Want a custom made printed circuit board that fits inside Bandai's Sega Saturn model kit? Retro Game Restore designed the CM4 Sega Saturn to do just that. So now you can play all your favourite old-school games in nostalgic bliss.
What Is the Raspberry Pi?
The Raspberry Pi boards are popular single-board computers (SBCs). Due to its portability, hardware capabilities and a wide variety of accessories, it is suitable for retro gaming. While any Raspberry Pi can be used for retro gaming, it is recommended to use either a Raspberry Pi 4 and above. It has a more powerful GPU, CPU as well as RAM that will increase the number of games that can be played.
There are already plenty of retro-inspired enclosures for the Raspberry Pi 3 and 3+. But there's not many on the market for the Raspberry Pi 4 or CM4. This addition from Retro Game Restore is a custom-made printed circuit board inspired by the Sega Saturn for the CM4.
What Is the CM4 Sega Saturn?
The CM4 Sega Saturn CM4 is a Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4 Carrier board specifically designed to fit inside a Sega Saturn model kit from Bandai. While it looks like a little Sega Saturn, it’s actually capable of playing other retro games just as you’d find on a Raspberry Pi emulation platform.
Right out of the box you can use it with mini HDMI. According to a video by ETAPrime on how to build your own Sega Saturn Mini, there will also be an add-on boards; There will be an add-on board for the old Saturn RGBS cable that goes right to CRT. There will also be another version for the same cable but with built-in Ethernet.
Raspberry Pi CM4 Sega Saturn Features
On the PCB, you’ll find a micro SD card slot, a 3.5mm audio jack, and there’s even a port to connect a mini fan. For video output, the CM4 Sega Saturn CM4 provides a few choices as it has HDMI as well as CRT support.
Also available are two micro USB ports on the front for controller input. As for the Sega Saturn model kit, it comes with a shell as well as model controller. A full set of buttons for its exterior is also available. However, not all parts are required for assembly, as they will need to be removed to fit the CM4 Sega Saturn CM4 PCB and attached Raspberry Pi CM4.
Once it has been placed within the model kit, the red and green LEDs found on the PCB are visible from within the front of the case. Since it was designed for the model kit, all ports of the PCB are accessible from the enclosure’s exterior.
The Retro Gaming Experience on the CM4 Sega Saturn
To emulate the original console, Retropie Version 4.71 or later is required. Some games were tested by ETA Prime, such as "Panzer Dragoon" that ran at 45 FPS at 1.5GHz. The game, "Croc" ran almost up to 50FPS, again without overclocking. To improve performance, a CPU cooler and heatsink on the PCB could be used.
Doing so, it could be possible to run games at 2GHz. With that said, similar to playing retro games on a Raspberry Pi 4, a whole heap of retro games from NES, SNES, NEO GEO, PS1 can be played at full speed.
Embark on a Nostalgia Trip
Before you get started with the CM4 Sega Saturn, be sure to read up on Retropie’s official documentation.
This guide has plenty of detailed information on first installation, getting started, arcade, emulators, ports, controllers, advanced configuration, RetroArch, EmulationStation, troubleshooting tips, and more.