Sega Saturn

From vgmrips
Sega Saturn
The grey Saturn, the first ever Saturn model produced.
Manufacturer(s) Worldwide release Sega

South Korea Samsung

Brazil Tec Toy

Release Date(s) Japan 1994-11-28

United States of America 1995-05-11

Canada 1995-04-27

Europe / Australia 1995-07-08

South Korea 1995-10-20

Brazil 1995-05-09

China 1997-07-03

CPU(s) 2xHitachi SH-2, Motorola 68EC000 (sound)
Sound chip(s) Saturn Custom Sound Processor (SCSP, also known as Yamaha YMF292), CD-DA
Music section N / A


Sega Saturn Sega Saturn (ja:セガサターン, also known on South Korea as Samsung Saturn, ko:삼성 새턴) is a dual 32-bit video game made by Sega. It was released in 1994 in Japan and 1995 in the rest of the world. The system started the Fifth Generation of video games, more known for their concurrents, Sony PlayStation and Nintendo 64. Unfortunately, the Sega Saturn didn't reach high market in the world, due to booming sales of the PlayStation. But the system is known for their vaste of 2D games in Japan, and in the world... for Sonic R.

Launch titles Japan

  • Mahjong Goku Tenjiku
  • Myst
  • Tama: Adventurous Ball in Giddy Labyrinth
  • Virtua Fighter
  • WanChai Connection

Sound

The Saturn can play music four types of music: Sequenced, Streamed, MIDI and the CD Audio. The sequenced musics are the ones that makes uses of SCSP. It has 32 channels, and can play music in PCM, FM and MIDI formats. Games that use sequenced music are Sega Titan Video and the Sonic World counterpart of Sonic Jam use sequenced musics. The streamed are musics just like a WAV/MP3/OGG file, but with a proprietary format, such as ADX. Some streamed music have loops, others don't. MIDI music is sequenced, but with pre-defined instruments, and are played by just in their original form, depending of the player / hardware. The CD Audio is just the music that can be played on any CD Player. Games such as Sonic 3D Blast and Sonic R have their soundtracks in the CDDA format, as well their PC counterparts (but not the Steam version Sonic 3D Blast, as it is the Sega Mega Drive version).

VGM Scene

You can log Saturn SEQUENCED musics into VGM in MESS (or MAME in newer versions), as it is just the only Saturn emulator capable of this. The emulation of SCSP is very buggy, so, it is disabled.

Another music format (and more older) for the Saturn based on the PlayStation Sound Format (PSF) exists: Saturn Sound Format (SSF) (do not confuse it with the emulator of the same name). It shares many characteristics with the PSF, but only play sequenced musics.

There are no VGM players for the Saturn, but you can use dedicated VGM players for consoles which already have emulators for Saturn, such as SMS VGM Player (SMS Plus).

External links