Swap, Shock & Rock

What a wonderful Saturnalia! I had such a good time reading every one's posts.....so much good stuff....and here's the first post of March.......

I'm not a big fan of downloading back-ups of games, but when certain titles are very hard to come by, sell for exorbitant prices, or if you just know they will suck, and you're going to toss the disc after a single play, then I don't feel too bad. If I have the option to purchase a real game I will do so. As many of you know I've been rebuilding my Saturn collection as of late, and even though I don't have all of the original titles that I once did, I now think I have a better overall library of games. I've been wanting to pick up some of the more sought after Saturn games (i.e. Radiant Silvergun, Panzer Dragoon Saga, and Guardian Heroes), but man are they expensive. No doubt I will one day buy them, but right now I just have to wait for that day. I've never actually played any of these games, although I do have Panzer I & II, and Ikaruga for Dreamcast (basically Radiant Silvergun pt. 2), and I'm a huge fan of 2D Beat 'em Ups....so I know that I would enjoy Guardian Heroes just from the videos I've seen, and reviews that I've read.

SWAP:
So anyways, back in the day I got pretty involved in the Dreamcast backup scene....again, to supplement my DC library with the games that I just couldn't find or couldn't afford to buy. But I've never played around with backups for the SS. Neither of my SS are moded. I do have the Action Replay to play imports, but that's it. A while ago I tried the swap trick but didn't have too much luck there either. I really wanted to play Guardian Heroes, and after a few visited web pages I was able to find a working copy (or so it claimed). Thanks to my knowledge with the DC back-ups, burning a working Saturn disc wasn't too difficult. I then decided to give the swap trick another try........and what do you know.............success!

SHOCK:
You have to open up your Saturn in order for the swap trick to work. A little bit of tape needs to be applied to the button that tells the Saturn that the disc cover is closed. Now, I haven't done too much work with electric devices, but the one thing I know is that you should unplug electric things before you take them apart. And yes, you know what happend next......of course I didn't unplug the system and my hand fully grazed the back of the mother board while it was not only plugged in, but turned on as well...damn I'm a loser. We'll I'm just glad that I didn't ruin anything, at least that I know of. I did get a pretty nasty shock, and the back of the circuits pocked my hand too.....not fun.

ROCK:
After all was said and done, I have been rocking Guardian Heroes.......hard. It's truly amazing that a game like this was around more than 10 years ago. I'm already tracking some legit copies on eBay, and I can't wait until I actually get my hand on one. The graphics and gameplay (for a 2D fighting game) are better than anything I have seen on recent consoles, with the only exception being Princess Crown & Odin Sphere. I'll definitely be spending some quality time with this gem.

Again, let me emphasize that I don't really condone back-ups...but I suppose that I'm a hypocrite for doing so anyways. But if it's the only way to play some of these hard to find games, then so be it. But until I can acquire the legit copies, I'm going to have to feel just a little bit dirty every time I put a CD-R in my Saturn.