Sega Saturn expansion cartridges - please explain!

TechnoFreek

Hi,

Can anyone please explain to me the differences between the Saturn expansion cartridges.

From what I understand a memory expansion could be bought to allow for more save files, like a memory card basically.

Also, a memory 4MB expansion card could also be puchased to to allow the playing of 2D Beat em ups like X-Men vs Street Fighter.

Is there is a difference between these carts? As i have recently purchased a saturn I would like an all in one solution, is this possible?

Please advise.

um7y1h83ge06nx

Not a Saturn expert but as far as I know the expansion carts add to the amount of RAM the Saturn has and allows certain games that utilise this to be played.

The memory cards are Flash based (I think) and allow for games saves to be stored on them, as you have said.

They are totally different, have different slots to slot into, use different technologies, so while the memory card retains it's info when powered down, The RAM expansion cart is cleared of it's info.

Hope this helps.

MontgomeryClift

TechnoFreek wrote:

Is there is a difference between these carts? As i have recently purchased a saturn I would like an all in one solution, is this possible?

You can get an Action Replay 4-in-1 that works as a memory expansion and a memory card for saving files. I think that's what it does. And you can use it to play games from different regions.

Retr0gamer

There are 4 types of cartridges for the saturn.

First are the memory cards that are used by certain games to store data such as in Sega Rally you could record time trials. Also you can back up save data from the saturns on board battery backed up memory. If you are having problems saving you should change the battery for the saturns memory since it has probably run out.

The other 3 are RAM expansion packs.

The first one is a ram expansion pack that came with the first Saturn King of Fighters game. It was a 1Mb ram expansion that contained all the games backgrounds preloaded and could only be used with that game.

The second RAM expansion is a 1Mb expansion. It expands the Saturns memory and is used in some early Capcom conversions, all Neo Geo games and a few other oddities.

The last on is a 4Mb RAM expansion cartridge. It was used exclusively by Capcom for it's later arcade conversions

If you want an all in one solution get yourself an action replay 4 in 1. It functions as a 1Mb RAM expansion cartridge, contains 4Mb flash memory for storing save games, acts as an action replay and plays all imports (panzer dragoon saga requires an action replay code). It supposedly functions as a 4Mb RAM expansion cartridge but it doesn't. However if you do a small soldering modification it functions as a 4Mb RAM expansion. The only thing it doesn't do is act as a memory card so it isn't recognised by games like Sega Rally for Time Trial data. Still I've never had the need to use a memory card in all my years with my saturn, the onboard memory does the trick.

Retr0gamer

http://www.shinforce.com/saturn/information/4MBRAM-mod.htm

Thats a link to the 4 in 1 modification.