Just Got A Sega Katana

Hey, my name is Darryl. I'm from gaikokugamers.com. Me and a Canadian friend of mine do a gaming podcast every week. I've been a huge fan of Sega since the early 3D era arcade machines started to show up (still remember the first time I played Virtua Fighter 1, oh dear god it was amazing!). ANYwho, I recently got purchased a Sega Katana in really nice shape. I've wanted one of these for many, many years and picked it up for a low price.

The unit is in great shape and powers on. The seller said he couldn't get picture on a monitor, but judging based on his lack of general gaming knowledge, I think it's simply that the dip and slider switches were in the wrong positions. I know that all the dipswitches need to be down and the rotary dial to 4 to switch it to US. And I know that I might also need to set the 1, 2, and 4 dip switches up with the rotary set to 0 with the slide switch to the right while holding reset which might fix any video issues as well (switching it from emulation mode, right?).

Anywho, the unit isn't in yet (comes next week), but I'm just trying to gain any dip switch settings I can learn while I wait so I have different things to try once it comes in. Like I said, it powers on, and his dip switch settings seemed wrong to me (which would explain the lack of picture), but you never know and I want to be as prepared as possible.

I'll post more pictures and let you know not only if your solutions get picture up, but also what exactly is on the Katana once it comes in. Until then, here's a pic of the dev kit:

 

Saw this thread a few posts down. I'll try these suggestions and let you all know how it goes and if I need more help or not.
http://www.assemblergames.com/forums/showthread.php?21294-No-video-showing-on-Katana-dev-box-HKT-01

 

----double post -----

 

Wow that's very clean and in great shape. Lets hope that there is a nice unreleased game on there, but what are the odds?

Nice score man.

 

Cleaner than mine! Looks to be a set 5.24, so you'll need sdk r8, r9, r10, or r11b if you're going to set it up with a computer. And an scsi card, an scsi cable, and some 50-pin scsi active terminators (I use two). There's a stickied thread that goes into much more detail about that process though. http://www.assemblergames.com/forum...v-Setup-(Inc-Setting-up-an-HKT-01)-(08-05-07)



Taken from getstart.txt, included in the sdk. http://dreamplace.zzl.org/text/GETTING STARTED WITH DREAMCAST R10 AND MASTERING A GD-ROM.html

 

Thanks for the help guys, and sorry about the double post before. From the sounds of it, it doesn't seem like it'll be too hard to get it to display a picture.

I'll read over that link you gave me, R3Z1Nator. I would love to find an unreleased game, or at the very least an early build of an existing title. Whatever I find I'll share it with the community in return, of course.

However, I'll be honest. Since I've never owned one of these things, I honestly don't know exactly how to work it outside of what little I know about the machine. I don't have an old PC with Windows 95/98 laying around, so I'll have to get one I suppose. Will I be able to play DC games and/or see what (if any) works in progress are on the machine without the use of a Windows PC hooked up to it?

Honestly, I'd love to do homebrew one day. While I can't promise anything soon, I've done tons of 3D animation and model design in the past. While I can't program, I wouldn't mind learning. Who knows, maybe I can create something that isn't yet another (amazing) shootem'up.

 

Remember to make a block for block image of the disk before starting to muck around with it. That way you can possibly restore deleted files on it in peace and quiet at a later date. At the minimum grab everthing on explorer and archive it somewhere. If you don't have or plan to get the PC and SCSI-interface needed for that then consider unscrewing the HDD and handing it to someone else for dumping.

You will be able to play GD-ROM based games of any region. But that is honestly just a more expensive and unwieldy way of doing something you can already do with your normal DC. To configure the emulation parameters for running games from the HDD you need to connect it to a PC.

You could also play GD-Rs if you have any of those laying around.

 

please make good games!

 

I use Windows 7 with my Katana, there is an aspi replacement stickied in this section too I believe.

 

Ok I'll have to seriously do my homework. When the unit comes in I might be asking for help .

Id love to see what's on the hdd first and foremost. Getting that to display is my first goal outside of getting an image on screen.

 

BTW, that unit works with original GD-ROM, which I can play like a real DC if I understand well.
How is the optical drive? Easily replaceable? Fixable? Durable?
Also, I can put the content of an original GD-ROM on the HDD and play it like a real DC?

 

The drive is the same as in the DC, but with cables a little bit longer. They are swappable.

Yes, you can play games like a DC or on the HDD, but there are some incompatibilities.

Also, if you only play games on your devkit && don't develop anything on it, you'll suffer the wrath of Dricas-ko !!

 

Noted... O_O

 

I program, so it'll be of use. Have people which do music and graphics are they dayjob, so the unit wouldn't be wasted at all. :-D

But, what are the incompatibilities?

 

I cant give you a list, since I don't use my devkit for playing

But there have been a lot of posts on that in the past:
http://www.assemblergames.com/forum...amcast-Dev-Box&highlight=does+not+play+devkit
http://www.assemblergames.com/forum...nic-Adventure-Not-Booting-on-Set-5-24-Dev-Box
http://www.assemblergames.com/forum...Play-on-Katana&highlight=does+not+play+devkit

...

 

Thank you, digging it out now.

 

**praying for an unreleased game on there**

 

I'm hoping this Katana has an unreleased game on the HDD (hopefully either a more finished build of Geist Force or an english version of Sakura Wars).

 

For an english version of Sakura Wars, gimme a dev kit!
I've got script and DATA, just need the kit to do it. And you have to know that I fxxxin' want to do it.

 

This thread makes me want to dig my Katana out and give it a try.