The Official Sega Saturn Thread!

[Lord Innit]

10 hours ago, Steven Pendleton said:

Isn't the Japanese version of Sega Rally the best version or something or was that another game (other than Out Run, where the Japanese version is definitely better than the international one)?

I'm so pleased I have the Japanese Out Run. There's something about the PAL Out Run that always annoyed me.  When you drive the level with the stone archways, the car sprite changes to an angle that looks more above and behind than the standard angle. Just like the arcade. All good.  But when you finish the archway level, it doesn't revert back to the normal view of the car. The rest of the game is spent with the wrong view if the car. Doesn't happen with the Japanese version and I don't know if the US version does the same or not.

Edited September 25, 2021 by Lord Innit

[Steven Pendleton]

45 minutes ago, Lord Innit said:

I'm so pleased I have the Japanese Out Run. There's something about the PAL Out Run that always annoyed me.  When you drive the level with the stone archways, the car sprite changes to an angle that looks more above and behind than the standard angle. Just like the arcade. All good.  But when you finish the archway level, it doesn't revert back to the normal view of the car. The rest of the game is spent with the wrong view if the car. Doesn't happen with the Japanese version and I don't know if the US version does the same or not.

Never heard of that one before. Might be a weird glitch with the PAL version.

 

Anyway, I'm going to Akiba on Monday, so hopefully I can finally find a copy of Out Run that works on the later Saturn motherboard revisions. Maybe I should have bought a regular grey Saturn instead of the Skeleton. I've been looking for the fixed version for several months now with no success, as all copies that I have found are the original version.

 

Now that I think about it, Monday is also the 25th anniversary of the release of Sakura Wars. Time to actually sit down and play the game. I was going to skip the Saturn version entirely and play the Dreamcast versions so I can transfer my save file all the way from the first game to the final game, but I guess I will just start over on Dreamcast.

Edited September 25, 2021 by Steven Pendleton

[Lord Innit]

1 hour ago, Steven Pendleton said:

Never heard of that one before. Might be a weird glitch with the PAL version.

Found a video with the glitch.  Watch from 1:20 and you'll see the car change angle just as it is suuposed to, but then not change back to the default angle after it leaves behind the arches level, only changes back just before you reach the goal. Very odd.

 

Edited September 25, 2021 by Lord Innit

[Steven Pendleton]

31 minutes ago, Lord Innit said:

Found a video with the glitch.  Watch from 1:20 and you'll see the car change angle just as it is suuposed to, but then not change back to the default angle after it leaves behind the arches level, only changes back just before you reach the goal. Very odd.

 

lol what the hell? That's really weird. Must be some glitch in the PAL version, although I have no idea what would cause that if it's not in the Japanese or NA versions.

 

I actually just bought Out Run on the Switch since it's super cheap right now on the US eshop, so I am not really sure if I need the Saturn version anymore, but I'll still look around for it to see if I can find a fixed copy. I will probably buy Sakura Wars 2 instead since I don't have that one yet, although I should probably get the Dreamcast versions of 1-4 instead. Not much point in playing the Saturn versions when the Dreamcast versions exist, I think, other than to celebrate that 25th anniversary tomorrow.

[Lord Innit]

12 minutes ago, Steven Pendleton said:

lol what the hell? That's really weird. Must be some glitch in the PAL version, although I have no idea what would cause that if it's not in the Japanese or NA versions

Yeah, it's not in my Japanese version.  They messed up the PAL one with the timer running too fast making even harder, removing the remixed music and huge borders on top and bottom of he screen. 

 

I too have the Switch version but I like the Saturn RGB image on my CRT. Feels just like the arcade version.  

Edited September 25, 2021 by Lord Innit

[Mikebloke]

Saturn is back out for me, it's admittedly the first time in years I've had a sega machine out. The reason is mainly because I finally grabbed a copy of Virtual On, which was one of those typical demo disk games I always wanted to get but never got round to it at the time. (another one I've only recently got was Bug! Which still amuses me to this day). I've been playing a few racing games too, I've done sega rally to death but hadn't finished Sega Touring Car Championship which I did today. I also tried another crack at Daytona USA championship but still got to do the 'new' tracks yet. 

 

I've tried fighters megamix but still need a proper go at it, and to finish Virtual On. 

[Steven Pendleton]

1 minute ago, Lord Innit said:

Yeah, it's not in my Japanese version.  They messed up the PAL one with the timer running too fast making even harder, removing the remixed music and huge borders on top and bottom of he screen. 

lol they messed up the timer with the 50Hz conversion! The timer is already strict enough as it is. Crash once or twice and you're basically done, so I don't even want to ever play the PAL version!

[Lord Innit]

14 minutes ago, Steven Pendleton said:

I will probably buy Sakura Wars 2 instead since I don't have that one yet, although I should probably get the Dreamcast versions of 1-4 instead.

I take it that you need to be able to read Japanese to play these games?

[Steven Pendleton]

Just now, Lord Innit said:

I take it that you need to be able to read Japanese to play these games?

Yep. Not a problem for me, but for others...

[Lord Innit]

1 minute ago, Steven Pendleton said:

lol they messed up the timer with the 50Hz conversion! The timer is already strict enough as it is. Crash once or twice and you're basically done, so I don't even want to ever play the PAL version!

Yeah, I used to reduce the difficulty to have any chance of finishing a race

[Lord Innit]

2 minutes ago, Steven Pendleton said:

Yep. Not a problem for me, but for others...

Hmmm, I wonder if anyone has done a fan translation? I'm planning on getting a Satiator  with one reason being so I can try these translated games.

[Steven Pendleton]

1 minute ago, Lord Innit said:

Yeah, I used to reduce the difficulty to have any chance of finishing a race

Yeah, Out Run does not allow you many mistakes at all. One crash and you might as well restart. I find the game to be... both relaxing and kind of stressful at the same time. Like it's one of the most relaxing games I've ever played, but then the timer's like VISUAL SHOCK! SPEED SHOCK! SOUND SHOCK! NOW IS TIME TO THE 68000 HEART ON FIRE!!!!! GOGOGOGOGO OR RUN OUT OF TIME!!!!!!! and stuff, so yeah.

[Steven Pendleton]

2 minutes ago, Lord Innit said:

Hmmm, I wonder if anyone has done a fan translation? I'm planning on getting a Satiator  with one reason being so I can try these translated games.

Well, if you know Russian, the first game was officially released for Windows in Russia lol

[Steven Pendleton]

17 minutes ago, Mikebloke said:

Saturn is back out for me, it's admittedly the first time in years I've had a sega machine out. The reason is mainly because I finally grabbed a copy of Virtual On, which was one of those typical demo disk games I always wanted to get but never got round to it at the time. (another one I've only recently got was Bug! Which still amuses me to this day). I've been playing a few racing games too, I've done sega rally to death but hadn't finished Sega Touring Car Championship which I did today. I also tried another crack at Daytona USA championship but still got to do the 'new' tracks yet. 

 

I've tried fighters megamix but still need a proper go at it, and to finish Virtual On. 

Definitely need to grab Out Run if you want racing games and don't have a good version of it elsewhere. Game is excellent and remains one of the most influential racing games ever, although I suppose it's more of a driving game than a racing game and I think Suzuki said the same thing once. You did remind me to go look for Sega Rally on Monday, though. I always forget to look for that game (and 1999, which is what PowerSlave was called here, and Space Harrier, and the Mission Stick, and the Virtua Stick, and Border Down on the Dreamcast, and Castlevania Chronicle on PS1...), so hopefully I will remember this time.

[Lord Innit]

5 minutes ago, Steven Pendleton said:

and 1999, which is what PowerSlave was called here,

Great game.  It's called Exhumed here in PAL land.  One of my top ten Saturn games.  

[SlidellMan]

I am glad that the Satiator exists, along with Johannes Fetz' Jo-Engine.

https://www.jo-engine.org/

By the way, I told Jim Bagley of Rage Software about these, and he seemed interested.

[Mikebloke]

2 hours ago, Lord Innit said:

Great game.  It's called Exhumed here in PAL land.  One of my top ten Saturn games.  

Yep, got Exhumed too, I got stuck early on though, need to try it again! 

[Mikebloke]

Got a question if anyone is able to answer: For years I've had a Pseudo Saturn Kai device, the red one with the switch, its quite well known - works as a memory card, 1MB and 4MB expansion and region free. Copies of games generally work well, even if its Japanese on my PAL machine.

 

I've always longed to play Dragon Force 2 in English on hardware, but its never worked. This seems to be a common issue, and it does seem like it doesn't play well on Pseudo Saturn Kai, and I allowed myself to be defeated. However, it seems like translation patches in general almost never play nice on it. Policenaughts works fine, but I tried the Vandal Hearts patch today - could not get past the videos. I decided to patch my red cartridge, and now it doesn't even get to the menu, only loads the first video and pop its gone. There is something about holding L and R in the notes but this doesn't seem to work either - has anyone had any luck with these translation games or any others like Grandia - is there any memory card solution where it works for definite for anyone...

 

I caught myself looking at a Satiator today - I can't afford it! Fenrir is cheaper but part of me likes the idea of leaving the CD drive to run as long as it will do, I have a nice library of saturn games and would like to keep using it, even if an SD card solution is better!

[DragonGrafx-16]

9 hours ago, Mikebloke said:

Got a question if anyone is able to answer: For years I've had a Pseudo Saturn Kai device, the red one with the switch, its quite well known - works as a memory card, 1MB and 4MB expansion and region free. Copies of games generally work well, even if its Japanese on my PAL machine.

 

I've always longed to play Dragon Force 2 in English on hardware, but its never worked. This seems to be a common issue, and it does seem like it doesn't play well on Pseudo Saturn Kai, and I allowed myself to be defeated. However, it seems like translation patches in general almost never play nice on it. Policenaughts works fine, but I tried the Vandal Hearts patch today - could not get past the videos. I decided to patch my red cartridge, and now it doesn't even get to the menu, only loads the first video and pop its gone. There is something about holding L and R in the notes but this doesn't seem to work either - has anyone had any luck with these translation games or any others like Grandia - is there any memory card solution where it works for definite for anyone...

 

I caught myself looking at a Satiator today - I can't afford it! Fenrir is cheaper but part of me likes the idea of leaving the CD drive to run as long as it will do, I have a nice library of saturn games and would like to keep using it, even if an SD card solution is better!

It's probably more likely it doesn't like the PAL hardware and not the Pseudo Saturn cart... my NTSC system has taken any game I've thrown at it.

[Steven Pendleton]

Today is the 25th anniversary of the release of Sakura Taisen on the Saturn. This game is still one of Sega's most beloved games ever in Japan, one of the Saturn's best-selling games in all regions combined despite the game only being released in Japan, and it still remains culturally and historically significant even now with the ongoing musicals and stage plays. Looks like some of the 25th anniversary stuff that got put up on the official Japanese Sega store today already sold out. Good job, Sega. There are lots of things that I can't say that to you about, but I can this time, so good job, Sega. This is the only Saturn game that I own multiple copies of (mostly because it sold so well that it's unbelievably cheap at like 500 yen for a complete copy in like new condition lol).

 

 

You need to read Japanese to enjoy this game and you need to be able to read it fast because sometimes you only have 3 to 5 seconds to make choices. If you want to try it and don't understand Japanese or Russian, I did some research and there is actually a relatively recent English translation out there that was finished about a year ago or so. Not sure how good it is, but I imagine it's decent, so if you have a way to play it, try it.

Edited September 27, 2021 by Steven Pendleton

[SlidellMan]

Fun fact about Sakura Taisen: The creator was also responsible for the manga Virgin Fleet.

Now, more of XL2's Hellslave demos:

If you loved Powerslave/Exhumed/1999: Pharaoh's Resurrection, you will love this when it is finished.

Here's his chrome demo:

 

Jon Burton on Sonic R's Impossible Effects:

Another fun fact I wanted to mention is that Sonic R wasn't going to be a Sonic title, but a Formula One game.

[electricmastro]

SimCity 2000 looking good on Saturn.

 

 

[Mikebloke]

On 9/28/2021 at 1:44 AM, electricmastro said:

SimCity 2000 looking good on Saturn.

 

 

I played this a lot at the time because I never had a PC back then - I used to switch between playing this and other games because I had no memory card at the time - I think this takes about 2 thirds of the internal memory!

[Steven Pendleton]

10 minutes ago, Mikebloke said:

I played this a lot at the time because I never had a PC back then - I used to switch between playing this and other games because I had no memory card at the time - I think this takes about 2 thirds of the internal memory!

Internal storage is one of the greatest flaws of the Saturn from the consumer's perspective. The solution is of course to just go buy a memory cart since those things have ridiculous amounts of storage, but I still think it's ridiculous that individual games can use the majority of or even the entirety of the Saturn's internal capacity.

[Mikebloke]

6 minutes ago, Steven Pendleton said:

Internal storage is one of the greatest flaws of the Saturn from the consumer's perspective. The solution is of course to just go buy a memory cart since those things have ridiculous amounts of storage, but I still think it's ridiculous that individual games can use the majority of or even the entirety of the Saturn's internal capacity.

Its funny because at the time I used to laugh at the Playstation users having to have the 1MB memory cards, and always opted to buy more games rather than a memory card for the saturn. On Second thought, I think SimCity 2000 might have taken ALL the internal memory, some of the bigger games like Dragon Force and Shining Force III you could get 2 saves and some spare for small highscore games, but obviously sim city 2000 was big on data.

 

Edit: think I got my first memory card in 2002, but I think I accidently corrupted it with a game I know caused problems with memory so had to wipe it at some point.

Edited September 29, 2021 by Mikebloke