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The Saturn Appreciation Thread

strider

By strider
in Retro & Arcade Gaming

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Ketchup

Ketchup

Posted
Posted

It was always the rumour to the slot leading up to launch. Isn’t there also a 68000 in the Saturn as well? It is incredibly dumb they didn’t allow backwards compatibility with the mega drive and it probably would have helped the Saturn a lot especially with its price point at launch.

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Oracle

Oracle

Posted
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Yes that would have really helped in the first 6 months in the USA when there wasn’t really any software. Sega abandoning the mega drive to Nintendo as soon as the Saturn launched was a mistake. 
 

There must have been an architectural reason not to do it, or perhaps the board was already so expensive to produce that they couldn’t afford the extra to make it happen. 

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Goemon

Goemon

Posted
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6 hours ago, Oracle said:

Yes that would have really helped in the first 6 months in the USA when there wasn’t really any software. Sega abandoning the mega drive to Nintendo as soon as the Saturn launched was a mistake. 
 

There must have been an architectural reason not to do it, or perhaps the board was already so expensive to produce that they couldn’t afford the extra to make it happen. 

 

I wouldn't say they abandoned the MD, in fact I believe the opposite happened. I think Sega America wanted to continue with the MD because it was still so popular, which is what started the whole 32X creation. They didn't want the MD looking sub-par at a time of the new consoles coming out.

 

But yes, in hindsight backward compatibility with the MD would have been a better option than the 32X. This allows new adopters of the Saturn to play MD games and allows devs to continue with MD game development as they could be played with both the current gen and the new gen systems.

 

The more I think about it the more I'm amazed they didn't make the Saturn backwards compatible, I mean they invented the idea with the Master System convertor for the Megadrive! With the MD being so popular in the USA it seems like such an obvious decision.

 

I think this comes down to Sega Japan and Sega America not working together and just doing their own thing.

 

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Oh Danny Boy

Oh Danny Boy

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1 hour ago, megamixer said:

To be honest, I DID think the cart slot was for Mega Drive BC when I first saw a Saturn!! When I found it wasn't I was pretty dumbfounded. It just made perfect sense.


I thought the same as a ten year old looking at the thing. If you weren’t in the know it’s an obvious one to make. 

 

2 hours ago, Goemon said:

 

I wouldn't say they abandoned the MD, in fact I believe the opposite happened. I think Sega America wanted to continue with the MD because it was still so popular, which is what started the whole 32X creation. They didn't want the MD looking sub-par at a time of the new consoles coming out.

 

But yes, in hindsight backward compatibility with the MD would have been a better option than the 32X. This allows new adopters of the Saturn to play MD games and allows devs to continue with MD game development as they could be played with both the current gen and the new gen systems.

 

The more I think about it the more I'm amazed they didn't make the Saturn backwards compatible, I mean they invented the idea with the Master System convertor for the Megadrive! With the MD being so popular in the USA it seems like such an obvious decision.

 

I think this comes down to Sega Japan and Sega America not working together and just doing their own thing.

 


Common sense would be to continue finding new ways to incorporate chipsets into their cartridges to boost performance. The maddest thing about the 32X was that they already had a powerful add on available on the MD, finding ways to reduce Mega CD costs, incorporating it into a budget console with the MD and pushing that for the foreseeable would have given Sega more time to perfect the Saturn hardware. It was clear that Sega were caught with their pants down with the PlayStation but the sensible option was to continue with what they had or find ways of extending the MDs life like Nintendo did with the SNES. Not only was the Saturn hard to develop for its mash up of components was expensive to manufacture, Sega were taking heavy loses with it and needed an 8 game attach rate to make each purchase profitable. Sega literally had to lower Saturn manufacturing because it cost them too much, basically doing PlayStation levels of success could have bankrupt them. The mind boggles as to why they pursued with rushing the Saturn hardware in that state. 
 

Other options on the board would have been to take up the M2 hardware that was ready to go and have a more powerful console ready to go or to sit back, focus on the Megadrive and develop a console based around Model 2. 

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spanky debrest

spanky debrest

Posted
Posted

Pretty sure the chief designer of the Saturn is on record as regretting not basing it on Model 1 / 2 hardware.

 

Better games earlier wouldn't have changed anything for me. I had zero faith in the Saturn because Sega had clearly lost their damn minds with the Mega CD & 32X. 

 

Jumping to PSX was just sensible.

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megamixer

megamixer

Posted
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I had a 32X at one point and it was not a great set-up hardware-wise. When you had it AND the Mega CD connected to the MD, it was just a mess of cables and heaps of massive 9v/10v PSUs that don't fit next to one another on an extension lead!!

 

Buying it used can be hit-and-miss too as the 32X has weak ribbon cable connectors inside (easily sorted by opening it up, removing the cables, cleaning the connections, and replacing - I had to do it before mine would even work) and some people don't realise that the lead connecting the 32X to the MD is different depending on which model of MD you have.

 

Ultimately, the fact that the whole set-up looked so atrocious says it all without any further analysis. The AVGN said it best when he described the Mega Drive as being on "life support" with both the MCD and 32X connected and all the cables.

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merrychan

merrychan

Posted
Posted
13 minutes ago, Lyrical Donut said:

ReSaturn uses a different power jack.

 

image.thumb.png.1bdcd14ab1eddbe4521d3d6cb23cbb0c.png

 

You need a 12v 5A 5.5*2.1 positive centre adapter.

Thanks for the message, here's the external power brick I bought for the Resaturn PSU:

 

https://rexusnexus.com/product/12v-5a-ac-dc-adapter-2-1mm5-5mm/?amp=1

 

So it's just a UK plug to thin 3 prong thing I need, a bit like the lead that goes in the back of the PS4 Pro :)

 

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Oracle

Oracle

Posted
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On 20/02/2023 at 20:55, megamixer said:

I had a 32X at one point and it was not a great set-up hardware-wise. When you had it AND the Mega CD connected to the MD, it was just a mess of cables and heaps of massive 9v/10v PSUs that don't fit next to one another on an extension lead!!

 

Buying it used can be hit-and-miss too as the 32X has weak ribbon cable connectors inside (easily sorted by opening it up, removing the cables, cleaning the connections, and replacing - I had to do it before mine would even work) and some people don't realise that the lead connecting the 32X to the MD is different depending on which model of MD you have.

 

Ultimately, the fact that the whole set-up looked so atrocious says it all without any further analysis. The AVGN said it best when he described the Mega Drive as being on "life support" with both the MCD and 32X connected and all the cables.


the tower of power was amazing. Like a console Voltron!

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merrychan

merrychan

Posted
Posted
4 hours ago, merrychan said:

Fitted the Resaturn to my VA0, I thought everything went well but on boot up I only get a blank screen now, anyone else encountered this or managed to diagnose / fix it?

Put the old stock power board back in and the machine still works, which is good :)

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merrychan

merrychan

Posted
Posted
16 minutes ago, Ninja Doctor said:

What voltages have you set on the resaturn? Which type stock psu is it? A, B or C?

 

Edit: ah, va0 so likely a type A. You’ll want ground, ground, 3.3V, 5V, 9V I think. 

Thanks for the reply, yeah that's what the original PSU says by the lead and the Resaturn PSU is set to type A...weirdly though I have a va1-15 style connector to the power switch and a va0 to the power rail (T shaped rear socket, original PSU in the lid)

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Kevvy Metal

Kevvy Metal

Posted
Posted

You can still get -or at least I was able to get a few years ago- brand new and sealed Japanese versions of popular Saturn games for cheap. 

There appears to be a lot of dead stock of the big Sega published hits and you can get them for as cheap as £10!   

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