Sega Saturn/Dreamcast: backwards compatibility :S

[brendanraymond]

so I have a megadrive that I can play SMS games on, and ofcourse the same system can play megaCD and 32x games too... which ofcourse is pure awsome

but the next gen, ie the saturn as far as I know cant do anything of the sort... however, I just played sonic JAM last night, and noticed a few differences. The res seemed to be higher and the sound seemed slightly different + filled with more bass~trebble. perhaps difference between the sound processing chips :S

but anyways... does anyone know if these games can be ported to the system?

there must be somone who knows how to write games/programs for the system right?

I know the DC has emulators for the older games too, which is pretty awesome... surely the saturn can do something similar right? or would it be too difficult due to the dual gfx processor chips rubbish ???

[Ziggy]

I don't think anybody would be remotely close to be willing to port a game onto the Saturn. The Saturn is suppose to be impossible to program for, one of the reasons it failed.

The DC is strong enough to run emulators for older consoles, yes, but don't expect to ever see any emulators for the Saturn. I would be shocked to find out some one was coding/porting an emulator for the Saturn. It just wont happen. Not just because it's hard to program for, but also because it's weaker than the DC.

But what you said about Sonic Jam, Wiki says...

Code: Select all

The games were not simply direct emulations like in later compilations, but rather elaborate ports to utilize the Saturn hardware.

So apparently Sega ported the games onto the Saturn, so I guess this is why there's some minor visual and audible differences.

edit: I just realized you're talking about three completely different things lol. The title of the thread says backwards compatibility while the thread mentions porting and emulating games. They are three very different things, so I'm not sure what exactly you're asking now.

You say your Genesis can play SMS games (backwards compatibility) obviously via an adapter. Are you asking if an adapter could be made to play Genesis games on the Saturn? Then you talk about Sonic Jams, which the included games were (apparently) actually ported to the Saturn. And then you talk about emulators on consoles, which is something else entirely.

Did you mean to talk about three different ideas?... I'm just confused what you meant.

[brendanraymond]

well, im planning on getting a dreamcast oneday anyway...

but it would be cool if they kept backwards compatability throughout segas console life cycle.

so can the DC emulate segaCD games too? Whats the game play like?

[Ziggy]

I never messed around with emulators on the DC other than a NES emulator, which was very good. See here...

http://www.zophar.net/consoles/dreamcast.html

I'm not sure how up to date that list is, by the way.

Usually when you find an emulator for download, the compatibility will be talked about some where. I can't imagine the Sega CD emulation on DC to be bad, but I've never checked it out so I don't know.

[brendanraymond]

"Saturn Annual Talentuous Unofficial Retro Niche Contest"


http://segaxtreme.net/community/topic/1 ... n-contest/

I'm not pro enough to compete... but I would love to see what black magic they could perform

[eSPy]

here are some emulators that have been released for the Saturn and dreamcast. for obvious reasons, lots more emulators for dreamcast and they are of a much higher quality.

Saturn - http://www.emuwiki.com/index.php?title= ... ega_Saturn
Dreamcast - http://www.emuwiki.com/index.php?title= ... _Dreamcast

32x - http://www.emuwiki.com/index.php?title= ... n_Sega_32X

[softwhere]

32x - http://www.emuwiki.com/index.php?title= ... n_Sega_32X

That has to be the weirdest thing I have ever seen... why would someone do that?!

[gtmtnbiker]

I'm trying to remember what other companies did for backward compatibility. It seems that Sony is the strongest one in this area.

PS2 - can play PS1
PS3 - can play PS1 & PS2 (some consoles have hardware PS2 compat)

XBOX360 - can play some xbox titles (not very good?)

Wii - can play GC games
GC - cannot play older games other than GBA/GB/GC via the GB Player
N64 - can't play other consoles
SNES - can't play NES, can play GB/GBC via Super Gameboy

So it seems that Sony is the best in the backward compatibility department.

[Weekend_Warrior]

I used to often wonder why Sega put a cartridge slot in the Saturn but that it couldn't be used to play Genesis or 32X games.

Backwards compatibility would have been a very smart marketing feature on the Saturn, if you ask me.

[noiseredux]

GC - cannot play older games other than GBA/GB/GC via the GB Player

you say that like it's no big deal.