What to buy to save games?

[xDerekRx]

maybe this is something for the Saturn forum. Move if so.

But Im sick of changing out my battery every 1-2 years and losing my saved games.

Whats the best option? I want to get the best mem/ram cart for under 30 i guess that I can keep all my saves and maybe still play jap games too.

[Warp2063]

http://www.ncsxshop.com/cgi-bin/shop/EMS-ARP.html

That's what I use (The Action Replay 4M Plus) and where I bought it from. With it you can back up your save files, use cheats on games (although I've never used that feature yet), it's a 1MB/4MB RAM cart for the games that need it, and it also overrides the region lockout on most games. I've only met one game so far that the region lockout override didn't work on, and that was Panzer Dragoon Saga/Azel Panzer Dragoon RPG.

Note: It's not an official Save RAM cart, and the system by itself won't recognize it as one. This means that the games that would normally give the option of saving to the cart or the internal memory will only save to the internal memory. Instead, when you boot the system up with the ARPlus in the slot, it will boot the AR's menu first. From its menu, there is a memory manager screen that you can go to, tell it what files you want to copy, and then you hit a button to finalize the move/copy. The only problem I've ever had with it is that it seems to lock up when you move a bunch of files. If you wait a minute before turning off your system (just in case, to let it finish transferring data), however, it works fine.

Official save carts are usually quite a bit more expensive, but feel free to look around; you might get lucky and find a good deal.


As for losing your save data when swapping the battery... you could always swap the battery while the system was turned on. I've heard a number of success stories using that method. While the system is on, the system's save RAM is powered by the system itself instead of the battery, so you wouldn't lose your saves.

[xDerekRx]

Thanks Warp. I might go grab that one you have. There are a couple of Jap games Im interested in playing.

I do have a GameShark though, Im not sure if that does anything as far as jap games or saves.

I dont mind having to transfer saved game data either. I guess I could just change the batter once a year to avoid problems.

[xDerekRx]

Another question Warp.

So basically I have to save a game file to the internal memory first. Then restart the system. Then copy the files from the internal memory to the Action Replay?

Also do I have to re transfer the saved game files back to the internal memory if I wanted to use them? For example if I have my saved files backed up on the cart, and my internal memory battery dies, does the game simply just look at the Action Replay cart for saved game file, or do I have to buy a new battery and transfer the files back to the internal memory to use them

[dbdrummer88]

My memory cart was about 30 or 35 when i bought it a year ago at a local retro game store, im sure you could find them on ebay in that price range if u wait/look long enough

[Warp2063]

The Saturn does not recognize the card I have as a memory card. Therefore Saturn games and the Saturn's menu cannot write to or read from the card directly. All file transfers must be done from the Action Replay's own menu when you first boot up the Saturn with the card inserted. To use a file that you've previously copied to the Action Replay, you must first copy it back into the Saturn's memory.

So, it's not ideal if you're trying to back up your files every time you play. You can, but it means rebooting your Saturn to get to the Action Replay menu, then copying the file from the Saturn to your card. I use it more as a periodic thing. If you want to save your progress to an external card every time you play, you'd be better off searching for an official save RAM cart. Be sure you research it thoroughly, as there are a lot of third party ones that work the same way as mine (you can't save directly to the card; you have to use the card's menu), and most of the cards are called RAM carts, whether they're the memory expansion cards for the few games that needed it, or actual save RAM carts. I have a second save cart that I bought off of eBay... they listed it as an official RAM cart, but it was a third-party copy with the same menu interface as my Action Replay.

[Xranger60]

The AR 4M plus mentioned on here is the one I have as well. Works for those games that need the extra memory, and the dual use of backing up saves to it makes it worth it. As Warp said, it's not really to be used for backing up your saves every time, unless you just leave it in the Saturn and have no problem booting up to the Saturn bios menu to transfer saves over to it.

[xDerekRx]

Ok, Ill just get the AR. Ill just use it for important saves like unlocked characters or long games

[xDerekRx]

You guys can probably tell me if I got a deal or not. I stumbled across a new seller selling a boxed official saturn cart for 35 BIN and bought it. Otherwise the next cheapest was 60 bin I saw

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 0303511942

Question I have now is will this one save all games to it? or do I still need to keep replacing the batter. And also will it work on 1/4gb jap games or do I need to grab Action replay still? Thanks

[Warp2063]

Good deal on the cart!

No, there were several different official carts, and each did only one thing: one cart would give you additional memory to save games on (like the cart you bought), or there were other carts that gave the system an additional 1 or 4 MB of RAM for the few games that needed them (for example, certain fighting games).

There was never an official cartridge that would allow you to play games from another region, and there was never an official cartridge that covered more than one of these purposes.

And from what I understand, the official save cartridges don't use a battery, so your data shouldn't erase over time. So anything saved to the cartridge will be fine. This won't stop your Saturn's memory/clock battery from dying, though, so anything saved to your Saturn's internal memory when the battery dies will be lost.

[Scooter]

If anyone is still looking for an Action Replay I think this guy may be willing to ship them or if not I could pick them up locally and ship them myself (assuming the buyer pays for all this!).

http://lincoln.craigslist.org/tag/1015675996.html

[xDerekRx]

Thanks Warp. I got my tax return and it was nice so Im on a mini spending spree for Saturn stuff.

Ill probably still get the action replay if I want to play Radiant Silvergun (im a big shooter fan but maybe next years tax return on that one!)

Warp I just found I actually have a GameShark Saturn. I dont know why I didnt think of it before. But I loaded it for the first time and it has the memory swap menu. But does the GAme Shark do anything else? Or maybe its useless to me now that got the cart?

[Scooter]

Thanks Warp. I got my tax return and it was nice so Im on a mini spending spree for Saturn stuff.

Ill probably still get the action replay if I want to play Radiant Silvergun (im a big shooter fan but maybe next years tax return on that one!)

Warp I just found I actually have a GameShark Saturn. I dont know why I didnt think of it before. But I loaded it for the first time and it has the memory swap menu. But does the GAme Shark do anything else? Or maybe its useless to me now that got the cart?

My Saturn Game Shark is a cheat device and a memory cart. I have game saves saved on it. I wish I could say the same about my Interact memory cart, it went belly up and took most of my prized game saves with it the little bastard. I now have an offical Sega cart.

Anyway, your Game Shark should also function as a cheat device. I would never have finished Panzer Dragoon II without it!

[Warp2063]

Warp I just found I actually have a GameShark Saturn. I dont know why I didnt think of it before. But I loaded it for the first time and it has the memory swap menu. But does the GAme Shark do anything else? Or maybe its useless to me now that got the cart?

I don't know. You'd have to plug it in and check.