reading comprehension FTL.
look up what 'if' means
Crap, didn't see that 'if'. D:
Edited. ^^'
-
Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.
Sega Saturn Appreciation and Emulation Thread
- Thread starter Seik
- Start date
Crap, didn't see that 'if'. D:
Edited. ^^'
What? Gah. I feel your pain, I wish I had known. Honsetly, I haven't made it out to their new location yet, it's a bit out of the way for me now.
theSlacker
Member
I did the same like 2 days ago. Yesterday I think they went out again since any links to their auctions are removed and if you find one from following feedback, you see a message about being away till the 15th of next month.
Just waiting for the Saturn cables to be back in stock so that one of the other 3 cables that I want to get are gone. Guess it doesn't mater since I can't get a response from the few people I've seen that sell SCART -> BNC cables for my PVM. Guess I'll just order from that one site that ships from Europe for that. Would really like to get all my system cables from that ebay seller though, what with how good everyone says they are.
If you are going to make the trip just for fun, then wait till they are doing their gamersXchange event that I think they do every month. They open up a whole other room that they rent out space to people to sell even more stuff. Will run into the same problem that the store itself normally has though, in that people know the value of things and are trying to make money, so prices will be a bit worse then ebay.
Their setup itself is pretty cool to go to since like every other none gamestop game store has shut down in the area, and it doesn't have that "gamestop" feel to it. More like the places back in the 90s that had a ton of everything.
encephalon
Member
I'm afraid either my Saturn is dying or my S-Video cable is. Or something is wrong with my XRGB-3 and it ruins S-Video cables.
I've been having the screen momentarily cut out. It's happened 3 times. Once during a title screen. Another while loading a menu. And originally it was when I was switching back and forth through a menu in Gun Griffon. Purple lines appear on the screen then disappear and it's back.
Please don't die. : (
Meaning Japanese RGB?
I've been having the screen momentarily cut out. It's happened 3 times. Once during a title screen. Another while loading a menu. And originally it was when I was switching back and forth through a menu in Gun Griffon. Purple lines appear on the screen then disappear and it's back.
Please don't die. : (
Meaning Japanese RGB?
I hope the hiatus is when more Saturn Scart cables are being made. lol!
That would be JP-21, which is different. It's complicated... Normally a Euro Scart cable does the job with my other US systems. Apparently, for the Saturn I need a Euro Scart lead specifically made to plug into a US NTCS system.
theSlacker
Member
Exactly. From my understanding the problem is that the pal and US cable socket on the Saturn is different. So even though it is preferable to get the normal RGB scart plug, which is the euro standard, you have to make sure that the system side of that cable is the US NTSC one. That is if you are using a US NTSC system of course.
It is confusing since if you just call it a NTSC cable people may assume you mean the jp 21 pin scart, since there is no US scart standard.
Grabbed a SCART cable off of eBay and this HDMI digital audio video converter. I didn't see anyone in the thread mention this particular box, but it does a great job as everything goes through one HDMI cable, so you have audio and video all handled at once without the need for extra cables and/or boxes.
So glad I spent the money on this solution. Colors are more vivid and lines are smoother. Prior to this I was using an s-video cable. The video quality on my LCD TV now looks like what you'd see on an arcade monitor.
So glad I spent the money on this solution. Colors are more vivid and lines are smoother. Prior to this I was using an s-video cable. The video quality on my LCD TV now looks like what you'd see on an arcade monitor.
Shadow Hog
Member
I'm a little wary, actually... neither that huge-ass upscaler article nor shmups.com seem to mention anything about that unit.
theSlacker
Member
Don't think I've seen much talk about upscalers in the thread, so that may be why. Most of the stuff people have been talking about is for use with old tube tvs (none of which have hdmi) at the native resolution. Grats on getting a good one though.
IrishNinja
Member
just occurred to me: please say everyone (at least hip-hop fans) in here have heard the classic Del tha Funkee Homosapien's Proto Culture, you'll never get Saturn love like this from another track.
I have no idea why i've never heard this. Name dropping everywhere.
encephalon
Member
Out of the games I've played, I personally think Grandia is the best use of the Saturn hardware. Simply magnificent. The clouds that part when you climb up to Liette ... The "cinematic" shots of the boat ... Man.
It's a funky unit in the sense that box just says "Video Converter" and there's no brand labeling whatsoever. However, it does exactly what it's supposed to do: Takes a SCART input and delivers an upscaled image via HDMI to a HDTV. There are switches on it for things like 720/1080 and PAL/NTSC.
Yeah, I would have gone the tube TV route, but figured I'd try this route first and see if I was satisfied with the result.
sixteen-bit
Member
Bernie Stolar dropped the ball with the RAM cartridge.
Hmmm, does the PS1 port stack up well?
Canadian Psycho
Banned
Not a rap fan but I've always loved that song! Just listened to it again, thanks.
yo_soy_el_topo
Member
That proto culture darkstalkers sample! Del has a lot of video game influenced tracks. I know he has a newish song called king of fighters where he talks about joe higashi. Cool stuff!
encephalon
Member
I think so. People tend to compare the two with a heavy Saturn bias. I would love to say that the Saturn version is objectively better, but I can't. Here's how they stack up:
If we're assuming that you'll play in English, that's a downgrade from both Japanese versions. The Japanese is charming. The English is allegedly not.
The PS1 version is missing a "sky" for Parm and the carefully designed street layout is a scattered texture. +1 for Saturn, but is it important?
The PS1 ver. allegedly has slowdowns compared to the Saturn version. The Saturn version loads as fast as your disc drive can read the disc, so I don't see how this is possible nor have I seen a real difference in videos. Honestly, people other than me would probably be "frustrated" with the performance of the Saturn version. I'm just patient. Tie?
The PS1 ver. is missing some special effects for certain areas like a gemstone cave (not so shiny in the PS1 version) and an animated ground texture for another map. +1 for Saturn? Only if you care.
The PS1 version has better visual effects for other things, like battle transitions and the battle animations for spells/skills look much better in the Ps1 version. They're honestly kind of crappy in the Saturn version even for Saturn standards. +10 for PS1
The PS1 version also sports actual water instead of a 2D flat plan with a water texture that warps around to simulate water (sometimes this looks okay, most of the time it looks like what it is - very flat). This is the part that really indicates bias for the Saturn version, because people claim this makes the PS1 version inferior. +1 for PS1
PS1 version has 2D backdrops for battle backgrounds, apparently? Not sure how to score this.
Overall, the PS1 version is actually probably better, unless I'm missing something.
encephalon
Member
theSlacker
Member
Is this an actual thing, or just the normal "original language version is always better" rhetoric? Seriously asking since if they did really change things too much for the worse I suppose I could give it another play though with the undub.
encephalon
Member
I'm afraid to confirm it for myself, because I find the original to be so charming (no need to make myself cringe). But a 90s game with English voice acting? Likely. You can compare for yourself though. I used the word "allegedly" for a reason.
P.S. The original version being better is almost always true. Hard to avoid losing something in translation to a language so vastly different from Japanese. That doesn't mean there can't be great translations that do their best to provide something similar to the original.
A Black Falcon
Member
What reason? The English in PS1 Grandia is cringe-inducingly bad. You've got to tolerate it, of course, unless you can read Japanese, but it's really quite bad, distractingly so.
Sure, but not all games had voice acting as terrible as Grandia. It was far below average, in terms of voice acting.
theSlacker
Member
I'm also fine with things that don't try to be exact to the original, and end up being better for it. Like the Working Designs Lunar localizations, where the original game is flat and fairly mediocre, but they gave it it's soul. Sure the pop culture references are kinda bad, but I was more then willing to put up with the few of those for all the good that was done elsewhere.
Anyway, will take your advise though. Next time I play the game will do it with the undub. I swear to god if it is just the weeaboo "the original is always better" and not any more charming I'll.......keep it to myself and forget about it later.
Edit: Wait. Just googled around to find out about it. Is it just changing the voices to Japanese, and not the text?
Canadian Psycho
Banned
Are the menus easy to understand for the non-Japanese speaking public? (Any English in there?)
gar3
Member
I played and finished Grandia easily back in the day not knowing a whole lot of Japanese. The menus and items and whatnot were easy to understand. I also agree with encephalon that the Japanese language version for either system is "charming" compared to the English. Japanese is the way to go. You can really feel the care that went into the characters. Even if you don't know Japanese you can pick-up the official guide book for the PSX and coupled with the FAQs over at GameFAQs you'll do fine.
I have been meaning to make a video about this. Short answer: depends how much you can get a second stick for & how much you care.
RobbieNick
Junior Member
You may be okay. I have a Playstation 3-D monitor that will sometimes have the screen go black for a second or two randomly. Usually when I'm play WiiU games.
So it's more likely your TV or S-Video cable than the Saturn. Hopefully.
My Sega Ages: Dragon Force poster and the Sega Direct album finally came in! I was hoping the poster would be larger but no complaints.
Still want the artbook though.
http://www.ncsx.com/2008/031708/dragon_force_sega_direct.htm
Still want the artbook though.
http://www.ncsx.com/2008/031708/dragon_force_sega_direct.htm
RobbieNick
Junior Member
I'm having a little bit of trouble with my Saturn.
The inner battery seems to be dead as it's always asking me to set the time and my action replay takes forever to load a game if at all. Is it the inner battery causing that?
The inner battery seems to be dead as it's always asking me to set the time and my action replay takes forever to load a game if at all. Is it the inner battery causing that?
Danny Dudekisser
I paid good money for this Dynex!
I stopped playing Grandia (PS1 version) after like 15 minutes, because whenever Justin talked, I wanted to murder the whole world.
Is the game good? I think I could go back to it now that I'm more chillaxed.
Is the game good? I think I could go back to it now that I'm more chillaxed.
Shouldn't be, I've used mine with a dead battery before and it loaded games up as normal. Will it load games at normal speed if the Action Replay isn't used? If not, then it could be the laser having a hard time reading discs.
I'm waiting to play the Japanese version, but I haven't been spoiled yet. I loved Lunar on the Sega CD, and I hear Grandia is an evolution of those games. If that's true, then it ought to be one of my favorite games ever. I'm talkin' Demon's Crest territory!
Shadow Hog
Member
The battery should have no impact on load times, AFAIK. Definitely dead if it's asking you for the time every boot-up, though.
I had a good idea a couple weeks ago and wanted to share it with SaturnGAF.
If you are like me and despise anything third-party hardware-wise then the Action Replay is a big sticking eyesore thorn. Just its disgusting look, obnoxious logo and cheap-ass feel is enough to make me sick. But, it is a necessity. So, what I did was simply just take it out of the case and slot it in. And, let me tell you, after a few weeks of use I just don't even see it anymore! And even if I do it is just a small little bit of sexy-green PCB. Highly recommended:
If you are like me and despise anything third-party hardware-wise then the Action Replay is a big sticking eyesore thorn. Just its disgusting look, obnoxious logo and cheap-ass feel is enough to make me sick. But, it is a necessity. So, what I did was simply just take it out of the case and slot it in. And, let me tell you, after a few weeks of use I just don't even see it anymore! And even if I do it is just a small little bit of sexy-green PCB. Highly recommended:
RobbieNick
Junior Member
Tried two other games and it worked. It seems that X-Men COTA is the only one giving it trouble. The disc is like, twice as thick as the others. It's never given me trouble before until today. Which sucks because I'm recording footage of it for a review.
Could it be the spinner is wearing out because of the heavy disc. I was playing it and recording footage for a few hours earlier today.
At least it matches the Saturn's color pretty closely. I used to own a bootleg version that had a tiny purple pcb; literally just a chip and the pins. Once I unscrewed the super-cheap plastic shell it actually managed to fit inside the cartridge slot with the door closed. Worked like crap though.
Could be, but I usually hear about the laser failing, not the motor. Of all the early CD consoles, it seems Saturn lasers like to fail first. Fortunately, there should be plenty of replacements on eBay should you choose to go that route. If the disc is that much heavier though, then it certainly could be putting strain on the motor that's only just now become apparent.
cj_iwakura
Member
I had a good idea a couple weeks ago and wanted to share it with SaturnGAF.
If you are like me and despise anything third-party hardware-wise then the Action Replay is a big sticking eyesore thorn. Just its disgusting look, obnoxious logo and cheap-ass feel is enough to make me sick. But, it is a necessity. So, what I did was simply just take it out of the case and slot it in. And, let me tell you, after a few weeks of use I just don't even see it anymore! And even if I do it is just a small little bit of sexy-green PCB. Highly recommended:
Nice idea, but don't you risk damaging it?
If the English VA annoys you so much then play an undub version. Besides I actually enjoyed the VA since it has a OTT Saturday morning cartoon feel. Its not simply poorly done but instead deliberate.
Nah, nothing could really damage it. PCB is small so not even flexible. Static electricity is not much of an issue...I think that fear was big back in the eighties. After owning some arcade boards I realize these things are durable.
A Black Falcon
Member
Grandia is good, but it's a long and easy game. It's only even moderately challenging at the boss fights. It has a good battle system, but most of the game is so easy that you rarely have to learn how to fight well... still though, yeah, it is good... but I do like Lunar 2 more.
encephalon
Member
I'm not arguing with this point I'm just saying I haven't heard the bad voice acting for myself.
RobbieNick
Junior Member
Okay, replaced the CR2032 battery (That was easy) and all my games work EXCEPT X-Men: COTA. It seems the double thickness of the disc is wearing out the spindle and I can't have that. I'm gonna order a cheap, import copy off of E-Bay.
encephalon
Member
If you don't try and fight every enemy you can probably find a decent challenge in Grandia. Some of the enemies can pack a punch if you're not careful.
A Black Falcon
Member
Maybe, but it's hard to actually fight few enough enemies to keep the game challenging. And while I mostly quite like Grandia 2 (for DC), as far as difficulty level goes, I think they made it even EASIER!
RobbieNick
Junior Member
I dunno. Maybe it's a mistake.
Anyway, it seems to be working again. I took out the action replay and that helped.
sixteen-bit
Member
I had a good idea a couple weeks ago and wanted to share it with SaturnGAF.
If you are like me and despise anything third-party hardware-wise then the Action Replay is a big sticking eyesore thorn. Just its disgusting look, obnoxious logo and cheap-ass feel is enough to make me sick. But, it is a necessity. So, what I did was simply just take it out of the case and slot it in. And, let me tell you, after a few weeks of use I just don't even see it anymore! And even if I do it is just a small little bit of sexy-green PCB. Highly recommended:
I remember I disassembled mine and dyed the plastic shell black to match my NA console.
Now I have an import Saturn and just use the official translucent Sega 4MB RAM card.