Sega Saturn’s Copy Protection System Has Been Cracked

Even though Sega’s Saturn console is more than two decades old, it still features a top-notch copy protection system that proved to be incredibly difficult to crack. Thanks to a series of mod chips, the console was forced to support unofficial code on CDs a while back, but since the consoles themselves are so old, their optical drives are prone to failure, which is why this particular solution wasn’t really too feasible in our present times. Fortunately, it looks like an enthusiast that goes by the name of Dr. Abrasive has come up with a way to crack Saturn’s copy protection system, but the procedure itself was definitely not a walk in the park.

It involved forcing the chip into spilling its read-only memory before reverse-engineering the operating system and inserting a custom board into the console’s Video CD card slot in order to feed a special code. After the process was complete, the Sega Saturn could play games without any issues, and it also gained other functions such as writing files onto USB thumb drives. This solution allows users to play games on native hardware even when the CD drive ceases to function properly, but it could also help emulation developers understand how the Saturn works. Dr. Abrasive wants to create a final version of the crack that could be used by anyone, which means that many of you might soon be able to enjoy your favorite classic games using a simple card.