Emulation Guide #8 - Sega Saturn using the MEDNAFEN emulator
Launched in Japan in 1994, and the rest of the world in 1995, the Sega Saturn represent the turn in fortunes for Sega's home console releases. Initially successful on it's Japanese release it was soon outgunned by the Nintendo 64 and Sony's PlayStation and failed to gain significant sales in North America and Europe.
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Although the Saturn is remembered for several well regarded games, including the Panzer Dragoon and Virtua Fighter series, its reputation is mixed due to its complex hardware design and limited third-party support.
If you have a low powered machine then you might want to consider using the Yabause emulator, but for the best emulation results MEDNAFEN is the way to go. MEDNAFEN can emulate a number of consoles released through to the mid 1990s, but for many of those consoles there are better, more use friendly, emulators. But for Sega Saturn MEDNAFEN should still be your first choice Link to the website is below.
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MEDNAFEN website: https://mednafen.github.io/releases/
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Although there is no GUI it is still pretty simple to install and emulate games, simply pulling the ".cue" file from the game folder on to the "mednafen.exe" and away you go.
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You will obviously need some games, and there is a link below to Internet Archive which has the majority of the Roms for the Sega Saturn stored in their extensive vaults. I can't vouch for all of the ROMS as I have not tested them all - but the Internet Archive generally provides a good source for ROMS. If you do have issues then consider having a look at my wider games hunting advice - https://www.beanzontech.com/emulation-games-hunting.
There is also a link to two BIOS pages in order to gather the Japan, US and Europe BIOS files (mpr-17933.bin; sega_100a.bin and sega_101.bin - make sure you rename your BIOS files to these names in order for MEDNAFEN to find them).
Points to note:
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Click on the mednafen.exe file once you have unzipped the download in order for the setup process to be undertaken - this will only create some additional folders in the emulator folder.
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Your BIOS files need to be copied and pasted in to the MEDNAFEN folder that contains the mednefen.exe file.
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Once you have started your first game press "Ctrl Shift 1" in order to cycle through the controller options, "3dpad" is the one you want for an X-input controller, Keyboard and mouse are other options best used for some games. The number inidicates what players controller you are selecting, so "2" for player 2 etc.
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Again, once in a loaded game you can configure your controller by pressing "Alt Shift 1" and you will see a prompt displayed at the bottom of the screen, press each key twice as prompted.
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"Alt Enter" (or Return...) enters full screen mode. Games are exited by pressing the Esc key.
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I ran through a couple of config file (mednfaen.cfg) amendments in the video:
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for Widescreen output change "ss.stretch aspect_mult2" to "ss.stretch full"
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to enable the full cache of CD images change in your system memory change "cd.image_memcache" from "0" to "1"
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As we demonstrated in the video you can scroll through controller options by pressing "Ctrl Shift 1" in any game - thus allowing you to select a mouse for Virtua Cop 2. If you set a "mode" button on your controller during the configuration (I use the select button) this can be used to achieve the same result.
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As ever emulation is just that, emulation - there will be the occasional glitch, crash and non compatible game, that's just par for the course in this area of gaming. But this is well worth having a look at.
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Hope you enjoy the video and take a look at the much maligned Sega Saturn!
Until the next one - Go Well!
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Archive.org links:
BIOS:
Roms:
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