When it comes to flash carts and ODEs, the Sega Saturn has had more than its fair share of options. In the past few years, we've seen the Fenir, MODE and Satiator all come to Sega's 32-bit console, offering fans the chance to give the console's ageing CD drive a rest and load up an entire library of games without having to invest thousands in original copies on the secondary market.
There's a new kid on the block which aims to shake up this sector of the market, however. While the aforementioned options can cost a pretty penny, the open-source SAROO cartridge (which, like the Satiator, blurs the line between a flash cart and an ODE, as it's technically both) is available for around $60 (that's roughly what we paid, but you'll find prices can vary quite wildly, depending on where you order it from). Despite the fact that it has come to market behind all of its rivals, it's actually a project which has a decade of development behind it – so is it the best ODE option for your Saturn?
The SAROO project is the work of TPUinx, and is unique in that it uses the Saturn's cartridge slot to totally bypass the console's CD drive. Because it occupies this slot, the cart also doubles up as a memory cartridge and a RAM expansion cart. It features a MicroSD card slot for your games (in BIN/CUE format), and its firmware can be updated easily. Unlike some other ODE options, you don't need to remove the CD drive to install SAROO, which is a big bonus - and it also plays games from any region, regardless of your console's origin.
Because it's open source, SAROO is something of a minefield when it comes to actually making a purchase. Since the project began to gather speed in 2023, we've seen a flood of Chinese-made carts appear online, some of which are better than others. There's definitely a sense of "luck of the draw" here, so make sure you buy one from a retailer or outlet which has a good reputation; the version we obtained from a Chinese eBay seller is marked as a v1.3, although having done some investigation online, we're still not entirely sure how it differs from the more common v1.2 board.
Many sellers will include a case with the board; the one we were sent has a rather crude 3D-printed example, which we decided fairly early on we wanted to replace. We duly ordered a replacement from J&T Studios, only to discover that the v1.3 board isn't compatible with it. Boo. However, when we realised we could order unique Saroo stickers from ArielAces the ToyMaker, we decided to invest in another Saroo – a v1.2 this time – which arrived in a case not entirely dissimilar from the J&T Studio one.
After downloading the latest firmware and loading up our games, we were surprised at how easy it was to get SAROO up and running. You'll need to change a setting in the cart's 'saroocfg.txt' file to ensure that it always boots up in English (use a text editor to change lang_id = 0 to lang_id = 1), but once you've done that, it's (relatively) plain sailing. SAROO firmware is currently on V0.5, and has come on leaps and bounds in the past year or so. You can now sort games alphabetically (you'll need to add sort_mode = 1 to the config file, as this isn't present by default), add a background image for the UI and even add music to listen to while you browse your collection.
Booting a game is a super-fast process, mainly because the SAROO overcomes the issue of CD speed – a major limiting factor when it comes to playing Saturn games on original hardware. Load times are sped up in-game, too, which makes this device even more appealing – the catch is that this can lead to some incompatibility problems with certain titles, so each new revision of the firmware comes with a set of configurations which iron out the kinks. As more and more games are tested, this list will eventually cover all of Saturn's library. Having said that, all of the games we tested ran without any issues.
Anyone who has owned a Saturn will know that juggling save data is a pain in the backside; not only does the console have limited space for save files, the fact that its official memory cart slots into the cartridge port means you can't use expansion carts to play games like X-Men Vs Street Fighter without first copying over the save data to the internal storage. The good news is that the SAROO avoids all of this annoyance by offering its own save data system, which is entirely separate from the Saturn's. Whenever a game is loaded, a save data file is created on the MicroSD card. This is automatically loaded when the game is next booted up. You can still use the Saturn's own internal RAM if you so wish, by holding down 'X' when booting a game.
The fact that the SAROO uses the console's cartridge port presents negatives as well as positives, though. The Saturn's cart slot is notoriously picky, and you might find that it takes a few inserts and removals before it will recognise the SAROO. Even then, you'd imagine that simply leaving it in situ will prevent the problem from reoccurring, but we've heard anecdotal reports that this is what causes the issues in the first place – the contact pins don't get the chance to 'relax' if a cartridge is left in the slot (something many Saturn owners have perhaps done over the years) and this can result in poor performance.
The console we have in the Time Extension office, for example, is very prone to this problem – and while we were able to get it working pretty quickly, it's an unfortunate annoyance. You might find your own personal experience is somewhat different, however. Oh, and while the SAROO is different from the rival Satiator in that it frees up the Saturn's Video CD cartridge slot, you can't actually use the Video CD cart when the SAROO is inserted – because it totally bypasses the CD block, and that's required for the Video CD / MPEG cart to function properly.
While SAROO is arguably lagging behind its rivals when it comes to features and compatibility, the fact that it's so cheap is a massive plus point. Some other Saturn ODEs are two or even three times the cost of a SAROO, and the fact that they aren't open-source means that further development is likely to be slow.
SAROO, on the other hand, already has a large community of people who are helping to evolve the device, either via their own unique firmware forks or by making suggestions to the code. This, twinned with the SAROO's low cost and wide distribution, could make this the de facto Saturn flash cart in the years to come.
For now, it's still a little rough around the edges and the process of obtaining one can be fraught with issues, depending on your retailer – but we'd still recommend you give this a shot if you're looking for a low-cost ODE for your Saturn.
Comments 21
When I get my hands on this thing, it wil never leave my Skeleton Saturn.
Caught wind of this on from Sega Lord but wasn’t clear on the details.
i miss my saturn so much 😣
Eff ODEs like that like $250. The monetization of the retrogame hobby right now is ridiculous. Support cheap, open-source, awesome projects!
@-wc- I wonder if this supports playing imports? If so you can get a JP Saturn even on ebay really cheap! Saturn def will always be my fav system, and there's so many weird awesome JP games to discover now matter how deep I think I've gone into the library
@GhaleonUnlimited This cart totally overcomes the region lock out, it will play games from any region, regardless of the console's origin
@NinChocolate
“Caught wind”…
…Blast Wind!
Apologies once again from me! 😂 In all seriousness though, using this cartridge indeed enables one to catch and enjoy Blast Wind!
Been thinking about the Satiator for some time, but the price always put me off.
I think I'll get one of these instead! Only a few Saturn games I play.
Living in UK, where can I get one? Never used this AliExpress.
@eltomo
Ebay
This is the first thing I came across
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/145773775445?itmmeta=01J0E9K3WNPJDF6W1KYHYSAJMY&hash=item21f0cb4a55:g:2UQAAOSwThhmQfbc&itmprp=enc%3AAQAJAAAA4PdkGQ%2BelR8h28pdVJ%2FL5edwwna%2BENoy4EuyYXa5eUIfrUz692bGDbi0Zg53bpkbXNht9uNHGF%2ByqJX0rdmNmgBaPWTB9VQely021GP%2FJVEeyn0qMnqLY--soysvQdx8h%2BvFcTYi9Tqlxsnhr4fPf%2FSV3t8Uq47Rly5KcxRDGaFk%2ByzdjeKZRZeSL7EL4dCjgOXtmao7cTvRSM8XNRJ9y8vC4RHcUQ2uyiE96yVEWzTJkltX%2FcNYtr%2B%2FnnYop2D%2F871oektkqnO9BL9wUDszMWo2iz7poqim4y9qbD2%2BkUQv%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR7K-zMmDZA
@-wc-
Why not get back in to the Saturn ?
I manage to get back in to the Saturn, after i foolishly sold it all off in 2019.
The Saturn doesnt have to be a money sink
You can buy a Japanese Saturn, and cheap Japanese games.
Most of the best Saturn games are pick up and play.
Or kit it out with an ODE and never have to bother with discs again.
Or get the saroo or pseudo kai.
There are so many options to get back in to the Saturn.
There are wireless controllers and HDMI adapters that make the machine think its hooked up with its component cables.
Now , is a good time to be a Saturn gamer.
my Saturn's internal memory wipes itself on the regular, and my cart port is currently occupied by a psuedosaturn kai to bypass region lock, so knowing this can perform both functions AND speed up load times makes this a must-buy for sure
Something I should point out is the saturn card slot is quite delicate and using poorly made carts can wided the pins casuing your saturn to fail to read any cart. So be careful.
Why does sonic look so sad?
@Poodlestargenerica
Cause he has to share space with Edgy The Hedgy.
Or saw the state of his franchise.
@KitsuneNight I assumed the ebay ones would be knock offs. Thanks 😊
@eltomo
Got to be honest, I don't know if they are knock offs.
But Saroo is an opensurce project so anybody can make one.
Technically there are no knocks off just poor quality and better quality ones.
If anything the Ebay ones are less of a risk then Alibaba, I suppose.
As someone who has fully recapped and modded out close to a dozen sega saturns with ODEs, to all of you (including Damien who wrote this thus further spreading the misconception) there is nothing fragile about the cart slot on the saturn. Depress the cart slot flap, insert a jewelers philips head screw driver and loosen the screw on the left and right side of the cart slot about 8 complete turns. The slot is prone to flex from the RF shield and casing. Loosen those screws and it will work perfectly. You’re all welcome.
The main issue with this thing right now is there's a lot of shortcuts being taken with it. If you look in the source code you'll see it's actually patching the games to make them run on it. On top of that there's a config file applying game specific configurations to try and get those to work as well. So the compatibility of the thing isn't nearly as good as people are claiming.
The patching itself runs a lot of other risks because it's just being done blindly without really checking what it's patching. So it's already falsely identifying games, prototypes, demos, etc. as the wrong thing and applying a patch to them resulting in crashes and unstable behavior.
There's a ton of issues on the github page with more added daily it seems. Because of how they're trying to fix things each update seems to break games that were previously working since there's no real regression testing going on. Sure it's open source, but that doesn't always mean it's good. It's only as good as the developers contributing to it.
I get people are excited about this thing being cheap, but that's really all it has going for it. From a developer standpoint it's a compatibility nightmare. I'd honestly recommend a modchip and CD-Rs before I'd recommend a Saroo cart.
@amongtheworms strikes again! lol
Does the Satiator speed up load times as well? Thanks!
@Damo I picked up an elite version but I'm having compatibility issues with most titles, most often sound problems but you say largely most games run well? I'm wondering if it's the cart slot? I'm running the latest firmware on a decent SD card.
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