Ultra Madness St-Key....what is it?

[SteelGeneral]

I bought an Atari 2600 and a Turbografx-16 from a guy off of craigslist and he threw the Ultra Madness St-Key cart in the mix,saying he thought it was a Turbografx game. While I clearly could tell it wasn't a Turbografx game, I took the cart anyway, becuase I really wondered what it was. After attempting to find it on the internet I've discovered it'll plug into a Sega Saturn. But, I don't really know what it does. If anyone here has any clue I'd appreciate it if you could help me out.

[Sailorneorune]

It is for playing import Saturn games. Got any pictures of it?

[SteelGeneral]

I can't actually get a picture right now(brought the cart home, and left it with my other consoles) but it looks a lot like this one: http://i2.tinypic.com/or1m4h.jpg except it says "st key" instead of "4m turbo key"

It would be pretty cool if I can use it to play imports. But I wonder, can it be used to play backup copies?

[Steve W]

I've got one. It lets you play Japanese Saturn games. Well worth keeping if you have a Saturn and are considering getting into imports.

[ProgrammingAce]

can it be used to play backup copies?

No, none of the carts can.

[SteelGeneral]

No, none of the carts can.

Ah, too bad it can't play them. It's really hard for me to find Saturn games, let alone import Saturn games here in Lexington, KY. Guess I'll have to hunt around ebay for some cheap import saturn games to give it a try.

[A Black Falcon]

I can't actually get a picture right now(brought the cart home, and left it with my other consoles) but it looks a lot like this one: http://i2.tinypic.com/or1m4h.jpg except it says "st key" instead of "4m turbo key"

It would be pretty cool if I can use it to play imports. But I wonder, can it be used to play backup copies?

That it says "ST Key" instead of "4M" leads me to guess that it likely doesn't have the ram expansion included... so it likely won't help for the games that use the extra ram. I can't be sure of that of course, but it sounds likely based on the names.

[Ed Oscuro]

If you wanna play "backup" Saturn games...emulate (no disc needed after all) or get the system modded.

The best Saturn cartridge to my knowledge is the Action Replay 4M Plus. It won't let you play the few games that require a ROM cartridge, but none of the best games need one (or they're available on other systems anyway). It sells on NCSX for $29 before S&H.

[Johnny Pow!]

I got an ST Key with my white Saturn. It's strictly an adapter that allows US games to play on an import Saturn...I'm not sure if it works the other way around. I do know there's no extra RAM in it.

My black Saturn came with an adapter that allows import games. I'll have to swap them and see if the adapters go vice-versa.

[Icarus Moonsight]

No, none of the carts can.

Well, I know there is one way... :D

[Chainclaw]

I had an ST-Key for a few years before upgrading to one of the Action Replay 4M Plus.

The AR lets you do the one thing the ST-Key can, as well as offer more backup memory (can't save to it in-game, but you can copy over saves from the front end), works as a 4 meg and 1 meg ram cart for games that need it, and lets you do the usual AR / Game Genie stuff on top of that.

[SteelGeneral]

Ah, I'm back. Well, I finally bought a Japanese Sega Saturn game(the first evangelion game). But, I can't figure out what I need to do with the st key to make it work. Right now I've just plugged it into the saturn, popped the game in, and started the system, but this doesn't work. Can anyone tell me how to use this device?

[Steve W]

Hmmmm, it could be that your Saturn's cartridge port is shot. It's a frequent problem with Saturn consoles, unfortunately. They're worse than NES cart slots for going bad. I suggest trying it on a spare console (I'm seeing this from the point of view of a geek like me who usually has two or three of the same console lying around in storage tubs).

With my ST-Key and my Saturn, it always fires up immediately. I bought my ST-Key with a bundle of four fairly decent imports at a game convention, and all I've ever had to do to get them to work is start the console with the cartridge in it. But like I said, those cart ports really suck, so if it's not working for you then the cartridge port is bad and the Saturn's not receiving the data it needs to boot a Japanese disc. You might need to get another Saturn. Hopefully that won't be too hard. I find them fairly easily around these here parts.

[SteelGeneral]

Thanks for the advice, I'll try to clean up the connectors a bit and pray.

I've just recently got into collecting Sega Saturn games so I don't have any backup consoles yet. Plus, my st key came from a really dirty lot off of craigslist. So, I guess I oughta try to find another one at the local flea market.