Hi/V - Saturns

[forangejuice]

Had a jp saturn for a while and as I was browsing Yahoo auctions noticed there was a Hi and V saturn made by Hitachi and JVC respectively.
I was just wondering other than looking pretty damn cool (Imo) are there any real benefits over the normal saturn? Or perhaps even drawbacks?

[marc]

Aug 8, 2017 10:08:13 GMT forangejuice said:

Had a jp saturn for a while and as I was browsing Yahoo auctions noticed there was a Hi and V saturn made by Hitachi and JVC respectively.
I was just wondering other than looking pretty damn cool (Imo) are there any real benefits over the normal saturn? Or perhaps even drawbacks?

no mate, but they are both solidly built consoles, I have both of them, and use my v-Saturn daily. The v-Saturn has an updated bios V1.1, but operates exactly the same. you are right, they do look cool.
As far as I am aware the only console that operates any differently is the white Saturn, which has apparently got faster disk access, I have one of these as well, tbh never noticed much of a difference.

[bring]

Thread HiJack Warning......

Which models of V and Hi Saturn came with a VCD Card if any?

thanks.

[darkman01]

Aug 8, 2017 18:55:56 GMT bring said:

Thread HiJack Warning......

Which models of V and Hi Saturn came with a VCD Card if any?

thanks.

Ive heard the Hi-Saturn came with a VCD card, though don't quote me on that.  Ive also heard the Hitachi Saturn is built very well.

would be interesting to hear about the Samsung Saturn though , quite limited info on it.

[pastel]

Well, the one noticeable thing I remember is how the HiSaturn has a different startup screen. Personally, it's not to my taste, but perhaps it has some appeal there?

[zyrobs]

Hi-saturns all came with a VCD cards originally (as far as I know), but if you buy them second hand they might not be included.

I don't know if V-Saturns ever came with VCD cards, but they were selling the cards separately.

Other than the custom bios startup and the different colours on the console buttons and the top of the case, they are identical to JP models. Same hardware, same everything. Some early Hi-Saturns used a Hitachi drives but so did some early grey Sega units. Model 2 Hi-Saturns use VA9 boards, which was not used in white saturns ever, only in Hi-Saturns, V-Saturns, and PAL units, but that's more of an oddity.

Aug 8, 2017 11:58:55 GMT marc said:

The v-Saturn has an updated bios V1.1, but operates exactly the same.

All the JP models got that bios update (Sega, JVC, Hitachi).

Aug 8, 2017 11:58:55 GMT marc said:

As far as I am aware the only console that operates any differently is the white Saturn, which has apparently got faster disk access, I have one of these as well, tbh never noticed much of a difference.

There is no such difference between any units. The disk access depends solely on how well the drive is calibrated (the calibration can go off due to age and handling).

The only actual functionality difference is that VA10+ units have a bug (actually a bugfix iirc) in the 68k, which can cause compatibility problems in early versions of Outrun and Space Harrier.

In The Hunt (jp version) also has compatibility problems but it's hard to tell what exactly is going on there, it is said to only work on launch models, but Madroms tried it on some half dozen units and couldn't find a conclusive result.

[marc]

Yeah, the faster disk access is something that has always been mentioned on loads of sites. As I say, never personally noticed.

My jp copy of in the hunt only works on my pal Saturn using a region cart, its the one shaped like a Japanese md cart, has no memory. It doesn't work on any of my jp consoles, hi Saturn, V saturn, derby stallion and white Saturn, always found that odd.

[dj898]

that's interesting. I thought In The Hunt checks the hardware region coding of the console itself and hence why even with the ARP cart it won't run unless you have the matching region Saturn or set the hardwired region switch at the matching region.

[forangejuice]

So the VCD card included was probably a main feature back in the day, but I'm sure buying a second hand one would most likely mean that someone has removed the card for separate sale, which is a shame.
I've never heard of a game being incompatible with its own regions console? Although I don't down the game so I suppose I wouldn't have seen this issue

[chinozor]

SOme included video card some didn't, these models are just different because they have different distributors. No major change with any of the system.