help with finding a sega saturn emulator and sonic 3d blast

[JoeSafdia]

Hello, I'm hoping you can help me out with finding a Sega Saturn emulator so I can play Sonic 3D Blast for the first time since I owned it on my actual Sega Saturn 20 years ago.

I keep trying to download emulators, but either the sites don't seem to host working links anymore, or the application within just does nothing but give me error messages. The only that seemed to load the emulation program itself was Satourne, but it didn't actually DO anything. It just loaded the UI with the play and stop buttons and all that.

I've also downloaded the Sonic 3D Blast Saturn rom from two different sources. Both times, I just get a bin and a cue file that's six times larger than the actual emulator. From my experience with SNES emulation (just Super Metroid), that doesn't seem right.

I've looked online for help, but no one seems to have a good answer. Everything I hear is super complicated, and I'm not really good with this stuff. I don't know how to "adjust my binary cores" or whatever. I just want to play a Sonic game from my childhood.

Can anyone point me in the direction an easy to use emulator and rom for the Sega Saturn and Sonic 3D Blast (Saturn version)? I'll be most grateful.

 

[Spike]

Either get Retroarch and install the Saturn cores available. (Find a YouTube guide if you are confused).
Or use a stand alone emulator like Mednafen or BizHawk.
You might also need the Saturn Bios

 

[anonimo123]

mednafen with mednaffe to have an UI

 

[Xeno]

Sega Saturn used CDs so the game files being up to around 600 mb is normal. SNES used cartridges, so games were around just a couple megabytes.

 

[Spike]

I have emulated games for a very long time but for some reason the Sega Saturn I have found it very difficult and I have pretty much given up.

I installed Mednafen, didn't work for me, it wouldn't load any of my games.

Then I installed RetroArch and tried 3 different cores, same thing, no results.

I really want to play Sega Saturn games so bad as well. Like I never got a chance to play any games on it before and especially now with translations the library is sooooooo juicy.

But yeah, I dunno what it is, obviously I know these things work, but for the Saturn it just won't work for me

Are you sure you are not missing the saturn bios?

For Retroarch go to \system\ and copy the bios files there:

• sega_101.bin
• mpr-17933.bin

----
With Mednaffe GUI got to Systems tab > Saturn >
Europe Bios find mpr-17933.bin
Japanese Bios find sega_101.bin

Get attachments, unzip first ofc.

 

[otogirisou]

guess I'll be wasting even more of my time scouring forums and online posts to solve a basic problem...

spike literally gave you the easiest solution

 

[Spike]

I provided a link to the GUI for Mednafen

GitHub - AmatCoder/mednaffe: A front-end (GUI) for mednafen emulator

A front-end (GUI) for mednafen emulator. Contribute to AmatCoder/mednaffe development by creating an account on GitHub.

github.com

 

[fake-kun]

Welp, this thread quickly got derailed into Retro Gaming Library complaining about Mednafen.

 

[fake-kun]

Well if the topic is looking for emulators and Mednafen is complete trash and doesn't work properly I'd say thats still on topic.

Mednafen works fine for me, both standalone and as the Retroarch core, so I suspect there's something wrong with your PC.

 

[cjl8336]

Bizhawk is used for speedrunning - I would try that one since I too had an issue with Saturn emus in the past

Mednafen is not easy to use at all, Retroarch is hit or miss, and there is also Kronos but I have not tried that one
Kronos also does Sega Titan which is just a cartridge based Saturn for arcades

 

[akumajobelmont]

Well, I did try it, I mean I've got 3 PSX emulators, Dolphin, PCSX2, mGBA, and a bunch of others like for the Mega Drive and SNES which I have used with no problem

But over the course of many different days I would try running Saturn games on different software and I never had any luck with it.

But I will try it again with these files specifically as maybe it was something like my BIOS file was corrupted or incorrect

Post automatically merged: Saturday at 6:27 PM

So yeah, I updated my RetroArch, put in the new BIOS, just comes up with the same error.

Then I reinstalled Mednafen, open application, it just says no command line specified. Folders are a mess.

I will say, compared to how easy, streamlined, and how better designed other emulators are Mednafen seems like trash. Like it feels like this messy crap you'd get from 2003 and not a professional piece of software designed for easy access.

It's really frustrating to have this console out of access my entire life and that the people responsbile for the emulators do such a poor job of it.

Update: I got a game to run - yay. Now the sound doesn't work, game comes out completely scrambled, guess I'll be wasting even more of my time scouring forums and online posts to solve a basic problem... Thanks again Mednafen! What a piece of trash

Mednafen with the Mednaffe UI is extremely easy to set up, not sure why you're having so many problems. It's also very accurate.

"Mednafen seems like trash. Like it feels like this messy crap you'd get from 2003 and not a professional piece of software designed for easy access."

I think it may be your bad attitude keeping you from emulation success.

 

[Evaccaneer Doom]

Hello, I'm hoping you can help me out with finding a Sega Saturn emulator so I can play Sonic 3D Blast for the first time since I owned it on my actual Sega Saturn 20 years ago.

I keep trying to download emulators, but either the sites don't seem to host working links anymore, or the application within just does nothing but give me error messages. The only that seemed to load the emulation program itself was Satourne, but it didn't actually DO anything. It just loaded the UI with the play and stop buttons and all that.

I've also downloaded the Sonic 3D Blast Saturn rom from two different sources. Both times, I just get a bin and a cue file that's six times larger than the actual emulator. From my experience with SNES emulation (just Super Metroid), that doesn't seem right.

I've looked online for help, but no one seems to have a good answer. Everything I hear is super complicated, and I'm not really good with this stuff. I don't know how to "adjust my binary cores" or whatever. I just want to play a Sonic game from my childhood.

Can anyone point me in the direction an easy to use emulator and rom for the Sega Saturn and Sonic 3D Blast (Saturn version)? I'll be most grateful.

If your OS is Mac (like me), then your options are either OpenEmu or a version of RetroArch. OpenEmu is easy to use (but Mac-exclusive), and Retroarch requires messing around

Though this is Mac, I don't know about Windows or Linux but Retroarch is an option for all 3 I believe

 

[JoeSafdia]

Theres nothing wrong with my PC.

Like I said, I have many emulators installed, run RetroArch fine, and never had any issues at all with them.

Mednafen is just flat out trash, from the website, the extract, the install, the set up, launching games, getting sound - its terrible.

Download Yaba Sanshiro. Simple website, click download, extract, open application, then run game. You don't even need to install the BIOS.

Works totally fine. We deserve better than low-tier crap like Mednafen. It's an emulator.... not Arch Linux.

And the reasoning "X works fine for me ergo there is nothing wrong with it" doesn't apply to anything.

I stated my issues with it and then you get responses like "It's your PC" - how much more obtuse and unhelpful could a response possibly be? Totally general and unspecific. That's why I can't be bothered with it. I shouldn't have to ask for help on every step. It should be like every other program in the modern world thats coded so its easy to use.

So for anyone else who doesn't want to waste their time on this nonsense download Yaba Sanshiro it takes 2 minutes as opposed to several hours wading through forums looking for "solutions" that don't exist

Hi, OP here.

Is Yaba Sanshiro a Sega Saturn emulator? I'm having problems with Mednafen too. It just doesn't do anything for me even when I add the bios above into the folder. Going to this Systems tab shows everything grayed out, including everything related to bios.

And the game just flat out doesn't work. It's like I'm not even telling the computer to do anything.

Edit: I found it and download it off Google Play. I'm having more issues with it than Mednafen. It tells me it's missing a file vulkan-1.dll or something like that. I downloaded and extracted it twice, and still it has the same issue.

 

[regnor]

Maybe try SSF?

SSF - Sega Retro

segaretro.org

 

[JoeSafdia]

Mednafen with the Mednaffe UI is extremely easy to set up, not sure why you're having so many problems. It's also very accurate.

"Mednafen seems like trash. Like it feels like this messy crap you'd get from 2003 and not a professional piece of software designed for easy access."

I think it may be your bad attitude keeping you from emulation success.

Can you please help me out if it's easy? I'm having an awful lot of trouble.

I downloaded both the link and the bios that Spike provided, but the program just doesn't do anything. When I load it, it says the executable isn't found, but then Mednafen loads anyway, but that's it. Putting the bios file in the folder or trying to open it with the file doesn't do anything, and the Systems table is perpetually grayed out. What mistake am I making?

Post automatically merged: Saturday at 11:04 PM

Yeah, Yaba Sanshiro is a Sega Saturn emulator and it works across multiple platforms with a built in GUI and BIOS so all you have to do is install it and run then if anything needs tweaked on your system you can actually do it on the fly.

It's actually a really cool feature I haven't seen on any other emulators where I don't have to exit the game to change settings but can pause it then check if it works instantly. Saves a lot of time. I recommend it because Mednafen feels like one problem after another for something that should be simple to use.

Neither work for me in the slightest. I actually got farther with Mednafen as it allowed me to get into the program, even if the program does nothing. Yaba tells me it can't run because it's missing the file vulkan-1.dll. An I downloading it from the wrong place? I got it from here: https://emulation.gametechwiki.com/index.php/Yaba_Sanshiro

 

[ATenderLad]

Can you please help me out if it's easy? I'm having an awful lot of trouble.

I downloaded both the link and the bios that Spike provided, but the program just doesn't do anything. When I load it, it says the executable isn't found, but then Mednafen loads anyway, but that's it. Putting the bios file in the folder or trying to open it with the file doesn't do anything, and the Systems table is perpetually grayed out. What mistake am I making?

Post automatically merged: Saturday at 11:04 PM

Neither work for me in the slightest. I actually got farther with Mednafen as it allowed me to get into the program, even if the program does nothing. Yaba tells me it can't run because it's missing the file vulkan-1.dll. An I downloading it from the wrong place? I got it from here: https://emulation.gametechwiki.com/index.php/Yaba_Sanshiro

Hey, so it looks like you only downloaded Mednaffe, which is just a visual interface for Mednafen, the actual emulator.

Mednafen - Releases

You just unzip the Mednaffe .zip in the Mednafen folder, then run Mednaffe to use it from there.

 

[fake-kun]

So easy right? Such a brilliant and genius idea to not give your application a GUI which we've been doing since the 1970s

Chill out. You sound like Mednafen killed your parents or something.

 

[ATenderLad]

So easy right? Such a brilliant and genius idea to not give your application a GUI which we've been doing since the 1970s

There's a weird amount of hostility in this response, random stranger on the internet.

 

[fake-kun]

Kinda strange that me criticising an emulator gets taken personally. And someone saying "it's your attitude that makes it not work" and "extremely easy" when it's clearly not. Pretty weird honestly. Why get defensive over it. Don't be mad when it doesn't work for others. It's right that it's ridiculous it doesn't have a built in GUI. To take that statement as some hostility directed personally at you is just bizzare

Post automatically merged: Saturday at 11:24 PM

And it's not passive aggressive and weird to start talking about my parents being murdered because I criticise an emulator?

Thanks for proving my point.

 

[ATenderLad]

Kinda strange that me criticising an emulator gets taken personally. And someone saying "it's your attitude that makes it not work" and "extremely easy" when it's clearly not. Pretty weird honestly. Why get defensive over it. Don't be mad when it doesn't work for others. It's right that it's ridiculous it doesn't have a built in GUI. To take that statement as some hostility directed personally at you is just bizzare

Yeah, someone asked a question and I did my best to clear it up for them, how does that constitute me being mad or defensive? It's not intuitive, so I helped out. Relax, man.

(I agree fake-kun took that to a dark place, let's lighten up around here.)

 

[fake-kun]

Yeah, someone asked a question and I did my best to clear it up for them, how does that constitute me being mad or defensive? It's not intuitive, so I helped out. Relax, man.

(I agree fake-kun took that to a dark place, let's lighten up around here.)

I'll sound stupid right now, but I have no idea what's so "dark" about my comment. I thought the context made it clear I was being cheeky/facetious.

 

[JoeSafdia]

Hey, so it looks like you only downloaded Mednaffe, which is just a visual interface for Mednafen, the actual emulator.

Mednafen - Releases

You just unzip the Mednaffe .zip in the Mednafen folder, then run Mednaffe to use it from there.

Still no. I get an error "No command line arguments specified."

 

[fake-kun]

Says the guy who's subtext is "I hate my parents" try not to project your infantile fantasies of murdering your parents on to me because I don't like Mednafen you complete fruit loop. You sound like you need child services at your door.



Oh well the bit I would constitute as being defensive is when you said that I was being hostile towards you when I was pointing out Mednafen is not easy to use in relation to other things said in the thread. You're right, it's not intuitive at all, it's quite difficult to use. Sorry you feel uncomfortable because of the way I express myself.

Yeah, nevermind. Talking with you was a mistake.

 

[JoeSafdia]

Sorry to wade into the argument here, but (and this is coming from someone who's really bad at emulation so take this with a grain of salt) I haven't been able to get any of the emulators you suggested to work. Mednafen, Yaba, none of them. Can we pause the argument to just help me figure out what's going wrong on my end? You guys can go back at it later.

 

[JoeSafdia]

Yaba Sanshiro - SEGA Saturn Emulator

Experience SEGA Saturn gaming on modern devices with Yaba Sanshiro

www.yabasanshiro.com

Go here, download standalone for windows (or whatever OS you are on), unzip the folder, go in the unzipped folder, open the application file - program opens

To run games you go to top left corner, click file, click run ISO, click the .bin or .cue file for your game that you got after you unzipped the contents of a game download you got.

That's it. But if you are not good at stuff like this emulating Saturn is going to be difficult for you because it's not the best optimised system compared to other platforms like PS2 and even they require a lot of technical tweaking at times to get smooth performance.

I downloaded from there after I last asked about Yaba and got the same issue. It doesn't work. The program doesn't open at all.