Mod Your Sega Saturn to Play Imports
The Sega Saturn, along with the Nintendo Gamecube, is among the most stubborn consoles to get to play imports and burned discs. In a time when CD Burners were rare and super-expensive, Sega had some intense protection schemes that are still baffling to this day. (We still have people trying to figure out the copy protection scheme over at SegaXtreme).
Fortunately, the Saturn Mod Chip (instructions here) or the Saturn Swap Trick allows users to bypass the copy-checking routine. However, neither one keeps the consoles from rejecting import discs. Some people might not care about this, but there are a number of excellent import games that never got an US release on the Saturn such as Radiant Silvergun and the later episodes of Shining Force III.
There a few workarounds too this, however. First of all you could buy an 4-in-1/5-in-1 Action Replay cart (or similar product), but some people might not want to have to deal with it’s menus and/or it sticking out of the machine.
If you are installing a modchip or performing a swap trick to play backups, another option would be to rip the game, change the country codes with a piece of software like the Saturn Country Code Changer (or another new one) and then burn the game to a CDR. Your Saturn will then think that your import game is actually for the region of your Saturn.
If you want a great option to really make your life easier and make your Saturn the coolest/geekiest you can, take a look at the import switch mod. It will take a little bit of time and keep your hands busy, but it’s nothing super-intense.
If you have any other questions, just post in the comments section below.
57 Comments:
HI, how do I back up X-Men Children of the Atom? I tried to copy so many times and when I turn on the Saturn, it took me to where we play music cd screen.
Well in order to play backup, you need a Saturn modchip.
The Saturn cannot boot backups by itself without one.
Follow the link above if you are interested in one.
Yippeee! I finally got Radiant Silvergun to work without a modchip or action replay cart. I downloaded the ISO from the internet and then used the Region Coverter patch, changed the region to USA/CAN then burned it. I screwed open my saturn to do the swap trick. Then I tweaked the orange screw on the back of the cd laser about 1/8 of a turn clockwise. I tried the swap trick a couple times (watch the video) and it just worked!
If you don’t know what I’m talking about, all the info on how to do this is scattered around RetroGaming.
http://www.emuxhaven.net/~silver/index.htm
this site has a pretty good translation of the ingame videos and stuff. check it out.
Good luck!
hello i have been searching on the internet for how to play back-up games and import games on my sega saturn but i have a problem. I have the oval button sega saturn is there any mod chip or something for the saturn I have.
I know some people that have used my chips for the Oval buttoned Saturns, but you may want to give the Swap Trick a try.
hi there im gonna be buying 1 of these mod chips tommorow i cant wait got 100ds of iso game wat i cant play yet is it all easy to install and that the guide looks pritty streight forwards and easy getting over excited now lol
thx racketboy glad u have got modchips still
havent played my saturn for about 2 years now because games became impossible to get hold of now i used some links from racketboy and they were great well be getting 1 off u tommorow
Don’t worry about it — thanks guys!
hey racketboy u know the ram cart u are selling too the 1,4mb cart i know that u can play x-men vs street fighter and that with it but can u save games on that type of cart as well? just wonderd iver way im getting a cart the same time i get a mod-chip but just wonderd i was playing resident evil got far and forgot i couldent save lol
It won’t store game saves — only used for games that require the extra video RAM like X-Men vs Street Fighter
Thanks!
wooohoooo got me money today mum gone put some money in bank for me then im gonna get saturn modchip this afternoon thanks again racketboy
cheers just got the modchip for saturn now cant wait to get it can i just ask wen i recive the modchip do u have to were gloves or anything wen taking out of the static bag? or not
hey racketboy sorry for the confussion i payed for the saturn mod-chip this morning and then payed for the 1+4mb cart tonight because i dident have enough in bank but anyway i got both items in the end lol thanks again
hi there iv got tons of iso saturn games in my computer but wat is best speed to burn them at 8X or 16X im using cd-r 52X 700mb 80 mins cd disks i dont want to burn all the games onto disks at wrong speeds can ya help i ususally burn cd games at 8X but never done a saturn game on disk yet.. allso i downloaded some games from coolrom and i downloaded them to a file on desktop and wen i open it up with winrar ther first file 001 is the iso file are they proper games they came under roms with the snes and megadrive on coolrom.com does it mean there full games there like 400mb size wen extracted plzz help with these 2 questions allso how long does modchip and 4mb ramcart take to come usually im in uk i payed for them yesterday no rush just wondering
when you take the chip out, just make sure you don’t have any static electricity built up (touch something metal beforhand)
Extra precausions never hurt though
Both your items were sent today — you should have them in a week or so.
I usually burn at 8X to be safe
I don’t understand the ISO question though. You may want to post it in the forum as well.
can i just ask u sent my cart and modchip out today wat day should i recive it about im in uk
I sent both of them — thanks!
cheers i cant wait to get me 1,4mb cart and chip cheers for sending them out quickly hopefull should get them in couple days
hey thanks racket boy just got them today nice 1 just 1 question wat is the little swith on the front of the ram cart thats the only 1 thing i dont know wat it does everything else nice 1 cool website never thought id get a modchip these days but thanks not too bad iver only took 5 days from usa to england very well packed too allso to anybody who might think the web site is old i just got my modchip september 2006 cheers
The switch toggles between 1MB and 4MB mode. SNK uses 1MB & Capcom uses 4MB traditionally.
cheers great will be tackling putting chip in tonight lol first time ever doing this on any console ill let u know how it all goes allso iv found a great site for saturn games theres about a 120 games on it i wont put web site on yet better ask u first see if it allowed if its ok to tell website ill put it on tonight for every 1 and put some instructions how to do them off that site
right iv not put the modchip in tonight me dad had a look at it and there isent enough wire so i need to get some extra wire now!! do i need a special type of wire or can i use BURGLER ALARM wire its like the same stuff will it work??? need ur help please help!!!! if it dosent work can u tell me wat wire i need and were i can buy it iv got a store like B&Q
are u there????wat wire do i need to extend it across board?? will any wire do?…
allso if any 1 wants a real cool site for modded SATURN GAMES go to this site its wicked heres wat u do you go to search bar and type this in SEGASOLUCE and there is a site with about 120 games on it now before u run to the site read this 1.create file on desktop
2.name it the game your gonna dowload EG:rayman
3.then go to the site and download rayman part 001,002,003 and so on to the file u just created
4.extract the first file wen finished downloading the game using winrar or winzip
5.burn the iso image u just created to disk at 8X to 16X speed and play in your saturn enjoy… please help racketboy i need to know wat wire i need??
Sorry — I don’t get to answer the comments on here quite as quickly — try to use the forums for best response.
Anyway, most any wire will do.
Actually the question was just answered here:
http://www.racketboy.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1129
hey racketboy wat is that reigon thing u was talking about and wen i click the link to download the region program it says this page is no longer available help me plzz how do i get that region program have u got a working link to it???
allso does it convert games to the right region so they work in ur console
WOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO YEYYYYYYYYY MY SATURN IS MOD CHIPPED me dad did it for me and we totally fucked up at first 2 pins joined together so we unjoined them and i put a copy inside it andnow fine works great cheers
aaheres a more explained post wat i did i got my dad to open the saturn up and we put the first red wire on to the 2nd block then we soilderd the blue pin
wow wat a nightmare totall hammerd it 2 pins joined together so we scraped bits pices off tryed the saturn without the lid on lmao lol i then reliased after 40 mins of been baffled the drive door was open lol thats why the disk wouldent spin i relised after all the frigging hassle but thanks so much racketboy reel ACE 100% brilliant chip so realy after all the messing about we did it in like 15 mins but dident have the top on lol so to any 1 who dosent know how to solder be very carefull because the 14th pin solder part is hard u need a very small end for the soldering iron well thanks hope it all keeps going well for u ill keep in touch with u if i need any thing else for my saturn…dj allso 1 more question wen the laser aventually burns out over the years could u unsolder the mod chip and solder it back into a new console? because the chip would be ok wouldent it? or would u have to buy a new 1.. anyway next week i might just buy another chip off u so iv got a spare 1 have u got lots of em left?????
hi sorry for all the questions racketboy but this is an important question how long does a sega saturn console last with the modchip installed these new ps2 consoles are crap iv only had my ps2 4 month and it burned out allready some 1 told me the saturns last years is that true??
Let me put it this way. The PS1 and PS2 are basically the most unreliable consoles ever made — especially when they are modded. The Saturn, on the other hard is very tough.
i never knew that thats why me ps2 dont last 2 seconds then lol on me 3rd one by now gone to saturn now way better than a ps2 100%better games too
hi racketboy iv got all me games working fine now iv got 100ds of games of that segasoluce site now iv got tons of jap games how do i play them in my english saturn does the modchip just let it play them or do i need to use the cartride i got off u as well? please help
It would probably be easiest to patch the ISOs to the region you want
hey there iv downloaded all the region patcher i can find and they dont iven work i dont understand it i think its easier to use cartridge or if u can help it will be great here wat i did i downloaded the patcher for saturn then i used winrar to unzip it to desktop then wen i click on the program to open and use it it says this>>>>THE APPLICATION FAILED TO INITIZE PROPERLY(0XC000135) CLICK ON OK TO TERMINATE THE APPLICATION why is it doing this on every single 1 i download???? plzzzz help
o well iv got a very important question to ask u racket i got my saturn from my game shop second hand last month and installed modchip i got off u now iv read the back of my console and it says MADE IN INDONISIA and i found my very first saturn in the cuboard the other day and that says MADE IN CHINA now the INDONISIAN saturn is modded and the CHINA 1 isent modded it wont blow up or anything will it or do anything to the chip as im using it in uk because i tryed the original made in china power lead inthe INDONISIAN console and they were well diffrent size it wont matter will it it all works ok just dont want it to set on fire or any thing is it ok to use chip in an INDONISIAN saturn??? please help
now this i dont understand u said i would need to region patch the jap games so they would work in my console but last night i just burned a jap saturn game called POCKET FIGHTER and it booted up streight away in my uk saturn and i dident iven use a region patcher how come ????
my misktake u burned DUKE NUKEM 3D and MORTAL KOMBAT TRILOGY and i got a mesage saying something like this disk is not compatible on this system must be region coded ill have to try get this patcher thing working
sorry racet my mistake i need the NET V1.1 installed to make the pacher run on my comp wow very good pice of program brilliant dont awnser to the patcher question i asked i got it working nice 1 great pice of program u have racket
need some advise on why this is happening plzzz help with this question racketboy i bought the ram cart off u and wen i push it in top of me saturn its wellllll hard to push in proper tite allmost smashes pins in console wat do i do or should i ask wat is the best to do put it in a leave it in or any other way to make it fit a bit easier??? plzzzzzz help
HEY RACKETBOY WERES MY 2ND SATURN MODCHIP I ORDERD HAVE U SENT IT OUT YET IV NOT GOT IT YET BEEN AGES HPE ITS NOT LOST HAVE U SENT IT OUT AND WEN DID U SEND IT WAT DATE DID U SEND IT????
Well, you’re going to have to tell me who you are.
And email usually works best when contacting me
Hey- first of all, I bought a mod chip from you and it works great, thankyou- But i have a gameshark and it won’t work with the modchip in (it goes to the audio cd control menu screen). I was wondering if this was common and if there was a trick to getting it to work?
Never used a Gameshark and haven’t heard of this problem before.
You might want to try asking in the forums
were can i buy a 5 in 1 action replay cart.. for sega saturn
Hey it works great on my model 1 pal saturn! Just wondering, why do people say it burns out/wears out the saturn cd drive? I don’t see why it should…
The swap trick is the only thing that would really hurt the drive. Also, the CD-RW mod can hurt the laser over time.
stupid question but,how come the psx has a boot disc but the saturn doesnt?
hello @ all !
i came from germany, so my englisch is not really well.
but i want to ask where i can download duke nukem 3d as an iso for the sega saturn. i have downloaded it a few times from different wedsites but it doesent work. i have downloaded other isos too. and the other isos are still working.
is it possible that there is a special copy-(dont know the word - i mean that you cant copy it)?!?!
please give me a answer
Hey! I’m alittle new at the saturn and I was wondering if there is a cart that can allow backups/cdr burnt games on a model 1 Saturn. A friend of mine has one and i would like to know how to get one. I have tried every which way to play my burnt games and the constant failure is driving me up the walls! If anyone can give me some input, it would be very much appreciated. Thanks!
There aren’t any carts that will boot backups.
The only way to play backups is the swap trick or mod chip.
Hope that helps!
just wondering do u know where i can get one of those sega saturn modchips. i really need one.
I should have some in a few days…
Hi Racketboy:
Would a ‘Saturn ST-KEY’ qualify as a similar product to the 4-in-1/5-in-1 Action Replay cart mentioned above?
If I plug a Saturn ST-KEY into my U.S. Sega Saturn console, will it allow me to play all NTSC/J (Japanese) AND PAL (European) Sega Saturn games?
I have the exact modchip Rackeybot sells installed in my Saturn, and my PAL Saturn and its CD-drive is working perfectly - I can play my original PAL discs without problems when this modchip is installed. But, I can’t get it to boot copied discs, can’t get it to boot orig. imports… It just brings me to the music player menu instead. If I put a copied PAL disc in at this point, nothing happens. If I put a copied/orig. import disc in at this point I get an alert saying the disc is not suited for my system.
Is my modchip broken? Something tells me that the Saturn wouldn’t start up at all if the modchip was busted, or at least the CD-drive wouldn’t spin up… What am I doing wrong?
I found out how to play Cd-R imports without modifying the ISO; if you have a ST Key, wait until it goes into the Saturn BIOS screen and says loading: with a real disc…
Then, when it says Load Application, click the button and perform the swap mechanics then. It works, but the sound was a bit screwy for me playing Snatcher…
I just got the Necronomicon for the Japanese Sega Saturn and I read this article but I don’t know where to get any of the parts what should I do?
Carl, first things first, your imports won’t work anyway because the mod chip doesn’t include all regions. Second thing, what model is your sega saturn? When i say model I don’t just mean 1 or 2. If you open it up and have a look inside now i’m firing in the dark here but I’m guessing its a model 2 with round buttons? now check to see whether it is a 64pin or 32pin model 2. Do this by checking how many pins there are in the chip on the bottom left of the mid section (basically the board the cd lens is mounted on). The chip in the bottom left hand corner next to a white oblong box with 5 grey wires coming out of it will either have 64 pins or 32 pins.
If it is 64 pin (which mine is) the mod chip may not work correctly. Have you tried booting the saturn up with a copied game inside, then when it gets to the cd player screen simply opening and closing the cd lid? Try that if you haven’t because that seems to work for me.
email me tomhoneyfield@hotmail.com if you still got problems i can only help by telling you everything i know
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