Sega Saturn--Swap trick question

[derFunkenstein]

I've been warned about the port sucking hard...is that something I should really worry about with swapping carts?

 

Yes. It's a pain. Sometimes it's a lot of trial and error to get the cart working right and you waste a lot of time. particularly swapping to a 4MB RAM cart - pop in Street Fighter Zero 3, add the cart, turn it on....wait....aww, man it won't run. Turn it off. Readjust the cart. Wait some more. Repeate until it either works or you give up.

 

I have the Saturn gamer's cart. It does auto-backup the system memory and also works as a regular save cart. You can't play expanded-RAM games but if you can live without it, it's a fine solution while you wait for an ODD emulator.

[keepdreamin]

I wouldn't say it's something to worry about, it's just finicky in nature. Part of the systems charm. With the Saturn, I'll usually fully seat a cart, then pull it back upwards just a bit before turning the system on. With the official memory card, I'll go straight to system memory manager. If it's a bad connection you won't see the cart present at all on the screen, or it will be shown but nothing will copy. Keep trying until I see the cart present in memory manager and can browse the save files, then get on to game play.

Edited May 9, 2018 by keepdreamin

[dj_convoy]

Yes, grad, taking stuff in and out of the cartridge slot can be a pain. My Saturn (my actual Saturn I've had since 1996) no longer recognizes my Gameshark, but reads my Action Replay (for now).

[Austin]

How fickle the cartridge port is depends on your system. The current one I own has zero issues and I am constantly swapping carts. I've owned many other units in the past however that have had difficulty reading carts. If it doesn't work, just take it out and try again, it'll eventually work.

[OldSchoolRetroGamer]

If it doesn't work, just take it out and try again, it'll eventually work.

 

 

[Asaki]

AFAIK, most games won't save directly to the save cartridge anyway. There are a few that do, but for the most part, you're going to have to transfer them over manually. It's kind of weird.

[derFunkenstein]

AFAIK, most games won't save directly to the save cartridge anyway. There are a few that do, but for the most part, you're going to have to transfer them over manually. It's kind of weird.

 

That's what's great about the gamer's cart with Pseudo Saturn - auto-backup of internal save data to the SD card in the cart.

Edited May 10, 2018 by derFunkenstein

[Austin]

That's what's great about the gamer's cart with Pseudo Saturn - auto-backup of internal save data to the SD card in the cart.

I didn't know about this. It does seem pretty cool, if you don't mind not having access to the games that require the extra RAM. Looks like it's $68 before shipping (and before a SD card).

 

http://ppcenter.webou.net/satcart/#order

[derFunkenstein]

I didn't know about this. It does seem pretty cool, if you don't mind not having access to the games that require the extra RAM. Looks like it's $68 before shipping (and before a SD card).

 

http://ppcenter.webou.net/satcart/#order

I have a flashed AR cart for that. Swapping, as I mentioned before, is something of a pain...at least on my model 2 Saturn. Getting it just right always takes 3-4 tries with the AR. The gamer's cart I can jam in there and then back it out like 2-3mm and it's fine, but not the AR.

[+-^CrossBow^-]

I have an older Model 2 that I have had one of the old Racketboy mod boards installed in since about 2002 or something like that. As such I also have and permanently keep an old AR cart in the slot. My AR is also quite old as it still has the parallel port on the top of it for interfacing with a PC. I've updated the firmware on it once but only to add new cheats to it and not as a pseudo Saturn since I've got the old mod board. Doing this, I've got full RAM cart availability when needed, still have the cheat game genie functions available and just use my Saturn like a normal system.

 

Someone asked about the internal saves and battery. Since the Saturn doesn't use a rechargeable coin cell and just uses a standard 2032 in it, I'm lucky to get 6 months of use on a battery with my Saturn. Because of this, I never keep a battery in mine and always press the reset button when I'm done with a game so I can transfer whatever saves are stored to the internal to my AR cart before powering it off. If I forget to do this...then yes, all saves that were made while playing it are gone as soon as the power is turned off. I wonder if anyone has managed to put a charging circuit into a Saturn so that rechargeable versions of the 2032 could be used similar to what is in the Dreamcast or Sega CD?

[nd2003grad]

Thank you all for the input here. I'm long past the idea of selling it. I have a mem card and a Action Replay on the way now, which I'll flash. That seems like it will be sufficient to keep me busy for.......y e a r s...........this hobby is such an addiction.

[nd2003grad]

As info, I did the whole flash of an action replay and also bought a memory card. Damn, what a fine setup. Love it.

[derFunkenstein]

As info, I did the whole flash of an action replay and also bought a memory card. Damn, what a fine setup. Love it.

A quick and easy way to enjoy all the Saturn games, for sure. It's too bad that the Saturn's internal RAM is both so small and so volatile. Backing up to cart (like your memory card) is the best way to do it.