Taisen Cable
From Sega Retro
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| Taisen Cable | |||||
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| Made for: Sega Saturn | |||||
| Manufacturer: Sega | |||||
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The Taisen Cable (対戦ケーブル) is device which allows two Sega Saturns to connect to each other. It can be seen as a console equivalent to a local area network (LAN) setup usually found with computers, where systems are all linked together within a small area. The official Sega-branded Taisen Cable was only released in Japan, however third-party alternatives were released in other territories and a number of non-Japanese games support the device.
The Taisen Cable and its derivatives perhaps had more of a use in store displays and gaming events rather than in the home. Despite acting as a physical connection between two Saturn consoles, each console requires its own television and its own copy of a compatible game in order to play. Only a few games were released with Taisen Cable compatibility, though many try to hide this fact, or have difficulty working with third-party variants of the cable.
Today physical links such as these have largely been replaced with online services, though this can produce latency and affect the quality of your game. Modern consoles can still be connected together through similar methods to the Taisen Cable.
Contents
Compatible Games
Japanese Taisen Cable Games
- note: this list may be incomplete because Sega of Japan's archives only mark a handful of compatible games
- Daytona USA Circuit Edition
- Doom
- Gungriffon 2
- Hexen (accessed through debug menu)
- Hyper 3D Taisen Battle Gebockers
- Hyper Reverthion
- Steeldom
- Wipeout
USA/Europe Taisen Cable Games
- Daytona USA Demo
- Doom *
- Independence Day **
- Hexen (accessed through debug menu) *
- Virtual-On
- Wipeout
* - Does not work in Europe. However, they have only been tested with the DirectLink by Blaze, an unofficial brand.
** - According to the manual (pages 7 & 8), there is a 'Network' mode which allows you to use the Taisen Cable. However, when you start the game, even with a 'Network' hooked up, it appears to do nothing.
Physical scans
| Saturn, JP |
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| Saturn, JP (newer) |
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 Cover
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