MiSTer FPGA Forum

This thread isn't meant as a request thread, but more of an inquiry. Looking at this System 16 page http://www.system16.com/base.php#1, it got me thinking, how much work is required to get these boards up and running assuming the PS1 and Saturn cores end up working out on MiSTer?

I've heard that the Saturn ST-V is essentially identical to a Sega Saturn, but with cartridges as opposed to CDs. That may be an oversimplifaction though. On the other hand, there's 16 total boards based on the PS1 hardware from Capcom, Konami, Namco and Taito. Obviously, these boards will require a lot more work, but since there's tremendous progress being made on the Saturn core and Robert Piep said he'd do the PS1 core after the WonderSwan core if no one else picks it up, how difficult is it to get these arcade games running after the Saturn and PS1 cores are "complete"?

I have no developer experience and wanted to get the community's opinion on this. These 2 cores will open up a goldmine of arcade classics.

I believe the Saturn and the ST-V have similar architecture, developed by the same Defense contractor firm Lockheed Martin for Sega.
But the Saturn and the ST-V have vastly different specs. Virtual On for the ST-V could not run on the Saturn, they had to dumb down some off the effects to get the game to run on the Saturn.

The "PS1" boards you speak of aren't PS1 based, they are just cross compatible with PS1 peripherals (like the memory cards).
The arcade hardware of the PS1 and Saturn era are vastly more powerful than the Home console counterparts.

For example.
Even in with the Dreamcast, the Naomi hardware (despite sharing the DC architecture) has more Ram and more CPU Clock Cycles than the Dreamcast console. And the Dreamcast was the first console (other than the Neo geo) that got perfect home arcade ports. The Naomi 2 hardware is way, way more powerful than the DC.

Its only fairly recently did consoles caught up with Arcade hardware.

darksakul wrote: ↑Tue Sep 28, 2021 8:19 pm I believe the Saturn and the ST-V have similar architecture, developed by the same Defense contractor firm Lockheed Martin for Sega.
But the Saturn and the ST-V have vastly different specs. Virtual On for the ST-V could not run on the Saturn, they had to dumb down some off the effects to get the game to run on the Saturn.

Virtual-On isn't an ST-V game, it's a Sega Model2 game. ST-V and Model2 are completely different architectures, they don't even use the same CPU. It's not surprising sacrifices had to be made to port it to the Saturn; the Model2 has a much more advanced 3D capable GPU.

The ST-V is pretty much a jamma saturn that takes carts instead of CD-roms.