The Samsung Saturn

I now have three of these units and have some additional information. The Samsung Saturn is, basically, really bloody weird. It's a hybrid old/new model Saturn, with the motherboard from a late-model Saturn (two separate boards, one for the controller ports only) and the shell from an old model (oval buttons). According to a reliable source, Sega themselves used this same setup for the last generation of oval-button systems in Japan, so the Samsung unit is not unique. It's very possible other units, like the US version and possibly the HiSaturn and V-Saturn also had these versions. Two out of three of these units has no Japanese language option, which isn't surprising considering the ongoing irrational hostility between the Koreans and Japanese. The Samsung Saturn has a strange power supply, being the only Saturn to offer a wide range of voltage support (110V - 220V).

Not So Unusual Anymore

Note: The following paragraph was more relevent when the system was believed to be the only oval/round hybrid system. Several fixes were employed to mate these two odd components. The power switch, reset switch, and both power and activity LEDs had to have adjustments made so they'd work with the old shell. Both LEDs use acrylic risers to make the light visible from the PCB (on the bottom) through the shell (on the top). While one riser was used on the newer model Japanese Saturns from Sega, none of these new-model PCBs had activity lights (though some had a place where one could go). The power switch is mounted on tall plastic legs, where on the Japanese old models they were mounted to the top half of the system, and in the Japanese new models it was mounted on a metal riser platform. The reset button, which was mounted to the top of other oval-button units, is connected to the base by a plastic stalk, like the newer round-button models.

US Hybrid

The US Saturn system from April 1996 is a HyBrid system. An oval case surrounding a “v2” 21 pin ribbon cable motherboard. The following is an excerpt taken from http://forums.segaxtreme.net/showpost.php?p=73890&postcount=2 and originally posted by A Murder of Crows on SegaXtreme.net:

Sega Saturn Model/Board Revision FAQ - 08-27-2003, 03:41 AM (Excerpt)

Date is found on the bottom of the US Saturn Systems

R = Round Power/Reset Buttons

O = Oval Power/Reset Buttons

#/# = Pins on ribbon cable/legs on cd-rom board numbers

All assume a US Saturn since i do not have PAL or Japanese Saturns to look at.

Model 2.0

Date: April 1996

Specs: O 21/64 (See notes)

Prognosis: Modable



Notes: This is probably one of the rarest US Saturns. I have owned 3 of these babies and all 3 have worked with my older 21 pin modboard. this system is the only one that is 21 pin and still has the Disc Access light and the oval buttons. You can replace the 64 leg CD-Rom unit with a 32 leg unit. Because of the rumors regarding a March 1996 unit with round buttons, i will not dismiss the possibility of a round button April 1996….i figure it's very possible, but just highly unlikely. Modboard position should be facing towards the outside of the Saturn to make this work. Controller port and LED board is a separate component on this model.

Notes from A Murder of Crows, 2008-02-24:

This post was from a few years back on my essentially fruitless attempt to correct the misinformation regarding different models/revisions of Saturn systems. Now that the original Samsung article was updated to indicate the unit did in fact have a Reset button, I can confirm that the Samsung units appear to be Model 2.0 (probably closer to a 2.1 based on the “weirdness” surrounding the CD board and power supply) under my guidelines. On a side note, try as I might, people never really caught on to the fact that Round Button does not equal a “Version 2” system. In the original posting, “Round Button” units are marked as 3.0, 3.1, and 4.0, based entirely on the internal hardware. The motherboard used in the April 1996 units, and, by extension, most likely the Samsung units as well, have a decidedly different layout from those that came either before or after them.

Original text + fixes