Sega Saturn UK - Sega Saturn FAQ Frequently Asked Questions - SegaSaturn.co.uk

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1. Arcade in your house

Saturn has a large amount of great arcade games like Sega Rally or Virtua Fighter so it's a perfect system for those who like quick and addicting titles that will make you feel like you own an arcade machine!

2. A home for Shoot-em-ups and 2-D games

Saturn is considered as a perfect console for any respectable SHMUP lover, Saturn's shmup library includes such games like Radiant Silvergrun, Soukyugurentai, Galactic Attack aka Layer Section, Battle Garegga, Dodonpachi, Panzer Dragoon and much more. Unfortunately, vast majority of shmup's were released in Japan only.
Saturn was an underrated system due to the worse 3D capability than PSX though games like Burning Rangers or Panzer Dragoon Saga proved that SS was close or even equally powerful. But no one doubts that it out shined PSX in terms of 2D graphics. Most of 2D titles are great in both graphics and gameplay and such ones like X-Men Children of Atom (released on both systems) clearly showed that Saturn was more powerful 2D system.

3. Play imports without modding

You can run imports without a mod-chip, just buy an Action Replay or ST-Key cartridge and you will be able to play almost every import on your Saturn. Although you can face problems like slower gameplay or graphical glitches unless you get a 50/60 Hz selector mod.
Yet, you should be able to play imports since many great games were released only in Japan and can't miss them.

4. Internal memory and quick saves

Saturn has an internal memory so you can save your games without using a memory backup cart (though the capacity of internal memory is pretty small). Saving time is non-existent, you won't even find a "Save" option in most tiles since they use auto-save. Forget about 'Cheking-Overwriting (are you sure?)-Checking Memory Card' like it was on PSX/PS2.

5. Low failure rate

Among all CD/DVD based systems Saturn is the most durable. My Saturn is more than 10 years old and I NEVER had ANY problems with it. And that's what most Saturn owners will tell you.

6. Emulation? Nah

You could ask what's the purpose in buying the system when there's an emulator, especially if it's a quite old console. But when it comes to Saturn forget about flawless emulation. Ok, the SSF does his job pretty well but forget about it unless you own a really (and I mean REALLY) good PC. Besides, even the best emulation won't give you the same feeling. Better stay with original systems- it's basically more fun!

7. Relatively few craps, lot of quality titles

There were only about 250 titles released in Europe and USA (and almost twice as much in Japan) and there very few games you could call a crap. The good games to bad games ratio is higher than on many other consoles.

8. Great exclusives

The most basic thing that will make you buy a system are the games you won't find anywhere else. Here's a short list of the best Saturn exclusives:

-Panzer Dragoon series (3 titles including Panzer Dragoon Saga, one of the best, if not the best and unfortunately one of the most expensive Saturn games)
-Sega Rally
-Virtua Fighter 2
-Radiant Silvergun
-Dragon Force
-Nights Into Dreams
-Shining Force III, Shining Wisdom and Shining the Holy Ark
-Soukyugurentai
-Guardian Heroes
-Sega Worldwide Soccer
-Exhumed
-Deep Fear

And much more...

9. CD player

Saturn is also a great CD player, with some nice interface and interesting options like, for example, pitch adjusting. You can also use your games as audio CDs and listen to your favorite game tunes.

You can either submit an In-Depth review or a Brief review of any game (even if they already have one)
If you are a member of our forum don't forget to include your forum ID/Alias as reviews will earn you a 'Contributor' rank!

Game reviews can be submitted in one of three ways:

Brief reviews should be in plain text and include a main body of text with your review which must be no more than 200 words, it should also include an overall score out of 10 for the game.

In-Depth reviews should also be submitted in plain text, there is no word limit. This review must also include a proper 'Breakdown' at the end of the review, the breakdown should be as follows:

Breakdown
Gameplay:	0/10 Include comments on general gameplay.
Graphics:	0/10 Include comments on quality and use of graphics.
Sound:	0/10 Include comments on quality and use of sound.
Longevity:	0/10 Include comments on how long the game lasted, how challenging it was and potential replay value.
Originality:	0/10 Include comments on how original the game is when compared to other games available at the time.

Overall:	0/10

Note: You do not need to format your breakdown into a table as above, plain text is fine.

We will normally NOT require box scans, but two differing screen shots of the game you are reviewing are always appreciated as this saves us serious amounts of time.
Screenshots can be in any format and should be sent in their original capture size, these can be obtained through a digital camera shot of the screen, a direct shot through a video capture card or a screenshot taken through an emulator (usually the best way).
Either attach your screens to your email or upload them to an image hosting site (PhotoBucket, ImageShack etc.) and give us the link to the images.
If emailed we will always acknowledge receipt of your reviews, reviews are always processed and uploaded at the weekend so don't panic if you submit a review on Monday and it's still not there on Friday. If you have any more questions on this matter please post in the appropriate section of our FORUM

If you have to constantly select the language and date every time you turn on the Saturn, that means the internal battery that keeps track of this information is dead, this battery also keeps your internal save games stored.

On the back of the Saturn, there is a small panel that you can remove and you can clearly see a battery that looks like a large watch battery, replace the dead battery with an identical or compatible replacement.

If you own a backup cart but your Saturn isn't detecting it then just take it out and put it in again until it works.
The cart slot isn't very reliable and it takes a while for the slot to detect a cart, so just keep trying and fidget with it a little until your cart works.
Once the cart is working then I suggest you leave it be and do not mess with it.
Failure to keep saves on cartridges can relate to a dead battery inside some cartridges which can usually be changed, but is unfortunately also an un-repairable symptom of old, faulty or damaged cartridges.

More than likely your internal backup battery is dead, you need to replace it with a CR2032 / DL2032 button cell or equivalent (the same batteries used in Dreamcast VMUs). See the question below for help replacing this cell:

The internal clock battery is located behind the door to the left on the back of your Saturn console:

fig. 1.1 If a VCD card is fitted (as above) pull the small silver handle on it's rear to remove.

fig. 1.2 Once the VCD card is removed (if there was one installed) you will now clearly see the battery in it's holder as circled above.

To remove the battery (if indeed there is one there) use your index finger to push the edge of the battery inward towards the Saturn as far as you can then lift upwards...

fig. 1.3 Once the battery is in this position simply lift it out and replace with another CR2032 button cell or equivalent.

The new battery is fitted the same way around as the old one (see pictures above if there was no battery installed) by simply inserting into the holder (as in fig. 1.3) and pushing forward and down until it remains in place.

IMPORTANT NOTE:
YOU SHOULD ALWAYS AVOID ALLOWING YOUR FINGERS TO TOUCH THE BOTTOM END OF A NEW BUTTON CELL BATTERY

There are many reasons why your Saturn may not be reading discs properly, lets start with the discs themselves... Look at your disc and make sure it is clean and has no dust or residue, you can clean a dirty disc with a fine lint free cloth. If your disc is scratched there are many high street stores that have disc polishing facilities that remove scratches. Hold your discs up to a powerful light, if you can see many small pin-holes in the disc then the disc is damaged beyond repair and will more than likely have to be thrown away. Another reason for discs not being read is that the laser lens (shown below) is dirty;

Take a lint-free cotton swab and lightly dip into some alcohol, squeeze off excess liquid then lightly clean the surface of the lens.
Dry the lens off with the other end. You can also try using a good quality CD lens cleaner disc available from most audio and electronics stores. Another, albeit rare reason, is that the disc drive itself is not connected properly.

Open the Saturn and look at the white, flat 'ribbon' cable to the right that runs from the motherboard to the laser assembly and make sure it seated properly.
Do the same for the power cable of the disc drive (both shown circled above).
Use a good quality CD lens cleaner in your Saturn & make sure your game discs are clean and in good condition.

If troubles continue the laser bias must be adjusted internally (more info to come), If all this fails, the laser may be dead and require replacing.

RGB SCART or Component Cable. More information being written on this, check back soon...

What is the difference between 50Hz and 60Hz?
50Hz is the default refresh rate used by countries that use the PAL and SECAM TV standards.
This means that your TV re-draws the picture on the screen 50 times every second.

60Hz is the default refresh rate used by countries that use the NTSC standard
This means that your TV re-draws the picture on the screen 60 times every second.

What is all this PAL/SECAM/NTSC nonsense?
Well, simply put, when colour TV was first introduced, the manufacturers needed to come up with a way to make the colour TV signals compatible with old black and white TVs.

They did this by encoding the colour signal into standard black and white television images using the several systems, and PAL, NTSC and SECAM ended up becoming the default standards. The encoded colour signal is simply ignored by Monochrome TV Sets, or indeed any colour TV Set that does not decode the colour signal type you are sending to it.

What relevance does this have to gaming, and more importantly, the Sega Saturn?
Well for a start, games consoles had to be tailored to suit each region's chosen colour TV standard and refresh rate. Before the days of multi region TVs, UK consoles were traditionally locked to output PAL at 50Hz. The Sega Saturn itself outputs PAL when running at 50Hz, and NTSC when running at 60Hz. The Saturn does not actually output SECAM, instead, SECAM countries had to use an RGB cable.

What is this RGB?
RGB is a video format that is neither related to PAL, SECAM or NTSC. However as far as TVs are concerned it must run at standard TV resolutions and 50/60Hz.

RGB is always output by the Saturn whether it's running in 50 or 60Hz mode, and is a direct analogy of the output of the console, offering the purist picture quality.

Now here's a tricky bit...

A UK TV can support 60Hz without actually supporting NTSC!

There is a standard called PAL 60, which is the PAL colour system applied to the 60Hz' standard resolution and refresh rate. However the Saturn does not output this.

If you have a TV that only accepts RGB and PAL 60 but not NTSC, you will need to use an RGB cable to achieve a colour picture from the Sega Saturn. It should be noted now that there are some TVs out there that do not have RGB inputs.
In this case you will either have to buy a new TV (recommended), or an NTSC to PAL 60 converter.

It also has to be said that although Japanese and European RGB 21-Pin connectors look the same, the pins inside the plug are wired a different way around so cannot be interchanged without use of an adapter or modification.

How does the difference between 50/60Hz effect games themselves?
This change of refresh rate between regions posed a problem for console game developers, who often use video refresh intervals for timing in games. This meant that when games were converted to 50Hz, they had to have their timing code altered to run at the correct speed.

Another problem created was that the default 50Hz TV standard has a higher vertical resolution than that of the 60Hz. This also meant that when games were converted to 50Hz they had to have their display resolution changed or otherwise would display black bars at the top and bottom of the image, with a distorted aspect ratio.

What is a 50/60Hz switch?
While many titles were optimised properly to compensate for the difference in speed, most were not optimised to compensate for the difference in resolution, and indeed some were not optimised at all in any way, shape or form.

This is why some people choose to fit a 50/60Hz selection switch to their Saturn, this enables the console to be switched to 60Hz mode, allowing unoptimized titles and imports to be played at the correct speed and aspect ratio.

An example is Panzer Dragoon SAGA, the UK version of the game was not optimised at all, so running the game in 60Hz produces exactly the same results as playing the American version. What about imports?
As stated before, in order to run imports at the correct speed without problems you will need a 60Hz switch. Where can I find instructions for these modifications?
Full instructions can be found HERE

How will this effect 50Hz optimised titles?
However running a '50Hz optimised' game at 60Hz more often than not, causes severe timing issues, and on titles that have been optimised to run in the correct aspect ratio, distorts the aspect ratio and often causes cropping.

A variety of expansions including Memory Carts, RAM Upgrades, Cheat Carts, Region Unlock Carts, Development and Backup systems etc. Some of the more common carts are detailed below by metalsonic :

Backup Memory Cart
The Backup Memory Cart was essentially a memory card. I believe it was created because the internal memory for the Saturn wasn’t enough for many saves and the battery that kept your saves died quickly so all your saves would be erased. This cart was very useful as it kept your saves nice and safe.

1MB RAM
The 1MB RAM was for games released in Japan as some games required the extra RAM to play. An example is Metal Slug. NOTE: CANNOT BE USED ON A NTSC/PAL CONSOLE. A NTSC-J console is needed or a Pro Action Replay (more on this below) should be used as a substitute.

4MB RAM
It’s the same as above except compatible with more games. An example is X-Men VS Street Fighter.

Netlink
A 28.8K modem for your Saturn that was similar with the Xband for Sega Genesis and SNES (SFC). It used the Planetweb browser so you could browse the web. The Netlink can still connect to the web and play games online to this day as long as you have a Dial-up connection (Incompatible with AOL). Note: you can find fellow NetLink players at: The NetLink League

Action Replay 4Mb Plus
The ultimate cart for any Saturn gamer. The Pro Action Replay allowed you to play imports, was a 1MB and 4MB RAM cart, and could save your games (technically). By technically, I mean that the PAR could not support direct saving and loading. You could transfer your saves from the internal memory to the PAR and vice-versa. The next best thing would be either region-modding your Saturn or getting a Japanese console. The cart is not without faults though as some versions of the PAR have problems with some games. Also KoF 95, Ultraman, and In The Hunt would not play as they need a special cart so no PAR could play these games. More can be seen on our 'Cartridge Slot Expansions' page.

The Saturn's cartridge slot can address up to 128MBytes or RAM, although this functionallity was sadly never utilised.

The 'Communication Connector' port is located on the back right of your Saturn next to the A/V port:

The only consumer uses for this connector were to hook up a floppy drive (only released in Japan) for game saves, internet downloads, printers, and more commonly to link up two Sega Saturn consoles via a Link Cable to enable linked play between the two systems.

To use this method of multiplayer (well 2 player) gaming you will require 2 Sega Saturn Consoles + all cables and controllers hooked up two 2 separate television sets. You will also need 2 copies of whatever game you want to play! Most games compatible with the link cable display the link logo... The following games are confirmed compatible with the link cable:

Yes. The controller ports and circuitry are identical regardless of region and we have come across no examples of controllers that only work in one region. Of course if it is a special controller for a specific game then that game and the correct console for it's region is required.

Yes. The Saturn already produces digital audio internally, it just lacks an output for it. The best way is to add a common S/PIDF digital audio output to the system. Details on this modification can be found on this webpage: GamesSX

Sega Saturn games and consoles are actually region locked.

This means that a modification is required to run games from one region on another region's console, or alternatively an import loader cartridge such as the "St-Key" or "Action Replay" can be used, however if you're going to the trouble of performing the 60/50Hz switch you might as well do the region mod while you're in there.

Where can I find instructions for these modifications?

Full instructions can be found HERE

What about importing a Saturn from the region I want to play games from?

This is also an alternative to modding, albeit a stupidly expensive one.

>>!!!! However you MUST check the voltage of the console before plugging it in !!!!<<

Sega Saturn consoles from Japan, America and other areas, use a voltage of 100 to 120 Volts.
Most of Europe uses 230 to 240 Volts.

Plugging an imported console into the wrong voltage will blow the console.

If you import a console from a country that uses a higher voltage than you, you must purchase a "Step-Down transformer" (They are readily available from eBay and many electronic stores) which converts your mains voltage to the same voltage of the console.

For running a console in a country that uses a lower voltage than you, you must purchase a "Step-Up Transformer". Also see the What is all this 50/60Hz and Region stuff? for more in-depth details.

You will require a 'mod-chip'. More information being written, check back soon...

Yes you can, however this requires a VCD expansion card which needs to be installed in the back of your Saturn:

fig. 4.0 A PAL Sega Saturn VCD Cartridge (although the stickers on these cartridges differ they are all essentially the same)

fig. 4.2 Insert the open end of the card into the gap below the writing as shown, slide it in gently until it meets resistance, then with equal pressure on the back push it with a little force all the way into the slot...

fig. 4.3 Once installed the VCD card will automatically run it's own software on boot-up when it detects a compatible VideoCD has been inserted into the Saturn.