The RAM Cartridges and the Sega Saturn

[@kajukenpo7]

Sega lord X is an unsung youtube hero. Im not sure how he's constantly pumping out A+ quality videos every 2 days...but I appreciate it and watch them all!

[@stucazzo2000]

I was thinking that too. My go-to for any Sega news.

[@MrSez1979]

Precisely Correct... He's the BEST!

[@lo1bo2]

Sega Lord X DOES what NintenDON'T! Because he has BLAST PROCESSING!

[@kajukenpo7]

@@lo1bo2 Hahahaha good one :-D

[@michaelromeo9567]

KOF 95 Cartridge is NOT A RAM cartridge..! 😤😤😤😤😤😤😤 Saturn could Handle this game easily. It only allowed super fast loading between rounds in a 3V3 fights. it's a ROM a CARTRIDGE!

[@SDSOverfiend]

X-men vs Streetfighter...... November 27 1997 on a Friday afternoon.. the day after thanksgiving that year. Launch day. Most expensive import I ever purchased as a high schooler... $69.99 because I needed the 4mb cart. $74.9something cause of tax😂 the longest train ride ever from 14 Street, Avenue of the Americas. Manhattan NY. Normally I would call my gaming buddy whenever I cop a new fighter. This time I kept the good news for delf.... called him in the morning. He answered I said “Hold on...” I put the phone to the TV. I did sabretooth Supermove since I knew he Main’d Sabretooth. He heard the growl. All I heard was “I’m coming over right now” it was like 7:12am... 3 minutes later he was knocking on the door controller in hand😂😂😂😂😂 from his house which is like a 12 minute walk. From Atleast 7:30am to 9:54pm we played that game health stars high for low damage. End score 69 to 25 In my favor. A Perfect day. The memories.

[@user-tz4yj2bz8w]

I love this story right here, such a classic moment for you and your friend

[@ShinobiWan1]

What a great memory!

[@SDSOverfiend]

@@user-tz4yj2bz8w Thank you. It truly was was. I spend the day using Wolvie, Cyke and Gambit. He Main’d Juggernaut and Sabretooth. Nice size targets to beat on 😂 after he said he was coming over. He asked he how did it play I just said “Arcade Perfect Son!!” Marvel Super heroes and X-men had let us down. So it was a lot of Alpha 2, Tekken 2, Fighter Megamix, KOF 96, World heroes perfect till this beauty dropped

[@SDSOverfiend]

@@ShinobiWan1 Thank you😅 I cherish these times heavily

[@MrZillas]

@SDSOverfiend This reminds me to the day when I bought "Street Fighter II" for Mega Drive. In school I pulled slowly the instruction manual out of my pocket and he got big eyes, haha. Then we played in the afternoon. We both used Chun Li and played Barbie-fight, haha.

[@Dagasm]

The Saturn's Japanese library is a goldmine for fighters, both for arcade classics and the totally obscure. Street Fighter Zero 3 is probably my all-time favorite.

[@caseyhayes4590]

Best looking and best playing 32-bit game. Not sure there's a better playing fighting game ever.

[@NewportBox100s]

Can a GTX 1070 emulate all Saturn fighters flawlessly at 1080p 60 fps?

[@zackschilling4376]

@@NewportBox100s I always hear that Saturn emulation is iffy. I dont know how true it is anymore, I know it used to be. I have the same video card, so Id like to know as well. I have no issues with anything emulation wise. Really anything actually, except for Dawn Of War Retribution, but it has some kind of glitch where it will run at some crazy framerate (like 120+). I noticed it was getting really warm when I played it.

[@xtremegold2950]

the goldmine is on saturn shoot em ups not fighters most of this japonese shooters games never got release in the west fighters on the other hand mmm yes did got release but on the crappy playstation in the US after the saturn failure in north america in 1998

[@MrERLoner]

Agreed

[@Larry]

Some of the third party expansion boards didn't have a beveled board inside the cart, it would be flat, which would end up wrecking the saturn's cartridge pins if you kept inserting and removing it.

[@vsuman66]

But... hellooooo youuuuuu

[@themadatheist1976]

Wow, that's sucks.

[@HEROplastic]

Wait what? Let's go back to the beggining

[@DukeDudeston]

It's true the (Like Larry will give us false facts let's be honest) I have a couple Action replay carts (one with the mod on of course) and they are rough around the edges, apparently you can file them down a bit? I havent tried but yeah I wouldnt feel happy inserting and removing the cart that often.

[@billcook4768]

Dumb question: is there any reason to remove the cart?

[@kurtkurt777]

Saturn is very ARCADE console, and we love it for it!

[@thiagovidal6137]

It was. Which just made me consider that perhaps it could be the reason it failed. Sega was very clear on this when they said they didn't want the Dreamcast to be filled with arcade ports when explaining why the likes of Daytona 2 and Scud Racer never came to the DC. I mean, I was a N64 owner at that time and was able to enjoy the unique games of the N64 while also playing all these arcades title Saturn did so well. I didn't need a Saturn to play them and going to the arcades was half of the fun. I didn't need to play them at home.

[@atinimaedigresyl]

I didn't know I was an arcade style gamer until Dreamcast. I still play 'complicated" games like StarCraft1 and 2 tho.

[@Clay3613]

For fighters yes, other genres didn't get much attention or ended up trying copy games from the PS1.

[@rexon31]

@@Clay3613 not really you had all the sega ages titles , and side scrolling shooters where just as good as PS1 versions ( example the thunder force collections and konami shooters )

[@joeesperanto678]

They were also going to release a Sega Eternal Champions' 3 fighting game called: Eternal Chaos or something like that, and the boss was going to be a Lord of Chaos more powerful than Dark Eternal & The Eternal Champion. Too bad we'll never get to see that boss or the game for that matter.

[@billcook4768]

Side note: Many of those covers have incredible art.

[@ukyo6195]

Yeah the Fetisch Babe ❤️

[@kcalb3180]

only the Japanese titles, I remember when street fighter alpha came out in US on a Japanese game magazine, I went to EB games to look for it but couldn't find it, turns out it's in front of me this whole time but the cover art is simply too ugly usually only seen on domestic/american games.....

[@ckstafford2003]

Anybody else glued to Sega Lord X's vids? Good stuff

[@eriklarson7023]

It wasn't until I discovered an import of X-Men vs SF with the RAM cart at Babbage's that I unlocked the Saturn's true potential. I still have that exact Action Replay cart from the end of the video, that was what allowed me to play import games. I played the hell out of XMvSF, Marvel Super Heroes vs SF (featuring Norimaro), King of Fighters 97, and the amazing Vampire Savior. Vampire Savior even has a hidden options menu where you can change the language to English and make the AI play itself. I spent many nights playing it, and when I got tired I'd have the AI fight and sit back and watch the gorgeous graphics.

[@WeskerSega]

The English language hidden option of Vampire Savior is nice, too bad it also censors the game. The Neo Geo conversions to the Sega Saturn which also had language options to change the game into English, and some cases also Spanish and Portuguese, fortunately don't have that side effect. I don't like the fact that Fighter's History Dynamite changes the title to Karnov's Revenge, but other than that it's something to thank for.

[@lexushummer98]

9:10 Why did you use bilinear filtering for Saturn and nearest filtering for Arcade? Makes Saturn look blurry, which the Arcade would also on a CRT

[@alexojideagu]

Yes I bought a Modded 60hz Saturn 20 years ago just to buy Marvel Super Heroes V Street Fighter. That was the only game I bought for it. It was basically arcade perfect.

[@PEHfinale]

Psylocke is definitely the best character choice for viewing the additional frames of animation in MSH ^_^

[@SDSOverfiend]

Captain America also. The details in the shield attacks and behavior are amazing.

[@Dagasm]

Lol, I was definitely comparing every frame.

[@eng3d]

Psylocke ❤️

[@viktor_v-ughnda_vaudville_476]

Hahahaha not looking at her boobs at all 😜

[@chrisjepsen6824]

*bonk*

[@LostAndroids]

Man, you are the best. It's amazing how this channel keeps delivering! Greetings from southern Brazil!

[@cocamen78]

Kkkkk

[@pixelperfeito8684]

Hahaha vgBR

[@michaelromeo9567]

KOF 95 Cartridge is NOT A RAM cartridge..! 😤😤😤😤😤😤😤 Saturn could Handle this game easily. It only allowed super fast loading between rounds in a 3V3 fights. it's a ROM a CARTRIDGE!

[@janquieldapper]

Fala David, Sega fan também mano... Sou gaúcho brother... Grande abraço... Tive Atari, Master, Mega, Saturn e Dreamcast... Que época boa aquela mano... Estou olhando os vídeos aqui e comecei a baixar games do Saturn novamente para rodar no PC mesmo

[@morderknodel5281]

Just in time for lunch break.

[@parrishharris3008]

When i was younger i really loved my Sega Saturn and that Street Fighter vs. X-men Japanese cartidge that i still can't remember where i brought it from but i was very happy to own it.

[@JNAMOTORSPORTS]

Your videos keep me going through hard times

[@brpadington]

The Saturn version of Vampire Savior is amazing.

[@Bloodreign1]

Indeed it is, it is a near flawless port (the versus theme song has an instrument cut out too soon for it, just like Pocket Fighter, but that is a very small flaw one can easily overlook), and it is also not expensive yet, unlike a SF Zero 3, or a slowly climbing in price Pocket Fighter, or a Super Puzzle Fighter II that is also slowly climbing in value.

[@brpadington]

@@Bloodreign1 Night warriors was great too. Children of the atom and nightwarrors were the two games that made me desperately want a Saturn.

[@thomaspitts5161]

Good analysis. Saturn is one of the only consoles you must purchase to truly experience well.

[@rodrigohonorio]

Yes! That’s why I buy one, just to experiment and see what I think, and it’s surprisingly good, loving the shmups!!

[@Norweeg]

Hopefully that might be changing soon. An FPGA core for the MiSTer is being worked on and progress has been really promising. I’m hoping the developer, srg320, is able to pull it off. Being able to play Saturn games without software emulation on modern hardware would be so cool!

[@LatinBostonH8ter79]

Funny that you mentioned that if you had one Saturn game for the expansion pack, then X-Men Vs. Street Fighter would be the one to own. That is exactly what happened after I got a vintage U.S. Version 2 Saturn and got the Action Replay Ram to play the Japanese import of the game. I did have Marvel Super Heroes, but it never really synced right and that lag was definitely noticeable when it did work.

[@Dimensiom]

Of all of these games that I knew existed, I never knew that Street Fighter Zero 3 required the 4MB cartridge. In fact, I had not realized that it was a Japan exclusive until your video today.

[@andrewilliams2139]

I bought the card never noticed that it made games play better i bought a card by itself it didnt come with a game.

[@MaverickZeroD]

Fun fact (if it hasn't been mentioned in the comments already): Vampire Savoir has a code to play the game in English. But it also changes the blood from red to white.

[@joeesperanto678]

Interesting

[@sezarpartida8374]

I think the Blockbuster Video on the corner of my block rented the RAM cartridge with some Saturn games.... I did rent some great stuff back then ☺️

[@sezarpartida8374]

I clearly do remember ranting children of the Atom without it and when I got my own RAM I did notice smooth animated goodness

[@ProcyonAlpha]

Always good when a sega lord x video is uploaded.

[@parkyreiner]

So many bad decisions made Sega Management at that time, this was one, not making theses games available to the west.

[@WeskerSega]

The King of Fighters '95 was released in Europe and X-Men vs Street Fighter almost was, such a shame the European release was cancelled in the end because of the 4MB RAM cartridge manufacturing costs, would have been great to see an European variant of it. It's also a good thing Capcom didn't remove the RAM cartridge functionality from the North American and European versions of Marvel Super Heroes.

[@caseyhayes4590]

While some 2D games really were losing popularity at the time...the Capcom VS series was REALLY popular as an arcade game still and to have amazing near perfect versions on 32-bit hardware would have sold for sure. Nothing about Capcom Vs games or Vampire Savior seemed like old tech, it was mind blowing amazing tech. When I put Vampire Savior in my Saturn in the late 90s as an import game there was not a single PS1 game the looked more impressive visually.

[@UsTheMusicTVOfficial]

Indeed. It really hurt Sega and the Saturn.

[@M3troid.]

Saturn flopped in this side, so no surprise.

[@joeesperanto678]

They were also going to release a Sega Eternal Champions' 3 fighting game called: Eternal Chaos or something like that, and the boss was going to be a Lord of Chaos more powerful than Dark Eternal & The Eternal Champion. Too bad we'll never get to see that boss.

[@Lord_Deimos]

*Saturn has RAM expansion cartridges* Capcom: 'and I took that personally'

[@Demokirby]

Love you made this video right when I was researching into Ram carts for the Saturn. (getting my first saturn for my Birthday)

[@tHeWasTeDYouTh]

9:24 Saturn no RAM still has the B physics. I can respect that

[@pikachoo1]

The Saturn KOF ram cart versions have gone up in value quite a lot

[@johnnada6855]

Somehow, the Polygon based games uses less storage space, that´s why most N64 games are polygon based games, but the 2D and FMV games requires a lot of space, and to move some amount of 2D sprites you need more ram

[@casualvanilla]

Probably because with sprites, you need a unique image for every scenario. That could take up a lot of data on some specific systems like the Master System, which had no flipping capabilities (meaning drawing poses for both sides). With models, you're often just storing animation data or poses for the body to move, which is far less space consuming.

[@dqwno4900]

Oh, the irony.

[@billydelacey]

The Pro Action Replay Plus made the Night Warriors sprite animations smoother.

[@RobsonRoverRepair]

I know my Sega pretty dam hardcore, but I always learn something small or new from Sega Lord X. Keep it coming my man.

[@drgreenrinse]

Great vid as always. Really appreciate you going to the extra trouble of obtaining comparison footage.

[@beebot]

I still play Vampire Saviour, MSHvsSF and SFZ3 every now and again. Even after owning arcade boards, it's still very impressive.

[@Diode5]

Good topic and finally makes sense what the carts did. To store more animated frames in a sprite based game the system needs to read those frames quickly out of memory. It's just a fast cache store for assets which could not be pull down quickly enough from a slow loading CD. You can say that sprites are a memory inefficient way of drawing smooth frames/animation. 3D games clearly didn't really have as much use for it as adding a frame is just re-computing the position of a polygon, which is more of a real-time CPU/GPU intensive exercise, it doesn't have to save and hold a pre-defined frame in memory. It's simply computing new frames all the time and not storing them. I'm sure with more memory a 3D game can store more 3D assets (more textures, or high res ones) but perhaps the Saturn's 3D hardware was being put to the limits already with what was being stored within the inbuilt 2MB.

[@Diode5]

@Kyle Reese Incel From The Future I'm not sure what you mean by that? There are loads of "standard" 3D games on the platform, and outstanding 3D ones that never made use of the expansion carts.

[@Diode5]

@Kyle Reese Incel From The Future Tomb Raider was ported to the Saturn, I even played it on Saturn. My point is in relation to memory anyhow. There seems to be this idea that the Saturn performance was never fully realised, but I think there are games for the Saturn that used much of the machines capability. To me it seems to be self evident that hardly any 3D games used the RAM cartridge's, and as pointed out by Sega Lord there was no graphical increase, or anything amazing about the games that did use the cartridge. The only thing I can think it being useful for is simply faster loading times. Memory just didn't seem to be the limitation of Saturn's performance when it came to 3D games. Other aspects of the Saturn's hardware is what made it limiting when it came to 3D performance.

[@aceofhearts573]

7:24 I have never heard of Groove on Fight but when I looked at the female character in the cover I instantly knew the art was done by Range Murata . I love his work, he did the character art for anime like Blue Sub 6 and Last Exile. He also did the art for a Saturn RPG called Wachenroder

[@pentalobescrew]

I never played many 2D fighting games as a kid but this channel along with my love for the Saturn really makes me wanna pick some of these up

[@leegoldsmith4663]

X-Men vs. Street Fighter was my jam! One of the things I loved to show off on my Saturn was, once you beat the game, you could pick 2 of the same character. The look of shock people had when they saw 4 Juggernaut's on the screen was absolutely priceless.

[@petrolhead0387]

Just got a Saturn, it was the only console that eluded me in the 90s. Thank God for this channel, it is really helping me shape my collection.

[@citypopradioFM]

I cannot express the overwhelming excitement when my mom got me an import copy of Marvel vs. SF with the 4MB cart for my birthday. We didn't have much money but she made it happen since she knew how much I loved the franchise and that particular cabinet at the local arcade. Kids at school didn't even believe that a virtually arcade perfect version of that game could possibly run on the Saturn since the PS1 editions of those games were lackluster along with the Saturn's negative reputation among consoles at the time. Good times and I've been back to playing all the Vs. titles on the new compilation release I copped on day one.

[@Ashura96]

X-Men vs. Street Fighter was immensely popular when it came out in arcades in North America. Hell, my go-to venue to play it back in 1996-97 was at a GROCERY STORE! (There was also a pizza restaurant in the same shopping center that also had it) My mother was always happy to give me a few quarters to let me play while she did the shopping. Many of those times there were other people playing as well as people waiting in line to take on the winner. If only Sega of America would have approved releasing the RAM cartridges here. It could have given the Saturn a nice boost in its waning days on the market instead of just dying with hardly a whimper. Instead, we had Bernie Stolar making decisions at the time. I still dream of a timeline when we could play this in the arcade and say "This is coming out on the Sega Saturn by the end of the year ['97], it just might be worth it for this game alone."

[@ShinobiWan1]

I miss the arcade days for sure. I can't believe the decisions that were made regarding the Saturn in the west.

[@GamingDelight]

Again, Sega of Japan's controversial decisions on the Saturn to begin with (that Tom Kalinske desperately fought to counteract to keep Sega afloat) were the real reason Bernie Stolar was even with Sega at all.

[@CarbonRollerCaco]

@@GamingDelight True, but it's not like Kalinske himself was blameless in tanking Sega, either. He pushed a partially butchered Sonic, full blood Mortal Kombat and almost nothing else because he wanted Sega to be the edgy gamer's console company, something he should've known couldn't last. And when he saw it didn't, he wanted to continue profiting off of "maturing" the video game industry by having it adopt Sega's content rating system before the ESRB came around. Moronic slimeball. But Hayao Nakayama put friendship over credentials, and thus we got Tom. I still wonder what would've happened if Michael Katz, the TRUE father of "Genesis does what Nintendon't", stayed.

[@GamingDelight]

​@@CarbonRollerCaco Those issues were small compared to the big blunders Sega of Japan caused. And Katz would've done worse. He never made his quota with the Genesis (a million units in the first year; only sold half as much), while Kalinske, up until the mid-90s, always did (easily outclassed Katz 3:1 in 1990).

[@maxxdahl6062]

@@GamingDelight Yeah and Japan's idiocy on forcing a 32 bit stop-gap system (32X) on the west was really effing dumb.

[@ravagingwolverine]

Very nice video as always. The RAM expansion was a great feature of the Saturn and really allowed some flexibility to run games as they got more advanced with teams and lots more frames of animation. It is worth mentioning that Groove on Fight does suffer noticeable frame cuts and changes from the original ST-V arcade version. With it being a tag fighter, that 1MB cart just wasn't enough. It's still a good port, but it did lose a bit. I wasn't the biggest fan of X-Men or Capcom fighters by 1997, but I remember the hype for X-Men vs. Street Fighter when it came out. It really was something special at the time, even if the roster is a bit off for my taste. And it was cool seeing that the PS1 couldn't even come close to handling it since it has no RAM expansion and the N64 wasn't considered for it. A shame they couldn't bring the RAM expansion to other regions.

[@CarbonRollerCaco]

It would've been nice if Capcom actually gave the N64 some fighting love, which it could certainly handle, but their eyes were already shifting toward next gen then. Funny how 4th and 5th gen had so much overlap with each other and 3rd and 6th gens respectively like that, and now 9th gen STILL has yet to fully kill 8th gen. Tech, man. Hard to predict.

[@silentfanatic]

Another great video, as always. I'd heard that some games required a specific cart to use, and this helps explain why. Also glad to hear your daughter is helping out with the channel!

[@Gaming_since_the_eighties]

I'm still glad to this day that i bought the Sega Saturn instead the ps1. Thanks for the early upload. Just right in time before leaving for work.

[@chriswaudby5580]

Yea man sweet decision

[@kekeke8988]

I'm still glad I turned down my friend when he wanted to sell me a Saturn for cheap in the 90s. I already had owned a PS1 and N64, but knowing the garbage on the Saturn like Bug, Clockwork Knight, Nights, and Virtual Fighter, I wasn't even remotely interested, even if he had given it to me for free.

[@worsel555]

While I love Samurai Spirits 4 to the point where I also have it for my MVS I have dubbed the Saturn version "Samurai Slowdown." It was not something I noticed at the time when I was a late teen playing it but man that game can come to a CRAWL and quite frequently. I really need to finish that video I was working on... Awesome to see all the cart games in one place and as I have to stop watching this video at the SS4 part to head to work I don't know if it will be brought up that KOF 95 and Ultraman have now been patched so you don't need the ROM carts to play them. Gotta love the homebrew community on top of the translations they provide to us fans :)

[@SegaLordX]

Are you using an official 1MB cart to play Samurai Shodown IV? Cause those Pro Action Replays are not always the way to go.

[@worsel555]

@@SegaLordX Yes, I have official ones along with an ST-KEY, Pro Action Replay and Pseudo. With every single one you can hit major slowdown. Use Kazuki or Shizumaru's supers and the game will chug. Its not a constant slowdown but it happens frequently.

[@WeskerSega]

SNK wasn't really the best optimizing their Sega Saturn games. Capcom, aside from the exception of Marvel Super Heroes, was much better at that. It's also evident why SNK stopped releasing Sega Saturn games at early 1998 while Capcom continued up until 2000.

[@worsel555]

@@WeskerSega well the Saturn was done in 98 anyway since the Dreamcast was out in Japan. People forget that gaming console cycles back then were only 4 to 5 yrs tops. As a person who owns a MVS 2 slot cabinet I can say that the Saturn ports of the games are actually not that bad as a whole, Waku Waku 7 aside. What surprised me was how well they played while retaining a lot of the details, but Real Bout Special for some reason had super compressed audio samples, something that was not needed thanks to CD's.

[@WeskerSega]

@@worsel555 The Dreamcast was released in Japan in November 27, 1998. The last Sega Saturn release by SNK, not counting the Best Collection re-releases, was The King of Fighters '97 in March 26, 1998. That's a whooping eight months there to actually release more Sega Saturn games like many other companies did, notably Capcom which still released Sega Saturn games up to 1999 and even 2000. Also, the first SNK game for Dreamcast was The King of Fighters: Dream Match 1999 in June 24, 1999, more than a year after the Sega Saturn version of The King of Fighters '97. I thank them for their Sega Saturn support but I still think they could have done much more both optimizing their conversions to avoid the slowdowns and also producing some more games after The King of Fighters '97. Just think what they could have done by adopting the 4MB RAM cartridge.

[@nixneato]

What a GREAT episode. They all are but man, the work you put in these is humbling

[@8bitsnkboy472]

The european release of King of Fighters '95 ignited my love of neo geo games and is what got me importing Japanese Saturn exclusives. My original, un-modded Saturn was a dedicated Kof'95 machine for several years - until I finally bit the bullet and brought a neo geo CD system, then later, an AES cart system. Although that said, the SEGA Saturn is still my all-time favourite system that I own.

[@Dre_aka_sleepysandman]

You keep doing this. You will have one of the biggest channels on KZbin. Its nice to go down memory lane with a fellow old school gaming vet. Also you are one of the few that has the proper knowledge. Some old school gamers either forget important information or didn't know from the jump when they talk about gaming back in those times.

[@techengine64]

You are my favourite Sega KZbin channel Because of you I own now a Sega Saturn and liebe Grüße aus Deutschland

[@reptilez13]

I just started my Saturn ownership and have a 1mb RAM cart, plan a few mods for region and save memory, and the 21 Pin Fenrir when its released soon. Great video, thanks for the tips and info!

[@geesterfunk]

Why is darkstalkers so under rated? As y'all know it's spectacular

[@allcapcomeverything3866]

Was thought of as SF with vampires, and most people by then were sick of SF.....that is until SFA2 came out. SFA1 wasn't a very popular game when it launched

[@XTRABIG]

Yes sir

[@S2KPHD]

the combo system was just not there. some moves hits twice, but it was rare to see any meaningful combo... imo

[@joeesperanto678]

I liked Felicia and Morrigan. We need more of these games in today's world.

[@mattb9664]

We really need a Sega Saturn mini.

[@Rationalific]

And if so, we've gotta get Capcom fully on board with that.

[@IMDLEGEND]

It would be the first Mini system that I would pre-order.

[@SoundsOfSushi]

Dungeons & Dragons Collection is my favorite game from the Saturn. I spent a lot of quarters in the arcades before playing it on the Saturn.

[@sausagesausage]

One of the best SEGA channels. Keep up the excellent work but give yourself a break, too!

[@nicknoble8015]

Good video, clarified my understanding of what the RAM cartridges added to these games. As for why the RAM cartridges were necessary in the first place, it's worth mentioning that all these games are ports that were first designed with arcade machines in mind, not the Saturn. That's why they required additional hardware to run on a home console - because arcade machines were significantly more powerful (and expensive) than home consoles. That was always a major appeal of arcades - that you could play games that were at least a decade out-of-reach for at-home gaming. Making those games playable on home consoles only a few year after release to the arcades required boosting the console's on-board memory and/or downgrading the art assets used in the game.

[@johnnylochs6704]

Glad I stayed up late/early

[@zimmslounge]

I was about to go to bed as well 😆

[@vallaurianv6024]

Another utterly epic video SLX. Thank you. Love these games. Xmen vs Streetfighter was the first Saturn game I ever played in 2016. It sold me on a console that has since become one of my favourites of all time. The game is as good today as it was in 1997 and will be just as good in 2047. 👍

[@JohnVmc2]

People really like to pick on Karnov's Revenge, but it was a wild, fast and responsive fighting game, with really engaging mechanics.

[@willgrouch5199]

I was expecting a mention to the CSotN/NitM RAM cart hack - solid video as ever though!

[@WeskerSega]

Vandal Hearts has also been hacked to support it.

[@Leynx-Et-Fenrir]

A Japanese Saturn, A RAM cartridge and Vampire Savior (Darkstalkers 3)... Oh awesome memories!

[@jaymzfilkoski223]

Cyberbots looks pretty awesome. Great video as always, SLX!

[@johnjeneki3758]

I always love it when I see people play Cotton 2 using the "juggle em up" method. Such a cool game mechanic.

[@Deadpoolinho]

I have both cards and a few fighting games. Today I finally understand why I have bugs and artefacts on KOF96 with the 4mb cartridges. Thanks, Sefa LordX!

[@danielposey0620]

Really weird that the ram cart wasn’t released in the states considering the popularity of marvels fighting games here. Hell Nintendo was ballsy enough to release its own ram cart here.

[@johncarolina4950]

Sega had no idea what the hell they were doing with Saturn here, the US and Japanese side were terrible at communicating and working together

[@lookitskazzy]

Memory was extremely expensive back then, and the Saturn's install base and active user base was small enough that the costs outweighed the benefits.

[@lepopcornnaisseur546]

I just wanna note that even the arcade version of Metal Slug has pretty bad slowdown too. Otherwise, great video ! 👍

[@PlasmaSnake369]

Well the Saturn actually has about 30x more working RAM than the Neo Geo (3.5 MB + 1MB expansion vs 148 KB) , it's just that the cartridges/ROM chips function like RAM in how fast they can load data and some of those Neo Geo games can get up to 50 MB or more of ROM size.

[@PlasmaSnake369]

Well the Saturn actually has about 30 times more working RAM than the Neo Geo (3.5 MB + 1MB expansion vs 148 KB) , it's just that the cartridges/ROM chips function like ram in how fast they can load data and some of those Neo Geo games can get up to 50 MB or more of ROM size.

[@Maru96]

Shadow over Mystara isn't "more complex visually", Tower of Doom was missing A LOT of animation compared to the arcade, it's probably just an early port that they never released so they didn't bother to optimize it for the 4mb cartridge and put it in the bundle as is.

[@kelvinlion8839]

This is why I played Saturn at a time when everyone else had a Nintendo 64. I was a fighting game fan.

[@jonstoll8278]

This is exactly the kind of video i was looking for. Thank you.

[@SinisterTarheel]

Appreciate showing these games off. I have the ram cart with the import of X-Men COTA.

[@jeffwalker9122]

I would buy a Saturn Mini right fucking now!!! Come on Sega!!!!

[@GamingDelight]

Once I finally get a Sega Saturn into my collection (I'll probably shoot for a Japanese version and an Action Replay Plus cart to get around region lock), I'll look into these games.

[@lokamfai61]

Great episode (as other Saturn videos). Thank you. I think you may also want to highlight or even compare more about the load times, with or without a RAM Cartridge and with other ports. It was a big deal back in the day, e.g. Street Fighter Alpha 3 and the Vs. Street Fighter series with the 4M RAM Cartridge were like arcade perfect, particularly in terms of load times (which were hard to notice). In contrast, Street Fighter Alpha 2 and Marvel Super Heroes, which ran fine without a RAM Cartridge, took like 1X seconds of load time before each match. This immediate benefit was mind-blowing to me, as load times were a common thing (and a painful wait) for the Playstation, Neogeo CD and many Saturn ports of 2D arcade fighters and also other 2D fighters back then.

[@TheGemini5]

To this day, I STILL believe that port was the biggest missed opportunity for the Saturn....sad

[@UsTheMusicTVOfficial]

Yep, I guess that just shows how things were going at the time for Sega and the Saturn. Huge missed opportunity!

[@SegaDream131]

But now we use it for pseudosaturn....

[@brandonginsburg3120]

@@SegaDream131 Pseudosaturn Kai was worth every penny I paid for it. It is great and easy for playing homebrew and unreleased games.

[@stepheng8061]

Hometown hero! I remember reading about the Saturn ram farts but I never saw them irl Turns out they never released in NA I was fascinated by Saturn and was so disappointed when it disappeared

[@Zellio2011]

Sega ram farts....?

[@Deathtank75]

@@Zellio2011 🤣

[@WeskerSega]

PlayStation versions were the ones usually farted out.

[@hotdoggington6962]

D&D: Shadows Over Mystara is easily one of the best beatemups of all time

[@dlbarnes]

I have the 4 Mb RAM cart and I remember swapping to play the games. The games were expensive I paid $69.99 for most of my imports. I'm missing a few but capcom fighters I have all of those. Back then having a Saturn was popular over the Playstation version

[@Hidyman]

Luckily I got into imports when the Saturn was dying over here. I've got all of the Capcom games and a few on the SNK games. My friends and I spent hundreds of hours playing these awesome fighting games.

[@ShinobiWan1]

Sounds awesome! Miss those days

[@WeskerSega]

Totally worth it. In my case I have all the Capcom games, all the SNK games, and also almost all the other compatible ones. Aside from the visual novels, Waku Waku 7 is the only one I'm still missing and probably will end up getting it some day.

[@Riz2336]

I couldn't picture playing saturn without my soft mod action replay cart and I also have a regular unmodded one too

[@mcbfilms22]

Vampire Savior was the only one on the list that I imported. I had a choice between it and X-men v Street Fighter, and I chose Vampire because I loved Nighwarriors and thought I’d never be able to play its sequel any other way. I made the right decision.

[@caseyhayes4590]

I got the ram cart and Vampire Savior imported when they were new. Got Street Fighter Alpha 3 later though and man it is just as good. Those are 1 and 1A. All the other Capcom games that use the cart are really fun button mashing masterpieces of 2D graphics, but those two have absolutely perfect gameplay and design.

[@cormano64]

02:39 - Interesting stage design you got there, Mr. Ultraman.

[@iankempster7007]

This channel rocks !

[@EpicLebaneseNerd]

SLX : I HOPE U GUYS ENJOY MY REVIEW.... * me already SMASHED like and sitting all comfy knowing i am gona have a good time watching it. seriously, i just came back home from work and watching SLX is the first thing i do to release some stress.

[@baynedahl7995]

Please stop giving me reasons to buy a Saturn

[@anthonyjohnson9088]

Why not?...its the greatest system ever!!!!

[@NirnBootMod]

Buy a MiSTer FPGA. Someone is actually working on a Saturn core for it, as well as PS1. It already has flawless implementations of the previous consoles and arcade.

[@Saberwaisen]

I give you one to NOT buy a Saturn, the game prices

[@NirnBootMod]

@@Saberwaisen Irrelevant when you can just buy one of the ODE devices (MODE, Fenrir, Satiator) and just load your games from external media and a menu.

[@stucazzo2000]

A Sega Saturn isn't too expensive. You'll need to shell out another $50 (CDN) to get the Pro Action Replay and some good blank CD-r's. I got my Saturn in 1995 and wrote it off as a sub-par system for about 20+ years until I got a hold of the all the Japanese library. To me, the Saturn aged the best out of the PS1 and definitely the N64. Also, get yourself a better controller than the stock US controllers, the Japanese controllers are compatible and aren't too expensive either.

[@mercster]

Dude as a computer/UNIX guy I love stats like this, this is VERY interesting. Man you are one of my favorite channels, in fact I am going to "click that bell" for the SECOND TIME! For you. You keep pumping out such quality content, I hope you achieve all the youtube success you deserve. I'll try to spread the word. God bless.

[@mercster]

HAH, imagine the hardware-upgraded version causing more performance problems. 😂 Only Sega, man.

[@pepe4404]

not many videos about this topic. thank you for it.

[@blondejon1]

Wonderfully informative video, ive shared it to the saturn junkyard Facebook group

[@ROOMBAfloorvac]

I love these kinds of comparison videos! Keep up the great work!!!

[@DrMnike-]

Loved this episode! I have the 4MB RAM and totally understand what you mean about the fighting games. Thanks

[@apocalypticminister1369]

Sega Lord X! Although I like all your content, I really enjoy the Saturn episodes my brother! Keep em' coming if you can...

[@ZeniusFox]

The cool thing about Vampire Savior is there is an English option that is selectable via a secret menu. Not that the game really needs it, but it was an awesome edition for most collections.

[@ralfvanbogaert3451]

Used to have a 2nd gen PAL Saturn, with a 1st gen Action Replay to play import games. Obviously this setup didn't work with X-Men Vs. Street Fighter, but I managed to get it running (with a lot of glitches) by yanking out the Action Replay and inserting the 4M Ram cart right after the boot logo. It usually took several tries. Fun times. Later I had the Saturn modded with NTSC and region switches though.

[@chriswaudby5580]

The Saturn shat all over the PlayStation in the 2d fighter category all the marvel xmen street fighter crossover games were amazing and a big reason my house was the go to house for my friends at school cos I had the Saturn.. Man I loved that system

[@alphatrion100]

Yeah but 2d games werent system sellers anymore that generation. It was about mgs, gran turismo and resident evil

[@efuuu]

And Final Fantasy, Tekken, Silent Hill etc...

[@alphatrion100]

@@efuuu yes ofcourse

[@chriswaudby5580]

@@efuuu all fine games that we didn't give a shit about

[@maroon9273]

Also super mario 64, golden 007, zelda ocarina of times and mario kart.

[@Evercade_Effect]

Thanks for covering this. I really enjoyed the history.

[@Nico0020]

Thanks for this one. Been getting into the Saturn finally since I got a MODR, as I missed it as a kid. Finally got myself a RAM cart and so far impressed. Would have loved to see if games could have made use of it besides mostly fighting games.

[@Rationalific]

I had/have that 4 MB Pro Action Replay, and I had a lot of fun with my Saturn, especially with my Capcom games!

[@superstew79]

I live in the uk and had my Saturn converted to play at Japanese speeds via a switch put on the back and a region code dial placed just inside the cartridge slot. I only had SFvX-men and darkstalkers and marvel superhero’s and they was amazing with the 4meg cart. Darkstalkers is my fav capcom fighting franchise and I wish it would come back

[@shinbakihanma2749]

I owned one of the third party 4MB RAM carts that also doubled as an importer, to let you play the Japanese versions. Surprisingly, the only capcom fighter I didn't own on the Saturn was SFZERO3, and the reason was that I somehow didn't even know it was on the Saturn. I wouldn't own that game until the Dreamcast version released.

[@random_gamer_guy82]

I actually didn't know the system was more powerful than the PlayStation in many ways, learned that from you my man!!!

[@goushen6066]

dang thats funny I was digging through some stuff and found my 4mb ram cart, ultra madness ST-Key and my gameshark for saturn yesterday.

[@csikocska]

I like the new kind intro. :) I didn't heard some of interesting facts about Sega Saturn games until now. I can try out some of great Saturn games on Retroarch. :)

[@waleednasser7575]

Very good video 👍 l love the sega saturn , thanks.

[@BabusGameRoom]

Love the new intro! I've always been curious about the RAM cart for the Saturn. Only the N64 had something like that, I believe, but that one's been done to death on YT! Haha

[@thefroyukenfiles3641]

And it usually had the inverse effect: looks sharper but runs worse.

[@Waifu4Life]

Love the new intro mate! EDIT: Why don't you have a Join button on your chanel? Some people don't want to give money to Patreon.

[@lordrayden3045]

In college we went to EB games and they had this section with strange games ive never heard of before. It was the ram cart / mod chip and a bunch of import games. Walked out with the ram cart x men v street fighter and marvel super hero’s. (And bust a move 2) Pure excellence.

[@TotemoGaijin]

When I was in college it was right around when Nintendo had put the Gamecube on major clearance prices and there was a popular import website called LikSang. Bought one of those region switcher/free discs. Played a lot with it, but then eventually the disc stopped working for some reason.