Sega Saturn Import Modification
My humblest apologies for this terrible page. It was more or less half-completed and then forgotten about for about three and a half years. As of Dec. 02/02 I've added some more information about finding the common points, as well as this link to a Switchless Mod. There's also a link to a schematic diagram (see here) pointing to the actual chip involved in determining the system's territory. Also, on March (something) 2003 I've added 5 new PCB pics + 5 jumper diagrams to help you when your Saturn looks strange inside. Also, there's a new table showing all 16 possible modes. I hereby proclaim this the single most comprehensive saturn modification guide in the world!! =) Now then: All Sega Saturns can be modified to play imported games from any region. Don't be afraid to open it up and have a look around, there's nothing to be scared of as long as you pay attention to what you're doing, don't force anything, and be keep all the screws!
The basic theory is simple: There are jumpers on the Saturn mainboard which tell the OS what country it is running in. Changing these jumpers will make the Saturn believe it is running in another country, allowing you to run imported software. It will NOT work for copied software (Software pirates must die!), nor will it translate your games from Japanese to English. There are four jumpers we are concerned with, #6, 7, 10 and 11. For an American Saturn the jumpers currently set are 10 and 7. To change it to Japanese mode, you must open these jumpers and close jumpers 11 and 6. Another way of looking at it is this: the point common to both 6 + 7 is set to +5v for Japan, and Ground for the US. The common point for 10 + 11 is Ground for Japan, and +5v for the US. You can see more clearly how this works in this schematic. Check the lower right corner - it shows the default mode for a Japanese system. The same jumper diagram is reproduced in slightly different form in the table below. Sega was nice to us - these jumpers are clearly labelled on all Saturn boards, and all you've got to is find them, and install your switch. On all models you'll find the jumpers on the bottom of the PCB. On some they'll be on the bottom AND the top. On all of them the labels will be tiny and often hard to find, but keep looking. I assure you they are there. Please don't email me saying you can't find them - I don't care how long it takes, they are there and you're gonna find them on your own. It's time for the boy to become a man! JP6/JP7 JP8/JP9 JP10/JP11 JP12/JP13 Region Do Not Use Japan Asia NTSC Sega Reserved North America Mid + S America NTSC Korea Sega Reserved Sega Reserved Sega Reserved Asia PAL Sega Reserved Europe Etc Mid + S America PAL Sega Reserved Do Not Use I don't know what, if anything, the 'Sega Reserved' modes are for. Data for this chart was taken from a Cross Products modified development system. As far as I know software was released for only three regions: North America, Japan + Europe.
Looking at this poorly-drawn switch (Which is the kind you should use) you should know that the common points are connected to the middle legs. Jumpers 6, 7 and their common point should be on one row, and 10, 11 and the second common point on the other row. Be sure, of course, that you 6 and 11 one the SAME END! This way, when the switch is one way (red) you can see how one set of jumpers are closed, and the others are open. When you switch it to the other setting (green) it adjusts the jumpers accordingly.
The diagrams below are from the HiSaturn Navi, so unless you've got one of these don't waste your time looking for bits on your PCB that match! Combine this info with the switchless mod and you can play imports on your precious Navi without making a single externally visible modification.
Back to the normal Saturn now. I don't have recent pics to entertain you with, so please use these for the time being. Remember folks, these pictures were taken with a State of the Art digital camera about five years ago. Aaah, progress. Anyway, in the crappy pictures below, you can almost kind of make out that there are jumpers present. Ignore the numbers, they're useless to you.

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