Sega Saturn US Region - Noobfest 2012

[Matskat]

Hey there,

Several years ago I bought a used Saturn at the Record Exchange here is Saint Louis. They had no games available, but I got it anyway for $20.

It's a US version, model # MK-80000A

I really would like to begin accumulating some games, as I own exactly ZERO Saturn games currently - BUT I am aware that the best games are JP region.

I just ordered an Action Replay 4meg cart from Racketboy, but I'm wondering if I need to track down a modchip as well...

Do I need one? Will I be able to play JP region games without a modchip?
Is a modchip only really needed for playing "backups"?

I'd love to get my Saturn on, as it's the only console that I've never played

I'd love to get my hands on Cotton, Souky, Batsugun, etc...

Anybody got some tips for an owner of a US Saturn?

Thanks!

[beatsgo]

Hey there,

Several years ago I bought a used Saturn at the Record Exchange here is Saint Louis. They had no games available, but I got it anyway for $20.

It's a US version, model # MK-80000A

I really would like to begin accumulating some games, as I own exactly ZERO Saturn games currently - BUT I am aware that the best games are JP region.

I just ordered an Action Replay 4meg cart from Racketboy, but I'm wondering if I need to track down a modchip as well...

Do I need one? Will I be able to play JP region games without a modchip?
Is a modchip only really needed for playing "backups"?

I'd love to get my Saturn on, as it's the only console that I've never played

I'd love to get my hands on Cotton, Souky, Batsugun, etc...

Anybody got some tips for an owner of a US Saturn?

Thanks!

Action Replay will play most jp games. Backups need a modchip.

I know that 4-in-1 are hard to come by compared to 3-in-1, the only difference is one has the com port on top.

[Matskat]

Hey there,

Several years ago I bought a used Saturn at the Record Exchange here is Saint Louis. They had no games available, but I got it anyway for $20.

It's a US version, model # MK-80000A

I really would like to begin accumulating some games, as I own exactly ZERO Saturn games currently - BUT I am aware that the best games are JP region.

I just ordered an Action Replay 4meg cart from Racketboy, but I'm wondering if I need to track down a modchip as well...

Do I need one? Will I be able to play JP region games without a modchip?
Is a modchip only really needed for playing "backups"?

I'd love to get my Saturn on, as it's the only console that I've never played

I'd love to get my hands on Cotton, Souky, Batsugun, etc...

Anybody got some tips for an owner of a US Saturn?

Thanks!

Action Replay will play most jp games. Backups need a modchip.

I know that 4-in-1 are hard to come by compared to 3-in-1, the only difference is one has the com port on top.

4-in-1?

Plz elaborate...

This is what I just ordered:
http://www.racketboy.com/store/sega-sat ... -cart.html

OH! Thanks for the speedy response - I just finished looking at your photos from Dr.Boom's last meet @ Logan. Late to the show, I know. But I remember you! (No pics of me though....so vain, I know ) What a great time! Best meet ever IMHO...anybody who tries to top that has some BIG ASS SHOES to fill....

[beatsgo]

Hey there,

Several years ago I bought a used Saturn at the Record Exchange here is Saint Louis. They had no games available, but I got it anyway for $20.

It's a US version, model # MK-80000A

I really would like to begin accumulating some games, as I own exactly ZERO Saturn games currently - BUT I am aware that the best games are JP region.

I just ordered an Action Replay 4meg cart from Racketboy, but I'm wondering if I need to track down a modchip as well...

Do I need one? Will I be able to play JP region games without a modchip?
Is a modchip only really needed for playing "backups"?

I'd love to get my Saturn on, as it's the only console that I've never played

I'd love to get my hands on Cotton, Souky, Batsugun, etc...

Anybody got some tips for an owner of a US Saturn?

Thanks!

Action Replay will play most jp games. Backups need a modchip.

I know that 4-in-1 are hard to come by compared to 3-in-1, the only difference is one has the com port on top.

4-in-1?

Plz elaborate...

This is what I just ordered:
http://www.racketboy.com/store/sega-sat ... -cart.html

OH! Thanks for the speedy response - I just finished looking at your photos from Dr.Boom's last meet @ Logan. Late to the show, I know. But I remember you! (No pics of me though....so vain, I know ) What a great time! Best meet ever IMHO...anybody who tries to top that has some BIG ASS SHOES to fill....

Hell yeah, great shmup meetup overall. Wish I stayed for the whole weekend, but my school schedule got in the way. I'm horrible remembering faces, but I remember hearing your username during the meetup.

There's two versions of the SS Action Replay Plus, 4-in-1 and 3-in-1. The difference between them is the 3-in-1 has the same features as the 4-in-1, except the ability to play import games. I'm not sure if this is true for the newer carts. The older carts use to have comm parts, but EMS decided to get rid of them because no one has comm ports on their newer computer these days.

[nZero]

Modchip is only for backups. You'd need to either get the correct Action Replay cart, or install a region switch.

[mrsmiley381]

I love my region switch. My cart slot gave up the ghost for no real reason, so I would have been totally boned without it. That being said, a 4-in-1 cart will let you play everything except King of Fighters 95, Dezaemon, and some Ultraman game. Maybe one or two others. Souky will also freak the hell out unless you own the second printing.

[Matskat]

Thanks for the link to the region switch. I'll do that after I get and test the AR.

Now to find a Japanese Saturn game.....

Aside from the obvious (DDP, Batsugun, etc) what are some Japanese AAA Saturn games?

What should I be looking out for? Suggestions? I know theres a lot of crap - where are the diamonds?

[ryu]

i don't think there are many great saturn games that came out in japan, but were not released in the us. rockman 8 is honestly the only that comes to mind. segata sanshirou shinken yuugi is hilarious to play with friends, but doesn't have much actual value when it comes to gameplay.
sure there's a bunch of nice and great rpgs, but they're all very text heavy. in japanese.
if you, by any chance, are a fan of the silent hill series i can recommend you baroque. it's a first person roguelike with a pretty eerie atmosphere.

i made a similar thread way back and people gave me a bunch of suggestions there:

http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=32051

iirc, shmups aside all i got were suggestions for terrible games.

[beatsgo]

I love my region switch. My cart slot gave up the ghost for no real reason, so I would have been totally boned without it. That being said, a 4-in-1 cart will let you play everything except King of Fighters 95, Dezaemon, and some Ultraman game. Maybe one or two others. Souky will also freak the hell out unless you own the second printing.

Just an add on: this mod is actually worth doing because you can switch EU, Japan, and US regions with the reset button.

[Matskat]

So,

What I ended up doing was ordering this stuff:

Saturn S-Video cables
Saturn 4M Auto Plus Action Replay

and the following games:

PuLiRuLa
Sexy Parodius
Gradius Gaiden
Guardian Heroes
Kaitei Daisensou (In The Hunt)

I managed to locate a ton of good stuff via Amazon & eBay - Great prices (IMHO)- less than $30 per game....

Thanks for the heads up on Souky, I opted against it until I either get an NTSC-J Saturn or a modchip.

(Is it wrong that I covet Steam Heart's? I hear the Saturn version lacks the *ahem* same scenes as the PC Engine version....)

[spl]

You guys are lucky.. I have a PAL saturn with an action replay.. but because it's PAL it will only do 50hz.

[brentsg]

i don't think there are many great saturn games that came out in japan, but were not released in the us. rockman 8 is honestly the only that comes to mind. segata sanshirou shinken yuugi is hilarious to play with friends, but doesn't have much actual value when it comes to gameplay.
sure there's a bunch of nice and great rpgs, but they're all very text heavy. in japanese.
if you, by any chance, are a fan of the silent hill series i can recommend you baroque. it's a first person roguelike with a pretty eerie atmosphere.

i made a similar thread way back and people gave me a bunch of suggestions there:

http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=32051

iirc, shmups aside all i got were suggestions for terrible games.

To be fair, you are on the shmups forum.. The Saturn had a ton of great games that never left Japan. And yes, many of them were shooting games.

[ryu]

i assumed he was asking for games that were not shmups

[Thjodbjorn]

"Thanks for the heads up on Souky, I opted against it until I either get an NTSC-J Saturn or a modchip."


IIRC that error persists, even with a mod chip. However, it is just some Japanese text that is messed up. The game itself plays fine.

[RGB32E]

You guy's forgot to mention Taromaru! Best game on the Saturn IMHO!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uc4BrGUA294

It's more of an action game like Strider than it is a shmup...?



Edit:
I really need to SPDIF mod my Saturn and play this game again!

[mrsmiley381]

I usually know a lot about Saturn stuff, but here's a question: what games don't support button remapping and require L and R for menu or other features? I have this mighty fine DC Agetec stick and I'm trying to decide if I want to turn it into a multi-console monster, but I recall some games requiring L and R for menu options and I think Batsugun not having button remapping. I was thinking about slapping two buttons on the right side, but I do think playing some games could be problematic when I'm slapping the shit out of the right side of my stick.

Input much appreciated, gentleman.

[man9child]

I know Radiant Silvergun required you to press L to insert credits in arcade mode, and I don't think you could remap that (though you could remap the controls in general).

[Matskat]

Funny Story:

So in starting a Saturn collection, I needed to get my US Saturn running NTSC-J games...I solved this problem by buying an Action Replay 4-in-1 cartridge.

This thing is awesome, suddenly an entire world of games are available to me where before they were not.

So I ordered a bunch of games from eBay and Amazon (and scored a few locally)

Locally I scored:
Marvel Super Heroes
Rockman 7

Online I got:
Sexy Parodius
PuLiRuLa Arcade Gears
Darius Gaiden
Guardian Heroes NTSC-J
and Kaitei Daisensou (In The Hunt)

Every game works great...except In The Hunt!

Turns out that my magical 4-in-1 cart has ONE GAME that is a KNOWN FAILURE....the Japanese version of In The Hunt!

DAMMNIT!

This game was the one I was MOST looking forward to!

GARRRRRRRRRG! So shitty!

I'm half tempted to modchip this thing just out of spite....

[antron]

I'm half tempted to modchip this thing just out of spite....

since you are buying real games and not using burt isos you don't need a modchip. Just a few drops of solder to change the region. (but you will need a switch to be able to play US agames as well.) I went with the fixed region method to keep it simple and just picked up Japanese games.

[brentsg]

Funny Story:

So in starting a Saturn collection, I needed to get my US Saturn running NTSC-J games...I solved this problem by buying an Action Replay 4-in-1 cartridge.

This thing is awesome, suddenly an entire world of games are available to me where before they were not.

So I ordered a bunch of games from eBay and Amazon (and scored a few locally)

Locally I scored:
Marvel Super Heroes
Rockman 7

Online I got:
Sexy Parodius
PuLiRuLa Arcade Gears
Darius Gaiden
Guardian Heroes NTSC-J
and Kaitei Daisensou (In The Hunt)

Every game works great...except In The Hunt!

Turns out that my magical 4-in-1 cart has ONE GAME that is a KNOWN FAILURE....the Japanese version of In The Hunt!

DAMMNIT!

This game was the one I was MOST looking forward to!

GARRRRRRRRRG! So shitty!

I'm half tempted to modchip this thing just out of spite....

I'm local and have a PCB that I might not need to keep..

Anyways, consider it penance. There was no credible reason to miss out on the Saturn!

[brentsg]

I'm half tempted to modchip this thing just out of spite....

since you are buying real games and not using burt isos you don't need a modchip. Just a few drops of solder to change the region. (but you will need a switch to be able to play US agames as well.) I went with the fixed region method to keep it simple and just picked up Japanese games.

Switch is super easy too..