The Sega Saturn port of the essential 240p Test Suite is making its way closer to being feature-complete with the release of version 0.3 beta 8.
Here is a download link for the version 0.3 beta 8. Hitomi2500 posted it to the SegaXtreme Discord server Saturday. Please note that this ZIP file includes both .cue/.iso and .ss files.
First released as an entry into the SegaXTreme SEGA Saturn 29th Anniversary Game Competition in early 2024 — covered by SHIRO! here — homebrew developer hitomi2500 has been hard at work improving the functionality of the Saturn port of the 240p Test Suite.
The latest beta adds “Audio Tests” alongside expanded “Hardware Tests” support.
New audio test features include “Sound” and “Audio Sync” tools.
Hardware tests allow the user to test peripheral inputs and see system information. The “Express Peripheral Test” — aka controller test — now works with the SBom and 6player multitaps, 3D Control Pad, the Shuttle Mouse, Saturn Keyboard, the Arcade Racer Wheel, and compatible Mega Drive/Genesis peripherals.
Hitomi2500 warned, however, that the “controller test is still unstable and not fully tested,” so users should be aware that false readings and other issues might occur while using this tool in the latest beta version.
In addition to the 240p Test Suite port development, hitomi2500 is also leading the Tokimeki Memorial translation project — read SHIRO!’s coverage of that effort here.
Since its debut in 2011, the 240p Test Suite – initially developed by Artemio Urbina – has become an invaluable piece of the retrogaming space. For those unaware, the 240p Test Suite is “a homebrew software suite for video game consoles developed to help in the evaluation of capture cards, upscalers, upscan converters, line doublers and of course TV processing of 240p video and scaled signals” – 240p Test Suite itch.io page.
The Sega Saturn release of 240p Test Suite “can be run from either CD (requires homebrew-capable system or ODE) or bootable cartridge. It supports all Saturn’s video modes from 320x224i up to 704x512p (some modes are PAL-only).” – 240p Test Suite itch.io page.
This story originally appeared on Sega Saturn SHIRO!