Sega Saturn CD - Cracked after 20 years

Update Feb 2017 - you can now support this amazing guy via patreon: / prof_abrasive
A detailed look into Dr Abrasive's lab and what it took to engineer a plug-in-flash-card for the Sega Saturn.
Update: Dr Abrasive now has a twitter! / prof_abrasive Discussion is now over at assemblergames.com/l/threads/s...
FYI: This is not a commercial product. It also is still being tweaked.
FYI: The sound patch designer tool shown is in early early days!

[@stllr_]

I'm blown away by not just the knowledge of the engineer, but the knowledge of the interviewer. He actually had a functioning understanding of the hardware and asked informed questions. Far more informed than I'd expected. Good shit.

[@maniaque37]

its all arranged like what u see on raw wrestling for example.

[@ultimaIXultima]

Agreed. The fact the interviewer didn't ask stupid questions was 90% of why this vid was good.

[@flamerollerx01]

@@ultimaIXultima Having no understanding of what they were talking about, I was impressed by how the conversation was pretty clearly not between one informed person and some ignoramus like myself.

[@Superman-xr1oh]

@@maniaque37 Wrong

[@stargazer7668]

STLLR He has probably spent his whole life On computers,He is literally already part of the matrix!!!

[@LGR]

No way, after all this time! This is awesome! Really well made video, too :)

[@marcushalloway9295]

Try to crack Denuvo.. mate.

[@SimplyAustins]

The classics just get better and better :D

[@roberthanthonymartinezrive7383]

And they'll never get old.

[@maricate]

LGR Great Channel

[@jamescree6331]

Apart from the fact that he keeps saying "seega"

[@JoakimKanon]

Cracked after 20 years. Recommended after 23 years.

[@4ensyk]

lmao foreal!!

[@BBOYWORLD]

🤣🤣

[@MMPablo]

Facts

[@mtube620]

copyright and patent usually good for 20 years

[@birrextio6544]

@@mtube620 Copyright is extended 20 years every 20 years due to lobbying by Disney, they would probably die if others can paint Mickey Mouse.

[@UncommonS3nse]

This dude represents everything that is right in the world. Backwards engineering a classic system for the good of us all.

[@TakTiklUnit]

I knew there was something in there that was good for us all lol

[@darmarbera]

😁😁😁😁

[@8015908]

People like him will get sued by the companies

[@micheltrottier6443]

Hi possible for me to give you by the post my sega Saturn japanese model by the post and you crack my sega for me I will pay u by PayPal is ok please give me your info PayPal I will give you my sega and pay thank u Michel trottier canada I will wait 4 your respond thank u in advance??

[@micheltrottier6443]

I will give you my sega Saturn Japan by the post and put the crack on my sega possible. I will pay you by PayPal give me info PayPal thanks and your adress I will ship to you

[@El-Mojo]

I noticed this in passing. I worked for SEGA development in the 90's. So it's come as a surprise that our security has lasted this long. You are still missing some key tools. One being CodeScape as it was one of the first multi-processor development platforms. This was written by Cross Products the development tools division of SEGA. The Saturn development platforms were SCSI based communications onto a piggy backed main processor. The Key disks did allow you to run your code without security but on a one shot basis. You have to use the key disk every time. There was no code to make this mode survive a reboot. This only worked reliably on piggy back boards. Imagination Technology still produce CodeScape. However, the all important black box (CartDev) we produced is now nowhere to be seen today. A working version is a must have. The head count of who new all the details of the processor interface is in single figures. At least you found the wobble. Haha!

[@FeelingShred]

Now that all the hard work is done, the guys from Sega appear... Too late, pal, too late...

[@segaunited3855]

Yup. The Piggybacked Processor embedded in the CD Driver is codenamed "Milkway" its a hidden SH-1.

[@Sypaka]

The Saturn was a bit ahead of it's time. Mr O'Brian, you mean one of those: segaretro.org/Saturn_CartDev ?

[@biglebowski923]

Huh?

[@witalit]

That's awesome I wish SEGA still manufactured consoles.

[@SimonTekConley]

This guy doesn't need a resume for the rest of his life.

[@fury3600]

what.. you think he applies to jobs? probably the kid selling skimmers, runs and sells zombies for ddosing, RAT installations, etc, probably shit than just that

[@theengineer-dellconagher]

Edward's definition of a *_1337 H4XX0R_*

[@netbookeater]

SimonTekConley what because he can read instructions? I don't think so.

[@mdlindsey]

lol netbookeater - I'd like to see you program a damn jQuery form.

[@patrick0101]

Read instructions? You can't even realyze what those instructions do. hahahahaha

[@avi7278]

27 minutes of me just staring at a clearly superior human being wondering wtf i'm doing with my life.

[@jtveg]

What truly makes this guy awesome, is that he never once said how awesome he was.

[@seephor]

If humans who sit on toilets and poop made it, other humans who sit on toilets and poop can understand it. There's nothing superhuman about it.

[@MoonOvIce]

Dedication is everything, he probably was able to tinker with things since he was a child, and of course, whatever career he studied must have helped quite a lot.

[@classicnosh]

I have been a programmer for years and while there is always someone more skilled out there, don't let that stifle your capacity for creativity.

[@squirlmy]

@@MoonOvIce It's very possible he never studied it formally, and just did hardware hacking. In fact, in these cases, formal study can interfere because you learn how you are "supposed to do" and reverse engineer from that, rather than "hacking" (as in the original sense of the word), looking for shortcuts and vulnerabilities. I'm telling you this because my life was basically ruined by "studying for a career", while my hardware hacking friends have much better careers from studying whatever interested them. If you've graduated from high school, or whatever secondary school is called in your country, seriously think of not going to university. Certainly in the US, university ("college") is a debt trap and not worthwhile for starting an actual career. If you think otherwise, you've been duped.

[@rars0n]

I just got my Satiator today. The work that went into this is nothing less than amazing.

[@metfan4l]

Thank god for people like this, mad respect!

[@kenyattawilliams8839]

i love u

[@Toecuttah]

I just came here to say exactly that. People like this guy are who truly advance the world.

[@MichaelStubbs]

+1 to that. This guy is a fucking boss.

[@Pixel_Crusher]

God bless this wonderful man! =)

[@tr1bes]

that's why we need hackers as well. (Anonymous) There are good hackers as well as bad. For him and the rest of us, he is a good hacker. For bad are the people taking our credit card info and our security. To Sega, he is a bad hacker to them.

[@cloudygor8948]

If Alien invade us one day in city size ships with giant green laser, this dude is totally going to be the guy who'll disable their shield.

[@mutechpak5089]

Hahhahaa

[@JarofMayonaise]

Lets hope it doesn't take 20 years though....

[@user-zg3fm3xc9i]

ha ha ha yea with Jeff Goldblum xD

[@mikakorhonen5715]

@@JarofMayonaise Like he started all this when Saturn were released. :D

[@testovirone]

I am the guy with the shotgun protecting his ass

[@chrisdowdle1]

I'm a 4th year elec eng student in the depths of semester and needed a break from the grind of it. Watched this to gain some respite. Had no idea what I was being introduced to. Dr Abrasive, you are truly and inspiration and absolute freak of exemplifying the combination of brains and persistence. You have inspired the pants off me. Thank you sir. Back to grind:)

[@todorkolev7565]

How did it turn out? Grind paid off? Enjoying EE career?

[@jordfumar2393]

That's one dedicated Embedded Systems Engineer

[@Dodgingss]

Man this guy makes me realise how dumb I am.

[@mordimustafa1275]

how about the guy who made it in the first place

[@repairgames]

@@mordimustafa1275 the team u mean also they are asians

[@bryanbortko2695]

I am also a dumb ass unfortunately

[@edstar83]

@john jones Well in current year it's hard to tell when someone is trolling because there are so many sjws that are actually that dumb.

[@elonmust7470]

Had you spent your life learning about this stuff you wouldn't think he was smart at all.

[@traida111]

This guy is a sicko. He went and told the emulator makers how to perfect the emulation? wow fuck man thats impressive. He's a hero amoung the emulation community. Massive respect

[@NinjaSushi2]

traida111 sicko is bad slang though. Not a good thing to be a 'sicko'

[@traida111]

Michael not where I come from. you never heard of "sick skills". etc? sicko is used in some cultures as slang for, hmm, like "slick abilities \ skills". You should just read all my comment and get an overall feel for my "intention", which is fundamentally positive. I understand why you could misinterpret but when I watched him on the video he was like a rockstar to me. that shit it fucking incredible...

[@philiptran1306]

Sicko and "sick skills" aren't the same. Where the fuck do you live?

[@traida111]

Philip Tran England, south

[@NinjaSushi2]

traida111 I've heard of sick skills before. In America sicko is a noun reserved for pervs and mentally twisted people. :P Say ello to the ol' Queen for me mate.

[@tristandbarker]

This guy is a testament to why the homebrew scene is so resourceful. Much respect to this guy. And the interviewer too

[@-KillaWatt-]

"could probably do better" *proceeds to build his own chip boards*

[@chuckwallace7002]

He ha, the drive to me fun

[@amayjahmusic7494]

Lmao.

[@rathergrumpy]

This is some high level nerd shit right here...

[@bobaltamont]

That should be - some low level nerd shit right here...

[@ADAKAR83]

This is like nerd porn kinky stuff ... I would even say BDSM for nerds ...

[@mikecorleone6797]

😂

[@lopkieshex8424]

HAHA

[@Raziel_SSJ]

@Zfast4y0u I would say "His lvl is over 9000 !!!" 😆

[@ExzoSSG]

One reason why I think emulators and roms should be completely legal is because these older consoles are so aged that they are starting to die. Controllers stop working, disk drives burn out, the console itself might take a dump. If you're someone who still enjoys the classic games, it gets harder and harder to actually play them legitimately. Finding replacement parts is very difficult and will soon be impossible as time goes on. We need to take steps now and preserve older games, we need to archive all games because it's a form of art and entertainment that should be passed down and not lost.

[@iant720]

ExzoSSG But then you wouldn't buy the new one...

[@ParanoiaGentlman]

ExzoSSG this is my argument against a all digital future

[@sudlud91]

Like these guys: archive.org/details/software

[@towhomitmayconcern8866]

roms/game copies are essentially legal, if you own the original game hardcopy, with 20 year old licensing bringing some of these games back to life might not be possible

[@ThePeacePlant]

dude , it doesnt even really matter. you can download all the roms and emulators in the world and your chances of being imprisoned or anything is slim to none. Nobody really gives a shit and doesnt have time to prosecute some mid-20s to a teenage kid for roms from the 1990s

[@rctampake]

This is my forth time watching this video, every seconds of it..still have absolutely no idea what he's talking about..yet i feel happy...

[@PreciousMetalinvest]

Robert Tampake - I think it leads to bitcoin

[@NirtieDigger]

Uve watched this 4 times?? That's sad

[@rogerlow9107]

oh lol then study electrical engineering .

[@rctampake]

@@NirtieDigger i feel happy, i dont feel sad

[@brianjackson3031]

I can follow everything he’s saying but can’t do any of it. He’s just an expert at his craft. Years of experience.

[@hi_tech_reptiles]

4 year old vid but thank you. Both video maker and engineer here. I love Saturn games, rediscovered it as I didnt have one as a kid but man it's a fun console, especially with JP games. Thanks for keeping the hardware alive and injecting the Saturn scene with much more interest!! :)

[@nin9fy619]

why the fuck did i just watch the whole video, i didnt understand anything we was talking about

[@Bronnergus]

Nin9fy bad life choices, maybe? or just because this sounds interesting af even if you don't get the details.

[@briandrum1]

+Nin9fy I'm 9 minutes in and wondering the same thing. Lol!!!

[@nin9fy619]

It was very interesting. I love games so i wanted to learn a bit how they are ran on consoles but the software he was using looked difficult to use

[@izzzzzz6]

ha i am 9.03 mins in and in the same boat :D

[@germanikolaas]

18 minutes same thing

[@NicHills]

I understood almost none of that yet still found it utterly fascinating :)

[@tonytrilex2555]

me too and I fell asleep to the video but yea still so much in this world I don't know anything about.

[@GoldBallTV]

I got about 17mins in before i realised this is irrelevant for me (never owned a Saturn, not interested in owning one)... but like you said, fascinating to listen to all the same.

[@cringecake321]

Nic & Andrea Hills lmfao same

[@WestSeaSpirit]

Nic & Andrea Hills Dumb ass.

[@luchiboy]

Was about to say the same thing. Maybe because a piece of your childhood was on display and felt engaged see the outcome

[@pentachronic]

FYI, I developed the hardware interface (cartridge slot) for the cross compiler (CodeScape) along with a cd emulator back in 1993 ish for the Saturn. It's weird seeing it 25+ years later!!! I also developed a whole host of other ICE and Emulator hardware for other game consoles. This was for a company that was then called Cross Products in the UK. The Saturn had 2x SH4 cpus and a 68K for sound IIRC. Don't have any info now though. Basically a SCSI2 interface to the PC for download/upload. The CD Emulator was a switch that multiplexed a SCSI2 HDD between a PC and the Saturn. The CD image was placed on the HDD and the Saturn booted it up. (from memory so this might be incorrect). I had the FPGA/CPLD do all the memory mapping of the SCIS2 and some DPRAM as the interface to a serial converter for CD loading with RS422 buffers IIRC. There was an FPGA (Xilinx 3000 series and a XC95xxx CPLD IIR), DPRAM and an SH2 as the main cpu on the emulator, I also had a front panel LCD + Buttons. Some of my talented colleagues developed the firmware on the emulator. My boss at the time was a very well recognised games programmer. A brilliant man who surrounded himself with other very talented people. I am very proud to have worked with a team of people like this in my career. Serious talent in a small building in Leeds !! I now develop ASICs and high complexity FPGAs.

[@zerocal76]

I didn't understand 95% of what u said haha but this is awesome! The Saturn, thought it didn't become a commercial success is part of gaming history :) thanks for your comment !

[@smoothiesbar9180]

speak english please

[@KrisTheCodeManDude]

Can you recommend any resources for becoming a great programmer?

[@pentachronic]

@DreamsComeTrue, the way I got started was to write Assembly code (hand coded btw) for the 6502. In reality you could get an 8086 assembler and a good book on 8086 and start writing Assembly code. I would avoid jumping into C and high level languages to start out with because you can pick up bad habbits. The advantage of writing assembly is that you really have to think about what you are doing and you also get an insight into how a microprocessor functions. You will have to learn what the CPU registers do and what states the CPU runs through. This will make you a great programmer. This is basically how all the games programmers got their skills. This takes time (months to years) and once you have a grasp on this I'd suggest the next step is playing with an Arduino with an ARM cpu. Try coding in assembly again. It's harder because it's a RISC architecture but you'll get a feel for it. Once you've done that then use C and see what code it generates. Playing with an Arduino will teach you about IO's and interfaces. Once you're at this stage you are really up there with a good understanding. From there you can pick up other stuff quickly. I would add that it's worth getting a mentor and paying attention to what they teach you. Maybe a club nearby (maker fair etc) ? Stay away from a Raspberry Pi to start out with. That's a really complex system and OS for a beginner.

[@pentachronic]

I would also add it's worth it's weight in gold to attend a technical university. I don't know where you are in your academic life but if you're younger you most definitely can benefit from playing with microprocessors now. I started writing assembler when I was 13. I had a fantastic mentor so I was lucky. However you have to work at it. It does take a lot of time and reading!! I still love Assembly BTW. But now I develop my own CPU's and microcode!!! Even better !!!

[@RoughTake]

Possibly the best video of the Saturn architecture since Sega was actually creating this machine. This guy is a damn hero. Did he ever have a coffee fund for his work?

[@EliranC]

Wow ... the best "1 video before I go to sleep" I've ever seen ... I literally falled apart, thanks man and good night!

[@neilmc5704]

Eliran Cohen same here, watching it in bed to send me sleep

[@razaras1]

lol, same

[@tonyharris9957]

Eliran Cohen yeah, i know puts you to sleep, watch it one more time and hopefully next time you won't wake up. It's not like anyone would miss you anyway, right.

[@nate2611]

falled apart? fell apart.

[@spera438]

rip

[@MrMoney-no8ry]

And I thought I was a Tech genius when I built my first PC...

[@rawr51919]

Mr.Money These guys are just total nerds. I myself plan to go down this route later in life. I think it'll be fun.

[@stocktoncrushed]

protip: it won't.

[@ThatGreatGuyJesus]

Tellin It Like It Is Telling it like it is

[@rawr51919]

MAKSYM This. Soviet Russia agrees lol

[@openmind2161]

When you go down the route you may never come back ,route consume you

[@darkhorsedre]

When the robot wars start, I want this dude in my squad

[@SnootchieBootchies27]

I just want him in my village

[@ryu________]

My Computer Science degree now just feels like all I did was "Hello World".

[@mutalix]

lmao

[@thatretrocattt]

same..

[@euvo_sound]

Or the "Maze Test" on the Commodore Pet :)

[@MattyStoked]

I can't imagine the kind of intelligence required to do something like this. Fantastic work all round. Great vid dudes.

[@Littlefighter1911]

Actually it mainly depends on your nature and interest. He certainly learned about structure of chips etc. And reading Assembly through the help of IDA isn't sorcery either. However it doesn't mean it's easy, but it's far away from rocket science (or maybe not, lol).

[@Littlefighter1911]

***** You know that there are many great artists? So is this. This guy surely knows his job and made great work for a wider audience through dedication and will. And for that he deserves respect. However it's mostly work, not something impossible as stated in the comment I responded to.

[@theoriginaltoadnz]

Agreed. Incredible guy!

[@MattyStoked]

The 19th Fighter Dude's got a PhD and reads binary. He's smarter than me for sure. Probably smarter than you too.

[@patrickklingemann569]

+The Game Show jkoookkp bucketful WP mi

[@TheBeastGod]

Why would people dislike this video? It's amazing

[@NeoNyder]

Lots of jealous bitter people who hate people who can do things they can't.

[@iPlaySEGA]

PlayStation Fanboys... :(

[@disinfect777]

SEGA employees.

[@Levelol10]

people who just dislike things for the hell of it?

[@chemergency]

Probably pissed because the Saturn is going to be scalped to high Hell on Ebay after this.

[@EliteDadBod]

I use to think I was a fairly intelligent person, turns out I'm a potato

[@byronjoel1400]

Yes you are.

[@straightup7up]

I've worked in software for 30 years- met tons of smart people. It's very rare to meet someone who has such intimit, fundamental knowledge of the inner workings of any system, much less 30-year old never cracked proprietary game console. This dude is the real deal.

[@grahammcdonald]

What a smart dude.

[@saultube44]

Excellent engineering, PhD candidate, that explains a lot, what is his specialty? Fascinating video, I wish more videos like this would exist, adventures of home brew experiments with hardware and software engineering, concise and efficient explanations

[@wmurray003]

saultube44 Specialty? Decrypting porn.

[@saultube44]

Willie Murray looks like you watch too much porn, you could say he likes decryption, i think people that expresses with the porn word are just exaggerating, and it's not really funny for me

[@danlightowler7207]

saultube44 it is funny

[@saultube44]

FauxGaming for you

[@danlightowler7207]

saultube44 for porn

[@TheGemini5]

This takes time and money. For a system like this, which is NOTORIOUSLY hard to program for, this is amazing work! I'd rather it be perfect than rushed. Prototypes are out for Patreon members.

[@ShintekBeats]

Dude is that a Technics SL-1200?

[@vromo3368]

MK2, yes.

[@CoreyHectus]

20 years to crack the Saturn, and 20 days to crack the Dreamcast lol

[@CoreyHectus]

Frog Dog maybe more strain on the laser, but I don't think it'd break... a friend of mine has a Dreamcast still and it plays normal and burnt games just fine.

[@kelseydaniels7283]

Frog Dog There's a guy who made a similar hack to this one for Dreamcast, for just that reason (the DC lasers wear out from playing burned discs, which is very hard on the drive.) Anyway, this guy figured out how to bypass the gd-rom drive completely and use a hard drive/sd card instead.

[@djhavickofficial]

2017 Resident Evil 7 cracked in under 72 hours

[@okarowarrior]

+Wakeup Tv Your comparisson was pointless. They were talking about consoles, not software

[@RippervilleTV]

wow explains why my laser died all those years ago. cheers

[@john_young]

I felt incredibly intelligent when I was just watching videos of dogs barking at cats. I will return to those now.

[@Artis_Lapsley]

😂

[@yongyea4147]

John Young sounds awesome do you have a link

[@aeopmusic]

John Young best comment

[@JDWatkins]

I had forgotten how much I miss my old Sega system. Time to go on Craig's list and find another one. This guy is simply amazing. A reboot of classic gaming without running ROMs. Kudos to you!!

[@lastdon6585]

Anyone else get get a serious case of feels when they heard “DAAAAAYTOONAAAAAA” ??

[@CTRIX64]

I can assure you that after 3 days of hearing white noise and glitches, the engineer in this video got serious feels when he first heard "Daaaayyyytoooonnaaa"! Porting that CD audio though the hijacked VCD port was a huuuuge task :-)

[@gamebro511]

I get PTSD when I hear it, cause the game was soo lame. It was such a boring game to have as a launch title for the saturn. To wash the stanke out after I would often play need for speed on 3d0, or road rash, or even demolition derby on psx. Crashes were everything in racing games back then, and if you didn't have them, your game was crap. I mean who watches nascar for anything else? it's boring. All you do in daytona is drive fast and turn to the left. The crashes were like 1 or 2 animations thus not simulated at all, and the music was worse then cruisin usa 64. I will never understand you folks who think it was a good game. It sucked then, it sucks now, it will always suck. I hate racing games like that. That is why sega failed, they had the most arcade of all games... arcade as in, great graphics but boring after 10 minutes. Very shallow games. Nintendo was way better, but of course PC was always king, it just took a lot of us a long time to realize that. X-com forever bitches!! YEAH!!! So yes... When I hear that cheesy "DAAAAATOOOOONAAAAA" my butt clenches in anguish and my teeth grind. Even the non sung version of the word "daytona" instantly brings about my gamer traumatic memories of a bad generic as hell racing game. It's a special kind of utter mediocrity that only sega games can do. You could see all of the games "content" in about 10 minutes. The saturn was quickly demoted to the basement gaming room for good reason. It's best game was probably sim city 2000.... yeah... now that I have pissed on the hornets nest I am going to run like sonic on the genesis... really really fast, but then you just run into spikes you can't see coming. I mean even battletoads on the nes gave you some king of graphical information of danger coming when on the turbo bikes. But nope.... gotta go fast, cause it's fun to go fast, but you never can, cause it's too fast to know of danger coming. Man I have problems, I am gonna go see a gaming shrink. Sega touched my naughty buttons, which is odd, cause their crappy controllers often had less buttons to push then others. See? I just can't help it... SEGA SUUUUUUUCKED! Their best games were zillion on the master, and toejam n earl on the gen.... Just don't play the sequels folks... esp for zillion... I need to talk to the shrink for hours about that experience alone... And what is with the obsession with vectorman? IT wasn't that good!!! VECTORMAN VECTORMAN VECTORMAN VECTORMAN VECTORMAN VECTORMAN VECTORMAN VECTORMAN VECTORMANVECTORMAN VECTORMAN VECTORMAN VECTORMAN VECTORMAN VECTORMANVECTORMAN VECTORMAN VECTORMAN VECTORMAN VECTORMAN VECTORMAN Everyone at school went on and on about it... IT SUCKED!! It was hoplessly average and mediocre... The graphics were quite literally BALLS! but thee worst... thee absolute worst abomination... sega ever committed... was knights... That... costume.... and gameplay... is THEE gayest thing, in the history of gaming... I am soo sick right now just thinking of it, I have to puke.... Those huge feet.... ... NO!!! STOP REMEMBERING!!! GET OUT OF MY HEAD!!! IT'S LIKE A GAY VERSION OF MEGAMAN!!! STOP IT!! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! those stupid ear things... lJHSKLFKLASJDKL:ASDKLASKLDJSAKL and all you do is fly too fast collecting gold things!? That's the gameplay? That's it!? And everyone LOVES IT!?!?!?!?! Why why in the hell don't you all love superman 64 then... you freaks!! I can't do this anymore... I can't do this... I have to go cry in a corner now... Darn you sega... DARN YOU TO BANKRUPTCY! You ruined everything!

[@ZakB96]

gamebro you alright mate

[@darkscrotus3614]

@@gamebro511 holy shit

[@tropicthunder2395]

@@gamebro511 super cringey and psychotic

[@constantine5]

I don't understand 90% of what he's saying but yet it still sounds so interesting.

[@yasmine4754]

I agree!

[@mindrover777]

constantine5 what about the 10%

[@folksurvival]

Is English not your first language?

[@yasmine4754]

What is a CPU?

[@ghostfacechilla1027]

I don't even know what "crack" means!!

[@hawkshawhawkins9057]

my brain just jumped out of my head, grew legs, and ran away screaming

[@N73B60]

bwahahaha!

[@StreetFighter2010]

🤣🤣🤣

[@sidyajv]

Haha

[@lalitsehgal21]

Insane i died laughing

[@sx20Ramar]

I spit my coffee out reading that...lol

[@andrewmckee6580]

Oh nooooooo...no it is stuck in my head again. It took 11 years to get it out but it is back. Daytonaaaaaaaa.....

[@hardfartn]

I clicked on this (thinking I wouldn't be interested), because youtube kept recommending it for some reason, now I realize it just sends me things that are captivating af. Now i'm stuck here for the next 27 minutes.

[@MichelLinschoten]

impressive what is more impressive that even today to date it's proven a near impossible task to crack the protection. Sega build a tank of a console there which is worth mentioning

[@dinisd6820]

The protection has been cracked years ago, through mod chips, this is slightly different.

[@MichelLinschoten]

Dinis Deuchande You clearly did NOT WATCH THE video, he did hell of lot more than what the mod-chip did he even explains that in detail in the video...

[@dinisd6820]

I did watch the video, im talking just about the copy protection, this was bypassed ages ago and my reply was to address the comment about cracking protection, which you mentioned.

[@ggarzagarcia]

try to crack the code for Primal Rage ot Primal Rage 2. it has some of the most notorious codes that still have not been successfully cracked

[@jamiekrutzfeldt3522]

Gerardo Garza García and the devs are still laughing

[@VagabondGFG]

I wish i had 10% intelligence of this amazing guy.

[@jamesbond1764]

5-6% (: just kidding

[@n00g75]

u have it .. just use it! the only thing that holds u back is such a mindset!

[@fcg243]

You just need to love what you do. I bet his annual salary triples or quadruples mine, and I make close to 6 figures.

[@MetalCrotchGuy]

It's not just intelligence... It's determination and patience as well... I mean, he just presented what he was doing for 3 years for you in 20 minutes. Of course people would be impressed.

[@RorysIrishTour]

hey, it worked in The Fifth Element

[@brianjackson3031]

4 years ago. I wonder where he’s at with it now

[@stevenaustin4591]

I always enjoy watching these kinda vids, any sort of tech mod/repairs etc, love em. And in a documentary in a style that's just a bonus! Keep up the good work! :)

[@dimosk7389]

wow SEGA really overengineered their copy protection and this guy is seriously amazing. i dont know what he does for a living, but it looks like companies should really keep an eye on him and hire him fast

[@kotarumable]

He's probably an electrical engineer. He knows quite a bit of the electrical components and how to code. Also look at the setup that he has.

[@THEtechknight]

I see this said all the time. Electrical engineers =/= ELECTRONICS engineers.

[@westganton]

I have a strange feeling that he's employed.

[@kotarumable]

Doesn't really matter I think. Electronics engineers are a sub-section of electrical engineers.

[@l.e.miller1208]

And then Dreamcast happened.

[@JapaneseModernist]

Wow, I have no idea what he was talking about but I'm sure it was amazing. Thank you!

[@dooplon5083]

Clever Brunozoid I'm a little surprised someone never tried a few of his methods before actually. But yes, it was amazing.

[@struanpeat5116]

Clever Brunozoid if you can speak "computer nerd" it all makes sense, the amazing thing isnt what he's done, its that he had the drive and recorces to do it

[@vanteal]

The world needs more people with this kind of talent and drive.

[@SteveFrenchWoodNStuff]

I just love watching and listening to someone this brilliant. I don't really understand most of it, but I deeply appreciate the process and efforts made by those who do.

[@segaunited3855]

I understood every single thing he explained.

[@shadostorm8375]

My first attempt to hack the Sega Saturn was to insert the SEGA Saturn CD into my PC hoping it would play. I was ten. :D

[@CTRIX64]

That's where you start clicking on files and see what they do... then trying to force them into freeware viewers and "game resource ripping" tools to see what can be extracted. I was 12 ;-)

[@winrg1234]

it's a story someone would have told but he was the first, dont be an asshole

[@winrg1234]

DRVR 99 not to be rude, but misspelling removes what little impact your insult had

[@InsideSmoke]

Hi

[@alakani]

Username checks out.

[@cemsengul16]

I love nerds like this man, they make the world a better place

[@chuckiegravesfield3170]

@Gaming Authority fuck them? then you better be the most murderous gangster to walk the earth. the complete fucking opposite of a nerd. are you one of those? if not shut the fuck up

[@gorgolbutt]

+Retro Gamer Imagine _looking_ like a nerd, and yet not having any of the talent, ability and know-how of a nerd. Oh wait... Never mind.

[@watchdogs899]

@@chuckiegravesfield3170 STFU, you suck buddy

[@271byron]

Neeeeeerds

[@maximummax7]

ehhh, i guess im a nerd lol

[@stevenmetz5363]

Not sure how I stumbled onto this but its refreshing how dedicated and open he is with his work. Thanks for the video.

[@drummerchild1]

This is so fascinating and exciting! You just gotta love the enthusiasm from these guys, amazing. I love stumbling upon videos like these, with extremely passionate and dedicated people, no matter what they are invested in. People are just awesome

[@yasmine4754]

There is something very satisfying and relaxing about him working on this, would be nice to sit there too and watch even though I still (after watching it twice) have no idea what he is doing...

[@Yuzuki1337]

Yasmin E I understood a tiiiiny bit of it and feel the same way :)

[@yasmine4754]

Thank you, DeathNote...had to first look up the explanation of "emulator" and "flash drive"....as you can see I'm not very knowledgeable in regard to those things, nevertheless, find them interesting :)

[@Yuzuki1337]

And... now kiss! :D But yeah I gotta side with Death Note here, the best way to learn new stuff is to find interesting things and sticking with them :) You will be quite surprised how much the world of IT and Electronics has to offer!

[@averyvasquez8153]

"This is something i do in my spare time" Wat the fok can he do in his normal time?

[@The101maham]

whatsgoingon07 pornhub on the console

[@DARTHSIMOUS]

Designing Starship Enterprise ... The REAL one ...

[@joshuakuehn]

@@The101maham >pornhub on the console absolute fuckin degenerates, the lot of you

[@misaelc150]

@Travis Edwards Hahahah oh man, Phd in engineering... that was a good one!

[@azraelsgrave]

He's working on enabling pornhub to be viewed on a gameboy.

[@dushiemcbag]

I love that Aussies are always getting up to mischief with this stuff, look at this dude - the hero we need!

[@glenjamindle]

So, I know all the words he said....just not in that order....

[@NewKingOfAlbania]

He has his hair, a beard, and is a fantastic speaker. Shoutout to the chick that stayed with him (ring at 26:45) despite him being at this for several years - after this guy, you're the real MVP. People like him is what this world needs more of. An inspiration, a hero. Salute.

[@CTRIX64]

Best part: He met his wife at a gig that I played at :-) And even better - she was the person who organized the show! The world certainly needs more people like both of them IMHO; perfect match.

[@shokrix]

Being and electric & automation engineer, I've done some reverse engineering for old Nokia phone, But here...Hat down !! This is serious engineering running here, reaching even electric layer. absolutely amazing !!

[@SarahC2]

AND making new hardware add ons for it!

[@planetvegan7843]

A guy can get so much done when he's not concerned about getting laid.

[@MrGoatflakes]

He's married so yeah that can work both ways :P

[@jaydunstan1618]

Yes. So much time wasted otherwise.

[@FLUFFSQUEAKER]

I bet he did all of this while also getting laid

[@kalapoikedeviere7962]

@@jaydunstan1618 better than desperately wanting to have sex, bro

[@jaydunstan1618]

@@kalapoikedeviere7962 So you are married too?

[@richardbreslin5491]

I really want to understand all of this but apart from codes, programs and instructions i don’t have a clue. You managed to keep me engaged and convinced me I could jump in and finish the project if you went off ill or on holiday, when really the whole time I have no idea. Great Video!!

[@hagaras82030]

Pause, Google everything you don't understand or don't know what it is. Yes, I do mean everything. Google and research it. Read, re read it until you understand it. Boom. You'll be surprised how far you'll go.

[@pvtawol]

Great job Dr. Abrasive! And great video! I wish there were more videos like this, done documentary style and highly professionally made. This was super interesting to watch.

[@CTRIX64]

Thanks on the production feedback :-) Shot 4k, on Zeiss lens, sennheiser lapel mics... I'm glad it didn't go un-wasted.

[@NinjaSushi2]

debuglive that lapel mic sounded great!

[@MrShawn305]

I don't think it was a waste. Not for anyone wanting to pause the video and look at the details.

[@JoseSanchez-xj3xn]

This guy is reverse engineering legacy hardware while many of us can't even unzip an emulator lol.

[@JustNateo]

tru

[@kaneunderwood3915]

What he’s done isn’t something learnt in a day, he’s got experience in this field but you could too if you choose to educate yourself

[@PsychedelicHaze]

but why? it seems like he just wastes his time doing this here? educating urself about old stuff like this wont get you any good skills to make money or anything... you just fuckin waste ur time

[@AfonsoCL]

You clearly know nothing of the tech business.

[@kaneunderwood3915]

Who me?

[@martinevans1206]

Extremely interesting to watch this now, since the Satiator has been released commercially. Well done, sir!

[@carlharrison3637]

This video deserves a like just for the dedication of this man. Well done and I'd love to know if anything has changed since this video came out... :)

[@vincelok894]

The thing is that people at Sega actually know "the secret", they just don't want to tell anyone. However, if the Saturn is completely obsolete, then I don't get why they don't just share it. Instead this poor guy had to go and spend so much time figuring it out.

[@Imozart0341I]

Vince Lok I guess that's half the fun of emulating

[@Luckingsworth]

Vince Lok The thing is they probably actually dont. A lot of old knowledge about things like these are lost to history.

[@warmowed]

yea code like this, if it was never reused in another product, would be dumped after maybe 5-8 years maybe longer if an engineer that worked on it had a copy in his office. I would guess no one that worked on that project is even with sega anymore.

[@wazzobazzo]

If Sega knew the secret to anything of the Saturn era then surely they would've properly rereleased PDS and other Saturn gems long ago instead of making shitty new Sonic games? Best hardware maker ever...if they ever made another console I'd buy three. Such a shame their PR team was (and possibly still is) pure ass. It'd be in their own interest to help him and the community making this happen. He should reach out if he hasn't. I'm worried about hearing that CD-drives are failing. Did not know that and I have "a few" Saturns (all of which work perfectly but his words make me schizo):S

[@BearBoulder]

Actually Sega lost a lot of their shit in a fire that destroyed a lot of their Source Code games for older stuff. The reason Sega is as it is, is because they put a lot of money into the dreamcast and emulation and sony buried them.

[@TheSteDuck]

This guy is smart as fuck

[@khanhngo5979]

Thank you for your hard work, knowledge and contribution

[@thenuclearsandwich]

I felt like I just got pulled into the Tron universe and will never find my way out.

[@rabbitez]

Throw the data disc into the centre of the MCP!

[@suburbandiyguy661]

Guys like this are our only hope when ai starts taking over.

[@p0llenp0ny]

Guys like this are why we have to worry about AI. Thanks for inventing that, Einsteins.

[@Bjorick]

nope, humans can't move fast enough to take down a fully fuctional AI, which would be able to detect the intruder before the intruder will be able to make any significant findings. There's a difference between something sitting on your desk with it's core opened to you, and something shooting at you. Regardless, ai will never happen, consciousness will never be produced by human or artificial hands.

[@johng5261]

if you think this guy is good, imagine the people who built it. This probably only had a handful of prototypes early on, so literally designing on paper right to the factory.

[@carlosqlv]

Sub Urban Diy Guy Its actually guys like this that are creating Ai so dont gush too much, and some of them are just too drone like (follows orders) to even care about humanity. Just hint at them they need to install a wide ass back door.

[@CTRIX64]

Neither of us are doing AI code FTR! Except for a IRC bot that passes on the cricket score in realtime.

[@apimpnamedstepback1431]

I can see why nobody wanted to develop for the system now.

[@CTRIX64]

The actual chip set is pretty nuts with it's multiple CPU's and aux processors :-o Even the audio chip is a mind screw... and did things to interrupt the rest of the chips in annoying ways. It would have been a beast to dev for in it's day!

[@BlackStarNova]

That, and Sega pissed off nearly every 3rd party dev as well as many major retaliers at launch.

[@hellwalker899]

So basically it was like PS3 at its time but no Uncharted thats a shame

[@mikejones3863]

PS3 was not this complicated, Many developers said it was easy to develop for the ps3.

[@hellwalker899]

Really? well i assume this because of what i heard from extracredits and one guy from my country that make console museum also compare sega saturn to PS3

[@chewba2008]

20 years to crack it make you realize how good these japanese engineers were!

[@RK1FX]

Not really. They just had an enormous amount of "tools" to work with. Nowadays we have these tools in the reach of our hand.

[@lelsewherelelsewhere9435]

Wouldn't it be more like "accidentally so spaghetti it is obfuscated"?

[@Wertdante]

He said this console is over-engineered, any company can do this if they had enough resources

[@jonny6702]

Eh, it used the same technique that they still used in the mid-2000s on consoles. A wobble in the disk which can't be replicated by any mass produced dvd burner, and requires specialized hardware to produce. It's not really that genius. There wasn't even any copy protection attempts at all on the disc - this is a very poor example of japanese engineers designing secure consoles. The only issue was that the ROM controlling the disc player did not have a pinout to dump itself in any capacity, as it was a "boxed in system" as described in the video. It also could not be looked at physically under a microscope to see the ROM either, so a dump couldn't be made that way either. That's not really impressive imo, it was more of an accident because of the design of the chip. In 1994 I don't think they were consciously thinking about people dumping roms with a microscope, physically cutting into the CPU and analyzing it. I think the man who put these years of effort into it is far more brilliant than anyone who designed this console.

[@SegaDream131]

So THAT'S where the dislikes CAME FROM....🤔🤓....

[@madyogi6164]

Hats off for the puzzling, being that persistent in looking for the solution and all that effort you put into it...

[@newlinkdirect]

Nice to see some low level reverse eng. nice work and good memories from the 8-16-32 bit days.

[@wmurray003]

ZevenLV "Low" level? Ahem.

[@DaniloDelgadoSerron]

Willie Murray it's low level because how near to code directly on binary and how he was working directly on the ROM and CPU. It's really a high level skill though.

[@kyutablet]

Willie Murray "Low level" in this context means close to the hardware. It's not easy stuff lol

[@TheOpelkoenjas]

You are now officially my hero! Where were you 20 years ago???? LMAO!!!

[@botbeamer]

Lol

[@phobiuspt]

He was probably 8 lol

[@anolbe]

What an amazing back engineering work and also a lot of dedication. Love the video too :D

[@oct4vio]

this is one of my favorite videos ever.

[@iPlaySEGA]

WOW!! Respect!! The SEGA Saturn is by far my favorite game system EVER!!

[@Tornado1994]

It's time for a Second coming of Saturn.

[@KiloByte69]

SEGA is dead.

[@mikepro4545]

Yeap... Sega of America to blame

[@Tornado1994]

Mike Pro They are not dead. They are worth $44 billion and have $16 billion in cash flow. job.mynavi.jp/18/pc/search/corp1557/outline.html www.morningstar.com/stocks/pinx/sgamy/quote.html

[@Tornado1994]

KiloByte69 No they aren't. And if your coming here to troll, please don't be obvious.

[@adizmal]

So many amazing titles from that era that are Saturn-exclusive... lots of Working Designs titles, for example... love dat console.

[@badcp455]

Agreed.

[@47issues]

IMAGINE...SO MANY TRANSLATED JAPANESE ROMS

[@CheddarGetter]

+Reggie-a His envisioned final product with a HDD inside is such an amazing idea. I will be doing this as soon as he releases it.

[@rawr51919]

Dan Larkin An SSD inside of it would be even better, to allow read/write access times wayyyy faster than a regular CD.

[@robmarrin6720]

Prototypes are a work of art in progress,, you are a humble man and a good teacher and be blessed by the people who watch and learn from you ❤️👍

[@philipthatcher2068]

Really good video. Sensible questions, excellent answers.

[@mmillennial]

This might be the most hardcore hack I've ever seen. Amazing work!

[@louiealouie]

I love watching videos like this and pretend like I know what they’re talking about and what’s going on.

[@seeni5246]

Same here

[@var20]

😂 lol

[@Yukanhayt-Mhenow]

Its more exciting pretending lol When you actually learn this stuff, listening to people talk about it is very boring!

[@Seaby41]

And then like the comments with lots of likes as if I know what they are on about

[@spracketskooch]

It's like watching a foreign language movie with no subtitles. You understand a few bits and pieces, and you get the gist of the plot, but if anyone asks you for specifics you respond with, "duh..duh...duh......"

[@Mugicha808]

Cracked due to a love of chip tunes... This guy is wonderful.

[@MTLJack]

wow , i'm a electrical engineer too but this guy puts my knowledge to shame LOL!

[@MrJarvisful]

Damn

[@Louic099]

Jesse Bowman Hes engagement ring point in the direction that he gets help with that.

[@donvandamnjohnsonlongfella1239]

Fredrik So he's engaged to his left hand. :p Good for him! If ever there was a party poopper in life I'm guessing you are it. Think you are the kind of guy to talk about death at a party full of laughing people or put a stick in everybody elses tires well they are riding bikes without you. :p Am I right? You have to point out the truths of life well everybody else is just trying to have a good time. :p Religion isn't real ... we should all be lesbians that get knocked up by doctors in labs just to turn around and have an abortion when it doesn't work out between us and our animal alien lovers.

[@calirific3503]

The jealousy is strong.

[@quotemusic5162]

@Batuhan I found a really good video that cleared up what was actually happening in a Fourier transform. Unsurprisingly it is really cool. kzbin.info/www/bejne/qaG4f6Ove5preLs

[@thegamemaster2000]

this is the shit I wish I could do. my talents are limited to messing with core files, this guy makes reverse engineering and backdoor hunting fun. he's so upbeat and passionate about his work it's crazy. I can't imagine how dedicated this guy is to a project that is this complex and time consuming

[@nando9910]

14:58 Yes, having a CPLD that lets one implement a bunch of digital glue logic to connect the bus that used to hold the MPEG material to one's own microcontroller, especially being it an actually reasonably powerful arm microcontroller running at 72 megahertz is a very nice thing, I believe.

[@anthonyruiz5868]

What an accomplishment , congratulations mate .

[@demonflanger]

What a genius.. You no idea how smart and intelligent this man is.. Makes us IT people and techies look like fools. We need more talent like these in the emulation scene.. Especially the beloved Dreamcast!

[@SonicMastr500s]

Um. No. He just spent 3 years on this and this only. If you had an IT team dedicated to this, they could do this in a few months. Maybe less

[@louiscopechal3895]

The Mastr that may be so, but this man did it ALL on his own, and to do it like this deffinantly shows his intelligence AND his peesonal drive to prove it can and should be done.

[@husamali9345]

this is spectacular.. some people are just... damn man i feel awful about myself

[@SMWssaamm]

Hey now, at least you're looking up to this legend. The first step is knowing what you want.

[@ChronoStrife]

The trick is to start small and expand as you go along. Eventually you'll be both a grower and a shower.

[@gh5643]

believe in yourself.

[@soulcaketuesdayduck]

The reason I got this far is because a) I picked something I cared about and b) I stuck at it until I got there, even though at times it was very painful and I wanted to give up. In this case, whenever that happened I'd just put the project down for a while - for anywhere between a day and three months - until I felt like picking it up again. Ultimately stubbornness will get you just about anywhere.

[@wmoecke]

+Dr. James Thank you for such a positive message. And for showing all of us out there how things go when not everyday's a sunny day. As a developer I can surely appreciate that.

[@alexospina2798]

Amazing knowledge to take in. Thank you..

[@MoKVidel]

kudos to prof abrasive. thanks a bunch for this wonderful work.

[@saultube44]

If that desk is messy, you really don't know the meaning of the word. Excellent engineering work, awesome, thanks

[@PuzzL_]

Every once in awhile I'll see this vid pop up again on my recommendations. I watch it every time.

[@Maeddn11]

And so do I. Really interesting. The good thing is though, every time I watch it, I understand a tiny bit more due to own experience made.

[@giumacgyver7127]

This guy is affected to the most beautiful madness ! This is awesome !

[@Ckhpo]

I really enjoyed learning just how sophisticated the Sega Saturn is, and the reverse engineering/deconstruction you had to do to find the modern work-arounds. I appreciate the complexity :-)

[@V8SplashMan]

For those of you out there that have difficulty understanding what he's talking about, I simple trick I've learnt is to just nod your head at key points and also say things like: "Oh of corse!" or "So simple", because this helps trick your brain into thinking it has some remote idea of whats going on. Then by the end of the video, you will not only feel satisfied, but also think you've learnt something. Can also be useful to have the video on stand by so if somebody stops by and says "What are you watching!?", you can turn around and say "Oh just watching this tech video, I wanted to touch my skills up on reverse engineering encrypted software accessing the master chip, just a side project when I feel like it...".

[@plasmaoctopus1728]

"that" and yes, it works eeeeverrry time!

[@CTRIX64]

forget cracking the Saturn... you've just cracked humanity :-o

[@segaunited3855]

You didn't crack the Saturn. You cracked the basic BIOS. Its still impossible to copy and dump ROMs from the Discs themselves.