Sega Saturn mod questions

[kakutolives]

Hey I was just wondering if anybody has tried installing a chip in a saturn to play imports.
I was just wondering how well it works.

[PunkicCyborg]

I have a Japanese Saturn with a mod chip in it. It was fairly easy to install with only 2 solder points. If you have a US Saturn it's even easier. The Japanese model you have to solder to a pin on a chip and it's a little tricky. It works great and I've done the same mod to several of my friends Saturns and they've all been working fine with it for the last couple of years. I still prefer playing originals though to be honest. One nice thing about it though is you can change the region on the files before you burn them so if you have a US system you can just region patch Japanese games and vice versa.
You used to be able to get the chips for about $25 but I think the price has jumped a bit. Racketboy has them but I think people prefer the chips from the dude in England.

[kakutolives]

oh so a chip by itself can not boot an original import?
it needs to be re-burned and re-patched?

thanks for the info by the way.

[futureman2000]

If you plan to play burned games, then you install the chip- it attaches between the cd-rom and the mobo to bypass the security.

If you plant to play imports, you want to get a Pro-action replay, seen here: http://www.thegametrain.com/products/Saturn-Import-Loaders/314-saturn-action-replay-4m-auto-plus.html (I don't know anything about this site- just found a nice pic here)

If you have both, then you can play burned imports.

The chip is really easy to install- there are a few guides online. One thing to be sure of is that your Saturn has round buttons on the front/top, rather than oval buttons. The oval buttons indicate an earlier model which is harder to mod.

**edit: typo**

[PunkicCyborg]

oh so a chip by itself can not boot an original import?
it needs to be re-burned and re-patched?

thanks for the info by the way.

Yeah all the chip does is allow you to play burns. There is a region patching program that you just dump your image in and it changes the region of the image. It's pretty easy to install a region switch though, if you are already have the system open you can easily find the region jumpers and wire them to a switch. There are a couple guides online of how to do this.
It's just too bad there aren't many homebrew games because that's what the mod chip would be really awesome for.
Those ram/region carts are cool but have a bad reputation for expanding the pins in the cart slot and making it malfunction over time so if you get one for region switching you might want to just install the region switch.

[SignOfZeta]

If you just want to play imports all you need is a commonly available $1 switch and the skill to install it. "Chips" are for CD-Rs and PARs are just pieces of shit that hog up the cart slot. Chips and PARs do have their uses, but they aren't needed just to play games.

[incrediblehark]

get a dpdt switch, some good wire, a soldering iron and a little patience you can play saturn imports. a region mod for the saturn is a lot easier than it may seem at first, there are guides online and im sure there are a few people on the boards myself included who can help you through the process too.