Changes

The Sega Saturn has historically been one of the harder consoles to emulatedue to its infamously difficult architecture consisting of 8 processors overall and use of quadrilaterals rather than triangles as polygons, resulting in a lack of good options. However, things are looking up for open-source emulators like Mednafen, and to a lesser extent, Yabause.

! scope="col"|<small>[https://retroachievements.org/download.php Retro<br/>Achievements]</small>! scope="col"|<abbr title="Resizable Internal Resolution">RIR</abbr>! scope="col"|[libretro[Sega_Saturn_emulators#NetLink|XBAND]]

! colspan="810"|PC / x86

|[[Mednafen]]<br/><small>[https://docs.libretro.com/library/beetle_saturn/ mednafen_saturn_libretro]</small>

|{{~}}<ref group=N name=MednafenST-V>Version 1.31.0 added experimental support for ST-V games that don't require decryption chips or special hardware. Refer to the [https://mednafen.github.io/documentation/ss.html#Section_stv ST-V section of the official documentation] for more details and a list of explicitly supported games.</ref> ||{{✓~}} <ref group=N name=libretroRA>Exclusive to libretro core.</ref> ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}}<ref group=N>[https://mednafen.github.io/documentation/ss.html#Section_internal_databases_cart Reserved section for titles need future modem support].</ref> ||{{✓}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✓}}

|[https://fcare.github.io/ Kronos]

|[{{KronosDownloadLink}} {{KronosVer}}]<br/>[https://buildbot.libretro.com/nightly/ libretro core]<br/>[{{KronosDownloadLink}} {{KronosVer}}]|{{~}} ||{{~}}<ref group=N name=KronosST-VlibretroRA>All ST-V games are launchable on Linux; most games are still problematic on Windows.</ref> ||{{✓}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✓~}}

|[[Yaba Sanshiro|Yaba Sanshiro 2SSF]]|align=left|{{Icon|Windows|Linux}}|[https://www.uoyabause.org/static_pages/download 1.9.3]<br/>[https://buildbot.libretro.com/nightly/ libretro core{{SSFDownloadLink}} {{SSFVer}}]|{{~}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✓✗}} ||{{✓✗}} ||{{✓~}} ||{{~}}<ref group=N name=SSF>[https://github.com/shimazzz/SEGASaturnEmulator-SSF/issues/15#issuecomment-1038281021 Due to recent virus detections in the latest versions], it is risky for some computers to use, though it is mostly clean. This emulator remains somewhat recommended, especially for older hardware, though it may be avoided for these reasons.</ref>

|[https://gitlab.com/TASVideos/BizHawk/-/pipelines Dev Builds]<br/>[http://tasvideos.org/BizHawk/ReleaseHistory.html {{BizHawkVer}}]|? ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✓}} ||{{~}}|-|[[Yaba Sanshiro|Yaba Sanshiro 2]]<br/><small>yabasanshiro_libretro ^&Dagger;</small>|align=left|{{Icon|Windows|Linux}}|[https://www.uoyabause.org/static_pages/download 1.9.3]<br/>[https://buildbot.libretro.com/nightly/ libretro core]<ref group=N name=BizHawksaturnusYabaSanshiroRA>Its Saturn core is based on [https://githubdocs.libretro.com/TASEmulatorslibrary/BizHawkyabasanshiro/blobYaba Sanshiro libretro core (yabasanshiro_libretro) is outdated, known for having many issues, and unmaintained]. Use [https:/master/src/BizHawkwww.Emulationuoyabause.Coresorg/Consoles/Segastatic_pages/download standalone version] OR "yabause_libretro" or "mednafen_saturn_libretro" cores for RetroArch Saturn/Saturnus.cs#L9 Mednafen]emulation.</ref>|{{✗}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✓}} ||{{~}}

|[[SSFYabause]]<br/><small>yabause_libretro</small>|align=left|{{Icon|Windows|Linux|macOS|FreeBSD|Web}}|[https://buildbot.libretro.com/nightly/ libretro core]<br/>[http://yabause.org/download {{SSFDownloadLinkYabauseVer}} ]|{{SSFVer✗}}] ||{{✓~}} <ref group=N name=libretroRA></ref> ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✓}} ||{{~}}<ref group=N name=SSFLibretroActive>[https://github.com/shimazzz/SEGASaturnEmulator-SSF/issues/15#issuecomment-1038281021 Due to recent virus detections in the latest versions], it is risky for some computers to use, though it Libretro core is mostly clean. This emulator remains largely recommended, especially for older hardware, though it may be avoided for these reasonsstill active.</ref>||{{✗}}

|{{✓~}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✗}}|-|[[Yabause]]|align<ref group=left|{{Icon|Windows|Linux|macOS|FreeBSD}}|N>[http://yabauseadb.arcadeitalia.orgnet/download lista_mame.php?game_sourcefile=stv.cpp&arcade_only=0&current_version=0 One of the best emulator for ST-V emulation but still "Imperfect"].</ref> ||{{YabauseVer✗}}]||{{✗}} ||{{✓✗}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✗✓}} ||{{✗}}

|{{✓~}} ||{{✗}} ||? ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}}

|{{✓~}} ||{{✗}} ||? ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}}

|{{✓~}} ||{{✗}} ||? ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}}

|{{✗}} ||{{✗}} ||? ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}}

! colspan="810"|Mobile / ARM

||[[Yaba Sanshiro|Yaba Sanshiro 2Yabause]]<br/><small>yabause_libretro</small>

|[https://playbuildbot.googlelibretro.com/storenightly/apps/details?id=org.devmiyax.yabasanshioro2 {{YabaSanshiroVer}}libretro core] ([[Android emulators|Android]])</br />[http://www.uoyabauseyabause.org/static_pages/download 2.1.2.0{{YabauseVer}}] ([[Emulators on iOS|{{✗}} ||iOS]]){{~}}<ref group=N name=libretroRA><br/ref>[https://github.com/devmiyax/yabause git]||{{✗}} ||{{✓✗}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✓~}} <ref group=N name=LibretroActive></ref> ||{{✓}}

||[[YabauseYaba Sanshiro|Yaba Sanshiro 2]]<br/><small>yabasanshiro_libretro ^&Dagger;</small>|align=left|{{Icon|Android|iOS}}|[https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.devmiyax.yabasanshioro2 {{YabaSanshiroVer}}] ([[Android emulators|Android]])<br/>[http://yabausewww.uoyabause.org/static_pages/download 2.1.2.0] ([[Emulators on iOS|iOS]])<br/>[https://github.com/devmiyax/yabause git]<br/>[https://buildbot.libretro.com/nightly/ libretro core]<ref group=N name=YabaSanshiroRA></ref>|{{YabauseVer✗}}]||{{✗}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✗✓}} ||{{✓}} ||{{~✓}}

|{{✓~}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✓✗}} ||{{✗}} ||{{~}} ||{{TBD~}}<ref group=N name=SSF></ref>

! colspan="810"|Console

|{{✗}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}} ||? ||{{✓}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✓}}

|{{✗}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✗}} ||{{~}}

|{{✗}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✗}} ||{{~}}

|align=left|{{Icon|DC|PSP|PS3}}<br/>{{Icon| (PS3)DC}}<br/>{{Icon|PSP}}|[https://store.brewology.com/ahomebrew.php?brewid=3 0.1] (PS3)<br/>[http://yabause.org/download 0.9.14] (DC)<br/>[https://archive.org/details/yabause-0.9.10-psp.7z 0.9.10] ([[Emulators on PSP|PSP]])|{{✗}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✗}} ||{{✓}} ||{{✗}} ||{{~}}

;[[Mednafen]]<small class="plainlinks" style="font-weight:normal;">([https://forum.fobby.net/index.php?t=msg&th=1357 compatibility], [http://www.segasaturn.org/MednafenJAP.htm JAP compatibility], [http://www.segasaturn.org/MednafenPAL.htm PAL compatibility], [http://www.segasaturn.org/MednafenUSA.htm USA compatibility] , [https://mednafen.github.io/documentation/ss.html#Section_stv st-v compatibility])</small>: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 more 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 than any other Saturn emulator (e.g. Xeon E3-1226 v3 or i5-4590other than [[MAME]])<ref name="Mednafen Saturn core documentation">{{MednafenURL|documentation/ss.html}}</ref>. By default, only x86-64 builds have Saturn support, but unofficial x86-32 builds and [[libretro]] frontends like [[RetroArch]] can surpass this limitation.

;[[SSF]]<small class="plainlinks" style="font-weight:normal;">([http://www.segasaturn.org/USA%20update.htm USA compatibility], [http://www.segasaturn.org/Japan.htm JPN compatibility], [http://www.segasaturn.org/PAL%20update.htm PAL compatibility])</small>:Used to be the emulator of choice for compatible Saturn emulation. However, it is closed-source and only for Windows and Android. Pretty good performance with mid-range (and maybe low-end) computers.

;[[Yabause]]<small class="plainlinks" style="font-weight:normal;">([https://docs.libretro.com/library/yabause/#compatibility compatibility])</small>:Used to be the first and only option for multi-platform Saturn emulation. It's far less developed than SSF and Mednafen and still has many compatibility issues. Development seems to have stopped, active forks are Libretro core, Kronos which is recommended for PCs, and YabaSanshiro which is recommended for AndroidYaba Sanshiro 2.

:;Yaba Sanshiro 2 <small>(formerly uoYabause)</small> <small class="plainlinks" style="font-weight:normal;">([https://www.uoyabause.org/games compatibility])</small>::A Multi-platform fork by DevMiyax using OpenGL ES 3.X (Android), and Open GL 3.X (Windows). Unlike other forks, it uses the GPU to emulate the VDP1, VDP2, and has a modified SH2 Dynamic Recompiler. [https://www.uoyabause.org/games Official compatibility page].

:;Kronos <small class="plainlinks" style="font-weight:normal;">([https://tradu-france.com/wiki-emu-compatibility/index.php?title=Compatibility_list_of_Kronos compatibility])</small>::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). [https2115 games have been tested ://tradu-france1884 are playable (89.com/wiki-emu-compatibility/index08 %), 209 are not, 19 are almost playable.php?title=Compatibility_list_of_Kronos Compatibility list of Kronos]

;[[MAME]]<small class="plainlinks" style="font-weight:normal;">([http://adb.arcadeitalia.net/lista_mame.php?game_sourcefile=saturn.cpp&arcade_only=0&current_version=0 compatibility], [http://adb.arcadeitalia.net/lista_mame.php?game_sourcefile=stv.cpp&arcade_only=0&current_version=0 st-v compatibility])</small>: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]).

:An open-source, multi-system emulator designed for tool-assisted speedruns. Its Saturn core is based on [https://github.com/TASEmulators/BizHawk/blob/master/src/BizHawk.Emulation.Cores/Consoles/Sega/Saturn/Saturnus.cs#L9 based on Mednafen].