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Import memory card for saturn
schi0249 - May 20, 2002
  schi0249 May 20, 2002
Will the official Japanese memory card work in a US saturn?

 Arakon May 20, 2002
yes. saturn carts have no country protection of any kind.

 mal Mar 19, 2003
*brushes the cobwebs off the thread*

OK, a bit of background.

I've got a few Euro Saturns and a Japanese Saturn too. Recently I bought a Euro backup memory cart and it works fine in my Euro Saturns. I haven't been able to try it in my Japanese Saturn because I haven't had the cart slot fixed yet. But that's another story.

Anyway, I recently won a Japanese cart on Ebay. After the auction was complete, the seller contacted me to say that the cart didn't work on his Euro saturn and that if I didn't have a Japanese Saturn he'd refund the money. Considering that I was of the belief that carts worked universally I took him up on the offer of a refund. A couple of weeks later I won another Japanese cart. When it arrived I tried it in my Euro Saturns.

They didn't recognize it.

This is what confuses me: Have I just had a run of bad luck and come across two dead carts in rapid succession or is there more to it?

I only wonder if there is some sort of territory lock because of this:


  
	
	

		
		

			Originally posted by Ram Cart manual



This product is intended for use in Japan only.  SEGA will not be held responsible if this product is used outside Japa. Further, SEGA offers no warranty, service or support overseas. Sega does not authorize the export, use for profit, rental or leaseing of this product.


While that sort of disclaimer may not be surprising, my Japanese 3D pad only has the first and last sentences (not the one I've highlighted) and it works fine on my Euro Saturn.

Can anyone confirm or deny that a Japanese back up cart will work in a non-Japanese Saturn?

 ExCyber Mar 19, 2003
If the Action Replay Header and additional "Produced by or under license from..." screen are any indication, a region lockout system for carts does exist. Whether or not such a thing would be used by an official memory cart is beyond my knowledge...

 antime Mar 19, 2003
The Action Replay ROM header isn't in the format described in the cartridge manuals, instead it's an almost-to-spec IP header. It's this fact that lead me to believe the cartridge fools the BIOS into thinking it's loading from the CD while it's actually copying code from the cart. (The header differs in some comment fields, like if the format was deduced by reverse-engineering, without access to manuals.)

 Taelon Mar 19, 2003

  
	
	

		
		

			Can anyone confirm or deny that a Japanese back up cart will work in a non-Japanese Saturn?


It does work. I have an original Japanese (white) Sega backup cartridge in my American NTSC model-2 Saturn.


  
	
	

		
		

			...haven't been able to try it in my Japanese Saturn because I haven't had the cart slot fixed yet. But that's another story...


You can fix a cart slot? How? I could use the info since mine seems to be very weak and only sporadically sees my 1MB memory cart (not the backup cart--this is another one)...

 mal Mar 20, 2003

  
	
	

		
		

			Originally posted by Taelon@Mar 20, 2003 @ 08:55 AM







It does work. I have an original Japanese (white) Sega backup cartridge in my American NTSC model-2 Saturn.


That's somewhat disappointing.

Maybe it's a 50/60 Hz issue *clucthes at straws*


  
	
	

		
		

			  You can fix a cart slot? How? I could use the info since mine seems to be very weak and only sporadically sees my 1MB memory cart (not the backup cart--this is another one)...


I've lined someone up who's going to replace the cart slot with one from a dead Saturn. Yes, a lot of soldering. Glad I'm not trying it.

 mal Apr 1, 2003
It now works fine.

After trying it in two Euro Saturns and getting no sign of life I tried it in my new US Saturn (just to see ) and there it was in the memory manager. I've since tried it in the Euro Saturn and it works fine.

Go figure. *shrug*

 Taelon Apr 2, 2003
ROTFL! mal, that's EXACTLY what happened to me with the 1MB and 4MB RAM carts, remember? The 1MB cart started working the day I got the 4MB cart, is why I sold that one to you...heh.... To think it had come all the way here from Japan, then went back down to Australia the next day...