The Satiator for Sega Saturn Review - Game Sack

[@GameSack]

Is the Satiator something you'd be interested in getting for your Saturn... or if you had a Saturn?

[@Jesse__H]

It's not for me ... but learning about it from The 'Sack certainly is. Guess I'm weird like that.

[@jesseslack2089]

I love my Saturn and I would get it but it's a tad expensive.

[@Walczyk]

I have one, was playing street fighter zero 2 dash with a friend and the music kept cutting out. I've heard issues with other fighters as well and there being some fixes; I think I have to submit a bug report. Resetting the console with the 4mb ram cart doesn't seem to boot back to the satiator either. Hopefully compatibility continues to improve!

[@hyp36rmax]

I own a Satiator and MODE, and hands down the later is a much more developed product. This is defintely a BETA product which will improve in time. Still waiting on Marvel Super Heroes Vs Street Fighter to work. Game tends to boot you back to the multiplayer after playing several rounds. Some games tend to break after fixing other issues. Luckily Prof Abrasive is on it for the most part.

[@cybermx8896]

I have a Saturno but not all those money. Better go with a Fenrir.

[@devilmaylol]

I didn’t realize how much I needed Japanese Craig Stadler in my life.

[@thebackyardairgunner8776]

so true

[@rsmith02]

@UC66r8zmU85qNsccaOvLembA He doesn't actually ask if you can stick it in him does he?

[@Jesse__H]

Bet you can't get it inside of mine...tomodachi-san.

[@NIProductionsLLC]

I KNOW, Right?

[@gern0tk]

Kawaiii!

[@krissteward]

"...or maybe you just want to run everything on a raspberry pi, and make sure that everyone on the internet knows that you'd rather run everything on raspberry pi." This got me good, never change my friend : )

[@marccaselle8108]

Well I have a raspberry pi. I'd love to run Saturn games on there but it's not powerful enough yet. Maybe by the raspberry pi 6 it will be powerful enough.

[@ArtemyMalchuk]

In the russian forums, when a piece of retro hardware like Genesis or SNES or PSX is discussed, there's always a ton of folks with comments like "lol $$$$, me gonna buy a Raspberry pi instead"

[@Tsigarinho]

You mean that Saturn games are running in full speed on a Raspbery pi 4 (4gb model)? I bought one and never used it....

[@hamazakixam]

A diss to the etaprime

[@biscoito1r]

My understanding is that the Sega Saturn has never been fully emulates.

[@McGuinty2]

Hey Joe, just a quick clarification about the exFAT situation: Prof went back and forth on supporting it a couple times. At first he thought it was not going to be possible to support it, at least not while still being able to update the firmware due to a memory limitation, however he did find a workaround. Later on the issue was the cost of licensing exFAT from Microsoft, but he was able to score a volume license relatively inexpensively through a third party, so in the final release it is supported! That Patreon post you quoted was from over a year ago before he found that licensing solution.

[@Napoleon_4pcs]

Satiator for the Saturn. Master...bator for the Master System.

[@WarcleanePro]

This now has to happen.

[@Unholy_Louie]

@@WarcleanePro Yep. That's the rule. No use denying it. Wonder what kind of "made up" verb could be used for someone in the act of using it?

[@ilikecurry2345]

Generalizer for Genesis. Dreamer for Dreamcast.

[@kaisercreb]

The Master system "Master Race" steering wheel now available!!!

[@phunq9087]

Thank you for bringing Japanese Craig Stadler into our lives.

[@PastoKage]

That ending was a masterpiece. Solid 10/10

[@gluttonousmaximus9048]

The Japanese text says it is indeed called the "Say-shi-ay-tor"

[@SimonPiano42]

Probably, or maybe "Sey-shi-e-taa". It says セイシエター, so you could argue it's "Sē-shi-e-taa" (long e, not "say"), but if they just wanted a long e, they could have used the extension character ー instead of イ (I) there. By the way, it's curious they wanted to make the last vowel long as well with that extension.

[@logannottheonefrommarvel9917]

Sorry, I don't speak *wrong*

[@SimonPiano42]

@@logannottheonefrommarvel9917 lol, "satiator" in english is speaking Latin wrong. But as you like it.

[@Jesse__H]

@@SimonPiano42 That long final syllable may just be due to how different the Japanese R sounds are from the English R sounds. Like they're approximating the English R maybe?

[@SimonPiano42]

@@Jesse__H good idea! sounds plausible

[@atarichild81]

Love these Saturday Night Sack Drops!

[@Me-df6yd]

Lol! Sunday morning here. Time is relative buddy!

[@astrologyfit]

Sunday Afternoon Teatime.

[@samfrito]

Joe still does a great Sack drop.

[@Ghost_Of_SAS]

"I'm Joe Redifer and Sandisk is my favorite SD card on the Citadel"

[@mscottjohnson3424]

5:49 So it lets you play backups? That's actually a really good feature. As this video shows, there are some games that have issues. If the Satiator lets you play backups, then for those games with issues, just burn a CD. That, in a way, fills in the holes.

[@ninjasec]

Here we go :), I have been interested in this device. I have a Saturn, only a hand full of games, and sadly some have disc rot. Although its not something I would buy right now, I am happy something like this exists.

[@goldenman8825]

Wow Jason, that is amazing.

[@ninjasec]

@@goldenman8825 thanks Chris

[@ErnestSheptalo]

The episode was informative but what really made it awesome is the joke about raspberry pie.

[@eebuckeye]

There is firmware update for the Action Replay cart by Professor Abrasive and it works great. Allows the Action Replay to be used and when you press the button combination will boot back to the Satiator game select screen. I have seen few games that will not go back but overall works great and very useful.

[@rars0n]

@@Shark97281 You don't actually need to copy memory to system to make it work. The way the Satiator works is that if you press the reset button on the console, it bypasses the Satiator menu. The Satiator will keep loading whatever game you selected until you power cycle the console. Thus if you have a patched Action Replay cart and press the reset button, it loads into the cart. The Action Replay cart will not work without patching due to the way the unpatched AR loads its code into memory. When you want to go back into the Satiator menu, just power cycle the Saturn. I also had a flash error when I first tried. I was following the instructions exactly (insert the cart after loading the Satiator menu), but as it turns out, these cartridge slots and carts seem to be rather finicky, so I reseated the cart and it flashed properly. Other people have had the same problem with the same solution.

[@rars0n]

@@Shark97281 Oh, okay. I misunderstood what you said. Yeah, saving on the AR cart is nice because the system memory fills up so quickly. You can certainly do that, but you just don't have to in order to make the AR cheats work. That's what I meant. "re you telling me that the satiator somehow made it possible to load games from my AR card?" No. If you select a game using the Satiator menu, and then hit the reset button, the Satiator menu is bypassed. So if you don't have a cart inserted, it will just load the game you selected previously. If you do have a cart installed, it'll boot off the cart and you can use it to select whatever cheats you want before loading the game. The game always loads off the Satiator, as it would if you put a disc in. The AR cart doesn't have enough storage to hold an entire CD game.

[@rars0n]

@@Shark97281 Oh, gotcha. Yeah, as far as I'm aware, most games can only save and load to system memory, if not all of them.

[@rars0n]

@@Shark97281 I'm looking into it right now. Marvel Super Heroes vs Street Fighter is one of the games that has had the most problems. Are you on the latest firmware and menu? Current versions are 157 and 64. I can load matches just fine without any glitches but between rounds it will occasionally kick me back to the Satiator menu. I just tried something: I selected the game, then at the Start screen I hit reset on the console to boot into the AR. Then I started the game that way. I played through four rounds of fights before I lost and went back to the Start screen, played another round and it was still working. So give that a try. Edit: Never mind! I just tried it again, and upon pressing start, it kicked me back to the CD player screen. I think we'll just need to wait for more fixes before this game works perfectly. Lots of people have reported varying degrees of the game working and then not working.

[@rars0n]

@@Shark97281 Hey, sorry I didn't respond sooner. The only translation I've currently loaded up is the Policenauts translation, which I downloaded as a patched version from somewhere (I honestly can't remember). But usually the mnethod is that you take the original game ISO and use a utility to patch the game, creating a new ISO. Then you'd just copy that to the Satiator. Are you asking about how to patch and create a translated ISO? I've never done that but I'm sure I could figure it out if that's what you're asking. Otherwise you can always search for a pre-patched version, although you probably want to make sure it's a final version made from a legit ISO dump, which isn't always easy. Like I said, once it's patched you just load the patched ISO onto the Satiator like any other game. It should work just like the unpatched game.

[@Clesarie]

Love that shout out to how effin annoying those raspberry pi people are.

[@penismightier9278]

Having used a RetroPi, I find it decent but the button configuration was too frustrating. They put the menu hotkey on Start and Select... which you need to reset GB/GBA games or manually save in Zelda GB games. And I agree on how annoying those people are. We get it, you pirate and have low standards. Now please shut up and let other people have their fun.

[@Invidente7]

@@penismightier9278 yesh, the classic xbox emulators were a lot more friendlier when it comes to button configuration and they always set the menu button to the R3 buttons.

[@TheRealGara]

Yeah! Damn Pi lovers. They should buy a MiSTer. 😄

[@marccaselle8108]

@@penismightier9278 I'd get the terraonion mode for Saturn or any ode device. The main reason is that plenty of Saturn games are close to or exceed 100 dollars each per game. Ode devices are pretty much unavoidable these days.

[@Shadowbann3d]

MiSTer owners are the new version of Raspberry Pi people

[@Reaperman4711]

That Craig Stadler import shot was about the surprise of my day.

[@axeoseilez3207]

Clever editing at its finest. And jesus that caught me off guard. A miles morales mod for the turbografx nice.

[@tobykassulke2385]

Another game sack episode always satiates my needs.

[@AceTrainerX3]

I see what you did there...

[@rustymixer2886]

Was this made from guy who reverse engineered saturn after 20 years from vcd port ?

[@hellbillymods45]

Yes, he was on the news back then. Prof. Abrasive.

[@noway9267]

this needs more attention, that dude is a hero

[@chrisw8069]

Won't buy until it fully supports the action replay

[@thatssomegoodpie]

The great thing about the satiator is that the disc drive still works. If only it was more budget friendly like the Fenrir.

[@Nightopian1982]

Would you say it's worth getting if affordability isn't an issue? I've got a Fenrir for one of my Saturn consoles, and it's good, but I have been having some problems, primarily because of issues with seating the ribbon and having to unscrew and remove the cover each time I need to fix or amend the game list.

[@richardbyatt4018]

This end skit has just had me in stitches, again! The awesome power of 1991 technology wins again 🤘

[@Galgomite]

I got one of these. I was never going to remove my CD drive- I think a lot of folks are going to regret doing that. I love how easy going it is with game formats, most everything works. I’ve only experienced one glitch (Burning Rangers intro locks up after a few reruns- no biggie). Meanwhile, while I own no multi-disc games, I wonder if you can just use your original media or CDR’s to solve that rare problem.

[@pengwin_]

the little sound effect when you pulled out the card was great.

[@Jeffmetal42]

Thank you so much for this review. I've been trying to decide if I should get one of these or not. Your input is much appreciated and valued.

[@rars0n]

If you're willing to spend the money on it, and you're on the fence, let me just say that you should probably buy it. The thing is, some of the downsides that Joe mentions are just due to ignorance (no offense to Joe, I had to figure them out myself). The AR cart flash failure, for instance, is a common occurrence due to the cartridge slot and cartridge. All he needed to do was re-seat the cart and it would have worked. Likewise, once patched, you can use the AR cart as you normally would, by simply selecting a game off the Satiator menu, then pressing the reset button on the console itself. This bypasses the Satiator menu, allowing you to boot into the AR cart. The Satiator will load whatever game you selected prior to hitting reset. And regarding another thing that Joe mentioned, there IS a way to get back to the Satiator menu. You simply press A+B+C+Start. Normally this soft resets the game, but if you do it again once you're at the title screen, it will take you back to the Satiator menu. Unfortunately it doesn't seem to work in every game. Some games will just keep soft resetting. I'm not sure if this is something that Abrasive can eventually solve or if it's how the game was programmed. It may be the latter. One thing to keep in mind is that Professor Abrasive is constantly updating this and seeking feedback to create bug fixes. So if there is a specific bug you experience with a game, hop into his discord and tell him directly. He's usually pretty quick on fixing bugs. If the price really bothers you and you don't mind modding your console, get a MODE. It's a great device that seems to work very well with Saturn and Terraonion makes some great products. They're also not a one-man job. I personally am a bit too attached to my Saturn to discard parts and solder things to the board when there's a plug-and-play option available. Also, I happen to think that this device is incredibly ingenious and I'm happy to support all of the amazing work that went into making it. It works well for most of the games I have played and I love that my Saturn is still completely stock. It is such a unique device and it works well enough that I'm really happy I bought one. It'll only get better with time, but as is it's already great. By all means, buy what suits you best! I'm just trying to help provide another perspective.

[@daveandconfused9917]

I just got my Satiator. This video sold me on it.

[@BenWard29]

“OH MY GOD, WHAT’S WRONG WITH YOUR FACE!?!?” -Mr. Plinkett

[@ProgSnob14]

Another man of culture...

[@m.3.3.w]

Just for clarification at 7:44 - Many people use the AR as an 4mb because the official hardware is sometimes hard to get a hold of. So there you go if you need an 4mb cart!

[@nicole_express]

Nice review; I have a Satiator myself and wrote a blog post on it a few weeks ago; I think you should be able to go from an unmodded AR cart to the Satiator menu by pressing "C" like you were going to go to the CD player, as it looks like the Satiator hijacks the CD player.

[@mxggo9046]

How can i find your blog? Also, anyway to get help loading my "rom backups" once i decide to purchase ?

[@dwood78part23]

Another late Saturday night, another Game Sack but video :)

[@MrRetroNerd]

damn i wanted to sleep (4 am here) but im curious about this!!

[@jcchaconjr]

I didn’t think to check the FMV games, but the only game I had a problem with was In The Hunt. Turns out, the problem was with my “backup”, which has been confirmed to have been a problem with the actual game. To properly boot this US version, you have to unplug the controller as soon as you launch it from the Satiator menu. After the intro scene plays, you’ll get to the title screen, and you can play the game. The JP version does not exhibit this problem, btw.

[@craigmcghee4]

Late night game sack brilliant I can't sleep so some gaming entertainment is all good

[@Jesse__H]

same same.

[@Spintechfilms]

The fact of being self aware of wondering when it will be funny is amazing

[@xbiker321]

Interesting product, definitely like the ease of use. You don't have to remove the optical drive like the Dreamcast SD card readers which is great.

[@Picheblast]

I like game sack because you are a profesional and perfectionist, it shows the amount of work and dedication to your videos, and you never stop improving the quality, specialy the sound (following since you started). But the thing I enjoy the most is your sense of humor. It goes beyond video games. Thank you.

[@MiniMicroFPV]

If you are interested, the Japanese katakana on the front of the box says Seishietah so it indeed should be pronounced as in satiate~~

[@MizfitZer0]

Loving the Sonic R music at the beginning! :) It brought a smile to my face instantly

[@SeanOfEarth]

A lot of the bug reports will be wrong because it's by game, but the cause is usually down to specific SD cards.

[@AzrialAlaria]

I ALWAYS WANTED A THING CALLED TUNA SASHIMI!!

[@wolfgangervin2582]

Close your eyeeeeeeeeees Close your heaaaaaaaaaad

[@AceTrainerX3]

3... 2... 1!!!

[@Septer_Sever]

Damn it! I wanted to hear what "Think you can get it inside mine" sounded like in Japanese...I guess I'll use Google.

[@nomadicmonkey3186]

Seeing Craig Stadler (PBUH) speak in my native tongue is such a surreal experience to have

[@ProgSnob14]

Excellent video, your channel is one of the only real gaming channels left. All the other big ones have fallen.

[@LuisRosa72]

Seeing Suikoden threw me off for a few seconds. I'd completely forgotten there was a Saturn port.

[@dvdolima]

A Sackful of Sega Saturn Satiator! Super!

[@Level1Sword]

Try blowing on the cartridge when the game freezes. That ALWAYS works...

[@LuchadorMasque]

Kenny omega said I could do it!

[@scramblesthedeathdealer]

My car won't work, I just don't know where to blow into it to fix it...

[@irfanafendi4837]

11:18 Is that Batsugun? Man, that game looks awesome!!! 😮😮😮

[@ragingdwarf]

What was the name of the top-down shooter at the end? That looked amazing!

[@TransKingFormers]

Batsugun

[@Malacefire]

every time you do one of these satrun videos it makes me remember how much i regret selling off my old saturn..... anyway great vid none the less ^^

[@CutBackDropTurn]

It seems really interesting, but like a lot of these, it has some problems that need to get ironed out. I like the packaging though. Would’ve loved to see how Sonic Jam and Sonic R ran with this. Sonic games are typically very interesting to me with these videos.

[@AceTrainerX3]

Sonic Jam and R seem to work perfectly, if the compatibility list is anything to go by.

[@SamuelSarette]

The "issues" have almost entirely been ironed out. Some of these things he has issues with are described on the wiki and discord. Sonic R, Sonic Jam, Sonic Z-treme, Sonic 3D Blast all work awesome

[@FamilyTeamGaming]

Pretty much everything has already been solved. So I guess it means we can stop complaining about compatibility issues and start focusing on why it costs 260 dollars instead.

[@SamuelSarette]

@@FamilyTeamGaming The man should be paid for his decade of work discovering how all this works (Saturn is infamously difficult to reverse-engineer) and I'm sure the small-run manufacturing costs aren't great on most retro-gamer hardware. Cheaper devices required less work to create and/or have been able to lower their prices as they understand how big a manufacturing run they can do (and didn't have to launch first runs in a pandemic)

[@weeblbob233]

I have been neglecting my Saturn. It deserves this.

[@WWammyy]

I already have a RHEA ODE and it works perfectly however I do like the idea of being able to still use discs on the console so I'll probably get this at some stage

[@ClassicSteve]

A somewhat I'll informed review. There are many revisions of the Action Replay and support is gradually being added for flashing all the different models. Mine was initially not supported but within a week, a firmware update added support. exFAT has also been explained. Being a Microsoft licensed file system, support was not added initially due to cost. Later the developer found a cost effective way to sub-license it and so added support to all but the early models of the Satiator. All of this has been explained by Professor Abrasive.

[@lookitskazzy]

I also pointed this out, along with some other things in a comment that now looks like it was deleted...

[@minatempes4151]

Miles on turbographx looks badass. Who needs a ps5??

[@casperhito]

Game sack does native ad episodes. Nice.

[@mscottjohnson3424]

I saw the Satiator is for sale. I tell myself "I'll buy one tonight". I take a nap. This video launches while I'm asleep. The Satiator is out of stock. Literally "snooze you lose"

[@tawdryhepburn4686]

I love game sack it always makes me feel so warm and comfy. And the stop-motion, the _glorious_ stop-motion! Keep it up!

[@Pliskin_02]

I’ve never owned a Saturn so I can’t say for sure if I’d want one. I’ll probably stick to emulation on my PC for now. With every passing year, emulation gets better and better, but it still can’t replace the nostalgia of hardware and that sweet smell of ozone from the console and CRT TV screen buzzing on. Also, the end card bits are always funny. Keep it up Joe!

[@pb879]

It gets better and better but it will always be inaccurate and never like the real machine. Plus you don't need to play the Saturn on a CRT with all the many upscaler options.

[@albertedens9926]

"And i guess Jaguar" in the credits made me smile. They only way to play Rayman

[@MrFairhill]

The best way to play Rayman now is Rayman Redemption for the PC. A free fanmade remake of the original game.

[@guysafari]

I'll get one eventually. Got an X-Station ps1 on the way and thatll hold me over for a while

[@duncanrathband5492]

I love at the beginning when you throw yourself totally at the mercy of how My Life in Gaming pronounce 'Satiator' 😅

[@matthewwilkes6162]

There's an explanation of the action replay stuff on the retrorgb site. You need to flash it first before you can backup and restore. Also, on the Patreon Prof A said that the first batch don't support ExFAT but it was added from batch 2 onwards.

[@GiantBaba84]

My therapist: Japanese Craig Stadler isn't real. He can't hurt you. Japanese Craig Stadler:

[@supabass4003]

Will this allow a PAL Saturn to play in 60hz NTSC?

[@benryves]

Unfortunately not, that's set in hardware, so you'll need to install a switch of some sort. Depending on the hardware revision this can be an easy mod where you can just solder in a switch to some unpopulated pads in the battery compartment, but other revisions require more aggressive changes (cutting tracks or lifting chip legs).

[@chopdog6563]

I have one and have been using it to play the fan translations of Shining Force 3 Episodes 1, 2, & 3. Been working pretty well. I went through the process of flashing an AR for use. The trick is you have to put the AR in the cart slot after the system is powered on, and you're in the flash AR menu. Not ideal, but it does work.

[@startedtech]

hoorah, new vid

[@bencheshire]

You cant argue with that simple install, thats genius.

[@n0isyturtle]

I can say with complete confidence if this were $60 I would absolutely purchase one.

[@TheGemini5]

You know, I was right there with you. But as I was looking for options like the MODE and modding my Saturn, it would probably cost more with labor and shipping and such (I'm definitely not tech savvy). Plus the Saturn stays in it's original form. I think I'll bite the bullet and finally order this thing...definitely took long enough!

[@deckofcards87]

amazed that The Satiator's already out of stock. And it's been out of stock for months.

[@overweightactor]

Wow, that's a cool poster in the background.

[@rickylovesyou]

Bit too pricey for a work in progress imo. Hopefully it will get there in the end though. More SACK!!

[@Locomamonk]

hahaha I love your skits Joe!! And I love these moden addons reviews from you, really informative. I would love to try these! 13:37 gamepad massage!

[@dcashley303]

Sega just need to come out with a really good Saturn compilation or mini console. So sick of them focusing solely on Mega Drive with a sprinkling of Dreamcast.

[@thisisakodibox2635]

Just release them on current gen consoles. Heck even the switch should be able to handle some saturn games emulated. Segata Sanshiro runs well on the nvidia sheild tv

[@dcashley303]

@@thisisakodibox2635 yeah if they give me a way to show my support financially I will. Don't want to have to resort to the grey area of emulators etc. They have a captive audience who they're basically ignoring (much like Nintendo)

[@thisisakodibox2635]

@@dcashley303 Sega never had the best management that's for sure. They are sitting on a goldmine of unused IP

[@pb879]

Emulation is inaccurate, and will never be 100% so there doesn't need to be a mini. Just get the real hardware.

[@dcashley303]

@@pb879 just because it's not 100‰ accurate doesn't mean it doesn't need to exist. Getting real hardware hooked up to modern displays is difficult for a lot of people. Plus the games cost alot. Plus I'd like to be able to support the growth of this sort of thing. I think it's valuable and important to look back and to allow the general buying public an opportunity to get a feel for older games. If it gets at least 90% there in terms of accuracy that's okay with me. It's all about enjoying the games.

[@honved_77]

3:45 Best battle cry in video game history. Sometimes I play Darius II just to hear that sexy voice.

[@ultimablackmage]

If getting the games was easier, I would totally pay the overblown price for one of these.

[@thisisakodibox2635]

If only there was a org website that archived things..

[@michaels9917]

I especially like the shout outs to people complaining about price and those running saturn games on a pi.

[@shaungreer3350]

i’ve been waiting for years for this lol. remember in like 2014 when that video came out for it

[@rars0n]

What are you talking about? This wasn't in development back in 2014.

[@TurboXray]

LMAO that TGCD game at the end is an SMS game.

[@seanthiem1176]

Thanks for reviewing. I’m gonna hold off till the kinks are worked out.

[@TheZelda360]

The Sega Saturn is a underrated system, I never had one I never knew it existed until around 2008 they only Sega system I knew existed was the Genesis I grew up playing Nintendo and PlayStation

[@mikematei]

Great episode. I just got the Satiator as well. It sucks you can't get back to the menu when you are in a game without having to completely restart the console. Hope they fix that.

[@sillkthashocker]

Does it run all the games you've tried with it well?

[@rars0n]

Joe, if you press A+B+C+Start, it will take you back to the Satiator menu. The only problem is that this doesn't work for every game. On most games that it does work on, pressing those buttons mid game will restart the game, and you have to wait until you're at the Start screen to press them again, which will kick you back to the Satiator menu. Sometimes it works by just pressing those buttons twice. It's kind of a trial and error thing, but yeah, currently if that doesn't work, you have to power cycle the console to get back to the menu.

[@yyyme]

I had the same error code when backing up my AR cart. Had to pull it out and insert it a few times. Also the “flash AR” is for flashing the firmware that professor abrasive made so you can boot games with the AR cart. Also adds Controller reset to menu too!

[@Matt-lp1xp]

Wouldn't it be pronounced saish-iator, as in it satiates

[@Trainy2]

Something about the Saturn's graphics have aged much better than Playstation

[@cattysplat]

It's the 2.5D effect. Most of the graphics are flat drawn sprites used to emulate a 3D effect rather than rendered polygons. The sprites themselves looked bright and clean compared to the muddy low res polygons of the era.

[@W3S3333]

It cost me $200 + taxes and shipping (totaling around $260) to modify my Saturn from Pink Skeleton Gaming. It boots backups and real games and has a region-free BIOS and has FRAM memory that long outlasts the original watch battery. It also has new capacitors, a new power supply and a new laser. I am still using discs, but why not? It just plays games like they're meant to run. Edit: Astal runs flawlessly. Action Replay works too.

[@GreyCartridge]

The katakana on the box actually reads Seishietaa, so I think the “satiate your needs” pronunciation was the intended one.

[@merchius]

Funny you are Joe, funny you are. 👍

[@Usaji_]

For 200 dollars I expect perfection and this is far from it

[@crossfire4902]

260$ plus tax plus shipping plus a good SD card, 300$!!!! Way to much money!

[@marccaselle8108]

Exactly, for what they charge it better damn well be compatible with the entire US library and a good chunk of the Japanese Library.

[@rars0n]

I think there's still some timing issues with a few games when it comes to streaming data off "the disc," but Abrasive is constantly updating it. If you have a problem with a specific game, you can let him know about it on his discord and he will usually have a fix for it very quickly. It's worth pointing out that the error Joe got when attempting to flash his AR cart is common and is caused by the cartridge slot and cartridge, NOT the Satiator. All he had to do was re-seat the cart and try again. Once flashed, the AR works as it normally would. To use it, you just select the game you want to play from the Satiator menu, and then hit the reset button on the console. This bypasses the Satiator menu, and with the flashed AR cart installed, loads that instead. Is it absolute perfection? No, not really. But it works perfectly with most games. Is it expensive? Sure, but it's still a lot cheaper than buying all of the games individually. And it installs in seconds, requiring zero modification of the console. The main reason I bought one is because my Saturn still works perfectly and I didn't want to remove the optical drive and solder stuff inside it when this option was available. I still have plenty of games on disc, and while I doubt I'd play them that way very often, at least I have the option to do so. If you don't want to spend that much and you don't mind modding the console, just get a MODE instead. Those seem to work great on Saturn as well. The Satiator is a really clever method of implementing an ODE and I wanted to support all of the work that Abrasive put into making it a real product.

[@cattysplat]

Considering how long people have waited for a plug and play way to play Saturn games on the original system from an SD card, the fact that it was invented and it now exists for the first time is more of what you are paying for, because it sure didn't exist beforehand. Of course you could choose to save some money if you were willing to take your Saturn apart with careful soldering and chance of bricking your console. The fact that this is released to the public also might result in someone reverse engineering and cheaper copy cats emerging.

[@torloni13]

That battery slot.....GENIUS!!! I had to dismantle my Dreamcast just to replace it....not counting the soldering.

[@Gladson]

The DC battery is a rechargeable one while the Saturn one, isn't. Because of that users are way more likely to replace a battery often on a Saturn, that's why they didn't even bother making a port for the DC

[@bigemugamer]

first 40 seconds dedicated to those who have a problem with proper pronunciation.

[@SEGASaturnLad]

Great little product and review

[@SelfIndulgentGamer]

I have multiple Raspberry pi's yet I would still rather play on my Sega Saturn :)

[@richardheckmann1892]

I think it’s a great idea and a cool thing

[@Wesley_C]

A Satiator, it has packed more of games, wow, it's a home Arcade games.

[@noteptp]

Definitely interested in picking one up! Appreciate the thorough review.

[@wesleywheeler7891]

Something i find particularly good about this solution is that even if you run into a game that requires you to swap disks, you can still use burned disks

[@skyrunner14]

Policenauts and disc swapping do work. When the game prompts you to switch discs, simply press the power button on the console then turn it back on immediately, then simply choose the next disc's .iso or .cue or what have you in the Satiator menu and it'll work just fine.

[@skyrunner14]

That said, there is a minor issue where if you play the game for too long - about 3-4 hours straight, the game may freeze and audio skip during a cutscene, so be sure to save often and power down the console after ever few hours and you'll be fine. I was able to complete the game despite these small problems.

[@GameSack]

Yeah that's what I said... "Unless I load up the disc directly". Disc swapping does not work, you need to load each disc from scratch.

[@urdad1984]

Gonna stick with Pseudo Saturn off of an Action Replay cart method. Im glad theyve gotten to this point with using the vcd slot tho

[@zackerychapman7193]

that looks rad!!! hopefully they can get everything figured out for it. Think i like this more than the MODE, but both are really neat! glad stuff is being made for the Saturn.

[@moonbilal707]

The ending skit is a great tribute to Classic Game Room.