Editing Sega Saturn emulators

|type = [[:Category:Consoles|Home video game console]]

|predecessor = [[Sega Genesis emulators|Genesis / Mega Drive]]

The '''[[wikipedia:Sega_Saturn|Sega Saturn]]''' is a 32-bit, fifth-generation console released by [[wikipedia:Sega|Sega]] in Japan on November 22, 1994 and in the US on May 11, 1995. It was retailed for <abbr title="$660.73 in 2018 money">$399</abbr>. It had 2 Hitachi SH-2 CPUs at 28.6 MHz and it had the VDP1 GPU & VDP2 GPU. The arcade board, '''[https://segaretro.org/Sega_Titan_Video ST-V (Sega Titan Video)]''', uses the same hardware except for sound, VRAM, and game storage (where it is stored on ROM cartridges instead of CD-ROM discs).

The Sega Saturn has historically been one of the harder consoles to emulate, resulting in a lack of good options. However, things are looking up for open-source emulators like Mednafen, and to a lesser extent, Yabause.

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"

! scope="col"|Operating System(s)

! scope="col"|ST-V

! scope="col"|[[libretro|Libretro Core]]

! scope="col"|[[Recommended Emulators|Recommended]]

! colspan="7"|PC

|[[Mednafen]]

|Multi-platform

|[{{MednafenURL|releases/}} {{MednafenVer}}]

|{{~}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✓}}

|[[SSF]]

|Windows

|[http://aaaaaaaa.g2.xrea.com/ssf/files/SSF_PreviewVer_R6.zip PreviewVer R6 (01/08/2019)]

|{{✓}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✓}}

|[https://github.com/FCare/yabause Kronos]

|Multi-platform

|[http://www.emutalk.net/forums/56-Sega-Saturn-Emulation 1.7.0]

|{{✓}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✓}}

|[https://github.com/devmiyax/yabause YabaSanshiro]

|[http://www.uoyabause.org/static_pages/download 2.5.0]

|{{~}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✓}} ||{{~}}

|[[Yabause]]

|Multi-platform

|[http://yabause.org/download/ {{YabauseVer}}]

|{{~}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}}

|Multi-platform

|{{✓}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✗}}

|[[Nova]]

|Windows

|[https://www.patreon.com/nova_emu 0.5]

|{{✓}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✗}}

|[[BizHawk]]

|Windows

|[http://tasvideos.org/BizHawk/ReleaseHistory.html {{BizHawkVer}}]

|{{~}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✗}}

|[http://satourne.consollection.com/ Satourne]

|Windows

|[http://satourne.consollection.com/index.php?rub=download 2.0 beta 3]

|{{✓}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}}

|[http://saturnin.consollection.com/ Saturnin]

|Windows

|[http://saturnin.consollection.com/index.php?rub=download 0.40]

|{{✗}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}}

|Windows

|0.6

|{{✗}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}}

! colspan="7"|Mobile

|[https://github.com/devmiyax/yabause YabaSanshiro]<small>(Contains Ads)</small>

|Multi-platform

|[http://www.uoyabause.org/static_pages/download 2.5.0] ([[Android emulators|Android]])<br />[http://www.uoyabause.org/static_pages/download 1.8.1] (iOS)

|{{~}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✓}}

|Multi-platform

|[http://yabause.org/download/ {{YabauseVer}}]

|{{~}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✓}}

;[[Mednafen]]:An open-source, [[multi-system emulators|multi-system emulator]] with an original Saturn core. It's currently the most accurate but runs from the command-line (obviously it'll have video output though) unless using an external frontend like Mednaffe or a [[libretro]] frontend like [[RetroArch]]. Its goal for accuracy means it only supports the BIOS of one console revision per region, and is also very demanding, having recommendations to use a quad-core Intel Haswell CPU with a base frequency of >= 3.3GHz and a turbo frequency of >= 3.7GHz (e.g. Xeon E3-1226 v3).<ref name="Mednafen Saturn core documentation">{{MednafenURL|documentation/ss.html}}</ref>

:;[https://www.emu-land.net/consoles/saturn/emuls/windows?act=showonly&id=4227 MedSat]:An unofficial frontend, built by Saturn romhacker paul_meta, to simplify the process of loading Saturn games.

;[[SSF]]:Used to be the emulator of choice for compatible Saturn emulation. However, it is closed-source and only for Windows. Pretty good performance in mid-end (and maybe low-end) computers.

::A fork of UoYabause 0.5.2 created by François (French dev. AKA 'FCare'.). Has his own written SH2 Interpreter, and now supports the ST-V arcade in version 1.30, and Higher (All ST-V games are launchable on Linux; most games are still problematic on Windows). [http://tradu-france.com/tfwiki-1.28.2/index.php?title=Compatibility_list_of_Kronos Compatibility list of Kronos].

;[[MAME]]:Has a <code style="color:darkred;">saturn</code> driver with compatibility on par with Yabause. The driver is marked overall as not working but graphics and sound are OK. It has [http://adb.arcadeitalia.net/lista_mame.php?game_sourcefile=stv.cpp&arcade_only=0&current_version=0 good] [https://github.com/mamedev/mame/blob/master/src/mame/drivers/stv.cpp compatibility] with at least around 50 of the ~70 ST-V arcade games, though performance quality may vary.<ref name="ST-V_A-Z">{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tko_jBNci0k |title=Sega ST-V Arcade Games A to Z - M.A.M.E.|publisher=Youtube|accessdate=2018-05-23|date=2017-02-10}}</ref> But versions [http://wiki.mamedev.org/index.php/MAME_0.158 0.158]<ref name="Mame_0-158">{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tPS7aX4gLCU |title=Touryuu Densetsu Elan Doree - New Improvements on ST-V Hardware - MAME 0.158|publisher=Youtube|accessdate=2018-05-23|date=2015-02-03}}</ref> (Jan 2015) to much later have made good advances in performance. Early known work on ST-V hardware emulation was done in various builds of 0.125, 0.133, 0.138, 0.142 & 0.143 (See [http://wiki.mamedev.org/index.php/Previous_MAME_Versions prior builds]) between 2008-2011. Even bug fixes and more graphical improvements were included in the years 2017-2018 (i.e. [http://www.mamedev.com/?p=449 0.191], [http://www.mamedev.com/?p=456 0.197] & [http://www.mamedev.com/?p=457 0.198]).

;[[Nova]]:An up-and-coming emulator focused on being fast, compatible and user-friendly. Like SSF, it is closed-source and Windows only. From [https://www.patreon.com/posts/nova-v0-2-1-18630607 v0.2.1] onwards, it can now emulate the Sega Titan Video (ST-V) arcade hardware (eg. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vhv4STRa-2c Guardian Force] on ST-V in v0.2.2.). Refer to [https://literalmente-game.github.io/compatibility_lists/nova.html compatibility list] (Not updated every version. Note that the 'Playable' category may only mean the games being in-game but with visual errors.)

;[[BizHawk]]:An open-source, multi-system emulator designed for tool-assisted speedruns. Its Saturn core is based on [[Mednafen]].

'''Comparisons of several Saturn emulators:'''

* [https://emucross.com/a-deep-dive-into-saturn/ A Deep Dive into the Sega Saturn and Saturn Emulation] (By [[Dolphin]] tester, [https://dolphin-emu.org/blog/authors/JMC47/ JMC47], AKA Justin M. Chadwick. 13 OCTOBER 2017. Tested emulators: Yabause & uoYabause, SSF (unofficial site) and Mednafen. Already outdated the next year by progresses in the Kronos fork.)

:''This section was copied from Wikipedia in 2014. For an up-to-date explanation, see [[wikipedia:Sega Saturn#Technical specifications|Sega Saturn § Technical specifications]].''

<blockquote>One very fast central processor would be preferable. I don't think all programmers have the ability to program two CPUs—most can only get about one-and-a-half times the speed you can get from one SH-2. I think that only 1 in 100 programmers are good enough to get this kind of speed [nearly double] out of the Saturn."Yu Suzuki reflecting upon Saturn ''Virtua Fighter'' development.<ref name="YuSuzukiNG">Next Generation (magazine) issue 2, 1995</ref></blockquote>

The Saturn had technically impressive hardware at the time of its release, but its complex design, with two CPUs and six other processors, made harnessing this power difficult for developers accustomed to conventional programming.  The biggest disadvantage was that both CPUs shared the same bus and were unable to access system memory at the same time. Making full use of the 4&nbsp;kB of cache memory in each CPU was critical to maintaining performance.  One example of how the Saturn was utilized was with ''Virtua Fighter''<nowiki>'</nowiki>s use of one CPU for each character.<ref name=YuSuzukiNG /> Many of the Saturn's developers, such as Lobotomy Software programmer Ezra Dreisbach, found it difficult to develop for compared to the PlayStation because of its more complex graphics hardware.<ref name=DreisbachCG>{{cite web|title=Interview: Ezra Dreisbach |publisher=Curmudgeon Gamer |date=July 9, 2002|url=http://curmudgeongamer.com/article.php?story=20021008212903265 |accessdate=July 19, 2007|archiveurl = http://web.archive.org/web/20070927211250/http://curmudgeongamer.com/article.php?story=20021008212903265 <!-- Bot retrieved archive --> |archivedate = September 27, 2007}}</ref> In order to port ''Duke Nukem 3D'' and ''PowerSlave'' to the Saturn, Lobotomy Software had to almost entirely rewrite the Build engine to take advantage of the Saturn's unconventional hardware.<ref name=DreisbachCG />  Third-party development was initially hindered by the lack of useful software libraries and development tools, requiring developers to write in assembly language to achieve good performance. During early Saturn development, programming in assembly could offer a two to fivefold speed increase over C language.<ref name=YuSuzukiNG /> Sega responded to these criticisms by writing new graphics libraries which were claimed to help make development easier.<ref name="NextGenDec95">''So many 32-Bit Systems To Choose From'' Next Generation (magazine) issue 12, 1995</ref> These libraries were presented as a new operating system by Sega of Japan.<ref name="NextGenDec95" />

Unlike the PlayStation and Nintendo 64 which used triangles as their basic geometric primitive, the Saturn rendered quadrilaterals with forward texture mapping. This proved to be a hindrance because most of the industry's standard design tools were based on triangles, with independent texture UV coordinates specified per vertex. One of the challenges brought forth by quadrilateral-based rendering was problems with textured surfaces containing triangles. In order to make a triangular-shaped object, rendering had a fourth side with a length of zero. This technique proved problematic as it caused texture distortion and required careful reworking to achieve the desired appearance—Sega provided tools for remapping textures from UV space into rectangular tiles. These complications can be seen in the Saturn version of ''Tomb Raider''.<ref name=DreisbachCG />

[[Category: Consoles]]

[[Category:Sega consoles]]

[[Category:Fifth-generation video game consoles]]