Plus, that's not hard to do on the Dreamcast either, after all (we do have full network support, including a modem driver in the homebrew SDK). Peer-to-peer telecom is a non-issue because, once again, almost no games made use of that feature (and it required extra hardware, yet again). Of course, you can pretty easily get an adapter to use an actual Saturn controller on the Dreamcast, which kinda makes that somewhat moot. I wouldn't necessarily say it was better, but it certainly had more buttons. The controller is one you might have a point on. The Dreamcast can handle full-fledged VideoCDs in software, so there's no reason it couldn't handle basically the same thing off a Saturn disc.
That, and decoding MPEG in software isn't that hard, for what the Saturn would be doing anyway (at the most, you're looking at 320x240 resolution, most likely). Almost no games "required" the MPEG card (the MPEG edition of Lunar Silver Star Story is the only one I can think of), and I'm pretty sure that no games outside of Japan did (since the MPEG card wasn't released outside of Japan, IIRC). It was an extra piece of hardware that you had to buy separately - the system didn't do it natively. MPEG is a non-issue because almost no Saturn games made use of that extra hardware. The extra RAM in the Dreamcast means you can just "save" to RAM and write it out when it's convenient, so complete non-issue. Instantaneous saving is a non-issue, because you can easily defer writing data to the VMU and do so in a thread. In the end, Sega was so diverse with their hardware that it wouldn't even make sense to do that and I am completely okay having both systems dedicated to it's own library.As someone who is fairly well versed in both the Saturn and Dreamcast hardware (although, moreso on Dreamcast), most of the problems you've mentioned are pretty minor.
I might be sounding a little harsh, but it isn't like the Megasis with Master System support, or PS2 with PS1 support, or even Wii with GameCube support and even Wii U with Wii support. The Saturn is it's own thing and I would like to keep it that way.
I would have better off having both systems. That doesn't make the Dreamcast any worse off, it's just less means more in this occasion. There is instantaneous saving, MPEG encoding, better controller, peer to peer telecom, proper 2D rendering, the list goes on. There are so many thing missing in the Dreamcast to even make it remotely playable.
Scaryred24 wrote:As of a Saturn emulator on a Dreamcast, no. In the end, Sega was so diverse with their hardware that it wouldn't even make sense to do that and I am completely okay having both systems dedicated to it's own library.
Just take SSF vs Project 64 for example.Īs of a Saturn emulator on a Dreamcast, no. I agree since the N64 is a pain to develop for anyways, even though the Saturn which is worse has superseded the N64 in terms of emulation. I've always wondered why we do not have a working nintendo 64 emulator by now Dan1234 wrote:Well yeah if one existed, probably.