Agh. More Saturn Help, Please.

[WiseSalesman]

Sorry, guys. Being that this is my second post on the subject of Saturn help, I'm sure this must be annoying you by now. This is a new question though, I swear! :lol:

Saturn owners, I need your help. I have a japanese pro action replay that is able to save game files, and need to purchase a 4meg card so that I can play metal slug. What I want to be able to do is back up saved game files from the saturn memory to my pro action replay. I want to know how to do this before I make the ram card purchase, for the following reasons:

I know that a Saturn battery typically fails in about two years. I'm not about to let all my game data get lost that way. Furthermore, I was told (by some people on this board) that I would be better off getting a capcom ram card, as they are more reliable than a 5-in-1. However the capcom ramcard, has no space to save games.

The problem is, the pro action replay menus are completely in japanese. The main menu of the card has three options. As near as I can tell, one lets me load the game, one lets me choose cheats, and one brings up the credits. I need some help on figuring out how to move files from the system to this card.

*whew* Got all that? Lengthy post, eh? Well, I hope someone can help me out on this. I bought a Saturn specifically for Metal Slug (which I got for $25, although the manual has a coffee stain), and I'd really like to get around to playing it some day. Thanks in advance for all your help!

[Raedon]

go threw the menu's until you find one with two windows on the left and the right.. the right is the saturn saves the left is the pro action.. or it is on my pro action replay with no ram.

[BenT]

You want the fifth item down. That is the official Sega memory card, Japanese version. I don't trust anything else, PARTICULARLY when it comes to the Saturn. I've heard too many horror stories about third party Saturn memory carts (like yours) not working correctly.

There is also an American version, but that is harder to find and probably more expensive.

As a side note, I got my Saturn in May of 1999 and the original battery is still going strong, long after numerous DC VMU batteries have pooped out on me. I do have a replacement on hand just in case, though.

[WiseSalesman]

@Radeon: My P.A.R doesn't seem to have any menu like that. Oh well, thanks anyway.

@Ben T: Unfortunately, my Saturn battery has already died once, and I don't want to risk it happening again and losing all my data.

Aside from EBay, does anyone know anywhere I might be able to pick up either an official memory card or the capcom 4meg RAM cart? Unfortunately, it seems that finding official items like these is a lot more difficult than finding the third party counterparts.

[WiseSalesman]

Furthermore......can anyone tell me if this:


is official? Thanks.[/i]

[BenT]

Furthermore......can anyone tell me if this:


is official? Thanks.[/i]

That looks like an official Capcom 4 Meg RAM expansion except that the upper part of the label is erased. Here is a (poor) picture of what mine looks like:



I got mine with Vampire Savior. Maybe the one you found (at Buy-Rite, I see) is a cart that came with an older game? Or maybe the image is edited for some dumb reason.

In any case, DO NOT ORDER FROM BUY-RITE. They are horrible. Any number of people here can confirm that for you.

Aside from EBay, does anyone know anywhere I might be able to pick up either an official memory card or the capcom 4meg RAM cart?

Erm, see the link in my post above. The fifth item down is an official Sega 4 Meg Memory Card (Japanese version).

[WiseSalesman]

@BenT: Gah, I didn't even realize it was a link. Boy, do I feel stupid. Thanks for that, and also for the advice on Buy-Rite.

Now, does anyone know where I might be able to pickup an official RAM cart besides EBay and BuyRite? Thanks.

Also, BenT, would you mind elaborating on the "horror stories" you spoke of?

[BenT]

Looks like MarkinJapan has one listed on Game Trading Zone. I've never dealt with him personally, but I've heard he's a decent seller / trader. Failing that, might I suggest just picking up one of the Capcom games that includes the RAM cart? You can usually find a few for sale at the excellent site Wolfgames.

As for the unofficial Saturn carts that claim to have "memory card" capabilities, from what I've heard they either get corrupted easily or only serve to store your data temporarily so you can then transfer it to the internal battery-backed memory. No, I have no idea what the point of that is.

A friend has one of those 4-in-1 things and he cannot use it as a memory backup. He specifically said that it did not work with Panzer Dragoon Saga, fwiw. That's all I remember.