A unique graphics accelerator from the 1990s. The iconic console was supposed to have it
Sega wanted more power
The Japanese magazine Beep21 discovered evidence of the existence of a TRIP accelerator for the Sega Saturn console. The component itself has been the subject of speculation for a long time, but has never been 100% confirmed. The truth was revealed by an engineer who worked for Sony and Sega, as well as Hitachi, which prepared the accelerator. It was a component based on the Hitachi SH-3 system.
It was intended to support the Saturn’s graphic capabilities, which already in 1996 were proving to be increasingly inadequate for demanding 3D games. This is evidenced by the lower quality ports compared to PS1 – from Wipeout through Resident Evil 1 to Tomb Raider.
The Saturn struggled with demanding 3D games by having two Hitachi SH-2 RISC processors, two VDP (Video Display Processor) units, and dedicated co-processors for 3D geometry, audio, and I/O. The worst thing is that Sega added an additional VDP several months before the premiere, which resulted in the hardware being overloaded with processors and having a complicated architecture. In theory, the potential was great, but few people were able to harness it.
The Hitachi SH-3 system, which was to be used in the accelerator codenamed TRIP, was to support graphics operations and geometric calculations. It was supposed to do it so effectively that the Saturn would be able to handle Shenmue and Virtua Fighter 3 – games that were ultimately released only on the Dreamcast. TRIP was developed in 1996, after which the project was canceled.
However, Sega ultimately decided to distance itself from Saturn and redirect resources to work on the Dreamcast.
Only prototype systems remained from the TRIP project, while an engineer working for Sega and Hitachi – Junichi Naoi – later joined Sony and helped create the PS3. As you can see, unusual, difficult to tame architecture is probably his specialty.
