I remember there was talk a while back about the only cart only game on the Saturn being some unlicensed mahjong game. Does anybody have info on it? All that I know is that it was featured in a catalog, and I have never seen any screens or pictures of the actual cart.
Hmmm, I was always wondering if that could even be done. Maybe they used some sort of call from the ST-V Arcade hardware since it uses carts. I guess it being an unlicensed game it would have the same problem of any 3rd party cart. They tend to mess up your cartridge slot because they are a tiny bit to thick. I personally would also like more info on this game is anyone knows anything.
A looooooooong time ago I did a thread with all kinds of different Saturn carts..not sure if it was posted there.. EDIT: Found it! Check out the last page, the post by Antipasta.
I just realized from that old thread, I havfe a Memory Card PLUS which apparently loads imports. I went and tried to test it out, but it failed to boot Battle Garegga and I didn't feel like trying another. It did boot sorta, but went to a black screen and never did anything.
While the possibility of a cartridge only Saturn game is news to me, let's not forget that King Of Fighters '95 used a ROM add-on for its background data! Is there really be such a thing out there, and if this works could it even open the door to STV compatibility? Wishful thinking, I know...
The Sega documents describe the layout needed by a rom cartridge to be booted. There's a header similar to the Sega CD and Saturn CD IPs. If you can find a dump of an Action Replay/Game Shark, this is an example of a bootable rom cart. As far as STV compatibility, it might be possible, if the game is manually converted. Then again, the Saturn might not have enough free RAM for the game or address lines to access the entire rom.
I seem to recall a Japanese game that uses the cartridge slot to install add-on packs with. You'd basically insert a blank memory card and it would use the space to store voice files (as an example) so when you played the game, it would sport full narration. What game was this again?
I think you are thinking about the 4MBIT Ram cartridge. May games used this. One Adventure/RPG game that used it was Noel (as well as others) which used the cart to add speech and more animation. The game would also run withoutthe cart minus the extra details. yakumo Yakumo
A few games could use either 1MB or 4MB RAM cartridge if they were available and most of these had the table on the back. Super Real Mahjong P7 would use the extra RAM quite well. Noel 3, Friends, SMRM P7 were the three games that could use no cartridge or use either RAM cartridge effectively. A number of games like Cotton could use the 1MB cartridge but did not mention it on the box.
Although later games from Capcom required the 4MB RAM upgrade, I've heard too many rumours of Marvel Super Heroes also supporting it to be purely co-incidental. However, does anybody know if Last Bronx ran better with help from the cartridge? This is one long-standing myth I'm not so easily prepared to believe, and returning back to the subject of STV compatibility I have a feeling it may be possible if the Saturn's ports allow for direct ROM booting...
Without disassembling the game code there's no way to really know if a game without a cart listed as a requirement is actually using it. Back on topic, I have always wondered about this cart-only game. There are a few really obscure Chinese carts which are actually not Datel Action Replay based, so there's a good possibility some pirate guy was capable of making an actual game.
Yeah, Calpis you are probably right. My Magic Key is a Chinese modchip in cartridge form. It would make the Saturn boot an original boot code then got to the BIOS CD player screen. The cartridge would then imposes a message in bad English over the Saturn CD BIOS telling you to put in your copy. Once that was do all you have to do is press start then the CDR or import would boot. Yakumo
I definitely agree that Capcom went on to greater Saturn conversions following Marvel Super Heroes, and the "Chaos Dimension" example really is proof of just how flawed this product was compared to later efforts that fully utilised the 4MB RAM upgrade cartridge, such as X-Men VS Street Fighter or the near-perfect Street Fighter Zero 3 (which admittedly did pack slightly less background detail - not as if most gamers would ever notice, mind you). Based on their past record, would Capcom have been successful in bringing Marvel VS Capcom, War Zard or even Street Fighter III to the Saturn as rumoured back in the day? Maybe it's for the better they didn't, after all...
