Sega Saturn

So I recently managed to get my hands on a modchip for this bad boy. I've never actually owned one before but I've heard its got quite the niche library. I've enjoyed both the Megadrive through emulation and the Dreamcast, yet I rarely see discussion about this console. What are some must haves for the system? Also, general SEGA thread I guess since I doubt just the Saturn will garner much discussion

I know emulation is possible yet not fully compatible but frankly my rig is not the best. Plus, having to mount images sucks ass, who the fuck came up with that shit for an emulator?

maybe we can get a chart going chart-user?

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kek, its not like I own it. Plus, you gotta admit it looks better than the generic grey of the saturn. But yeah, its a bit gawdy I guess

Been planning on making one, but when I don't see much discussion on a given system, it tends to slow things down since there doesn't seem to be a huge amount of demand to get something finished for it when people aren't prone to discussing it that much (kudos to that guy that makes weekly Dreamcast threads in helping strike up demand and discussion on what ought to be added or not). The site shitting itself a while back also slowed progress down for a number of things I've been meaning to work on (gets pretty annoying making stuff you can only post in the dead of night), but that's all pretty much resolved now, and I can get stuff posted whenever.

Currently have a text file of stuff to put on there (pics related) if anyone wants to help further add to it or refine it. Used an older image as a basis since it's not a system I'm real familiar with.

Shit thats actually surprising. I wonder if they are actuall better since I heard the Saturn did 2D better than the PS1.

Yeah, the dreamcast threads are pretty dope, especially if you take into account its a system with maybe 60 worthwhile games or so. I already had one but I actually found out about some few fan-translations like Frame Gride. Its wierd as shit.

I've heard the Saturn is JRPG/shmup heaven, so thanks for the suggestions. I'm sorry I don't have much to add to it though, I'm hoping some SEGA conosseur user jumps on this thread.

bumping with some weirdass covers I've found
KEK

You're about to get rekt kiddo

Layer Section 2 and Wipeout 2097 suck on Saturn.

Kek. Pls no bully Segata-san. I mean, it is a bit dull is it not, very generic and uninspiring. Of course what matters is the games but still it wouldn't hurt.


How so?

They look significantly worse, Wipeout especially runs at a worse frame rate and is missing music.

And here's Raystorm/Layer Section 2

Well, that's why I'm having other anons take a look at what's there right now. A good amount of it comes from this old image which people have said before has some notable issues, hence wanting to do a revision specifically for anons here.

It also remove the original Wipeout

SRW F/Final
Blue Destiny series

If you have a AR cart laying around, set it up for Psuedo Saturn. Easiest way to play burned shit for the Saturn, so it's well worth it.


Dragon Force 2 has been translated, and so has the Shining Force games. They're worth adding.

And noticed them. Nevermind me.

Is there any difference between the Premium disc and the three Shining Force III episodes? I'd been meaning to ask since I'd seen all of them (Premium Disc, Episode I, Episode II, and Episode III) listed as being fan translated before; wanting to make sure that's not a redundancy.

Well I think the one came to the US is only the first chapter, since 2nd and 3rd weren't going to come they completely changed the story. The fan translation is just a translation of the original japanese 3.


Please elaborate.

death bump

Premium disc has extra content I believe, but I could be wrong. Remember seeing what it was on Isozone. Worth keeping just in-case.


Psuedo Saturn is the trick to bypass copy protection. Burn a copy of the Atlus Boot Disc (available on Isozone), make sure you have an AR cart in your Saturn, use the swap disc method to boot the disc, flash your AR cart. Once it's done, it'll boot to a new menu that'll let you play any burned Saturn game.

Doesn't work with Panzer Dragoon 2 or SAGA unless you patch the cart detection out. Outside that, mostly everything should work.

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Vampire Savior is entirely in english, you just have to unlock the appendix menu by beating the arcade mode without using continues

Is there anything new regarding pseudo saturn?

I think it was just a proof of concept sort of thing, not something that's going to be updated frequently. There's a fork with better compatibility called Psuedo Saturn Kai, but it hasn't been released yet.

Well, it works but I want to use all the features of my 4in1.

Also, it feels like saves on the Saturn are so fragile.

In my personal experience, the AR is not too reliable when it comes to saves, I lost all of my saves years ago, not sure what the cause for that is because apparently the AR carts don't use regular batteries (like the Saturn's own internal one), but flash batteries, and sometimes it randomly fails and everything gets erased. The pseudosaturn disc allows you to reflash/restore your AR to its original form and that's also a way to fix the cart (when I lose the saves, I also lost the ability to save with the cart at all, and the only way to fix it was by reflashing it with a boot CD like the pseudosaturn one).
What I do is I use the AR cart for pseudosaturn now, and you can still use the extra 4 RAM, so the most important features of the AR are still working, it lets me play JP/EU games on my NTSC-U Saturn, and I can use the RAM. I never really used the cheats and never really cared for them, personally.
For saving I just bought a new battery for the Saturn, it costs about 1 dollar and replacing it is easy as fuck, you don't even need to open the Saturn. Sometimes these batteries will fail and die, and eventually they die anyway, so I got an official Sega memory cart for the Saturn and I store my saves there every once in a while as a backup.

I also have one of the official ones but it's such a bother.

Also, I put a new battery in my Saturn and it erased after a while so I'm just not playing the thing because I'm afraid to save my progress.

Fuck it, I should just buy a new battery and whip it out again.

How long did it last? I changed mine last January (first time I changed the battery since I got the system in '97), I only transferred the saves to the backup cart 2 or 3 times max, it's not that much of a bother if you only do it every once in a while just in case, no need to do it every time you use the console.

Literally a couple of days before it asked me to check the clock again. Now obviously this battery was at fault but it still made me scared about losing my saves.

Anyway, what games should I get? There aren't as many RPGs on the system as I thought there would be.

Cant I just change the games's region with the Region patcher? I have a chipped console so I dont see why I should be doing the swap trick method

Yeah you probably just had bad luck. I think they usually last at least a couple years so doing a backup every once in a while should be fine.

I use the saturn mostly for fighting and shmups and other arcade-style games, haven't played as many RPGs on it as I'd like, but other than the games listed on Holla Forums's old Saturn chart posted above, I played Super Robot Wars F recently and had loads of fun, but it's a requirement that you love /m/ shit, enjoy SRPGs and know some basic moon at least to navigate the menus.
There's also F Final which is basically the 2nd half of the game which I need to play, the cool thing is that you can transfer your save from F to Final to have the same units and stats. Which kinda makes me want to play the game all over again before starting Final, to get the hard as fuck to get event units, but then I remember it's 40 hours long.

I know moon and am a /m/en but I just can't handle SRPGs so that's a no.

It's an issue I have with all Sega's consoles. There's a LOT of fighting/shumps and other arcady games but I almost never find something that doesn't feel as arcady.

If you know moon, and haven't already played it on 3DS, how about Soul Hackers?

SMT, huh. Didn't think about that. Sure I can give that one a shot.

Is there anything new/faster in the 3DS version?

Yes, it's fast as fuck on 3DS, in comparison Saturn version is a lot slower. Also have more demons and an extra post-game dungeon and ultimate bosses (including Raidou).
Honestly you're better off playing it on 3DS, but if you want to play it on a CRT TV using the saturn it's also an option.

Works just as well then.

Why is every fork always fucking something kai. Read it was going to be updated so can still use the AR at some point, but fuck knows nowadays. Good the proof of concept worked completely to begin with.

Now to get it playing Mega Drive games and everything's great.

deathbump