Sega Saturn Model/Board Revision FAQ?

[mal]

That marker is for the manufacture date of the case and there's no way of telling when the case was made compared to when the Saturn was assembled.

 

[IBarracudaI]

ah... didn't know that. thanks for the tip

 

[AntiPasta]

well these markers on my Saturn case would mean it was made in *MAY* 1995 :huh

Moreover, what does the 'JPN/USA/MULTI' thing signify? Do they mean PAL by MULTI?

 

[IBarracudaI]

I guess so.. MULTI means everything else other than JP or US

 

[A Murder of Crows]

This is why i can't believe that there were 4 offcial regions for the saturn. Multi seems to generally mean PAL systems (Oz, Euro, etcs). Unless someone can produce the jumper setting and show a case that shows Asia PAL or Asia NTSC (whichever one it was supposed to be), then i can't count it in. If someone can produce pics of the disc of an original game set for this mystery region, then i could probably count it.

all the system shells i've seen only have 3 regions mentioned...USA, JPN, and Multi.

Antipasta, it's entirely possible that your system's life began in 1995. It's my guess that the production on a revised board begins several months before those revised boards it the market...the PS2 is a great example....they announced the SCPH-50000 series when it was jsut about ready to go into the market, but in order to announce it, the board was probably being revised as early as a year ago.

my April 1996 system (O-21/64) began it's life in 1995, according the the copyright markings on the *BOTTOM* of the main board:

Note: Controller port and LED board is a seperate component on this model.

Bottom of Mainboard:

171-7128C

© SEGA 1995 PC BD SATURN

MAIN VA SG

Top of main board:

(Reverse RU)E91964 340

94V-0

837-12126

MADE IN JAPAN

IC BD SATURN MAIN VA SG

Sticker on main board:

AE604240000

Back Sticker:

Model No.: MK-80000

Power Source: AC 120V 60Hz 25W

SEGA Enterprises, Ltd. IV

Serial No.: AE62055140

Made In Malaysia 670-7921 D

Lower Shell Sticker:

April, 1996 IV 670-70134A

Lower Shell, Internal:

4/96 USA E)

19-XXXX

04080-10-1

E) JSR NC 471

Upper Case, Internal:

7/95 (bastardized case) USA C)

19-XXXX

04070-08-1

C) JSR NX277

Shell, controller board, power supply, and CD-Rom drive are all going to be used to ressurect other dead systems.

/<

 

[mal]

I wouldn't get too worried about the country designation of the shell components. I'm 99% that one of my Euro Saturns is marked as being 'US'.

 

[A Murder of Crows]

i'm not actually worried too much about it...except that i do try to keep the bottom shell with the same mainboard, since the US saturns are all marked as being manufactured at a certain month/year, which is the only reason i have as much information as i do about the revisions and when they occurred.

also, on the US saturns, the cd-drive lids are exchangable between all models as far as i can tell, but the Round saturns have a clear window, where as the oval saturns have a darker tinted window.

 

[A Murder of Crows]

I'm gonna start to do more work on this in a few weeks since i finally have some time to work on my saturns again.

I'm probably going to only focus on US saturns and the occasional oddball saturn (derby, HiSAturn, V-Saturn, etc)

sorry i've been away for so long

/<