From a USB mod for 3D controllers to some interesting survey results about Sega’s mini consoles to the latest update to a popular emulator, let’s take a look at some recent stories of interest to Saturn fans:
Mod gives 3D controller USB functionality
A hobbyist tweeted a video and some photos showing off a Saturn 3D analog controller being recognized by a PC thanks to a circuit board the person designed that’s attached to a USB cable.
In the video posted today, the person presses each of the controller’s buttons and shows each button light up in a Windows controller properties window. It even recognizes the analog stick and the analog properties of the triggers.
Then the person flicks the analog/digital switch on the controller and shows off that his board appropriately disables the analog stick and analog properties of the triggers.
The mod apparently involves plugging in the new PCB with USB cable to the slot at the top of an original 3D controller.
The hobbyist, who is Japanese, already has made a board with a USB cable for putting into an original Saturn pad, which involves swapping its circuit board with the new PCB with USB cable but reusing the rubber contacts, buttons and shell. There’s a tutorial on his website — entirely in Japanese — on how to make your own standard pad into a USB one, but there’s no tutorial on USB-ing the 3D Controller yet.
The person sells the boards on Booth but they’re out of stock at the moment.
There’s a Github page for the standard pad’s USB PCB design is here. It’s likely that the specifications on the 3D controller’s USB PCB will be uploaded to that Github account eventually, too.
Survey shows Saturn Mini is most wanted
The results are in and the numbers don’t lie — the people want a Saturn Mini!
Sega of Japan had a wrap-up stream this morning for last year’s Mega Drive Mini 2, including revealing the results of a survey that the company asked Japanese customers to take.
In response to the question about which mini console Sega should make next, more people chose a Saturn Mini (88% of respondants) than a Dreamcast Mini (79%) or a Mega Drive Mini 3 (69%).
Perhaps Sega will take that survey to heart after the hardware’s producer told Famitsu magazine last year a Saturn Mini would require hardware with more power — and expense — than what’s inside a Mega Drive Mini.
Other interesting survey results revealed during the livestream include what players’ rankings were of the 61 games included in the Mega Drive Mini 2. The top 10 was:
- Space Harrier
- Silpheed
- Lunar: Eternal Blue
- Space Harrier II
- Lunar: The Silver Star
- Fantasy Zone
- Night Striker
- Sorcerian
- Thunder Force 4
- Afterburner 2
Cloud saves come to Yaba Sanshiro on Android
Earlier this month, Yaba Sanshiro developer Miyax announced a beta of his emulator’s Android version that uses automatic cloud saves.
According to a post March 5 on his blog, Miyax detailed the features of the functionality to automatically back up players’ save files:
Game save data is uploaded to the cloud automatically
Yaba Sansiro already has a memory management feature. But it needs tedious manual operations. It simplifies your game life if save data is saved whenever you finish a game.Game save data can be restored even if you uninstalled the app
Your data is your own. But since the odd Android 11 feature called scoped storage makes your data lost when you uninstall YabaSanshiro. It’s gamer destruction. I want to offer you space even if you temporarily suspend your game life.Game save data is synchronized between devices
There are so many Android devices these days that it’s not unnatural for users to have multiple Android devices. It is essential to enable users to play games on these devices seamlessly.Game save data history is stored so that You can roll back
Sometimes I wish I could start over in life. It’s even more true in the world of gaming.
The feature is still in the beta test stage, but anyone who wants to try it out can download the paid “Pro” version or the free version.
Yaba Sanshiro was updated on Android last month when it switched the way it renders graphics from OpenGL to Vulkan.
Be the first to comment