Back in 2004 Sega released a limited supply of Sega saturn usb controls in japan and recently there have been a surge of bootlegs claiming to be Genuine hitting Ebay. So I purchased one of the very many Saturn USBs claiming to be "legit" from ebay so that I could see how it compares to a real sega saturn pad, and also to use for my ps3 and mac. Now its become common knowledge that these are not to the exact standard of the original 2004 pads, let alone the original saturn pad itself but I'm hoping that It would at least satisfy some emulator needs.

Here's the bootleg from Ebay. (hence they all claim its an original Sega product on ebay, but its not.)

As you can see the box it come in is an exact replica of the 2004 pads Sega released. These bootleggers really did there research.


My first impression taking it out from the pack was "WOW it looks like the real thing" but with closer inspection I started to notice its cheapness.

Body mold: The plastic body doesn't feel as smooth as the original. Plus its color isn't the sexy light grey of the genuine japanese article, its more of a light cream color, not impressed. Also I might add that the mold features arent as detailed, such as the grippy surface around the back and edges.

Face buttons: The face buttons are pretty good, yes they feel cheap are not to comfy to press but they respond pretty well while gaming. The molding is pretty much the same as the original, but I noticed that the font is slightly different and that they are not as deeply indented. The colors are slightly of too.

Triggers: These are terrible, they click really loudly and feel hard and irritating. The color is darker than the original.

Start button: Works but feels to moshy. Lighter in color (strange).

D-pad: Most important part which made the saturn pad so popular in the start. The plastic material is totally different, no comfy soft feeling grippy surface. Its a smooth hard plastic that feels edgy and pretty bland. It also doesn't move like the original being very sloppy and sometimes unresponsive. Though i still does a pretty good job on emulators.

Overal: Not bad for a cheap peace of crap pretending to be a saturn pad, but it definitely is miles away from the original beast that people know and love. I will say this. This bootleg is at least better than the Retrolink and Gtron incarnations, so ill give it that.

Comparing it with the original

Left: original Right: Bootleg


Top: Original Bottom: Bootleg

One of the better bootleg controllers I've seen, how much do they go for?

Around 20 dollars for one. but the sellers do deals like 2 for 30.

Just look around,, i can recommend sellers too...

Please, do

absolutely yes! just plug it in and walla! street fighter 4 etc with a saturn pad... though personally I would think that an original saturn pad with a retro adapter would work better due to the higher quality. I will be doin a video review on these pads and adapters within 2-3 weeks, there is a new adapter in town, and apparently you can use it for many things, it even got coverage on the BBC so ill be buying a bunch to check out.

My friend has one of those adapters. requires that the 360 controller is wired. It works very well without lag etc. has some turbo functions on it too. I don't know if it'll work with the TE stick but i'm pretty sure it would.

How do you like the TE stick by the way?. I just got a sega saturn Astro city stick. I'm finding it hard to adjust to a stick though I am getting better.

Update

I have been purchasing around and have come across one very reliable ebayer whom sells the Saturn usb pads. Basically I believe they are still bootlegs but seem to have the same standard in build and feel as the 2004 originals (different bootleggers maybe). They only sell it in the grey color but trust me its plays well and feels great, especially for fighters on mame, or sf4 on ps3. Plus you can use it for a mammoth of emulators.
heres a pic.


Just for reference here's what I use to compare the feel and quality of the bootlegs against. Yes there is an original 2004 usb I own which are still a little different from the saturn console pads, but still rock in its own way. heres a pic of some of them:



The seller is litianedup_wifi and I bought another 3 of them cus i was so impressed. I aslo found that this seller is recommended on many occasions for this pad on SRK forums. http://cgi.ebay.com/HOT-3-x-NEW-Gray-US ... 4988wt_941

Hope this information helps.

My god, why all the Sega Saturn?

Bought four too! If they are that good, I can surely use a couple

Love the saturn pad

WOW thats many. I only buy things like this out of research for quality. I hope you get them safely so that you can enjoy them emensly. Which seller did you buy them from?

Why not it is a gamers forum after all

And dont you think that out of my own expenses buying tons of pads of ebay, that I should at least share my experiance saving everyone else from wasting time trying to find a good product.

The one you recommended. the wifi guy

great! So you know when i got mine they came a liitle late, cus the damn swedish customs whom charged me VAT for them (bastards). Dont know how the customs are down in holland though.

When you do get em, they will be a little different than the console ones (as are the original 2004 usb), though not in a bad way. I think they made some small changes in to try to solve some issues the console one had. Basically the D-pad seems less rough and doesn't need as much breaking -in , and it gives a little more feedback in the thumb (like the saturn US/EU 2 gen, which I prefer). Plus the micro-switchs for the shoulder buttons aren't as over sensitive, which i believe is to prevent accidental hitting of the them (common happening in the console pad) they need more of a sure push. I'm actually using my usb pads almost everyday now


Like to hear your own impression when you have received and played with them. Maybe you can do a little vid about em.

I got mine!

They work really well, feel almost entirely like the 'real deal' even the shoulder buttons are nice and 'clicky'. Thanks a bundle for recommending them!

I'll make some sort of short video review on them later.

Good to hear, hope u enjoy them. mine havent arrived yet, but as usual they are stuck in swedish customs, which means ill be waiting a while and when i do get them, they will charge 25% of the value as VAT etc, bastards. lol

Please make the vid, itll be a good thing for the forums and youtube, especially youtube because no one has really adressed the saturn USB pads properly, and also the fact that there are many bootlegs of varying quality depending on who u buy from.

You should ask the seller to mark them as gifts. That way the sum won't show up in customs. Oh and its worse than just the 25% tax. You also have to pay 100kr (14 dollars) as some sort of fee.

Well mine arrived today, and the seller had ticked the gift box,, so i didnt have to pay . Though allot of stores that sell Modern items new sometime refuse to tick it. but most of the time its ok.