In this guide, we will be talking about how to play Sega Saturn games on a PC using an emulator. The emulator which I’m using to play is SSF. There are alternatives that I’ll be mentioning down below in case anybody is interested.
For years, the SSF emulator has been reigning on the crown of being the best Saturn emulator. SSF remains a great emulator amongst several strong competitors such as Mednafen. While SSF may not run some games perfectly, it is still a recommended emulator by the community if you just want something that works out of the box.
Similar to Xbox, as well as, Dreamcast, the Sega Saturn emulator has been getting slight recognition lately. The state of Sega Saturn Emulation isn’t bad like some say, it just needs more love and support.
Notice: I try to update each emulator guide to be as accurate, helpful and fun to read as possible. Thank you.
SSF is unfortunately a closed-source Saturn emulator by one mysterious Japanese programmer known as Shima. The latter did what others couldn’t do at the time. Since the Sega Saturn is notoriously known for how complex it is even for developers, let alone programmers who tried to figure it out back then. SSF is also known for being the most compatible for a very long time, and the surprise? the emulator is still active and recommended by the Saturn emulation community.
SSF is safe to download and use. You shouldn’t worry when using it as it’s closed-source anyway. Check below for the official download link and other useful information.
According to Shima’s website, the minimum requirements to run SSF are the following:
Minimum:
These requirements are unrealistic for today’s standards due to how demanding the emulator can be when running intensive titles such as Nights into Dreams, Sega Rally, Burning Rangers, and Panzer Dragoon II Zwei.
Recommended:
Realistically, the recommended requirements to run SSF smoothly should be the following:
SSF Emulator is a CPU Intensive program just like Mednafen. So, make sure you have an adequate processor that will suit your needs.
You can download SSF from Shima’s Twitter account. If you can’t download it from there, check the Github page. Be sure to pick up the latest Preview Ver available. As of right now, the latest build is SSF_PreviewVer_R26. Alternatively, there’s SegaSaturn.org where you can download the emulator. What makes this site a recommended choice is that it features a compatibility list of all your games. Instead of wasting your time thinking about whether a game will work smoothly or not, check that corner.
Similar to previous emulators we’ve showcased, SSF is a standalone emulator that doesn’t require any installation. Just download, unzip, and you are good to go. Just make sure to create a folder on your D/drive and name it “SSF” so that you organize everything nicely.
NOTE: Don’t forget to run the emulator as an administrator, otherwise, it will never save your progress nor your settings. Right-click on SSF > Properties > Run This Program As An Administrator. Don’t forget to hit Apply.
SSF launches just fine without requiring any BIOS. That’s just a trick to fool into thinking that you don’t actually need it, but the truth is, without a BIOS, none of the games will boot. You can get the BIOS either by extracting it from the console if you own it, or by downloading one online. Unfortunately, we can’t provide one due to legal reasons.
After you’ve got the BIOS at hand, create a folder and name it ” BIOS “. Extract the 7-zip folder, and that’s it. Now launch the emulator, go to Option (O) as shown below:
You’ll see something like this. Check Saturn BIOS and click on Browse. Same for ST-V BIOS ( if you’ve got it of course). A small window will pop up like the one below you:
The BIOS files may vary from one user to another depending on where you got your files from. For instance, if you’re looking for Japanese or European BIOS, the files should be displayed as the following:
Alternatively, you can pick the stv110.bin file as your ST-V BIOS instead of what I did.
To configure your control buttons, head over to Option (O) > Controller as shown above. On Player1:A click on Redefine, and start mapping your buttons. At first, it may confuse you how to map the buttons for the SSF emulator, especially when using Xbox or PlayStation controllers. But no worries, I got you covered. Look below for the full button mapping using an Xbox One Controller.
The mappings are as follows:
Of course, the mappings may differ from one user to another but that’s what I’m using on my end. In case if you’re confused, the double arrows simply mean you can either use the D-Pad or the analog stick to control your characters in games. Alternatively, if you’re using a Dualshock controller, you can use the following:
Square, Triangle, Circle = A, B, C
Cross, L2, R2, L1, R1 = X, Y, Z, L, R
Or
Cross, Circle, Square, Triangle = A, B, C, X
L2, R2, L1, R1 = Y, Z, L, R
In the past, booting up a Saturn game using the SSF emulator required a virtual drive program, but that’s not a necessity anymore. Before you attempt to boot the game, make sure what you have at hand is an ISO/BIN format. Or better yet, WinRar/7-zip file to avoid all issues, but you’d have to extract that before the emulator could read it.
First of all, launch your emulator and head over to Hardware (H), and click on Open (C).
Once you click on Open (C), you will hear a notification sound. Next, head over to Option (O) and click, a window will show up with different options. Next, what you must do is to enable the CD Image (CUE+BinaryImage) then click on browse the folder you put your ROMs into. Once you’ve done all of this, you have to restart. Just go back to Hardware (H) and hit restart.
The process as you can see is easy and doesn’t require much thinking to figure out. After going through this process, your game should boot up just fine. But in case your game doesn’t, here a few problems you may encounter and tips to help you fix them:
Saving your progress can be done through two options: Either save in-game, or the emulator saves/load feature. To access it, head over to File (F) > State Save (S). After doing this, look at the top of your screen, and you’ll see something like this:
Press numbers from 0 to 9 and you should be able to save. Do not attempt to click on the numbers from the Numpad because that won’t do anything. Alternatively, if you are a hotkey nerd, press Shift+F7. To load your progress, head over to File (F) > State Load (L) and press the number which you pressed to save your progress. Or, simply press F7. That’s it, it’s this easy.
Head over to File(F) > Snapshot(C). The screen will be dumped as a bitmap (BMP) into the “Snapshot” folder.
Can’t go on in the emulation journey without using the screen filters, eh? Well, SSF offers two filters for rendering the screen: Bilinear Filtering and Scanline. First, to access the feature head over to Option (O) > Option (O) again and wait for the small screen to pop up.
Put a check on Bilinear Filtering and Scanline. You can have them both checked or not, and to be honest, it will always come to what you prefer. Alternatively, you’re free to tweak as much as you want in the emulator. Below, you’ll see some samples images:
Despite the SSF emulator being a great program, some games suffer from a couple of issues. But worry not because you can solve these issues quite easily. Below, you’ll see a list of some games that suffer from problems and how to fix them.
NOTE: This is not the full list of games that are suffering from issues. You’ll have to check the compatibility list.
Mednafen is a great alternative, but not really recommended if you want to have the best experience when it comes to emulating the Saturn console. Personally, I have found Mednafen to be confusing when setting it up. Even after I managed to set it up correctly and boot up games, I encountered several obstacles that sadly didn’t make the experience feel smooth. The heavy emphasis on using commands to do almost anything on the emulator can be overwhelming for users who just want something that works out of the box.
Unlike Mednafen, Retroarch is a piece of cake. Easy to install, configure and get the hang of. Thanks to the Beetle Saturn or Kronos core or in Retroarch you can play any game that comes to your mind. And so far, I haven’t encountered any issue with any game. At the end of the day, SSF remains a fine emulator to go with if you want to experience all your favourite Saturn games.
Take a look at my full in-depth Retroarch guide from here!
This marks the end of this guide. Thank you for reading.
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FreeckyCake
I'm just your average gamer who enjoys hunting hidden gems and underrated games. My love for Onimusha: Dawn of Dreams is like a truck and I recommend that you play it.
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