I got asked enough times before from certain forums and groups I decided to do quick write up and point to this posting when asked in future. 
One of common questions asked at various forums about the Sega Saturn console would be about the so called Development Saturn console. They came up on eBay from time to time and the asking and sold prices weren't something one could cough up easily since they cost far higher than the retail Saturn console.
Firstly do note that not all dev Saturn consoles are the same. There were ones produced for Sega Japan by Cross in Japan and then they were ones modified and produced by other third parties. For example Psy-Q made various dev system for many popular game consoles and they also did one for the Saturn.
Sega Japan made several different development systems for Saturn. One of most famous one would be the Sophia system which was a huge box. And the price was high as well. Hence another more cheaper alternatives followed shortly starting with the CartDev Rev. A. The Rev. A supposedly had an issue with the power supply unit, however, and it was quickly replaced by the Rev. B to address the issue.
To cut the long story short if you just want the dev Saturn console to play the games here's the one you should get. You don't need anything else other than the pad, power cable and video cable.
By the way that VCD port is NOT for the VCD as in Video Compact Disc. Rather that port is the Virtual CD port connecting to the Mirage unit. Back then burning CD-ROM was very expensive and time consuming. Hence running the image of CD-ROM off the HDD would save a lot of time and cost during the game development.
This is what you should look for when you are getting the Dev Saturn. Cross produced Dev Saturn complete with the full region switch. You turn that rotary switch to match with the region matrix on the sticker and the system will be set accordingly.
By the way unlike SONY DebugSatation, Dev Saturn still has the genuine CD checking mechanism and you will need the Saturn System Disc that comes with the Dev system package or the mod chip to bypass. Of course, with the Pseudosaturn cartridge readily available now you can discard this issue.
Now here is another Dev Saturn console usually seen on eBay UK.
Can you see the difference compared to the Cross Dev Saturn?
Not sure?
Let's turn it around.
How about this now?
As you can see the Saturn console often lack one or all the features found in the other Dev Saturn. These basically retail Saturn consoles were often used as part of the Psy-Q dev system. And unlike Cross Dev system the Psy-Q dev system was really a blue cartridge with the software package. If you stuck that cartridge into any of retail Saturn console you would have the dev system - of course you would need the necessary program that came with the cartridge like the one below.
So unless the so called Dev Saturn comes with the fully modified or includes the above cartridge be aware. Also most of Dev Saturn consoles were basically the standard console so they should work standalone hence any seller claiming he/she cannot check the console's working condition is basically talking out of their you know where.
Plug in the any Saturn power cable and connect video cable - both of them can be bought from eBay dirt cheap - to test the working shouldn't be hard nor expensive. If the seller is asking $400-500 for the dev console alone, at least they should do the minimum checking whether the said console does run the retail disc.
Thank you for reading my ramblings and do happy hunting!
One of common questions asked at various forums about the Sega Saturn console would be about the so called Development Saturn console. They came up on eBay from time to time and the asking and sold prices weren't something one could cough up easily since they cost far higher than the retail Saturn console.
Firstly do note that not all dev Saturn consoles are the same. There were ones produced for Sega Japan by Cross in Japan and then they were ones modified and produced by other third parties. For example Psy-Q made various dev system for many popular game consoles and they also did one for the Saturn.
Sega Japan made several different development systems for Saturn. One of most famous one would be the Sophia system which was a huge box. And the price was high as well.
Hence another more cheaper alternatives followed shortly starting with the CartDev Rev. A. The Rev. A supposedly had an issue with the power supply unit, however, and it was quickly replaced by the Rev. B to address the issue. To cut the long story short if you just want the dev Saturn console to play the games here's the one you should get. You don't need anything else other than the pad, power cable and video cable.
By the way that VCD port is NOT for the VCD as in Video Compact Disc. Rather that port is the Virtual CD port connecting to the Mirage unit. Back then burning CD-ROM was very expensive and time consuming. Hence running the image of CD-ROM off the HDD would save a lot of time and cost during the game development.
This is what you should look for when you are getting the Dev Saturn. Cross produced Dev Saturn complete with the full region switch. You turn that rotary switch to match with the region matrix on the sticker and the system will be set accordingly.
By the way unlike SONY DebugSatation, Dev Saturn still has the genuine CD checking mechanism and you will need the Saturn System Disc that comes with the Dev system package or the mod chip to bypass. Of course, with the Pseudosaturn cartridge readily available now you can discard this issue.
Now here is another Dev Saturn console usually seen on eBay UK.
Can you see the difference compared to the Cross Dev Saturn?
Not sure?
Let's turn it around.
How about this now?
As you can see the Saturn console often lack one or all the features found in the other Dev Saturn. These basically retail Saturn consoles were often used as part of the Psy-Q dev system. And unlike Cross Dev system the Psy-Q dev system was really a blue cartridge with the software package. If you stuck that cartridge into any of retail Saturn console you would have the dev system - of course you would need the necessary program that came with the cartridge like the one below.
So unless the so called Dev Saturn comes with the fully modified or includes the above cartridge be aware. Also most of Dev Saturn consoles were basically the standard console so they should work standalone hence any seller claiming he/she cannot check the console's working condition is basically talking out of their you know where.
Plug in the any Saturn power cable and connect video cable - both of them can be bought from eBay dirt cheap - to test the working shouldn't be hard nor expensive. If the seller is asking $400-500 for the dev console alone, at least they should do the minimum checking whether the said console does run the retail disc.
Thank you for reading my ramblings and do happy hunting!
