- Joined
- Apr 19, 2019
- Highlight
- #1
So ever since the dreamcast died nearly 19 years ago Sega went through a long period of decline. But within the last two console generations they've picked up steam again and have been purchasing studios and acquiring IPs and from a financial standpoint have kind of gotten back to where they once were back when they were producing home consoles (they still produce arcade hardware to this day).
So anyways since it's getting close to January they usually start sending out their first customer survey of the year. These surveys are actually very important because sega will use them to make business decisions within the year. The last survey they sent out was about retro game emulation. Following that survey things like their separation with AtGames happened, the announcement of official Saturn Emulation, and stuff like the release of the Genesis Classic made without AtGames involvement as well as a slew of officially branded sega controller for both genesis and Saturn that were made for the original systems and versions for PC.
The first Saturn announcement out of the gate was the Panzer Dragoon remaster
This is kind of a big deal since saturn emulation has notoriously been a pain in the ass. However the remaster is bringing things into modern software much like the Crash and Spyro remasters. You don't necessarily need the OG game code and can reverse engineer shit, Another example is Corpse Killer a title that required the use of the 32X and Sega CD has been consolidated and brought to a modern hardware format.
And the one thing about the early CD consoles was that they had notoriously bad protection. The Sega CD can read burned CDRs right out of the box with no modifications.
The Saturn was not quite as bad, but any Saturn collector will tell you, the action replay is pretty much a requirement to own the system in order for it to function. The Saturn had a cell battery that ran it's internal memory and when that battery died you lost your saves. So the action replay was the Saturn memory expansion + a flash memory storage device to save your data to(as well as acting as a cheat code device).
However the action replay had a less than documented ability, it is able to be used as a boot device. Well this allows you to play burned CDRs from any region and have them play on any saturn. You need to flash the device with the Pseudo Saturn. You lost the ability to use Action Replay features but gained the ability to play burned saturn games on original hardware. Suddenly a 10 dollar stack of CDRs can be turned into a bunch of 400 dollar games
www.youtube.com
This is apparently what sega has used itself to start making official in house saturn emulation. No game is really lost media this way, you can rip assets, record footage, and pretty much build shit from scratch if needed. So it's expected that games like Panzer Dragoon Saga will eventually find themselves on modern hardware
The survey is expected around the time Sakura Wars releases. Sakura wars was a game that a couple surveys ago asked multiple questions about the series before they made the announcement about the new game. Supposedly the upcoming Survey has many questions about Sega RPGs, possibly RPGs that only had one installment and were never ported to consoles outside of the Dreamcast's generation(which would be Xbox, PS2, and Gamecube). It's also a big deal that Sakura Wars is getting a release in the west which didn't happen for the majority of the series back when they originally released. America only got the last Sakura Wars game, but because of the survey they saw enough interest in the series from western audiences.
So anyways since it's getting close to January they usually start sending out their first customer survey of the year. These surveys are actually very important because sega will use them to make business decisions within the year. The last survey they sent out was about retro game emulation. Following that survey things like their separation with AtGames happened, the announcement of official Saturn Emulation, and stuff like the release of the Genesis Classic made without AtGames involvement as well as a slew of officially branded sega controller for both genesis and Saturn that were made for the original systems and versions for PC.
The first Saturn announcement out of the gate was the Panzer Dragoon remaster
This is kind of a big deal since saturn emulation has notoriously been a pain in the ass. However the remaster is bringing things into modern software much like the Crash and Spyro remasters. You don't necessarily need the OG game code and can reverse engineer shit, Another example is Corpse Killer a title that required the use of the 32X and Sega CD has been consolidated and brought to a modern hardware format.
And the one thing about the early CD consoles was that they had notoriously bad protection. The Sega CD can read burned CDRs right out of the box with no modifications.
The Saturn was not quite as bad, but any Saturn collector will tell you, the action replay is pretty much a requirement to own the system in order for it to function. The Saturn had a cell battery that ran it's internal memory and when that battery died you lost your saves. So the action replay was the Saturn memory expansion + a flash memory storage device to save your data to(as well as acting as a cheat code device).
However the action replay had a less than documented ability, it is able to be used as a boot device. Well this allows you to play burned CDRs from any region and have them play on any saturn. You need to flash the device with the Pseudo Saturn. You lost the ability to use Action Replay features but gained the ability to play burned saturn games on original hardware. Suddenly a 10 dollar stack of CDRs can be turned into a bunch of 400 dollar games
How to Play Panzer Dragoon Saga CHEAP! (NOT Emulation)
Wanna play one of the best games on the Sega Saturn? Well this tutorial will show you how! You'll Need the following -5 Blank CD-Rs -Phillips head screwdrive...
www.youtube.com
This is apparently what sega has used itself to start making official in house saturn emulation. No game is really lost media this way, you can rip assets, record footage, and pretty much build shit from scratch if needed. So it's expected that games like Panzer Dragoon Saga will eventually find themselves on modern hardware
The survey is expected around the time Sakura Wars releases. Sakura wars was a game that a couple surveys ago asked multiple questions about the series before they made the announcement about the new game. Supposedly the upcoming Survey has many questions about Sega RPGs, possibly RPGs that only had one installment and were never ported to consoles outside of the Dreamcast's generation(which would be Xbox, PS2, and Gamecube). It's also a big deal that Sakura Wars is getting a release in the west which didn't happen for the majority of the series back when they originally released. America only got the last Sakura Wars game, but because of the survey they saw enough interest in the series from western audiences.
