Dejapan, you can still get one (and an assortment of games and accessories) for a good price.
One of the major problems is that the disc drives have been failing. If you want to go the ODE route (Fenrir/MODE/etc), it's pretty easy to get your hands on a Saturn (from any region) that can't read discs but otherwise powers on and lets you access the internal menu system.
Two generations, so the 360, Wii, and PS3 are currently the cutting edge of retro.
I am reminded of the huge arguments on RGVC on Usenet when people started discussing NES games in the mid-90s. Since they were two generations old at that point (PS1 and Saturn having just launched), they were grudgingly allowed. I think that remains a good barometer.