Saturn consoles in South Korea

In 1995, while LG was distributing the 3DO in Korea and Nintendo was distributed by Hyundai, Samsung (who previously distributed both the Master System and Mega Drive) distributed the Saturn. It was released as the Samsung Saturn (삼성새턴) in November 10th 1995 and was made only for South Korea. There are a lot of rumors about what is inside these, but all units that have been seen opened up were all completely stock Japanese VA1 motherboards (171-7006C 837-11613-01), had everything intact, with only the region jumpers and the BIOS rom being different. The region is set to 2 for Korea, and the BIOS version states v1.02a and looks like the USA/PAL version rather than the Japanese one. The bios is unique in that it disables the Japanese language option when the console is set to the default region 2 code (it reappears if the region code is set to anything other than region 2). There was no Korean language option added. It's power supply is unique in that it is capable of handling 110v-220v. This is because South Korea was in the process of converting it's power grid from 110v to 220v, so most South Korean retro game consoles come with a multi-voltage power supply. Units produced: unknown, probably ~3,000-4,000, but there might have been a lot more.

There are 4 different model numbers of the Samsung Saturn (SPC-SATURN, SPC-SATURN II, SPC-ST, SPC-ST2), although the consoles themselves are identical. The model number only indicates whether the console was packaged with a game or a Saturn region converter cartridges (this can be seen in old magazine advertisements). SPC-SATURN and SPC-SATURN II were the initial released models, with SPC-SATURN II including Virtua Fighter Remix. SPC-ST and SPC-ST2 were later released models and both came with a ST-KEY region converter cartridge (hence the model name), with SPC-ST2 also including 1 game.

Launch games included Daytona USA, Panzer Dragoon, Virtua Fighter Remix and Worldwide Soccer: Sega International Victory Goal Edition.

It is compatible with all Samsung Saturn games as well as all Korean Sega Saturn games (non-Samsung branded). There are also a few Japanese, Asian and American games that were also coded for region 2, which will play on Samsung Saturn without the need for a region converter cartridge.

Initially retailing for up to ₩595,000 the Samsung Saturn was a commercial failure due to the high price and limited number of available games. Most people instead imported the cheaper Japanese consoles.

By February 1997, Samsung completely exited the gaming business due to the failure of the Samsung Saturn and the 1997 Asian financial crisis.

In September 1997, Kama Entertainment (카마 엔터테인먼트) distributed the model 2 Sega Saturn in South Korea. It looks similar to the North American model 2 console but has the Japanese-style Sega Saturn logo, has a 220v power supply, with the region code set to 1 for Japan and bios v1.01. It was released at a cheaper price of ₩349,000. It has the standard Sega Saturn branding (세가새턴) instead of Samsung Saturn (삼성새턴). Kama Entertainment and Wooyoung System also distributed a handful of games under the Sega Saturn branding. Some consoles were also bundled with Sega Rally or Virtua Cop 2.

Box	Name	Date & Price	Console	Label	Hardware	Software	Documentation
	Samsung Saturn			SPC-SATURN		Control Pad
	Samsung Saturn			SPC-SATURN II		Control Pad	Virtua Fighter Remix
	Samsung Saturn			SPC-ST		Control Pad Converter
	Samsung Saturn			SPC-ST2		Control Pad Converter	unknown
	Sega Saturn			MK-80226-08		Control Pad
	Sega Saturn +1 Virtua Cop 2			MK-80226-08		Control Pad	Virtua Cop 2
	Sega Saturn +1 Sega Rally			MK-80226-08		Control Pad	Sega Rally Championship