Why no SMD compatibility on the Saturn?

I recently got a Saturn (I traded my orginal Saturn years ago) with manual, after reading the manual I noticed that the Saturn has a 68EC000 for a sound processor. If the Saturn already had a 68000 compatible processor then why was there no Genesis plug in like the Power Base Converter?

Didn't anyone at Sega look at the 68EC000 in the Saturn and think that they could use it as a marketing weapon by giving the Saturn backwards compatiblity (via a add on since the Saturn had no Z80) with the Genesis? Didn't anyone at Sega think that the Genesis libarary on the Saturn would boost sales?

Didn't anyone think they they might even be able to do it on the cheap by emulating the Z80 via software (the Saturn is powerful enough)?

Apparently nobody did think any of that. I think Sega of Japan really wanted to put the Genesis behind them. Maybe they were afraid if they did something like that the publilc would've viewed the Saturn as "just another Genesis upgrade" like the Sega CD or the 32X? That's my probably completely wrong theory at least.

I agree with Obviously - by the time Saturn came around, Sega had two add-ons that had absolutely tanked and a Power Base Converter for Genesis that hadn't exactly set the world on fire. They were sick of attachments and I think they were right in assuming that the public would be EXTREMELY wary of any sort of Sega peripheral along those lines. Hilariously enough there is a rumor of a "Sega 64" (might be just a rumor, probably is) that would be the Saturn's version of a 32X. I wonder if the nutcase over at SoJ who suggested that got fired on the spot.

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Originally Posted by Genesis Knight

I agree with Obviously - by the time Saturn came around, Sega had two add-ons that had absolutely tanked and a Power Base Converter for Genesis that hadn't exactly set the world on fire. They were sick of attachments and I think they were right in assuming that the public would be EXTREMELY wary of any sort of Sega peripheral along those lines. Hilariously enough there is a rumor of a "Sega 64" (might be just a rumor, probably is) that would be the Saturn's version of a 32X. I wonder if the nutcase over at SoJ who suggested that got fired on the spot.

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The PBC didn't tank in Europe. It did in the states, but who really owned a SMS? It wasn't a real addon, more of a acessory, not it's own platform like the 32X.

If Sega really ran with the idea they could add a 68000 to the plugin using the 68EC000 of the Saturn as like the Sega CD 68000 thus making the Saturn be able to play Sega CD games (with shorter loading times). Could go even further and easly add 32x support through the dual SH2 processors of the Saturn by making the addon basically a Sega Genesis in a cart.

I think Genesis users would have apprecaited the backwards compatibility, also devlopers would probably have liked the idea that they could still write for the Genesis and get the Saturn audience.

I think they should have made it possible to play Mega Drive and 32X carts through the cart slot and Mega CD games through the CD drive. Then you'd have everything under the same roof.

Genesis/MD compatibility on the Saturn was precisely the reason a 68k was used in the design. They had planned on it.

But as SoJ became more controlling and bitchier towards the other divisions, they began basing worldwide decisions on Japanese market considerations. In Japan there was no reason to bother with a Mega Drive enabler for Saturn, and so the world never got one.

I think we can all agree that such a device would've been significantly beneficial in both North America and Europe.

Perhaps somebody can homebrew one?

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Originally Posted by j_factor

Genesis/MD compatibility on the Saturn was precisely the reason a 68k was used in the design. They had planned on it.

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Yeah. Like how the Super NES was originally intended to be compatible with NES games, as shown by its 8-bit data bus - it was one of those ideas half-thought up in development, but was never expanded upon. I think you're attributing this to malice, when it's perhaps simple incompetence instead.

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Perhaps somebody can homebrew one?

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Of course. Put a Mega-Drive-on-a-chip into a cartridge with a slot on top to do all the work, and simply route all sound and video through the Saturn - the same way the Action Replay works.

Like others have suggested, it's probably something that seemed like a good idea during development. "Hey, if we use this architecture, later on we could play older games on this thing."

It's probably neither incompitence nor malice...it's just an idea that was never taken advantage of. And it's not like throwing the potential for backwards compatibility in did any harm.

Also, given how expensive the system was (that Yamaha chip costed $200 according to launch articles I've read), I doubt Sega of Japan really wanted to spend more money on an addition that really wouldn't help its situation in its native Japan. It would be nice to see if some homebrew developer or HK outfit could work something out using that slot, particularly if it could enable Sega CD games to run, too. Willy Beamish might still be playable with the Saturn's double speed drive. :)

I suppose it was to reduce some cost. Saturn was very expensive on its own, so some more chips would make it worse. Also in Japan MegaDrive was a sad number three in the market so Sega of Japan was very "clever" and decided that American and European markets (where Genny was the leader) were not so important to include backwards compatibility.

Imagine if Sega would have released the Saturn with backwards compatibility and a decent dev kit a bit later... imagine there was no 32x... imagine Sega as the number one again :cool: .

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Originally Posted by RedAngel

I suppose it was to reduce some cost. Saturn was very expensive on its own, so some more chips would make it worse. Also in Japan MegaDrive was a sad number three in the market so Sega of Japan was very "clever" and decided that American and European markets (where Genny was the leader) were not so important to include backwards compatibility.

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Yes but Sega could have released a Genesis in a cart for the Saturn and used the chips of the Saturn for 32x and SegaCD compatibility when the cart was pluged in. Thus the Saturn would have cost the same and the extra cost would be in the form of a plugin.

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Originally Posted by Psy

Yes but Sega could have released a Genesis in a cart for the Saturn and used the chips of the Saturn for 32x and SegaCD compatibility when the cart was pluged in. Thus the Saturn would have cost the same and the extra cost would be in the form of a plugin.

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And who would have bought it, other than people who already owned a Mega Drive? Remember, the 32X and Mega-CD were all beginning to struggle at the time the Saturn was released - I very much doubt another Sega console addon would have made many people wallet-lightening happy.

edit: Let's take things one step further. WHY CAN'T I PLAY SATURN GAMES IN MY DREAMCAST?

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Originally Posted by Elusive

And who would have bought it, other than people who already owned a Mega Drive? Remember, the 32X and Mega-CD were all beginning to struggle at the time the Saturn was released - I very much doubt another Sega console addon would have made many people wallet-lightening happy.

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Those that already owned a Saturn but want to play Genesis games.

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Originally Posted by Elusive

edit: Let's take things one step further. WHY CAN'T I PLAY SATURN GAMES IN MY DREAMCAST?

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The Saturn had two SH-2 CPUs while the Dreamcast only had one SH-4 and it is hard to get a game written for two CPUs to run on one without rewritting the code of the game.

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Originally Posted by Elusive

edit: Let's take things one step further. WHY CAN'T I PLAY SATURN GAMES IN MY DREAMCAST?

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Because, in a past life, YOU HAVE ANGERED ZEUS AND HE DEMANDS VENGEANCE.