Action Replay 4M Auto Plus for Sega Saturn

[allyinglis63]

Can anyone tell me whether one of these is worth purchasing? I was planning to buy a secondhand singular Memory Card but that's now been sold from a 'certain online selling site'. This will be a new version too.

Ally

[Tatsumaru]

Not only it is worth, it's pratically obligatory.
I'd recomend getting one.

[phb1969]

I'm not being lazy as I sure people will point to google but what functionality do these offer please - often a practical review / synopsis is far more useful than a list of advertising bullet points. Many thanks

NB - I already have a memory cartridge that came with one of my Saturns - looks like a mega drive cart and goes in the cart slot.

[bradcap1]

1) It allows you to play Saturn games from different regions.
2) It allows you to play games that require 1 or 4 MB of RAM.
3) It also acts as a memory cart.

A must have unless you have a JP Saturn or modded unit. Even so, you'll still need the 1MB and 4MB carts to play those games without an AR cart.

[phb1969]

So, the cart I have is just a save game cart - doesn't expand the memory for this games that need additional RAM.

The fail comment is worrying - is this a common experience for lots of users and is it total failure or aspects of the functionality such as no game saves but access to multi region?

[Tatsumaru]

I lost my saves on it twice, if you remove it and insert on the saturn frequently, it'll wipe the saves from time to time for some reason.

[Sidney]

An Action Replay is a MUST purchase for all Saturn owners. I have to say that because of reasons of storage I remove mine when my Saturn is tucked up safely in it's cupboard, I have to say that I have encountered no problems in doing this thus far. Saying that I bet the next time I power my Saturn up...........

[mick_aka]

If you put it into your Saturn and never remove it it's unlikely to cause you any issues, I've only had them wipe when removing and re-inserting.

NB: The Saturn's cartridge port is made of soft cheese and unicorn tears, it's the system's Achilles heel.

[lordmaximus]

But is it worth playing NTSC 60hz imports on a PAL machines? Surely the 17.5%-20% slowdown to our PAL region will compromise the experience (and possibly even be glitchy)? Or you have to go for a 50/60hz switch modification.

Also, as a memory card (action replay 4m plus), you have to transfer game data across - it doesn't directly write to the memory like a standard memory cart. Still useful to manage your save game storage, but a memory card is better for that purpose.

[mancity]

You need one.

[Oho]

Absolutely compulsory.

Sept 6, 2014 12:29:26 GMT lordmaximus said:

But is it worth playing NTSC 60hz imports on a PAL machines? Surely the 17.5%-20% slowdown to our PAL region will compromise the experience (and possibly even be glitchy)? Or you have to go for a 50/60hz switch modification.

Also, as a memory card (action replay 4m plus), you have to transfer game data across - it doesn't directly write to the memory like a standard memory cart. Still useful to manage your save game storage, but a memory card is better for that purpose.

I haven't noticed any issues with my set up. When you watch my reviews - have you noticed any? The only slow down I know of that was pretty noticeable was Marvel Super Heroes and In the Hunt and even then, Marvel Super Heroes was a PAL copy.

[lordmaximus]

Sept 7, 2014 12:52:20 GMT Oho said:

Absolutely compulsory.

Sept 6, 2014 12:29:26 GMT lordmaximus said:

But is it worth playing NTSC 60hz imports on a PAL machines? Surely the 17.5%-20% slowdown to our PAL region will compromise the experience (and possibly even be glitchy)? Or you have to go for a 50/60hz switch modification.

Also, as a memory card (action replay 4m plus), you have to transfer game data across - it doesn't directly write to the memory like a standard memory cart. Still useful to manage your save game storage, but a memory card is better for that purpose.

I haven't noticed any issues with my set up. When you watch my reviews - have you noticed any? The only slow down I know of that was pretty noticeable was Marvel Super Heroes and In the Hunt and even then, Marvel Super Heroes was a PAL copy.

I thought you had a Japanese Saturn as well though? I can't say I noticed any slowdown, I just like to play games as the lord Vishnu and Zeus intended...it would niggle in the back of my mind. Just having a PAL console slightly irks me - but I comfort read about many Saturn games being PAL optimised at the time. Sega seemed to look after the PAL base better than Nintendo and Sony ever did during that period (which is why I have a chipped PS1 and NTSC N64....and 50/60hz conversion on the SNES). 



 

[Oho]

I do but I don't have the proper stepdown transformer. We have 240v here in Aus which will fry it the second I turn it on. And yeah, you will find the list of which games are optimized for PAL - Duke Nukem 3D being one of them on this website.

[allyinglis63]

Many thanks for all your replies guys, it sounds like a fairly essential piece of kit.

Ally

[dickybananas]

I bought one the same time I bought my v-saturn, not realizing the cart breaks region locks. Needless to say I felt kinda dumb. I love my v-saturn though so it works out fine