Sega Saturn country of manufacture: does it matter?

I'd like to get a Sega Saturn at some point, and I notice that Sega farmed out manufacture of the things to many different countries. Even very early models like the HST-3210 are not all made in Japan (i.e Malaysia). My question is, does it matter where it was made? Does the quality of the console drop off if it wasn't made in Japan?

 

probably not, but anything made for the main markets, US JAP UK etc should be fine. not had any experience with the other branded saturns only Sega ones.

 

It's Sega branded, and was made for the Japanese market (looks the same as any other HST-3210).

 

x

 

Ah, so you're saying that even if they were manufactured in a different country, all Saturns from the same period all sourced the same parts? So it's more like "assembled in X" than "made in X"?

 

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Makes sense.

You mentioned Sanyo drives before, I saw a photo of a Saturn that next to the model number, it said "sanyo D.", while different model Saturns don't have anything there. Clearly, that Saturn has a Sanyo drive, but is that a good thing or a bad thing?

 

i have 2 pal uk saturns, 1 has sanyo drive and one has a jvc drive, i never had trouble with the sanyo one till i recently broke it but nothing to do with the drive. not had any problem with the jvc one either.

would like to know also if theres any known issues with the sanyo drives?

 

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yeah it is 179004742, the one with the JVC drive is AD69 both model 2 round button systems.

 

I've installed modchips into Sanyo drives before with success. Some models don't work and those that do usually require the console to be booted first, disc inserted and the game manually started.

 

Remember that if you boot the console with the lid open (or if you have the top of the casing off, you dont hold the lid switch) they will not boot backups.

If you boot the console with the game in and its shut - it will boot. Same if you boot with no game - lid must be shut, then you can open it and put a game in.

I found this out when testing with the lid off before putting it all back together.

 

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best i could do had to turn flash off and hold towards light to get a readable pic
View attachment 3946

 

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I don't know much about modchips so I thought I'd ask about the work done to my Saturn. It boots PAL games normally, with the lid closed. But to play US releases I have to hold down reset when powering it on with the lid closed, and to play Japanese releases I have to hold down reset while powering it on with the lid open. It won't play backups. It's a Model 2 PAL machine with round buttons, and the serial number is 165053396.

 

Switchless region mod.

 

Like Bad_Ad84 says, you have a switchless mod. Modchips are for playing backings. To put it simple Saturn independently handles region, copy protection, 50/60hz, and composite/svideo/RF color.

That's four unrelated mods if one thinks they must be able to play every game on as many TVs on Earth as possible. Even then caution is still needed, all Saturns use only a 100v-class or 200v-class power supply.

 

Alright, thanks. I thought it had some funky chip in it but apparently not. It's a pain to boot Japanese releases on it, so I'll just sell it and get a Japanese system instead.

 

I'm not sure I'd go that far. Expensive shipping and needs a power converter...

Have you tried an import boot cartridge? Region toggle switch is another option.