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Problem with Metal Slug and Action Replay Plus 4M

Eidolon_NG - May 30, 2016

Eidolon_NG

May 30, 2016

Hi y'all,

I am experiencing a strange problem with Metal Slug's "attract mode" (demo mode when waiting at the title screen and doing nothing) and my newly acquired Action Replay Plus 4M cartridge....

See this video:

https://youtu.be/9wfnJ9n6_Go

I tried the Saturn Kamasutra - meaning, I tried every possible (well, at least a dozen) angles of how I can insert the Action Replay in the Saturn cart slot. Nothing helps.

Do I have a faulty Action Replay?
Do I have a faulty Metal Slug CD?
Is this is known problem of Metal Slug's attract mode ("bug")?

		SegaSaturnShrine	Jun 1, 2016
		Is this a backup copy of metal slug or an original? Maybe its a bad burn/dump?

		Eidolon_NG	Jun 2, 2016
		It's an original, and the CD looks fine (no scratches or such) so I rule out a CD read problem...

		SegaSaturnShrine	Jun 5, 2016
		Bizarre, if you have a modchip installed or are comfortable using the swap trick (do so at your own risk of course ) make a backup and try patching the region and booting the game without the cart and see it still does the same thing.

		Eidolon_NG	Jun 5, 2016
		Why should I do that? I have a "modded" PAL Saturn which is 50/60Hz and DE/JP/US switchable. Why should the weird graphics problem be related to the region code of the Metal Slug CD?

SegaSaturnShrine

Jun 5, 2016

	Eidolon_NG said:

I didn't know you had region switches installed on your saturn. I assumed you were using the Action Replay to get around the region lock. You probably should've been more specific about your setup in the OP especially considering you have multiple saturns

. I was thinking maybe there was some sort of compatibility issue with the AR cart and that game, not the region code per se. So does this occur when you boot the game without the cart?

		dibz	Jun 6, 2016
		No idea on the PAL Saturn. For what it's worth I used to play Metal Slug all the time back in the day, and I definitely had the same cartridge. Mine was a burned copy w/ a mod chip though.

		Eidolon_NG	Jun 6, 2016
		Ok right, I just naturally assumed that the problem is not related to a 50/60/region issue due to the fact that the rest of the game works. As it is Metal Slug, obviously the game cannot even be booted without a RAM cart. All that comes up is a warning screen. Well, let's close this thread. I guess I need a known-to-be-working Saturn as reference device to find out if the issue is related to my AR cartridge or the Saturn itself. It was just a try if anyone had seen the same behaviour as in the video and may have a solution right out of hand.

SegaSaturnShrine

Jun 6, 2016

	Eidolon_NG said:

Perhaps there's an action replay code floating around somewhere that fixes this (if its a known compatibility issue). If not it might just be a scuff on your disc

		Eidolon_NG	Jun 6, 2016
		The disc is flawless. So there is NO other way than to wait until I find a known-to-be-working Saturn to crosscheck if my AR or the Saturn is the problem.

		Thales Peres	Jun 7, 2016
		I've been experiencing the same kind of problem with my AR, and for me, it happens during gameplay, if I pause and leave it for a few minutes, when I unpause... BOOM! all glitchy just like on your video! As far as I know, everything is OK with my saturn (NTSC model 2) It also happens on Groove-on-Fight, with lots of strange behavior happening with the same conditions... pausing and after a few minutes, unpause, and glitchy behavior mostly when changing characters during fight

SegaSaturnShrine

Jun 8, 2016

	Thales Peres said:

Are either one of you using any sort of cheat codes or just strictly using the carts for ram etc?

		Eidolon_NG	Jun 8, 2016
		@Thales Peres... thanks for sharing. @SegaSaturnShrine... I for one use it strictly for RAM cart, no cheats. So it seems either both our AR have a Saturn cartridge port contact problem, both are faulty, or AR's RAM mode is faulty (in the sense that it is not working 100% like the one in the RAM cart which was packaged with Metal Slug). I wish I had not bought the AR, but a Metal Slug full package with CD+RAM cart. Then I'd know for sure what the problem is, but I guess this would be the most expensive way to narrow down the problem...

		dibz	Jun 8, 2016
		Now I'm rather curious. I haven't tried mine since before I was married, so 14+ years ago now. Maybe I'll hook up the ol' saturn tonight and see what happens.

Thales Peres

Jun 8, 2016

	SegaSaturnShrine said:

That can't be the case on my side because I have Pseudo Saturn Kai flashed on my AR... which doesn't have the codes functionality yet

SegaSaturnShrine

Jun 9, 2016

	Thales Peres said:

Oh okay, Idk then perhaps just some sort of data clash due to the hardware inside the cart itself messes with that particular game. Outside of that, i'm totally stumped

Thales Peres

Jun 10, 2016

I made some small videos: (One handed gameplay + glitched game... lol)

https://youtu.be/wTcdidDUfxA

https://youtu.be/tp5JeP8viBU

https://youtu.be/4hw0sId42Ag

The more time paused, more corrupted it gets when unpaused: here you can only see blocks of solid color instead of sprites:

https://imgur.com/8r5LY5H

WTF!!!

https://imgur.com/G4KmIuv

		SegaSaturnShrine	Jun 11, 2016
		That is really bizarre for sure. There must be some major compatibility issue with this game and the AR carts for whatever reason. I would imagine using an official RAM cart would get around this problem...

Mr^Burns

Oct 26, 2016

http://typicalgeek.blogspot.com/2012/06/saturn-met...

If you're playing Metal Slug Saturn with any cartridge other than the HSS-0150 1MB RAM cart, you're not doing it right. Both the Action Replay Plus (I own the last revision released, with the dual 1MB/4MB modes and the fixes for Vampire Savior) and the HSS-0157 4MB RAM cart introduce additional slowdown despite seeming to work with the game just fine. This is really obvious with some simple tests. Load up the game with a 4MB cart or an Action Replay and check out the slowdown in two crucial areas: the Mission One boss and the section with the boats in Mission Two. You'll notice how much slower it runs than when you use the official 1MB RAM cart meant for the game.

Hopefully this clears up some of the misconceptions about the Saturn port of Metal Slug.

antime

Oct 27, 2016

	Torico said:

The Action Replay Plus switches between 1MB and 4MB modes as needed by the game, and it seems to be the perfect solution. 1MB for your SNK games that need it, and 4MB for everything else.

Yeah, no.