Retro Core Revival

[Yakumo]

Time for a new hardware review and it's a nice one this week.

[Yakumo]

The Satinator, ODE for the Saturn is now available to the public.
Full Review and unboxing.

[Jaz]

The Satinator, ODE for the Saturn is now available to the public.
Full Review and unboxing.

Awesome stuff. Do you know which country it ships from? How long did it take to reach you in Japan?

[Asura]

The Satinator, ODE for the Saturn is now available to the public.
Full Review and unboxing.

Oh wow! I've been watching these for a while, but stayed away due to having to disassemble the disc drive for the mod - but for one that just goes in the expansion slot, I might finally pull the trigger.

Does it work with any Saturn, or just certain models? And do you have a link to where you can buy it? I assume it'd have to be an NTSC Saturn though; I'll need to work out what I'd do regarding the power supply and video output.

[Yakumo]

Awesome stuff. Do you know which country it ships from? How long did it take to reach you in Japan?

Mine was shipped from the US. Got here in 4 days once it was shipped.

[Yakumo]

Oh wow! I've been watching these for a while, but stayed away due to having to disassemble the disc drive for the mod - but for one that just goes in the expansion slot, I might finally pull the trigger.

Does it work with any Saturn, or just certain models? And do you have a link to where you can buy it? I assume it'd have to be an NTSC Saturn though; I'll need to work out what I'd do regarding the power supply and video output.

Works on any Saturn and runs any Saturn game on any system. It can be bought from Satiator.net

[Asura]

Works on any Saturn and runs any Saturn game on any system. It can be bought from Satiator.net

This might seem a daft question, but is it multi-region? Like if you put it in a UK Saturn, will it run a Japanese game?

[Yakumo]

Yep. You can run any game on any Saturn. Works wit all cartridges too from RAM to ROM and Action Replay.

[samanosuke]

I assume it'd have to be an NTSC Saturn though; I'll need to work out what I'd do regarding the power supply and video output.

Mate, if there was an award for most hardcore retro gamer, you’d be up for nomination. I didn’t think there was anyone still rocking a TV that can’t do 60Hz!

[Asura]

Mate, if there was an award for most hardcore retro gamer, you’d be up for nomination. I didn’t think there was anyone still rocking a TV that can’t do 60Hz!

The problem isn't the TV, it's the Saturn itself. I always thought that Saturns were 50/60hz at a hardware level, so you actually had to physically mod a PAL unit to run at 60hz.

[speedlolita]

Could be wrong but I assume it'll still be 50Hz on a PAL Saturn.

[chipsgravy]

Yea, sadly the Saturn 50/60hz is a hardware switch based mod. I bought a Fenrir to install last Black Friday sales as I have 2 Model 1 pal Saturns. 1 fitted with a 50/60hz switch and one without. Unfortunately when I opened the one that had the 50/60hz mod it had a 21 pin CD drive and I had to install it in the stock pal machine. It will play all region games but all NTSC games run at 50hz. This causes issues with a few games, Street Fighter Zero 3 being one, where the graphics can glitch out in the intro. Although in game seems fine. I have loaded it with pal games when they are available but as we all know they have their own issues even or especially when optimised.

I would love a satiator but the cost of the device is prohibitive especially if I get stung with import tax on delivery. For this reason I have installed Retroarch on my Xbox Series S and only really use that as a Sega Saturn with a brooke wingman adaptor and a retro bit wireless Saturn Control Pad.

[Yakumo]

A week or so back I reviewed the PowKiddy X20 which was a fairly good system. Today we have the PowKiddy X21. Bigger screen, bigger unit but does it have bigger power?

[Yakumo]

A bit of a mix this time with Hardware Review mixed with Life in Japan.

[Asura]

A week or so back I reviewed the PowKiddy X20 which was a fairly good system. Today we have the PowKiddy X21. Bigger screen, bigger unit but does it have bigger power?

I don't know why some of these manufacturers have an obsession with putting the analog stick there, on the left side.

I've got to assume that it's because they want to sell the devices to a mass-market that barely knows what they are, and it's more plausible when they photoshop an Xbox One game screenshot on the screen on AliExpress; but it totally kills any interest I have in such a machine.