Tuesday evening brought yet another revelation in the wake of preservationists at Gaming Alexandria releasing long-lost prototypes of Sacred Pools — the “Mac” version of the game is actually another Saturn version. What’s more, it’s a newer build than the other Saturn prototype in the release.
Gaming Alexandria had released what they identified as prototypes for four different platforms: Saturn, PlayStation, PC and Mac.
But upon testing the Mac version, a homebrew developer named VBT on the SegaXtreme Discord server found that it was actually a raw disc image of Saturn code.
TrekkiesUnite explained on the Shiro Discord that a raw disc image is “a format that developers would make to send to Sega to have the [security] ring added and then sent to the pressing plant.” On its own, the code can’t be run on a stock Saturn console.
So after that discovery, VBT used old developer tools to convert the raw image into a format that can be run on a regular Saturn. He hosted three zipped files of the converted version on his website that can be downloaded from these links:
http://vberthelot.free.fr/sacredpool/vcdemu_sacred_pool.7z.001
http://vberthelot.free.fr/sacredpool/vcdemu_sacred_pool.7z.002
http://vberthelot.free.fr/sacredpool/vcdemu_sacred_pool.7z.003
Make sure to download all three zip files into the same directory, then open the first one with 7zip and it’ll use all three files to extract the three discs. It should leave you with six files like these:
When opening the prototype originally identified as the Saturn version in CDmage, a tool for browsing the files on a CD, the latest modified date for any of the files is May 29, 1997.
When opening the Saturn raw disc image that was originally identified as a Mac version in CDmage, the latest modified date for the files is July 25, 1997, meaning it’s two months older.
It’s unclear how many changes were made between those two builds, but one that immediately jumps out is a change of font used in the character profiles accessed via a terminal in the game.
The newer build also lacks a jingle when discovering items that’s found in the older prototype.
One important detail players have discovered is that both Saturn versions of Sacred Pools use direct mode for their control input detection, meaning a 3D analog controller won’t work, even when set to digital mode. Players must use a regular gamepad to control Sacred Pools.
It’s the same issue that Meduza Team ran into with their English localization patch for Ogre Battle — they added a difficulty selection screen to the game on startup that used direct input polling, which prevented 3D controller usage until a patch was issued with a workaround.
On Monday, Gaming Alexandria surprised the Saturn community by releasing prototypes of Sacred Pools, a game heavily advertised by Sega of America in 1996. It’s a full-motion video adventure game that was slated for a 1997 release on Saturn that was heavily advertised as being an edgy title full of mature content. Infamously, Sega threw a lavish party at E3 1996 to promote The Sacred Pools but failed to leave a good impression with the press.
The group released an alpha build of Sacred Pools for not only the Saturn but also PC, Macintosh and PlayStation. You can download them all from this Archive.org page they set up.
Danthrax is a contributor to the Shiro Media Group, writing stories for the website when Saturn news breaks. While he was a Sega Genesis kid in the ’90s, he didn’t get a Saturn until 2018. It didn’t take him long to fall in love with the console’s library as well as the fan translation and homebrew scene. He contributed heavily to the Bulk Slash and Stellar Assault SS fan localizations, and has helped as an editor on several other Saturn and Dreamcast fan projects such as Cotton 2, Rainbow Cotton and Sakura Wars Columns 2.
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