Tips, Tricks & Traps 27: "Sega Ages Volume 1" (Sega Saturn) Hidden Cheats - 17 September 2024

My first Sega Saturn video in quite some time. Today, I will be looking at the unfortunately-inaccurately-named "Sega Ages: Volume 1", released in 1996. Sega Ages is an in-house brand used by Sega themselves to promote and release ports, conversions, remakes and collections consisting of their classic games from yesteryear, both arcade and console. During the Saturn’s lifetime, most Sega Ages titles were only released in Japan, and typically consisted of an arcade-perfect port of a classic game complete with some new features, such as unlockable extras, new game modes and a choice of original and remixed soundtracks. Three (3) of these games - "Space Harrier", "Afterburner 2", and "Outrun", all created by the legendary Yu Suzuki and featuring soundtracks by Hiroshi Kawaguchi - were compiled together onto a single disc and released under the title "Sega Ages: Volume 1". Despite the title, there would be no future releases in these territories, as the Saturn was essentially defunct by the end of 1998 and replaced by the Dreamcast.

1. Space Harrier
Shadow Mode and Mission Stick Adjust Mode

At the main menu, highlight Options and hold down L-R-A-C-Y all together, and then press the Start button while holding down the others. A hidden option to toggle the game's Shadow Mode (arcade or Saturn) will appear, along with an option to choose a control scheme for the Sega Mission Stick.

2. Afterburner 2
Hidden Menu

From within the options menu, press R 3 times to access a hidden submenu (on some versions, you can simply press L and R to switch back and forth between screens, with the same result). From here, you can record or play a demo, toggle the "trace" on and off or set the width of your gunsights.

3. Outrun
Easy Cornering

Highlight Options at the main menu, hold down A and C together and then press the Start button. A new option to adjust the in-game car's cornering (handling and traction around curves and turns), is now visible (arcade or easy mode).

The US version of this release also supports a "Smooth Mode" for Outrun, which increases the in-game framerate to help with the game’s fluidity and to make the controls more responsive.

Recorded on 17 September 2024