hyper dual is so much that i want to start burn roms as "backups" ;)
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Sega Saturn |OT| Appreciation and Emulation Thread
- Thread starter Deleted member 3010
- Start date
I recently unearthed my model 1 Sega Saturn from storage. Man, I haven't hooked this thing up since 2006. Back then I got deep into Saturn gaming and even wound up importing a JP white unit and a bunch of games. But over the years I regretfully sold off a few huge games from my collection; Shining Force 3 (NA), Radiant Silvergun and Dungeons & Dragons Collection.
The main reason why I dug it out was because I was browsing eBay for a copy of Growlanser Generations, the Working Designs NA release. Then that got me reminiscing about WD's entire catalog. Localization issues aside (damn, Silhouette Mirage) they were responsible for introducing me to a slew of RPGs that weren't from Square Soft or Enix. And I realized that I never played Magic Knight RayEarth that I bought from eBay for $65 in 2004. Holy shit, I can't believe this game now averages over $300 for a complete copy. Not to mention the prices for Panzer Dragoon Saga... my personal white whale.
Anyways I'm beginning a play through of MKR. I'm still early on, but man does this game have some charm. After this, I'll finally play through Shining the Holy Ark. And I really want to get a hold of those HD retrovision genesis component cables & Saturn adapter.
By the way... are Saturn accessories region free? I'm interested in importing the black & yellow Stinger.
The main reason why I dug it out was because I was browsing eBay for a copy of Growlanser Generations, the Working Designs NA release. Then that got me reminiscing about WD's entire catalog. Localization issues aside (damn, Silhouette Mirage) they were responsible for introducing me to a slew of RPGs that weren't from Square Soft or Enix. And I realized that I never played Magic Knight RayEarth that I bought from eBay for $65 in 2004. Holy shit, I can't believe this game now averages over $300 for a complete copy. Not to mention the prices for Panzer Dragoon Saga... my personal white whale.
Anyways I'm beginning a play through of MKR. I'm still early on, but man does this game have some charm. After this, I'll finally play through Shining the Holy Ark. And I really want to get a hold of those HD retrovision genesis component cables & Saturn adapter.
By the way... are Saturn accessories region free? I'm interested in importing the black & yellow Stinger.
Ah, I love hearing stories like these, about people's history with video games and the like. As to your question about region-free accessories, from what I've researched they should work.
Awesome, thanks for the tip. Yeah, I never owned the Saturn in heyday of the late 90s. I picked mine up while I was working for Funcoland (which eventually became Gamestop) where my coworker and I would have endless debates over Sega vs Nintendo. After getting deep into the Dreamcast (I even worked the midnight 9/9/99 launch, but that's another story) I decided to buy a Saturn from our store. Wow, I wished I hadn't of missed out on this system only so I could better support Sega.
And now I've built up a short list of "inexpensive" Saturn games that I never picked up and aim to get in the coming months:
Virtua Cop 1 & 2 (and a Stunner go with them)
Decathlete
Daytona USA CCE
Panzer Dragon
Dark Savior
Soviet Strike
Crosspost my shmups so far:
Great collection! Of those I have Macross, Soukygurentai Otokuyo and Dodopachi. How are the Thunder Force Gold packs? Are they worth getting over the original Genesis cartridges?
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Anyone know where to buy good Sega Saturn video cables these days? They seem to be sold out everywhere :/
Here. Not cheap but this is the best cable build quality/image fidelity-wise you can possibly buy anywhere.
edit: oh dang, they are out of stock currently. It says it will be available in the future soon, though.
Yeah, was gonna say that they're out of stock at retrogamingcables. Guess I'll just have to wait.If you are in the EU/UK try retrogamingcables.co.uk. I wished I spent a bit more on the packapunch SS cables because the one I got for the pc engine is amazing.
Are there any photo comparisons between their packapunch cables and others? I'm using an official JP21 cable and am fairly happy with it, but I'm interested in the quality difference between RGB cables.
Wait. I have packapunch cables for MD1 and Saturn and it's totally worth it. They usually open up orders for them once a month so you won't have to wait long.
The colours are really vibrant on my pc engine packapunch cables. I think it looks like it's running on emulator
Sync on luma;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3cUv21SbHfQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T28RqD8T6Fg
Are there Saturn component cables? I know that they don't support component natively, but is there a way to get an RGB pass-through that way?
You can use an adapter to use the Genesis component cables by Retrovision, but I think all of them maybe harder to find or expensive.
If you are only going to use the Saturn, or the Saturn and a Genesis, Retrovision makes sense. If you are planing to have more consoles trough RGB, then a transcoder that can take RGB Euroscart to Component may be a better option. That's what I use.
Well, I have a Master System, Genesis, Saturn, SNES and PS1, but I live in North America so I always get worried about having issues with SCART, since I've never used it before.
What I can recommend is that if you are going to use a CRT TV, then a transcoder is a great option, since it will take SCART RGB and will output Component YpBPr. I use the Retrotek one, but I'm sure others in this thread have other transcoders that they can recommend (I have not used it with my SNES yet, there maybe an issue with colors on it according to reviews). It can also be a good idea If your HDTV has component input and a good internal scaler.
It's just getting a cable for each of the consoles, they all output RGB, with the exception of the second SNES model. The Genesis 2 RGB cable may be more versatile, since you can also use it with the 32x.
The My Life in Gaming youtube channel is a good resource for this type of stuff. There is also this thread here on resetera.
Hmm, I have a CRT, but to be honest, I'd rather just have them plugged into my HDTV. I was thinking of getting an OSSC once I had the budget, but I guess I'd also need a multi-SCART cable so that I don't have to constantly plug in and out the cables for the individual consoles.
Lord, that looks gorgeous. Going to keep an eye out for them for sure. Thinking of getting into the PC Engine's library as well - gonna have to nab these if I get around to it.
oh I did a short 4+ min Radiant Silvergun gameplay clip with RGB cable from retrogamingcables.co.uk, It's sync on luma and NOT the packapunch cable. I was debating whether to spend that much so went with their cheaper Saturn cables but after experience the packapunch for my pc engine I would definitely get the packapunch for my next Saturn cable upgrade. Compared to a 20+ year old RGB cable I previously owned the retrogaming cable had reduced analogue noise although it's still there just not as obtrusive. I was getting audio pops and some kind of distortion where I was wondering whether my Saturn needed capacitor replacing. Thankfully the retrogaming cable addressed this and maybe the colours are vibrant too.
If anyone can access dropbox you are welcome to download the file. It should be 480p @60fps 220mb file. I've uploaded a higher res on YT but it still don't look as good as the original.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/48o291auf5ioeii/RS quick play.mp4?dl=0
EDIT
You need to make sure you get the right cables for your TV/retro system otherwise I heard stories where owners swore the cable fried their systems.
If anyone can access dropbox you are welcome to download the file. It should be 480p @60fps 220mb file. I've uploaded a higher res on YT but it still don't look as good as the original.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/48o291auf5ioeii/RS quick play.mp4?dl=0
EDIT
You need to make sure you get the right cables for your TV/retro system otherwise I heard stories where owners swore the cable fried their systems.
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Crosspost my shmups so far:
Holy shit David, you really have come a long way since the "I need a Saturn"-days in the dark ages on the old forum.
ah i just got home from work and i'll try out thunder force II and III. from what i hear, the audio sounds are not accurate as the genesis. so just by that before evening playing it, i'd take the genesis over it. gold pack 2 has Thunderforce AC which was never released on console which is what i was after. i just got gold pack 1 just to complete the set.
thanks Morfeo! you were always encouraging back then!
it's members like you in the Saturn community that helped get me into the Saturn software library. I still remember you joked as an "expensive game" to get daytona, when i 1st got the system =)
In terms of visual quality you won't see a difference. Packapunch cables have coax wires, each wire is shielded to minimise crosstalk. Crosstalk is most often experienced as a buzzing sound with a variable noise level depending on what's on screen. Most of the noise usually comes from the VIDEO signal (Composite): using a non-coax cable that has CSYNC as sync is another solution to reduce significantly any interference. But the console needs to be able to output CSYNC, which isn't always the case. And some people like to have VIDEO available in their cable for when they switch displays.
If you don't hear buzzing or if you don't mind it, you don't have to get new cables. If you need to, either get a properly shielded cable or a CSYNC cable, depending on your needs. A properly shielded cable, regardless of the sync option, is best practice, but also more expensive.
I tried them out tonight and i have to saw that the sounds aren't accurate and can be distracting. confirmed genesis carts are better than gold pack 1.
forgot to say thanks Piggychan, you were always one of the great guys on the retroboards over at the dark place.
Hey glad this thread is jumping with life again. Laevateinn, you too! good to see your posts =)
I'm around. I've just been super busy lately so I'm spending more time in the RGB discord than here.
Thanks, David! I just acquired my first Sega Genesis, ever, last weekend as well as all four Sonic games on the system. I'll make the Thunder Force 2, 3 & 4 my next purchases for the system.
HUUUUUUUUGE scans incoming. 1998 UK Sega Saturn Mag - Radiant Silvergun coverage
Review scans here: Radiant Silvergun 20th anniversary
Review scans here: Radiant Silvergun 20th anniversary
I just read that re; outrun Jpn, earlier prints of this game will freeze on later Saturn models. There is a revised copy
with the code GS-9110P-01050A-P1K on the inner ring of the disc.
This is a short clip of the UK release running on white Saturn. I might have slightly over clipped the image while hastily getting this vid up and running on YT.
with the code GS-9110P-01050A-P1K on the inner ring of the disc.
This is a short clip of the UK release running on white Saturn. I might have slightly over clipped the image while hastily getting this vid up and running on YT.
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I heard about that, I got a model 1 just to be safe.
Thanks for the numbers:
I need to check To see if it matches my outrun disc.
yeah ive read about that, still adore my model 2 though
fitting cause i was so late to finally get one!
haha for real, now i just drool over his pics like that
just gorgeous...i'm totally gonna have to replay this one one day. one of my favorite dungeon crawlers, hands down
thanks for these!
fitting cause i was so late to finally get one!
haha for real, now i just drool over his pics like that
just gorgeous...i'm totally gonna have to replay this one one day. one of my favorite dungeon crawlers, hands down
thanks for these!
Yo. Haven't posted much about recent Saturn pickups because there haven't been many to begin with, but I finally ticked a couple of the big ones I've been looking over the years:
And the reason it took this long to get Radiant Silvergun and Ninpen was that I never found them at a cheaper price than this occasion, so shut-up wallet, I had to grab them.
Radiant Silvergun probably requires little introduction here: it is one of the greatest shmups ever made, a Treasure's treasure. I had already played a fair amount of it back on the X360 and now I finally own the actual thing.
Ninpen Manmaru is less known, but I think it's been talked about recently in different places because the prices showed signs of a sudden increase in the last two months without any other obvious reason. It's a 3D platformer inspired by Mario 64 and it's gorgeous for the system. It's more of a dodge and jump around the enemies with precision platforming than an actual Mario-clone, and it's kind of brilliant as obscure exclusives go. It's never been much cheap since about 2011 when the prices of everything started to go crazy but, as less copies are available these days, the price it shows up on ebay and the like is absurd. Check it out on an emulator or something.
Dezaemon 2 (on the bottom) is a collection of 5 shmups with an actual built-in editor to make your own games, which makes it fairly unique among its contemporaries. The instruction manual is thus massive to the point the game is not on the standard jewel case and is larger than the others pictured here, which is a problem for me because the dang thing arrived with a couple of cracks on the front and I would have liked to replace it easily. Anyway, this one is reasonably cheap so check it out if you are so inclined.
Arcana Strikes is a card game (think Yu-Gi-Oh or MtG) with an obtuse JRPG plot, anime intros, and whatnot. I honestly do not understand most of it due to the language barrier but it seemed interesting to me in a video and that's generally all it takes. It's co-developed by RED (from Tempo and Sakura Taisen). One of the videos I watched had the most extensive explanation I could find on how the game plays, and I might as well reproduce it here:
And, not Saturn related, but I also got an amazing price on that sealed copy of Dragon Blaze for the PS2 and just had to snag it.
And the reason it took this long to get Radiant Silvergun and Ninpen was that I never found them at a cheaper price than this occasion, so shut-up wallet, I had to grab them.
Radiant Silvergun probably requires little introduction here: it is one of the greatest shmups ever made, a Treasure's treasure. I had already played a fair amount of it back on the X360 and now I finally own the actual thing.
Ninpen Manmaru is less known, but I think it's been talked about recently in different places because the prices showed signs of a sudden increase in the last two months without any other obvious reason. It's a 3D platformer inspired by Mario 64 and it's gorgeous for the system. It's more of a dodge and jump around the enemies with precision platforming than an actual Mario-clone, and it's kind of brilliant as obscure exclusives go. It's never been much cheap since about 2011 when the prices of everything started to go crazy but, as less copies are available these days, the price it shows up on ebay and the like is absurd. Check it out on an emulator or something.
Dezaemon 2 (on the bottom) is a collection of 5 shmups with an actual built-in editor to make your own games, which makes it fairly unique among its contemporaries. The instruction manual is thus massive to the point the game is not on the standard jewel case and is larger than the others pictured here, which is a problem for me because the dang thing arrived with a couple of cracks on the front and I would have liked to replace it easily. Anyway, this one is reasonably cheap so check it out if you are so inclined.
Arcana Strikes is a card game (think Yu-Gi-Oh or MtG) with an obtuse JRPG plot, anime intros, and whatnot. I honestly do not understand most of it due to the language barrier but it seemed interesting to me in a video and that's generally all it takes. It's co-developed by RED (from Tempo and Sakura Taisen). One of the videos I watched had the most extensive explanation I could find on how the game plays, and I might as well reproduce it here:
And, not Saturn related, but I also got an amazing price on that sealed copy of Dragon Blaze for the PS2 and just had to snag it.
Dragon Blaze is a good pick. got a sealed one some years ago and i keep going back to it. looks beautiful too. they don't make them like this anymore.
thanks Irish, good to see you!
nice pick ups =)Yo. Haven't posted much about recent Saturn pickups because there haven't been many to begin with, but I finally ticked a couple of the big ones I've been looking over the years:
And the reason it took this long to get Radiant Silvergun and Ninpen was that I never found them at a cheaper price than this occasion, so shut-up wallet, I had to grab them.
Radiant Silvergun probably requires little introduction here: it is one of the greatest shmups ever made, a Treasure's treasure. I had already played a fair amount of it back on the X360 and now I finally own the actual thing.
Ninpen Manmaru is less known, but I think it's been talked about recently in different places because the prices showed signs of a sudden increase in the last two months without any other obvious reason. It's a 3D platformer inspired by Mario 64 and it's gorgeous for the system. It's more of a dodge and jump around the enemies with precision platforming than an actual Mario-clone, and it's kind of brilliant as obscure exclusives go. It's never been much cheap since about 2011 when the prices of everything started to go crazy but, as less copies are available these days, the price it shows up on ebay and the like is absurd. Check it out on an emulator or something.
Dezaemon 2 (on the bottom) is a collection of 5 shmups with an actual built-in editor to make your own games, which makes it fairly unique among its contemporaries. The instruction manual is thus massive to the point the game is not on the standard jewel case and is larger than the others pictured here, which is a problem for me because the dang thing arrived with a couple of cracks on the front and I would have liked to replace it easily. Anyway, this one is reasonably cheap so check it out if you are so inclined.
Arcana Strikes is a card game (think Yu-Gi-Oh or MtG) with an obtuse JRPG plot, anime intros, and whatnot. I honestly do not understand most of it due to the language barrier but it seemed interesting to me in a video and that's generally all it takes. It's co-developed by RED (from Tempo and Sakura Taisen). One of the videos I watched had the most extensive explanation I could find on how the game plays, and I might as well reproduce it here:
And, not Saturn related, but I also got an amazing price on that sealed copy of Dragon Blaze for the PS2 and just had to snag it.
is that an expensive game?
Hey Saturn Community,
finally picked this up though i have the ps1 version. just thought it'd be cool to own:
It looks to be a little over $100 so typical Saturn game price.
thanks Irish, good to see you!
nice pick ups =)
is that an expensive game?
Hey Saturn Community,
finally picked this up though i have the ps1 version. just thought it'd be cool to own:
You'd probably be shocked on their Saturn treatment of the game. I still like it as a game in it's own right for SS since it has a lot to offer throughout but standing it up next to the PS1 version......
So what's up with the prices on these games?! I was thinking of picking up a cheap JAP Saturn so I could play some shmups. I mean I knew about Radiant Silvergun and Battle Garegga being overpriced, but Batsugun is also fetching 100+ euro's on ebay?! Same goes for Parodius and such...Damn, looks like Saturn collecting isn't in the cards right now if you fancy shmups like me, heh.
Though I do suppose I should look more into the unique games the Saturn has to offer, I'm sure it's more than just shmups and fighting games :) Any advice?
Though I do suppose I should look more into the unique games the Saturn has to offer, I'm sure it's more than just shmups and fighting games :) Any advice?
It's a terrible time to get into Saturn collecting in the completionist sense, even for JP stuff. It's a great time to play good Saturn games.
Get a JP Saturn and a PseudoSaturn and play what you like, and then you can invest in the ones you actually enjoy.
Darius Gaiden and Layer Section are great and pretty cheap still. The PS4 port of Battle Garegga is only $35 and is the best version of that game anyway, so I can't personally justify spending $200 for a plastic case and a disc, if you just want to play the masterpiece :)