Saturn Cart Slot Concerns

Andi · Post by **Andi** » Mon Mar 21, 2005 2:13 pm

I've been running japanese region discs on my American Saturn using a Game Shark cartrdige for about a year now and have been consistently having problems with it.

When I first started I couldn't get the Saturn to recognize the Game Shark cartridge. I did a good clean of the cartridge slot and it seemed to work fine and had no problems detecting the cartridge. It worked well for a couple weeks then started working sporadically (sometimes I would have to shut off my system 10 or so times in order to get it to recognize the cartridge). Since then it has continually switched between working fine for a month or so, and then working terribly for a while, and back.

I never take the cartridge out and I never really move the Saturn around place so I can't imagine how the slot is getting dirty or anything. Any idea what the problem could be?

Note: My Saturn won't read the other cartridge I own at all (an Interact Memory Card +). However, it seemed very likely that cartridge might just be broken.

neorichieb1971 · Post by **neorichieb1971** » Tue Mar 22, 2005 1:18 am

Its not dirt that causes the problem. Its the cart itself, which is designed in a way which stresses the connectors. Eventually it stops working altogether. Its a common problem which happens even with my convertor. I just bought a Jap saturn and sold my non Japanese software, so now I only use the official 4mb expansion which does not cause this problem (or at least not to the point of it not working).

Andi · Post by **Andi** » Tue Mar 22, 2005 2:15 am

So eventually I'm definitely going to have to get a Japanese unit or do the region mod?

Fuck. How long do you estimate the cartridge slot will last with daily play?

captain ahar · Post by **captain ahar** » Tue Mar 22, 2005 2:27 am

Neon?

neorichieb1971 · Post by **neorichieb1971** » Tue Mar 22, 2005 2:51 am

It depends on if you change the carts on the machine or not, if you change it often its going to cause more problems.

Modding your US console is pointless since if your trying to use 4mb carts in the slot anyway, its still going to cause problems. your machine just won't know its inserted. Its like a nightmare to be honest.

Neon · Post by **Neon** » Tue Mar 22, 2005 3:29 am

just bought a Jap saturn and sold my non Japanese software, so now I only use the official 4mb expansion which does not cause this problem (or at least not to the point of it not working).

Afraid I won't be much help ahar, I did the same. Nothing worthwhile in the US I can't import (afaik).

And grey saturns are sexy

I just use the official sega 4mb ram cartridge in mine and it works fine for any of the ram games (I'm not noticing any problems with metalslug or samurai shodown 3).

captain ahar · Post by **captain ahar** » Tue Mar 22, 2005 8:51 pm

as far as my own opinion, i picked up a white saturn and have never looked back. on top of that my cart has a Magic Knight Rayearth sticker on it. my trashed room is styling now!

Diabollokus · Post by **Diabollokus** » Fri Mar 25, 2005 1:54 pm

Flippin heck a Problem with the saturn that I didn't know off, and its likely just begun happening with my pro action replay cartridge as memory files have started being deleted. Good job i'm buying a white saturn to use with a official 4mb cart.