Sega Saturn Pirate Cart?

Very odd carts, Interesting at that. But they're pretty neat, saves you from taking the cart out and putting in more memory.

 

Just saw this thread and want to share some Saturn carts too.

First is the usual all-in-one clone cart I got from Lik Sang about ten years ago. It was much cheaper than the original carts. About five years ago it died (lost all save games and had corrupted sprites in the 1M/4M games).



The PCB has some funny imprints:





Next is the official KOF '95 ROM cart:







And the last EMS Action Replay Plus cart, the black version without switch and COMMS port:



Some time ago I soldered a COMMS port at the PCB and was always wondering why it didn't work...
When taking the picture today I noticed there is an IC "U4" missing.
If someone could help me out here what kind of IC is missing so I can fix this?

There should be more carts in my collection, if anyone is interested I can try to dig them up and make pictures too.

 

I've got loads of different Saturn cartridges. Maybe I should add them.

That Booster Pack cart has some strange stuff written on the PCB all right.

Yakumo

 

What were the COM ports for? I have one on my pirate cart too.

 

To connect it up to a PC so that you could find and create your own cheat codes for whichever games you owned but weren't embedded in the cart. Basically it was just so you could keep it up to date as more software was released.

 

That would be cool!

Well, those were the possibilities you had back in the days with the ISA COMMS card.

Today there is a new device, the Saturn USB DataLink (http://www.gamingenterprisesinc.com/DataLink/) that lets you backup game-saves to a PC and other stuff.



I have one of those for years now and unfortunately never got it working - seems it's all about the missing chip in the ARP cart..

 

The guy who sells those also offered to mod your cart to add the port. Its mentioned in the link you posted.

Basically, just need someone who has the cart with a working port to give us the part number and it should just be a case of dropping it in.


Edit:




Can someone with better eyes get the part number off that? it looks like a SN74HC245N to me which are cheap enough.

 

This thread makes me miss liksang

 

Wow, those EMS cartridges look like real cheap crap. Just take a look at my Action Replay Pro 2 by Karat. It seems to have an official Datel (the inventers of Action Replay) PCB inside.



Yakumo

 

That's exactly it, but any 74HC245 will do.

The Karat's build quality is worse XD And it doesn't have DRAM or a COM port.

 

I originally just put that, but then I figured I should put the whole thing as I was asking someone to read it - to avoid confusion, thats all.

 

Thank's a lot, I've had a spare 74HCT245 lying around and soldered it into the cart - what can I say, it actually works! Finally all saves from the Saturn's internal memory stored safely on my PC.

I've done some research too, this matter has already been discussed at the SMS Power! forums - never noticed that before.
Also, there is actually another USB COMMS interface: Action Replay USB Link.

Well, it DOES have a COMMS port and it looks the same as an original Datel Pro Action Replay I had some time ago.
There are two different types of Action Replay by Datel (and copied by others):
Pro Action Replay = w/out RAM
Action Replay Plus = w/ RAM

Some more information about those carts:
Sega Saturn Cartridges
Sega Saturn RAM Compatibility
More carts (German)

 

Yeah, I have no idea how I missed that with the picture in front of me...

I haven't seen a Datel AR with RAM at all (for Saturn, PS GSP have RAM for cheat finding). ARP are all by EMS.

 

didn't know about that USB DataLink device, will have to pick one up when I can afford to

 

Yeah, the Karat does have a Comms port as you noticed. It can also be used as a memory cartridge as well as an Action Replay. The menu system all runs in the Saturn's high resolution mode as well. A very nice bit of kit.

 

my personal favorite is this cart:



http://cgi.ebay.com.hk/SEGA-SATURN-...0?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_201&hash=item2eb56f80c2

 

Nice! haven't seen that one before, it's definitely on my shopping list now

 

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My cart seems to be the biggest out of the lot. It has the same functions too. :S

 

How about this?