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Sega Saturn Appreciation and Emulation Thread

R

Ramune

Member
Found a review that compares the two:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLghYC2q55A

If you want to follow the story however, best sticking with Cotton 2 since Boomerang gets rid of story completely. Threw me off initially, but then, I already know Cotton and Appli are all about the Willows, so what more do I need to know? Maybe why they have two clones apiece, but...OH Pretty 480i still images! XD

And this is a well timed Retro Core considering the theme of this month's #YearoftheSaturn.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYhNuPQi-08
 
M

Mercutio

Member
I spent the better part of today playing Saturn Bomberman. Man, such a good game. I think I like the adventure mode in '94 better, but Saturn Bomberman is just the best multi-player. I really need to organize some kind of full on 10 player party. Anyone in NYC who has a Saturn pad, feel free to get in touch with me and help plan something...
 
O

oneida

Cock Strain, Lifetime Warranty
all the dragon forms look so cool in PDS.

XHTu5Bt.jpg
Click to expand...
 
Z

Zeppeli

Banned
I give up with my struggles to emulate this console. I'm just going to buy a real Saturn to run my discs on. Should have done that before buying the games.
 
M

Mercutio

Member
Sorairo said:
I give up with my struggles to emulate this console. I'm just going to buy a real Saturn to run my discs on. Should have done that before buying the games.
Click to expand...

Nothing's quite like the real hardware. Having a region-free Saturn is a good idea, if you can find one.
 
H

Hilbert

Deep into his 30th decade
Sorairo said:
I give up with my struggles to emulate this console. I'm just going to buy a real Saturn to run my discs on. Should have done that before buying the games.
Click to expand...

I have had really good luck emulating the Saturn actually. To the point where I put the machine in storage to make room for the xboxone.
 
K

Khaz

Member
ResidentDante said:
Care to give a few tips on settings and emulators?
Click to expand...

Use Windows, SSF and a decent CPU.

That's all there is to it really. SSF is the most ok emulator, runs in Windows only, and needs a CPU with some decent speed (cores don't really matter.) I doubt the claim that it's "so good I no longer need the original hardware" though, quite a few games aren't rendered correctly. My test subject for every new SSF version is Bug!, a launch game, which is still rendered with a most flickery background. But for games that work? It works good, no need for fine tuning.
 
R

Ramune

Member
Cross post from ironically the NES appreciation thread where someone wanted an example of S-Video vs. RGB. The following are 3 (2D) games on the system and how they compare between the two video outputs.

S-Video (LEFT) vs. RGB (RIGHT)

Sonic Jam:
DSC_0054.PNG
DSC_0055.PNG
Click to expand...

Rockman 8:
DSC_0058.PNG
DSC_0056.PNG

DSC_0060.PNG
DSC_0061.PNG
Click to expand...

Keio Flying Squadron 2:
DSC_0068.PNG
DSC_0067.PNG

DSC_0063.PNG
DSC_0066.PNG
Click to expand...

As you can see S-Video does an admirable job picture wise. But the colors are a bit darker as they are chroma based, where as RGB gives true color separation so the colors are richer and better defined. So you can't go wrong either way, as long as you stay far away from RF and composite! But it has to be said, RGB does give the best possible picture.
 
D

djtiesto

is beloved, despite what anyone might say
So, I bought a Japanese copy of Marvel Super Heroes for my friend, and brought over my Ultra Madness RAM cart (to handle both the region locking/RAM boost)... and the game ran like absolute SHIT. So slow....

Was this just a bad port or is something up? I noticed that the game wouldn't load if I set my RAM cart to 4MB, but it would if I set it to 1MB.
 
S

sixteen-bit

Member
djtiesto said:
So, I bought a Japanese copy of Marvel Super Heroes for my friend, and brought over my Ultra Madness RAM cart (to handle both the region locking/RAM boost)... and the game ran like absolute SHIT. So slow....

Was this just a bad port or is something up? I noticed that the game wouldn't load if I set my RAM cart to 4MB, but it would if I set it to 1MB.
Click to expand...

Use a first-party RAM card. I remember hearing MSH doesn't play nice with 3rd-party/aftermarket ones.
 
T

Teknoman

Member
I kinda want X-men Vs Street Fighter just for the hell of it...but i've already got Marvel Super Heroes vs Street Fighter.

That white Saturn looks amazingly clean though.
 
M

Mzo

Member
They're pretty different games.

Personally I dislike MSH vs. SF's roster and find X vs SF to be the better game.
 
M

Moor-Angol

Banned
Subscribed the thread

I start collecting Saturn games back in the early 2000's (probably 10 years ago), I have a Blue Skeleton (the last model commercialized, Dreamcast was already out iirc) and there is my collection, I am very proud of it :

saturn_1.jpg
saturn_2.jpg


all games have the spine-card (except Clockwork Knight, I have to search for a complete version... and, of course, Christmas Nights)

Since last year when I moved to Japan, all those games are still at my parents home in Italy, I wanted to bring back with me to Japan but... hell, the weight was around 10kg :D

Now I don't have so much money and I just look for cheaper games (105yen, lol)
 
S

sixteen-bit

Member
Mzo said:
They're pretty different games.

Personally I dislike MSH vs. SF's roster and find X vs SF to be the better game.
Click to expand...

in MSHvSF literally half capcom's side are shotos, haha

I love the crazy ass character portraits in MSHvSF though. The presentation is just about the only thing I prefer to XvSF
 
S

Slermy

Member
Ramune said:
Cross post from ironically the NES appreciation thread where someone wanted an example of S-Video vs. RGB. The following are 3 (2D) games on the system and how they compare between the two video outputs.

S-Video (LEFT) vs. RGB (RIGHT)

Sonic Jam:


Rockman 8:


Keio Flying Squadron 2:


As you can see S-Video does an admirable job picture wise. But the colors are a bit darker as they are chroma based, where as RGB gives true color separation so the colors are richer and better defined. So you can't go wrong either way, as long as you stay far away from RF and composite! But it has to be said, RGB does give the best possible picture.
Click to expand...

S-Video is indeed much better than people give it credit for, especially with the Saturn.

That being said though, I found the official Sega Saturn S-Video cables to be amazing, and a third party one much less so. People need to make sure they're using quality cables.
 
M

Mercutio

Member
Moor-Angol said:
Subscribed the thread

I start collecting Saturn games back in the early 2000's (probably 10 years ago), I have a Blue Skeleton (the last model commercialized, Dreamcast was already out iirc) and there is my collection, I am very proud of it :


all games have the spine-card (except Clockwork Knight, I have to search for a complete version... and, of course, Christmas Nights)

Since last year when I moved to Japan, all those games are still at my parents home in Italy, I wanted to bring back with me to Japan but... hell, the weight was around 10kg :D

Now I don't have so much money and I just look for cheaper games (105yen, lol)
Click to expand...

*gasp*

Lovely.
 
D

DoubleTap

Member
djtiesto said:
So, I bought a Japanese copy of Marvel Super Heroes for my friend, and brought over my Ultra Madness RAM cart (to handle both the region locking/RAM boost)... and the game ran like absolute SHIT. So slow....

Was this just a bad port or is something up? I noticed that the game wouldn't load if I set my RAM cart to 4MB, but it would if I set it to 1MB.
Click to expand...

IIRC, it ran like crap, even with the RAM cart. To make it run a bit better you had to turn off some things like the character portraits and character selection screen (*).

*Edited for better info.
 
D

dark10x

Digital Foundry pixel pusher
I've been playing a lot of Saturn this week.

I've been replaying the whole Rockman series. Already finished Rockman World 1-5 on GB, Rockman 7 on SFC, and now I'm playing Rockman 8 on Saturn (also have X3 and X4 ready to go). Never fully gave MM8 a chance and I actually quite like it (mostly).

By the way, is anyone here familiar with Try Rush Deppy? I have around 120 JP Saturn games now and Try Rush came with a couple others almost a decade ago. For some reason I never actually popped it in or even really acknowledged its existence. I finally popped it in a few weeks ago out of curiosity and...it's really fun. Crazy little platform game.
 
M

Mercutio

Member
sixteen-bit said:
I actually advise against playing X3 on Saturn. Sure, it's probably a cheaper option but that port D:

Tryrush Deppy is a gorgeous game graphically, but on a mechanical level it's nothing special. Certainly not worth the price it goes for nowadays.
docfuture has the most godlike let's play of it though, haha
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cV0ApVUDUjI&index=4&list=PLpyRSAulh6UfPBQPgJcacEEDcP_dDiISf
Click to expand...

Seconded, Tyrush is NOT a very fun game. I found it outright frustrating.
 
C

Celine

Member
A Black Falcon

A Black Falcon

Member
djtiesto said:
So, I bought a Japanese copy of Marvel Super Heroes for my friend, and brought over my Ultra Madness RAM cart (to handle both the region locking/RAM boost)... and the game ran like absolute SHIT. So slow....

Was this just a bad port or is something up? I noticed that the game wouldn't load if I set my RAM cart to 4MB, but it would if I set it to 1MB.
Click to expand...
Note, first - not all Action Replay carts are the same. Not all will have problems to the same degree.

Anyway, MSH supports the 1MB cart, not the 4MB one, and some of the region-unlock/RAM-cart cartridges have issues with some of 1MB games. MSH should run better with a Japan-region or region-modded system (or a US version of the game) and a real 1MB cart.

Other games that don't run correctly on the AR4-in-1 include Real Bout Fatal Fury, Samurai Shodown IV, and KOF '96 -- those three apparently often have graphical glitches on the AR. Cyberbots also has some slowdown, but much less than MSH, so I don't know if it's the same as it is with a real 1MB cart or not (since that game, like MSH, uses the 1MB cart, not 4MB).
 
Z

ZealousD

Makes world leading predictions like "The sun will rise tomorrow"
Yeah I just bought the Japanese version of MSH and I'm not sure if my problems are with the game or with my Action Replay Plus.

The game will boot up just fine, but it has issues loading a stage. I know people say that this game has very long loading times but the times here were unacceptabe, like I waited for a couple minutes before giving up and resetting the console. I managed to get it to load a stage after turning off the 3MB mode in the options, but after playing that stage it wouldn't load the next.

There are some scratches on the game so maybe it's just the disc itself. I'll get it professionally resurfaced and see if that helps.
 
T

Teknoman

Member
sixteen-bit said:
in MSHvSF literally half capcom's side are shotos, haha

I love the crazy ass character portraits in MSHvSF though. The presentation is just about the only thing I prefer to XvSF
Click to expand...

Yeah the presentation is what pulled me in (that and the fact that it was a cheap way to test my cart a few years ago).
 
C

Celine

Member
A Black Falcon said:
Note, first - not all Action Replay carts are the same. Not all will have problems to the same degree.

Anyway, MSH supports the 1MB cart, not the 4MB one, and some of the region-unlock/RAM-cart cartridges have issues with some of 1MB games. MSH should run better with a Japan-region or region-modded system (or a US version of the game) and a real 1MB cart.

Other games that don't run correctly on the AR4-in-1 include Real Bout Fatal Fury, Samurai Shodown IV, and KOF '96 -- those three apparently often have graphical glitches on the AR. Cyberbots also has some slowdown, but much less than MSH, so I don't know if it's the same as it is with a real 1MB cart or not (since that game, like MSH, uses the 1MB cart, not 4MB).
Click to expand...
I think Metal Slug could have (more) slowdown with AR4+.

ZealousD said:
Yeah I just bought the Japanese version of MSH and I'm not sure if my problems are with the game or with my Action Replay Plus.

The game will boot up just fine, but it has issues loading a stage. I know people say that this game has very long loading times but the times here were unacceptabe, like I waited for a couple minutes before giving up and resetting the console. I managed to get it to load a stage after turning off the 3MB mode in the options, but after playing that stage it wouldn't load the next.

There are some scratches on the game so maybe it's just the disc itself. I'll get it professionally resurfaced and see if that helps.
Click to expand...
Try to clean up the connectors in the console slot and cart and reinsert it carefully.
 
S

Seven Force

Banned
A Black Falcon said:
Anyway, MSH supports the 1MB cart, not the 4MB one, and some of the region-unlock/RAM-cart cartridges have issues with some of 1MB games. MSH should run better with a Japan-region or region-modded system (or a US version of the game) and a real 1MB cart.
Click to expand...

Seconding this. Using a 1MB cart with MSH adds the additional frames of animation to the game without the ridiculous slowdown that comes with using the 4MB cart or the AR 4-in-1.
 
M

Moor-Angol

Banned
sixteen-bit said:
Cool, what game did you buy?
Click to expand...

a crap game, Zap! Snowboarding Trix :D

I went to Hard Off, just outside Tokyo 23 wards and it was the first time. That shop was not so big, but they had some SS games into a box, that one was the only one 1) In good condition 2) with spine-card (essential for me) 3) I didn't have yet

I know the 100th game should have been a little better, but I thought it was not good to come back home empty-handed ;)
 
T

Teknoman

Member
Was Tomb Raider really that much worse than PS1? I've never really gotten that far in the first game, but came across the the Saturn version for cheap.
 
S

Shadow Hog

Member
Teknoman said:
Was Tomb Raider really that much worse than PS1? I've never really gotten that far in the first game, but came across the the Saturn version for cheap.
Click to expand...
Not by much, no. It's the version I own (well, that and the PC version via GOG, which is obviously much cleaner thanks to DOSBOX's GLIDE emulation, but still). The framerate's a bit low, but it's playable - surprisingly, considering the janky controls.
 
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