An update to the Saturn core for the MiSTer FPGA was released yesterday. It can be grabbed by going to the developer’s GitHub page, logging in and downloading the Saturn_20220930 file.
Alternatively, ZIP files of the updated core for both a single stick of RAM and dual RAM can be downloaded from a pinned post in the MiSTer Discord server’s Saturn Stuff thread.
According to a user in the MiSTer Discord, the update adds support for interlacing, fixes the sprite window display and fixes shadows.
Early tests from MiSTer users are promising, with reports that many games now run or at least work better compared to previous versions of the core.
Users in the MiSTer Discord server reported encouraging findings, too:
“The interlace mode works very great. Tested on Astra Super Stars, Bulk Slash, Burning Rangers, VF2, Cotton Boomerang, Panzer Dragoon Zwei.”
— Zet-sensei
“I finished Jikkyou Oshaberi Parodius (Chatting Parodius) from start to finish with no issues and it looks perfect. The sound volume is low but that’s it! Daytona USA now mostly works (single RAM)”
— Manjimaru007
“Tomb Raider is very playable, the shading is broken, but there is good sound and music.”
— Maddie O
But they also found some games still not working:
“Radiant Silvergun stalls still after some seconds of gameplay.”
— Zet-sensei
“Tengai Makyou 4: The Apocalypse still does not work”
— Manjimaru007
“Dragon Force II with the English translation patch seems to work. The original Dragon Force on the other hand still doesn’t boot.”
— MARl0
The core is being worked on by Sergey Dvodnenko, aka SRG320, despite being in war-torn Ukraine.
He hasn’t tweeted about the new version of the core, as he did for his last update on Aug. 10. His Internet access is likely spotty amid the fighting.
If you’re interested in supporting Dvodnenko, check out his Patreon.
The MiSTer is a field-programmable gate array, a chip that can be changed by programming it to physically emulate retro video game consoles. It includes an SD card reader from which “cores” and games can be loaded.
The cores are the programming that tells the FPGA chip how to configure itself to reproduce the performance of a console. There are cores for a wide array of consoles, from the Atari 2600 to the PlayStation — and now, at least in an early form, the Saturn.
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