Saturn games incompatible w/ region converter cartridge?

[greg]

Is there a list of Japanese games that are not compatible with region converter cartridges? The first cartridge I had was an ST Key, but I ended up giving it to my ingrate brother-in-law who never uses it. I have the ARP as well as a 8meg memory cartridge that also allows imports. I now own a J-Saturn, but I keep these around for playing the few NA Saturn games I still own.

Anyhow, I recently started playing Grandia on the Saturn, and it does not like my 8meg memory cart. It won't even load up. I have plenty other J-Sat games that like that cart just fine, but for some reason, Grandia just doesn't like it. Is there a list somewhere of games that aren't compatible with such carts? I searched and couldn't find one.

[pierrot]

Is there a list of Japanese games that are not compatible with region converter cartridges? The first cartridge I had was an ST Key, but I ended up giving it to my ingrate brother-in-law who never uses it. I have the ARP as well as a 8meg memory cartridge that also allows imports. I now own a J-Saturn, but I keep these around for playing the few NA Saturn games I still own.

Anyhow, I recently started playing Grandia on the Saturn, and it does not like my 8meg memory cart. It won't even load up. I have plenty other J-Sat games that like that cart just fine, but for some reason, Grandia just doesn't like it. Is there a list somewhere of games that aren't compatible with such carts? I searched and couldn't find one.

That's strange. I have Grandia, and the AR cart, and I don't have any incompatibility issues with them. Does Grandia work on your Japanese saturn without the AR?

I'm not sure about a list of incompatible games, but I know that Azel Panzer Dragoon RPG doesn't load up correctly with the AR in it's stock state. There's an AR code that you can input and it'll work flawlessly, though. I assume there would be the same for most any other game that doesn't load up with the AR.

Out of at least 100 Japanese saturn games that I either own or have tried playing on a backup, Azel is the only one that has given me any trouble with the AR.

[Hobie-wan]

There were some older versions of the AR cart that didn't work with one of the Night Stalker/Darkstalker/Vampire Saviour games without being modified. Later version corrected it. Maybe something similar going on?

[theclaw]

Nothing beside Azel that I know of, or you'd care about. Any game that requires its own cartridge won't work of course.

Europe's few PAL optimized games may have 60hz compatibility issues.

[greg]

Does Grandia work on your Japanese saturn without the AR?

Of course it does. I just bought a Japanese game save cartridge, and Grandia works fine with it. It just doesn't like the 8meg save cartridge, though. Maybe because it bypasses something in the OS for it to work, and the Grandia is a 2 CD game? I remember somebody on here mentioned something about playing 2 CD games on an import converter cartridge, but I cannot find the message.

[Curlypaul]

I think that only applies when you change to disk 2. If the game saves before it asks you to switch it should be ok. It should boot up fine and at least play the first disk.

Maybe you have an early AR that doesn't work with this game?

[dreamcast4ever83]

I think that only applies when you change to disk 2. If the game saves before it asks you to switch it should be ok. It should boot up fine and at least play the first disk.

Maybe you have an early AR that doesn't work with this game?

WEll im at 96 hours on xenoblade and thought that I was at the end but nope still got a bit to go. Im now stuck on an annoying boss that im leveling to kick her ass

[theclaw]

Does Grandia work on your Japanese saturn without the AR?

Of course it does. I just bought a Japanese game save cartridge, and Grandia works fine with it. It just doesn't like the 8meg save cartridge, though. Maybe because it bypasses something in the OS for it to work, and the Grandia is a 2 CD game? I remember somebody on here mentioned something about playing 2 CD games on an import converter cartridge, but I cannot find the message.

If a cartridge can be saved to direct in-game, it is not an import converter. Those two actions are mutually incompatible.

[greg]

Maybe you have an early AR that doesn't work with this game?

I have an ARP. The ARP will boot with Grandia fine. I guess I wasn't clear on that. It's the 8MEG memory cart that doesn't like Grandia. After the Game Arts logo, the Grandia title screen won't show up.

WEll im at 96 hours on xenoblade and thought that I was at the end but nope still got a bit to go. Im now stuck on an annoying boss that im leveling to kick her ass

Are you even paying attention? Xenoblade in the Sega forum? Are you intentionally this annoying? Please say you are.

If a cartridge can be saved to direct in-game, it is not an import converter. Those two actions are mutually incompatible.

Nope, you're wrong. The 8MEG memory cartridge is what I was using to play imports all along when I had my North American Saturn. It would do its own bootup, and after the Saturn logo, the Sega logo appears, then the screen goes black and says "NEW 8 MEG RAM CARD V2.1 FOR SATURN 1997, then it dumps you into the OS screen, where you can select to run the game.

So I am guessing that since Grandia works fine on the ARP, I bet an ST-Key would work fine too. But for some reason, Grandia just doesn't like the 8MEG. Maybe because it is both a region bypasser and game save cart in one. I bought the 8MEG cart back when I was playing imports on a NA Saturn, and I've used it all along because it works on my white Japanese Saturn too. I keep it around for the very few domestic Saturn games I still own (that I haven't given to my friend back in the States), such as Shanghai, Albert Odyssey, and Shining the Holy Arc. The import switch works both ways, so it allows me to play US games on a JP system.

I've solved the problem by just buying a regular memory cartridge here in Japan. I was just curious if anyone had an explanation for what's going on. Apparently you guys aren't familiar with that 8MEG cartridge. It's probably some Hong Kong cart that I bought off eBay a long time ago.

[dreamcast4ever83]

Maybe you have an early AR that doesn't work with this game?

I have an ARP. The ARP will boot with Grandia fine. I guess I wasn't clear on that. It's the 8MEG memory cart that doesn't like Grandia. After the Game Arts logo, the Grandia title screen won't show up.

WEll im at 96 hours on xenoblade and thought that I was at the end but nope still got a bit to go. Im now stuck on an annoying boss that im leveling to kick her ass

Are you even paying attention? Xenoblade in the Sega forum? Are you intentionally this annoying? Please say you are.

If a cartridge can be saved to direct in-game, it is not an import converter. Those two actions are mutually incompatible.

Nope, you're wrong. The 8MEG memory cartridge is what I was using to play imports all along when I had my North American Saturn. It would do its own bootup, and after the Saturn logo, the Sega logo appears, then the screen goes black and says "NEW 8 MEG RAM CARD V2.1 FOR SATURN 1997, then it dumps you into the OS screen, where you can select to run the game.

So I am guessing that since Grandia works fine on the ARP, I bet an ST-Key would work fine too. But for some reason, Grandia just doesn't like the 8MEG. Maybe because it is both a region bypasser and game save cart in one. I bought the 8MEG cart back when I was playing imports on a NA Saturn, and I've used it all along because it works on my white Japanese Saturn too. I keep it around for the very few domestic Saturn games I still own (that I haven't given to my friend back in the States), such as Shanghai, Albert Odyssey, and Shining the Holy Arc. The import switch works both ways, so it allows me to play US games on a JP system.

I've solved the problem by just buying a regular memory cartridge here in Japan. I was just curious if anyone had an explanation for what's going on. Apparently you guys aren't familiar with that 8MEG cartridge. It's probably some Hong Kong cart that I bought off eBay a long time ago.

Wow your really nice hi to you to That post was an accident no biggie and so what it was in a sega forum. I love sega so normally post alot in here anyways just did not intend to post about xenoblade lol