There was a time when many FPGA sceptics said we'd never see Sega Saturn replicated accurately on current hardware, but in 2024, it seems that MiSTer now offers the most accurate Saturn experience outside of using real hardware.
As reported by Video Game Esoterica, srg320's Saturn core was recently updated and brings with it some incredible improvements when it comes to accuracy.
According to Video Game Esoterica, the RAM controller has been "rewritten and fixed up," offering improved performance that is so close to original hardware that the scsptest (which runs through the various audio processes Saturn hardware does) comes out with a complete pass when playing certain games. That means the test is seeing one-for-one parity with real hardware.
While the core is still in beta, it's available as part of the MiSTer "update_all" script and can be downloaded easily to any MiSTer FPGA system. It's important to note that there are still games which don't run perfectly in the core, so while it is extremely accurate in some cases, it's still not a complete replacement for the real thing.
You can see the footage in action below. Let us know if you've been playing with the Saturn core by leaving a comment.