Starting a Saturn library. Where do I start, what advice do you have, and questions.

[GREEN00]

I have access to an import gaming store, and on impulse bought Panzer Dragoon RPG (Saga) for $30, because I've made it my mission to experience quality JRPGs, I'm not squeamish about playing imports, and I don't want to spend $250 for a US copy.

First some basics about the console/accessories,

*What is a good price for a US saturn loose? What about with packaging (but still used)?

*Are all US saturn models effectively the same?

*Is Action Replay Plus the recommended solution for imports, memory storage safety (ie:will it erase my save data?), and the required 1MB or 4MB add on required for certain games? If Action Replay Plus isn't recommended, what is?

*I know about the required CR2032 battery, are there any other unusual hardware quirks to look out for?

*Are there any peripherals or cables you recommend?

*Is there any other advice/info you have to share?


I've spent the past several days researching the Saturn's full library (US, PAL, and japanese) pretty exhaustively, and these are the games and prices I've found to be of interest to me (some games are prohibitivley expensive, like Dungeons & Dragon Collection, so they've been excluded). I'm interested in JRPGs primarily, but really I seek the best of a consoles library or games that are personally interesting to me.

Game---US price---Japanese price

*NiGHTS into dreams---$12---$10

*Christmas NiGHTS---$35---$10

*Panzer Dragoon---$15---$15

*Panzer Dragoon II Zwei---$20---$15

*Guardian Heroes---$55---$35

*Burning Rangers---$75---$30

*Dragon Force---$60---$20 or less

*Shining Force III---$80---$15

*Shining the Holy Ark---$40---$15

*Virtual On---$10---$10

*Astal---$35---$40


Import only,


*Dragon Force II---none---$35

*Wachenroder---none---$25

*Shining Force III scenario 2---none---$35

*Shining Force III scenario 3---none---$30

*Devil Summoner---none---$10 (and Soul Hackers is being localized in a few months, so I'll just buy the US 3DS release of it)

*Snatcher---none---$25


What else would you recommend? I'm not interested in sports or racing games at all, and I'm not interested in spending more than $70 on any individual game.

Are there any translation solutions you suggest (ie:websites with full translations)? I'm thinking about learning basic japanese in response to so many import games. I've played games in japanese before, but such a large number of games probably demands some greater commitment on my part.


And lastly, is there anything I've missed, any topic you can advise me on?

Thank you very much for your time.

[XYXZYZ]

Do you like shooters? Sega Saturn is the #1 console for shmups, and it's the primary reason I own one.

http://archive.org/details/RetroCore-SSSS-part1of3

[Jack7]

if you like the shinobi series I highly recommend shinobi legions. When I first popped it in I groaned. digitized actors? pre-rendered, backgrounds? i feel a batman forever/mk mythologies flashback coming on. reluctantly I continued, and the control is tight, the difficulty is fair and it plays as well as any other shinobi game.

[GREEN00]

Do you like shooters? Sega Saturn is the #1 console for shmups, and it's the primary reason I own one.

http://archive.org/details/RetroCore-SSSS-part1of3

Thank you for the reply, but I'm about as casually interested in shmups as possible. I take notice when Treasure puts out a new game/rerelease, but that's about it. I certainly noticed the variety of shmups in my saturn research, and any that looked even passable I literally took note of for future reference.


if you like the shinobi series I highly recommend shinobi legions. When I first popped it in I groaned. digitized actors? pre-rendered, backgrounds? i feel a batman forever/mk mythologies flashback coming on. reluctantly I continued, and the control is tight, the difficulty is fair and it plays as well as any other shinobi game.

Thank you for the suggestion, I just watched some youtube footage and it both looks like a game with quality gameplay and so bad its good cinematics and general absurdity (a ninja fighting freaking dinosaurs).

[wiggyx]

- No more than 30 bucks in working order.

- No, if you ever want to mod it, then the best model to have is the 32pin model 2 (http://www.segastyle.com/saturnmod.html)

- I generally recommend against the PAR as it has a tendency to wear out the already fragile Saturn cart port. If you want to play imports, then I would suggest either picking up a JP Saturn or modding a US unit and creating backups using this patch to play on your modded US system (http://madroms.satakore.com/#SRP)

- If you want to extend the life of the battery, then make sure to leave the system plugged in at all times. I'd also seriously consider a memory cart since the internal save memory is based on that battery and as such is quite volatile. The only other real issue I can think of is the weak cartridge port that I already mentioned. Unfortunately, it can be tough to test that before buying a used system :(

- If you have any interest in playing Bomberman at some point, then 2 multitaps are an absolute MUST! Google Saturn Bomberman, you'll see why ;)

- If you aren't aware already, there are 2 types of controller that were sold in the US. Make sure you look for a system with a later verion (JP style) controller (see pics)

You do NOT want this
http://cdn1.sbnation.com/products/large/4255/Saturn%20Pad%201.jpg?1322741924

You DO want this
http://www.old-computers.com/MUSEUM/photos/sega_saturn_pad_1.jpg

- If RPGs are your thing, then Albert Odyssey, Shining the Holy Ark, Grandia, and Magic Knight Rayearth are worth looking at.

[GREEN00]

Thanks for the reply wiggy.

-Modding isn't my thing. Is there a reliable mod-free way to play imports on a US system you suggest?

-When you say "fragile cart port" I assume you mean it will stop/have trouble reading carts if stressed in certain ways?

-I wasn't aware about the 2 different controllers, that's a valuable tip. The latter controller does indeed look more ergonomical.

[FrankSerpico]

I use a PAR for my imports and I've never had any trouble with it. They also go for cheaper on ebay now than they did 5-6 years ago when tons of people were getting into Saturn collecting. Also if you're a fan of 2D fighters a lot of the popular Japanese titles like the SF Alpha series and the Vs games have dropped in price recently

[theclaw]

The other major issue is that PAR cannot save or load files in-game. It only can be used to backup.
Chances are you'll find memory management annoying with imports if using one.

One difference Saturn has from other consoles, is that region and copy protection involve separate cracks. Making it harder than usual to do everything.
Region cart or mod by itself won't load backups.
Modchip by itself won't load genuine imports.

[GREEN00]

The other major issue is that PAR cannot save or load files in-game. It only can be used to backup.
Chances are you'll find memory management annoying with imports if using one.

One difference Saturn has from other consoles, is that region and copy protection involve separate cracks. Making it harder than usual to do everything.
Region cart or mod by itself won't load backups.
Modchip by itself won't load genuine imports.

Is there an alternative to PAR you recommend? Something for easily playing imports, saving US games or import games easily, and not having to worry about save data being erased?

[theclaw]

Not that I know about. You have to settle for less than ideal without modding.

[PreZZ]

You can use a swap disc trick to boot backups. I try games this way before paying for them, and Im glad I didnt spend 120$ for burning rangers. This game has not aged well... its bad. And if you dont have 350$ for Panzer saga, its the only way to play the game. You can also check this store for a pre modded saturn, I will be buying one soon. http://www.segastyle.com/store/index.php?route=common/home

[theclaw]

Yeah to think japanese panzer saga can be found under $30.

[wiggyx]

Thanks for the reply wiggy.

-Modding isn't my thing. Is there a reliable mod-free way to play imports on a US system you suggest?

-When you say "fragile cart port" I assume you mean it will stop/have trouble reading carts if stressed in certain ways?

-I wasn't aware about the 2 different controllers, that's a valuable tip. The latter controller does indeed look more ergonomical.

No prob!

Not really unless you want to mod the system. The PAR is great, but it WILL wear that port out. If you plan on putting it in and NEVER taking it back out, then you'll likely be fine. But your cart port will be pretty worn and likely won't accept any 1st party carts anymore :(

For sure. The original US controller is a miserable POS. It literally hurts my hand after about 15 minutes of use.


The other major issue is that PAR cannot save or load files in-game. It only can be used to backup.
Chances are you'll find memory management annoying with imports if using one.

One difference Saturn has from other consoles, is that region and copy protection involve separate cracks. Making it harder than usual to do everything.
Region cart or mod by itself won't load backups.
Modchip by itself won't load genuine imports.

Exactly. This is why I prescribed the method that I did. Not the "best" way, but the easiest for sure.

[FoxNtd]

You need to do more research. Half those prices are unreasonably high, I really hope you're not paying that much for those Japanese games.

[PreZZ]

You need to do more research. Half those prices are unreasonably high, I really hope you're not paying that much for those Japanese games.

I thought the american prices were very low too, they seem like a steal!

[FoxNtd]

I thought the american prices were very low too, they seem like a steal!

Ha! I wouldn't know. I never have nor ever will buy US SS materials or games. :popcorn:

[PreZZ]

Ha! I wouldn't know. I never have nor ever will buy US SS materials or games. :popcorn:

Unless you can read japanes, I dont understand how people can play JRPG with crappy internet guides... shmups and action games are ok, but why play a japanese game thats available in english?

[FoxNtd]

Unless you can read japanes, I dont understand how people can play JRPG with crappy internet guides... shmups and action games are ok, but why play a japanese game thats available in english?

Ha. I do read Japanese, and speak it, and on rare occasion even write it by hand.

Why not choose an English release? Because it's a waste of both money and space. It's so much easier (and substantially cheaper) to just own NTSC-J and nothing else. Plus I could go on a rant about how localization is shit and there's censorship, and the occasional instance where the localizing studio has a God Complex and decides they know better than the original dev and alter the balance of elements in the game etc. etc. but I need not bother, certainly you've heard it all before, and already understand all these aspects. Even if none of these were issues there is the inescapable fact that translating ruins the emotional feel; Japanese has too many grammatical functions that do not exist in other languages and so the depth of a character and certain jokes; lots of things in speech is lost the moment you give up the original script. I value this content much like the authenticity of the audio and video by using a real console. :)

I don't need any of that noise. Real system (Saturn in this case), true audio and video, no censorship or altercations. The way it's meant to be played. :)

[GREEN00]

I don't think I understand what "backup" means. Does PAR allow me to save my game like say, a PS1 memory card? Or not? What's the difference?


You need to do more research. Half those prices are unreasonably high, I really hope you're not paying that much for those Japanese games.

The ONLY thing I've bought so far is Panzer Dragoon RPG. The prices I listed were based off of http://www.pricecharting.com/, or current ebay listings.

Are there any websites you'd recommend with lower prices (ideally that accept PayPal)? Is there a price guide you're aware of that disputes ebay pricing?

[FoxNtd]

I don't think I understand what "backup" means. Does PAR allow me to save my game like say, a PS1 memory card? Or not? What's the difference?

You'll be interested to know about three different kinds of cartridges for the SS. The one that is mainly seen outside of Japanese SS is the PAR/Pro Action Reply already being mentioned because, simply by using it, region checking is thrown out the window so you don't have to worry about doing any weird tricks or modifications to the hardware to boot games with different region codes.

Second, there's the memory cartridge also called power memory; this is effectively your "memory card" as you are familiar with already with PS. The PAR can store data I believe; however it does not function like a memory cartridge and can only be managed via the PAR itself (or the SS system menu, not sure how it works, never had or used a PAR); in other words you cannot read or write data to it while playing a game. Most games from what I've played so far, permit the ability to save and load from either SS onboard memory or the memory cartridge. Sometimes you'll be required to choose one or the other when starting the game and can't change your mind without resetting, and even rarer still, you have no choice at all. Radiant Silvergun comes to mind; you have no options and the game automatically uses the onboard memory. (Of course in the system menu, you can make a copy of the data to your memory cartridge.) :)

Lastly there are RAM expansions just like the one N64 had. You can't save data to these, they just expand how much system memory the SS has and only a few games even require this thing. If I recall correctly you can't get this in USA because none of the games that used it had USA releases.




The ONLY thing I've bought so far is Panzer Dragoon RPG. The prices I listed were based off of http://www.pricecharting.com/, or current ebay listings.

Are there any websites you'd recommend with lower prices (ideally that accept PayPal)? Is there a price guide you're aware of that disputes ebay pricing?

Yeah I was scratching my head when I saw you list a price for Azel that's double what I paid and a massive number for Wachenroder, which I happen to be playing right now, which cost me two bucks. And both games are CIB and near mint too. I can't write it off as blind luck; I really expect these games to float around the prices I paid for them unless things have changed a bit in the last 2-3 years...

I check prices the way a Japanese person probably would. Amazon.co.jp and Yahoo Auctions. Hopefully the item in question can be found on one of those two sources and gauge the price accordingly. I guess you can branch out and check other stores and sites like Rakuten, etc. I'm not interested what foreign people are willing to cough up for something, I'm interested what something seems to be worth where it's from. In a "perfect" world I could buy things for the same prices as people residing in Japan do but it doesn't work that way, but I try. :)

[wiggyx]

Ha. I do read Japanese, and speak it, and on rare occasion even write it by hand.

Why not choose an English release? Because it's a waste of both money and space. It's so much easier (and substantially cheaper) to just own NTSC-J and nothing else. Plus I could go on a rant about how localization is shit and there's censorship, and the occasional instance where the localizing studio has a God Complex and decides they know better than the original dev and alter the balance of elements in the game etc. etc. but I need not bother, certainly you've heard it all before, and already understand all these aspects. Even if none of these were issues there is the inescapable fact that translating ruins the emotional feel; Japanese has too many grammatical functions that do not exist in other languages and so the depth of a character and certain jokes; lots of things in speech is lost the moment you give up the original script. I value this content much like the authenticity of the audio and video by using a real console. :)

I don't need any of that noise. Real system (Saturn in this case), true audio and video, no censorship or altercations. The way it's meant to be played. :)

Yeah, a waste for you, but I imagine about 99% of us here can't read or speak Japanese. Congrats to you for having that ability, but all the ranting in the world won't make JRPGs more playable for someone like myself, despite what may be a poor translation or having been sold in a case that's a "waste of space".

[FoxNtd]

Oh I didn't realize that having redundant duplicates of hardware and those extremely enormous and apparently fragile cases wasn't a waste of space. =P

I think the first time I saw the USA SS casing all I could say was "wtf".

The minute you consider overseas stuff against the original, a wild amount of silliness shows up, at least half of which just leaves me scratching my head as to how it came to be in the state it's in. o__O

[theclaw]

True. It's not feasible to try and narrow down the margin of error on that. To have a better idea how many people in Japan take care of their games than we do.
From what I can tell usually Japanese sellers don't bother advertising bad condition games to the west. I'm sure there has to be a "healthy" supply of beat up games within Japan we'll never know about.

[FoxNtd]

True. It's not feasible to try and narrow down the margin of error on that. To have a better idea how many people in Japan take care of their games than we do.
From what I can tell usually Japanese sellers don't bother advertising bad condition games to the west. I'm sure there has to be a "healthy" supply of beat up games within Japan we'll never know about.

There are more broken FDS and Twin FC units than you can shake a stick at, that much is certain. XD

Last time I spoke with someone who still owns an FDS, he said, "I'd like to play SMB2 but it's such a bother to change the FDS' belt."

Also there are a handful of items that are dirty, missing boxes, etc. Typically many people consider an item that's not CIB to be "JUNK". How's that for strict evaluation?

[GREEN00]

FoxNtd, it looks like I'm pretty much restricted to ebay and my local import store (which follows ebay pricing). so I'm just going to have to accept the inflated western prices on the japanese games.

So, I'm currently looking to buy in the near future,

-US Saturn console ($30ish, though a local craigslist offer has it for $45+Albert Odyssey)
-Action Replay 4M Plus ($25)

[Rickstilwell1]

There are more broken FDS and Twin FC units than you can shake a stick at, that much is certain. XD

Last time I spoke with someone who still owns an FDS, he said, "I'd like to play SMB2 but it's such a bother to change the FDS' belt."

Also there are a handful of items that are dirty, missing boxes, etc. Typically many people consider an item that's not CIB to be "JUNK". How's that for strict evaluation?

Reminds me of how I felt about those Atari 2600 cartridges that took me so long to sell. For me in a world where flashcarts exist, something that's not CIB loses all the appeal it had. Especially with games that old where the labels are peeling themselves off.

[Gameguy]

FoxNtd, it looks like I'm pretty much restricted to ebay and my local import store (which follows ebay pricing). so I'm just going to have to accept the inflated western prices on the japanese games.

So, I'm currently looking to buy in the near future,

-US Saturn console ($30ish, though a local craigslist offer has it for $45+Albert Odyssey)
-Action Replay 4M Plus ($25)
Albert Odyssey is worth more than that by itself, if you can get a system with that consider it a nice bonus.

[FoxNtd]

FoxNtd, it looks like I'm pretty much restricted to ebay and my local import store

There's still plenty to see even on just ebay for SS games.

As for Albert Odyssey I recently sold it (to another DP member :)) for $3 or $4. It was an OK game but as soon as I was done I felt that I probably would never have the itch to do a 2nd run so why keep it? Let the next guy enjoy it. :) Well whatever version of the game you buy give it a try at least once.

It's definitely not a $30+ RPG that's for sure. (RPGs that expensive are extremely rare in retro.) :P Yeah may as well point it out now, this is not just for SS. RPGs from Japan in general become worthless, just about all of them. Dropping only $3-5 at a time for 30-50 hours of gameplay a piece, how's that for entertainment value.. :popcorn:

[Rickstilwell1]

There's still plenty to see even on just ebay for SS games.

As for Albert Odyssey I recently sold it (to another DP member :)) for $3 or $4. It was an OK game but as soon as I was done I felt that I probably would never have the itch to do a 2nd run so why keep it? Let the next guy enjoy it. :) Well whatever version of the game you buy give it a try at least once.

It's definitely not a $30+ RPG that's for sure. (RPGs that expensive are extremely rare in retro.) :P Yeah may as well point it out now, this is not just for SS. RPGs from Japan in general become worthless, just about all of them. Dropping only $3-5 at a time for 30-50 hours of gameplay a piece, how's that for entertainment value.. :popcorn:

At least in the US it's starting to become doable for the newer systems as RPGs are more mainstream than they used to be here. I got Blue Dragon for Xbox 360 for $5 and Fallout 3 for PS3 for $4.

[GREEN00]

There's still plenty to see even on just ebay for SS games.

As for Albert Odyssey I recently sold it (to another DP member :)) for $3 or $4. It was an OK game but as soon as I was done I felt that I probably would never have the itch to do a 2nd run so why keep it? Let the next guy enjoy it. :) Well whatever version of the game you buy give it a try at least once.

It's definitely not a $30+ RPG that's for sure. (RPGs that expensive are extremely rare in retro.) :P Yeah may as well point it out now, this is not just for SS. RPGs from Japan in general become worthless, just about all of them. Dropping only $3-5 at a time for 30-50 hours of gameplay a piece, how's that for entertainment value.. :popcorn:

$5 for japanese fluent buyers perhaps, but ebay has created a market for non-japanese speaking RPG fans like myself where $30 seems like the norm. It's just as well, I can accept a price hike within reason, the yen to dollar ratio does not favor western buyers right now, and I likely avoid excess shipping fees+wait times. And the benefit of buying these import games at a retail location are being able to look them over before I buy, and easily get a refund if it doesn't work.

[theclaw]

AR also enables PAL games on US Saturn, with one key difference: they will be run at 60hz.
That's OK if not far better in most cases. The few optimized titles would have issues.

[Gameguy]

There's still plenty to see even on just ebay for SS games.

As for Albert Odyssey I recently sold it (to another DP member :)) for $3 or $4. It was an OK game but as soon as I was done I felt that I probably would never have the itch to do a 2nd run so why keep it? Let the next guy enjoy it. :) Well whatever version of the game you buy give it a try at least once.

It's definitely not a $30+ RPG that's for sure. (RPGs that expensive are extremely rare in retro.) :P Yeah may as well point it out now, this is not just for SS. RPGs from Japan in general become worthless, just about all of them. Dropping only $3-5 at a time for 30-50 hours of gameplay a piece, how's that for entertainment value.. :popcorn:
Are you talking about the US version or Japanese? I assumed he meant a US Saturn was being sold locally with the US version of Albert Odyssey, that's still worth quite a bit complete.

[FoxNtd]

Yeah I was talking about the original being cheap as toilet paper; I know he mentioned buying a US SS with the US game with it.

[BlastProcessing402]

6103

The Memory Card Plus is what I use. It both allows direct saving (unlike the GameShark which I used previously) and allows playing of imports.

It doesn't act as extra RAM for those games that need it, but I never played any of those games anyway.

[SaturnHST]

I recommend getting your console modded with the region-free bios and modchip. This way you can play any Saturn game from every region, retail discs or cd-rs. There is no need to toggle region-switches and it leaves your cartridge slot free for official memory and ram carts. You don't even have to mod it yourself. I know a guy on another forum who has modded at least 6 of my consoles for me.

I did start out playing imports with the Action Replay cart but there are some issues. Sometimes the cartridge slot will not detect the AR so you have to keep reseating it until it works. Also when ever you want to play a different import game, you have to reset the console and go through the AR's menu to bypass the region lockout again. There are some SNK games that have graphical glitches when used with the AR cart or any 4MB ram cart; I can't remember which ones but I'm pretty sure one or all of the King of Fighters and Samurai Spirits games has this issue. There is also a Gundam game that doesn't display the intro when used with the AR. And of course, you cannot play King of Fighters 95 or Ultraman: Hikari no Kyojin Densetsu since they require their own unique ROM cart. Then there's the issue with the inability to save directly to the AR cart.

So the AR is an easy and cheap option for playing imports, but once you build up a collection and get more into the system you might find it annoying to use.

[wiggyx]

It's most likely cheaper to just pick up a JP Saturn at this point than to ship it off to have in modded.

[Edmond Dantes]

Personally I have a model one Saturn and use a PAR 4M plus, and so far no problems.

But what's all this I hear about a fragile cartridge port? Someone explain to me what should eventually happen, because I have a hard time believing you can damage a system just by inserting and removing a cartridge a bunch of times. My NES still works, after all..

[gameofyou]

Personally I have a model one Saturn and use a PAR 4M plus, and so far no problems.

Agreed. There are very few games that will give you problems with a PAR 4M Plus. In fact, I can only think of a few. Ironically, though, the very first game the TC purchased (Panzer Dragoon Azel) is one of them. If you don't use a specific code, the game will not run.

[theclaw]

Any saved data larger than the Saturn internal memory is incompatible with PAR. Since there's no normal way to move files between it and a direct saving backup cart.
I believe Dezaemon 2 and Dragon Force are able to create such data.

[wiggyx]

Personally I have a model one Saturn and use a PAR 4M plus, and so far no problems.

But what's all this I hear about a fragile cartridge port? Someone explain to me what should eventually happen, because I have a hard time believing you can damage a system just by inserting and removing a cartridge a bunch of times. My NES still works, after all..



Not all cartridges and cartridge ports are the same.

First off, the PAR connector is about 1mm thicker than any 1st party cart. This alone causes undue wear on the port.

On top of that, the pins in the Saturn cart port are formed in a manner that they act like springs, much like all cart ports. The problem is that the are especially soft springs and that means they have a tendancy to loose their ability to make effective contact with ANY cart after repeated use.

I've seen at least one fellow go so far as to hard wire a memory cart to the board for this very reason. It can be quite maddening. As I stated before, if you stick a PAR into thing and never take it back out, then you may never have any problems. But I'd bet a fair amount of money that most any Saturn which has been mated to a PAR for a year or more won't get along with a 1st party cart.

This isn't some sort of myth or urban legend. Of the 10 or more Saturns that have passed through my possession, at least 2/3 have had issues with their cart ports, whether completely unresponsive, finicky, or otherwise, and there's really no way to fix them as far as I know.

[Edmond Dantes]

I've seen at least one fellow go so far as to hard wire a memory cart to the board for this very reason.

Did he leave instructions as to how to do this? And does doing this prevent the PAR from working?

Sounds to me like the optimal solution would be to just get a Japanese saturn and use the PAR for non-Japanese releases, if that'll even work.

[theclaw]

The setup has slightly fewer incompatible games. You'd be able to run special cart requiring games like JP King of Fighters 95 and that Ultraman one, with the base Saturn being Japanese.
Still no PAL King of Fighters 95 though.

[wiggyx]

Did he leave instructions as to how to do this? And does doing this prevent the PAR from working?

Sounds to me like the optimal solution would be to just get a Japanese saturn and use the PAR for non-Japanese releases, if that'll even work.

This was like 10 years ago, so I have no clue at this point :(

But it's pretty straightforward. you could just solder the pin on the cart to the bottom side of the board. I don't think you could retain use of the port and the memory card together unless you built a switch in. As long you can find a pin-out, then a ground switch should do the trick.

[SaturnHST]

It's most likely cheaper to just pick up a JP Saturn at this point than to ship it off to have in modded.

Japanese Saturns usually cost $60-70 lately.

You can get a US Saturn for around $30-40 and have it modded region-free for $30. It would cost about the same and you would have more capabilities.

Personally I use a US Saturn that has the region-free bios and a gray Japanese case, so it looks and works just like a Japanese Saturn because the bios is based on the Japanese version. I also have the Victor Twin Operator card installed and mainly use the cart slot for official memory/ram carts. I don't use cd-r's but I have other Saturn consoles with modchips installed for that. I might try out those patched Shining Force 3 translations someday.

[wiggyx]

I see quite a few on eBay in the $40 shipped range. I'm sure you have to pay shipping both ways to have your US console modded, which will be at least 50 bucks. I don't see the savings.

[theclaw]

Japanese Saturns usually cost $60-70 lately.

You can get a US Saturn for around $30-40 and have it modded region-free for $30. It would cost about the same and you would have more capabilities.

Personally I use a US Saturn that has the region-free bios and a gray Japanese case, so it looks and works just like a Japanese Saturn because the bios is based on the Japanese version. I also have the Victor Twin Operator card installed and mainly use the cart slot for official memory/ram carts. I don't use cd-r's but I have other Saturn consoles with modchips installed for that. I might try out those patched Shining Force 3 translations someday.

Yeah the region-free bios doesn't do 50hz/60hz either. Of course, *much* more of an issue for PAL systems.

[SaturnHST]

Well it depends on how your're sending it to, but I had some of mine done at $20 each + return shipping. You can fit a Saturn in a flat rate Priority box for $10-11. It's about the same price as an AR cart.

Even if there's not much of a savings, I much prefer putting any disc in and booting the game from the Saturn's main menu as if it was a stock console, rather than rebooting and going through the AR's menu (if the cart slot will even acknowledge it's in there).

And PAL users will have to add 50/60hz switches no matter what method they use, even with an AR cart.

[IHatedSega]

Has anyone played Astal, is it rare? It has pretty graphics, but I cant get it to work on SSF.

[FoxNtd]

Has anyone played Astal, is it rare? It has pretty graphics, but I cant get it to work on SSF.

I have Astal (original). It's not rare. No idea about rarity in US or EU.

[Koa Zo]

Astal: not rare at all. Very pretty, but boring boring boring. So slow and sluggish.

[LaughingMAN.S9]

the best method for playing import saturn games by far is the action replay 4M plus


this acts as a modchip to get around region blocks, it acts as a game genie for inputting codes, its also a ram cart which allows you to place fighting games which could only run with the expanded memory both 1mb and 4mb and a flash memory card for storing your game saves long term


only downside to going this route is in the game saves. it doesnt work like the official sega memory card where you could save directly to it in game. to use it here you have to save the game normally to the system memory and then within the saturn menu or the action replay menu, manually transfer the saves over


as long as your cart slot is still intact you should be good. just dont be a dick about it and keep inserting and removing the cart, put it in once and leave it there and you should have no problems

i used my cart back in 06 or 07 and never removed it and it still works like a champ, in fact im probably going to go play panzer dragoon saga on my jap skeleton saturn right now lol

[IHatedSega]

Astal: not rare at all. Very pretty, but boring boring boring. So slow and sluggish.

Ok thanks for the info. by the way Waku Waku 7 is also a Japanese Saturn game, that game is awesome.

[wiggyx]

Well it depends on how your're sending it to, but I had some of mine done at $20 each + return shipping. You can fit a Saturn in a flat rate Priority box for $10-11. It's about the same price as an AR cart.

Even if there's not much of a savings, I much prefer putting any disc in and booting the game from the Saturn's main menu as if it was a stock console, rather than rebooting and going through the AR's menu (if the cart slot will even acknowledge it's in there).

And PAL users will have to add 50/60hz switches no matter what method they use, even with an AR cart.

Same here. I'm not at all suggesting a cart, rather just a 2nd console.

[GREEN00]

Well, I decided against the Saturn for now. After checking back at my local import store with my newfound knowledge, I looked over their saturn selection and it was both poor and overpriced (most everything they sell is above ebay pricing), and I can't say I'm thrilled with having to rely entirely on individual ebay purchases. This coulped with the Saturn's eccentricities have convinced me to hold off (potentially for years) until I find a really good bundle or have a lot more money to spend.

I'm content with filling out my game selection for my existing consoles until then.

[theclaw]

Your best bet will be finding a Japan contact or proxy. Saturn was so much more successful there, to an extreme we really can't spell out as foreigners all that well.