So this is the Sega Saturn that you probably didn't even know existed.
What you're looking at here is the Super Prologue 21
karaoke system from Sega. We have the Commander SKC-1000 at the bottom, and the Commander
SKC-1000C at the top, but what's special about this karaoke machine is that it plays Sega Saturn games.
So let's take a look at around the back of the machin. So first we got an RGB in, which is for the changer
...not sure what that is all about.
Probably something to overlay the graphics onto the screen.
You've also got composite video 1 & 2 next to that, and
Four composite video outputs to connect to four different monitors, and an S-video output.
You also got controller inputs that look like s-video, but they're not, and a coin box input.
And finally next to that, we have the song changing input,
which kind of looks like a modem input, but is not.
So let's take a look at the bottom row. Now, each section has its own
individual volume controls. It starts off with an auxiliary in and a video-CD input, just for the audio.
Then you have the music input next to that and then next to that we have the music out and the voice out,
and two microphone outputs as well, along with little controller ports.
That must be for really old-school connections.
And along the bottom we have some proprietary inputs to connect the CD changers and other devices to this machine.
We've got a modem line-in, and a telephone line-in at the top - sorry, no broadband - and a couple of power sockets as well.
I really do like the way the on and off switch is hidden behind this little male hook protector.
And as you can see, the SKC-1000 has all the same inputs and outputs. Just laid out a little bit differently.
Okay, looking inside the machine we can see that
it is jam-packed full of stuff. In fact there's cables going everywhere.
Now this cable, that you can see right here, actually goes off to the hard drive,
which is a 500 megabyte hard drive, but only a couple of megabytes on this one are actually used.
Now the thing is, if this hard drive fails the machine will not boot.
Now, underneath there, you can see a little spring attached to a door lever
this thing is what controls the Sega Saturn CD drawer.
In fact, talking about the Sega Saturn, the hardware is very deep inside.
Now I'm not going to take it apart, but we can take a look at all the boards from the side.
So, this board at the very bottom of the machine which you can see, just about, is the actual Sega Saturn.
What's strange about it? Even though
it's laid out differently than a normal Sega Saturn, it still has space on it to connect the cartridge port and the MPEG card.
Even though they'll never be used because it's buried all the way under there.
On top of that board, we got a few other boards which are all basically used for the karaoke functions, or the
amplifying of the sound or connectivity to the net.
Now you may be wondering,
Where do I put the sega Saturn games in? Well the drawer is actually hidden behind
this little flap here. Now, the little flap is kept closed with these very strange hexagonal screws which need a
crazy-looking driver to get open, but once you do get them open you
can get access to the drive.
Simply push it in and the spring release mechanism will let the drive slide out very smoothly.
Push it back in and it locks into place.
Now where do the controllers go? Well, that's a similar situation. They go behind another flap which is held down by these screws.
Upon opening the flaps, you can see we've got two controller ports,
and a load of other controls. These are actually used for the Sega Saturn's karaoke functions.
We've got a music volume there, a mic volume, and an echo volume.
Now actually Hitachi did release a separate karaoke box which does feature all the same controls on it,
but this unit has them built into the main karaoke machine.
These controls don't actually affect the main karaoke function, all in the Sega Saturn side.
Few other buttons as well, but I'm not too sure what exactly they do.
Now before we take a look at what this machine looks like running,
let's take a look at the buttons all over the front of it.
Now as you can see, we got the power on and off switch over to the left hand side,
and a lot of other buttons with the number keypad underneath
Basically these are just used to change the key, you set things on the karaoke track, and enter in the karaoke track's numbers.
And to the far right we've got some other controls,
which are just the sound, volume of the echo, and so on and because this is quite an old karaoke system,
everything is done manually, so as you can see we've got some inputs here.
We've got three mic inputs along with independent volume controls and
a music volume control as well, plus an echo switch for mic number three.
Okay, so enough talking from me. Let's take a look at what this system looks like when you boot it up.
So upon booting up the system, you have to wait for the whole thing to load in from the hard drive.
Once that's done, you get this lovely Sega Multimedia splash screen.
Now, the system goes straight into the karaoke mode.
Now all this data you're seeing is actually stored on the machine's hard drive, from when it was last used.
Unfortunately, because I don't have any access to these servers, plus
I don't have any disk drives or anything to connect to it,
I have to make do with what's already built into it, so let's have a look and select one of the songs.
So how about playing Sega Saturn games, how does that work?
Well, quite simple really. You just basically put in your Sega Saturn game, and press the Sega Saturn reset switch.
And it boots straight up into the Sega Saturn and
unfortunately you don't get any special splash screens or anything like that, it just behaves as a regular Japanese Sega Saturn,
because, well, that's what's actually inside this karaoke machine.
So there you have it, that is the Sega SKC-1000, or 1000-C
karaoke system, with a built-in Sega Saturn. A Sega Saturn that you probably had never seen before.
