PAL Saturn modding?

[Mr Ono]

The Saturn is one machine I never got round to owning (along with the PC Engine) during the early 90's and I saw a boxed one in Gamestation today which tempted me.

Questions:

[1] Can I (or better still, someone) mod a Saturn to play Imports easily?

[2] Can Saturns play CDRs? I'd like to keep my rarer games (Radiant Silvergun) in minty mint condition.

[3] RGB Output, is it available?


Thanks

[MD]

1) If i had a penny for everytime someone asked about Saturn mods then I would have 14p. You could ask saurian.

2) And like putting the CD in the drive will somehow make it less mint will it? You got the game in 3 layers of plastic in a vaccum sealed boxed or something?

3) Er yes

[Mr Ono]

Heh, just that I remember my mate with a Saturn a few years back had to have this whopping great big attachment on the side of his Saturn (HK version IIRC) and wasn't sure if it was still required to mod a PAL one in the modern era.

[ElAlcesDiablo]

You can 60hz switch it, region switch it and chip it (to play copies). All are quite easy to do, there's lots of space inside Saturns, they're not as tightly packed as newer machines. Chipping requires the newer round button model. You can also get an action replay cartridge to play imports and give you extra (and more stable/permenant) save storage. There's a disc swap trick to play copies too.

[Mr Ono]

Round button?

Where should this round button be for me to check?

[ElAlcesDiablo]

The power and reset buttons on top near the front, old model they were oval, new they're round. What you actually need is a 21 pin cd cable inside, some of the oval button ones are ok but all the round button ones are... I think.

[Mr Ono]

Cheers.

I'll check it tomorrow - if they let me.

[billy_dimashq]

yup saturn does rgb with the scart lead. the basic one that comes with the machine is fine (as far as i've seen - i've only ever used those and they've been rgb)

as for import modding (and 60hz switch), you can perform this on all saturn versions (without delving into hi-saturn and whatnot territory) but yup as has been mentioned, you'll need a '21-pin saturn' with grey buttons

oh btw, the chip is really cool as it speeds up booting as the cd no longer does the checks - you shave about 2-3 seconds off if that matters to you

disc swapping is possible, but you need to open the saturn and sellotape the cd lid button (so the saturn thinks the cd drive is always closed - be careful about taking cd's out while it's on as they'll still spin!) and it damages the cd drive.
i've heard people saying it doesn't but i've done it and it definitely does, so was accused of being a sap who can't disc-swap. believe what you want, but i'm confident in my abilities

[Mr Ono]

The power and reset buttons on top near the front, old model they were oval, new they're round. What you actually need is a 21 pin cd cable inside, some of the oval button ones are ok but all the round button ones are... I think.

Cheers. Picked up the Saturn today and checked. It's got the round buttons and Saur has been warned :D

[anephric]

The disc swap thing is gash: wasn't there a cart that slowed down the drive so you could remove the cd more easily - Super Strong? (or something equally as naff).