Sega Saturn Virgin

[substantial_snake]

Thread title. ^_^ I just bought a White Japanese Saturn and am pretty psyched. I know almost nothing about the console am was looking for some general advice and info.

-Region free options?

I am aware of some sort of cart that allows for region free, along with a switch and remember something vaguely about a switch less mod other then that I am completely blank.

-Games?

I am not familiar with the Saturn's library so any suggestions would be welcome.Any suggestions on a good light gun and good light gun games?

-Ram Cart/Cartridge Slot?

Whats the deal with these things, I still don't quite get it.

And pretty much everything else you may think of, I am walking into this with barely anything so post away if you think its important or interesting. Thanks!

[XYXZYZ]

Do you like shooters?

[treismac]

Saturn Bomberman is THE Bomberman game in the series. I suggest you pick up a copy if you enjoy the game. The graphics are cartoonishly beautiful and the soundtrack is charmingly appropriate for each world. I can't recommend this highly enough to fans of the series.

[Graham Mitchell]

The cartridge slot is for the battery back-up ram cart, or some games (the capcom dungeons & dragons games, several snk fighters) came with ram carts because they required extra memory to run properly. The action replay, which I'm told can make your saturn region free, also uses that slot.

Heres some top notch saturn games:
Pulirula
Gradius deluxe pack
Salamander deluxe pack
Nights into dreams
Guardian heroes
Panzer dragoon 1 and 2 (zwei)
Astal
Shining wisdom (buy an english copy)
Shining the holy ark (english)
Shinig Force 3 (english)
Panzer dragoon saga (good luck with that)
Saturn bomberman (as previously mentioned)
Die hard arcade
Elevator action returns
Night striker
Daytona usa (i like both versions. Blasphemy, I know)
Legend of oasis (english)
Any parodius game (sexy parodius is my favorite)
Twinbee deluxe pack
Dracula x: nocturne in the moonlight (castlevania symphony of the night with extra areas and character selection from game start. Also with horrible load times.)
Dark savior (english, absolute MUST play; spiritual sequel to land stalker. Brilliant game.)

I'm sure there are more, but these are some of my favorites. Despite what people will tell you, the saturn is a fantastic system. It's great for 2d games, and the 3d games got much better towards the end, when sega released a better programming library.

[Battlehork]

The Action Replay 4M Auto Plus: http://www.play-asia.com/paOS-13-71-...en-70-1b2.html

Does region free, gives you extra save ram, and acts as the 1M/4M system ram expansion cart for the (mainly) Capcom and Neo Geo ports that use it.

I personally wouldn't bother doing the hardware mods just for region free since the AR cart is fairly inexpensive and does other useful stuff.
There is one drawback to be aware of with the save ram on the AR cart though; games can't access it directly so you have to copy things back and forth from your Saturn's save ram if you're running out of space.

[Baloo]

The Saturn is the greatest system of all-time. Check out these games:

NiGHTS into Dreams
Panzer Dragoon Saga
Shining Force III
World Series Baseball II
Sega Worldwide Soccer
Sega Rally Championship
Daytona USA
Burning Rangers
Sonic R
Astal
Saturn Bomberman
Minnesota Fats: Pool Legend

And that's just some of the awesome US releases! There's plenty of awesome Japanese-only games too like Street Fighter Zero 3, Gradius Twin Pack, X-Men Vs. Street Fighter, etc. etc.

Also, If you like Light Gun games DEFINITELY check out these:

Virtua Cop
Virtua Cop 2
House of the Dead

[Xian042]

One thing I tell all new Saturn owners is this one small but important, easily over looked tip: Replace the back up battery ASAP. Its in a small compartment in the back of the system. Just take it out and replace it. Its very easy to find, its a common battery.
This battery is needed for the system to save games in internal memory. Without it, you could lose a save. Its still a good idea to use a backup cart though too.

[Sunnyvale]

It's already getting praise here, but the Panzer Dragoon series keeps my Saturn plugged in.

[BlastProcessing402]

One thing I tell all new Saturn owners is this one small but important, easily over looked tip: Replace the back up battery ASAP. Its in a small compartment in the back of the system. Just take it out and replace it. Its very easy to find, its a common battery.
This battery is needed for the system to save games in internal memory. Without it, you could lose a save. Its still a good idea to use a backup cart though too.

Good advice. You're pretty much going to lose those internal saves at some point no matter what, but a fresh battery to start out with will make it as long as possible. Those batteries really don't last long (relatively speaking, maybe a year or two), so a backup save ram cart is pretty much a must have if you have any saves you want to keep long term.

[gameofyou]

I have videos (6 volumes) of most of the good Saturn games here:
www.youtube.com/user/gameofyou1

Sometimes its better to see a game clip, than read a review, to find interesting games. Have fun!

[substantial_snake]

Do you like shooters?

Yeah one of my favorite genera, however I like almost every genera as long as it's afun game. The only genera I usually don't like are simulator-like sports games with tne exception of racing games. I'm also not a huge fighting game fan but thats mostly because I suck at them, get easily fusturated,stop playing then not get any better. Lol

The Action Replay 4M Auto Plus: http://www.play-asia.com/paOS-13-71-...en-70-1b2.html

Does region free, gives you extra save ram, and acts as the 1M/4M system ram expansion cart for the (mainly) Capcom and Neo Geo ports that use it.

I personally wouldn't bother doing the hardware mods just for region free since the AR cart is fairly inexpensive and does other useful stuff.
There is one drawback to be aware of with the save ram on the AR cart though; games can't access it directly so you have to copy things back and forth from your Saturn's save ram if you're running out of space.

After reading a bit I probably wont go that route because I've read that the waifer on thr Action Replay carts is significantly thicker then the stock carts, damaging the cartridge port over time. I vaguely recall reading something about using a cheap chip to enable region free and I'll probably go that route if I can find that link again.

One thing I tell all new Saturn owners is this one small but important, easily over looked tip: Replace the back up battery ASAP. Its in a small compartment in the back of the system. Just take it out and replace it. Its very easy to find, its a common battery.
This battery is needed for the system to save games in internal memory. Without it, you could lose a save. Its still a good idea to use a backup cart though too.

Thanks for the tip, is this a battery I could find in a convience store-easy or a avaliable everywhere online-easy?

[kedawa]

I used to just swap batteries with the power on. No saves lost.

[Baloo]

If you're afraid of the battery dying on the CR2032, just get an OFFICIAL RAM Cart.

[xelement5x]

Yes, I've also heard issues about the Action Replays damaging the cart slot over the long term, but you could always just plug it in and never take it out. I got a Saturn the other day that I swear had the cart put in and it was never removed until I got it. I'm guessing because they didn't realize you needed to remove that little piece of fabric between the battery and the contacts in the back of the unit, it was still there...

[XYXZYZ]

Yeah one of my favorite genere

Well, the Sega Saturn is THE system for shooters. Whenever someone says "what do I do with a Sega Saturn, the first thing I do (if they like shooters) is have them watch the Sega Saturn Shooting Special.

Get it here-
http://www.segagagadomain.com/retro_core__info-sss.htm

It's what made me get a Japanese Saturn.

[BlastProcessing402]

I used to just swap batteries with the power on. No saves lost.

That's all well and good if you know ahead of time that the battery is about to need replacement, but most people don't until it's too late.

[A Black Falcon]

After reading a bit I probably wont go that route because I've read that the waifer on thr Action Replay carts is significantly thicker then the stock carts, damaging the cartridge port over time. I vaguely recall reading something about using a cheap chip to enable region free and I'll probably go that route if I can find that link again.

Just buy one, leave it plugged in, and don't remove it, that's the best thing to do. Leaving it in all the time isn't as likely to be a problem as plugging in in and out all the time, I'm pretty sure.

[Edmond Dantes]

If you want game suggestions, well there's a port of X-Multiply for the Saturn. It's expensive, but its probably one of the best shmups ever made.

If I ever get a Saturn I'm going to hunt it down even though I have the AFAIK identical PS1 port.

I want more info on this Action Replay thing. How does it work and how does it enable 4MB Ram expansions? Is it like Sonic and Knuckles where you can plug in another cart on top of it?

[nebrazca78]

The cartridge slot is for the battery back-up ram cart

The backup RAM cart is a flash cart, there is no battery in there.

I used to just swap batteries with the power on. No saves lost.

Excellent advice, I didn't know that.

.

[Zama]

Welcome to the Saturn club!

- Firstly, the Action Replay 4M Auto Plus is the first step to gaming import (and easiest way too). No need to remove the cart once you put it in. When you turn on your Saturn, it will boot up to the Action Replay menu. If my memory is correct, it should give you the following options: Start Game, Cheat Codes, Memory Manager, and Credits. Also, you can move your saves to the cart for long term storage via the Memory Manager feature. It does have a built-in 4M-1M switch for games that require the extra memory so you're covered.

-As for games, these are the ones that pop up in mind at the moment: Panzer Dragoon Saga, Shining Force III, Dragon Force, Sakura Wars 2 (if you know Japanese or use a online guide), and Radiant Silvergun (English-friendly).

Hope you enjoy your newly brought Saturn