Misc Saturn Questions (save batteries, cases, and more)

[eatenbygrues]

So I figured it would be a lot easier to put all these questions into one thread instead of making multiple ones as a lot of these should be pretty straight forward answers.

So recently I have been getting back into the Sega Saturn and there are a few things I have been having trouble tracking down / figuring out:

1.) How long is the internal Saturn battery supposed to last? I have heard in some places it's 5 years and I have heard 2 in others. When I pulled my Saturn out of storage I was saddened to find my Dracula X saves all vanished.

2.) Is there a good place to buy Saturn replacement cases?

3.) With the 4MB cart games like Vampire Savior and X-Men vs. Street-fighter I have heard mixed things about how they were originally packaged. I have seen copies of Vampire Savior without the cart but with a spine-card so I'm guessing it had a stand-alone package. On the other hand I have never seen a copy of X-Men vs SF with a spine card and all the disc only copies I have seen come in cases with a transparent spine (as opposed to black) which makes me think they were part of the cart package. So did all cart games have a stand-alone release? Is there a list of the ones that did and didn't?

4.) Another point of contention is the Strikers 1945 I & II ports on the Saturn. Any opinion on if these are better, worse, equivalent to the PSX ports?

5.) I have got a silver (long box) copy of Virtua Fighter 2, what is up with these? Are these kind of like Saturn greatest hits versions?

I think that covers it for now, I didn't want to put too many questions in here.

[Shadow Kisuragi]

1) Shelf life of the batteries is 10 years. I'm not sure how long it lasts on average when in use.

2) I haven't found a good place to buy replacement cases. I typically purchase cheap sports games and repurpose the case, and then attempt to sell off the remnants.

3) I'm pretty sure X-Men vs SF only came with the 4MB. I'm not sure about others.

4) Never played Strikers, sorry :(

5) VF2 was released in multiple packages. The silver package was exclusive to VF2, AFAIK. It was released in the 3-pack, the NFR packaging (cardboard sleeve), and in the full case with the silver spine.

[fahlim003]

1.) How long is the internal Saturn battery supposed to last? I have heard in some places it's 5 years and I have heard 2 in others. When I pulled my Saturn out of storage I was saddened to find my Dracula X saves all vanished.

It varies but I've had internal batteries last over 3 years. If you use new ones you should be good for a while. For long term, nothing beats an official memory cartridge.


2.) Is there a good place to buy Saturn replacement cases?
You mean game cases for the often broke hinges? ebay is a good place to start, at least that's where I've looked for cheap ones.


3.) With the 4MB cart games like Vampire Savior and X-Men vs. Street-fighter I have heard mixed things about how they were originally packaged. I have seen copies of Vampire Savior without the cart but with a spine-card so I'm guessing it had a stand-alone package. On the other hand I have never seen a copy of X-Men vs SF with a spine card and all the disc only copies I have seen come in cases with a transparent spine (as opposed to black) which makes me think they were part of the cart package. So did all cart games have a stand-alone release? Is there a list of the ones that did and didn't?

I believe they all received stand-alone releases on top of boxed w/ expansion sets too. This came up a while ago, but I have a spine stand-alone X-Men VS Street Fighter, although it is a bit more uncommon than the boxed issue, for example. So as I am aware every game that came boxed also saw stand-alone release, however this doesn't work the other way around for expansion compatible games, obviously. If all else fails, check a great database which is SataKore: http://www.satakore.com/cartridge.php



4.) Another point of contention is the Strikers 1945 I & II ports on the Saturn. Any opinion on if these are better, worse, equivalent to the PSX ports?

In brief, PS1 is the better package for Strikers 2 (NTSC-J only) and Saturn is marginally better for Strikers 1. Stick to TATE mode in either game and you'll be good, otherwise I wouldn't bother as Original 1 mode doesn't play the same.


5.) I have got a silver (long box) copy of Virtua Fighter 2, what is up with these? Are these kind of like Saturn greatest hits versions?

Sounds good to me

[FoxNtd]

For long term, nothing beats an official memory cartridge.

QFE.

Not only is the memory cartridge much more reliable but the internal memory simply isn't big enough anyway. I can't imagine how anyone who has a Saturn can survive without a memory cartridge... anyone with more than about 4-6 games, at least.

[fahlim003]

QFE.

Not only is the memory cartridge much more reliable but the internal memory simply isn't big enough anyway. I can't imagine how anyone who has a Saturn can survive without a memory cartridge... anyone with more than about 4-6 games, at least.

Nights, VF2, Shining Force 3, etc..
Many games like those can quickly consume more than 1/2 the interal memory so yeah, the memory cartridge is a must have for a decent collection.

[eatenbygrues]

I'm actually using the Action Replay 4-in-1 which seems to have quite a lot of space. Are there any advantages to using the official memory cart over it? (and for the record, yeah I forgot to copy those saves to the memory cart).

[Baloo]

The silver spine on a Saturn game meant the game was a million-seller. As far as I know, the only two games with silver spines were Sega Rally Championship and Virtua Fighter 2 (who were the only million sellers.)

And yeah, your best bet is definitely an official backup cart. They're Very reliable and hold a LOT of saves. Or if you want to save space you could go with the Action Replay 4-in-1, but sometimes it gets a little finicky with which games it likes to save, especially imports. If you want to back up your import saves, go with the official RAM cart and just take them off the internal battery when you're done playing or whenever.

[fahlim003]

I'm actually using the Action Replay 4-in-1 which seems to have quite a lot of space. Are there any advantages to using the official memory cart over it? (and for the record, yeah I forgot to copy those saves to the memory cart).

Plenty, since the ARP4in1 doesn't allow direct saving/loading like the official memory cartridge. Essentially, it works as a back-up and that's it and even then saves eventually corrupt, again, unlike the official memory cartridge. Then there's the issue with extended use where like other 3rd party cartridges, the cartridge slot becomes worn out and harder to correctly insert games. It's personally happened to me and my ARP4in1 and with the official memory cartridge no such warping or distortion occurs and it generally always inserts/works properly.

Pros are such that it allows for imports, has back-up memory, and allows for expansion games all in one package without modification. That's about it. It's no substitute for the official memory, that's for sure.

[Shadow Kisuragi]

The silver spine on a Saturn game meant the game was a million-seller. As far as I know, the only two games with silver spines were Sega Rally Championship and Virtua Fighter 2 (who were the only million sellers.)

That's right, the original Sega Rally Championship had a silver spine as well.

[BetaWolf47]

The tough thing is finding the memory cart in the wild x_x
I have yet to see a one!

[eatenbygrues]

Any one have a good picture of what the official US cart looks like? (is there an official US cart?). Looking on e-bay I see a plethora of different memory carts, not really sure which is which.

[Baloo]

http://www.shinforce.com/saturn/information/Cart-BACKUP.gif

It looks like that.

[crazyjackcsa]

The silver spine on a Saturn game meant the game was a million-seller. As far as I know, the only two games with silver spines were Sega Rally Championship and Virtua Fighter 2 (who were the only million sellers.)

And yeah, your best bet is definitely an official backup cart. They're Very reliable and hold a LOT of saves. Or if you want to save space you could go with the Action Replay 4-in-1, but sometimes it gets a little finicky with which games it likes to save, especially imports. If you want to back up your import saves, go with the official RAM cart and just take them off the internal battery when you're done playing or whenever.

Not exactly true. The silver spine is on Sega Rally and VF2, but those games aren't available in long box form in the standard white case.

[fahlim003]

Any one have a good picture of what the official US cart looks like? (is there an official US cart?). Looking on e-bay I see a plethora of different memory carts, not really sure which is which.

You don't necessarily need a US cartridge, as they tend to be slightly hard to source and mostly overpriced. Any Europe and Japan region cartridges will work on the US console and vice versa. I don't know how it is anymore but I got mine from the UK and it was around $15 shipped 7 years ago. Alternately, import shops/website should carry Japan carts and from what I've seen they aren't too expensive either.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Sega-Saturn-Power-Memory-Cartridge-Import-Japan-/350323021167?cmd=ViewItem&pt=Video_Games_Accessories&hash=item5190e1156f

That's just an example and surely you can find some cheaper than that, especially if it's cart only.