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Sega Saturn Appreciation and Emulation Thread

IrishNinja

Member
is it? that fuckin sucks

hold out for a better deal, i got mine with Legend of Oasis or something for $50 shipped a couple years back - ill let you know if i come across a reasonably-priced copy!
 

Timu

Member
is it? that fuckin sucks

hold out for a better deal, i got mine with Legend of Oasis or something for $50 shipped a couple years back - ill let you know if i come across a reasonably-priced copy!
Funny enough that's just for the disc. A good deal on it nowadays will be tough.=O
 
Hey guys... another question/ seeking advice.

What would you recommended? a US or Japanese Saturn? I feel like in order to play a lot of games I want, I'm gonna have to import anyway, so if I got to get a US saturn, i'll have to get one of those action replay carts anyway.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Sega-Saturn...593654?hash=item1a0d0530b6:g:OwcAAOSwL7VWqO2D

I was eyeballing this auction, which comes with some games I want...Seems kinda fair.

I dunno if I should go for that, or just go to this store near me that has a used US saturn in stock for $50. That's just the system and cords, though the cool thing is, the controller it includes is the 3D controller. If I want any games with it though, they only had a few in stock. I think they had Virtual On for $25, Virtua Fighter Kids for $18, Battle Arena Toshidin Remix for $8, and that was kinda all I was interested in there. They had a couple others I might consider buying if they were cheaper, but I dont wanna spend $40 on Duke Nukem 3D right now.

Anyway, what would you folks recommend? Japanese Saturn on Ebay, or US saturn locally? Can't quite decide.
 

IrishNinja

Member
Just hold out for your idea price. It'll come around.

this really is the way to go - i kinda want to make a post about this now that my everdrive collection is complete. said ED's cost me a few hundred, and modding my CD-based systems to play CD-R's even less so - i can now pick up & play any game i'm interested in on the fly and experience it. if i really dig it? i add it to my list for a price i want - if & when i come across it, awesome! if not, ah well.

that's how i'm doing things from here on out. it's likely i'll never have some stuff like battle garegga/batsugun etc unless i decide i wanna pay $150 or whatever they command at that point, but i'm not gonna hurry & pay more than i'm comfortable with anymore out of fear it'll escape me & get worse/etc, that mentality is just toxic to me.
 

InfiniteNine

Rolling Girl
Shining the Holy Ark is a dope-ass dungeon crawler RPG that more of ya'll should play, phew

Got mine courtesy of JonathanNemo here. :) It's the US version in a Japanese case because the OG case is pretty broken. (Also huge and ugly.)
ecNiIX0l.jpg

I plan on starting it up after getting through some other things I've been meaning to. (Mostly a combo of being busy + being committed to finishing games before moving onto the next.)
 

Tain

Member
I have a lot of good memories of Shining the Holy Ark. Got it around release, never finished it. I remember stopping at some point with a
massive snake blocking some cave
? Maybe some day.
 

Gyrian

Member
So I found my first Saturn (bought in the late 90s) again after going through some old boxes!

It's a US model 2 that's modded to run CDRs, came with a bunch of backups and an ST-Key. Also a first generation pad, oddly enough! It's still in surprisingly good shape considering what it's been through, just needs a good cleaning. I'll post some before and after pics if it shows well-enough! It's still working fine, both with genuine games and backups. What didn't really survive the time were the old CDRs, some of them don't do anything anymore.

I'm thinking to bring it back up to top shape and sell it, so that it will again get some good use!
 
I have a question about Saturn emulation - what kind of system do you need to be able to run SSF well? I have a AMD Phenom II N640, 4 GB of RAM, and 2.9 GHz, which I thought would be enough, but it's running at like 70-80% speed, even on the lowest settings available. Is there anything I can do or am I just out of luck?
 
I'm always happy when I buy a game after checking on satakore what's inside and when I arrive at home realizing that it's complete :)

Pia Carrot he Yokouso!


stickers and trading card included
 

Conezays

Member
I managed to order a copy of Shining the Holy Ark (NA) for around $150 Canadian...that's like $30 US, right? :p Ugh...our dollar has not been kind to collecting for the Saturn as of late.
 
I have just about all of the expensive NA releases, except Shining Wisdom. I can't see pulling the trigger on that game. Everything else I can live without unless I see a deal.
 

Jaeger

Member
Recently I sold my sealed copy of Wolf Fang, and my moderately OK condition Saturn console w/ an AR. I'm sad it left, but I had to let them go at the time. I'm considering pulling the trigger though on another console (borderline mint and boxed), and one of my all time must have titles Battle fucking Garegga. I don't know what to do. I need it.

You guys know my pain, right? It's gonna be a total of roughly $400.00, which is a pretty good deal since both the console and the game are complete. What do y'all thank?
 

Conezays

Member
Recently I sold my sealed copy of Wolf Fang, and my moderately OK condition Saturn console w/ an AR. I'm sad it left, but I had to let them go at the time. I'm considering pulling the trigger though on another console (borderline mint and boxed), and one of my all time must have titles Battle fucking Garegga. I don't know what to do. I need it.

You guys know my pain, right? It's gonna be a total of roughly $400.00, which is a pretty good deal since both the console and the game are complete. What do y'all thank?

I think you can probably find a better deal if you peruse Ebay, closer to $400 CDN than $400 USD.
 

Khaz

Member
There is always the option of mods and CD-R, if you can't justify the price. No videogame should ever be worth $400, no matter how good it is. Even less when you're just giving your money to a reseller who did nothing but sleep on it for a while. No money will ever reach the original devs now, so don't worry too much about it.
 

Jaeger

Member
I think you can probably find a better deal if you peruse Ebay, closer to $400 CDN than $400 USD.

For a pretty prestine condition console with all the packaging, and a complete BG both mint? I have been on the prowl for a while. I dont see me getting a better deal at the moment.

There is always the option of mods and CD-R, if you can't justify the price. No videogame should ever be worth $400, no matter how good it is. Even less when you're just giving your money to a reseller who did nothing but sleep on it for a while. No money will ever reach the original devs now, so don't worry too much about it.

Well, this is for both that title and a console. In really good condition. And if it was simply about playing the title, emulation does that job well. These are just items I want in my personal collection. Those treasure kind of items.

I'll keep an eye out on a cheaper price but I don't see that being beat.
 

Ramune

Member
Snagged Shining the Holy Ark complete in pretty damn decent shape at a retro game convention a few months back for $90. Considering someone else at the convention was selling a pristine sealed copy at $170....I think I made out considering the prices online....
 

Conezays

Member

IrishNinja

Member
Got mine courtesy of JonathanNemo here. :) It's the US version in a Japanese case because the OG case is pretty broken. (Also huge and ugly.)
I plan on starting it up after getting through some other things I've been meaning to. (Mostly a combo of being busy + being committed to finishing games before moving onto the next.)

props! and yeah, ive been trying to finish stuff before moving on too, it's the only way i'm gonna thin out this backlog...
and while i dig the JP jewel cases & color manuals, i can't agree with you & others on the US boxes! yeah, they're huge but as a Sega-CD fan, i just love them, haha...then again i think US TG16 art has its charm, so there's that

It's one of the best dungeon crawlers ever crafted. My only complaint is that all of the enemies have the same sound fx. Engage, attack & death all sound the same. Even
Basso
sounds the same.

yeah, that bit's a shame but man i'm loving it otherwise - the music/ambiance in the west shrine i just finished was fantastic! i'm gonna be a bit bummed when i tie this one up & the series doesn't have more like it

I have a lot of good memories of Shining the Holy Ark. Got it around release, never finished it. I remember stopping at some point with a
massive snake blocking some cave
? Maybe some day.

ah, the mountain pass on the way to the far east village! i was stuck there one night too, plot amps up a short while after that...get back to it when you can!

Recently I sold my sealed copy of Wolf Fang, and my moderately OK condition Saturn console w/ an AR. I'm sad it left, but I had to let them go at the time. I'm considering pulling the trigger though on another console (borderline mint and boxed), and one of my all time must have titles Battle fucking Garegga. I don't know what to do. I need it.

You guys know my pain, right? It's gonna be a total of roughly $400.00, which is a pretty good deal since both the console and the game are complete. What do y'all thank?

hmm...i was gonna say that's high but i didn't realize just how much garegga goes for now...shame, it's a fantastic game. it's your money, and i get wanting to have something on a shelf that's way too expensive, just make sure you're comfortable with it & not waiting/looking about for a better deal if you do!

I'm lucky I bought a Battle Garraga this week for £103 :) I don't agree with piracy, if u like a game u should save up and buy it!

while that's a fantastic price, i gotta disagree - unless the game's available for digital download (like say fighting vipers, nights etc) you're not helping anyone throwing $ around online - nevermind the fact that i'm not gonna play Shining Force III scenarios 2 & 3 in english without "piracy"
 

Dazzyman

Member
Piracy is illegal simple as there's no justification. If everyone pirated videogames there would be no industry,there's no excuse for it!
 

IrishNinja

Member
Piracy is illegal simple as there's no justification. If everyone pirated videogames there would be no industry,there's no excuse for it!

modifying your system to play other regions is illegal in some places too - starting to see why this is a poor line of reasoning?

there's a vast difference between pirating currently sold software & simply playing abandonware from studios which may not even exist anymore - allow some nuance to your arguments. i guess we shouldn't play fan translations, then?

Super Tempo is the price of an NVIDIA GTX 970.

he's just gonna say "u should save up and buy it!"
 

clem84

Gold Member
Any recommendations on a Saturn space shooter that, hopefully, doesn't cost a fortune? It's ok if it's Japanese. I was looking at the Salamander deluxe pack... It's very tempting. Anything else besides that? Preferably under 100$.
 

Conezays

Member
Any recommendations on a Saturn space shooter that, hopefully, doesn't cost a fortune? It's ok if it's Japanese. I was looking at the Salamander deluxe pack... It's very tempting. Anything else besides that? Preferably under 100$.

The usual suspects should be under $100: Soukyu Gurentai, Dodonpachi, Darius Gaiden, Layer Section, etc.
 

oneida

Cock Strain, Lifetime Warranty
Any recommendations on a Saturn space shooter that, hopefully, doesn't cost a fortune? It's ok if it's Japanese. I was looking at the Salamander deluxe pack... It's very tempting. Anything else besides that? Preferably under 100$.
Darius Gaiden and Layer Section (Galactic Attack) as mentioned above are essential.
 

Sixfortyfive

He who pursues two rabbits gets two rabbits.
I have a question about Saturn emulation - what kind of system do you need to be able to run SSF well? I have a AMD Phenom II N640, 4 GB of RAM, and 2.9 GHz, which I thought would be enough, but it's running at like 70-80% speed, even on the lowest settings available. Is there anything I can do or am I just out of luck?

I was running it pretty decently on a Core 2 Duo over 10 years ago so idk.
 

Saturn Memories

Neo Member
I have a question about Saturn emulation - what kind of system do you need to be able to run SSF well? I have a AMD Phenom II N640, 4 GB of RAM, and 2.9 GHz, which I thought would be enough, but it's running at like 70-80% speed, even on the lowest settings available. Is there anything I can do or am I just out of luck?

If you're on a laptop, make sure you're running the emulator with your GPU instead of onboard graphics. Always run in full screen mode (alt+enter). Make sure you're not trying to play PAL games or have the emulator set to the PAL region. If none of those things help, go the options menu and under the "Program 4" tab, ensure "emulate speed" is at 1.00. If it is, try bumping it up. See if this makes a difference.

If what you're noticing is actually a frame rate issue, enable vysnc and disable auto field skip.
 

MikeMyers

Member
Just out of curiosity, would you guys count Die Hard Arcade and Radiant Silvergun as arcade ports? I know they did come for the arcade, but the arcade versions ran on Saturn hardware, so I have a hard time calling them "ports."
 

IrishNinja

Member
Eh, since when I first discovered it, I still check Satakore *before* I buy anything Saturn-related. :D

how have i not seen this site before - awesome!

Just out of curiosity, would you guys count Die Hard Arcade and Radiant Silvergun as arcade ports? I know they did come for the arcade, but the arcade versions ran on Saturn hardware, so I have a hard time calling them "ports."

hmm...are they identical though?
 

Tain

Member
I was going to say that home releases probably involved a little bit of reworking to ensure the games fit in the console's RAM, but given that the ST-V hardware has the same memory configuration (unlike, say, NAOMI)...

I still call them "ports", idk.
 

MikeMyers

Member
Yeah, I'm pretty sure Titan Video is just a Saturn in arcade form.

Kinda weird Sega made that when they already had Model 2 anyway.
 
Just out of curiosity, would you guys count Die Hard Arcade and Radiant Silvergun as arcade ports? I know they did come for the arcade, but the arcade versions ran on Saturn hardware, so I have a hard time calling them "ports."
Yes.

I mean, Silvergun might've been ST-V, but the arcade version doesn't have several of the bosses exclusive to Saturn Mode, let alone the story to go with it (at least, going by the Saturn version's Arcade Mode). Die Hard Arcade... I could've sworn it looked better in the arcade than the Saturn version? Certainly didn't have the load times. Don't think it had the redbook audio, either, although it was probably better for it since that fades in/out a lot, distractingly.
 

clem84

Gold Member
Do you guys know if there's some kind of replacement available for those foam thingys that came in standard NTSC-US Saturn boxes to hold the disc in place?
 

ACESmkII

Member
I really need to fix mine up. I purchased one last year but haven't touched it after realizing it needed some work. What grease did you use? I have some lithium and thought I'd shove some in the stick and buttons.

I use Shin-Etsu G-40M-100 joystick lubricant.
 

IrishNinja

Member
there are - someone posted em either here or the Sega-CD case a while back, i wanna say? - i don't know that they're exact, but they were said to be close! i was thinking about gettin em for mine someday, especially before moving again, haha
 

Galdelico

Member
Do you guys know if there's some kind of replacement available for those foam thingys that came in standard NTSC-US Saturn boxes to hold the disc in place?

Slightly OT question: I know SEGA-CD cases came with the little foam, and now I read US Saturn games did that too. Do you guys know if that's also the case with those early US PlayStation long-boxes?
 
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