Sega Saturn - what’s the best option?

Looks neat :) If you decide you don't want to take it apart you could consider the Satiator when it's available, an alternative that plugs into the expansion/video cd slot on the back. Last I read it's patreon supporters getting first chance to order, but soon open to the public.
 
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.
 
A lot of them have yellowed over time unfortunately. I bought a earlier grey model as the discolouration is less obvious compared to the later white variant. Another benefit in hindsight is that it's compatible with the cheaper Fenrir ODE if I decide to get one eventually.
 
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.
 
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Does anyone have any experience with aftermarket HDMI leads for the Saturn? Not the OSSC. I recently got the Kaico cable for my classic Xbox and have been mostly happy with it but some games / resolutions give me purple lines on the screen, not sure if the saturn ones are similar.

As for games, Exhumed on the Saturn is an amazing version and well worth picking up or burning if you have a pseudo saturn card. Virtua Fighter 2, Dead or Alive Fighting Vipers, Parodius Da, Resident Evil, Street Fighter alpha 2, Sega Ages are great too. My face Saturn game is Shining the Holy Ark but I know you mentioned you are not into RPGs :)
 
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 :cool:
 
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pingwing said:
For the Japanese unit the psu replacement looks a genuine faff, yes the white one looks super cool, but it's not cheap and comes with one of 3 psu revisions, of which they're all wired differently and the revisions aren't a direct replacement to the uk standard usually (one of them is but you've got better odds on the lottery) as there's an additional 5v rail in some of them. If you're thinking of playing imported games it's easier to put a 60mhz switch or it can do it in software I think.
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I've been looking on the used marketplace here, and seen a load of white Saturns (specifically searching the console). So many have been missing the PSU. Glad I saw this, as I've been super tempted to pick one up. They're going around 25/35 quid at times.
 
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. :o

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 :cool:





 
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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.
 
I recently picked up a Japanese Victor Saturn with a PicoPSU and Fenrir. I have got to say though, I am extremely jealous of that 'This is cool Saturn' it looks amazing.
 
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 :D

How are you getting on with yours and the Fenrir?
 
naefeart said:
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 :D

How are you getting on with yours and the Fenrir?
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I've never actually owned a Saturn before picking up this one. I have a few nit picks with my setup at the moment. I currently have it hooked up to a Framemeister and with resolution switching between menus it can be a little bit jarring. I have ordered a Rad2x cable but expected shipping is March, I have heard the OSSC handles resolution changes much faster and I wouldn't mind picking one up if I can find the change.

I mainly picked this up to play Die Hard Arcade, Panzerdragoom, Policenauts, Radiant Silvergun, Sonic Jam and some of the classic beat em ups from Capcom. Edit: Also Exhumed/Powerslave. Any other recommendations would be appreciated.

Overall I am very happy, the Fenrir, tad basic but it is running every game very well. I would have liked to pick up a MoDE but after getting stung on import charges for a Mega SD, I thought I'd go with a Fenrir for now and consider if it is worthwhile later on down the line. Main differences may come down to load speeds and disc swapping.
 
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Getting to the party very late here but I figured I'd throw in my experiences too.

I currently own two Saturns one of which I got new in the 90's, they're great machines and very underrated thanks to Sony's propaganda campaign back in the day (it still annoys me that the release of Resident Evil 2 for Saturn was cancelled even though the game was finished, especially considering how much better the first one was compared to the PSX version). It was an excellent console back in the day with a great library of games and that has translated to an equally excellent retro console system as you have found out OP.

Some advice that I would impart to a new Saturn owner would be to ditch the stepdown converter and get a SaturnPSU 12v adaptor, it's basically a replacement for the internal Saturn PSU that replaces the figure 8 port at the back with a standard barrel connector which will allow any 12v PSU that can do 3A to power the unit. Some more would be not to bother buying a Saturn light gun (or a Saturn and PSX compatible one like a Predator) as they only work with CRT screens. And a third bit of advice would be if you're buying physical games then as a rule if it was released outside Japan then the Japanese version will be much cheaper as most people want their games in English, but something simple (so definitely not an RPG) is perfectly playable in gibberish if you want to save some money.

Personally I currently own a mark 2 UK spec Saturn that my parents bought me in the late 90s and a mark 2 Japanese white Saturn that I got of eBay in the early 00's, I use them both with a 42" Panasonic Vierra 1080p Plasma TV connected via an RGB Scart socket, so no messing with video converters for me luckily. The UK model has been converted to 60Hz NTSC and both Saturns have had their power supplies replaced with SaturnPSU 12v units, in the case of the Japanese Saturn it was to get rid of the step down converter, in the case of the UK Saturn it was just so I could swap them out seamlessly. The white Saturn also has its optical drive replaced with an SD card adaptor whereas the UK model does not (hence the reason for having two and swapping them out). I have an extensive library of games as you would expect for somebody who's been playing Saturn games for over 20 years lol.

Here's a list of games I would recommend to try (I'll try to avoid ones that usually pop up on best Saturn games lists, also remember I played many of these new so they may not have the same appeal in a purely retro approach):

  1. Dark Savior: One of the best RPGs I have ever played, the only thing I can think off that rivals it on my personal list would be Soulblazer on SNES.
  2. Sonic Jam: Hands down the best collection of 16 bit Sonic games on any platform, with tonnes of additional content, ironically it's much better than playing them on a Megadrive too.
  3. NiGHTS into dreams...: A very unique game for the time, and highly enjoyable, also check out Christmas Nights if you can find it.
  4. Deep Fear: A Survival horror game, made by Sega, but actually really good.
  5. Discworld: I just like it.
  6. Enemy Zero: Another decent survival horror game, the Saturn really was king of them despite RE2 being cancelled.
  7. Sega Worldwide Soccer 98: It's the best football game on the Saturn, arguably the best on any 32bit system, it's just fantastic, it felt at the time like a modernised Sensible Soccer and it's aged much better than the Fifas of the day.
  8. Fighters Megamix: When Tekken 4 came out there was a common joke, how can they make a new Tekken game with no new Virtua Fighter game to rip off? Fighters Megamix came out between Virtual Fighter 2 and 3 so doesn't have the features added to 3 (and thus Tekken 3) but it is the best 3D fighter on the Saturn as it's essentially a mix of VF2 plus Fighting Vipers plus characters from a bunch of other games, you can have a lot of fun playing it and unlocking all the characters.
  9. Anything Street fighter without the word movie in the title: Yeah lol.
  10. Virtual On: 3D, giant robots, fighting, gogo.

Games I would avoid:
  1. Alien Trilogy: It's a very good game, but I would argue only on CRT/Plasma, the darkness is very important to it and I'm not sure it will work on LCD.
  2. Light gun games: Unless you like moving a target cursor around with a control pad (if the game supports it).
  3. Doom: I don't understand how the console that got a decent Quake port (After they decided not to do a PSX port due to hardware limitations) could also get a Doom port worse than the Mega Drive 32X...
  4. PC Ports in general: In fact why play any retro console port of a PC game when you have a PC, it's something worth remembering lol.
  5. Fifa anything, just avoid them
  6. Sonic R: This was actually a very good/fun game in the 90's, I put hours into it unlocking all the hidden characters, but it's just bad by modern standards so if you never played it in the day you will almost certainly hate it.
  7. Sonic 3D Blast: This is a bad Megadrive game ported to the Saturn when Sega decided to cancel the planned Saturn Sonic game, it's a good port but a good port of a bad game, lol.
  8. Anything street fighter with the word movie in the title: Includes the game of the movie of the game AND the game of the animated movie of the game :P
 
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.
 
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.

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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.

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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!

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