New firmware was released last Sunday for the Fenrir Lite optical drive emulator for Sega Saturn a month after the device’s debut to address problems that didn’t exist for earlier models.
Firmware 1.7.0 can be downloaded here from the official Fenrir website. It’s the first update for the Lite, the latest model of the Fenrir that started shipping in early August.
The release notes list these features for firmware 1.7.0:
- Added ExFAT support
- Fixed game list issues with more than 50 games
- Fixed VA0/VA1 support
- Fixed in-game reset
- Improved drive detection
The added ExFAT support refers to a type of formatting that can be used for micro SD cards from which games are loaded. SD cards also can be formatted in FAT32 in the Fenrir.
The game list fix refers to a problem Lite users had with seeing more than 50 games in the Fenrir’s menu if more than 50 were on the SD card.
The fixed VA0/VA1 support refers to Saturn motherboards marked VA0 and VA1 that showed black screens when booting up with the Fenrir Lite’s initial firmware.
The Fenrir is a no-solder optical drive emulator that replaces a Saturn’s CD-ROM drive and runs games off of a micro SD card. It supports games in CCD/IMG, CUE/ISO (for single files) and CUE/BIN (for multiple files) formats. It first went on sale in spring 2020.
Fenrirs are sold at several authorized dealers listed on the official website.
For those who want to use a Fenrir without removing the CD-ROM drive from their Saturn, the WUXI Drive Switcher is available from Helder’s Game Tech for $45.
Support continues for all models
Version 1.7.0 is the first Fenrir firmware update since version 1.5.8 in November 2022. That one was for the Fenrir Duo, the previous version of the hardware. While that model is no longer for sale, the Fenrir’s creator, Ced, said support for it is not over.
“Duo firmware aren’t stopped,” Ced told someone in the Fenrir Discord server Sunday. “Lite needed some fixes.”
He also confirmed that the original Fenrirs that only hooked up to 20- or 21-pin Saturns, depending on which type of Fenrir was purchased, would get updates in the future, too. There hasn’t been new firmware for those since May 2022.
Overseas difficulties
The Fenrir is made in France, and Americans may have trouble importing the Fenrir right now, as SHIRO! reported last week in the wake of U.S. tariff changes. At the time, Ced told SHIRO! that said the French postal service was still accepting shipments to the U.S. if they are gifts, and while he had recently shipped some Fenrir units to stateside customers, it remained to be seen if they will be delivered.
That uncertain situation hasn’t changed, according to Ced. He told SHIRO! on Monday that the French postal service either doesn’t know anything about whether packages to the U.S. will be delivered or simply won’t say.
“I don’t know if it works but I try to send them anyway,” he said.
One U.S. customer in the official Fenrir Discord server reported Thursday that La Poste, a French postal company, was sending the Fenrir he ordered back to Ced.
“Just checked the tracking for my Fenrir (I’m in the U.S.) and looks like La Poste is sending it back to you Ced,” the person, whose screen name is crunchwrap, said. “I wonder if La Poste is just sending all U.S.-bound mail back to senders.”
The person posted a screenshot of the notification from La Poste.
“We used different methods for the U.S.,” Ced said Friday morning. “The 1st one was refused, the 2nd seems to work (import is done), the 3rd seems to work too (import is done).”
But he conceded that no one had received a Fenrir in the U.S. since the new tariffs went into effect, so until that happens, it’s unclear whether any shipping method will work right now.
In the last year, the Fenrir has faced competition from other Saturn ODEs, like the SAROO cartridge, which is often sold for less than US$100, and the Satiator, a U.S.-made ODE that dropped its price late last year from $260 to $200. The Fenrir also has had to compete against unauthorized clones of itself being sold on AliExpress for much less than the Fenrir Duo originally cost, which was $140.
The Lite now costs €50, or about $58, to better compete with those products while maintaining the functionality of the Duo.
This story originally appeared on Sega Saturn SHIRO!