Yaba-SanShiro: Run Sega Saturn games on your PI4

Posted onAuthorFatnick

So we’ve looked at the state of pi Emulation and we’ve also seen how you can run Sega Model 3 games on your Pi, so here’s a quick tutorial on how to run Sega Saturn games on your Pi4.

It’s worth remembering that from a hardware perspective the Saturn was an absolute beast so it’s a miracle that this even runs at all. Needless to say, emulation is a bit buggy and incomplete. Still here we go:

First, Log into Pi externally via SSH or exit emulation station to the command prompt.

Then type/copy and paste:



git clone https://github.com/devmiyax/yabause.git --branch pi4


cd yabause


git submodule update --init –recursive


mkdir build

cd build

cmake ../yabause -DGIT_EXECUTABLE=/usr/bin/git -DYAB_PORTS=retro_arena -DYAB_WANT_DYNAREC_DEVMIYAX=ON -DYAB_WANT_ARM7=ON -DCMAKE_TOOLCHAIN_FILE=../yabause/src/retro_arena/pi4.cmake -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=/opt/retropie/emulators/yabause/

make

sudo make install

This will install the emulator too:

/opt/retropie/emulators/yabause/./yabasanshiro

/opt/retropie/emulators/yabause/./README.md

I put these into ‘/opt/retropie/emulators/yabasanshiro‘ with the command: 

sudo mv /opt/retropie/emulators/yabause/yabasanshiro /opt/retropie/emulators/yabasanshiro/yabasanshiro-sdl

Yaba can run without a bios, but some games seem to run better with it (and hey it’s nice to have the authentic start up chime!) so download the bios from a dark corner of the internet so rename it ‘ saturn_bios.bin’ and FTP it into: /home/pi/RetroPie/BIOS

Now you just need to update the list of Saturn emulators. Type: 

cd /opt/retropie/configs/saturn
sudo nano emulators.cfg

and add these lines:



yabasanshiro-sdl-RLE = "/opt/retropie/emulators/yabasanshiro/yabasanshiro-sdl -r 3 -i %ROM%"

yabasanshiro-sdl-saturn_bios = "/opt/retropie/emulators/yabasanshiro/yabasanshiro-sdl -b /home/pi/RetroPie/BIOS/saturn_bios.bin -r 3 -i %ROM%"

Now hit control x, hit enter to save the file and your good to go! you just need to restart your pi or type emulationstation and you can play your Saturn games. Things to note:

  • This is the Stand alone version, NOT the Libretro port. Not only does the standalone version run better but the LR port has been abandoned anyway
  • You can quit the emulator and setup controls by hitting exit on a connected keyboard
  • You can use CHD files with Yabasanshiro to save space