I’d seen mention of Saroo, an accessory for the Sega Saturn, on Twitter (or X, if you prefer), but hadn’t a clue what they were for. After a quick google around, I found that a seller on AliExpress had some for sale (since then, lots more sellers have popped up) and so I took a chance on one.
Read more: Buying a Saroo just to play Sega RallyWhat is a Saroo?
A Saroo is a flash card that goes into the Saturn’s cartridge slot and allows for the loading of games via Micro SD, bypassing the Saturn’s CD drive altogether. They can also hold saved game data and provide support for those games that usually need additional RAM cartridges. All without the need to modify your Saturn.
My plan was to just buy one, download all my old favourites, perhaps find some new ones and keep it around to tinker with occasionally. The cartridge came with a pre-loaded memory card, filled with a mixture of classics from all regions and a few rather suspect adult games from Japan. After a few days of trying it out, I’d trimmed out most of the games I didn’t want and added in pretty much all the ones that I could think of that I wanted to play. All ran smoothly, with the exception of one, which seemed to need a Japanese saturn to run properly; thankfully, my Saturn is modded, so a quick switch later, that game ran perfectly too.
So with all these games at my disposal, I would try one out, play a few times, then switch to an old favourite – Sega Rally. I was never particularly good at it, but as pure arcade-style racing experience go, it can’t be faulted, especially with the quicker loading times too. I’d have probably been annoyed buying Sega Rally on release – not many games can be played in five minutes – but for a quick way to unwind, it’s unmatched.
A notable mention should go to Elevator Action Returns – definitely worth trying out if you haven’t already.