StarControl
05-12-2009, 01:53 PM
I finished the complete Tosec (20090307) Saturn cover collection. I've put it on megaupload and I'm in the process of posting it to the FTP.
Here are the TOSEC only Hyperspin sized covers (400px wide):
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=WEWV14LV
Here is the full resolution PAL/USA set - both TOSEC and non-TOSEC:
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=NHO53O0W
The Asian collection link has expired at megaupload so I will be moving that to the Hyperspin FTP in the next day or two. Those have been rotated and cropped, but that's about it as far as retouching goes.
----------ERRATA-----------
The following files were edited at the last minute and lost their proper TOSEC names:
Black Dawn v1.000 (1997)(Virgin)(PAL)[!]
Earthworm Jim 2 v1.004 (1996)(Virgin)(PAL)[!]
Mortal Kombat II v1.000 (1996)(Acclaim)(PAL)[!]
-------------------------------
There is a wrong region patch that will copy higher resolution US covers on top of low resolution PAL covers if you are more concerned about appearances than authenticity. Just copy the files from the wrong region directory on top of the regular set if you want this patch.
TOSEC only covers 1/3 of the U.S. releases, so there are an awful lot of covers that are not TOSEC named at this time. Except for the cross region patch, I didn't clean those. They should be cleaned, but I'm going to be taking a break from Saturn covers for a bit, so feel free to take on the project if you are interested.
---------------------------
Project Notes
---------------------------
As far as I know, this is the most complete collection available anywhere on the web. To put it together, I scoured PD, **, emumovies, satakore, gamefaqs, gamespot, mobeygames, musedelvideojuego, sega-saturn.net thecoverproject and several others that I can't remember right now. I went through and picked the best scan available for each game. For games with low resolution scans (<400px wide) or no scans I did a google image search. I also looked at amazon.com, amazon.co.uk, and eBay and in a few cases dewarped some standard photographs. Other than uncorrected and excessive screenprinting scan artifacts, musedelvideojuego provides the highest quality scans by far. Sega-saturn.net probably had the most complete PAL collection, and I used them to fill in some holes, but their scans are only 200px wide.
Guiding principles involved in cover selection:
1) Pick the highest res scan available that is cleanable.
2) Use fake covers only when absolutely necessary -- and sometimes it is necessary. I particularly attempted to avoid the fake covers if they used cropped or incorrect artwork. (NBA Action (US) actually has the wrong photo on the cover).
3) I tried to redo all the TOSEC USA covers from thecoverproject to correct their template deficiencies and relocate and resize elements to their actual positions instead of using the static template positions.
4) Search extra hard for alternatives if the best resolution scan is less than 400px wide.
5) Watermarks were only acceptable if they were removable with my current Photoshop skills. No Moeroshop images were used in this collection.
General procedures for retouching:
1) Rotate to straighten it out
2) Crop all the crap off the edges
3) Set the black levels and white levels
4) Clean the edges
5) Clean all the spots
6) Repair any defects (staples, tears, stickers, price tags, scratches, tape marks) that can possibly be repaired.
7) Descreen, attempting not to destroy detail and surface textures.
A few things I've discovered along the way:
1) thecoverproject.net's US template is lousy. The stripe alternation is reversed, the angle is wrong, there's no drop shadow on the SEGA SATURN logo, there is a dropshadow on the SEGA logo when there shouldn't be, they don't include the catalog #, the quality seal is oversized, and the ESRB ratings are inaccurate (no black fuzz and no ages in fine print).
2) The U.S. catalog # font is Arial Bold if you need to take out a watermark.
3) The U.S. legal font is either Arial or Arial Narrow.
4) There is a decent facsimile of the SEGA SATURN font on the web if you google "Sega Saturn font". The effect on the cover can be closely (but not precisely) emulated by embossing the font layer and adding a drop shadow.
5) Judicious application of the Photoshop's Filter/Blur/Surface Blur filter seems to be the best way I've found to descreen an image.
If anyone has actual Saturn covers they want to scan to contribute to improving this collection, I would be happy to do the retouching. Just send me a PM.
Here are the TOSEC only Hyperspin sized covers (400px wide):
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=WEWV14LV
Here is the full resolution PAL/USA set - both TOSEC and non-TOSEC:
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=NHO53O0W
The Asian collection link has expired at megaupload so I will be moving that to the Hyperspin FTP in the next day or two. Those have been rotated and cropped, but that's about it as far as retouching goes.
----------ERRATA-----------
The following files were edited at the last minute and lost their proper TOSEC names:
Black Dawn v1.000 (1997)(Virgin)(PAL)[!]
Earthworm Jim 2 v1.004 (1996)(Virgin)(PAL)[!]
Mortal Kombat II v1.000 (1996)(Acclaim)(PAL)[!]
-------------------------------
There is a wrong region patch that will copy higher resolution US covers on top of low resolution PAL covers if you are more concerned about appearances than authenticity. Just copy the files from the wrong region directory on top of the regular set if you want this patch.
TOSEC only covers 1/3 of the U.S. releases, so there are an awful lot of covers that are not TOSEC named at this time. Except for the cross region patch, I didn't clean those. They should be cleaned, but I'm going to be taking a break from Saturn covers for a bit, so feel free to take on the project if you are interested.
---------------------------
Project Notes
---------------------------
As far as I know, this is the most complete collection available anywhere on the web. To put it together, I scoured PD, **, emumovies, satakore, gamefaqs, gamespot, mobeygames, musedelvideojuego, sega-saturn.net thecoverproject and several others that I can't remember right now. I went through and picked the best scan available for each game. For games with low resolution scans (<400px wide) or no scans I did a google image search. I also looked at amazon.com, amazon.co.uk, and eBay and in a few cases dewarped some standard photographs. Other than uncorrected and excessive screenprinting scan artifacts, musedelvideojuego provides the highest quality scans by far. Sega-saturn.net probably had the most complete PAL collection, and I used them to fill in some holes, but their scans are only 200px wide.
Guiding principles involved in cover selection:
1) Pick the highest res scan available that is cleanable.
2) Use fake covers only when absolutely necessary -- and sometimes it is necessary. I particularly attempted to avoid the fake covers if they used cropped or incorrect artwork. (NBA Action (US) actually has the wrong photo on the cover).
3) I tried to redo all the TOSEC USA covers from thecoverproject to correct their template deficiencies and relocate and resize elements to their actual positions instead of using the static template positions.
4) Search extra hard for alternatives if the best resolution scan is less than 400px wide.
5) Watermarks were only acceptable if they were removable with my current Photoshop skills. No Moeroshop images were used in this collection.
General procedures for retouching:
1) Rotate to straighten it out
2) Crop all the crap off the edges
3) Set the black levels and white levels
4) Clean the edges
5) Clean all the spots
6) Repair any defects (staples, tears, stickers, price tags, scratches, tape marks) that can possibly be repaired.
7) Descreen, attempting not to destroy detail and surface textures.
A few things I've discovered along the way:
1) thecoverproject.net's US template is lousy. The stripe alternation is reversed, the angle is wrong, there's no drop shadow on the SEGA SATURN logo, there is a dropshadow on the SEGA logo when there shouldn't be, they don't include the catalog #, the quality seal is oversized, and the ESRB ratings are inaccurate (no black fuzz and no ages in fine print).
2) The U.S. catalog # font is Arial Bold if you need to take out a watermark.
3) The U.S. legal font is either Arial or Arial Narrow.
4) There is a decent facsimile of the SEGA SATURN font on the web if you google "Sega Saturn font". The effect on the cover can be closely (but not precisely) emulated by embossing the font layer and adding a drop shadow.
5) Judicious application of the Photoshop's Filter/Blur/Surface Blur filter seems to be the best way I've found to descreen an image.
If anyone has actual Saturn covers they want to scan to contribute to improving this collection, I would be happy to do the retouching. Just send me a PM.