Does Sega Saturn Have Internal Memory?

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Have you ever wondered about the Sega Saturn internal memory? Does it have one? Can I use it to save my games or upload new games? Well in this article we will answer all of your questions about the Sega Saturns internal memory.

So does the Sega Saturn have internal memory? 

Although the Sega Saturn does have internal memory, it is only able to be used as a backup in case the battery goes bad and dies on your Sega Saturn. It does not have internal memory for other games or downloads. 

So the Sega Saturn does have internal memory but that memory cannot be used to save games or for any other uses like modern internal memory on gaming consoles is used for.

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How Do I Access My Sega Saturn’s Internal Memory?

If you have turned on your system and all of a sudden, it asks you for the date it means its battery has died. The Sega Saturn needs a CR 2032 flat watch type of cell battery. You can purchase it from any major retail store like Walmart or Target.

If you received this message, you have access to the backup internal memory. 

Saturn’s backup memory keeps the memory saved of what was on the game when the battery dies. It is known as Backup RAM Cartridge in the US or Power Memory in Japan. As a result, it’s external storage that is used to keep the game save data alternatively uses the system’s internal memory.

Lastly, some of the games were sold with the stickers for the backup memory, which includes stickers of Policenauts and the North American release of Dragon Force.

Do Sega Saturn Games Need A Memory Card?

The Saturn’s internal memory is powered by a little CR2032 battery. You can easily replace this via the little board in the back. The capacity and life of the cell vary from Saturn to Saturn.

Some of them last years, others last for months; however, if you have bought a used Saturn, yours is likely going to die, or is already dead.

The internal memory is somewhat limited in size and wasn’t designed to save games. Instead it was just to save the thing that you were doing in case of a power failure.

There are some Saturn games out there that cannot save games but also can restrict the saving process. So if you are playing games one after another, it ought to be okay.

The space at the top that looks like you can just insert a Genesis cartridge in it is where you can add the memory cartridge or a 4-in one cartridge. Although cartridges can never die, they can get corrupted. If this happens you can simply re-format them.

If your memory cartridge is not working when you put it in, here is a video that will show you how to fix this issue so any of your cartridges will begin working again. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjZgjGUTShU

Keeping your games protected can not only excite you but also can help you in accomplishing your tasks within a game. There is a list of games that allows you to back up, which I will go into later in this article.

Can I Transfer Sega Games Onto My PC?

The Saturn Floppy Drive is a great way to save your games, however, backing up your files to PC is not suitable, because it has another file format that only the Saturn can read and run. 

There are some games which can also be accessed by the SD card directly. This is a secure method to save your large files that are too large for the internal memory.

The best solution for backing up and saving files is the excellent Saturn Gamer’s Cartridge. It allows you to back up your save files from the Saturn’s internal memory to an SD card that can be transferred to your computer and other forms of storage for safekeeping.

Save data can also be transferred from the SD card back to Saturn’s internal memory.

Sega Saturn Compatibility

Just so everyone knows, not every Sega Saturn game can save your data. Some of them don’t recognize the data, while some of them don’t run the backup. All of the data is treated equally as long as it has space.

At this time there are no limits on how much data can be moved from the console’s internal memory to the cartridge. The downside is that some games even today still do not keep the games properly backed up to the internal memory. 

Some games on the Sega Saturn do save directly to the cartridge but not all of them do.

Here is a list of some games which do save the data directly to the cartridge:

• Albert Odyssey: Legend of Eldean
  
• Andretti Racing
  
• Crusader: No Remorse
  
• Dark Savior
  
• Daytona USA: Championship Circuit Edition
  
• FIFA Soccer 97
  
• Grand Slam (Saturn)
  
• Guardian Heroes
  
• Gungriffon
  
• Hang-On GP
  
• Hexen
  
• Decathlete
  
• Densetsu no Ogre Battle
  
• Destruction Derby
  
• Die Hard Trilogy
  
• Dragon Force
  
• Dragonheart: Fire & Steel
  
• FIFA Road to World Cup 98 (Saturn)
  
• FIFA Soccer 96 (Saturn)
  
• Hi-Octane
  
• Iron Storm
  
• Madden NFL 97
  
• Madden NFL 98
  
• Magic Knight Rayearth (Saturn)
  
• Manx TT SuperBike
  
• Myst
  
• Mystaria: The Realms of Lore
  
• NASCAR 98
  
• NBA Action 98
  
• NFL ’97
  
• NHL 97 (Saturn)
  
• Sega Saturn de Hakken!! Tamagotchi Park
  
• Sega Worldwide Soccer 97
  
• Sega Worldwide Soccer 98
  
• Shockwave Assault
  
• SimCity 2000
  
• Soviet Strike
  
• Space Hulk: Vengeance of the Blood Angels
  
• Tactics Ogre
  
• The Mansion of Hidden Souls
  
• The Story of Thor 2
  
• Time Warner Interactive’s VR Virtua Racing
  
• Torico
  
• Tunnel B1
  
• Warcraft II: The Dark Saga
  
• World Series Baseball II
  
• NHL 98 (Saturn)
  
• PGA Tour 97
  
• Road & Track Presents The Need for Speed
  
• Road Rash (Saturn)
  
• Sega Ages: Volume 1
  
• Sega International Victory Goal
  
• Sega Rally Championship

Conclusion:

If you are worried about losing all of your Sega Saturn data, you might want to buy a Sega Saturn backup cartridge to back up your saved games to avoid the issue of losing your saved games. Backing up your games on the cartridge will prevent any issues of you losing any of your saved content.

If your battery dies on your Sega Saturn, it is nice to know there is an internal memory that keeps everything safe for us. The internal memory will capture all of our saved games, to where we are in each game.

So if your battery goes out on your Saturn, there is no need to worry. You will just need to simply go to the store and purchase a new battery to replace the nonworking one. 

Even though not every single game I play may back up to the internal memory on its own, there are quite a few games that do. If I am not playing one of the games that automatically backs up, I can use a memory cartridge to back up my games that will not automatically do it.

No matter what method you use to back us your games, we always want to make sure that every game we play is being backed up. 

There is nothing worse than being in the middle of a game, and the system shuts down, and we do not have anything to save. No one wants to waste their time playing and passing all the levels only to lose the content and have to replay all of the levels.

So you will always want to make sure you have either the internal memory backing up the game, or your cartridge to save the game for you.