How are you getting on with the Saturn @Vyper68? Got a few things to sort out but hoping to give it some real attention in the next couple of weeks and tidy up my SD card...
Been playing Deep Fear and Shining Holy Ark last few days. Ordered a 128GB MicroSD card so I can consolidate all my games onto one card instead of three.
Had a look at both games, the RPG looks ok but not my thing, hope you are enjoying it though. Deep Fear, now that is my sort of thing, seriously Resident Evil, looks fun, but as I'm limited in playtime, it's not one I'll play. Does look 'the business' though..
Just put all my Saturn images on to a bigger card and am going to try them all over the next week or so. 64 games and tested 26 so far with 6 failing to load. I think that is to do with a timing issue as the SD card is sometimes so quick at loading that the game freezes on boot. It's been fun tonight though as I've played each game tested so far. Outrun, Chase HQ and Power Drift are arcade perfect and three of the main reasons I wanted a Saturn again. Let us know how you get on with the 128gb card Richie
Hi Allen, So my 128GB Card is a Amazon BASICS model and cost £10. So far I have 13 Pages of games with around 20 games per page and the card is only 50% full. I am enjoying playing Deep Fear again. I had it back when it came out at the end of the Saturn's life and finished it. Shining Holy Ark is still a lot of fun. Some of the Japanese games are amazing and I never got to play them back then. The Saturn version of Metal Slug is amazeballs.
I have had a few with problems. Some crash and some have issues when emulating the 1/2 or 4M RAM carts. The sprites are quite flickery in Earthworm Jim 2 (JAP) 3Meg. FIFA Road to the World Cup crashes as does the 4M version of Marvel vs Capcom. I have seen some extra config settings to add to the config file to amend the settings for individual games so maybe there will be some for your games on the Github. On the whole given it emulates RAM expansions, Backup Carts and plays ISO images on the fly as well as letting you boot real NTSC games if you have one. For £60 I think it's a bargain. I am so glad I took a punt on one. It saves wear and tear on the optical drive as well. Much like the HDD in my PS2.
Agreed Richie, it's an amazing device and something the Saturn had been needing for a while. £60 well worth it. After testing all games approximately a third had loading issues or graphical glitches which I will try and patch at some point. They all work in Mednafen, the Saturn emulator on the PC. My Saturn is a grey Japanese import but I'm thinking of getting hold of a standard PAL console (either MK1 or 2) as it will sit nicer next to my Megadrive and not need the stepdown transformer either. Metal Slug is fantastic on it and I might give Deep Fear a look once I get everything else straightened out.
Yeah I picked up a Model 2 PAL Saturn as it was the one I owned back then. Plus I prefer the Mk2 Pad which is the same as the Japanese pad but black. The original pad design for outside Japan wasn’t great.
Played some Saturn yesterday, I love my shooters, so I was well pleased. The only game that sort of disappointed a little was Daytona, looked very average compared to other versions. Maybe it's me being hyper critical. Never owned a Saturn, borrowed my brother's one once, did like it, but no cash to get one. So far the emulation has been fine, as I never owned one I can't tell if it's not doing every thing right, but I've enjoyed all the games so far.
Is it Mednafen you are using Paul? It's really good and I like the fact you can use the mouse as a light gun altentive in games like Virtua Cop. A lot of people rave about Daytona but I've never warmed to it that much. The second release, Championship Edition, fixes some of the graphics and gameplay issues but still my least favourite of the Saturn racers.
Picked up a Mk2 from Forgotten Worlds after work today and have already set it up with the Saroo. I have one original Japanese CD game so thought I'd give that a go, seeing as Saroo is meant to allow import playing of discs. No problem at all, loaded fine and then I got hammered at Virtua Fighter 2 All in all, I think Saroo is pretty much an essential for any Saturn enthusiast.
Put Mednafen back on and played Batsugun on both emulators. Didn't see any difference. Only thing, setting up whatever GUI you use isn't hard but Retroarch auto maps your joystick, ao a little extra time needed on Mednafen. All systems it supports played ok, but Retroarch offers more systems and core types. Pure personal preference on what you use. Emulation seems fine on both.
Is the Saroo like the Dreamcast GD Rom replacer, you actually remove the drive (simply unplugs) or does it stay in with the drive? If it replaces the drive then you might want to do a check for possible over heating like some dreamcasts do. Seems the DC expects the current draw for the drive, and when it's not there it can heat up. Mine didn't, but I didn't use it for long periods. It seems the fixed was simply to add a meaty resistor to emulate the load on the machine. It may not apply to the Saturn, and won't if the drive remains connected.
That's the beauty of the Saroo Paul. It's a cartridge so no system modding required and you still have full access to the CD drive for playing retail games as well.
One thing I've not seen answered, if you have a PAL Saturn and you try and load a US game off the SD, 1. does it work and 2. does it change the fps to US timing?
But after a look at the cost of a Saturn, I doubt it will be anymore than an idea. A console and a Saroo, best part of 200.00. Being realistic, it ain't gonna happen. Still, I have emulation...
You never know, probably get it all for nearer £150 if you strike it lucky. Main thing is though, you can still try out the games under emulation like you say mate
