Sega Saturn DRM finally broken

stratogustav the Saturn has a very strict DRM which is "programmed" into the discs themselves, which makes it impossible to make pirate copies or homebrews, but now that they've cracked the DRM, they can bypass it and play pirated copies and make homebrews.

Balder and stratogustav - No, that's not it. It was already possible to play pirated discs on the Saturn by modding it or using tricks like the disc-swapping; the Hyperspin, on the other hand, is just an emulator, and most Saturn games are emulated since the later 2000s.

What that guy did was make it possible to play Saturn games, on your original system, just using a USB/SD Card, without having to mod the system in any way. The importance of this is twofold: 1. If your Saturn's cd-reader breaks (which is common), your system will still work; 2. You won't need to mod your system to play downloaded games.

As I understand, he created a simple board that you connect on the back of your Saturn (in its video-card connection, the one found in the same port as its battery), then you plug an USB stick with your games on it. Simple as that - no need to open the system or anything. It's awesome. I'll certainly buy one as soon as they release it, as it will be a way to play the translated versions of Shining Force 3 SC 2-3 on the original system without having to mod it.

I will do so as well. I've been wanting to play SC2-3, tried doing so on PC but Saturn emulation is a pain in the ass and most games still have a lot issues even when you get them to work.

They wouldn't include the games. That would be highly illegal. You'd have to provide them yourself. But if you're running them in from Hyperspin, you already have them anyway.

stratogustav - Yes, it's as cobretti said: the entire thing basically works as those "Everdrive" carts you can get for the Genesis/SNES, so it won't (of course, because that would be highly illegal) come with any game - you have to copy the games to your USB yourself.

That said, I don't see how it would be incompatible with any games (as you're using the original console and a complete image of the original cds), with a single exception: some games in multiple cds. In most of them, you create a save at the end of the disc, then load it on the next, so it's not a problem (you can turn off the console while changing discs) - this is the case of Panzer Dragoon Saga, so it will not be a problem, I guess. But how it works for the few games (like Deep Fear) in which you don't save, and are supposed to switch discs without turning off the console? Maybe it's also not a problem, since even in these games you can still reset your console while changing discs (just not turn it off), so you may just have to reset and those the second disc in your USB. But I hope they are considering this possible problem.

EDIT: stratogustav - Yes, you can take the files on your Hyperspin and use on your real Saturn, that's the idea! No need for the original cds (remember: the entire idea is to completely bypass the cd-reader). It's awesome, indeed. By the way, I don't see it being expensive, considering similar solutions to other consoles. But let's see how it evolves.

Wait, what is this Everdrive thing you are talking about? Are you saying this can already be done with Nintendo consoles? I can just get a cartridge that has the entire library of the sytem loaded into it and play it on the original hardware? It sounds too good to be real.