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Sega Saturn Appreciation and Emulation Thread

oneida

Cock Strain, Lifetime Warranty
I wish in the train track fight they'd just let you get hit on the tracks, instead of not allowing you to stay on a track square. THE TRAIN IS MILES AWAY JUST LET ME DO WHAT I PLEASE, CAMELOT SOFTWARE PLANNING.

I'm sorry I yelled, Camelot Software Planning. I wasn't thinking. I'm so sorry.
Haha yeah I just bailed on that fight because I gotta rethink how to approach it. It's a cool setup but somewhat annoying.
 

Mercutio

Member
Haha yeah I just bailed on that fight because I gotta rethink how to approach it. It's a cool setup but somewhat annoying.

I eventually pulled it off with the story options I'd picked, but didn't manage to save everyone. I got two. I guess that has to be good enough.

Thankfully, leaving battle and keeping my levels / xp / etc works. That's kind of the only way to grind in this game, isn't it? Or is there some kind of "free combat" option somewhere?
 

Morrigan Stark

Arrogant Smirk
That's usually the method if you want to grind (though... why would you want to? game isn't that hard, you don't need it), but there's an optional dungeon somewhere (with a bunch of floors in increasing difficulty, the classic) where I think you can repeat those battles, not sure. Might be the best way to grind.
 

Mercutio

Member
That's usually the method if you want to grind (though... why would you want to? game isn't that hard, you don't need it), but there's an optional dungeon somewhere (with a bunch of floors in increasing difficulty, the classic) where I think you can repeat those battles, not sure. Might be the best way to grind.

I dunno, I love to grind in any kind of RPG. There's something about getting that edge that is intoxicating. Plus, I think that SFIII sort of lends itself to experimentation; I love that there's no real penalty for trying something and failing it, going back, and trying it again.
 

Ramune

Member
I'm embarrassed to say, but....I finally finished Nights into Dreams. ( • 3 •)
What a charming game. I'll visit again sometime to A all the levels!
 

Ramune

Member
You don't have an A on all the levels?

You haven't finished NiGHTS Into Dreams.

Touché! I know I won't play anything else on my backlog if I do play Nights again. I didn't "get it" when I first got it, but since I did, my god is it addicting. Speaking of which, I've heard nothing glowing about the sequel "Journey of Dreams". How can one mess up Nights? o_O;

Edit: Just watched a let's play of the beginning and giving it a voice is definitely one way. O.O;
Game seems to play the same though.
 

Teknoman

Member
I've heard nothing glowing about the sequel "Journey of Dreams". How can one mess up Nights? o_O;

As much as I like Sega, it's Sega. The soundtrack is great and the game looks good, but all the cutscenes, voice acting, and strange transformations drag it down.
 
IIRC, they removed Bonus Time, where you repeatedly go around the track for points after getting the Ideya for the Mare you're on... you chase some bird for a key, instead of getting 20 CHiPs to put in the Ideya Container, and once you have that key, giant chains prevent you from flying above or below the Ideya Palace, forcing you to finish your run on that Mare. Also, forced platforming segments. It wasn't very well thought out.
 

Teknoman

Member
Expensive game check time:

Whats a good price for Burning Rangers (both loose/with manual or complete), Hyper Duel, or Blast Wind?
 

IrishNinja

Member
Duel seems $200+ i wanna say? Rangers complete is tricky to find at the moment for less than $100 on ebay, been checking forums as well. it's a bitch. and if you go to the last 3 or 4 months of 2013 you'll see a wide variance in how much it caught on open auctions.
 

Seik

Banned
Expensive game check time:

Whats a good price for Burning Rangers (both loose/with manual or complete), Hyper Duel, or Blast Wind?

Got my Burning Rangers out of a bid for 170$ and I considered it was a good price, it was about almost 2 years ago. 10 months ago I got Hyper Duel for something around 210$ with shipping. :p
 
Ok so either my latest CR2032 battery died or it's just because I haven't turned on my Saturn for about two months (however that works) but I lost my shmup scores again and I don't want that to happen anymore. I found a Japanese RAM cart in my stuff (this is the back):

3541BAF6-4F3B-434B-AD95-CCBE4AB887EC-4750-0000052DD347558C_zps166fcac4.jpg


It's just been sitting around from an import order from years ago. Can I use this for backing up my saves and if so, how do you use it? I put it in my system to test it and it just boots to the CD/music menu.
 
Ok so either my latest CR2032 died or it's just because I haven't turned on my Saturn for about two months (however that works) but I lost my shmup scores again and I don't want that to happen anymore. I found a Japanese RAM cart in my stuff (this is the back):

3541BAF6-4F3B-434B-AD95-CCBE4AB887EC-4750-0000052DD347558C_zps166fcac4.jpg


It's just been sitting around from an import order from years ago. Can I use this for backing up my saves and if so, how do you use it? I put it in my system to test it and it just boots to the CD/music menu.

Select the data management option (first row, middle icon). You can then transfer saves from the card to internal memory and vice-versa.

If the game doesn't support direct memory card saving, you will need to hit reset with the disc lid open so it doesn't boot to the game, and copy the save from internal memory to the memory card after your play session. Use reset instead of a cold boot because once the system powers off, internal memory will be wiped if you have a dead backup battery.
 

IrishNinja

Member
^pretty sure mine's JP too...can't you just go to the options screen & transfer saves back & forth there? that's what i do, should be top left hand corner tab if im remembering correctly
 
Select the data management option (first row, middle icon). You can then transfer saves from the card to internal memory and vice-versa.

If the game doesn't support direct memory card saving, you will need to hit reset with the disc lid open so it doesn't boot to the game, and copy the save from internal memory to the memory card after your play session. Use reset instead of a cold boot because once the system powers off, internal memory will be wiped if you have a dead backup battery.

Thanks, so after my next play session when I have something I feel is worth saving, just go to Memory Manager, then choose "remove" and that should put it on the RAM cart? And does it just move it or make a copy?

Edit: Still not sure how this works. When I go to memory manager I can see the new data for Radiant Silvergun which I've made just by playing the game for awhile. Only options I get are "clear" and "remove." I assume "resume" means moving it from system memory to the cart but all it seems to do is empty the system memory as if I were choosing to clear it.
 

Mzo

Member
When you go to memory manager there should be a big blue rectangle for the system memory and a big pink rectangle for the cart memory.

Like this:

images


except in English since you can change the language from the menu even on Japanese systems.

The options are really obvious like move, copy, etc.

If you're not seeing this, your memory cart isn't registering because the cart slot is a piece of shit on the Saturn.
 
Hmmm, now I'm starting to wonder if what I have is just one of the RAM expansion packs and not for saves (because based on what I'm reading there are two kinds).

Edit: Maybe get an Action Replay 4-1? Or not
necessary? Enlighten me, am I doing something wrong with this thing?
 
How did you like that (what seems like 3 hour) opening to Shining Force 3? I swear I've started that game like 4 times and I've dreaded going through that dialogue. I finally started playing it on an Emulator just so I can keep backups of the saves.

I dread all Shining Force III dialogue to the point that I stopped playing it completely. And I own Scenario 2. : (
 

Sorcerer

Member
The NiGHTs sequel broke my heart. :( I loved the original so much. Bought the HD version on Steam and it was glorious.

I always was curious. A huge part of Nights is doing loops, but the pro-controller on the wii has octagonal gates, witch would make the sequel very difficult in my estimation.

Or is it possible/better to play with the wii-mote?
 

Mzo

Member
Hmmm, now I'm starting to wonder if what I have is just one of the RAM expansion packs and not for saves (because based on what I'm reading there are two kinds).

Edit: Maybe get an Action Replay 4-1? Or not
necessary? Enlighten me, am I doing something wrong with this thing?

What does the front look like? I know the Capcom 4MB RAM carts are see-through.

And I wasn't kidding about the cart slot sucking. Maybe it's not registering.
 
When you go to memory manager there should be a big blue rectangle for the system memory and a big pink rectangle for the cart memory.

Like this:

images


except in English since you can change the language from the menu even on Japanese systems.

The options are really obvious like move, copy, etc.

If you're not seeing this, your memory cart isn't registering because the cart slot is a piece of shit on the Saturn.

Missed your post, thanks. Yeah, no blue section so looks the cart slot and/or RAM cart aren't reading. :/

What does the front look like? I know the Capcom 4MB RAM carts are see-through.

And I wasn't kidding about the cart slot sucking. Maybe it's not registering.

Edit:

The front of the cart is just gray/beige like the back from the picture I posted. So I may be out of luck no matter what because of the cart slot or some cards it reads better than others?
 

Mzo

Member
It definitely looks like a Japanese memory cart.

Treat it like a finnicky NES game. Clean it if it's dirty. Try putting your shirt over the opening to catch most of your fluids and blow into it if you're lazy. Take it out and put it back in again. The usual.
 

Mercutio

Member
The cart slot seems to be the only iffy part on the Saturn. I wonder what it is about it that makes it so tricky later in its life?
 
This makes me want to pull my Saturn out of retirement. I moth-balled it years ago after a "friend" borrowed it for a week and when I got it back it no longer produced a signal to the TV. Needless to say, that's the last time I ever let anyone borrow any of my videogame systems. No idea if it will work or if it's possible to even repair a Saturn using online do-it-yourself tips, but I may give it a go. I've still got a handful of games in storage as well. Ahhh, the good old days.
 

Mzo

Member
RGB is nice, but chances are he won't have a monitor that displays it or would rather not spend the money required on cables and converters to start this up right this second.

Or he might.

Saturn s-video looks very good.
 
It definitely looks like a Japanese memory cart.

Treat it like a finnicky NES game. Clean it if it's dirty. Try putting your shirt over the opening to catch most of your fluids and blow into it if you're lazy. Take it out and put it back in again. The usual.

I found that if you use a q-tip and rub every one of the metal conductors on the memory cart it worked again. This trick usually works for cartridge based games too.
 

Ramune

Member
I pretty much gave up on a Dragon Force labeled RAM cart I have that wouldn't register on my Saturn. Maybe I'll try the ol NES technique and see if that works.
 

Sixfortyfive

He who pursues two rabbits gets two rabbits.
Price-checking old games, stumbled across this. A cursory glance at Google suggests that the "Samsung Saturn" was a real thing. I'd seen a lot of different models of the system but this one was new to me.
 
Price-checking old games, stumbled across this. A cursory glance at Google suggests that the "Samsung Saturn" was a real thing. I'd seen a lot of different models of the system but this one was new to me.

Production of gaming machines by Japanese companies was banned in Korea, something to that effect.

Hyundai made the SNES and Game Boy there (maybe other Ninty stuff) and Samsung handled the Sega stuff such as the Mega Drive and Saturn.

I assumed this was common knowledge. :p
 
Iq9kAHh.jpg


Leg broke off when I was undoing the mess that CeX left inside of the Saturn I bought so I filed the chip down. First time doing this so I'm pretty pleased, didn't want to throw it away.
 

Khaz

Member
Leg broke off when I was undoing the mess that CeX left inside of the Saturn I bought so I filed the chip down. First time doing this so I'm pretty pleased, didn't want to throw it away.

I'd have been so scared of doing that. I thought that thick black layer was full of mysterious electronic stuff. Glad your console is working again!

Who's CeX?
 
Yeah it is a chain. This machine was modded by them in 1999 apparently.

If the leg was left off the video would be 50Hz (on a PAL machine the trace is GND), but when it is given 5v it turns to 60Hz. The trace it connects to on this machine by default is 5v, obviously.

I'm just restoring it back into an NTSC-J Saturn. Neat to see a through hole BIOS chip though, later revisions use SMD chips. The CD controller board is seperate, all the buttons on the front and the PSU are built into the lid and there are various other differences between this one that was made in Japan and most that were made in Indonesia.

That said, does anyone here have launch machines at all? Was wondering if this design was used in Europe or America at all.
 
I asked this before, but are they any issues doing a region mod via a switch to change to jumpers on the bottom of the board vs doing a universal BIOS? It seems like a switch would be far less likely to mess with your system and a hell of a lot less work overall. I remember that back in the day switches were just how things were done.
 

Mzo

Member
I've had a switch for years on my J Saturn.

It can always read Japanese games but it's a little finnicky about US stuff. Takes a few tries sometimes, but then it's good to go until you switch over again.
 
Region free BIOS is a perfect solution - provided you have the tools to install it.

It is a Japanese BIOS modified to not check for region flagging. No need to be cautious. I might socket my BIOS in this particular Saturn.
 
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