Saturn region converter cartridges

From Sega Retro

The Sega Saturn is region-locked, meaning that games can only be played on hardware from the same region. Various factors led to the Saturn being under-supported in the West. Thus, in order to play the plethora of Japanese releases, to play American games in Europe, or vice-versa of either scenario, one requires a region converter.

Saturn region converters are cartridges which plug into the Saturn's cartridge slot. The majority of converters start working as soon as the console is swiched on, i.e. there is no need to swap cartridges and discs to play games (unlike later consoles such as the Sega Dreamcast). Converters come in all shapes and sizes, most notably the Action Replay Plus, which bypasses region locking as well as offering storage space and cheat facilities. But before the Action Replay Plus became the de facto accessory for Saturn collectors, consumers had to make do with a basic region converter, which offered no additional features.

Unlike Mega Drive region converters, it is usually easier for Saturn region converters to enable playing of games from all regions at once, rather than unlocking one specific region. They are, however, similar in the sense that they cannot solve all regional issues. A game programmed for 60 Hz display on NTSC televisions will run slower, at 83.3% of its correct speed, on the 50 Hz televisions used (at least then) in PAL territories, due to the difference in refresh rate. Conversely, a European game running on an NTSC TV will run too fast – that is, if it was correctly adjusted for 50 Hz display during localisation for Europe, which many were not. Finally, and for obvious reasons that do not constitute a flaw in the region converter, games cannot be automatically translated; a converter may enable you to play a Japanese game on your Western Saturn, or vice-versa, but it will not guarantee that you can understand any of its text.

Box Name Brand Date & Price Images Documentation
CD Plus ?? (>=1995)
CDPlus Saturn Unknown.jpg


CDPlus Saturn Box Front Blaze.jpg
CD Plus Blaze (>=1995)
CDPlus Saturn Blaze.jpg


Pro Universal Adapter Datel (>=1995)
ProUniversalAdapter Saturn Alt.jpg


ProUniversalAdapter Saturn Box Front.jpg
Pro Universal Adapter Datel (>=1995)
ProUniversalAdapter Saturn.jpg


MultiGameAdapter Saturn Box Front.jpg
Multi-Game Adaptor Trend Master (>=1995)
MultiGameAdaptor Saturn.jpg
SS-239


Multi-GameAdapterSaturnEUManual.pdf
Manual
SegaSatellite Saturn Box Front.jpg
Sega Satellite ?? (>=1995)
SegaSatellite Saturn.jpg


SSKey Saturn KR Box Back.jpgSSKey Saturn KR Box Spine.jpgSSKey Saturn KR Box Front.jpgSSKey Saturn KR Box Spine2.jpg
S-S Key ?? KR: (>=1995)
SSKey Saturn KR.jpg


STKey Saturn Box Front.jpg
ST-Key ?? (>=1995)
STKey Saturn.jpg


ST-Key ?? (>=1995)
STKey Saturn Alt.jpg


UMSTKey Saturn Box Front.jpg
Ultra Madness ST-Key Madness (>=1995)
UMSTKey Saturn.jpg


ST-Key+4MB RAM (region converter+1MB/4MB RAM) Madness ? (>=1995)
STKeyPlus4MBRAM Saturn.jpg
SCK2-9768


8MegMemoryCard Saturn Box Back.jpgNospine.png8MegMemoryCard Saturn Box Front.jpg
8 Meg Memory Card (region converter+1MB memory) Joytech (>=1995)
8MegMemoryCard Saturn.jpg


MemoryCardPlus Saturn Box Front Performance.jpg
Memory Card Plus (region converter+1MB memory) Performance (>=1995)
MemoryCardPlus Saturn Performance.jpg
P-465A



Sega Saturn
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Misc. Hardware 6Player | SBom Multitap‎ | Saturn region converter cartridges | Action Replay | Pro Action Replay | Action Replay Plus | X-Terminator (Version 3) | S-S Promoter | Other cartridges