Restoring & Reviewing the SEGA PLUTO PROTOTYPE - 1 of 2 ON EARTH - Adam Koralik

[@PhantomRiverStone]

Fun speculation about whether the Japanese on the sticker meaning "what on earth is this" was a subtle planet-related nod! Actually the original language version doesn't contain the word "earth" - it could equally be read as "what the heck is this!".

[@garnerfishy]

this channel is THE BEST because it keeps the vibe of the golden age of the internet, and also keeps it modern. PERFECT.

[@dizzydee4889]

the Japanese label inside that reads なんじゃこりゃ "what on earth is this?" doesn't actually refer to earth or planets, it's more literally means "what is this?", an emphatic "what the hell is this?", often used in times of exasperated confusion, almost a WTF!

[@AdamKoralik]

Yep, that was explained to me later. :P

[@nickmorris6839]

Adam Koralik and Ben Heck doing a rare Sega rebuild while Ben's wearing an MST3K shirt??? Circa ~2011 me would've died and went to heaven. 2021 me thinks it's still pretty cool.

[@nsgames24]

Its pretty cool to see a piece of gaming history being preserved like this. 🙂

[@CCH3900]

Awesome stuff. A pity the HDD doesn't do anything. Would've been neat if that had some RIPPED Saturn games or prototypes or something. The fact that it missing the spring on the CD door makes me think that this my have been intended as display unit at a Electronics show or something.

[@paldinox1]

I was trying so hard to find time to make it to Pinball Expo, but it just wasn't meant to be. Good video though, I love how enthusiastic Roger is about showing off the Pluto and keeping it well taken care of.

[@chronomagus]

Always cool to see what ''new'' accessories can do to old hardware, especially to rare pieces like this.

[@zyrobs]

Fun fact: Sega already had a hard drive equipped Saturn on the market before this console! It was the Karaoke Commander (SKC-1000), and it had a Saturn, a modem, a Roland synthesizer, a hard drive & a full hard drive controller, an elaborate front panel similar to hi-fi system, and a Denon amplifier all built in. It was sold for Karaoke parlours, and you could connect it to the internet to download new songs to the built-in hard drive (there were also CDs released for the system with more songs as well as games). It was a massive thing that supported multiple audio/video inputs/outputs, played really nice quality MIDI versions of songs, and it could be switched over to play Saturn games with a button (it used the same board as the early Saturns, only the I/O slots were changed). It was released in either late 1994 or early 1995. I have the 1996 version which came with a 1 GByte hard drive, and only used like 7 PCBs instead of the originals 11 or so.

[@dwightdixon8508]

Such an exciting video gaming find and definitely a piece of gaming history that should be preserved. Can't quite understand how something like this ends up out in the wild, regardless it seems like it's in the hands of someone who appreciates it and understands the importance of it too

[@RetroRaider]

Thank you for sharing this. Sega history right there.

[@silenthill4]

you can swap out that PSU with a SaturnPSU or a USB C option Marvel Super Heroes (US) also uses the expansion RAM

[@AdamKoralik]

No way in hell we'd put a different PSU in a prototype man.

[@darktetsuya]

huh yeah the stuff that didn't work reminds me of the stuff that wasn't working on the Nintendo Playstation like how it couldn't read CDs? was probably just mostly a concept and not everything was working inside that prototype system. still super cool to see it, never knew the thing was planned to have an HDD inside it!

[@johnnada6855]

I wonder if the Pluto instead of being a Saturn slim was more a Saturn "pro" to fight the ps1 back, cause there were rumors of a saturn 2 back then, finally they cut that and went full on into the dreamcast

[@maxb8955]

Nice to meet you at Found It Electronics yesterday and thank you for talking to me about this awesome console and letting me hold it and take some pictures. So cool!

[@AdamKoralik]

Thanks for taking the time to listen!

[@mikehart10]

I love it! Thank you as always Adam!

[@IanNewYashaTheFinalAct]

9:03 “most people in 2005 had computers with 80-100gb in it” Me, a poor boy: having flashbacks of buying CD-R’s in 100-disc spindles because my dual HDD setup only totaled up to 25gb

[@hardgay7537]

Dude, I was using a 98 with 1gb on the drive. Stronghold Crusader lagged on it, but it ran the first two harry potter games fine. 2nd game was way better than I expected. .

[@ArcadeFreak-gw5rp]

The Pluto is so damn cool, I wish I had one of those, the Saturn is one of my favorite systems, sega could have did some much more with it. Sooo many great Japanese games for it especially if you like shooters. Great video Adam

[@seanmckelvey6618]

Sega did as much as they could with it. It didn't fail because they didn't try, it failed because hardly anyone outside of japan actually bought one.

[@ArcadeFreak-gw5rp]

@@seanmckelvey6618 because of the games, The saturn has so many games that didn’t leave Japan it’s a damn shame, sega didn’t try hard enough if they wanted it to succeed they would have brought over even half the games from Japan and the system would have sold way better. I had both the saturn and ps1 and I played my saturn way more. The u.s library has some good games but a lot of crap as well where as Japan had so many great shooters and back then it wasn’t like today where you can just go online and order a game from Japan and have it within 2 weeks or so. I feel they could have done more with it.

[@mathieulh]

The fact that a whole bunch of people had this unit in hands and did NOT dump the BIOS does boggle the mind...

[@AdamKoralik]

The BIOS isn't special, you're assuming it is.

[@mathieulh]

@@AdamKoralik Have you actually dumped it and compared its checksum against existing (already dumped) revisions?

[@AdamKoralik]

@@mathieulh Personally, no. That's not my field. But I'd be stunned if anything was different about it. Ultimately the decision to do is so is Roger's not mine.

[@mathieulh]

If you care about preserving what's on that unit: worst case scenario, you remove the mask rom, dump it with a an external programmer, install it back on. best case scenario, you use a satiator, run a dumper that copies the BIOS to SD or serial port Heck, had I have my hands on the unit I would have dumped EVERY single rom chips on the thing, including (but not limited to) the SH1 CD Block rom (which requires unsoldering the SH1 and installing it on a custom board.) Out of all the people who had access to this unit, the fact that none of this was even attempted baffles me.

[@knight0fdragon]

Weird that Ben Heck did not think to do that last year

[@Klippenschubser]

Very cool Video. Thanks a lot to everyone involved.

[@colinroberts9544]

Super cool video mate, thanks to you and the lads for taking the time to make it..🍺👍

[@theunknown1426]

Here's a fun fact before sega's HDD "KILLER INSTINCT" arcade cabinet was the FIRST EVER arcade cabinet to have a HDD in 1994

[@RobertGerman]

Holy heck, it's Ben Heck!

[@gllmll7227]

"we're gonna repair it fix it and overhaul it also mend it"

[@DamnDraws]

That's really cool, so nice to have a piece of SEGA's history.

[@SaturnHST]

The Netlink modem was released on 10-31-1996, which was after this was created. For whatever reason I think they abandoned the idea of an all-in-one console and just released the modem on it's own.

[@AdamKoralik]

Huh, now THAT is interesting.

[@SaturnHST]

@@AdamKoralik Also the 1M RAM cart was released on 9-20-1996 in Japan. It would be interesting to see if the Pluto has this built-in as well. Did you try a stand-alone region converter cart (not Action Replay)?

[@AdamKoralik]

@@SaturnHST I don't own one.

[@sega-re-trop-vieux]

@@AdamKoralik I have a pseudo Kai cartridge for the Saturn with sd card built in for the Saturn to share or even my Satiator if you want to check with it.

[@shaggymcdaniel3216]

My Tectoy Saturns won’t read Action Replay either, even though officially licensed carts, like the ntsc-U memory card work. Kinda sucks, because I play a lot of Japanese games.

[@zyrobs]

Memory cards are not region locked, they are passive components. Bootable carts and MPEG cards are region locked. Your action replay should still have the memory expansion part on it working even if the card does not boot, since that part was passive. And the reason it does not work is most likely either because it needs reflashing, or because the cart slot sucks and doesn't see the cart properly. Action Replays have a rewriteable firmware and they often end up bricking themselves because the cart slot just sucks.

[@nathanwalker4013]

Can't wait to see this in person! Dec 11th KC Retro Gaming Swap and Collectibles Show

[@michael-zg5fq]

How good would it be to own both Nintendo playstation and Sega Pluto

[@cyphaborg6598]

Now that Earth image on boot with Sega CD makes sense.

[@shuengli8867]

Interesting bit of kit and history there.

[@coolioistheboss]

Adam Koralik + Ben Heck. It's like chocolate meeting peanut butter.

[@nintendolunchbox]

You put Ben Heck in my Adam Koralik video!!! Aaaaannnn d Reese’s peanut butter cups were invented.

[@mtshark7]

That's awesome that it's now up and running.

[@aegonthedragon7303]

I have a feeling the Hard disk isn’t recognized like with the modem hence why it doesn’t even try to spin it up, probably due to missing software/instructions.

[@MrVolksbeetle]

I'd bet there was a boot disc or some manner of alternative BIOS/interface cart that would enable the motherboard to recognize the expansion cards. I also wonder if connecting the modem to a phone line would activate it?

[@jomon324]

"We did our best" **Rayman shrugs as he points at the TV** 100/10

[@RoXolid]

I touched it! I touched the Pluto!

[@wojiaobill]

Dude I can't wait to get to Guam. Visited Hawaii just before the pando , but I remember you saying Guam is more chill. My wife and I are in Taiwan, which is very close, but Taiwan still requires 14-day quarantine upon return, so we're waiting.

[@AdamKoralik]

Taiwan is on my list too. Guam is great, but very hot.

[@darthv72]

It will be nice to see you again (as well as see Roger and the Pluto) in December at Sac Gamers Expo. Maybe we can grab a beer afterwards with Riggs?

[@AdamKoralik]

I don't drink, but coffee is always something I'm down for.

[@pladampa]

Awesome collab. The video was still fine even with a bit of recording problems. I bet it was Ben's evil twin brother Benjamin Hell. Ben restores rare console while Benjamin breaks them. Jk like I said Awesome video and collab.

[@chaospoet]

So this was started in March 2020 B.C. (Before Covi... you get the point). Also seeing this glorious device again is a treat.

[@MediocreTCG]

Roger with the sweet DGD Afterburner shirt. Nice.

[@sharkt96]

Thanks for sharing this with us

[@xsuicidesn0wmanx]

Was neat to see this at the Pinball Expo last weekend. Bet it'll get a lot more attention at the other conventions.

[@AdamKoralik]

Glad you came out to that!

[@giligan1004]

Roger's DGD Shirt is so awesome.

[@ThoughtformsOfTheSubconsciousM]

I'm sure someone else caught this, but you guys should have tried the US release of Marvel Super Heroes on the Pluto. Its the only US released game that, while it isn't advertised anywhere on the box or manual, does indeed support the optional 1MB RAM expansion. It would have been so awesome to see if its built into the unit by booting it up with that game.

[@AdamKoralik]

We tried, it doesn't detect the RAM.

[@ThoughtformsOfTheSubconsciousM]

​@AdamKoralik Oh wow, okay. Well, that's a bit of a shame. Still an awesome piece of hardware, though!

[@modellifesa]

Great video Adam !!

[@ethanrevard3533]

Props to Roger for good taste in music!

[@andresbravo2003]

You really did it well done!

[@Artzei]

I could've sworn that i've seen this particular prototype already being fixed once before.....

[@dashrendar_8307]

I really like seeing videos really rare stuff thanks

[@InfectedJello]

This is awesome, thanks for sharing.

[@waynosdaboss]

You guys need someone (Ben) to take another look at the cartridge slot / extra ram issue. This defo needs a follow up so you can get it to boot non us games or at least answer some of the unanswered questions.

[@TalesBarros]

American version of Marvel Super Heroes is compatible with the 1MB RAM cartridge, allowing a new "3MB RAM mode" on the options menu. You can try that. If the Pluto has extra RAM (1MB or 4MB), you should have this "3MB RAM mode" on options screen of Marvel Super Heroes.

[@AdamKoralik]

It actually says in the options menu that it would have 3MB RAM mode?

[@TalesBarros]

@@AdamKoralik exactly! If you boot MSH (US or Japanese) with a 1MB or 4MB ram cart, go to options menu of the game and you'll see a 3MB RAM mode with on/off toggles. Animation is much better when turned on (choose Shuma Gorath character and you'll see what I mean)

[@AdamKoralik]

Guess I'll need to track down the game.

[@avflashback8913]

Wow!!! That jacket and bum bag, Roger looks like he has come straight from 1992. LOL!!!

[@sharkt96]

I'm already waiting for the first video of the traveling channel

[@iliketurtles4869]

Cool piece of history to have my friend! I don't have anything turtle related to talk about.

[@GoldenPickaxe]

any chance you can dump the pluto bios

[@AdamKoralik]

Me personally, no. I doubt Roger would mind. But there's nothing special about it.

[@sjmatiak]

Ben Heck’s a cool dude, met him at MGC 2019

[@halo3odst]

an HDD in 96, SEGA deserves more respect than they get.

[@zombee38]

I watched and observed this video 😎 Great video !

[@GrounderSez]

man the pluto looks cool

[@8bitsnkboy472]

The solution for playing Japanese (or other region) games on the Pluto prototype is to get hold of some system discs. These were official tools released in at least two varieties and used by Saturn developers back in the day on either red or black discs. One type will let you boot copies of 1st party games and the other 3rd party ones (on either original discs or CD-R copies). They are getting pricy out there these days though - there are supposedly blue ones out there too (that let you load any disc), but I have never seen one myself.

[@AdamKoralik]

Amusing you suggest this, we actually tried that (after this video), and that didn't work.

[@zyrobs]

@@AdamKoralik System discs only bypass the copy protection. They do not bypass region checks. Development consoles had region switches installed in them for this reason. It was a rotary dial, the systems could be set to any of the region codes, and they had a small sticker on it explaining which region each code belongs to - 1 was japan, 2 was Asia NTSC, 4 was USA, 12 was Europe.

[@AdamKoralik]

@@zyrobs I'm aware. Trust me, it didn't work. I even have footage of it failing.

[@zyrobs]

@@AdamKoralik I know it didn't work, since it's not designed to bypass region checks in the first place. But if the cart slot is functional, you can just use an action replay to bypass the region.

[@AdamKoralik]

@@zyrobs We showed that Action Replay doesn't function on the Pluto in the video.

[@zyrobs]

If you swap the Hard Drive PCB, consider that you may need to switch the chip that contains the firmware. I've done hard drive PCB swaps before to recover data, and without the correct firmware that belongs to the magnetic disks inside, it won't run. I don't know if this is also true for a 1996 drive but keep this in mind.

[@magic8bit509]

@5:29「なんじゃこりゃN3」lol

[@kingkillergrave]

You could test the RAM with a US marvel superheroes, pretty sure that still has the option for added ram.

[@AdamKoralik]

Would also need a copy.

[@IanNewYashaTheFinalAct]

3:43 we’re gonna spread a little 🐢 wax *and sacrifice Franklin the 🐐 to give it life*

[@memyopinionsche6610]

And not including DVD support hurt a lot. Yes Sony had that Locked up. Totally understand that.

[@jamesburke2759]

My best guess about not being able to access the hard drive and modem might be because it needs a boot disc. Possibly some sort of thing to do with a dev unit?

[@MrVestek]

DIsclaimer: Adam is 100% not drunk at the start of the video. :-P

[@davless152000]

Awesome video Adam makes me wish I still had a saturn lol that system looks amazing to bad sega never released one it would of been cool if that was released along side if virtual fighter rpg actually happened

[@Riz2336]

Definitely prototype, but cool to see and share with the Saturn fans such as myself

[@RetroPiero]

2 in the whole world huh? Neat

[@SegaSteve0429]

Kinda curious to see the Action Replay being locked out for some reason. 14:43 If you are interested in testing burned discs another way at some point I also have a System disc that would be the "Official" way to run burned discs. There should be no reason it wouldn't work as long as the system runs official games, but you never know with prototype stuff like this.

[@AdamKoralik]

Orly....

[@SegaSteve0429]

@@AdamKoralik Another thing I was gonna bring to PRGE next year. If the Pluto can be arranged, I'll have it available to test out...

[@AdamKoralik]

@@SegaSteve0429 Assuming PRGE happens I suppose.

[@SegaSteve0429]

@@AdamKoralik Yes, that is a pretty big assumption there. Not much else that local to me though

[@AdamKoralik]

@@SegaSteve0429 You in Portland?

[@kevinvanneste2500]

Great video

[@cyo_corner]

If your friend would like to borrow my Satiator to test please let me know.

[@AdamKoralik]

We're trying to cook something up with that.

[@cyo_corner]

@@AdamKoralik also Roger has a 21 pin drive in the Pluto. He can use an ODE if he wanted to. If he wants to borrow my Satiator for a while I don't mind letting him borrow.

[@chuntsechien]

someone needs to go to Xbox's wiki and edit out the first hard drive thing, that honor is now officially belong to Pluto

[@SK91NO]

Debatable since the Pluto never officially released

[@FIREPHILSPENCER]

Except an unreleased prototype isn't the same as an actual released console.

[@lmotaku]

Also, I wonder, were you fangirling a little for Sir Ben? He's a little wonky at times, but definitely a pleasant man on camera.

[@AdamKoralik]

Nah, I'm used to this. I'm part of that KZbin club.

[@lmotaku]

@@AdamKoralik Well, no matter how old I get or how far I get (currently in study for computer programming and analysis), I'll always have a special place for Ben, because he kept engineering fun and teaches while he shows off. His work on element14 will go down as my favorite KZbin moments. I'll always see Ben with rose-tinted glasses. lol

[@AdamKoralik]

@@lmotaku He's just my homie.

[@no1isawake564]

Does anybody from sega know you have this?>

[@AdamKoralik]

Yes.

[@chrisgreen521]

Amazing video🎮👑

[@FRANKENBERRY.]

luv the vid cool little piece of gaming history been thinking about getting into collecting for the 3ds now that it's life is over games are beginning to get real cheap

[@MetalTiger88]

Always love these weird console prototypes🤗

[@lordcanti]

Epic vidya bruh!

[@RSans4210]

This is an awesome video

[@Popclone]

That HD has to do with online gaming, probably downloading to it part of the game(s). I speculate there should be a menu, dial-up menu, some kind of configuration, maybe its hidden.

[@Popclone]

Maybe its missing the “browser” disc that brings that menu up to access the hd or the dial up.

[@Bikeguychicago1]

Have you tried running any of the games that required more memory (Like Dungeons & Dragons, etc.) on the unit without a 4MB memory card?

[@AdamKoralik]

As I said in the video, can't. They're all Japanese, the unit isn't region free.

[@GRuiz-fx3ft]

There has to be other engineers who can look into this system and offer other solutions (ie harddrive implementation, etc) How about getting with a company that can offer a part listing along with a 3D print for the shell/case and offer it all as a conversion kit for original Saturn owners?

[@AdamKoralik]

There's a lot of reasons this just isn't possible.

[@BocaRetroGames]

Have you tried testing swap trick rom burned imports?

[@AdamKoralik]

I'm not willing to try a swap trick on a prototype.

[@rustymixer2886]

1996 hd sega console 😲

[@rustymixer2886]

I like the svideo out

[@mohammedganai9636]

Was the Pluto the model with two SH-2 processors on one chip?

[@AdamKoralik]

No idea.

[@lmotaku]

We don't talk about the no nos in the not so distant time ago where people did a lot of nothing.

[@krushingbro6620]

here i was with fingers crosed that the harddrive might be home to some rare protoype of saturn shenmue, but alas no joy :(

[@memyopinionsche6610]

And honestly that's one of the reasons why I bought a PlayStation 2.. DVD support and playing video games. And oh backwards compatibility to my PlayStation 1 games.. Triple win for Sony.

[@KenSch2020]

I watched the video that Ben Hack repairing the Sega Pluto and I think it was a great that video made me want to watch Ben's video and I subscribe to his channel and resently subscribed to your channel.

[@funnyguy150]

Action Replay block makes sense to combat software piracy back in the day. I would bet those cheat carts wouldn't work on it either. You could try disc swapping into a Japanese game to test the ram expansion. Try both a 1mb game and a 4mb. I would imagine if the system came with extra memory and a hard drive that it would have some kind of upgraded Netlink support for downloading files through the internet and would have been sold at a higher price point. Neat missing link between the Saturn and the Dreamcast.

[@AdamKoralik]

I don't really want to swap trick a prototype.

[@funnyguy150]

@@AdamKoralik Fair enough. I suppose once you get your hands on the Satiator it'll achieve the same result.

[@johnnada6855]

It makes all the sense in the world that it is from 1996, cause since 96 games that started to look better on the ps1 than the saturn came out, for example tomb raider and resident evil 1, so it makes sense that if they were going to do a revision on the saturn was made in 96 after all they had the saturn 2 years in the market and 1 in america., again i think the pluto was the saturn "pro" that was cancelled, but of course this is only a prototype

[@cax1175]

Hey Adam, don't forget to put your travel channel on this channels featured channels.

[@AdamKoralik]

Can't, that's the whole problem with new channels. It has to meet certain thresholds to even do the basics now. Thanks KZbin.

[@chadbrick67]

Big papa style Pluto

[@memyopinionsche6610]

Is this system pre Sega Saturn or Dreamcast prototypes?

[@AdamKoralik]

January 1996 would be after the Saturn launched but before Dreamcast prototypes were made.

[@memyopinionsche6610]

That's what I figured.. thanks for the information historical insight.. But my theory Sega shouldn't blown or load. over 32x Sega CD and Saturn.. And waited a bit.. Pretty sure Dreamcast would have been an epic game changer.. But hindsight is 20/20. But if I could go into dimensional universe. I'm pretty sure the Sega Dreamcast would have gone much bigger.. But that's just a theory.

[@youralwaysonline]

Dude that owns the Pluto is totally trying to get his own KZbin channel 😂

[@AdamKoralik]

I assure you he isn't.