Sega Saturn modchip worth it???

[jay_red]

I just got my modchip from racketboy a couple weeks ago and couldnt be happier. I have had a saturn for a couple of years, but only had some so so games, nothing from its gems (well I did have Tempest 2000 which was awesome) and sometimes, no matter how good a game may be, you cant drop 100+ (Radiant Silver gun) or 250+ (Panzer Dragoon Saga) so the modchip is a god send to us who just want to experience awesome games, and not pay the ebay premium. Using the Saturn Region Patcher tool mentioned is awesome too, no worry about having an action replay or anything, just patch it, burn, and play. Also, the Racketboy modchip was cake to install, literally took me like 10 minutes from start to finish.

[theclaw]

Lastly, does this modchip keep you from having to do that annoying disc swap? I can just pop in any backup I want and it will boot as if it was an original game? I have an Action Replay Plus cartridge which from what I understand allows multi-region games to play. Do I still need that cartridge once the modchip is installed? Sorry for all the questions guys, but the Saturn consoles are the only systems I haven't learned all the repair and usage techniques about yet. Any help or suggestions would be appreciated! Thanks guys.

No disc swap. You still need that cartridge for legitimate imports, or unpatched backups.

Same as Action Replay, or the region free BIOS, a modchip will not change video display mode.
In your case PAL games get forced into NTSC.

[synbiosfan]

It is well worth it. Not only to play some of the more rare/costly titles but you'll be able to check out the various betas & unreleased games that have emerged.

When you say "unreleased" games or betas, are you referring to the different homebrew titles that people make or re-make of other games? Kinda like the stuff for Dreamcast they have that's on DCisozone? How, or where would games surface that came from credited developers for a console thats 20 yrs old??

No, like the unreleased Saturn version of Return Fire & the North American version of Deep Fear. And yes there are collectors and/or developers holding onto unreleased games over 20 yrs old.

Waterworld is still out there.

[theclaw]

I'm starting to lean toward potentially not recommending it. The risks of failed installs concern me.

Besides I for one would rather play import originals without a swap. As my PS2 and DC allow.

[KalessinDB]

I say worth it. I have my Saturn mod chipped and region free bios'd. Plays anything I throw at it (to be fair, I haven't experimented with how PAL releases work being forced into NTSC - there's just so little that was European-only that I want to play). I like it that way - the cost for the region free bios install wasn't really significantly higher than the Action Replay would've cost me, and I've heard horror stories about the AR boards being thicker than a normal Saturn cartridge and screwing with the cart slot. I want my memory cart to still be useful after all.

About the last mod I have to do to make my Saturn into really the ultimate Saturn that I can think of is an S-Video mod. It's on the list. Lots of stuff needs video mods.

[Macgyver]

So I took most of yours advice and bought the modchip last monday.. Got it in the mail yesterday and installed it in just a couple of mins. I'm VERY satisfied with it! It plays all my backups perfectly on the first boot! Just a few thoughts on this chip tho. First off, the damn thing is THIN and WILL snap in half.. You must be extremely careful and make sure you apply equal LIGHT amounts of pressure on both sides when pushing it down into your cd lens slot... Secondly, if you have the Model 2 Sanyo, it's a bit more work because you have to cut out a piece of the casing for the chip to fit.. The system I bought the chip for ended up being the Sanyo board (of course), so instead I pulled down another Model 2 I had with an easier process of installing..I didn't realize until doing this project that the Model 2 had 3 different system board types... I soldered the power to the 5v as the instructions say, and then the signal cable soldered to point "B" on the modchip. Taped everything down and put it all back together and BAM! I'm playing all my backups. Very pleased! Thank you RacketBoy! Nice chip! I also bought the security bit for opening Nintendos and Segas, very pleased with that as well!