From updates on new peripheral hardware and a fan translation to games we’ve reported on before coming to new platforms, we’ve got a solid slate of news items in the Saturn community this week.
Saturn BT packaging shown off ahead of launch
The developer of the Saturn BT, a dongle that plugs into the Saturn to allow play with Bluetooth controllers, revealed the final packaging this week.
Humble Bazooka tweeted out images Monday showing a box that with an art style that’s inspired by the Japanese version of Sonic Jam.
Humble Bazooka also said that they expect the dongle to go on sale next week. Previously, it was announced that Stone Age Gamer and 8bitmods would be the authorized retailers for North America and Europe, respectively.
Check out SaturnDave’s hands-on impressions with the device and our previous reporting on the Saturn BT’s specifics.
JB Harold translation update adds chapter three
The English fan translation of Saturn adventure game J.B. Harold: Blue Chicago Blues was updated this week, finishing chapter three.
The project lead, Arjak, posted the latest version of the patch Monday on SegaXtreme. In the patch notes, he said that the patch also updates a few things that were on disc one — Blue Chicago Blues is a two-disc game, and the prologue through chapter two are on the first disc.
Arjak also said there were some unexpected delays, although it hasn’t been too long since the last update that translated chapter two on May 31.
There’s just one chapter left to go before the translation likely will be finished.
Batsugun finally releases on Switch, PS4 and Xbox
Batsugun Saturn Tribute Boosted released on modern consoles in the West this week more than two months after it launched on Steam.
City Connection published their version of classic Saturn shmup on Thursday for US$29.99 on the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One where it was supposed to launch simultaneously with Steam on May 24 before a last-minute delay for “polish.”
This release emulates the Saturn game and features a “Boost Up HUD” that displays an experience gauge, the current score, hidden bonuses and the title of the music track currently playing. It also has an online ranked mode, quick saving and loading, and a rewind feature.
For more details, check out Shiro’s previous coverage on Batsugun Saturn Tribute Boosted.
Driving Strikers launches on PC
Driving Strikers, the first online-capable fan-made game for the Dreamcast, released on Steam for Windows and Linux this week. It’s verified to run on Steam Deck, too.
Its normal price will be US$9.99, although it’s $7.99 right now thanks to a 20 percent launch discount that ends Monday.
The top-down vehicular soccer title features crossplay between the PC and Dreamcast, where it launched digital and physical versions through Wave Game Studios three weeks ago.
A tweet last week from the official account promised a patch shortly after release to make the game more Steam-friendly, including better integration, automatic port forwarding and better textures.
The development team, Reality Jump, put out a new trailer on YouTube ahead of their Steam rollout:
Read more details about Driving Strikers in Shiro’s story on its Dreamcast launch.
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.
Leave a comment