Homebrew Saturn emulation using Cotton/Guardian Force testing and debug

[purple_bandit]

The Yabusa Sanshiro emulator has not been ported outside of PC right?

I mean to other consoles and stuff yeah, like Xbox Series S/X and any other system that supports retroarch cores. Android mobile possibly.

But not on Switch.

 

[dragonz]

I mean to other consoles and stuff yeah, like Xbox Series S/X and any other system that supports retroarch cores. Android mobile possibly.

But not on Switch.

Well, the Switch does run RetroArch, so there’s definitely some hope?

 

[purple_bandit]

Well, the Switch does run RetroArch, so there’s definitely some hope?

Nobody ported the Saturn cores to it after all this time though. Well... Until now with this Tico app

 

[mspy]

Nothing stopping people from porting any Retroarch cores from other systems into the the Switch Retroarch branch.
Yabause already has a Swith Retroarch core but the few games I tried ran slow, maybe overclocking the Switch could improve the run speed.

Yaba Sanshiro is also available on the Switch but AFAIK is based on Lakka meaning it won't run on Horizon Retroarch.

More info can be found here https://emulation.gametechwiki.com/index.php/Sega_Saturn_emulators

Also worth nothing that the SSF emulator that this all injection method on this thread is based on, allegedly had its source code on github for a while but it doesn't see that anyone grabbed it before the author pulled off.

 

[dantiicu]

Nothing stopping people from porting any Retroarch cores from other systems into the the Switch Retroarch branch.
Yabause already has a Swith Retroarch core but the few games I tried ran slow, maybe overclocking the Switch could improve the run speed.

Yaba Sanshiro is also available on the Switch but AFAIK is based on Lakka meaning it won't run on Horizon Retroarch.

More info can be found here https://emulation.gametechwiki.com/index.php/Sega_Saturn_emulators

Also worth nothing that the SSF emulator that this all injection method on this thread is based on, allegedly had its source code on github for a while but it doesn't see that anyone grabbed it before the author pulled off.

You can actually read ?

Yabasanshiro is set and 100% functional on HOS, switch system, not lakka

A new fully working version of Yabusa Sanshiro emulator bundled with the emulator frontend 'Tico' just released today.

And it seems to run Saturn full speed, no input lag from what I've seen. With all the options and goodies of emulators.

Maybe worth an entire new thread for this!!! Exciting!

View attachment 557604
https://github.com/ticohq/tico/releases

Update: 1mb/4mb ram cart isn't enabled in this version. Dev says possibly in next update.

 

[Taffer]

A new fully working version of Yabusa Sanshiro emulator bundled with the emulator frontend 'Tico' just released today.

And it seems to run Saturn full speed, no input lag from what I've seen. With all the options and goodies of emulators.

Maybe worth an entire new thread for this!!! Exciting!

View attachment 557604
https://github.com/ticohq/tico/releases

Update: 1mb/4mb ram cart isn't enabled in this version. Dev says possibly in next update.

kinda hard to believe, lets see

Post automatically merged: Feb 19, 2026

kinda hard to believe, lets see

future me: well it is the best performing Saturn emulation on Switch somehow. not really sure about it being closed source

 

[tehrzky]

kinda hard to believe, lets see

Post automatically merged: Feb 19, 2026

future me: well it is the best performing Saturn emulation on Switch somehow. not really sure about it being closed source

i tested it. and it really runs great. bulk slash. i think this is the better method playing saturn.

 

[Nephiel]

Looks promising. I tried it with Akumajou Dracula X and it ran quite well, until it crashed right after defeating the intro boss.

 

[dragonz]

i tested it. and it really runs great. bulk slash. i think this is the better method playing saturn.

Would you mind making a TLDR : Mini tutorial on this method ? Thanks

 

[purple_bandit]

Would you mind making a TLDR : Mini tutorial on this method ? Thanks

He's using the Tico frontend that has a new Saturn emulator.

 

[dragonz]

He's using the Tico frontend that has a new Saturn emulator.

I’d never even heard of Tico before — pretty cool stuff. Now that I’ve got the Tico.nro set up, I’m going to test the Saturn games that used to give me trouble, like Shinobi Legions and some versions of Bulk Slash.

 

[FluxState]

Just gave Tico a try here on HOS and I’m honestly impressed. Tested with Radiant Silvergun and Guardian Heroes - both were way smoother than what I was getting with the RetroArch Yabause core. Audio seems fine too, no obvious desync so far.

 

[dragonz]

Just gave Tico a try here on HOS and I’m honestly impressed. Tested with Radiant Silvergun and Guardian Heroes - both were way smoother than what I was getting with the RetroArch Yabause core. Audio seems fine too, no obvious desync so far.

Glad to see you tried Guardian Heroes — it’s one of my all‑time favorites. Is the input lag any better than a Cotton Tribute port made version of it? Also, is there any way to add custom cover images for ROMs? And just to confirm, it does support CHD format, right? This is genuinely exciting. If it eventually supports the 4MB RAM cart, we might finally get the ultimate version of Castlevania: Symphony of the Night running properly.

 

[ZuoKee]

Glad to see you tried Guardian Heroes — it’s one of my all‑time favorites. Is the input lag any better than a Cotton Tribute port made version of it? Also, is there any way to add custom cover images for ROMs? And just to confirm, it does support CHD format, right? This is genuinely exciting. If it eventually supports the 4MB RAM cart, we might finally get the ultimate version of Castlevania: Symphony of the Night running properly.

我是一名中国玩家 也测试Castlevania: Symphonia of the Night 1.1在TICO 的表现 正如Nephiel所说，打完剧情BOSS 系统就会崩溃，Tico文件里家有一个yabasanshiro.nro，提取它到RetroArch里 能加载 但黑屏然后跳到初始RetroArch界面也不报错

I’m a Chinese player, and I’ve also tested the performance of Castlevania: Symphony of the Night 1.1 on TICO.
Just as Nephiel mentioned, the system crashes right after defeating the story boss.
There’s a yabasanshiro.nro file inside the TICO folder.
I extracted it to RetroArch, and it loads，shows a black screen and then jumps back to the main RetroArch menu without any error messages.

 

[dragonz]

Update: I just tried Shinobi Legions using Tico, and wow — it feels much more responsive. The ability to toggle a 16:9 aspect ratio is a total game changer. I didn’t get to spend a lot of time with it yet, but I definitely plan to.
CHD isn’t supported for the Sega Saturn just yet, though it is available for PlayStation.
I’m honestly really impressed that I don’t even have to overclock the game. Now I want to play Shinobi from beginning to end and see if it runs crash-free.

 

[zenjiki]

From what I know, CHD is already working plus also the 1MB/4MB expansion cartridges are already working. Both will be on the next version.

 

[dragonz]

From what I know, CHD is already working plus also the 1MB/4MB expansion cartridges are already working. Both will be on the next version.

Whoa, that’s awesome news! CHD and the expansion carts are already working? That’s huge. I’m really curious how you found that out — sounds like you’ve got some early info.

Also, I’m going to try making a Saturn NSP forwarder using this tool: https://nsp-forwarder.n8.io/ I’ll report back if it works. I couldn’t get my custom game covers to show up since it seems to require being online, but I’m totally new to this so maybe there’s a workaround I haven’t figured out yet.

Post automatically merged: Feb 25, 2026

我是一名中国玩家 也测试Castlevania: Symphonia of the Night 1.1在TICO 的表现 正如Nephiel所说，打完剧情BOSS 系统就会崩溃，Tico文件里家有一个yabasanshiro.nro，提取它到RetroArch里 能加载 但黑屏然后跳到初始RetroArch界面也不报错

I’m a Chinese player, and I’ve also tested the performance of Castlevania: Symphony of the Night 1.1 on TICO.
Just as Nephiel mentioned, the system crashes right after defeating the story boss.
There’s a yabasanshiro.nro file inside the TICO folder.
I extracted it to RetroArch, and it loads，shows a black screen and then jumps back to the main RetroArch menu without any error messages.

Thanks for testing it! I’m wondering if the reason RetroArch gives you a black screen when loading the yabasanshiro.nro from TICO is because that file isn’t actually a RetroArch core.

On the Switch, RetroArch cores look like .nro files, but they’re really special libretro cores packaged in NRO format, so RetroArch can’t load it?

 

[purple_bandit]

Whoa, that’s awesome news! CHD and the expansion carts are already working? That’s huge. I’m really curious how you found that out — sounds like you’ve got some early info.

Also, I’m going to try making a Saturn NSP forwarder using this tool: https://nsp-forwarder.n8.io/ I’ll report back if it works. I couldn’t get my custom game covers to show up since it seems to require being online, but I’m totally new to this so maybe there’s a workaround I haven’t figured out yet.

Post automatically merged: Feb 25, 2026

Thanks for testing it! I’m wondering if the reason RetroArch gives you a black screen when loading the yabasanshiro.nro from TICO is because that file isn’t actually a RetroArch core.

On the Switch, RetroArch cores look like .nro files, but they’re really special libretro cores packaged in NRO format, so RetroArch can’t load it?

The developer has a discord server.

His switch is broken at the moment and it's gonna take 2 weeks to repair but he says the next update will have those things supported.

 

[hotcofe]

Regarding the Tico emulator, I tested it with "Shining Force III Scenario 1". In terms of speed, the Yabasanshiro core used by Tico seems to be the fastest Sega Saturn emulator I've encountered, without requiring overclocking. However, it has some issues: the BIOS file must be renamed to "saturn_bios.bin" to run before the game starts and display the Saturn logo. Additionally, save data is lost after saving and restarting the game. I have reported these issues to the original developers, hoping they will add a "Backup RAM Cartridge" option and uncheck the "Link Backup Library" option in future updates so that "Shining Force III Scenario 1" can save and load correctly.

 

[dragonz]

Regarding the Tico emulator, I tested it with "Shining Force III Scenario 1". In terms of speed, the Yabasanshiro core used by Tico seems to be the fastest Sega Saturn emulator I've encountered, without requiring overclocking. However, it has some issues: the BIOS file must be renamed to "saturn_bios.bin" to run before the game starts and display the Saturn logo. Additionally, save data is lost after saving and restarting the game. I have reported these issues to the original developers, hoping they will add a "Backup RAM Cartridge" option and uncheck the "Link Backup Library" option in future updates so that "Shining Force III Scenario 1" can save and load correctly.

For Sega Saturn emulation, the BIOS shouldn’t be renamed arbitrarily—Tico should accept any valid Saturn BIOS file as long as it matches one of the expected names: EDIT *( Only one bios file in the bios folder to avoid issues)*

• saturn_bios.bin
• sega_101.bin
• mpr-17933.bin

So if your dumps are named things like:

• SS - BIOS (E).bin
• SS - BIOS (U).bin
• SS - BIOS V1.00.bin
• SS - BIOS V1.01.bin

it’s better not to rename them, since doing so can cause unexpected issues.

I also noticed Guardian Heroes didn’t prompt me to choose between internal memory or cartridge memory. That might be related to CartridgeID=(usually set )"5a" setting being set to 00. In the meantime, save states worked, but I did run into a problem: after closing the game and exiting Tico, the Switch gave me a 10‑second delay followed by a application error message. This didn’t happen with Bulk Slash, so it may be specific to Guardian Heroes or tied to saving a state in that game.

Overall, this is shaping up to be the best Saturn experience on the Switch.