​The Sega Saturn games console has been saved from extinction after its security systems were cracked after almost 23 years.

The console's days looked numbered because there is a common fault with the disc drive and a shortage of replacement parts.

But engineer James Laird-Wah has developed a workaround, which allows the disc drive to be bypassed altogether.

It meant running games and other software from a simple USB stick - but to make it work he had to crack the Saturn's digital rights management (DRM).

DRM is an access control technology which restricts the usage of proprietary hardware.


Image: The clunky console was released in 1994 but was a commercial flop

Despite never being compromised in its 22-year history, Mr Laird-Wah managed to break through the copy protection.

He said: "This (Saturn) is now at the point where, not only can it boot and run games, I've finished just recently putting in audio support, so it can play audio tracks.

"These consoles, the CD drives are slowly dying.

"And especially in the West, it was never that popular a console.

"So finding spare parts is actually a little bit difficult.

"For the time being, I possess the only Saturn in the world that's capable of writing files to a USB stick."

He hopes his work will help to preserve the Saturn and its games library.

The best-selling games on the Sega Saturn were Virtua Fighter 2, Sega Rally Championship, Virtua Cop and Daytona USA.

Overall, the console was a commercial flop - selling fewer than 10 million units.

It was discontinued in most countries in 1998.