Saturn Emulation On...

[RCM]

Gametap! Finally! This has been in the works for a long time. I didn't think it was happening. When I formed a relationship with the GT folks they informed me that SS emulation was in the works and would roll out in early 06. Better late than never!

http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3158531

[rcgamer]

Uh, SSF has been great for a while now and it is free.

[cyberfluxor]

Wow, Saturn isn't that bad with price. Have fun RCM, I'll continue playing on my console. :)

[RCM]

Wow, Saturn isn't that bad with price. Have fun RCM, I'll continue playing on my console. :)

This won't stop me from playing my Saturn games/consoles either. It's pretty cool though!

[j_factor]

Is it specifically stated anywhere that it is emulated? It could just be the PC version of Bug!.

[roushimsx]

Uh, SSF has been great for a while now and it is free.

Well yea, but this is a nice way for tons of new people to get introduced to the Saturn. With a GameTap subscription they don't even have to worry about owning the games beforehand (or visiting the dark underbelly of the internet to get 'em for free), so all that's left now is for GameTap to bulk up their selection.

The emulation quality of Bug! is quite nice, but it'll be a while before we see just how robust the emulator really is. This is an especially good thing if they roll out some of those incredibly sought-after Sega-published titles. Hell, they've already got an agreement with Treasure and host some of their non-US games (Alien Soldier!), so it's almost a shoe-in that anyone will be able to play Radiant Silvergun via GameTap at some point.


Is it specifically stated anywhere that it is emulated? It could just be the PC version of Bug!.

It's not the PC version. Firing it up and seeing the Saturn boot up screen is a nice hint as is the copyright notice.

http://images.roushimsx.com/bugtap.jpg

[MarioMania]

Gametap could bite me..I stick with playing games on the System

[agbulls]

Uh...why would I want to play console games on my computer monitor again with the wrong controller?

This has never made any sense to me.

[Graham Mitchell]

Uh...why would I want to play console games on my computer monitor again with the wrong controller?

This has never made any sense to me.

Because you don't have access to the games any other way. I can't afford to blow $300-$400 on an outdated system and a copy of Panzer Dragoon Saga or Radiant Silvergun. If I ever wanted to see what all the fuss was about, this may be the only way.

[agbulls]

Because you don't have access to the games any other way. I can't afford to blow $300-$400 on an outdated system and a copy of Panzer Dragoon Saga or Radiant Silvergun. If I ever wanted to see what all the fuss was about, this may be the only way.

Thats why there are emulators my friend that don't require a monthly fee :)

[roushimsx]

Thats why there are emulators my friend that don't require a monthly fee :)

NEWSFLASH: Not everyone is a pirate.

[bangtango]

Because you don't have access to the games any other way. I can't afford to blow $300-$400 on an outdated system and a copy of Panzer Dragoon Saga or Radiant Silvergun. If I ever wanted to see what all the fuss was about, this may be the only way.

I can understand not dropping upwards of $200 on Panzer Dragoon Saga just because people on the internet say the game is great.

However, what is the problem with spending $25-40 on a Sega Saturn system? As for it being outdated, well so are 90% of the other game systems discussed on this forum.

I agree with you mostly, when it comes to the games you mentioned, but the Saturn system by itself isn't a waste of money and I don't know of many people who have to overpay to get one.

I've never even played a single "rare" Saturn game or ANY of the imports. All I own are the common fighting games, racing games and sports games but I don't regret buying a Sega Saturn one iota. One of the best $30 investments I've made.

[Graham Mitchell]

Thats why there are emulators my friend that don't require a monthly fee :)

But up to this point Saturn emulation has not been possible. That's what I'm saying. No, I wouldn't go onto gametap to play Sword of Vermillion. But I might for Shining the Holy Ark.

[Graham Mitchell]

I can understand not dropping upwards of $200 on Panzer Dragoon Saga just because people on the internet say the game is great.

However, what is the problem with spending $25-40 on a Sega Saturn system? As for it being outdated, well so are 90% of the other game systems discussed on this forum.

I agree with you mostly, when it comes to the games you mentioned, but the Saturn system by itself isn't a waste of money and I don't know of many people who have to overpay to get one.

Well, for me personally it wouldn't be such a hot idea. I owned one 12 years ago and I played though just about everything else worth playing. And to be honest with you, there were some fantastic games on it, but I wouldn't have much desire to play through them again. Just my own personal circumstance.

[GaijinPunch]

But up to this point Saturn emulation has not been possible. That's what I'm saying.

SSF, and it keeps getting better.

[roushimsx]

But up to this point Saturn emulation has not been possible. That's what I'm saying. No, I wouldn't go onto gametap to play Sword of Vermillion. But I might for Shining the Holy Ark.

Saturn emulation on PC has been a reality for years and Sega even licensed GiriGiri as a commercial emulator for Panzer Dragoon and a few other games. Of course that idea didn't pan out worth a shit because people hacked and pirated the hell out of the emulator, killing their low-cost digital distribution model.

Now GameTap has a quality Saturn emulator and you can actually once again show a little support for the system by signing up for GameTap, but of course everyone would rather stick with the original hardware and buy their games on the used market or just download the games and play 'em in SSF, completely ignoring the fact that they could actually pull their heads out of their asses and legitimately support Sega's system once again. Ahh yes, nothing like biting the hand that feeds you. It reminds me of the later half of the DC's active US life when people quit buying games because they realized they could download 'em.

Seriously, you're looking at like $7 a month for GameTap (and just $1 for the first month), you can record videos and snapshots of a higher quality than you could with a capture card, you can use any controller you want, and you'd be directly supporting not just Sega, but the Sega Saturn as well.

[gameofyou]

but of course everyone would rather stick with the original hardware

You can put me in that camp. Playing the original games on a real system is always better than emulation, IMO. Paying money to Gametap is not supporting the Saturn. That's just nonsense. The Saturn is discontinued.

[roushimsx]

You can put me in that camp. Playing the original games on a real system is always better than emulation, IMO. Paying money to Gametap is not supporting the Saturn. That's just nonsense. The Saturn is discontinued.

GameTap tracks game usage statistics (and even publishes a list of their top 5 most played games on their main page). Increased interest in a system would drive up the likelihood of more effort into securing additional licenses for that platform. Right now they're doing Sega-published games, but if it's a success, who knows who they might be able to license next?

But yes, you can have fun playing the second hand market and not at all bothering to support any legitimate effort to actually breathe new life into the platform.

[Graham Mitchell]

Well, tickle me pink. I had no idea what this "SSF" was you were all speaking of. Ok, I was wrong. But we had a discussion last month about whether Saturn software would appear on the wii virtual console, and several rather educated-sounding members agreed that because of the dual processors it would be nigh impossible to achieve. I extended this sentiment into the concept of Saturn emulation in general.

[gameofyou]

I paid for my games and legitimately supported the Saturn while it was still active. You may not want to be so quick to judge.

[roushimsx]

I paid for my games and legitimately supported the Saturn while it was still active. You may not want to be so quick to judge.

Wow, you're one of the exceptionally few that bothered to do so. Maybe if more people like you were around in 1996-1997 then the Saturn might have held on for another year or so. Shame you don't care enough about the system to continue to support it now that it's "on the market" again, so to speak.

[gameofyou]

Why would I buy the same games twice ?

[roushimsx]

Why would I buy the same games twice ?

There's over 860 different games on GameTap and they're all covered by a single monthly subscription fee. It's not like you're buying individual games multiple times. The system is loaded down with shit loads of great games and they do a killer job of listening to feedback and improving their selection. It's not like Nintendo's Virtual Console or Microsoft's Xbox Live Arcade.

Plus the aforementioned abilities to use whatever gamepad you desire (USB Saturn Pad? Saitek P2500? PS1 via USB?), easily record video, snag screenshots, or simply play with a cleaner output than was possible on the Saturn and a normal TV.

[Anthony1]

I've read many conflicting reports on the state of Saturn emulation. Many people bring up SSF or GiriGiri, like those emulators are 100 percent perfect. Truth is, Saturn emulation is pretty piss poor for alot of games on the system. Some games run great on SSF, but alot don't. Or have alot of issues, or you need a super powered PC to run them. I'm not sure I would put Saturn into the category of systems that can be emulated properly. If I want to play a SNES rom or a NES rom or a TG-16 rom or Sega CD iso or a PS1 iso, they all pretty much play perfectly with various emulators. You can't say the same thing for various Saturn Iso's. Some will run great in SSF or GiriGiri, and SSF has come a long way, but it's nowhere near as polished as PS1 emulation is.

The exciting thing about this announcement to me, is the possibility that the emulator that GameTap will be using is going to be much improved on SSF or GiriGiri. Of course, I'm not 100 percent sold on the fact that they are indeed using an emulator. I still think that Bug could be the PC version. Until I see Saturn games on there that definitely didn't have a PC port, I'm going to remain skeptical. But assuming it really is an emulator, there is that possibility that it will be much improved over any other Saturn emulators, and that somehow, someway, the code will get released onto the net, and we will finally be able to put the Saturn into the category of systems that can be emulated extremely well. That would be pretty cool.

I still play my Saturn games on a real Saturn, but I wouldn't mind being able to play Darius Gaiden on my laptop while on vacation.

[roushimsx]

I've read many conflicting reports on the state of Saturn emulation. Many people bring up SSF or GiriGiri, like those emulators are 100 percent perfect.

It's widely known that GiriGiri is incomplete and buggy; the emulator was only designed for a small handful of specific games. The version on the net right now has been hacked to support anything, but as compatibility testing from the internet has shown, that doesn't mean it can run much without problems.

SSF, on the other hand, is fairly impressive (http://evilboris.sonic-cult.net/SSF/index.php?x=satcomp) (note that it'd probably be pretty nice if people could test out some of the games with more recent versions to help 'im out).

With the advent of Core2Duos crushing the price previously powerful CPUs, the cost of having a CPU powerful enough to run SSF or GameTap's Saturn emulator at full speed is quite low.


If I want to play a SNES rom or a NES rom or a TG-16 rom or Sega CD iso or a PS1 iso, they all pretty much play perfectly with various emulators.

Until pSX Emulator and Xebra came along, you couldn't really say that about the PS1 emulation (and to some degree, you still can't). There's still tons of problems with PS1 emulation, either from a messy plugin-based system where no one can determine who's responsible for which bugs (at least Pete and the ePSXe boys hammered that one out eventually), from horribly counter-intuitive interfaces (Xebra :( ), or just not enough people doing reasonable testing on games (pSX Emulator suffers from this the most).

It's almost a benefit for Sega fans that Saturn emulation is just down to SSF and GameTap's (presumably) hand-tweaked and specialized emulator.

I'm also really looking forward to Stef's complete rewrite of Gens...I'd love to see it once again be able to compete against Kega Fusion (which it hasn't for quite some time).


I still play my Saturn games on a real Saturn, but I wouldn't mind being able to play Darius Gaiden on my laptop while on vacation.

You probably wouldn't be convinced that that was a Saturn game either, since it also received a PC port (http://www.mobygames.com/game/windows/darius-gaiden). :P The GameTap version of Bug! is quite obviously the Saturn version (much like their DC games are quite obviously the Dreamcast versions running on their own emulator), but indications point to Clockwork Knight getting added sometime this year, so that should be enough to convince you. :)

[TheRedEye]

The exciting thing about this announcement to me, is the possibility that the emulator that GameTap will be using is going to be much improved on SSF or GiriGiri. Of course, I'm not 100 percent sold on the fact that they are indeed using an emulator. I still think that Bug could be the PC version. Until I see Saturn games on there that definitely didn't have a PC port, I'm going to remain skeptical.

I can 100% vouch for this being a Saturn emulator, developed internally at GameTap. QA has to go through Sega itself, if that's any indication of the kind of quality you can expect from this and future titles.

Incidentally, GameTap's Dreamcast emulator is pretty swank too. Where GT really excels though is in its Windows 95 game support; I'd like to see an amateur emulator do that!

[Anthony1]

I can 100% vouch for this being a Saturn emulator, developed internally at GameTap. QA has to go through Sega itself, if that's any indication of the kind of quality you can expect from this and future titles.

Incidentally, GameTap's Dreamcast emulator is pretty swank too. Where GT really excels though is in its Windows 95 game support; I'd like to see an amateur emulator do that!



Cool, I can't wait until somebody hacks them somehow and get's those emulators onto the web, lol. Just kidding of course, that would be very, very wrong of course! :)