Sega Saturn Imports -- Capcom

h8b1llg8ts

Just wanted to double check on the simplist way to have JP Sega Saturn games work on the US console. I just bought XMen vs Street Fighter, Vampire Hunter / Darkstalkers, and Marvel vs Street Fighter w/ a Capcom 4MB Ram. So I just need to plug in cart and disc and play ...

Correct?

Etch

I'm not sure, but damn those are some good games. There's a shop by my house that has Street Fighter Alpha 2 that I want to buy, but I don't have the RAM thing

Steev

I don't think that'll work. You need a Pro Action Replay 4MB cartridge because that lets you bypass the region protection.

Sheep

Racket Boy writeup

Great site for all your Saturn import questions and needs.

I should know.

I have written for them. :P

h8b1llg8ts

SteevL wrote: »

I don't think that'll work. You need a Pro Action Replay 4MB cartridge because that lets you bypass the region protection.

But don't you need them Capcom 4MB cartridge to play these games?

bloodyroarxx

h8b1llg8ts wrote: »

SteevL wrote: »

I don't think that'll work. You need a Pro Action Replay 4MB cartridge because that lets you bypass the region protection.

But don't you need them Capcom 4MB cartridge to play these games?

No any 4meg cart will work I think only KoF98 required a specific cart.

astroboy

You do need the 4MB RAM cart to play X-Men vs. SF and SF vs. MSH, but the Pro Action Replay 4MB cart takes care of that, while allowing Japanese imports to be played on your US system.

I don't know which version of Vampire Hunter/Darkstalkers you have, but the US version of Nightwarriors: Darkstalkers Revenge does not require a RAM cart, so the Japanese one may not either. Point is kinda moot though, since if you're using the Pro Action cart to bypass region protection, you'll already have the extra RAM available in case it's needed (like for Vampire Savior).

Etch, the US version of SFA2 does not require the RAM cart. (I don't know if the Japanese version makes use of it, but I doubt it.)

EDIT: Ah, I see, you were inquiring about the CAPCOM version of the RAM cart specifically.

Timestones

You just need a 4MB cartridge to play them, not Capcom's specifically. Any 2-in-1 cartridge that bypasses region locking and has the 4MB expansion will work.

astroboy

BloodyRoarXX wrote: »

h8b1llg8ts wrote: »

SteevL wrote: »

I don't think that'll work. You need a Pro Action Replay 4MB cartridge because that lets you bypass the region protection.

But don't you need them Capcom 4MB cartridge to play these games?

No any 4meg cart will work I think only KoF98 required a specific cart.

KoF 95 required its own special ROM cart. I know some SNK games (I think like Samurai Shodown IV and KoF 97) have glitchy graphics with the Capcom 4MB RAM cart, as they preferred the Sega 1MB RAM cart. Dunno how they fare with the Pro Action Replay one though.

Sixfortyfive

astroboy wrote: »

BloodyRoarXX wrote: »

h8b1llg8ts wrote: »

SteevL wrote: »

I don't think that'll work. You need a Pro Action Replay 4MB cartridge because that lets you bypass the region protection.

But don't you need them Capcom 4MB cartridge to play these games?

No any 4meg cart will work I think only KoF98 required a specific cart.

KoF 95 required its own special ROM cart. I know some SNK games (I think like Samurai Shodown IV and KoF 97) have glitchy graphics with the Capcom 4MB RAM cart, as they preferred the Sega 1MB RAM cart. Dunno how they fare with the Pro Action Replay one though.

I am fairly certain that the PAR 4-in-1 Plus has separate 1MB and 4MB modes for this very reason.

xYUUBINKYOKUx

Get Waku Waku 7 its a great game!

Mmmm... Cocks...

Sixfortyfive wrote: »

astroboy wrote: »

BloodyRoarXX wrote: »

h8b1llg8ts wrote: »

SteevL wrote: »

I don't think that'll work. You need a Pro Action Replay 4MB cartridge because that lets you bypass the region protection.

But don't you need them Capcom 4MB cartridge to play these games?

No any 4meg cart will work I think only KoF98 required a specific cart.

KoF 95 required its own special ROM cart. I know some SNK games (I think like Samurai Shodown IV and KoF 97) have glitchy graphics with the Capcom 4MB RAM cart, as they preferred the Sega 1MB RAM cart. Dunno how they fare with the Pro Action Replay one though.

I am fairly certain that the PAR 4-in-1 Plus has separate 1MB and 4MB modes for this very reason.

The PAR is sex in cart form. I have it and have never had any problems. Though, I don't have any SNK games sadly, just Capcom.

Mr. Smashy

The Action Replay 4M Plus works pretty well for me. Personally, I prefer using the official 4 MB cart that came packaged with my X-Men vs. Street Fighter since it looks much nicer and is far less finnicky. If that's your aim, you can change an American Saturn to a Japanese Saturn by changing a few jumpers on the motherboard. Installing a switch to change between regions shouldn't be too tough using those schematics. A friend of mine was even able to mod my Saturn so that the region would change by holding down the reset button as I started the system. I'm not really sure how he did it, but it's pretty nice.

Mugenmidget

I always wanted a Sega Saturn JUST for X-Men: Children of the Atom. I saw some teens playing it (I was a kid at the time) by peering in the window of a now defunct game store (I think it was a Microplay). They had those beautiful 6-button pads and the game was being played on a big screen, and it looked absolutely perfect.

I ended up getting the PC version from the bargain bin (and some extra copies that ended up as birthday gifts), but it's clear just from looking at videos that it's not quite the same. :-(

cj iwakura

Seconding the vote for Action Replay, since it lets you play imports, and it holds a ridiculous amount of space.

And before Anthology, it was worth getting a Saturn just for Street Fighter Alpha 2. Still is, since it has an art gallery(Anthology's version doesn't).

h8b1llg8ts

Can second the Alpha series but can also so the Saturn was the best system for fighters. With a close second being the PSOne ...

simside

Has anyone else had problems where their cartridge slot stopped working? My roommate's stopped working for imports after about 4 years. He seemed to expect this, and just replaced it with a Japanese Saturn since he had enough games to justify the cost. It seemed strange it would just quit though, and I've never seen any mention of it in articles about playing imports on your Saturn or anything.

Haruka Tenoh

No problems with the cartridge slot, but I know the A/V port can sometimes fail (I've seen it happen on a couple of Saturns).

Shadowfire

simside wrote: »

Has anyone else had problems where their cartridge slot stopped working? My roommate's stopped working for imports after about 4 years. He seemed to expect this, and just replaced it with a Japanese Saturn since he had enough games to justify the cost. It seemed strange it would just quit though, and I've never seen any mention of it in articles about playing imports on your Saturn or anything.

Yes, I had the same problem. Plug your 4-in-1 cartridge into the slot, then jam a piece of thin cardboard between the cartridge and the edge of the slot. Usually that shifts the contacts just enough to fix the problem.

I'm pretty sure this happened to me because of the cartridge swapping before the 4-in-1s were readily available. :P

Also, OP... since you seem to be into the Saturn imports, I always suggest finding Capcom Generations 1 and 2. One is 1942, 1943, and a third game that I'm drawing a blank on (1943 special, maybe?). The other is Ghosts 'n' Goblins, Ghouls 'n' Ghosts, and Super Ghouls 'n' Ghosts. Awesome discs.

Sixfortyfive

simside wrote: »

Has anyone else had problems where their cartridge slot stopped working? My roommate's stopped working for imports after about 4 years. He seemed to expect this, and just replaced it with a Japanese Saturn since he had enough games to justify the cost. It seemed strange it would just quit though, and I've never seen any mention of it in articles about playing imports on your Saturn or anything.

This is very common, actually. Frequent use of 3rd party carts will eventually damage your cartridge slot. The contacts are of low quality construction and wear out from use primarily because all 3rd party carts use thicker and sharper boards than Sega's, which pushes the contacts apart over time.

When I eventually get around to buying a replacement Saturn, I think I'm going to go with a region switch instead of relying on carts for imports.

h8b1llg8ts

Shadowfire wrote: »

simside wrote: »

Has anyone else had problems where their cartridge slot stopped working? My roommate's stopped working for imports after about 4 years. He seemed to expect this, and just replaced it with a Japanese Saturn since he had enough games to justify the cost. It seemed strange it would just quit though, and I've never seen any mention of it in articles about playing imports on your Saturn or anything.

Yes, I had the same problem. Plug your 4-in-1 cartridge into the slot, then jam a piece of thin cardboard between the cartridge and the edge of the slot. Usually that shifts the contacts just enough to fix the problem.

I'm pretty sure this happened to me because of the cartridge swapping before the 4-in-1s were readily available. :P

Also, OP... since you seem to be into the Saturn imports, I always suggest finding Capcom Generations 1 and 2. One is 1942, 1943, and a third game that I'm drawing a blank on (1943 special, maybe?). The other is Ghosts 'n' Goblins, Ghouls 'n' Ghosts, and Super Ghouls 'n' Ghosts. Awesome discs.

Most of those games are already offered through the Capcom Collections for oXbox too among others. From which I already have for the oXbox. I just wanted to complete my Capcom fighting collection but thanks for the suggestion ...

cj iwakura

My cartridge slot's always given me issues. I never knew it was a regular thing. I usually just pull the cartridge forward(towards the CD drive) while it's starting up, and it reads it.

I've already had it lose all the data on it once, though, so I'm paranoid. The Saturn's probably the most unreliable console around for keeping saved data.

My Sega CD still has data on it from 1997.

Sixfortyfive

Save data on a Saturn cartridge can easily be corrupted if you try to save to it when the connection is loose. It's happened to me a few times.

I think you can avoid the issue if you use the internal battery for saves and make sure to replace the battery only when the system itself is powered on. (Replacing the battery while the power is turned off will almost assuredly wipe out the internal memory unless you're super-quick about it.) The user's manual says to replace the battery about once per year, but IIRC mine could go for at least 2 or 3 years at a time before it died.

The Sega CD only retains data if it's used regularly, I think. You don't need to change a battery or anything, but if the console goes completely unused for any long stretch of time, you lose all your saves. I think the DC's internal clock and system settings (but not game saves) work the same way.

h8b1llg8ts

With this Pro Action cart do I need any codes (ie Game Shark) and what is the little pin set on top of the cart?

Elementalor

no, it's just plug and play. you shouldn't even need to ever remove it from the system.

The pin set, I believe, is a serial connector so you can hack saves and whatnot on your PC and transfer them, or backup w/e.

cj iwakura

You don't need any, but if you use an Action Replay, it seems to be able to detect them for key games(and I don't own any of the ones listed).


I usually use mine for keeping backup data, but it kind of defeats the purpose when the battery's more reliable than the cartridge.

This especially sucks for keeping a file around explicitly for purposes of a Let's Play.
(Yes I'm still doing it, and how is it possible for Scar to abandon my group when he's one of my generals?)

Maybe I just need a new Saturn. I'm very reluctant to part with mine, as I bought it around launch. It's something of a relic.

Einhander

Saturn thread?

I've never had problems with save data on the Saturn I have only used official carts on (Sega brand save cartridge and the NetLink). Everybody who's anybody know the deal with third party carts and the issues they cause on the Saturn due to thicker circuit boards.

The other Saturn I have has a cartridge slot that is completely non-functional, but considering it was a rental unit from a Blockbuster (it has Blockbuster and a store number etched into the bottom of the system) I'm not surprised.

Also, if you have a Sega CD, you could try to track down a save cartridge for it. I don't have a Sega CD, but I found a save cart at a goodwill for a buck, so I picked it up in case I ever get ahold of one.

slave13

hi i have the sega saturn with the slot for the cartridge i got it in the usa when it came out i have been look for that cartridge to play impart and stuff for sometime now and i have look everywhere does anyone know of somewhere to get one and a good place to buy imports as well for the sega saturn that is a good price

Djiem

How can a thread be titled "Sega Saturn Imports -- Capcom" with no mention of Dungeons and Dragons?