Remoulding the mould

Illusion of control is the tendancy for human beings to believe they can conrtol, or at least influence, outcomes that they demonstrably have no influence over. That won't be games then!

I thought it would be a good idea to give a nod to the controllers of the Saturn. Sure, Segata carries a massive white (mark II) controller (the holy grail of controllers in fact), but let us not forget the other models:

Name: Saturn 'Mark I' Controller

Regions: USA/Europe

Advantages: Big

Disadvantages: Feels cheap, unresponsive D-pad, not the Japanese controller

From The Saturn Junkyard

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Name: Saturn "Mark II" Controller

Regions: Japan (original), Europe and USA later

Advantages: Widely regarded as the best controller ever made; Great D-pad, 6 button controller is great for Capcom fighters, nice clicky triggers, lightweight.

Disadvantages: Wasn't available on Dreamcast

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Name: Saturn 3D Control Pad

Regions: Japan, USA, Europe

Advantages: Amazing analogue sensitivity. Great for; SEGA Rally Championship, NiGHTS. Excellent triggers.

Disadvantages: Wasn't used to full potential...

The only known project to utilise the pull-out connector was for "Air NiGHTS" but apparently, the Wii version should do the same thing as it's had 11 years to improve... hmm, don't know about that. 

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So, there we have it. Not really a comprehensive list, but I covered the main three. Stay tuned for more, this Saturnalia!

The Gagaman's collection of Saturn Joy

Alright there? May as well make my first post here at the Saturn Junkyard a nice meaty one with lots of pretty pictures to look at, so here's my Saturn collection.

This here is my original Saturn, which I've had since I was about 10 years old, and it has been reliable ever since. It was bought from Currys where it was bundled with Sonic Jam, Sega Rally, Manx TT, Sega Ages and Bubble Bobble collection. Most other kids in my school had moved onto Playstations, but the Sonic nutter in me made it a requirement to own one of these instead. This Saturn has been in storage for a little while mainly because last month I acquired this...

A wonderful white Japanese Saturn. I got it off eBay for about £80, and it came with a few games: Cyberbots, Vampire Savior, X-Men: Children of the Atom, Tetris Plus, Mortal Kombat II, Tongue King the Spirits 2 (what an odd name) and Virtua Cop. Unfortunately so far though I haven't been able to get a scart cable that will run this system at the optimum picture quality like my PAL one, but finally having the privilege to run the games at full screen and full speed 60HZ is fantastic in itself. Daytona USA in particular looks so much better now it's not squashed down by huge huge black bars on the screen.

Next up: my controllers. I used to have a lot more than this (including the steering wheel and a 2nd NiGHTS controller) but had to have a clear out a while ago. Now I have one Model 1 Controller (just for the novelty of having one, I never use it), two Model 2 controllers (the ones that came with the above two systems, and the greatest controller in the world ever), a NiGHTS 3D pad, and one of those cute bright blue Light guns (which I can't use anymore, darn LCD TVs..)

I got rather lucky finding this arcade stick at a car boot sale. Not only was it ridiculously cheap at just £2, but it was also brand new in the box, and had never been used before. It's not quite on par with the Dreamcast arcade stick, but it's still very good and much better than the Sega branded Saturn stick which was a bit shit. The photo also contains my memory cards: a British one i got a few years ago in Gamestation for a tenner, a Japanese one I can't seem to get to work, and an ST-Key which I was using to play import games on my PAL console before I got the Japanese one (it only ran the games in 50HZ though, so some games went out of sync with the sound).

This here is the beautiful Virtual On Twin Stick. It cost me a small lump of cash (about £30) and I still stink at playing Virtual On even with it, but I also have a Total Control 3 adapter so I can also use it for the sequel on the Dreamcast. That and I can use my Saturn controllers on the DC too, because to be honest the DC controllers are not the greatest controller in the world ever like the Saturn one is.

Now onto the most important part...the games!

First off my PAL games. Quite a lot of these were bought back when the system out in the shops but a few were eBay purchases and many were found at boot sales. I think my most lucky breaks at boot sales had to be Guardian Heroes (with a rather dried out cover) for £5, Marvel Super Heroes in perfect condition for £1, Die hard Arcade and House of the Dead for £2 each, and Street Fighter Collection for £5 which I recently sold off for £50 (I own the games on that disc on too many other systems as it is).

Next up my Japanese games. I started to slowly collect these a couple of years ago but my recent purchase of a Japanese system has drove my collecting into top gear (possibly also helped by the fact that I'm running out of Dreamcast games I want to buy). All but two of them have come from eBay (Sexy Parodius and Magical Drop III were purchased from Genki video games.), and a lot of them were bought to replace the bulkier, scratched up PAL versions I had (which are 99% in English anyway), just to save shelf space. I also grabbed X-men vs Street Fighter and a 4MB RAM cart recently so I could finally play all those great Capcom fighters that require it. Smashing.

Magazines! I subscribed to Official Sega Saturn Magazine from issue 26 onwards and it was quite possibly the best video game magazine ever written, I only wish the same staff and publisher did the Dreamcast one too. I also have a pile of back issues including issue 1 but my collection isn't complete and because they were taken to school a lot (to giggle at the fake pictures of a Tomb Raider nude cheat with mates) they're rather tatty. Still worth a good read now and again so they're not stored away. If it wasn't for this mag I probably wouldn't be the Sega and Capcom nutter I am today.

Does anyone remember this mag? It was only going for 10 issues and I have most of them, and the first few issues also had demo discs. I feel sorry for America, they apparently didn't get any Sega Saturn magazines AT ALL. I also have some issues of a magazine called Total Saturn, but I seem to have misplaced those.

Finally here's all the demos that came from the magazines and such I have, including Christmas NiGHTS and that one which is the first disc of Panzer Dragoon Saga. The Sega Flash discs tend to repeat the same playable demos on them over and over again, and were only released once a blue moon. Well that's me lot! I do have some other games in the post (Deathlete, Winter Heat, Sky Target and Golden Axe: The Duel), though.

Aww, they're kissing!

SKU You, Pal!

http://bestsku.com/platform.asp?catid=Sega%20Saturn

I'm referring, of course, to Best SKU, which currently has a sale on Sega Saturn accessories. These include an RF adapter, the Virtua Stick, and Sega's sublime Saturn Control Pad, all for low-to-the-floor prices. One oddity is an Australian version of the Control Pad with the D-pad and buttons recessed inside large oval windows. It's like the alien cousin of the standard Saturn controller!

Annnnyway, most of the items on the site are just $4.99, with the Virtua Stick priced at a slightly higher $9.99. I've got no clue how much shipping costs or if these guys are even trustworthy, but if you need more Saturn controllers (and really, what Saturn fan couldn't use more of them?) and are willing to take a chance on an unknown mail order company, this is a golden opportunity for you.

One final note... at long last, I've got a computer that can handle Saturn emulation at a reasonable speed. You folks have any recommendations as to what emulator I should be using, and what games I can play with it?

A call to arms for Sega-loving Wii owners

There's a web site out there called RetroZone which offers a variety of controller adapters, including two for the Nintendo's Wii that make it compatible with game pads for the NES and Super NES. These adapters plug into the GameCube ports on the side of the Wii, allowing the player to enjoy Virtual Console games the way they were meant to be played.

Well, some Virtual Console games, anyway.

RetroZone doesn't offer an adapter for Sega Saturn controllers, or their smaller but equally effective Sega Genesis counterparts. This is bad news not only for Sega fans, but tournament caliber fighting game players and anyone in the market for a small, responsive joypad with logically placed, uniformly sized buttons.

I've asked RetroZone to make a Sega Genesis adapter available. This would have the double benefit of letting both Sega Genesis fans and the gamers who want to kick it really old-school with an Atari 2600 get the most out of their Wii experience. However, despite having the technology available to them, the management at RetroZone have refused to make the adapter, claiming that there isn't a market for it.

It's time to prove them wrong.

Fellow Saturn fans, please show your support for Sega's outstanding mid 1990's controller design and ask RetroZone to sell a Wii controller adapter that's compatible with the Sega Arcade Pad. Be polite, but firm, and pledge to purchase the item once it is made available. If RetroZone receives enough mail asking for a Sega controller adapter, there's a chance they'll change their minds.

Wii owners who own games like Capcom vs. SNK 2, Bloody Roar, Super Street Fighter II, and Guilty Gear X just can't play them with the default controller. Tell RetroZone to give them a Sega controller adapter, and give them a fighting chance!

(Note: The e-mail is not explicitly listed on the site. The FAQ makes a rather vague suggestion to send E-mail "to this domain", so I'm guessing retrozone@retrozone.com will work)

X Box 360/ Saturn Controller Mod

The interest in Retro Gaming continues to rise thanks to the X Box Live downloadable content.
However, a rather clever and inventive young type, became a little frustrated with the 360 game pad when playing Street Fighter II. The solution? Return to a pad which was designed for 2D fighting games! Yes its the trusty old Saturn pad! So enjoy the video above, which came courtesy of the rather marvellous Gametab.com.