SSF (emulator)

SSF is a Sega Saturn emulator for Windows systems using DirectX 9.0c or higher. The current version claims near-complete implementation of the Saturn hardware, and can also emulate the Saturn-based Sega Titan Video arcade hardware. As with most emulators, CDs or disc images are not included and must be provided by the user.

The BIOS file is not included with SSF. Though most games can run without it, the BIOS is recommended for better compatibility, and needed for tasks such as management of the Saturn's internal memory, or setting the system clock (without Christmas Nights).

Overview

SSF does not come with a software installer, instead consisting of a single RAR file that contains a folder with the emulator and all required files, along with folders for backups, screenshots and save states.

The emulator can run in full screen, with or without scanlines. The display resolution, full screen or otherwise, is fixed at 640x480 (twice the Saturn's usual 320x240, although it is rendered with double-sized pixels so the resolution is technically the same). Games using 352x240 resolution are likewise enlarged to 704x480. In fullscreen mode, the emulator uses the available resolution mode closest to the emulated one; thus, widescreen games running in fullscreen may display improperly without the use of custom resolutions. Other than toggling Vsync on or off and an option to use DirectDraw, no video options exist, as SSF emulates games entirely through software rendering.

A DirectX 9-compatible graphics card and a minimum of 256 MB of RAM are required for the emulator to run. A Pentium 4 at 3 GHz or higher, an AMD Athlon rated at 3000+ or higher, any Core2, or any AMD Phenom are required for games to run at proper speed. If the processor is not fast enough, the emulator will, depending on settings in the options, either do a frame skip for full speed (resulting in choppy animation), or will render all the frames (resulting in slow-motion gameplay). SSF can emulate the hardware parts of the Saturn using numerous threads, thus taking advantage of Multi-Core CPUs such as the dual-core Athlon 64 X2.

Emulation Status

Saturn Component	Emulation Accuracy
2x SuperH2 processors	100%
68EC000 sound microprocessor	100%
VDP1 display processor	95%
VDP2 background display processor	95%
Saturn Control Unit (SCU)	100%
System Manager & Peripheral Control MCU	100%
Custom Sound Processor (DSP)	95%
Saturn CD drive RISC processor	85%

System Requirements

Processor	SSF requires the processor to have the SSE2 instruction set, so a Pentium 4, Pentium M, Opteron, Athlon 64, Sempron (64bit), Turion 64 or better are necessary to run it.
RAM	At least 256 MB (512 MB dual-channel RAM or more recommended)
Video / Sound	Must be compatible with DirectX 9.0c
Operating System	Windows 2000, XP, XP 64-bit, Vista, Vista 64-bit
BIOS	Not needed but recommended for management of system settings and better overall compatibility

External links

• Official SSF homepage (Japanese)
• SSF Tribute Neo, Translations, Screenshots, Compatibility list & Archive
• Compatibility List