Owners of the original 20-pin model of the Fenrir optical drive emulator can rejoice — a new batch of SaturnSwitchers will go on sale later today.
The creator of the Switcher, Will’s Console Modifications, announced the new batch Friday on X, the website formerly known as Twitter.
The announcement said the Switchers had been discontinued, but because of high demand, 45 more have been manufactured. They’re set to go on sale today at 5 p.m. UK time, which is noon Eastern and 9 a.m. Pacific, at Will’s Console Modifications’ website.
He warned that this may be the last batch ever. He likely expected demand to drop after the Fenrir Duo, which can connect to both 20- and 21-pin Saturns with the same board, was released last year. But clearly there are enough owners of the old Fenrir models who haven’t bought a Switcher yet to warrant another run.
Those with a 20-pin Fenrir installed can score a free Switcher, as Will is running a giveaway for one with free shipping for anyone who follows his Twitter account and likes and retweets this tweet.
He said on Wednesday that a new batch of 21-pin Switchers are on their way as well.
SaturnSwitchers of both varieties last were available in August 2022, less than a month after the Fenrir Duo was introduced.
Every Saturn’s CD-ROM drive connects through a 20-pin or 21-pin connection — Sega changed the design at one point — and that’s what the Fenrir ODE taps into. To find out which configuration you have, the Fenrir website had a page to enter your console’s serial number and tell you how many pins you have, but that tool appears to be gone now that the Duo is the only option for sale.
Usually, a Fenrir requires the Saturn’s CD-ROM drive to be removed so it can replace it to play games off of an SD card. But the SaturnSwitcher is a kit that houses the Fenrir elsewhere inside the console’s shell so the original CD-ROM drive can be kept inside and still be used. A board with another SD Card slot and a switch is installed in the back of the Saturn where the Video CD card — or the Satiator ODE — would go. Will’s Console Modifications developed the Switcher in late 2021.
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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