sonix
Sega Saturn FTW!
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Post by sonix on Dec 10, 2018 15:00:08 GMT
www.forever-entertainment.com/en.panzer_dragoon_remake_i_panzer_dragoon_ii_zwei_remake_a01.htmlForever Entertainment together with SEGA Holding Co., Ltd. from Japan will co-create and publish Panzer Dragoon: Remake and Panzer Dragoon II Zwei: Remake. The premiere of the first part is planned before the end of 2019!
Panzer Dragoon: Remake is a refreshed version of Panzer Dragoon. The original version of the game had its premiere on the Sega Saturn console in 1995 and was well received by both players and critics. The entire Panzer Dragoon series has been repeatedly remade and released on many platforms. The last re-launch took place in April 2018 on Xbox One, where players can play Panzer Dragoon Orta with a backward compatibility. The new version of the game will be characterized by a completely new graphics compatible with today's standards and several modifications of the game, making it more attractive to modern players, while remaining faithful to the original in terms of story. The first materials from the game will be presented in the upcoming months!Talk about out of the blue news! Not sure if it's going to be a good kind of remake, but at least the Panzer Dragoon franchise has something going on. The big question is... does Sega plan to do the same with Panzer Dragoon Saga, and does it depend on the sales of PD/PDII remakes?
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sonix
Sega Saturn FTW!
Joined: March 2008
Posts: 938
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Post by sonix on Dec 8, 2018 13:48:39 GMT
Turns out the cart I got was faulty, had a chance to test it on another Saturn and same things happened. So I ordered another one, this time from (or rather via) Amazon and thankfully this works with no problems (and no "specific wedging" required, guess the cart slot is still in good shape).
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sonix
Sega Saturn FTW!
Joined: March 2008
Posts: 938
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Post by sonix on Nov 27, 2018 10:01:05 GMT
After cleaning the port and the cartridge pins, as well as blowing them with compressed air, and wedging the cartridge in every possible way... after about 50 tries I have given up. It's always the same - boot-up animation (stays up for a while, just like when a game is about to boot), then black screen for 10-12 seconds, and then it just goes back to music player.
I'm going to order one more AR cart from Amazon (fastest delivery, but not the cheapest option). If it won't work as well, can I blame it on the cartridge slot or is it just bad luck with the carts? I wish I had access to at least one more Saturn to confirm what exactly is wrong here...
And if I end up with two unusable AR carts, it would have been wiser to just get a Japanese Saturn, would cost about the same.
And about the swap trick (though I'm not sure if I could pull it off on my model 2, though apparently you don't even have to open up the system, just put a wedge in the right place) - if I boot up the disk with AR flasher and put in the cartridge afterwards, it won't work?
Some more observations - sometimes after resetting the console with AR cart plugged in, there will be just a black screen - not even a boot-up animation. Also, once after reset, the CD that was in the tray actually stopped spinning (more like slowed down to a stall) as soon as the Saturn started rebooting. I don't know if the stuff I described indicates problems with the cart itself, or can it be blamed on faulty or "incomplete" (as in, it's a case of one or two pin-connector pairs being out of order?) connection.
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sonix
Sega Saturn FTW!
Joined: March 2008
Posts: 938
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Post by sonix on Nov 26, 2018 23:39:55 GMT
Assuming that's the case (I'm starting to think it might be the cartridge slot's fault...), is it possible to reflash if it's not actually detected?
I might get another one, but I'd feel stupid if I ended up with 2 AR carts that don't work with my Saturn. Can't even resell them at normal price since I can't confirm whether they actually work or not.
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sonix
Sega Saturn FTW!
Joined: March 2008
Posts: 938
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Post by sonix on Nov 26, 2018 22:34:37 GMT
Not a cheat code as such but I just found something I wasn't aware of before. While in the music player interface, if you press Start+A+B+C, the current date and time will appear briefly on top of the screen.
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sonix
Sega Saturn FTW!
Joined: March 2008
Posts: 938
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Post by sonix on Nov 26, 2018 19:46:49 GMT
Apparently it's my turn to have some trouble with AR cart. After a month of waiting my Action Replay cart ordered on Play-Asia arrived and.... it does not work. 5 years ago, when I bought the cart it worked like a charm, I plugged it in once and that was it - no fiddling required. Now, not so much. I wasn't sure if it's the cart's or the cartridge slot's fault, but after some testing I'm pretty sure it's the Action Replay. First of all, my Saturn seems to recognize that something is inserted in the slot. After the boot-up sequence it does not go immediately to the media player interface, but there's a black screen that lasts for about 12 seconds (the SEGA logo with copyright info does not appear) - then the media player shows up, displaying the message "Disc Empty" (there is no disc inserted, just the AR cart). Interestingly, when I boot the Saturn without the AR cart in the slot, and then attempt to plug it in, as soon as the pins touch the system starts the "Checking media format" and then shows the same message - this tells me that it's most likely not a connection problem, but I may be wrong. But then again - what does it mean exactly? If AR cart works, it boots up almost instantly - in my case you get a long boot up attempt (I guess?) which fails after all. So, in short, the cart seems to be recognized but it does not boot up - in the end Saturn treats it as if an empty disc was inserted. Does it mean this AR cart is corrupted and no matter how many times I will clean the pins it won't work? I'll try to post pictures of the board soon, maybe someone will be able to notice if there are any visible faults on the hardware. EDIT: It doesn't say "Disc empty", but "Drive empty", my mistake. Some more observations - when I plug in the cart and also put a game in the CD drive (PAL or JPN), after the 10-second black screen, the media player appears but it's heavily dimmed for a couple of seconds, then appears in full brightness. The disc spins but no "laser noise" can be heard, although the screen says "Checking disk format". However this continues indefinitely. Even if you remove the cart, open the tray and close it again, Saturn will be stuck on the "Checking disk format" phase until turned off. Pics: Looks fine to me...
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sonix
Sega Saturn FTW!
Joined: March 2008
Posts: 938
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Post by sonix on Nov 24, 2018 16:01:38 GMT
Thanks martinii for pointing these out. However, Devil Summoner Soul Hackers ~Akuma Zensho~ stays on the list as it's not the actual Soul Hackers game, but the demon compendium that was released in two parts. I assume it might have been included in some way in the 3DS remake, but the release itself remains exclusive.
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sonix
Sega Saturn FTW!
Joined: March 2008
Posts: 938
Location:
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Post by sonix on Nov 21, 2018 18:18:52 GMT
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sonix
Sega Saturn FTW!
Joined: March 2008
Posts: 938
Location:
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Post by sonix on Nov 21, 2018 8:12:34 GMT
Got Panzer Dragoon for 10$ and just when I thought that's it for this month, Salamander Deluxe Pack appeared for 44$ (free shipping!) which is quite a bargain so I grabbed it without much hesitation.
Still waiting for the Action Replay cart, but apparently its journey around the world is at the last stage.
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sonix
Sega Saturn FTW!
Joined: March 2008
Posts: 938
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Post by sonix on Nov 16, 2018 20:24:32 GMT
After a pretty long wait I got 3 packages delivered on the same day - so about half of games I ordered are finally on my shelf. Too bad the Action Replay is still in transit so I can't actually play them yet - guess I'll settle for listening to some music. One game got me worried though. In general anything that comes from Japan is in very good condition - some CD's are almost mint - but the X-Men vs Street Fighter copy I got (described as "VG+!" condition) has a pretty substantial scratch on the top layer of the CD (the light shines through it very nicely). For what it's worth the disc works without any problems - the scratch is not near the centre of CD, so I guess that if anything it could make some audio tracks skip or something, but after checking every one of them I didn't notice any such issues. Still, kinda bummed that the most expensive purchase so far ended up being in the worst condition. In the meantime I decided to take part in another set of auctions and got Daytona USA CE, Dead or Alive, Vampire Hunter, Gungriffon and Fighters Megamix for about 25$ plus shipping. I feel a bit silly for spending almost 250$ on Saturn stuff in one month but I guess that's what happens when you start from scratch after 5 years, you get thirsty (-_- I swear to myself that next month I'm getting nothing else but Panzer Dragoon and Layer Section (turns out the guy I "bought" it from already sold his copy so I'm gonna wait for a good offer again).
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sonix
Sega Saturn FTW!
Joined: March 2008
Posts: 938
Location:
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Post by sonix on Nov 11, 2018 0:25:25 GMT
I'd buy Delisoba DX if it was cheap enough, looks like a fun little game.
So if I got 5 (single case) games from Yamatoku it should cost 26$ to ship them - still more expensive than average but bearable, considering the games themselves would make up for it. I might try it once but I'm kinda worried they may calculate it differently to my disadvantage.
Yeah, thanks for the link, I have a bunch of stores with Saturn stuff bookmarked but not this one. They also have their stuff on eBay too.
Of course I ended up buying Layer Section - I figured the price is good (25$) and it would be convenient to pick it up now, especially since the seller lives in my city - a (sadly) pretty rare opportunity when it comes to Saturn games!
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sonix
Sega Saturn FTW!
Joined: March 2008
Posts: 938
Location:
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Post by sonix on Nov 10, 2018 18:47:47 GMT
Actually, some of the shmups I named can easily be found for less than 50$ - Layer Section and both Darius games are probably among the cheapest and can be found for 30$ (Darius II might be more of a 40$ game). But yeah, lots of shoot'em ups have gotten ridiculous, Radiant Silvergun isn't even "that" expensive anymore. Nothing beats Delisoba DX though (cheapest copy on eBay right now - 2550 USD).
Yamatoku has great prices, but only for games - shipping on the other hand is pretty crazy if you buy single items, and I don't know how they calculate the total. I remember I ordered from Yamatoku once before, I think it was 3 Saturn games, but the combined shipping was basically 3 times the cost of shipping of a single game - although in the end they lowered the price after I complained about it (the explanation though didn't make much sense). And it was at a time when they shipped for 8$ per game and not 14$ like they do now.
I often find shipping costs much more prohibitive than the actual game prices. It hurts to find a game for a great price on eBay and then drop it (like it's hot) immediately because shipping costs makes the whole offer void. In case of some countries it has gotten worse over the years - I used to order games from US sellers sometimes, but now I haven't seen a single auction (with something I was willing to buy) which did not have something like 20$ for shipping minimum.
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sonix
Sega Saturn FTW!
Joined: March 2008
Posts: 938
Location:
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Post by sonix on Nov 9, 2018 23:04:22 GMT
Came across a cheap Winter Heat Jap copy on ebay (4$), and ordered it along J.League Victory Goal 96' (2$).
I'm also eyeing Layer Section and Assault Suit Leynos 2 which somehow appeared on a Polish auction site, but then again they're not that much cheaper than eBay average, and I already spent a little too much dosh on Saturn games this month, so I'm trying to refrain from it for now. I got this urge to buy all affordable (sub 50$ in my book) shoot'em ups as fast as possible - Darius II, Darius Gaiden, Layer Section, Salamander Deluxe Pack, Soukyuugurentai, etc. - but getting them all in one go would be a little ridiculous. It also stings a little that a few years ago you could get most of them for as low as 15$ (even the PAL copies of Darius and Galactic Attack) - I remember getting Salamander for that price from the Suruga-ya store in Japan - today they sell it for 50$, just like on eBay.
Overpriced or not though, I still enjoy the whole "hunting for games" thing. I guess I missed it a bit during the last few years.
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sonix
Sega Saturn FTW!
Joined: March 2008
Posts: 938
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Post by sonix on Nov 8, 2018 23:35:57 GMT
I updated the list for the last couple of days, I'd say it's about halfway complete at this point. One observation - the amount of Saturn exclusives, now that I comb through the Japanese releases, is much higher than I thought.
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sonix
Sega Saturn FTW!
Joined: March 2008
Posts: 938
Location:
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Post by sonix on Nov 8, 2018 23:26:16 GMT
Is there a detailed list of differences between the versions of Sega Rally? As I understand, the game basically has 2 version - the original JP/US release (though I read somewhere, that those two were not identical as well?) and the EU release, which would later appear in Japan as "Plus" edition.
I only ever played the PAL version. As far as I know the differences lie in visuals and seem rather miniscule - the "updated" version had some better road textures and there was this mountain sprite added to the Forest track, but looking at youtube videos makes it look like it's hardly noticeable. Also, some of the descriptions on the Internet imply that the changes affected some other aspects of the game but I can't find any more information about that, and it seems unlikely anyway.
I already ordered the original Japanese release of Sega Rally (much cheaper), but I was wondering if there's any point in getting the Plus/EU version in the future to replace it.
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