Sega Saturn Fenrir revisit...

It was late, and I just felt like doing something. I also forgot to take pics, but regardless...

I had a white Sega Saturn that I cleaned and retrobrighted a while back. I also installed a Fenrir ODE in it, but apparently, I fully half-assed the installation. I didn't realize that I had a crappy Fenrir mount printed and the Fenrir just zip tied to the mount. I took it out to test out another ODE called the Saroo that I got. It utilizes the cartridge slot to load games from a micro SD card. It also doubles as a RAM cart for games like X-men Vs. Street Fighter.

I was hoping that I could use the Saroo together with the Fenrir, but there were some caveats about both ODEs co-existing with each other. My intention was to leave the Saroo in the cart slot and utilize it as a RAM cart. The caveat is that if it's used as "normal" (loading the game the standard way pressing the A button), the loaded game that needs the extra RAM loads with glitches. To load it properly, there is a certain procedure that needs to be followed.

Before I did any further testing, I focused on getting the Fenrir properly mounted in the Saturn. I ended up ordering another SD card extension and screw set from Laser Bear. I used some gray PLA+ filament to print the mount for the extension setup. It took a week to for the parts to come in.

There was a few mistakes made when I attempted to install the new mount for the Fenrir. I first used the wrong settings to print the mount. I had it on a high quality print rather than a mid quality print. Though it looked nice from a first layer point of view, it really made some of the screw holes wonky. I also started cutting off parts from the print before realizing that I needed to print another accessory to fit the Fenrir. I didn't realize that until I started re printing the mount that I trimmed and drilled holes out, so that meant more time is needed to print that one extra part. However, after all is said and done, the mount was installed and everything worked, at least from using the Fenrir itself.

Now that the Fenrir is properly mounted in the Saturn, it was now time to test the Saroo along with the Fenrir. Following the procedures mentioned before, I tried first loading a modified ROM of The King of Fighters '95, where the need for the ROM cart that is required for it and instead uses the RAM cart itself. I also loaded a Marvel Vs. Street Fighter to test the RAM cart. 

I'm happy to say that both games loaded perfectly without any graphical issues. I played several rounds of both games, then realizing how long I haven't played either game for a while. I did horribly trying to get through some bouts.

I still have to get my other Saturn out from my bins in my garage. I'll have to swap out one of the buttons I melted when I was installing a modchip a long time ago. I should really consider replacing the FRAM on it as well. 

Simon game revival...

I mean, Simon is a retro game, right? 

 

My wife has been wanting an old (late 70's/early 80's) Simon game made by Milton Bradley, similar to the one pictured above. After some digging at Goodwill, I was able to find one that was in decent condition. The buttons felt a bit mushy, the ground wire on the 9 volt battery connector was broken off, the D battery terminals were corroded and the battery cover was broken, and I may or may not be missing one of the switch covers. As I do with the game controllers that I find at thrift stores  or expos, I felt the need to take the Simon apart and clean up the case and the board.

I'm glad that I did decide to take it apart for cleaning. There was some sticky substance around the edge of the case. Soda was probably spilled on it a while ago. That's the perfect reason to scrub it down.

There are some plastic retaining clips that also act as springs for the large color buttons. Most of those clips were broken. There was also a spare light bulb for the game that was rolling around loose in the case. 

Another shot of the Simon mainboard. It was easy to just dust it as none of the soda got on the board and the battery corrosion didn't affect the board as well.

I took it all apart, including prying out the speaker from the bottom of the case, sitting just under the mainboard. I then took it to the kitchen to scrub every piece of plastic from the case. I also ran the corroded terminals in an ultrasonic cleaner with baking soda and water for several cycles. After running the terminals through the ultrasonic cleaner, I used a grinding pen to remove all the stuck corrosion. I also took the time to solder the broken off ground wire to the 9 volt connector.

There was a design online that I found for the replacement clips/springs that were all broken. I printed out 4 of them using PLA Plus filament. I also printed out some replacement battery covers. 

Here are the clips installed. Fits pretty nicely and it pretty sturdy.

Originally, the speaker was installed with the plastic in the mold melted around it. I had to remove it so I could properly clean the bottom case, so I did need to break the speaker out. To reinstall it, I used a few dabs of hot glue to keep it in place.

I don't recall if all the switch covers were on there when I bought it initially, but the longer one for the Skill Level switch wasn't there. Luckily, there was a print available online. I didn't have a matching blue-green filament like the original switch that's on the Game Mode switch, so I used a blue/green two toned silk filament to print the replacements. I made one for the Game Mode switch, but there's a bit of post processing that needs to be done. I just left it alone.

I installed a 9 volt and 2 D cell batteries and used the printed battery covers. I turned on the game and...nothing. I was expecting some sort of "attract mode" with lights and sound, but there was nothing. I pretty much realized that I had to press the Start button to start a game. It happily lights up one of the buttons. I played a full game of it (well, as much as I can remember from the sequences). Happy to say that it works like how it should. 

A fun, little repair and clean up of a game my wife really wanted. She's really happy to have this working Simon game, same as the one her grandma had in her toy and game bin.