Saturn Vs. Playstation 1 (psx)

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Originally Posted by TrekkiesUnite118

This is the site I found:

http://hitmen.c02.at/html/psx_docs.html

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Yeah, the hitmen and padua are the two best PSX sites around. :cool:

Padua

Another great site is James' PSX Programming page.

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Originally Posted by TrekkiesUnite118

And no, the ROM carts for Saturn games don't store code to be sent to the Saturn. They store commonly used data that needs to be loaded in quickly so it doesn't have to be loaded off the disc. They don't store actual code last I checked.

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Hmm, I thought it was both. Nevertheless, I can't imagine how something that is designed to pass through code couldn't accept data just as well.

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Originally Posted by TrekkiesUnite118

I actually read somewhere that the Saturn's cart port can address up to 128MB. Let me see if I can find where that was.

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I was speaking purely for the CPU address space, though I'm not positive on that either. (I haven't compared other pinout info) The video bus is separate... plus there's bank switching in any case, so there's no hard limit on memory at all, jsut on flat mapped memory.

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It depends on how high the mark up was on the games. If the disc only cost less than a dollar to press, you could afford to throw in that cart for free and still make money. And again, the stand alone version of X-men vs Street Fighter didn't come until a year or so later if I remember correctly. It was the game the 4MB RAM cart launched with and it was required to play the game. Since that review obviously states the cart did not make the game cost more that implies it was bundled in for free. When other games that used it came out packages with or without the RAM cart were offered, I would assume the RAM cart ones cost the same as X-men vs Street Fighter did when it launched (the same as a standard game when it was new) and the ones without probably cost less.

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Don't forget there's a LOT more to cost than sheer CD-ROM production: packaging, advertising, distribution, and of course the actual development costs of the game, then the added mark up at retail after the direct sale price from the distributor. (and in '96/97 4 MB was still not super cheap, though from late '96 onward RAM prices were dropping steadily again -from ~1992-1996 prices stagnated a bit)
At the retail level, the 4 MB RAM cart alone probably would have cost as much as an average new PSX/Saturn game of the time. (if it was sold above loss -retailers would be making a profit of course)


The pack-in RAM versions would have been more expensive for sure save, at least excluding any short term promotional stuff.
I could see initial releases of games which were the first to use the RAM cart and also required it (couldn't work at all without it) would have been initially bundled with the RAM cart exclusively until more games were released.

I checked the prices, the RAM cart versions cost 7800 Yen, the Stand alone versions were 5800 Yen. Upon comparing prices to other Saturn games the price is a bit all over the place, some games launched at 7800 Yen, others at 6800, others at 5800, some even at 4800 or even 2800. However to put this in perspective, standard releases of some games like Grandia and other RPGs launched at 7800 Yen, and it just gives you the game. True premium bundles like you are thinking cost 8800 Yen and up.

How much did the RAM carts cost when sold alone?

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Originally Posted by kool kitty89

How much did the RAM carts cost when sold alone?

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They both cost 5800 Yen by themselves.

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Originally Posted by TrekkiesUnite118

They both cost 5800 Yen by themselves.

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Ah, I thought you meant that the Games using the RAM cart cost 5800 Yen when sold a la carte. (not that the carts themselves cost that)

PlayStation. SEGA was dead to me by the time I got my PlayStation in 1997. :D

ah the memories of that Sampler DEMO disc

Resident Evil Director's Cut

and no memory card.

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Originally Posted by kool kitty89

Ah, I thought you meant that the Games using the RAM cart cost 5800 Yen when sold a la carte. (not that the carts themselves cost that)

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The RAM cart games by themselves without the Cart cost 5800 Yen.

The RAM cart by itself cost 5800 Yen.

The RAM cart games bundled with the RAM cart cost 7800 Yen.

To put into perspective of other games, games like Grandia and what not cost 7800 Yen and came with no additional hardware. However some other games cost about 5800 Yen when they came out, the prices were kind of all over the place with software. I think it depended on the type of game.