Action Replay 4M Plus - Ultimate enhancement for your Saturn console

Recently bought myself an old Sega Saturn to relive my childhood. I never had an opportunity to get any of the memory card upgrades when I was younger, so I thought I'd take the plunge and get this. This particular product has been around for a long time (the copyright on the software is 1996). It has cheat codes for most games up to about 1997, but it lets you enter your own if you want (and you can even delete the built-in codes if you need more space). It bypasses the region locking on the console so you can play import games. It has 4M of backup ROM to complement the system's built-in stoarge, though the console can't read from it directly; you have to move your game saves to/from system memory in the card's menu which the console automatically boots to if you have it inserted. It also provides either 1M or 4M of additional RAM for those games that require it; the cartridge software is smart enough to automatically detect the needed amount when the game starts up (unlike other RAM carts that had a physical switch you had to set before starting). The stock cartridge won't let you play backup copies of games (that is, games burned to CD-R). However, there is a firmware called "Psuedo Saturn Kai" that you can flash to this cart, which adds that ability. There are some ready-made (and more expensive) variants of this cart that come with that pre-flashed, but you also have the option of doing it yourself with this "official" version, assuming you can get the Saturn to load the flashing software CD the first time. A word of caution about the hardware in general; the Sega Saturn cartridge slot and after-market cartridges like this can be very finicky. The hardware is 20+ years old, and the cartridge slot itself was known for being delicate even back in its hey-day. When I first plugged mine in, the console got stuck in a boot loop. After trying various techniques to seating the cartridge, I was able to get it to load once and launch a game, but it then failed while the game was going through the intro/title screen. This told me that the cartridge itself was fine, and it was probably an issue of a bad connection when the cartridge was inserted. What eventually fixed it for me (at least for now) was a suggestion of disassembling the cartridge and plugging the naked board into the system. I did this, and to my surprise it completely fixed the issue; the cartridge loaded correctly every time I started the console, and I was able to launch games successfully without any hiccups. Apparently the plastic casing can cause the cartridge contacts to not line up properly with the pins in the slot. There are some suggestions about putting a piece of paper behind the cartridge when inserting it, or putting a piece of paper in the cartridge (on the back) to make sure it sits properly when inserted. For kicks, I just reassembled the cartridge since I double-confirmed the cartridge was fine, and so far it's continued to work properly. I'm guessing that by fully inserting the cartridge board into the cartridge slot without the casing in the way, the cartridge slot pins that weren't contacting correctly were re-bent in a way that it correctly makes contact now even with the cartridge casing on. So if you have problems, as a first step try disassembling the cartridge and plugging the cartridge board into the system. Remove the two screws on the cartridge, split apart the plastic shell, and pull out the circuit board (reverse to reassemble). If you still have trouble, there are other guides available with instructions on how to clean the cartridge slot and re-bend the pins. Make sure you are careful though! Overall the best upgrade you can get, and it's amazing it's still widely available for relatively cheap. There are some newer software options available to get even more out of it if you want, but you just need to be cognizant that old electronics like this might have problems. Thankfully, in most cases, there are solutions.

IF you take the time to pick up a Sega Saturn, then you need this cart. There is a reason that this cart is still highly in demand after all these years, it expands the potential of the system by leaps and bounds. You gives you more than enough storage for all of your game files, it gives you the expanded ram you need to play amazing games like X-Men vs Street Fighter, it gives you a cheat device, and most importantly it bypasses the silly region locking the system has. This allows you to play Japanese games with almost no hitch. There are some games that won't work notably KOF, but for the most part its probably the simplest region work around that you will find. The only real downsides to the cart are how the saves work and the liability that it can be for your cart slot. This does not allow you save directly to the cart like the official back up cart. You still use the internal system memory for your games, but you can back up and transfer saves from the cart when you first start up the system. The good thing about this is that if your internal battery dies you still have your saves. The other issue is not as big of a deal. The cart fits very snugly in the cart slot so if you take it in and out a lot, it has the potential to damage the pins of the cart slot. If that happens your in a bind as it likely can't be fixed and replacing it isn't all that easy or cheap either. The simple solution to this is that it never leaves the slot. You don't need another cart anyway, so no need to move it once its in. I bought mine more than two years ago, and it has yet to leave the cart slot. All in all this is a must have for any serious Sega Saturn fan. It isn't perfect, but at the end of the day it does so much for so little. Its fast, simple, and effective. I can't recommend it enough.

I read somewhere that there were about 500 Saturn games made, yet less than half of those ever got released in the US. I don't know how accurate that is, but I do know that several Japanese-only releases are what got me to recently jump on eBay and get a Saturn. Not only does the ARP allow you to play almost all Japanese Saturn games on the North American model, but it also has the RAM expansion. This was important since one of my favorite retro-games, Dungeons and Dragons Shadow over Mystara, requires the 4MB RAM card. The ARP works nicely not just for this game, but also for X-Men vs Street Fighter, Marvel Super Heroes vs Street Fighter, Vampire Savior, Final Fight Revenge, etc... I think there's only a few games out there that won't work; King of Fighters 95 comes to mind,but I can't remember the others. Bottom line is if you're a fan of retro-gaming, you gotta get a Saturn; and if you get a Saturn, you gotta get the Action Replay Plus. Make sure it's the most recent version you purchase 'cause the previous Saturn Action Replay versions WILL NOT work for the 1/4 MB RAM games. As other reviewers pointed out, ARP also provides cheats for the more popular Saturn games, as well as memory storage. It works on both North American and Asian/ Japanese models (not sure about European models as I don't have one). The ONLY problem I had with this was that it took a few times inserting it and re-inserting in to the Saturn and a little bit of jiggling and wiggling to get it to finally work. But I don't know if that's the console's fault (I bought it used after all) or the ARP's, but now that it's in and working properly, I'm never taking it back out! 3/10/13 Update: I found out that, just like any other product, there are some bad batches and defective ARP units. I recently got a third Japanese Sega Saturn and got another ARP. It worked perfectly on the first try. Out of curiosity, I tried the new ARP on my other two Sega Saturns, and again, it worked on the first try. When I attempted to re-insert the old ARP, it was not working. I again tried the new ARP on all three Saturns, and once again, it worked perfectly on each with the first try. So the Saturns were not at fault.

Let me play a Japanese game on a UK console, seems to work fine.

I have 2 Saturn's, model 1 and 2. This action replay works perfectly in both.

La cartuccia combina l'espansione di memoria ram, in realtà mai sfruttata nei giochi usciti qui in europa ma necessaria per eseguire alcuni titoli pubblicati solo in Giappone, e in più funziona anche come backup per i salvataggi. Chiunque possieda un Saturn sa che nel caso in cui la batteria a bottone sul retro venisse rimossa, anche solo per pochi secondi quando si scarica e viene sostituita con una nuova, tutti i salvataggi di gioco andrebbero perduti. Con la cartuccia le partite verranno comunque salvate nella memoria del sistema, ma sarà possibile trasferire i dati appunto sulla cartuccia, mettendoli al sicuro.

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Funciona perfectamente para mi sega saturn tanto japonesa como europea. Ha funcionado para la 1 y para la 2.