New Saturn Development?

[retrogod]

Hi All,

I am now new again to the Sega Saturn scene as I had lost interest in 2003 due the lack of activity on most of the Saturn sites (I see that www.sega-saturn.com has now closed) and I have only just recently started searching again.

Im glad I stumbled upon this site! Finally, a place were there are active Saturn users Its quite hard finding new Saturn groups now and most other sites are unsurprisingly out of date and not active anymore

My question is does anybody know of any new Saturn development projects? As everybody knows on this site the best way to experience the Saturn is by owning the actual console itself; Saturn console emulation is only for the casual or nostalgic gamer who has no specific interest in supporting the 'real' scene so with this in mind has the community got anything planned to keep the console fresh and alive? Hardware or software projects?

If not then maybe we all should have a discussion about this, throw a few ideas around and see if we can come up with something interesting Im sure many of you are aware of the healthy Atari Jaguar scene with a number of pro-active developers out there producing new titles for the system. A fine example of this is a company called Songbird (http://www.songbird-productions.com/projects.shtml) which releases original and remake titles on cartridge with full packaging! If there isn't anything already out there like this for the Saturn then I'm sure we all could get something started After all, the Saturn is a great console and shouldn't be confined to the emulator scene.

Lets make sure that the Saturn scene never grows stagnant again, lets get this discussion going!

[grolt]

That would be amazing to see new Saturn releases with full on packaging and the like (it would certainly be easier burning a CD than a cartridge). Does anyone out there do that sort of thing? There has been a few developer kits sold on eBay for the Saturn as of late, so I am sure with some searching a prospective developer could certainly find one. That news about the Jaguar (of all systems!) is really unique, that would be a blast to see happen on the Saturn. Welcome to the site, retro!

[Nightmare a la DC]

Welcome to the site!
Wow, Jaguar has a big homebrew/independent game scene? the more you know I guess. I would love to see developers take a crack at making some new Saturn titles, but it's probably still a bit of a ways off, at least until someone can crack the Saturn's code significantly, and then we could see some beautiful 2D or even 3D titles.

[retrogod]

Hi All,

Thanks for the warm welcome

I'm glad a few of you are interested in the idea of pushing the platform further in a more exciting direction It makes me happy to see such optimism for the preservation of the Saturn

Nothing is impossible really and with some prods in the right circle I believe we could find a handful of developers that are willing to lend their services to such a project. I have searched the Internet and have found a group of individuals that have actually coded simple demos and games for the Saturn last year! As for Developer Kits, I think they used a little help from PC's/Mac's etc. so that is good to hear as the issue of scarce hardware will not be an obstacle. You should all take a look at this site and see what you think, the demos aren't amazing but a great start: http://sega-saturn.dcemu.co.uk/ Look for the sub heading: Impressive: the contest entries are out - February 3rd, 2007
There are even videos of the rolling demos on YouTube! Check it out here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0SKRL9DAxE

This is proof that the Saturn's hardware is awkward but not impossible to work with! I think we all may see a complete working title for the console if we really get things organized.

I'm sure many of us on this forum are quite imaginative What kind of software projects would you like to see materialize? From the top of my head I would like to see:

- An updated Web Browser similar to the Dreamcast that would allow the user to fully access the Internet with no problems.

- An adapter to allow for PC USB Keyboards and Mice to be used with the Sega Saturn.

- All scrapped Sega projects like Sonic Xtreme, Virtua Fighter 3, Clockwork Knight 3 and Shenmue to be allowed by Sega to be completed or restored.

If you are interested there is a specialized forum to discuss the creation of Sonic X-Treme by a former employee of the Sega Technical Institute at http://www.gamesetwatch.com/2006/01/unr ... develo.php

[grolt]

Great ideas, retro, and thanks for all those links. I'll check them out when I get a little more time here. As for canned games - I had no idea Clockwork Knight 3 was in development. Maybe I was out of the loop...how far into development was that game?

[Nightmare a la DC]

Well, I doubt this would work but I would like to see someone try to rework a Netlink into an Ethernet Adapter. For games, I would want to see if some 2D fighters from the Dreamcast could run on a Saturn; stuff like MvC1+2, Guilty Gear X, Street Fighter 3 games and maybe even SFA3 (Since the Jpn version is difficult to find and very expensive).

[Overwatch]

I would like to see games reworked into working with the Ethernet Netlink (Nightmare a la DC).

[Nightmare a la DC]

That would be sweet, then maybe there could be a way to the same with the Japanese online games.

[grolt]

At the very least it would be nice if the NetLink could hook up to the PC in the same way that the DC can, for surfing the net and such. That would be a lot of engineering to make it compatible with games though, since the games work on a direct connect concept. Still, I concur with everyone else, that would be sweet to see!

[retrogod]

Hi Grolt

Here is the link to Clockwork Knight 3 on youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkuFHiSKe7U

I wonder what happens to these unreleased games? Do Sega archive them and could you contact Sega about licensing and purchasing of these titles? It would be cool to obtain this kind of stuff and sell it to the Saturn community wouldn't it?

[grolt]

Wow, that video is a great find! After having just played through the two Clockwork's again, that video had me really excited. Bomberman? Sure, but they did a great job of integrating that playing style into the world of Clockwork Knight. Too bad it never made it out, it looked very fun.

Here's another cool video I hadn't seen before, a demo for the Saturn with my main man Ecco:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gz_bIAKLpI8

[ImportBoy]

I wonder what happens to these unreleased games? Do Sega archive them and could you contact Sega about licensing and purchasing of these titles? It would be cool to obtain this kind of stuff and sell it to the Saturn community wouldn't it?

If they were first or second party games then probably they are stored in Sega's archives somewhere. Unfortuntly, you'd probably have to offer a seven figure number to get Sega to even consider selling or liscening the rights out. Better chance that some developer or programmer has code or binaries sitting around at home and releases them anoyomously onto the net.

- An updated Web Browser similar to the Dreamcast that would allow the user to fully access the Internet with no problems

Unfortuntly, I think the Saturn's measly 2MB of RAM would be the biggest obstacle to creating a fully functional modern browser. Since the modem goes into the cartridge port the browser wouldn't be able to make use of the 1/4MB RAM expansion carts.

Even the Nintendo DS needed a RAM expansion cartridge on top of its existing 4MB to use the Opera Browser. I think the expansion added an extra 4 or 6MB.

Well, I doubt this would work but I would like to see someone try to rework a Netlink into an Ethernet Adapter.

You could probably attach the Netlink Modem to a PC modem, then foward the data over a broadband connection. This has been done with the Dreamcast's 56k modem. With some programming skill, you could probably write a program to handle data transfer between Netlink games - and with a little more mabey emulate the SegaNet match making service.

[Nightmare a la DC]

I would imagine someone somewhere is experimenting with a setup much like the PC-DC server, only with a Saturn; I doubt any of the Netlink games support any kind of blind dial, but that would just mean you have to swap phone cords during the connection.

[retrogod]

Hey here is a completed but unreleased game for the Saturn if nobody has seen it posted

http://saturnleague.com/board/viewtopic.php?t=304

I wonder how many other games were scrapped at the end of the Saturn's life?

[retrogod]

Hey I have found a site that offers a development tools to create games!

http://www.rockin-b.de/windows-saturnorbit.html