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Sega Saturn Appreciation and Emulation Thread

G

Galdelico

Member
Hey guys, do you know any good brand for an RGB scart cable to be used with a Japanese white Saturn? The one I have is getting old and very temperamental (and I must say it wasn't probably an amazing cable to begin with...).

Should I go straight for Retrogaming Cables or do you have better suggestions? I'm in the Eurozone, so I'd prefer to get it from around here. Thanks in advance!
 
J

jerry1594

Member
Galdelico said:
Hey guys, do you know any good brand for an RGB scart cable to be used with a Japanese white Saturn? The one I have is getting old and very temperamental (and I must say it wasn't probably an amazing cable to begin with...).

Should I go straight for Retrogaming Cables or do you have better suggestions? I'm in the Eurozone, so I'd prefer to get it from around here. Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...
Console Goods UK makes excellent rgb cables
 
A Black Falcon

A Black Falcon

Member
Shadow Hog said:
Funny, I actually don't really care for the Saturn's analog pad that much. Buttons, D-Pad and triggers are alright, but that analog nub thing... never cared for it. Like, you say your thumb never slides from the center, but mine does. All the time. To the extent that I'm often stuck pushing on the outside of the concave indentation designed to fit your thumb, instead of inside the indentation itself. Makes it extremely annoying to use.
Click to expand...
Yeah, the analog pad thing on the 3D Controller is a bit weird, but it works once you get used to it, and I kind of like it. It's better than the stupid loose analog sticks Sony used on all its PS1/2/3 analog controllers for sure, but of course I don't like Sony controllers much. :p Also the first analog gamepad I owned was a Gravis Xterminator Gamepad for PC, which has a very similar analog stick to the Saturn 3D Controller, so I am somewhat used to the style (even if that Xterminator pad broke after only a few years).

Sort of like the N64 analog stick and Mario 64, the Saturn 3D pad's analog pad clearly was designed for NiGHTS. It's quite ideal for that game, for sure, but how good it is for other kinds of games does vary... but that's true for anything. Also the biggest issue with it is that far too few games support the thing, a bigger sample size would be nice. :)
 
B

BTails

Member
So I picked up a copy of Dynamite Deka... What a great game! Having a lot of fun, even though I'm pretty terrible at it right now (Tips are welcome!)

My one concern though is that it's making my Framemeister freak out! All the pauses in between stages is causing some sort of resolution or sync change, which gives me an extra second of black screen and my TV's display pops up again.

Anyone else have this problem, and maybe a solution? I've tried playing with the "sync time" option on the latest XRGB Mini firmware, but it hasn't solved anything.
 
T

Teknoman

Member
sixteen-bit said:
I can't help you with that, but ratigators has the scans of the entire NA manual if you want to print your own in the meantime.
Click to expand...

If I just straight print them, will they be the same size as the actual manual pages? Because I could do this for both Dragon Force and Shining Force CD.


Also, this is the japanese version of the standard Saturn Bomberman right?

90013478a.jpg
 
G

Galdelico

Member
Pizarro said:
Console Goods UK makes excellent rgb cables
Click to expand...

Khaz said:
They make cables. I wouldn't call excellent a cable that doesn't have wire shielding or ferrite beads at the very least.
Click to expand...

Thanks, well I guess I'll just get one from Retrogaming Cables, once they'll be restocked.

A Black Falcon said:
Sort of like the N64 analog stick and Mario 64, the Saturn 3D pad's analog pad clearly was designed for NiGHTS. It's quite ideal for that game, for sure, but how good it is for other kinds of games does vary... but that's true for anything. Also the biggest issue with it is that far too few games support the thing, a bigger sample size would be nice. :)
Click to expand...

Well, fun fact: it surely isn't good for Golden Axe: The Duel. If you have a 3D pad plugged into your console (tested with a Japanese copy on a Japanese console... No idea if it behaves differently with US/PAL systems), it will even prevent the game to boot up.
 
G

Galdelico

Member
Khaz said:
It will be of a similar quality.
[edit] Oh, they have a new range with shielding now, that's better. £50 though.
Click to expand...

I don't know. The one I have now is still perfect, if you only look at image quality. But it's always been quite buzzing (especially annoying if you crank up the volume of the TV) and sensitive to movements, going all yellowish/blueish kinda random.

I don't love the idea of spending 50 quids on a cable, but - for my other retro consoles - I always went with the official/first party ones and I never had to regret it. Aside from the fact I've never seen a SEGA branded RGB scart cable for the Saturn (did they even exist, back in the days?), I wonder how much less than 50 I would end up paying for one of those.
 
T

Teknoman

Member
piggychan said:
yup it's also the only one outside of japan that has 10 player bomberman battles, and imo it houses one of the best bomberman soundtracks out there!
Click to expand...

Saturn Bomberman, Bomberman 64, and Bomberman Hero seemed to go above and beyond soundtrack wise. On a related note, Ape Escape too. I think the genre for Saturn, Hero, and Ape Escape is called Drum and Bass? Any other games with similar soundtrack styles?
 
P

piggychan

Member
Teknoman said:
Saturn Bomberman, Bomberman 64, and Bomberman Hero seemed to go above and beyond soundtrack wise. On a related note, Ape Escape too. I think the genre for Saturn, Hero, and Ape Escape is called Drum and Bass? Any other games with similar soundtrack styles?
Click to expand...

Vatlva has that drum & bass music by Yuzo Koshiro it's pretty good, however I didn't like the gameplay and felt it was bit more of an experimentation than an actual final game release. It also supports the FMV card so you will get a full screen fmv intro otherwise it just runs in a small window without.

I also think Nights into dreams, Sonic R fit that bill too along with some tracks from Tengai Makyou IV
 
T

Teknoman

Member
Yeah, I still need Sonic R. Had fun with it on the GC collection and even further back in the day on PC, but i've always wanted to play the Saturn original.
 
P

piggychan

Member
Teknoman said:
Yeah, I still need Sonic R. Had fun with it on the GC collection and even further back in the day on PC, but i've always wanted to play the Saturn original.
Click to expand...

Also sonic 3D blast. The music composer for both those games; Richard Jacques. Don't think it falls under drum and bass tho...

EDIT:
Some Vatlva music:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ztsPsFnWTRA


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0FsDb1vvTxw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OkPlBVfxNsI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XpIg6OZEZzc
 
K

Khaz

Member
Galdelico said:
I don't know. The one I have now is still perfect, if you only look at image quality. But it's always been quite buzzing (especially annoying if you crank up the volume of the TV) and sensitive to movements, going all yellowish/blueish kinda random.
Click to expand...

The audio buzz should be notably reduced with a good cable. Sensitivity to movements is more likely the fault of your display. As you said, good vs cheap cables don't really make a difference in picture quality (you can notice really faint coloured noise on black pictures with cheap cables though.)

Galdelico said:
I don't love the idea of spending 50 quids on a cable, but - for my other retro consoles - I always went with the official/first party ones and I never had to regret it. Aside from the fact I've never seen a SEGA branded RGB scart cable for the Saturn (did they even exist, back in the days?), I wonder how much less than 50 I would end up paying for one of those.
Click to expand...

Saturn Scart cables were provided by default in the console box, at least in my country, along with Composite cables.
£50 is way too expensive for such a cable. I don't even understand why the Megadrive one is sold for that much, when the SNES one is for £30 and his normal Scart is for £20. I'm assuming it's because of the competition: you can buy high quality Scart cables on Amazon for about the same price, but you can't find shielded console cables easily. A bit scummy if you ask me.
 
G

Galdelico

Member
Khaz said:
The audio buzz should be notably reduced with a good cable. Sensitivity to movements is more likely the fault of your display. As you said, good vs cheap cables don't really make a difference in picture quality (you can notice really faint coloured noise on black pictures with cheap cables though.)
Click to expand...

I know what you mean, and luckily my cable doesn't bring any multicolored noise.
That yellowish or blueish colorization, on the other hand, is there no matter which TV I connect my Saturn to: from my CRT to both LCD screens I own (one is HD-Ready, the other one is Full-HD). One thing I noticed about the cable is that the metal connector around the pins isn't perfectly tight and stable. It feels just a little loose.

Khaz said:
Saturn Scart cables were provided by default in the console box, at least in my country, along with Composite cables.
£50 is way too expensive for such a cable. I don't even understand why the Megadrive one is sold for that much, when the SNES one is for £30 and his normal Scart is for £20. I'm assuming it's because of the competition: you can buy high quality Scart cables on Amazon for about the same price, but you can't find shielded console cables easily. A bit scummy if you ask me.
Click to expand...

Eh, don't get me wrong, I completely agree with you on that. I bought all my original RGB cables when they were available in stores, for their retail prices, and just the other day I jumped on my chair when I saw how much money a guy on eBay asked for a Nintendo RGB cable for the GameCube.
Point is: even if it's not a PVM, I finally managed to get a decent CRT display, so I'd like to squeeze as much as possible from it, especially in terms of video quality (it's pretty low tier on the audio side, but I don't really care about it). That's also why I was asking about RGB switchers and other stuff, in the upscalers' thread.

I never had a PAL Saturn, I didn't even know RGB cables where bundled with the console in Europe... Do you think I should just stick with my actual cable?
 
K

Khaz

Member
Galdelico said:
Do you think I should just stick with my actual cable?
Click to expand...

That's up to you and how noticeable the faults are. I'm surprised by your comment on the moving picture as that's not something I've ever noticed and it may be worth checking with another cable. I'm curious about your results.

Switching from a cheap Scart box with integrated cable to a Bandridge box with just a socket for output (so that I can use whatever quality cable with it) removed most of the buzzing that I mistakenly attributed to the official Saturn cable. Sadly it didn't do anything for the Megadrive and its cheap Chinese cable. So a single bad piece in the chain can corrupt your whole setup, it's annoying. I don't hear the buzzing on the TV but I get it on earphones with an amp cranked up, so I'm still considering other options to get rid of it entirely, but on a normal gaming setup, its unnoticeable.

I have to give props to the BIOS designers: switching to the space background when listening to music eliminates almost all residual sound interferences. And it's pretty to look at and shouldn't burn your screen.
 
G

Galdelico

Member
Khaz said:
That's up to you and how noticeable the faults are. I'm surprised by your comment on the moving picture as that's not something I've ever noticed and it may be worth checking with another cable. I'm curious about your results.
Click to expand...

Sorry, I think I described my issue quite poorly... It's not the case of the picture moving in any way. When I touch the cable around the scart connector, or it moves for whatever reason (compared to my PSone/PS2/GameCube/XBOX RGB cables, this one doesn't perfectly fit tight into my TVs' scart sockets), the picture on screen gets subtly colorized with a yellowish/blueish tint. It comes back to normal once I fiddle with it a little, in order to put it right back in place.
 
K

Khaz

Member
Galdelico said:
Sorry, I think I described my issue quite poorly... It's not the case of the picture moving in any way. When I touch the cable around the scart connector, or it moves for whatever reason (compared to my PSone/PS2/GameCube/XBOX RGB cables, this one doesn't perfectly fit tight into my TVs' scart sockets), the picture on screen gets subtly colorized with a yellowish/blueish tint. It comes back to normal once I fiddle with it a little, in order to put it right back in place.
Click to expand...

Eh, it's probably your Scart socket that's fucked up. Scart sockets are notoriously fragile, plugging and unplugging stuff constantly puts pressure on the solder joints which tend to break after a while. It's better to use a switch box or a cable extender even if you have only one device, so that you can break that instead of your TV.

It's easy to fix, you just need to resolder it, but it involves opening the TV and that can mean DEATH by electrocution if you're not careful. And I'm not even joking, some voltages are stupidly high on the tube.
 
K

Khaz

Member
sixteen-bit said:
Y'all need to embrace the greatness that is EMS. Get ur shit like 3 days max.
Click to expand...

I wish. With EMS tracking I see that my packages arrive in my country the following day or so, and then spend two to three weeks at customs or waiting to be dispatched. Infuriating.
 
G

Galdelico

Member
Khaz said:
Eh, it's probably your Scart socket that's fucked up. Scart sockets are notoriously fragile, plugging and unplugging stuff constantly puts pressure on the solder joints which tend to break after a while. It's better to use a switch box or a cable extender even if you have only one device, so that you can break that instead of your TV.

It's easy to fix, you just need to resolder it, but it involves opening the TV and that can mean DEATH by electrocution if you're not careful. And I'm not even joking, some voltages are stupidly high on the tube.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I've heard horror stories about messing around with tubes, and that's something I'd never venture to perform on my own. :D

It's totally possible the scart socket is busted. I barely switched anything - just the Saturn and the PS2 one time, since I've got the TV the other day - but who knows what happened before. That's still strange, though, because it only happens with the Saturn's cable, and basically on every TV I've connected it to, even in the past (this includes my older CRT and all my LCDs).

I'll get that Hama switcher I saw on Amazon asap, along with a quality male-male scart RGB cable (I've been told Thor makes pretty good ones, and they don't cost an eye), with the hope it will at least prevent the socket to fail completely.
 
J

jerry1594

Member
Been playing Cyberbots a bit lately and a couple things
- the story is wacky as fuck lol. Pirate King is some weird cosmic entity , Devilotte has a crush on a 70 y/o man, which the pirate king fights her for then self destructs his booster cockpit, people get into fights for anything. It's great.
- what does the ram cartridge do with this game?
 
T

Teknoman

Member
Been on a beat em up kick, so i've been hitting other retro threads:

I've already got Guardian Heroes, Die Hard Arcade, and Hot Blooded Family is on the way. Any others i'm missing out on aside from D&D (which I know is good)? Three Dirty Dwarves has been in the back of my mind.
 
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