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Sega Saturn Appreciation and Emulation Thread

where can I buy one? is there a site that ships to Canada?

I have the same one as Seik. It has one issue where it loses sync for a microsecond whenever a game uses a sync trick to do a screen shaking effect. There's a hardware mod for it but I don't understand how to do it.

Here's a cool tidbit that I learned the other day: you can get your screwy copy of In the Hunt to work by just unplugging the controller when you turn on the game. That way it won't freeze at the Kokopeli logo.
 

Sweeper17

Neo Member
The Sega systems have always had the best sound chips even to this day nothing matches hooking up a Saturn,SegaCD, or DC to a nice sound system. The newer systems cant compete the loud chip Sega used.
 
I have two saturns, still in their boxes :) (1 x NTSC US, 1 x NTSC J) Incl 4 of those nights 3d controllers. 2 x Virtual On sticks and a few other arcade sticks :) One day im going to crack them open and give them a go.
 

Seik

Banned
I just tried Sonic Jam and Metal Slug, both are looking great and runs perfectly! SSF is quite a solid emulator. I just had a problem with two games for the moment:

-Earthworm Jim 2: No sprites, backgrounds and music are there but no sprites, like Jim himself for example.
-Street Fighter Zero 3: Black screen after Capcom logo's video. (Fixed! Bad bios)

mpL5L.png


6o6Fb.png
 

dave_d

Member
Anybody else get no music on the intro of Vampire Savior on this emulator? (Curious since I get no music on it.)

Oh before I forget Burning Rangers is rare? (Is it only the US version that's rare or is the Japanese one rare as well?)
 

jeremy1456

Junior Member
Anybody else get no music on the intro of Vampire Savior on this emulator? (Curious since I get no music on it.)

Oh before I forget Burning Rangers is rare? (Is it only the US version that's rare or is the Japanese one rare as well?)

Just the US version.
 

linko9

Member
I remember getting a second-hand saturn because I wanted to play RSG... turned out I didn't like it much, but loved about 15 other shmups on the system.
 

Stylo

Member
How strong of a laptop do I need to run this thing? I've set the emulator up once and I couldn't even run NiGHTS.
 

Stylo

Member
Hmm, I don't know much about hardware in general so I'm going to guess that my laptop's lower than the Core 2 Duo. (It's from 2007).

I'm disappointed that Cassio development was abruptly halted.
 

catabarez

Member
I have a Saturn :) I love Nights to death, however it doesn't seem to like my RGB cable and the video cuts in and out frequently :(

I hope it's the cable because this Saturn is in amazing condition.
 

Freshmaker

I am Korean.
How strong of a laptop do I need to run this thing? I've set the emulator up once and I couldn't even run NiGHTS.

It can't be that demanding. I was running Saturn games games on a 1.5ghz celery. Gave up on it after Guardian Heroes had an annoying sound glitch.
 

onken

Member
SSF is great but everything is locked at native res, all the other emulators are buggy as hell. Could be worse I guess.
 

Aeana

Member
Hmm, I don't know much about hardware in general so I'm going to guess that my laptop's lower than the Core 2 Duo. (It's from 2007).

I'm disappointed that Cassio development was abruptly halted.

You just need a multicore (2+) processor. A laptop from 2007 should probably have one, though I suppose it isn't guaranteed.
Some games actually run all right on a single core, but not many.
 

Tain

Member
All I know for sure about SSF's performance:

My 2003 Athlon XP 3200+ desktop did not have SSE3, so it couldn't run it at all. (lol)

My shitty 2005ish Turion (single-core) laptop ran SSF slowly.

My 2008 Core 2 Duo desktop ran SSF perfectly.

If you have a 2007 laptop, I say give it a shot.
 

IrishNinja

Member
great thread, so much quality i missed out on. luckily a buddy of mine has a great collection im gonna work my way back through.

He blew his top off at some post in Sales Age and just up and left. It was quite a head-scratcher to me, as I've always assumed during my 5 years on GAF that if you've ever bothered to read a Sales Age thread for anything more substantial and intelligent than funny GIFs, you were doing it wrong. I thought he was smarter than that. Seemed like a cool guy.

for posterity: the way he tells it, it was the straw breaking the camel's back - most of his friends here had moved on, and it was a perfect example of just something he didn't want to keep indulging, guy wasn't enjoying being part of the community anymore, so he quietly said so & did his thing. he can still be reached, and while i too miss the shit out of his posts, i think some degree of burnout is likely when you're all over the place for so long, i kinda felt Himuro did the same.

as an aside, i'm very grateful we still have stumpkapow, shockingalberto and a handful of other insightful posters, they're a big part of what keep me around too.

SSF doesn't have any fancy enhancements, it just displays everything as close as it can to how it looked originally. Much like pSX does for PS1 games. I really appreciate that, personally.

i can appreciate this; system replacement has to be the primary goal of any full-on emulation effort. effects & such are great, but really, as tricky as i understood the saturn's hardware to be, im glad we got here some years back.
if you're a diehard purist, these things are a slow climb - i remember thinking genocyst had old sega stuff down pat for years, but a few guys on here pointed out details like classic sonic games where picking up multiple rings isn't bounced back and forth between right & left speakers, a detail even lazy backbone apparently left out of some ports.
 

ULTROS!

People seem to like me because I am polite and I am rarely late. I like to eat ice cream and I really enjoy a nice pair of slacks.
Just wondering, what are the prominent platformers and RPGs in this system?

I believe we owned a Saturn but the game that I only remember is Virtua Fighter.
 
I've still got my Saturn hooked up via RGB. Love the system.

Recently picked up Street Fighter Zero 3 and a Virtua Stick (The Japanese one with the Seimitsu LS-56 lever). Great fun.
 
I've still got my Saturn hooked up via RGB. Love the system.

Recently picked up Street Fighter Zero 3 and a Virtua Stick (The Japanese one with the Seimitsu LS-56 lever). Great fun.

Hmmm, Zero 3 isn't cheap, did you get a deal? I see you've got the same stick I have... http://neogaf.net/forum/showpost.php?p=33881128&postcount=17505

Have you modded the buttons on it? They suck, but the lever itself is awesome.

Love this game. Recently sold off some of my rarer Saturn shmups like Radiant and Hyper Duel, but I refused to part with this. One of the few Raizing games I really like.

I guess what irks me about Souky is the ranking system, since it discourages you from pickup up powerups since powerups make the game harder. And then since you aren't picking up powerups, your normal shot is pretty useless and you have to basically play the whole game using the web. I'm just not good enough to beat the game at a high rank though.
 
For a lesser known but awesome classic arcade-style game, check out Purikura Daisakusen. So awesome.

And great thread, just seeing screens like these makes me happy.

EDIT: About Zero 3, I still see it around here (Osaka) sometimes -- it usually runs $75-$90! (Was the last Saturn game ever...)
 
Hmm, I don't know much about hardware in general so I'm going to guess that my laptop's lower than the Core 2 Duo. (It's from 2007).

I'm disappointed that Cassio development was abruptly halted.

You mean cassini? There never was any real development there to begin with, it was pretty much sega's girigiri emulator hacked up with a new gui. They never had the source code (or talent) so development was impossible.

There's an open source emu called Yabause which is starting to come along nicely, although it's still aways away from SSF in terms of compatibilty.

I use SSF quite a bit for the Shining Force 3 games & shoot'em'ups since my saturn died. it's been pretty solid since around 2006. Before then I was worried about such a brilliant software library not having any way of playing it after hardware died.
 
OP has a perfectly capable crt tv next to his computer. I keep telling him to play his Saturn games on it (the way it's meant to be played) but he won't listen to me. Such a stubborn kid.

Oh, OH.......hai Seik ^_^ what's up ?
 

xemumanic

Member
Saturn emulation begins and ends with SSF. Its been at this state for pretty much 5+ years, if not longer. It already supports both 1 and 4MB RAM cart emulation, as well as for the Backup RAM carts. I just wish it supported ROM cart emulation, so KoF95 would run...........oh wait, it does that too!! Now I need to find a ROM dump.
 

SmokyDave

Member
Possibly my favourite console. I have a sexy white Japanese one connected to my TV with a nice RGB Scart cable and it brings me tons of gaming joy. Nice thread!
 

xemumanic

Member
OP has a perfectly capable crt tv next to his computer. I keep telling him to play his Saturn games on it (the way it's meant to be played) but he won't listen to me. Such a stubborn kid.

Oh, OH.......hai Seik ^_^ what's up ?

S-Video from a PC isn't all that great, it usually just ends up looking 'wrong'. In many ways, its better than running on a PC monitor or an HDTV, but you won't get the 240p look out of a PC's S-Video out.
 

0 HP

Member
My entire experience of Saturn was getting one second hand off eBay and buying all the Working Designs games along with Panzer Dragoon 1&2. Nothing but good memories. I'm sure I'm missing out on a lot though.

Whats the story with PD Saga? Wasn't it up on some pay service a couple years ago? Did anyone ever recover the source code for it? You can't even get the english version on ebay right now for under $250. So fucked.
 
Complete with obi strip and registration card for $65, which is about $30 less than it goes for usually.

I haven't modded my stick yet.

Ah, if you do you should post the process here on GAF for the rest of us.

I thought about picking up Zero 3 but I ended up going with the domestic Dreamcast version. I know the Saturn one is better but I honestly can't really tell the difference and couldn't justify spending $60+ more for the Saturn import.
 
My entire experience of Saturn was getting one second hand off eBay and buying all the Working Designs games along with Panzer Dragoon 1&2. Nothing but good memories. I'm sure I'm missing out on a lot though.

Whats the story with PD Saga? Wasn't it up on some pay service a couple years ago? Did anyone ever recover the source code for it? You can't even get the english version on ebay right now for under $250. So fucked.

I had Panzer Dragoon Saga back in the day and sold it on ebay around early 2000. Was one of my biggest regrets. I got lucky and a Gaffer sold me a complete, mint copy of it for $100.

Anyway, having tried PDS on the emulator, it works really well. I was surprised.
 
S-Video from a PC isn't all that great, it usually just ends up looking 'wrong'. In many ways, its better than running on a PC monitor or an HDTV, but you won't get the 240p look out of a PC's S-Video out.

I am encouraging him to play his Saturn games via his SEGA Saturn console on his crt TV, not from the emulator. ;)
 

dark10x

Digital Foundry pixel pusher
I am encouraging him to play his Saturn games via his SEGA Saturn console on his crt TV, not from the emulator. ;)
He should go even further. I'm using an RGB SCART to component transcoder into a Sony SD CRT. The image quality looks like a dedicated arcade monitor. Beautiful.

Appreciate the sentiment, but nothing beats the real thing.

My Saturn's always hooked up.

I think it looks good in HD, too. Better audio quality than my PS3, no less.
Better audio quality than a PS3? How are you coming to that conclusion?
 

bob_arctor

Tough_Smooth
Also, if you check the box for "Full Screen", "Stretch", and "Keep Aspect Ratio", SSF will run at your native monitor resolution. I was able to use it hooked up to my Sammy via Hdmi @ 720p this way.

Edit: to be clear, the aspect ratio is maintained.
 

xemumanic

Member
I am encouraging him to play his Saturn games via his SEGA Saturn console on his crt TV, not from the emulator. ;)

In that case, do what dark10x says. It's well worth the time and effort. Get yourself a SCART switcher, and leads for your other consoles, and you'll wonder why you ever played any other way. FAR better than S-Video from a console.
 
came to post some ShiningForce3, Dragon Force and Albert Odyssey love.

posted.

*Edit*: Sonic R could use some love too.

*2nd edit* : Can anyone give any reflections on Magic Knight Rayearth? always wanted to play it...
 

Seik

Banned
In that case, do what dark10x says. It's well worth the time and effort. Get yourself a SCART switcher, and leads for your other consoles, and you'll wonder why you ever played any other way. FAR better than S-Video from a console.

I already have a SCART to component box, as I said in my main post, its my TV that doesn't support the signal. :(
 
Are there any games other than Panzer Dragoon Zwei and NiGHTS that support widescreen?

NiGHTS: Into Dreams...
Christmas NiGHTS
Panzer Dragoon Zwei
High Velocity and its Japan-only sequel Tounge: King of Spirits 2
All Japan Pro Wrestling Featuring Virtua

Virtua Fighter 32X did as well.

All of these are anamorphic widescreen of course (4:3 image squeezed so that it looks right stretched to 16:9 instead of 'true' 16:9 output).

EDIT: I'm seeing references to the Saturn versions of MegaMan 8 and Road Rash as well as Stellar Assault and Baroque supporting widescreen as well but I can't confirm.
 
HDTVs, yeah, but you'd really want a standard definition display. An HDTV really isn't well suited for 240p content.

In general you're right there, but it does depend on the built-in scaler and associated tech. Panasonic plasma sets (especially the 720p variants from several years ago) are absolutely fantastic at 240p images.
 

bob_arctor

Tough_Smooth
He should go even further. I'm using an RGB SCART to component transcoder into a Sony SD CRT. The image quality looks like a dedicated arcade monitor. Beautiful.

dark, do you happen to have a link for this? also, a japanese scart works on a u.s. saturn right?
 

dark10x

Digital Foundry pixel pusher
In general you're right there, but it does depend on the built-in scaler and associated tech. Panasonic plasma sets (especially the 720p variants from several years ago) are absolutely fantastic at 240p images.
I know, I've owned one, but it still doesn't match the real thing.

If you're stuck with an HDTV for classic gaming, however, something like the XRGB3 would be a good investment (though it's quite pricey). It does a great job transforming the video signal into something that actually resembles a real interlaced monitor.

dark, do you happen to have a link for this? also, a japanese scart works on a u.s. saturn right?
With the transcoder I use, however, you're limited to using European cables. It's technically possible to use Japanese cables but you'll have to move some of the pins around within the scart connector (which can be simple or difficult depending on the cable).

Here's what I'm using, by the way.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004XSSDPO/?tag=neogaf0e-20
 

bob_arctor

Tough_Smooth
With the transcoder I use, however, you're limited to using European cables. It's technically possible to use Japanese cables but you'll have to move some of the pins around within the scart connector (which can be simple or difficult depending on the cable).

Here's what I'm using, by the way.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004XSSDPO/?tag=neogaf0e-20

So then you have a PAL Saturn then, right? Per my (limited) understanding, the Euro Scart won't work on a U.S. Saturn--unless it just means rearranging pins as you mentioned. If I can ever get my man-cave in order again (dealing with a basement disaster in my house right now), this is totally something I want to do since I have a Sony Wega CRT for my old school systems.
 

dark10x

Digital Foundry pixel pusher
So then you have a PAL Saturn then, right? Per my (limited) understanding, the Euro Scart won't work on a U.S. Saturn--unless it just means rearranging pins as you mentioned. If I can ever get my man-cave in order again (dealing with a basement disaster in my house right now), this is totally something I want to do since I have a Sony Wega CRT for my old school systems.
I have a US and Japanese Saturn and am using European SCART cables. The transcoder is expecting the pin-out from a Euro cable.

The original system has nothing to do with this in most cases. One of the annoying exceptions is the N64 which, despite using the same type of cable as the SNES and GC, does not actually work properly with SCART if using a US unit.

I've posted this before, but here's my current retro setup upstairs.

photo1-1.jpg


You can see the SCART and component switchers below the PS2 and the JP and US Saturn's on the other side (bottom row).
 
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