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Sega Saturn Appreciation and Emulation Thread
- Thread starter Seik
- Start date
sixteen-bit
Member
Stella!
PumpkinSpice
Banned
K I don't want to derail too much into this but are you sure your modchip even works? Have you tried the disc swap to see if you at least made a working burn?
Got the Bomberman SBom Joycard pad today in the mail and it doesn't work. 
I tried cleaning the controller port part with rubbing alcohol but no dice, maybe I need to open it up and clean the contacts inside?
I hate when you buy something on eBay that says it was tested and then it shows up and just doesn't work.
I tried cleaning the controller port part with rubbing alcohol but no dice, maybe I need to open it up and clean the contacts inside?
I hate when you buy something on eBay that says it was tested and then it shows up and just doesn't work.
JLateralus
Member
Holy crap, has the price tag on Street Fighter Zero 3 always been so high? I thought about trying to pick it up, but that's probably never happening. Seems like it was probably a end of system release, maybe that's why?
sixteen-bit
Member
SFZ3 blew up in 2013 I think. It was always above the msrp of a current gen game since release tho.
JLateralus
Member
Yikes. I certainly wasn't expecting to see Panzer Dragoon Saga level price tags. Too bad, as it looks like it's probably the best home version of the game too.
Got the Bomberman SBom Joycard pad today in the mail and it doesn't work.
I tried cleaning the controller port part with rubbing alcohol but no dice, maybe I need to open it up and clean the contacts inside?
I hate when you buy something on eBay that says it was tested and then it shows up and just doesn't work.
Sorry to hear; hate when that sort of stuff happens. Don't own it myself so can't offer any personal advice beyond what you've already done. Maybe someone else on here has it and can comment.
IrishNinja
Member
this was a particularly bad year for US saturn games
i watched Burning Rangers, Saturn Bomberman & several others start to climb up to stupid high prices early that year, i wanna say
Yeah, it sucks big time when it happens, sorry to read that.
If you tried the pad on both Saturn ports and the result was the same, there's most likely something wrong with the controller itself. Honestly, I'd contact the seller to see if a return/refund is possible.
IrishNinja
Member
just wanted to give a special shout-out & thanks again to Gyrian - said gun came in today, and it's so awesome!! i tested it with Virtua Cop & had a blast, gonna put some time into Time Crisis this weekend since it came with a pedal, too...loving this thing, man!
also, can't say how much i appreciate you tossing in sega gashapon - Ulala went right on the Sega shelf, next to MJ!
moltonasty
Member
The modchip does work, since some backups boot up with no issue, whereas others won't. I test the burns in an emulator to confirm they're working burns, even when they work in the emulator they still don't play consistently on the Saturn.
I didn't mean to derail the thread either, I was just hoping someone may be able to point me in the right direction for a fix..
at this point just buy the CPS2 board.
sixteen-bit
Member
Console ports of SFA3 have 8 more characters minimum than the CPS2 version. If you want to play as those folks on an arcade platform, you'll have to look for SFZ3 Upper on Naomi.
sixteen-bit
Member
lol, what are you on about? Saturn SFZ3 definitely has World Tour mode in it.
Alpha Anthology on PS2 is the one that doesn't.
Alpha Anthology on PS2 is the one that doesn't.
Yeah, ended up returning it to the seller and picking up a cheap third party Performance Super Pad 8 for the time being. Definitely gonna get a stock model 2 pad when I get the chance.
Well, I finally finished Panzer Dragoon Saga at 16:24 hours to do everything as far as I could tell. I appreciated being able to do leftover side quests after the game had finished proper.
Overall I felt it was a tightly-paced JRPG that felt very focused in what it set out to achieve. The presentation, music, and controls all felt very strong even in 2016. Barring a few dungeon sections that I felt lagged, there weren't any particularly negative aspects that I could think of. Again, the presentation and art design are consistently top-notch throughout, not to mention the battle system and the game's world. While reveling in some JRPG cliche's, it also feels quite unique, certainly with regards to traversing the majority of the game on a dragon, etc.
A couple more town-like areas (or side quests in them) would've been appreciated but hardly a deal-breaker. Very impressive game overall and I'm glad to have finally played it.
Here are some inaccurate pictures that don't do the game justice:
Overall I felt it was a tightly-paced JRPG that felt very focused in what it set out to achieve. The presentation, music, and controls all felt very strong even in 2016. Barring a few dungeon sections that I felt lagged, there weren't any particularly negative aspects that I could think of. Again, the presentation and art design are consistently top-notch throughout, not to mention the battle system and the game's world. While reveling in some JRPG cliche's, it also feels quite unique, certainly with regards to traversing the majority of the game on a dragon, etc.
A couple more town-like areas (or side quests in them) would've been appreciated but hardly a deal-breaker. Very impressive game overall and I'm glad to have finally played it.
Here are some inaccurate pictures that don't do the game justice
:A couple more town-like areas (or side quests in them) would've been appreciated but hardly a deal-breaker. Very impressive game overall and I'm glad to have finally played it.
Here are some inaccurate pictures that don't do the game justice
Glad you like it. That camp I love the music that plays there.
Morrigan Stark
Arrogant Smirk
^ Damn straight. Best camp music ever.
Glad you enjoyed it, Conezays! I completely agree with your opinion of the game.
I still dream of an HD remake or a sequel... ;_;
Glad you enjoyed it, Conezays! I completely agree with your opinion of the game.
I still dream of an HD remake or a sequel... ;_;
Are the PS2 versions just emulation?
If you can deal with the fact it doesn't run at 240p, SFZ Fighter's Generation on the PS2 is super solid. Perfect emulation of every Street Fighter Zero arcade game, plus tons of unlockables. Oh, and it includes Pocket Fighter too.
I own Saturn's SFZ3, but every time I want to play the game, I fire up the PS2 and go for Upper on there.
Cheers, thanks. Also, for sure, there's lots of great tracks in the game. The music in (location spoiler):
Underground Ruins of Uru
They're arcade perfect in 480p.
JLateralus
Member
Essentially - Most (or all?) old consoles output natively at 240p (240 lines of resolution). "Normal" SD resolution is usually 480i (480 lines of resolution). Old TVs could handle this properly, newer TVs less so.
Any one have any experience with flickering/scrolling screens when using a SCART to component (via a converter) hooked up to a Sony Wega CRT (non-HD)? It seems to happen a lot during really bright/white looking scenes such as the Sega Saturn boot screen and moments in games, thinking it may be something with the SCART cable itself as my SNES works fine via SCART with this component converter.
Shadow Hog
Member
I know I had an issue where the SCART-to-component was causing screeching/chirping noises and image distortion for my Saturn when the screen got really dark, though that was because of my gscartsw SCART switch - it didn't occur if plugged directly into the converter, and changing ports on the switch fixed it. Dunno what to say about it breaking on white screens, though.
Assuming you're using a CRT TV, games' graphics on PS2 will look noticably softer than on the Saturn.
How do you mean? 240p normally means 320 horizontal X 240 vertical progressive pixels. 480i/p means 640 horizontal X 480 vertical either interlaced or progressive pixels; sometimes 720 horizontal X 480 vertical progressive pixels.
In 480i, a complete interlaced frame is made of 2 separate fields. Each field being half of the picture at 480 pixels in height that extend in "lines" horizontally 640 pixels, but with only 240 "lines" (counting once every other line) being filled with picture information. One filed contains picture information on the odd lines counting vertically, and the other contains picture information on the even lines counting vertically. Each field alternates every 30Hz (2 fields X 30Hz = 60Hz for the complete frame) and weaves together in a staggered presentation to produce the interlaced frame.
A typical 480i CRT treats 240p as a single interlaced field. It takes the original progressive image and pulls it apart line by line vertically and stretches it horizontally to fill one field. The other field is completely blank and does not contain the information necessary to complete a totally filled in frame. The end result is a single field that refreshes every 60Hz with blank lines produced by the missing field (often incorrectly referred to as scan lines). This is sort of a hack that I think wasn't really intended by TV manufacturers. Game companies however, took advantage of this. They could display low resolution progressive images that save on computing power but still look quite sharp on a CRT.
Now what is going on with originally 240p games being displayed as 480i from the PS2 is that 2 fields are produced from the original 320 X 240p picture. This is obviously different from the single field method of a CRT. This creates a picture with no "scanlines" and is not the intended way for the game to be presented. You lose perceived sharpness because the 320 X 240 original picture has now been stretched both vertically and horizontally to produce a faked 480i frame.
ResidentDante
Member
Another way to play SFZ3 is on the PSP and PSVita. Don't know what resolution that is in, but I found it pretty good. Looks bright and vibrant on the Vita screen at least.
It's a fantastic port, but - aside from a weird bug that prevents you to save anything, if you have 2 or more free gigs on your Memory Stick - playing it on the PSP is not ideal, unfortunately. No idea if the Vita controls make it better, as I don't own one.
ResidentDante
Member
Didn't know about that bug, nothing I've noticed but I'm on the Vita! The d-pad is quite good on the Vita at least, but I'm a SF casual.
socksfelloff
Member
I'm pretty sure the list of dreamcast games that don't support vga is higher then gamecube games that don't support 480p
Very few Dreamcast games don't support VGA while lots of Gamecube games don't support 480p.I'm pretty sure the list of dreamcast games that don't support vga is higher then gamecube games that don't support 480p
Moor-Angol
Banned
my first pal games
entremet
Member
240P is also the NeoGeo's standard and many arcades too.
blast processed
Member
Yep, this as well.
Shadow Hog
Member
Incidentally, happy 21st, NTSC-U Saturn.
Damn, happy birthday Saturn! One of my happiest gaming purchases in years. Got a mint copy of Sega Ages Vol. 1 (PAL) expected to arrive tomorrow
Happy Birthday! Old enough to drink away those feelings of failure.
But seriously, people often rip on the US library, and while it was limited compared to the Japanese side, we did get a lot of classics: Fighters Megamix, Nights into Dreams, Panzer Dragoon series, and all those arcade ports.
IrishNinja
Member
always wanted to play that bubble bobble/rainbow island disc, just found my roommate has a copy
aww, happy birthday little guy!
aww, happy birthday little guy!