Sega Saturn |OT| Appreciation and Emulation Thread

[Deleted member 3010]

Release Date:
Japan: November 22, 1994
North America: May 11, 1995
Europe: July 8, 1995

Features:
-One of the best controller in the video game industry
-A LOT of arcade perfect port, A LOT.
-One of the first consoles to have an online multiplayer feature
-HyperDuel

Best emulator available at the moment:
SSF (Link down there) is the most accurate one, however you will not be able to up the native resolution, which isn't a big deal.
Yabause (Link down there) CAN up native resolution, but it's a lot more prone to bugs, crashes and all sorts of problems. Contrary to SSF, there are people actually working on it.


Hey ResetEra! This week (originally 6 years ago, lol) I took some time to put the dust off my Saturn and play some good old Saturn goodness. Man, this console is aging well, each time I'm giving it some time I'm still always having a ton of fun.

The more I was gaming on it, the more I was wondering ''How would this look on a PC with an emulator?''. Because we all know that Saturn's graphics looks like shit on a HDTV. I had a good experience with Dolphin so I quickly searched a few times during this week for which emulator is working better and what I needed to make everything works properly, I found this, but I didn't make anything concrete since I was already playing on Saturn. Today I kicked my ass and make the move, two words: No regrets. I took a major part of my day to rip my favorite games from my collection into my PC. EVERYTHING is working well! 3D games are still looking very pixelated, but its still much cleaner and more colorful than what the Saturn is giving with it's cables on any modern TVs. 2D games on the other hand looks great, I literally can't ask for more on this. The sound is great too and it's really better on my PC's audio set than on my TV's speakers.

The reason of this thread? Helping all those avid Saturn's fans here on ERA maximizing their Saturn experience and share their love for the console and its holy library! I tried a lot of things in order to optimise my original Saturn's setup, like buying a SCART cable with a scart/component box to get the best screen quality possible, it cost a lot and my TV is not working with it. I tried S-video cable, but when I was to plug it in I realized my TV didn't even have a S-video input... So now I'm going with an emulator. Next for me is now to obtain a Saturn USB controller! :)

Here you have the most recent version of SSF. You will still need a BIOS to run the emulator properly, the tutorial below will explain all of the step for you to enjoy your Saturn library on your PC. :)

Here is a tutorial for SSF. I used DaemonTools for the virtual drive and imgburn to rip my games. The emulator can work with the real Saturn CDs directly in your drive too.

If you want it to work properly you should update your DirectX drivers right here.


Here you can find the latest versions of Yabause.

I do not support piracy, every game pictures I'll be showing come from games in my personal collection. Piracy talk won't be tolerated.


Other Retro-ERA threads
Nintendo Gamecube |OT| Appreciation and Collecting Thread
Sega Dreamcast |OT| Appreciation and Emulation Thread
Sony Playstation (PS1) |OT| Appreciation Thread - Worse Image Quality than your Kid's First Drawing
PS2 Appreciation Thread | The Greatest Sequel Ever Made
Game Boy / Color / Advance Collecting |OT| Now you're playing with power; PORTABLE POWER!
Nintendo 64 |OT| Appreciation and Emulation Thread
Sega Genesis/Mega Drive |OT| Blast Processing with the GOAT
Sega CD/Mega CD Appreciation Thread of Welcome to the Next Level
RetroEra IOTI 40 years of Classic Backlog
The Ripping Thread |OT| How to build your own legitimate ROM library

Ladies and gentlemen, start your engines! After trying this I'd say this is the best Saturn Experience for anybody wanting the best of their Saturn's CDs. God bless Saturn!!! :D



EDIT: I got my thread locked and got my thread priviledges removed after making this thread exposing ERA's new owner.

I believe there is a conversation to be had about ERA new owners and affiliations details.

Hey all, Most of you are probably aware, thanks to the warning up there, that ERA is no longer owned by a solo member of the community and was sold for 4.5M$ to MOBA Network by Cerium. Which, understandably after this deed, seemingly ran off with the money to never return again, for obvious...

www.resetera.com

It was fun while it lasted.

 

[MikeMyers]

Still can go hours playing Sega Rally and not get bored.

Love this system.

 

[Deleted member 1162]

very pretty!

 

[apathetic]

This is a thread for me.

 

[Beartruck]

Thanks for the thread. Outside of finding SamSho IV recently, its been a bit of a slow Saturn summer for me. Itching to play Xmen vs SF again though after playing MvC:I.

 

[Deleted member 1162]

i love shooters =)

 

[Shibi]

Glad to see the love for the Saturn continues here. May my never ending plea for Dragon Force rerelease in some form be heard!

 

[Laevateinn]

David needs to get Shining Force!

 

[natr0n]

Still can go hours playing Sega Rally and not get bored.

Love this system.

Click to shrink...

The replay music is surreal perfection.

 

[cephei]

Great thread. Everyone should play Soukyugurentai as it's one of the best games of all time.

 

[Piggychan]

Saturn you da bomb!!

 

[Lardonate]

I actually prefer Soukyugurentai over Radiant Silvergun myself. Part of that might be that I actually own a copy of Souky while RS remained forever out of reach. But I love Raizings shooters in general.

(Hi btw, long time lurker in the other place, but I shall possibly try my hand at interaction this time round.)

 

[Deleted member 1162]

David needs to get Shining Force!

Click to shrink...

i need shining forces.

 

[Soran]

I starting my Saturn collection. Currently have the three Lunar games, thinking on buying Grandia and the SMT games.

 

[Deleted member 3010]

I starting my Saturn collection. Currently have the three Lunar games, thinking on buying Grandia and the SMT games.

Click to shrink...

Prepare for a long and expensive journey, but there's so many good games on this thing, totally worth it.

Maybe one day you'll even join the Hyper Duel Elite Club ! :P

Also, please check out Elevator Action Returns, which, to me, is one of the best Arcade game ever.

 

[Monado Blade]

I love my Saturn! Even if I keep having to worry about my saves disappearing because of the battery. I really have to get a backup cart one of these days

 

[Piggychan]

I starting my Saturn collection. Currently have the three Lunar games, thinking on buying Grandia and the SMT games.

Click to shrink...

Wish I could high five this

 

[khaz]

Best console

 

[Barrel Cannon]

Fitting that my first post would be here. Sitting in the basement playing Grandia atm

 

[ValKiryuSonicEX]

awesome great to see this thread up wnd running...Segata approved, right?

 

[cephei]

I actually prefer Soukyugurentai over Radiant Silvergun myself. Part of that might be that I actually own a copy of Souky while RS remained forever out of reach. But I love Raizings shooters in general.

(Hi btw, long time lurker in the other place, but I shall possibly try my hand at interaction this time round.)

Click to shrink...

Yeah I believe Soukyugurentai is definitely the best shmup on the system. It's a bit more obscure but I've still seen a few others agree with that as well.

 

[Facism]

It's almost Christmas, so will be breaking out the Saturn and putting in a few shifts on Panzer saga.

What a console.

What a game.

 

[Kanjiology]

Love the Saturn, need to play mine more.

Looks great playing it with RGB on my Sony PVM, especially those 2D games.

 

[Barrel Cannon]

Do we have the retrogaf thread already up or is Mega working on it?

 

[Segata Sanshiro]

Hello, I also like the Saturn and have been stocking up on games for it recently. Looking forward to talking with you all about the Best Console.

 

[Soran]

awesome great to see this thread up wnd running...Segata approved, right?

Click to shrink...

That... actually sound pretty cool.

 

[Laevateinn]

I love my Saturn! Even if I keep having to worry about my saves disappearing because of the battery. I really have to get a backup cart one of these days

Click to shrink...

If it's been long enough that your battery has died it's better to just start a new save anyway.

 

[Monado Blade]

If it's been long enough that your battery has died it's better to just start a new save anyway.

Click to shrink...

Heh I know. But I have an emotional attachment to my PDS saves y'know?

Edit: oh man how cool is it that you're notified now when you get quoted

 

[Lardonate]

Yeah I believe Soukyugurentai is definitely the best shmup on the system. It's a bit more obscure but I've still seen a few others agree with that as well.

Click to shrink...

Yeah Tis very obscure. I hadn't even heard of it until I was looking for "what else has Raizing made?" After playing Battle Garegga! (Which is another Saturn release I probably won't get to own unless I somehow strike it rich) and I thought I knew about shmups!

 

[Fularu]

Hello, I also like the Saturn and have been stocking up on games for it recently. Looking forward to talking with you all about the Best Console.

Click to shrink...

LoL you'Re already here. This will teach me to check the thread before asking you to join us :p

Dave you started the ball, will post some of my pickups later :P

 

[Deleted member 1162]

Dave you started the ball, will post some of my pickups later :P

Click to shrink...

you betcha =)

 

[Umgawa]

Anyone with a OSSC have any pointers for using it with a Saturn?


Seik, will you be bringing over the Dreamcast thread too?

 

[Piggychan]

Anyone with a OSSC have any pointers for using it with a Saturn?

Click to shrink...

You might have to tweak around with 480i as I was getting no signal with those but also it depends on your TV being compatible with the settings.. There was something I was messing around with on the OSSC and it made the Saturn look like it had jailbars, So you might make things worse if you delve in too deep.. Thankfully you can reset it to defaults.

Sega Saturn RGB, OSSC and Panny Plasma, Line 2x @31% scanline strength

 

[Deleted member 1162]

where the gamecube page, Seik ?

 

[Tyrael]

Hi, I'm new to the community but wish to stick around since the Saturn is one of my top 3 favorite consoles of all time!

I'm thinking to put some screens of my Saturn running on my actual setup and maybe help someone who (like myself) don't have the money for a Framemeister or a OSSC but still wish to get a great picture with scanlines on a modern tv.

 

[Laevateinn]

Honestly, if you can't shell out the money for an upscaler, I would just track down a cheap/free CRT.

 

[jackal27]

Been playing Shining Force 3 on my GPD XD over the last week or so and loving it! This is my 2nd foray into the Saturn library, but my first one was what... 11 years ago? It's so weird to be playing these games on a handheld.

 

[Tyrael]

Honestly, if you can't shell out the money for an upscaler, I would just track down a cheap/free CRT.

Click to shrink...

Unfortunately I dont have space for a CRT in my house. Used to have one until 2 years ago when I got married, but had to give it to a uncle since I would no have a place for it here.

 

[Laevateinn]

That's rough. I feel like it's probably better to play using an emulator than going to a modern tv with a subpar upscaler.

 

[Deleted member 3010]

Anyone with a OSSC have any pointers for using it with a Saturn?


Seik, will you be bringing over the Dreamcast thread too?

Click to shrink...

where the gamecube page, Seik ?

Click to shrink...

Soon, tonight, probably.

My bad on this one, I stayed on the PC too long yesterday (waiting for my code to be here) and then worked on my Saturn thread and published it...Then a fucking big headache hit me and I stopped everything.

Just came back from work and jumping on the Dreamcast thread. I was planning to do this during lunch time, but turns out ResetEra is blocked at my job, so I closed everything up at the older forum instead.

Should have at least two threads done tonight! My free time is a bit more constrained than 5 years ago and it shows! :lol

Also, I plan on making everything a bit better eventually, I worked a bit on my threads, but it still feels like a simple copy/paste, I want to do better than this.

EDIT: Dreamcast is up! https://www.resetera.com/threads/sega-dreamcast-ot-appreciation-and-emulation-thread.1482/

 

[Shadow Hog]

For some reason, I got strangely interested in the Saturn port of Warcraft 2, even though I fully expect the port, while a great effort, is far from a good way to play Warcraft 2, and that it's probably best to stick with the Battle.Net Edition I bought off of eBay last week.

I dunno, I've gotten interested in Saturn ports of well-known DOS games lately, after picking up Duke Nukem 3D (disc-only :E), Crusader: No Remorse and Magic Carpet. Already had MechWarrior 2 (never really cared for it tho), Worms, Doom (the Japanese version, for what little difference that makes) and Quake, so. (Also Powerslave, but that's hardly anything like the DOS version - for the better, most likely.) Also kind of interested in Hexen, despite Hexen not exactly being all that fun even on PC with a nice modern source port ironing out some of its kinks (I don't mind a well-designed switch hunt! Hexen's cross-map switch hunts are not that well-designed).

 

[Saoshyant]

I remember loving the Saturn port of Warcraft 2 back in the day, but then again I couldn't play the PC version due to lacking the hardware, so I wouldn't know how they compare really.

I also beat the entirety of Crusader No Remorse and loved every second of it. Now there's a game I've been meaning to replay for more than a decade now. Oh, and the original Command & Conquer and Doom, too. I know Doom's port is garbage, but as the only version available for me at the time I still enjoyed it for all it was worth. I'm pretty surprised I enjoyed RTS games on a D-pad controller now that I think about it and have a basis of comparison as a PC gamer from 2004 and up.

 

[jackal27]

That's really weird. I didn't realize the Saturn even had many western games let alone Warcraft 2 and MechWarrior lol

 

[Deleted member 1162]

Soon, tonight, probably.

My bad on this one, I stayed on the PC too long yesterday (waiting for my code to be here) and then worked on my Saturn thread and published it...Then a fucking big headache hit me and I stopped everything.

Just came back from work and jumping on the Dreamcast thread. I was planning to do this during lunch time, but turns out ResetEra is blocked at my job, so I closed everything up at the older forum instead.

Should have at least two threads done tonight! My free time is a bit more constrained than 5 years ago and it shows! :lol

Also, I plan on making everything a bit better eventually, I worked a bit on my threads, but it still feels like a simple copy/paste, I want to do better than this.

Click to shrink...

thanks Seik for the update. take your time, no worry! thanks for the OT's

 

[MikeMyers]

It actually got a lot of Western games early on. A lot of them were just watered down PS1 games though.

 

[jackal27]

Ah, that makes sense. Wonder what could have been...

 

[Shadow Hog]

Yeah, pretty much all of the games I listed also had PS1 versions that were nigh identical.

Except Duke Nukem 3D (different port entirely: Total Meltdown), Quake (I think Lobotomy offered, but no publishers bit) and Doom (vastly superior port), anyway. Magic Carpet also has a very different sky texture while the Saturn's is more faithful to the PC original, but being a 3D game, the PS1 version performs better (as you'd expect).

 

[MikeMyers]

Saturn also got Ulitmate Mortal Kombat 3 while the PlayStation only got regular Mortal Kombat 3, but then PS1 got Mortal Kombat Trilogy a year later.

 

[Saoshyant]

Saturn had Mortal Kombat Trilogy, too, and it's possible that it was a better version than PS1's but don't quote me on that.

Saturn didn't have the original MK3, though. I believe I heard something about Sony signing some sort of exclusivity deal for the 32bit version when MK was still big enough for that to matter.

Edit: actually from this comparison video, it looks like PS1's version of Trilogy had better shadows and transparency effects, but they were basically the same and dear god the loading times when playing Shang Tsung.

 

[MikeMyers]

Yeah, but Saturn MKT came out a year later, and the Sony 32-bit deal with MK3 is true.