Tricking out a Sega Saturn (Fenrir, 50/60hz and more)

Thanks for watching, and if you're new here why not give the channel a sub, I'd really appreciate it! Neil - RMC

The Saturn could do genuine transparency effects but that was only for the two three people who had the system figured out to that ridiculous degree.

"This is why Mark doesn't get to choose games." A great injustice. Cho Aniki is legendarily mental.

I've watched this channel since Neil was just doing it out of a closet. Even though I did not grow up with the kind of tech featured (I'm from 1995), it is always a blast to see the interviews, trash to treasure and repairs. Mark is such a nice bloke, hope you keep him around for a long time because you two interact so good on screen. Keep it up. And when I ever take te ferry from the continent to England, I will surely visit the cave! Thanks Neil, and thanks Mark!

I used to love the arcade version of Outrun... I was on a family holiday in Spain in the late 80's and the hotel had an Outrun machine in the bar area. By the end of the 2 weeks of the holiday, it wasn't a case of whether we could complete the game or not, it was a case of who could get the faster time and top the leader board between me and my brothers. Happy days.

You know it's gonna be a fun episode when both the lads are at the very start!!

Thumbs up for Cho Aniki, one of the most insane, amazing games of all time. Saturn really is a 2d Powerhouse. Never got to experience one as a kid, but i've got one to delve into now. So many great Japanese exclusives as well, some getting amazing translation patches too. Such a fun series, cant wait for the next system.

Fenrir can dump the memory contents to the SD card, and the reverse to allow battery swap. Battery still runs down with FRAM, its running the clock.

PC was also my go-to platform and still is, but I am not a snob and can appreciate every gaming system out there. That's one of the draws of this channel, I can learn about consoles I've never even seen in real life.

10:25 Great video, one thing regarding the 50/60hz switch. A PAL Saturn switched to 60hz outputs an off spec NTSC signal, 59.3hz instead of 59.97hz. Most 50/60hz switches will work fine on a CRT but won’t work on some HDTV’s and scalers because their output is off spec. You can swap the PAL crystal oscillator with an NTSC one to fix this, there’s even a dual oscillator mod available but the website for that chip you used doesn’t mention anything about the oscillator so it sound like a regular switch. Just thought I’d mention this, most PAL Saturn owners nowadays just buy a Japanese system for NTSC games as it’s cheaper and easier then getting the oscillator mod done.

I know people tend to say old 3D games don't age well, but I have to disagree. The old school 3D has a certain kind of charm just like old school 2D games, IMO.

Retro Bit makes officially licensed wireless recreations of the Saturn and 6- Button genesis/megadrive controllers. Both work interchangably if you buy the extra receiver. I've been happy with one of each on my Saturn/Fenrir, no b problems using ABC+Start to go back to to the fenrir menu etc. Still no analogue stick, but very few Saturn games use it, and I don't really miss it. The Arcade stick is a much more important accessory for that system.

I'm a big fan of the Saturn. I bought mine on launch day and was instantly hooked. Sega Rally is still one of my favourite racers, but since then I've gone on to explore the much wider Japanese catalogue. Great video and some essential mods installed there. Nice work. 👍

I'm glad I grew up in the generation that had the Commodore 64, Amstra, Megadrive Spectrum etc all in them.

Great video Neil! I tried getting a Sega Saturn drive working again and never thought of an ODE so know what I need now. 👍🏼

The SEGA Ages version of Outrun on Switch might be the best now.

I was still on the Amiga and SNES when the Saturn was released, it didn't wow me enough to want one especially at that price (and I was never impressed by the Virtua games). On the other hand when I saw Ridge Racer on the Playstation I knew I was getting one of them lol

TL:DR It all happened because an 8 Year old played on an Outrun Machine.. . Outrun was one of my first ever video games that I played. I was about 8 years old and my grandparents took me to Spain for a holiday. In the bar in our hotel was a full sit in and moved about Outrun arcade machine. I fell in love. The Master System was going to be released in time for the next Christmas. I got one. It came with Hang On game card. Other family members bought me games. So I had Wonder Boy, Space Harrier, Afterburner, Choplifter, Action Fighter, and OutRun... But I disagree with your pick for the best version of Outrun. I'm slightly bending the rules but having Outrun on a hacked PS VITA is one of the best ways to play it. It runs perfectly, with no slowdown or flicker, it sounds great and on that super crystal clear VITA screen looks stunning. And, you have Outrun in your pocket. A few years ago before COVID I was on an aeroplane and playing Outrun on VITA and a guy about my age, 40, heard the music from a few seats in front of me. He came talking to me and we jiggled around some seating arrangements with his wife and kids and mine too so he could sit next to me and play it. lol. I showed him other retro games I stuck on there. And we just took it in turns playing our childhood games. He later told me that he is usually terrified of flying and that I'd helped him make a 3 hour flight seem like 30 minutes and we went our separate ways. But he ended up on our return flight and again we moved some people about and sat together. When we landed I gave him my hacked VITA, I had a couple of spares as sometimes the hack would brick the console so I had bought a good many broken VITAS with cracked screens and faulty batteries, they're like £10-£40 for broken ones. I had enough broken VITAs to make about 5 working ones. He wanted to buy it but only had bits of Euros on him. We swapped emails and we still talk to each other. We play rocket league and Call Of Duty together. Last year we on holiday together. I have a really good family friend. All that happened because as an 8 year old I played on an Outrun machine.

My understanding of the analogue stick on Saturn (I can verify this on my Saturn later) is that for MOST Saturn games they are digital only. Only certain games programmed to take advantage of the analogue stick will play the way you are expecting. I would suggest trying Nights into Dreams and see if the analogue stick works on that one. Back in the day I bought the bundle that came with the analogue pad and Nights together.

the cleaning step should be "drop into ultrasonic, wait 2 minutes, come back"