SaturnDave (Sega Saturn, SHIRO!)

Hacking & Reverse Engineering Sega Saturn Games

On the latest episode of SHIRO! Editor’s Corner, we’re joined by a round table of Saturn Community Game Hackers, including TrekkiesUnite118, Derek Pascarella (ATEAM), Malenko & Bo Bayles! In this episode, we dive into the topic of hacking, patching and even reverse engineering Sega Saturn games. YouTube: PodBean Audio: https://segasaturnshiro.podbean.com/e/ec_ep26/

Danthrax (Sega Saturn SHIRO!)

Hidden Palace Releases Prototypes of Unreleased Saturn Port of Hard Boiled

Another unreleased Saturn game made its way into the public’s hands when Hidden Palace released three prototypes of Hard Boiled on its website Saturday. The prototypes are from June, July and August 1997 and were provided to Hidden Palace by the game’s programmer, David “Pipozor” Saulnier. Hard Boiled is a futuristic rail shooter somewhat in […]

Danthrax (Sega Saturn SHIRO!)

Radiant Silvergun, Cotton 2 See Improvements in MiSTer Saturn Core

A bevy of updates to the Saturn core of the MiSTer FPGA have targeted problems with specific games’ graphics. One prominent one that was fixed recently was Cotton 2, whose VDP2-drawn backgrounds were reported in January as having problems. “I’ve seen that srg320 is working quite intensively on the VDP2 these last days,” said Kubo, […]

SaturnDave (Sega Saturn, SHIRO!)

NEW SAROO Firmware V0.5 Brings BIG Changes

On May 15, 2024, TPUnix released new firmware update V0.5 for the SAROO Sega Saturn Flashcart, bringing some much needed features and improvements. Firm V0.5 Changes Finally, the stock firmware has alphabetical auto-sort, which comes as a huge relief, as the lack of this feature was the primary reason that many folks have gone with […]

Danthrax (Sega Saturn SHIRO!)

Four-Player Mode Found Hidden in High Velocity: Mountain Racing Challenge

High Velocity: Mountain Racing Challenge, an early Saturn exclusive that shipped with a two-player mode, could have let even more people in on the fun if developer Cave enabled a four-player option that was hidden in the code until now. The four-player mode was unearthed by — who else? — Bo Bayles, who’s been probing […]

SaturnDave (Sega Saturn, SHIRO!)

Should You Buy a SAROO Saturn Flash Cart?

The SAROO (SEGA Saturn flash cart) project by TPUinx has been building steam over the past year since our initial coverage, and many folks have picked one up to see what all the fuss is about. From the project’s initial conception a decade ago to its dormancy and revitalization, it finally came to market last […]

Danthrax (Sega Saturn SHIRO!)

New Fan Book ‘Unofficial Saturn Collection’ Available Now

Looking for some light reading material about your favorite 32-bit console? A new fan-made coffee table book has you covered. “The Unofficial Sega Saturn Collection” is a 290-page paperback that released on Amazon earlier this month. It features large color screenshots of some of the games in the Saturn’s library along with writeups about each […]

Danthrax (Sega Saturn SHIRO!)

MiSTer Main Branch Update for Saturn Core Fixes Gouraud Shading

The Saturn core for the MiSTer FPGA hit a milestone late last month when it committed the last several months of “unstable nightly” updates to the MiSTer’s main branch. The March 23 update was the first one to the core’s main branch since it was first added there in October. When a core’s update is […]

TraynoCo (Sega Saturn, SHIRO!)

Saturn Patch Unlocks Hidden Bonus Stages in Bomberman Fight!!

Saturn hacker Bo Bayles, behind such projects as the NiGHTS into Dreams Retro-Bit Controller fix, and finding the playable Dolphin in Burning Rangers, released a patch last week that unlocks the three hidden bonus stages in battle mode for Bomberman Fight!!: Saturn Bomberman Fight!! has three bonus stages that can be unlocked in Battle mode, […]

SaturnDave (Sega Saturn, SHIRO!)

Artemio Urbina’s 240p Test Suite Finally Hits Saturn!

After years of waiting, we finally have Artemio’s 240p Test Suite now on SEGA Saturn care of hitomi2500, who’s ported it as their submission to SegaXtreme‘s annual Saturn homebrew game competition! According to hitomi, however, this port of the Suite is [currently] a work in progress, and calibration results based on this port could be […]