Sega Pluto

Pluto (Roger's)

I've uploaded some images from the "Fixing the Super Rare Sega Pluto Prototype" video to Google Drive .

Quick Theory and Speculation

The Pluto is largely the same as the stock Saturn with some small changes. Besides ASIC revisions, alternate parts, and layout changes what makes the Pluto unique is the extension of the cartridge slot to an external bus for the modem and hard drive. The cartridge-to-external-bus is buffered with some bus transceivers which appear to be controlled by IC50.

IC50 looks like it might also act as a middleman between the cartridge and external bus. IC50 is probably some Altera or Xilinx FPGA, or maybe Lattice based on the part choice for IC52.

Considering that the Modem and HDD PCBs don't appear to be from SOJ or Cross Products, the use of a Seagate HDD instead of a Hitachi one, and that both Pluto's were discovered in the US, my guess is that the Pluto was made by SOA to sell the idea of including a modem and hard drive in the Saturn to SOJ. Or maybe as a concept idea for the Dreamcast? I don't remember all the rumors and stuff from this time period. But going through all the trouble and engineering effort to make it look like a commercial product is a bit much for a simple proof of concept.

Since the Net Link already existed the big selling point of the Pluto would have been the inclusion of a hard drive, so there is likely something on the hard drive. Or at least there was at some point. I think Super Magnetic's "PLUTO 02" also had a hard drive.

Disorganized Info

Item	Sega No.	Manufacturer	Manufacturer No.	Variant No.	Details
PSU	XR959	Yamaha	35M11U		100-120V 50/60Hz
PC/IC BD PLUTO MAIN	837-12472		171-7211B		C SEGA 1996
IC501		Hitachi		2.02
IC1, IC2		Hitachi	HD6417095		SH-2
IC17	315-5687
IC	315-5690
IC	315-5688
IC	SF4 YGR019B
IC6	315-5914
IC7	MPR-17941-T
IC50					80pin QFP
IC9	315-5744	Hitachi	HD404920FS
Modem PCB	G963AAA_R_MODEM_A
HDD PCB	PCB_G963AAA_HDD_A		3314-2091
IC52		Lattice			SETUPTIME
MOTHER			3314-2096		PLOTECH

Disc Drive looks like a variant of this one https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sega-Saturn-Laser-Assembly-V2-a.jpg

Modem and HDD PCBs not "MADE IN JAPAN". The "part number"s do not fit any Sega or Cross Products numbering scheme, they're more like file names.

Modem and HDD connect to MOTHER which connects to IC50 and the cartridge slot. Bunch of LS245 bus transceivers probably for buffering.

PLUTO 02 (Super Magnetic's)

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