Are some of your SEGA Saturn games beginning to show their age? Do you wish that your collection looked a little more presentable? Well now you can restore your games to former glory by following the exclusive guide below. All you need are some household products found in many homes, some time and patience!
Obviously this site can not be held responsible for any damage, injury or loss incurred whilst following the guide, however a little common sense and a careful consideration for your own safety is all that is needed for a successful restoration.
There are two types of case available for the SEGA Saturn
The type 1 case is more susceptible to damage, due to the construction.
The outer card layer can be sometimes detached from the hard plastic sections, due to the glue ageing. To repair this fault use a suitable glue product, such as No More Nails, and apply small amounts of glue in each corner plus some in the center, then press the plastic section into place some weight on top, a heavy book will suffice, and leave to dry.
Scuff marks and scratches on the card layer are difficult to repair succesfully. However for European release games some of the white scuff marks can be coloured in with a black permanent pen to disguise the mark, making it much less noticeable. The same effect can be used on the US releases, with a white marker pen obviously, although initially the scratches and marks are much less apparent.
Labels and price stickers can be awkward to remove, don't pick at them unless you know the sticker is relatively new! As the glue ages it sets harder and will mark the game if removed. To remove all stickers completely soak the sticker in Lighter Fluid and leave to work for 5 minutes before attemting to remove. Whilst removing the sticker, if it tears or rips don't pick just resoak with lighter fluid and wait a further 5 minutes before attempting again.
Afterwards the inner and outer sections of the case can be polished with furniture polish to enhance the appearance and restore a light shine.
The paper manuals can't really be repaired at all if damaged. If the covers are creased or folded over and marked. Place a towel over them and go over with a warm iron to remove the crease and place back in position.
A slight improvement to the look of the manual covers can be achieved by carefully polishing with furniture polish.
SEGA Saturn game CDs are notorious for being easily damaged, this is due to the unique copyright system in place on a Saturn disc which is placed right at the outer edge. The following method has been succesfully tested and is well worth a try if your game will not work. Scuffs and scratches interfere with the laser tracking and reading mechanism in two different ways:
Both scratches and scuffs can be removed by the same method - by polishing them out using Brasso. Engineers have been using Brasso as a polish for plastics ever since it was released as a polish for brass... well a long time anyway!
Use the Brasso in the normal way. A drop or two is usually sufficient. Use a soft clean cloth to rub the affected area with the Brasso until the mark is almost gone. Polish scuff marks radially (across the CD rather than round it!). Scratches are best handled by rubbing along the direction of the scratch. With a scratch it usually is not necessary to polish it completely away - just clean it up enough for the laser to be able to see through it.
Finish up by letting the Brasso dry on the surface, then use a fresh soft cloth to rub it off, do this last stage radially. Remember radial scratches won't generally interfere with the tracking mechanism.