Sega Saturn - what’s the best option?

[naefeart]

A bit late in the day I know, but I’m thinking of picking up a Saturn for my retro collection.

I’m thinking of a TO Mode too, so perhaps it doesn’t matter what region Saturn I get. Either way I’d like a mint one regardless.

So my current queries:

1. If I get a Japanese unit, I don’t really want to get a step down transformer, so would my only other option to be to replace the internal PSU and is this easily doable?

2. Is it still the case that the Mk1 has a better RGB video signal? I know there were dozens of revisions, so perhaps there is a mk2 version that readdressed the balance here?

Thoughts and opinions welcome.

 

[naefeart]

Thanks pingwing, sounds like it’s a slippery slope.

Ok, psu changes are out then, I figured as much. I’m quite taken by the ‘This is Cool’ transparent Jap versions, guess I’ll just need a transformer.

I did check retroRGB but obviously missed the in-depth article. He mentioned only testing US versions regarding the video output. I’ll go look some more.

I’ll also need to check the switchable 50/60hz options, I initially thought a Jap console was the best option here. I should have just purchased all this stuff first time round, it’s a minefield these day ​

 

[naefeart]

Ok so I’ve got a Japanese console, RGB sync on luma scart cable, an action replay 4in1 and some games on their way.

I just need to sort out the step down transformer. A couple of places do them although one is shut for Xmas. Will check the other tomorrow.

I think that’s everything I need to get me going. I need to check what sort of PAL games run well at 60hz, think I saw a list somewhere...

 

[naefeart]

Japanese model is the route I went down also, 60Hz and cheaper game prices for a lot of stuff (plus far more titles were released in that region of course). Did have a PAL Saturn back in the late 90s but couldn't face the prospect of poorly PAL-optimised games again, although to be fair there were some that were done properly (Sega Rally and Virtua Fighter 2 being a couple of examples).

The list you refer to is probably this one: https://randomisedgaming.tumblr.com/post/146372446412/3d-lemmings-pal-optimised-graphic

That’s good to know that someone else has gone down this route and yes, that’s the info I found... quite useful.

I’ve got Sega Rally and Daytona iirc on my Dreamcast, so the Saturn will serve predominantly as a 2D games platform.

If you buy a PAL one you 100% need to 60hz mod it.
If you buy a Jap one then you can just put a PAL power board in there I am sure.

I have a PAL Saturn with a 60hz switch. I also have a Pseudo Saturn flash cart, but you will need to look that up yourself otherwise my post will get deleted.

Ooh now, I did see mention of this when looking up the AR4-1. I shall have another look.

Any tips on good games to get (PAL or NTSC)?

Initially I will build up my SF and beat ,em up collection, but im sure there are other games I should look at that did well on the Saturn.

 

[naefeart]

Ok I’ll need to look into that then. I’m pretty open, but I’m not really a fan of RPGs or anything particularly strange (a lot of the cutesy Japanese stuff falls into this category).

Mid 90s classics like Virtual Cop 1,2, Sonic and probably Panzer Dragoon were on my list. Then anything from the prior 16-bit gen that was then improved on the 32bit systems. Sadly the Saturn passed me by at the time, I was fully into PC gaming at that point, FPSs, and anything console related was on the N64 and PS1.

 

[naefeart]

Cheers hohum, I’ll check these out.

 

[naefeart]

Yes I’ve totally noticed this, lots of random ports appear to have made it over. I’ve just noticed Doom and Duke nukem also.

I’ll check out the titles listed, I can feel this is starting to become a little unhealthy

 

[naefeart]

I'm not a fan of fighters so I won't say much regarding them.
I have King Of Fighters 95, which seems good fun. Tbh I'd just go to the Dreamcast for fighters as they're loads cheaper.

I hear the Saturn has a very good version of Resident Evil and Tomb Raider.

Puyo Puyo is a great cheap puzzle game. Hilariously crap Jap anime cut scenes too.

Doom is awful on the Saturn. The frame rate is pathetic. Avoid at all costs.

Sonic R is also terrible.

I do recommend a good joystick if you can find one for a sensible price.

I hear someone did a hack of Grandia where they made it in English. There was never a PAL Saturn release of it and the PS1 version really struggles to keep up.

Good call OP on focusing on the Saturn as a 2D platform. It has some awesome shooters. Radiant Silvergun is fun. Layer Section is decent too.

Thanks for the tips. I did look briefly at joysticks and the realised it’s a bit of a minefield. I’ll come back to this, I’ve just picked up one of the retro-bit wireless controllers. Will see how it goes.

I have a Japanese saturn with a Mode. Hooked up to OSMC.

If your concerned about cheap and nasty transformers look at airlinktransformers who do proper units that won't potentially kill you.

Used to have an action replay for ram but it broke (quite common) so have a 1mb official cart and currently trying to source a 4mb cart and then it will be complete.

A shame to hear the AR carts are perhaps a bit fragile, having just bought one. I’ve also got an official 4mb cart coming packaged with one of the fighting games I’ve bought, hopefully this will see me through.

Airlink is one of the places I’ve found for transformers, the other being Aldetronics. I see this as a good place to spend money, rather than the cheap £20 devices on Amazon etc. I’ll get on to them in the new year, I’m sure their smaller units will be more than enough for the Saturn (600-750VA).

How are you getting on with the Mode, are the results worth it?

 

[naefeart]

I guess it’s the convenience of the tech like the mode that’s attractive, plus optical drives won’t last for ever.

I use Everdrives for my other consoles and it means I don’t have to keep digging out my games collection when all I want a quick blast. I’ve limited time these days, I don’t want to waste it updating clients and drivers. Booting up a console with instant access to games is definitely where it’s at for me atm.

 

[naefeart]

So, this turned up...

I knew it was in great condition, however I hadn’t expected it to be mint! Very chuffed

It came with the original box, manual and all the bits, but now I feel it’s too good to disassemble and fit a mode Oh well, we’ll see how we go.

Here’s the control pad with an 8bitdo for comparison as it was to hand. The Sega pad is slightly larger but other than that and the clicky shoulder buttons they feel almost identical. I’ve got a retro-bit wireless Saturn pad too, to try. It’s the same transparent design as the original. I have high hopes.

Annoyingly none of my games have turned up yet, which is rather funny as they only had to make it across the border. The console managed to get here all the way from Japan in the same timeframe. Crazy.

It’s immaterial anyway as I still have to sort the step down converter, but they aren’t open until the new year.

I’m soo close to playing some Saturn 2D goodness #awesomeretrotimes

 

[naefeart]

Thanks guys. I’ll take a look at the Satiator as that might stop me buying another Saturn just to be the sacrificial lamb.

I was looking tonight at cheap white models... I must be crazy as these will probably all be yellowing now, but for some strange reason they seem rather appealing.

 

[naefeart]

Yeah, I’ve even seen some yellowed gray Saturns. Guess it’s the same issue that affected the SNES and Amiga case plastics, although mine were never affected. I’ve even seen supposed ‘new and never opened’ Saturns badly yellowed on eBay and for silly money too. Think I’ll sit tight for now.

My Marvel vs. Street Fighter copy appeared today, so that was a nice surprise. Being an NTSC-J copy it comes in a simple CD jewel case. Im dreading looking at PAL games with the dodgy boxes that will be all but disintegrated by now. Another reason to go Mode I guess.

So that will be the plans for the new year, once my transformer comes and I get everything working. In the meantime I’ve been researching Mode compatibility, Looks like my Saturn was made in ‘98 and is a VA15 model with a Type C psu (https://segaretro.org/Sega_Saturn/Hardware_revisions). Even though my psu looks different to the Type C pictures - benefit of having a transparent case - comments suggest all will be ok. I’ve also see mention of Mode mounts (https://www.retrorgb.com/laser-bear-releases-saturn-mode-mount.html), so something else to look into.

 

[naefeart]

The only cable i’m aware of, that gets good reviews is the RAD2x - https://www.retrogamingcables.co.uk/SEGA-SATURN-NTSC-HD-RAD2X-HDMI-480P-CABLE

If you want a cheaper option than the OSSC, this would be it. However if you have multiple consoles it would be cheaper using one device for all e.g. an OSSC or RetroTINK2x.

Cool, I’ll check those games out - I recently picked up the Street Fighter collection, Xmen vs Street Fighter and Panzer Dragoon 2, so my collection is slowly growing. Yet to pick up any Pal games that are 60hz friendly, so maybe that is my next stop. Just waiting for my converter to turn up so I can get gaming

 

[naefeart]

On that note, my step down converter finally arrived today. Pretty good considering I thought it was going to be another 2weeks at least. I went for This in the end: https://airlinktransformers.com/product/japan-uk-voltage-converter-uk-ja0750

it’s fairly substantial and seems well built. I have other Japanese consoles I can use it with and to be honest after looking at all the psu variations and associated problems with replacements (interference etc.) I’m happy this was the correct route for me.

It was quite exciting to finally get everything connected, but also a little nerve racking as none of the components had been tested before, by me at least.

I was initially greeted by the Saturn splash screen (yay), then by some in Japanese (slightly daunting). Ok, so far so good. I put a disc in and the cd drive whizzed into life but in a nice quiet sort of way. However all I was greated with was some random Japanese text, followed by a black screen and no sound. Crap. I tried another disc, rebooted the unit but ultimately same thing. ####. Both discs can’t be bad surely?

I tried it again and decided to try and decipher the Japanese text. Luckily this time I noticed ‘4M’. Aha, silly boy. The two randomly chosen games I’d tried needed the 4meg ram cartridge.

Now with everything working I’m totally blown away. This thing is awesome! The games are pretty good, but the overall quality of everything, even the 240p display output is excellent. I’m very smitten, should have gotten one of these ages ago

 

[naefeart]

Cheers!

Street Fighter collection, Xmen vs Street Fighter, Mavel vs Street Fighter (see a trend?), Panzer Dragoon 2 and Rocket Man X4.

Still early days, but now that I’m happy with the system, I can look to add more. I might need to consolidate my collection a bit; I have multiple retro systems now and collecting for all of them is getting into silly money. The Saturn is definitely here to stay, so perhaps I should let some of the other systems go and concentrate on that.

I also have a ton of games for the Mode, when I get it. So I’ll need to factor that in too.

 

[naefeart]

Thanks Joe, I’m really happy with it too. There are a few of these available and the other similar special edition model, however many are going for silly money. Tbh i was fortunate as it was simply right place/right time. I’d have been just as happy with a white one or a victor. Well almost

How are you getting on with yours and the Fenrir?

 

[naefeart]

Thanks guys for all the game recommendations, it’s a big help to me but I’m sure to others too.

On the PSU front I’ll always stick with the originals unless I need to change them, but it’s helpful to know there are other options out there and that people have recommendations. For now I’m good with the converter as I have several other Jap consoles and I don’t necessarily want to modify them in this way. Some interesting points on the topic I read recently:

https://www.retrorgb.com/dreamcast-replacement-psu-design-analysed.html

On the topic of English-friendly Japanese games, I found the following link useful:

https://www.reddit.com/r/SegaSaturn/comments/7nocbb/comment/ds4pwid

I played some Rocketman X4 tonight and I’m really enjoying it so far. Actually that goes for all the games I have, so much so I am a little saddened at how badly the Saturn did outside Japan. As Ubersonic mentions there were versions of games where the Saturn’s was clearly better, but it wasn’t enough to turn the tide in its favour. If you read into it SEGA made some pretty poor choices which killed the Saturn, ended the Dreamcast’s run very prematurely and ultimately brought about the undoing of the SEGA empire

Btw the OSSC handles the resolution change really well, it’s almost seamless.

 

[naefeart]

Just a wee update inlight of a few recent additions...

Im now fully using my wireless Retro-bit Saturn control pad. Not only am I very happy with the quality of it (they must have used the same moulds as the originals), but theres no obvious difference in feel between it and the original - except the shoulder buttons which are switched differently and although work fine, are ultimately less satisfying to use. There might even be a shade difference in their colour to the originals, but that's nit-picking. The wireless works well with no perceiveable lag and means I can game while relaxing in my office chair and not on the floor.

Although not strictly for the Saturn, I picked up a controller adapter for my Dreamcast (it works on the Saturn too). I've not been very happy playing fighters on the DC due to the horrible original controller, the StrikerDC pad from Retro Fighters improves here, but it's still not perfect. By chance I found this adaptor that will allow me to use PS4/Xbox and even my Saturn controller instead. It even works with the PC, this should prove interesting.

Lastly these arrived today. The problem with having all these consoles is where to put them and how to protect them. I got fed up repackaging them after every use, only to have to unpackage them again later. I also can't easily have them all out on display all the time, save curious fingers getting, well curious. Et voila!

Very happy with these covers, also picked up some for my PS2/4 and Xbone

 

[naefeart]

PrinterBoy, they have loads of designs. They are based in Mexico so the whole process takes a few weeks, but it was worth it. You may also have customs charges to factor in.