SEGA Neptune – Passion For SEGA

The Saturn was a wonderful machine and is still the platform of choice for many when it comes to retro gaming, due to the many hidden gems which passed by most gamers back in the day, and the many great import titles from Japan, more accessible now that we have eBay and Play-Asia. Still, if you happen to have an European system, there’s a certain issue you have to face: the fact that your system runs natively at a frequency of 50 Hz and only a handful of games were programmed with this limitation in mind.

50Hz (left) vs. 60Hz (right).

What this means is that your games run with black boarders at the top and bottom of the screen and at an approximately 17% slower speed. To put it simple, you’re playing crippled versions of what your games were originally supposed to be.

Now, the good news is, has I stated, the problem is in your machine, not your games, and it can be fixed, which means the PAL games you already own will play at full screen, full speed if you just mod your Saturn to run at 60Hz.

The tricky part is that this mod is not that easy to do. It involves soldering a wire to the 79th leg of the graphics chip, either directly into the leg or into the tracer on the motherboard. If you’re used to soldering at this scale, it shouldn’t be too hard, but if you have no experience in the field or are just used to solder bigger things, you may very well end up with a fried board. In that case you better ask a friend or, as a last resort, try to find a professional in electronics soldering to do it for you.

On the other hand, if you think you’re up to the task, there are plenty of guides on the web to help you out. The one I found most useful was Mmmonkey‘s, although Pc2jamma‘s is also held in high regard by people who attempted this mod. Also, if you’re lucky enough to have a Saturn with a very specific motherboard, you can try the guide over at Retrocorner, which is as simple as it gets, and if you can read French, the folks over at SegaKore have the most extensive and comprehensive guide I’ve seen.

Read as much as you can, and keep in mind that there are several ways to connect the switch to the chip’s leg, either directly, by cutting the trace on the upper or the lower side of the board. Also, when you’re done, don’t forget that some games were “PAL optimised”, which means that they already run as they should (Virtua Fighter 2 comes to mind), and if you have your Saturn running at 60Hz the image will extend beyond the borders of your TV and the game will run faster than it was supposed to. There’s no problem, though. Just turn off your system, switch to 50Hz and play. That’s why we make a switch and not a permanent mod.

Have fun!

IMPORTANT NOTE: Please notice that everyone at SEGA Neptune is against piracy acts or any illegal action by it’s readers. This guide is aimed for those who may be willing to apply an internal electronic modification, without the use of alien hardware, in order to enhance his/her gaming sessions. Please DO NOT use the comment box to discuss the use of modchips or forged game discs.