Karaoke Saturn?

[Midori]

Surfing yahoo japan auctions I found this thing: http://page2.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/b80645058

Is it only me that finds that logo next to the "Compact Disc" logo strikingly similar to the Sega Saturn logo?



Does anyone here know anything about it? Is there Saturn hardware inside this or am I just seeing what I want to see? Lawerence? You have a knack for odd Saturn hardware(pointing at your pages about the Hi-saturn and Samsung Saturn) :-) Do you know anything about it?

[kendrick]

Not to steal Lawrence's thunder or anything, but the Saturn hardware was one of the most widely licensed game platforms in Japan next to the 3DO. JVC, Samsung, and Hitachi stuck Saturn chips and capabilities into all manner of devices. Note that the ability to suppress the vocal frequencies of music playback is present in all Saturn BIOS versions, so technically the Saturn already supports limited karaoke functions. All you have to do is add a microphone port a la the Wondermega and you've got your karaoke machine ready to go.

-KKC, who meant to get more use out of his Saturn this weekend...

[Lawrence]

Sega was HUGE in the karaoke industry (hence the Dreamcast Karaoke).  They made a lot of hardware, though I'm not aware of any of it having any kind of Saturn functionality.  I'd be surprised if that really was a Saturn logo - That logo is like the Nintendo seal of approval, it indicates that the system is Saturn compatible, where it's much more likely that this unit just has some similar chips inside.

Most of Sega's karaoke stuff was made by Denon.

EDIT: It certainly looks a lot like a Saturn logo.  Looking at the back though I don't see any game pad ports.  There are SCSI connectors and all manner of audio and power connectors though...

http://img181.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/users/4/5/8/0/hirochi322-img600x450-1192641644dsc01907.jpg
http://img221.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/users/7/3/7/2/ggjyc614-img600x450-113558486760.jpg

Edit again:  It's definitely a Saturn logo:
http://img205.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/users/7/4/3/8/jyankuyaponta-img600x450-1189422556p1010066.jpg

and here's a clear shot of the back:
http://img205.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/users/7/4/3/8/jyankuyaponta-img600x450-1189422562p1010067.jpg


Kendrick: What do you mean by 'all kinds of devices'?  I'm not aware of anything beyond the Saturns themselves that had Saturn chips in them.  The Hotel Saturn (with a 7-CD changer) and the Navi (with GPS) are just Saturns with bells on, and nothing else springs to mind.

[kendrick]

You know, you're right. The Hotel Saturn is also known as the GPX, right? I'm probably thinking of some of the arcade boards, which are either unadorned Saturns with coin slots on them or incompatible Model-X boards.

-KKC, who needs to quit posting after his bedtime.

[Lawrence]

Hotel Saturn was the SGX.

You're right, I did forget the Titan / ST-V arcade boards.  Those were pureblooded Saturns with carts and extra RAM, IIRC. 

I'm reasonably sure that's it.  Anyone else?

[ニユ－マン]

There's a bit of info in this expired Ebay auction:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=300116959215
Too bad photo's aren't available anymore (neither on Japan-games's site)

[Midori]

Ah, that clears it up i guess.

Thank you everbody.