Sega Saturn PAL Template for US-Style Cases

[olivusprime]

Hi guys! A new Sega Saturn owner here. I got in on Sega's consoles last year when I got a Dreamcast for my birthday, and coincidentally ended up getting a Saturn days after my birthday this year.

My collection for the console is in its early days, but the one thing I've already found frustrating is the cases for the games. The PAL case designs just suck, and there's no consistency across regions - you end up with tiny CD jewel cases mixed in with black plastic PAL cases and big US cases if you choose to collect games from different regions.

I take pride in how my collection looks on the shelf, so eventually I went all in and decided to design my own case art, to be used in the US Mega CD style long boxes. I chose these cases because I find standard CD jewel cases a little underwhelming for video games on a shelf, and the US cases seem to be the only proprietary Saturn cases that have accurate reproductions readily available.



After creating this template and using it for my initial games, I figured fellow fans on the internet might find it really useful, so I'm posting it here. It's deceptively simple to use - I tend to simply cut out the original PAL artwork from the highest quality scans I can find (usually from SegaRetro), paste it onto the front and back cover and spines, and colour adjust as necessary. The existing elements in the template can then be rearranged to accomodate the art, and the product number on the spines can even be customised. The front and back templates are perfectly sized to be printed and inserted into a reproduction US style Saturn case without resizing or modification (I haven't tried them in an original US case, but I can't imagine much alteration will be needed, if any). There are even very faint fold lines on the back cover which indicate where to fold the spines, and these aren't visible once the cover is inserted into the case.



A zip file containing the template can be downloaded via the link below. The zip includes:

• Front and back/spines templates in PSD format at 300dpi
• Supplemental logos and fonts, including the Citizen font used in a lot of Saturn print materials
• Example covers for the initial 8 games I designed for, including:

            Daytona USA
            Exhumed
            The House of the Dead
            NiGHTS into Dreams
            OutRun (I'm particularly proud of this one, as it was mostly assembled from scratch)
            Sega Rally Championship
            Sonic 3D Flickies' Island
            Sonic Jam

drive.google.com/file/d/1AwKqsdLKsUh-le00kSqpI8EEKNZbUeu2/view?usp=sharing

I hope these materials prove useful in sprucing up your Saturn collection. Enjoy! 

[buckoa51]

I think they look pretty smart, thanks for sharing.

[xDerekRx]

This is incredibly neat idea! Never seen anyone do the crossover of PAL to US

I do agree with you that overall the US big cases look the best when on a bookshelf. They are solid and look impressive and shiny when placed in a row. The PAL cases because of their flimsy/weak nature never look great IMO on a shelf. So this is neat.

Personally I think the white of the US style stands out the best. It shows off the spine logos colorful nature a lot better. To me a US Saturn collection is the best looking game collection ever on a shelf when spines are out. Just super impressive. Again the caveat is finding them in good condition and or using the many replacement options that have been created recently.

There's just something about the plastic case that illuminates the cover art so beautifully that the original PAL cases lack. However in your 3rd photo is really shows off that extra luster I get when looking at my North American collection. Very neat.

[olivusprime]

Oct 9, 2023 21:09:09 GMT xDerekRx said:

This is incredibly neat idea! Never seen anyone do the crossover of PAL to US

Thanks very much! I agree that the US cases have much more presence to them, though I do prefer the black PAL styling (just looks more futuristic and in keeping with the Saturn branding to me).

After a few months of collecting and Photoshopping, I have a second batch of covers to share! This second zip includes covers for:

• Astal (never released in PAL territories!)
• Daytona USA Championship Circuit Edition
• Earthworm Jim 2
• F-1 Challenge
• Hang On GP 96
• Panzer Dragoon Zwei
• Sega Rally Championship Plus (NTSC-J exclusive!)
• Shinobi X
• Sonic R
• Virtua Racing

Plus updated covers for the following games:

• Exhumed (front)
• The House of the Dead (back)
• OutRun (front and back)

I'm particularly proud of Astal, which used elements of the US and Brazilian cover art, and Earthworm Jim 2, which uses entirely reconstructed artwork to fit the long box, rather than the ugly stretched artwork of the original PAL release. You can download these covers in the zip below:

drive.google.com/file/d/1VP6gcRE5n5EDpYCu-P0WjoeHzakXZOe6/view?usp=drive_link