Download - Multi-Region Mega Drive - Plusnet · "Multi-Region" Mega Drive Version 2.0 2 Adding Switches to your Mega Drive Well, there’s my switched Mega Drive - damn, it looks good! Notice

"Multi-Region" Mega Drive Version 2.0

"Multi-Region" Mega Drive

Matthew Neilson

June 13, 2004

Contents

1 Introduction 2

2 Adding Switches to your Mega Drive 32.1 What you Need . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32.2 Opening up your Mega Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42.3 How the Switches Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62.4 Building the Switches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

2.4.1 Language Switch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62.4.2 50Hz / 60Hz Switch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

2.5 Fitting the Switches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72.6 Widening the Cartridge Slot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82.7 Congratulations! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

3 Frequently Asked Questions 9Why do I need to make my Mega Drive multi-region? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9Why are some Mega Drive games locked out? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9How does the lock-out system work? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9What is a bridge adapter, how does it work, and why doesn’t it allow me to play all import games? 9What is a `Universal Adapter'? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10What about the Game Genie / Pro Action Replay? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10Whats the big deal with 50Hz PAL? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10Why is my picture black and white? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11Why am I experiencing slowdown in 60Hz NTSC mode? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12Is there any way to minimise (or, even better, eliminate) slowdown? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12Can I play locked out European games in 60Hz NTSC mode? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12I plugged one of my English games into a Japanese Mega Drive, and it now plays in Japanese - why? 13Which games use lock-out technology? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13Is it true that widening the cartridge slot makes my console multi-region? . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13I heard that the very first run of Mega Drive consoles had no region lockout. Is this true? . . . . 13Is there any way to make my Mega Drive change its region automatically? . . . . . . . . . . . . 13Is there such a thing as a `lock-out chip'? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14What about the licensing screen which appears upon powering up the console? . . . . . . . . . . 14My modified Mega Drive / Genesis has slightly different jumper connections to those outlined in

the guide, yet it still works. Why? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

c©2002-2004 Matthew Neilson ([email protected])

Constructed using TEXShop, the LATEX frontend for Mac OS X

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mailto:[email protected]


Why are the printed traces on my Genesis different from the "US" setting shown in the guide? . 15On my board, JP1 and JP2 are in a different area from JP3 and JP4. How do I modify this console? 16My board has a capacitor across one of the four jumpers. How do I proceed? . . . . . . . . . . . 16Does modifying my console allow me to play any Sega/Mega CD game? . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16Are there any guides for modifying a Mega Drive / Genesis `mark 2', a Nomad, or a Genesis 3? . 17

4 Recommended Japanese Import Games 17

5 Credits 19

6 Disclaimer 20

1 Introduction

By definition, an ’import’ is something which has been brought in from a foreign country. In gaming terms,the world is split into three main territories: Europe, America and Japan. If you want to guarantee successwith playing import Mega Drive games, you have three options -

1. Buy a console from each region (takes up lots of space, but if you’re a collector this may be the idealsolution).

2. Buy a universal pass-through adapter which allows you to select a specific region (note that a simplebridge adapter will not suffice - you actually require an adapter with ’region switches’).

3. Modify your console by building region-switches, making it multi-region (easily achieved on a MegaDrive 1, and also possible on a Mega Drive 2; this is my preferred option due to its neatness - oncemodified, your Mega Drive can play anything!).

Any of the above will save you from worrying about compatibility issues when buying import games. Thisdocument is intended to give you detailed step-by-step instructions for the latter option, namely modifyingyour Mega Drive / Genesis ’model 1’ console such that it can play import games. The console used todemonstrate this procedure is a European Mega Drive, although this guide is 100% compatible with anyregion of Mega Drive / Genesis. Owners of a PAL Mega Drive are strongly advised to modify their consolefor 60Hz gameplay - games will run 20% faster (that is, at their intended speed), AND full-screen (no morecrushed graphics!). People seem to get very apprehensive when it comes to opening up their Mega Drive -don’t be, the modification is incredibly simple and the benefits of 60Hz gameplay are remarkable.

Before attempting anything on your console, you should first read through the entire guide and makesure that you are absolutely clear of what needs to be done. If you have any doubts, please feel free to Emailme - I’ll be happy to help you, and any input will help improve this guide. Similarly, if you notice any typos,please Email me and I will update the guide.



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2 Adding Switches to your Mega Drive

Well, there’s my switched Mega Drive - damn, it looks good! Notice the switches at the bottom left, justnext to the volume control. It is possible to play any game from any region on this console. Follow theseinstructions to make your Mega Drive / Genesis multi-region - regardless its country of origin. Note that thisguide is only intended for use with the original model 1 Mega Drive1.

2.1 What you Need

You will need the following:

1. A screwdriver

2. Some long wire

3. A soldering iron

4. Solder

5. A sharp knife

6. Two SPDT switches

7. An RGB SCART lead



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Figure 2.1: Mega Drive flipped upside down. Note thatthe six screws holding the machine together are locatedaround the perimeter of the case.

Figure 2.2: Mega Drive opened in the correct manner,with no strain being put on the "power on" LED.

2.2 Opening up your Mega Drive

First of all, turn your Mega Drive upside down (as in Figure 2.1), and unscrew the six screws on the bottomof the machine. Now turn your Mega Drive over such that it is in the normal ’playing’ position, and slowlylift the top casing as shown in Figure 2.2. Be careful of the wires that connect to the red "power on" LED.To disconnect the wires, simply bend the LED legs so they’re straight, and pull the connector off. When itcomes to reconnecting the LED, note that one LED leg is longer than the other - the red wire attaches tothe longer leg. Alternatively, you could write R[ed] and W[hite] next to the legs - it’s inside the case so it’snot like anyone will see it. Bear in mind that your Mega Drive won’t have the red wires shown at the lefthand side of Figure 2.2 (yet). Now unscrew the screws that hold down the shielding. Don’t forget about thegold screw on top!

NOTE: Once you’ve finished, remember to put the shielding and casing back to the way they were! Besure to match up the "on" switch and the volume control on the casing with their corresponding parts onthe circuit board when putting the upper casing back on.

Once the shielding is removed, you should see something similar to Figure 2.3 (minus the extra red wires, ofcourse!). You’re now ready to perform the modification.

Figure 2.4 shows a blow-up of the section we are most interested in on the circuit board of this particularMega Drive (located in the bottom-right of the circuit board shown in Figure 2.3). There are four sets ofjumper switches labeled "JP1", "JP2", "JP3", and "JP4" (as in Figures 2.4 and 2.5). Working from leftto right for JP1 through to JP4, each solder point has been denoted a number from ’1’ to ’8’, respectively -this simply makes referencing somewhat easier later on. Take a sharp knife, and cut a straight line through

1If your Mega Drive has a volume control and a headphone jack, it is a "Model 1" Mega Drive.



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Figure 2.3: The inside of a Mega Drive once its shielding had been removed.

JP1

JP2

JP3

JP4

1 2

3 4

5 6

7 8

Figure 2.4: A magnification of the section of the boardin Figure 2.3 containing the necessary jumper switches.

Figure 2.5: The diagram corresponding to Figure 2.4,where each ’end’ of the four jumpers has been labeled.

the middle of the jumpers (the dotted line in the Figure 2.5 represents the area you need to cut). You’ll needto cut quite far into the board - but don’t over do it! Those of you with access to a multimeter may use thisto determine whether or not you have cut sufficiently deep.

Throughout the Mega Drive’s life, there were many different circuit board revisions. In some versions,the jumpers may be found at a different part of the board from the one shown above; in others, the samejumpers may be laid out in a different order. As such, your Mega Drive’s circuit board may look slightlydifferent from the one shown in this guide. Don’t let that worry you. You should find that JP1 and JP2 areboth located in the same part of the board, with JP3 and JP4 also being paired together. You can deduce



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the orientation of each jumper by looking at its printed label (e.g. "JP1" goes from ’left’ to ’right’, whichtells you which way round my diagrams are in relation to your circuit board).

2.3 How the Switches Work

JP1 and JP2 control the language of your machine. Connecting a piece of wire between the points labeled"2" and "3" will set your console to "Japanese mode" (Figure 2.6), while connecting "3" and "4" will putyou in "English mode" (Figure 2.7). Similarly, JP3 and JP4 control the output of the console. Connect apiece of wire between points "5" and "8" for 60Hz NTSC output (Figure 2.8), and between "5" and "6"for 50Hz PAL output (Figure 2.9).

JP1

JP2

1 2

3 4

JP1

JP2

1 2

3 4

JP3

JP4

5 6

7 8

JP3

JP4

5 6

7 8

Figure 2.6: Japanese. Figure 2.7: English. Figure 2.8: 60Hz NTSC. Figure 2.9: 50Hz PAL.

2.4 Building the Switches

In the following diagrams, the red dashed lines represent wires and each three-pronged hub at the bottomrepresents a switch. To make things clearer, please refer to sections 2.4.1 and 2.4.2, respectively.

JP1

Japanese English

1 2

JP23 4

60Hz(NTSC)

50Hz(PAL)

JP3 5 6

JP4 7 8

Figure 2.10: Language Switch. Figure 2.11: Frequency Switch.

2.4.1 Language Switch

Take a SPDT switch and a piece of wire. Solder one end of the wire to point "3" and the other to the middleconnection of the switch. Now take another piece of wire and solder one end to point "2" and the other tothe left connection of the switch. Finally take another piece of wire and solder one end to point "4" and the



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other to the right connection of the switch, giving something which looks similar to Figure 2.10. Voila - youhave your language switch!

2.4.2 50Hz / 60Hz Switch

Take another SPDT switch and a piece of wire. Solder one end of the wire to point "5" and the otherto the middle connection of the switch. Now take another piece of wire and solder one end to point "6"and the other to the left connection of the switch. Take another piece of wire and solder one end to point"8" and the other to the right connection of the switch, as in Figure 2.11. Now you have a 50Hz/60Hz switch.

It is worth noting here that if you are modifying a PAL console, the 60Hz output given by this switch isnot ’true’ NTSC (for more information on this, see the FAQs in Section 3). All this means is that you willneed to use an RGB SCART lead in order to play your games in colour (in 60Hz mode).2 This works theother way as well - if it’s an NTSC system that you are modifying, you will need an RGB SCART for gamesto play in colour while in 50Hz mode.

2.5 Fitting the Switches

This part is entirely your choice. You can see what I did, and personally I can’t think of a better place to fitthe switches. By popular demand, the following describes exactly how I went about fitting switches to theMega Drive pictured above:

I used two miniature SPDT [Single Pole, Double Throw] ’mounting slide switches’. Most people use SPDTtoggle switches, but I tend to prefer the overall look of the slide switches used here (they don’t stick outmuch, making them rather neat and unobtrusive). To actually fit one of the switches, I drilled a small hole onthe side of my Mega Drive [after hours of measuring/debating], making sure that the hole would be smallerthan the head of the switch. I then filed away, constantly checking to see whether or not the switch wouldcomfortably slide from one position to the other. Once I had a good, neat (and straight) fit, I marked theposition of the fixing holes and drilled a tiny hole through each of the aforementioned markings. It’s thenjust a matter of screwing the switch into place. The second switch is fitted in exactly the same way, but besure to measure everything out relative to the first switch if you want them to be neatly aligned. You mightwant to put masking tape over the area of casing you intend to drill through before marking/drilling, as thiscan help prevent the drill from slipping.

2Failure to use an RGB SCART lead will result in the game playing in black and white. Apparently, some television sets areable to cope with the signal that the Mega Drive outputs when it is being played in the ’wrong’ frequency setting, but in mostcases you will need an RGB SCART to play the game in colour.



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2.6 Widening the Cartridge Slot

Ahhh. . . you thought you were finished - didn’t you? Well, you’re not - there’s still one last thing to do. Itturns out that Japanese Mega Drive cartridges are wider than non-Japanese Mega Drive cartridges. Here,I’ve used Thunder Force IV 3 as an example:

Notice how the European cart has those little notches at either side (at the back) whereas the Japanese cartis curved. Well, you guessed it, those sleek Japanese carts just don’t fit into non-Japanese Mega Drives. Thereason is that Sega cunningly changed the shape of the Euro/US carts and the shape of the cartridge sloton the console, so as to prevent people importing from Japan. This is easily rectified by simply dismantlingthe cartridge slot on the Mega Drive and filing down the little notches on each side.

Once you have your console open, you’ll see some screws holding the cartridge mechanism together - unscrewthem. Now look for the protruding "corners" at either side of the slot, and take them off. I used a fret-saw toget rid of the majority of the edge, and then filed the rest until a Japanese cart would fit. Make sure you geta good clean fit, with plenty of space for a cart to fit in without any scratches - after all, once everything’sback together the cart slot will look almost exactly the same as it did before (from the outside, at least).Sunsoft 4 cartridges are probably the best to use for testing the width of the slot, as they are the widest ofall Japanese Mega Drive carts. Then screw everything back together, and your Mega Drive will be able toaccept Japanese games!

Japanese systems also have trouble accepting non-Japanese cartridges due to a ’cartridge lock’ that holdsthe game in the cart slot while the system is switched on. You see that little slot at the side of the Japanesecart? That’s where the piece of plastic slides in to prevent the game being pulled out while the Mega Driveis switched on (a very clever and useful device, I must say). To fix this, all you have to do is remove the lockon the inside of the Mega Drive by removing the screw that holds it in place. Then screw everything backtogether, and your Japanese Mega Drive will be able to accept non-Japanese games.

NOTE: DO NOT file the game carts themselves! Apart from potentially destroying the game, the cartwill look terrible, and is guaranteed to be worthless - no one likes buying filed carts.

2.7 Congratulations!

You can now play Import Mega Drive games! Simply switch to "60Hz" and "Japanese" for Japanese mode,"60Hz" and "English" for US mode, and "50Hz" and "English" for European mode.

3There are many interesting differences between the European release and the Japanese releases of this game. First, thedevelopers call themselves Technosoft in the Euro version and Tecno Soft in the Japanese version. Secondly, the 100 lives cheatdoesn’t work in the Japanese version - instead, you start with 0 lives!

4The following are Sunsoft games: TEL TEL Mahjong, Batman, TEL TEL Baseball Staduim, Shi Kin Joh, Super FantasyZone, Lemmings, Flashback and Panorama Cotton.



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3 Frequently Asked Questions

Why do I need to make my Mega Drive multi-region?

If you want to play the majority of Japanese (and American) import games, your only options are to eitherbuy a bridge adapter or to perform a hardware modification on your Mega Drive. The former merely allowsthe Japanese cartridges to fit into your Mega Drive, and wont allow you to play all import games (Japaneseor American). The latter will allow you to play ANY Mega Drive game, regardless of where it was released.

Why are some Mega Drive games locked out?

In order to answer this question, we’ll have to go through a brief history of the Mega Drive. The Mega Drivewas originally released in Japan, then in the USA (with the name changed from Mega Drive to Genesis), andlastly in Europe (where it was called Mega Drive again). Now, Sega was (and still is) split up into three maindivisions - Sega Japan, Sega of America, and Sega Europe - and each of these divisions work independentlyof one another. This means that if European Mega Drive owners had imported all of their games fromAmerica, Sega Europe would have made no money, and the Mega Drive would have been discontinued inEurope. With the Mega Drive officially discontinued in Europe, there would have been no TV ads, no MegaDrive magazines, and no awareness of the Mega Drive for most of the European public. As most games werereleased in Japan and America before they were released in Europe (and since the games-playing public area pretty impatient bunch), importing was a popular way of buying games. So Sega introduced the lock-outsystem.

How does the lock-out system work?

Without going into too much detail, heres a quick outline of the three major gaming territories:

Region TV Signal LanguageJapan 60Hz NTSC JapaneseUSA 60Hz NTSC EnglishEurope 50Hz PAL English

So a Japanese game could be programmed to run if and only if the console has a Japanese language setting(i.e. Japanese games will only play on a Japanese Mega Drive). Similarly, an American game could beprogrammed to run if and only if the console has an English language setting AND a 60Hz NTSC signal.Likewise, European games could be programmed to run if and only if the console has an English languagesetting AND a 50Hz PAL signal.

What is a bridge adapter, how does it work, and why doesn’t it allow me to playall import games?

A bridge adapter just acts as a bridge to allow Japanese Mega Drive games to fit into a non-Japanese MegaDrive. If you look at a Japanese cartridge, you will see that it is not the same shape as a European or UScartridge. Due to the difference in shape, a Japanese Mega Drive cartridge will not fit into a non-JapaneseMega Drive (unless the cartridge slot is widened). So if a Japanese game has no in-built security, it will playon a non-Japanese Mega Drive provided you can physically fit the cart into the slot. As mentioned earlier,though, some games are programmed to recognise the territory of the console on which they are playing, and



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so a bridge adapter will only allow you to play some Japanese games. Bridge adapters do NOT make yourconsole play games in 60Hz mode.

What is a ’Universal Adapter’?

Universal adapters (such as the one released by Datel) are becoming increasingly hard to find these days, andare often confused with bridge adapters. Like a bridge adapter, the universal adapter is placed between thegame and the console. However, a universal adapter will always contain several DIP switches which allowyou to select the region of the game you wish to play, and the label on the cartridge will explain which switchsettings are to be used for each region. However, a universal adapter does not make a European/Asian MegaDrive output 60Hz.

What about the Game Genie / Pro Action Replay?

Both the Game Genie (Galoob) and the Pro Action Replay (Datel) are cheat cartridges, designed to let theuser hack into the game of their choice and alter parameters which control various aspects of the game. Thismeans that such a device can be used, for example, to give the user infinite lives, unlimited energy, access tohidden levels, and control of the game speed. Due to the nature of these devices, codes may be "invented"for just about any game, with many bizarre (and game-enhancing) results - such as the ability to executespecial moves in mid-air for the Street Fighter II series.

The devices use lock-on technology (similar to the bridge adapter and the universal adapter), meaning thatthe cheat cartridge plugs into the Mega Drive with the game plugged directly on top of the cheat cartridge.As such, both the Game Genie and the various incarnations of the Pro Action Replay may be used as a bridgeadapter for foreign games. However, many people have noticed that these devices have a distinct advantageover simple bridge adapters, namely that by entering specific region-free codes an import game can be forcedto run on a domestic console.

Unfortunately, each game requires a different code in order to play in a specific territory, and so there isno universal code which works for all games. Furthermore, I must point out that a large number of games donot currently have region-free codes available for use with cheat cartridges, and that codes are not compatiblebetween different devices (i.e. a region-free code which works with the Pro Action Replay will not work withthe Game Genie). In short, this option only works if someone has invented a code for the particular gameyou wish to play and the cheat cartridge you intend to use.

However there are a couple of documents in the "Genesis Hardware FAQs" section of GameFAQs whichlist a large number of ’region-free’ game codes, so if you already have one of these devices you should defi-nitely check these out. As in the previous cases, a Game Genie / Pro Action Replay will not make a EuropeanMega Drive output 60Hz.

Whats the big deal with 50Hz PAL?

OK, lets break this down. First, we’ll deal with the PAL issue. In Europe (and some areas of Japan), PALis the standard television signal. In the USA and Japan, NTSC is the standard television signal. PAL wasdeveloped after NTSC, and is, believe it or not, the superior of the two systems - PAL uses more horizontallines (312 lines compared to 262) for each frame, hence a higher resolution. The reason why the majorityof gamers complain about PAL is for one simple reason - most games are developed in the USA and Japan,



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where NTSC is the standard, and so most games are optimised for the NTSC system. So the 262 lines usedfor each frame of game play are squished in the middle of the 312 lines used by a PAL television. This meansthat PAL games have bars at the top and bottom of the screen, and it also means that the graphics lookcrushed:

Sonic the Hedgehog (PAL) Sonic the Hedgehog (NTSC)

As can be seen from the above screenshots, Sonic looks like a dwarf in PAL mode! So thats why mostEuropeans dont like PAL when playing our Mega Drive games. Now for the 50Hz issue. . .

In 50Hz mode we have 25 frames per second, while in 60Hz mode we have 30 frames per second. Soa game running in 60Hz mode is 20% faster than it is running in 50Hz mode. What this means (in MegaDrive lingo) is that Sonic runs 20% faster in 60Hz than he does in 50Hz - and believe me, thats a lot! Youcan really feel the difference when playing your favourite game in a different frequency setting; 50Hz feelsincredibly slow and sluggish, while 60Hz feels fast and slick. Again, with 50Hz being the standard in Europeand 60Hz the standard in the US and Japan, most games were designed to be played in 60Hz mode - whichmeans that the European Mega Drive gamers suffer again.

As you can see, its really two separate problems that European (and Australian) Mega Drive players have todeal with here.

Why is my picture black and white?

Due to the fact that the main crystal of a PAL Mega Drive is marginally different from the main crystal ofan NTSC Mega Drive, the output of a switched PAL Mega Drive (in 60Hz mode) is almost (but not quite)an NTSC signal. In order to fix this, you must use an RGB SCART lead. Here is a Usenet post from MikeG explaining how it works:

>Coming to think of it right now, there is something on the board that looks like a

>crystal or whatever, It’s got 53.20342 MHz on it. Not exactly pal or ntsc standard but anyway.

That’s the main crystal. This frequency has to be divided by integer numbers to produce the main clock

frequency and (in the Mega Drive) the colour subcarrier frequency. (That’s why it’s such an odd value

and not, say, 50MHz.) 53.203425MHz divided by 12 gives 4.433619MHz, which is the exact colour subcar-

rier frequency required for PAL. In a NTSC Mega Drive, the main crystal is 53.693175MHz. Dividing this

by 15, you end up with 3.579545MHz, which is the subcarrier frequency for NTSC. This discrepancy results



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in the CPU in NTSC MDs running at a slightly faster clock speed, but not so much that you’d notice! The

frequency is divided by 12 or 15 depending on what the 50/60Hz jumper/pin is set to. This means that

if you have a PAL MD set to 60Hz or a NTSC MD set to 50Hz, the colour subcarrier is at the "wrong" fre-

quency (hence you need a RGB SCART cable when playing games at 60Hz on a European MD, otherwise you get

a black-and-white picture). None of the above is relevant for the Mega PC, actually (because it doesn’t

use a composite or RF connection, so doesn’t need a colour subcarrier), but I just thought I’d mention

it :-)

--

Mike

Why am I experiencing slowdown in 60Hz NTSC mode?

As many gamers will attest, some sections of games are notorious for slowing down when there’s a lot ofaction going on. This is because the CPU can’t process the game information quickly enough to run thegame at full speed. In 60Hz mode slowdown is generally more prominent than it is in 50Hz mode.

European gamers may remember some slowdown when playing Sonic the Hedgehog 2 in two-player mode(usually when one player loses lots of rings). Well in 60Hz this slowdown is slightly more noticeable, sincethe game is running faster in the first place. It is important to note that a modified PAL Mega Drive willnot experience more slowdown than an unmodified US Genesis - or an unmodified Japanese Mega Drive, forthat matter.

Is there any way to minimise (or, even better, eliminate) slowdown?

Yes, there is a way of doing this. Apparently, Sega underclocked the Motorola 68000 (the Mega Drive’s coreprocessor) to run at 7.67MHz. The reasons behind this are unknown (possibly to prevent overheating orpremature parts failure?), but people have found ways of overclocking the processor to reduce lag and alloweven the most slowdown-ridden games to play without a hitch. The Mega Drive’s processor has been forcedto run at speeds of up to 16MHz while maintaining stability (contrary to popular belief, overclocking a MegaDrive does not cause its games to run faster than their intended speed).

Note that overclocking will require a separate modification and, for most people, the effort involved isn’treally worth it. However, the hobbyists among you should definitely check out Epic Gaming’s website athttp://www.bluespheer.com/host/epicgaming//md oc/ for information on the procedure involved. Pleasenote that overclocking is not covered in this guide and is completely separate from making your Mega Drivemulti-region. I cannot answer any questions regarding overclocking - although I’m happy to hear from anyonewho has successfully overclocked their console.

Can I play locked out European games in 60Hz NTSC mode?

Yes, you can. Once you have performed the modification, set your Mega Drive to 50Hz PAL English mode,and at any time after the SEGA logo has appeared switch the frequency to 60Hz. In most games, you willbe able to play the game at its intended speed. In some games, however, the music will be out of sync (PALCool Spot, for example) or there will be some graphical glitches at certain points of the game (as in the PALversions of Alien Soldier, Virtua Racing, Another World and Gunstar Heroes).



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http://www.bluespheer.com/host/epicgaming//md_oc/



I plugged one of my English games into a Japanese Mega Drive, and it now playsin Japanese - why?

Many early Mega Drive games were burned onto what is called a dual-language ROM. Take the Europeanrelease of Streets of Rage II, for example. If you play it on its intended console (that is, a European MegaDrive) it’ll work as expected, with all of the text in English. However, plug the exact same cart into a JapaneseMega Drive and you’ll find yourself playing Bare Knuckle II, the Japanese version of Streets of Rage II, whichhas almost all of its text in Japanese (plus a few other cool differences: "Skate" is renamed "Sammy", MrX now smokes a cigar on the final stage. . . etc). So, how did the same game change languages simply byplugging it into a different machine? Because the European release of Streets of Rage II contains exactly thesame ROM as the Japanese release, and the game was simply programmed to recognize a European machinefrom a Japanese one - the console determines which version of the game is run. So someone living in the UKcould buy Bare Knuckle II, plug it into their European PAL Mega Drive (after the appropriate cartridge slotmodification), and it would ’magically’ play in English. Other games which feature this characteristic includeQuackshot, Ghouls’N Ghosts and Gauntlet IV.

Note that the console does not translate anything; sort of like a magic act, the trick was carried out wellbefore anyone knew what to look for - in this case, the ’trick’ was performed at the factory where the ROMwas burned. Another interesting point is that the dual-language in Streets of Rage II only works betweenEuropean and Japanese consoles (when set to US mode, the European release of Streets of Rage II gives theusual message explaining that you need either a PAL or a Japanese Mega Drive).

Which games use lock-out technology?

Any game released prior to 1992 will run on a Mega Drive of any region. However, there is no easy way ofdetermining which import games released during and after 1992 are playable on a domestic console. To addeven more confusion, just because a game is ’region-free’ in one territory does not mean that it is unprotectedin another - for example, the US release of some games will play on any [unmodified] console, whilst thecorresponding European release may only run on a European Mega Drive (and so on). This means that theonly way of being sure of which games are locked out is to test each one. The "Territory Lock-out List"on the "Genesis Hardware FAQs" section of GameFAQs attempts to list which games contain a territorylock-out, and is worth checking out.

Is it true that widening the cartridge slot makes my console multi-region?

No. The cartridge modification allows Japanese games to physically fit into a non-Japanese Mega Drive, butit does not allow ’locked out’ games to play.

I heard that the very first run of Mega Drive consoles had no region lockout. Isthis true?

No. All Genesis / Mega Drive consoles block protected import games by default. There are no exceptions.

Is there any way to make my Mega Drive change its region automatically?

There is no known way of modifying a Genesis / Mega Drive to automatically switch its region dependingon which game is inserted. I’m inclined to believe that it would be impossible to do this, since there are a



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number of dual-language games out there. For example, the Japanese and European releases of Streets ofRage 2 use exactly the same ROM - so how would an ’auto-switching’ console know which region to choose?It would either crash, or ignore one of the language-settings altogether (e.g. Bare Knuckle 2 - the Japaneseversion of Streets of Rage 2 - may be impossible to play on such a machine).

Is there such a thing as a ’lock-out chip’?

There is no such thing as a ’lock-out chip’ in Genesis / Mega Drive games. Territorial lock-out is performedin the form of software, and is therefore effectively PART of the game. When a ’protected’ cart is inserted,the first thing the game does is check the console on which it is being run such that it can determine what todo next. For example, say we insert a Japanese game which uses territorial lockout (such as Monster WorldIV) into a non-Japanese (unmodified) console:

1. First, the game checks the console to determine which region it is from.

2. If the console has the same configuration as a Japanese Mega Drive, the game will then load - otherwise,the game will refuse to load and will instead display a pre-programmed warning message.

As you can see, there’s no point including an expensive chip to prevent importers playing games when simplyadding a tiny (effectively free) amount of code to the game would do the trick.

What about the licensing screen which appears upon powering up the console?

This is the famous Mega Drive ’Boot-ROM’. Later revisions of the model 1 console (those manufacturedafter February 1991, I believe) introduced a licensing check to prevent companies from releasing unlicensedgames (as opposed to territorial lockout, which is used to prevent people from importing games). As such,original model 1 systems are able to play some of the early [and unlicensed] Accolade games. The story goessomething like this:

Basically, Accolade [under the Ballistic alias] and Electronic Arts [neither of which were official Sega li-censees] decided to reverse-engineer some official Mega Drive / Genesis games in the hope of learning howto write their own games. At one point, some apparently meaningless code was found near the beginning ofeach reverse-engineered game (i.e. it served no purpose - when removed, the games loaded and played asexpected), so they decided not to include this code in their games. A huge court battle between Sega andAccolade ensued and, in the end, Sega’s later board revisions of the model 1 Mega Drive / Genesis includeda ’check’ for the omitted "official" code to ’disable’ the unlicensed releases.

Assuming we are attempting to play a ’protected’ game, the order in which these two [completely inde-pendent] procedures work is as follows:

1. First, the console scans the game to determine whether or not it may be run.

2. Then the game checks the console to determine whether or not that specific console may run the game.

Do not confuse the ability to play unlicensed games with the ability to play region locked games! For example,games which checks the frequency of the console before loading (such as PAL Alien Soldier) will refuse toload on a US Genesis - regardless of its model.

I have found that consoles with "high definition graphics and stereo sound" printed on the rim of the



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disc surrounding the cartridge slot and an "EXT" port on the back are the only ones which might not displaythe licensing screen (unfortunately, the last batch of consoles to use this "old-style" case also included alicense-test). If anyone knows a better method of identifying license-free machines, please let me know.

My modified Mega Drive / Genesis has slightly different jumper connections tothose outlined in the guide, yet it still works. Why?

The guide is based around the way I modified my Mega Drive - and the set-up shown will work when appliedto a Mega Drive of any region (US, Europe, or Japan). However, there are slightly different set-ups that alsowork perfectly well. Galen Tatsuo Komatsu neatly demonstrates this using his modified Genesis. The consolewas modified in such a way that it has one switch for each jumper, and after a couple of tests he came upwith the following tables:

Language 50Hz/60Hz

JP1 JP2 outputopen open Englishopen closed Englishclosed open Japaneseclosed closed *short*

JP3 JP4 outputopen open 60Hzopen closed 60Hzclosed open 50Hzclosed closed *short*

As you can see, selecting two conflicting states simultaneously (i.e. "English and Japanese" or "50Hz and60Hz") results in the power line being connected directly to the ground line and the console fails to powerup. It is also worth pointing out that "English" and "60Hz" appear to be the dominant settings.

So on this console we could have wired it such that our language switch connects across JP1 when switchedto one position, and is open when flicked to the other. Referring to the diagram in Section 2.3 we couldhave, for example, "1" wired to the middle connection, "2" wired to the right connection, and leave the leftconnection open. Similarly, our 50Hz/60Hz switch could have been wired such that we have JP3 closed inone position, and open in the other.

I believe the modification would have also worked if we had used "1" and "7" as the central connectionsfor our language and frequency switches respectively, since "1" is soldered to "3", and "5" to "7" on thebackside of the board.

NOTE: I strongly recommend you stick to the original settings used in Section 2, as these have been thor-oughly checked and better explained.

Why are the printed traces on my Genesis different from the "US" setting shownin the guide?

The printed traces on a US Genesis go across JP2 and JP4 (that’s 3-4 and 7-8 in the diagram). As explainedin the above answer, points "5" and "7" are are already connected - so end result is the same. In short, juststick to the guide and you’ll be fine!

For the record, the printed traces on a PAL Mega Drive go across JP2 and JP3, and on a Japanese MegaDrive they go across JP1 and JP4.



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On my board, JP1 and JP2 are in a different area from JP3 and JP4. How do Imodify this console?

This will not affect the modification procedure. JP1 and JP2 control the language of the console, and workindependently of JP3 and JP4 (which control the output frequency [50/60]Hz). So instead of wiring bothswitches to the lower-right section of the circuit board, simply wire one switch to the section in which JP1and JP2 are located, and the other to the area in which JP3 and JP4 are located.

My board has a capacitor across one of the four jumpers. How do I proceed?

On some of the older boards you may find a capacitor on one jumper (usually one of the ’language’ jumpers).If you have a capacitor here, note that it is on the unused jumper for your console’s region - for example,on an English-language console the capacitor will be across JP1. It has been determined that this serves nopurpose, and so it’s completely safe to de-solder the capacitor at either end (i.e. remove it). You can nowuse Section 2 of this guide to modify your console.

NOTE: Thanks to Carlo Savorelli and Lorenzo Nocentini for risking their Mega Drive to verify this.

Does modifying my console allow me to play any Sega/Mega CD game?

As far as unmodified consoles go, you cannot ’pick and mix’ Sega/Mega CD and Genesis/Mega Drive sys-tems. A US Genesis will only work with a US Sega CD. The Sega CD (US version of the Mega CD) needsa US Genesis in order to function - it simply won’t work with a foreign console. Of course, with switchesinstalled on your base Mega Drive (or Genesis) you can get round this by switching to ’US-mode’ beforeloading a Sega CD game. As for playing Mega CD (that is, European or Japanese) games on a US SegaCD, you need a converter cartridge such as the Pro CD-X released by Datel in the UK. This plugs into thecartridge slot of your system, allowing games from the selected region to play on your Sega CD - you don’tneed switches on your system to play Jap CD games if you’re using a US Sega CD. The downside? You can’thave a back-up RAM cart and an import converter in your system at the same time - so games that rely on aRAM cart, like Japanese Shining Force CD, are pretty much out of the question. Note that you can’t switchyour Mega Drive to ’Japanese mode’ to play a Japanese CD game on your US Sega CD, as the two systemswould ’think’ they are from different regions - and the Sega CD wouldn’t work. You need an adapter to forcetwo systems from different regions to work with one another.

If you live in Europe and wish to play import CD games on your European Mega CD, you’ve got an ex-tra hurdle to overcome - namely the dreaded 50/60Hz problem. When you load an import game using theDatel adapter on a European Mega CD, things generally work OK until you reach FMV-heavy sections of thegame (in fact, the CD audio works independently of the game speed, and so all CD audio will be ’out-of-sync’with the graphics). Now I haven’t tried this myself (as I don’t have a Mega CD), but I believe it should bepossible to play imports on a modified European Mega Drive by switching to ’60Hz’, plugging in the ProCD-X adapter, and then loading the import you wish to play.

Alternatively, you can obtain the so-called "switchable MultiBIOS" for your Mega/Sega CD. You swapyour current CD BIOS with this MultiBIOS and install the appropriate switches, allowing you to play importCD games on your system without the need for an adapter. For more information, check out Arakon’s guide,available at http://arakon.hn.org/tutorial/bios.html .



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http://arakon.hn.org/tutorial/bios.html



Are there any guides for modifying a Mega Drive / Genesis ’mark 2’, a Nomad,or a Genesis 3?

I have not written any guides for these variants, and I have no intention to do so. The reason for this issimple: I have never modified any of these consoles myself! However, there are a couple of useful guidesyou might want to check out on the internet. For the Mega Drive 2 and the Genesis 3, see Mike G’s guides,available from:

http://www.mikeg2.freeserve.co.uk/masterful/md2lang.htmlhttp://www.mikeg2.freeserve.co.uk/masterful/md2new.html

A guide for modifying a Sega Nomad is available at the following URL:

http://www.gamesx.com/importmod/gen2nomadbutton.htm

As previously stated, I have not attempted any of these modifications myself, so I’m afraid that I cannot giveany help/clarification for any aspects of these guides.

4 Recommended Japanese Import Games

Since Japanese games are somewhat hard to come by, and since information on them is scarce at the bestof times, I’ll list ten excellent Japanese Mega Drive games you should check out - easily enough to get youstarted.

1. Monster World IV

2. Langrisser II

3. Vixen 357

4. Yuu Yuu Hakusho: Makyo Toitsusen (the Treasure one!)

5. Magical Taluluto-Kun

6. Flaming Dodgeball Kid

7. Puyo Puyo

8. Twinkle Tale

9. Lord Monarch

10. Dyna Brothers 2

I’m warning you now that Japanese Mega Drive games tend to be a tad pricey (the most expensive cango for up to $200+), simply due to their rarity (Alien Soldier and Rockman are prime examples), but ingeneral Japanese games are worth forking out for. After all, most still sell for around $5-$10 and for thisyou get a beautiful full-colour manual complete with manga sketches - you just have to see one to believehow exquisite the layout and artwork are! Buy Magical Taluluto-Kun and you’ll see what I mean - beautiful



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http://www.mikeg2.freeserve.co.uk/masterful/md2lang.html

http://www.mikeg2.freeserve.co.uk/masterful/md2new.html

http://www.gamesx.com/importmod/gen2nomadbutton.htm



manual, fantastic game (only released in Japan, by the way), and also pretty cheap if you can find it. I importall my games from Japan if I can, unless it’s absolutely essential to be able to read the language in order toprogress through the game.

I have to make a special mention here for two of my all-time favourite Import Mega Drive games - MonsterWorld IV and Langrisser 2. The former is a continuation of the Monster World saga (referred to as WonderBoy outside Japan), which is easily one of the best games on the Mega Drive - atmospheric, graphicallyamong the best I’ve ever seen, and one of the only games I’ve played where I really felt attached to thecharacters. The second is the sequel to a game which was released in the Sates as Warsong. While theoriginal was a pioneer of turn-based strategy games (and still one of the best, might I add), the sequelis easily the best of its kind, with vastly improved graphics, a much better game engine, great music andcunning AI (Langrisser 2 was, incidentally, voted #3 in an all-time Mega Drive game poll in Japan). Anyonewho’s a fan of the Shining Force games will love it. Both Monster World IV and Langrisser 2 were criminallynever released outside Japan - two of the many unusual decisions Sega made in the past. But never mind,neither are too expensive and thankfully there are text translations on the internet for both (although it ispossible to comfortably work your way through the games without any Japanese knowledge).



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5 Credits

® SEGA Enterprises, Ltd. http://www.sega.com

Manufacturers of my favourite games console of all time, the Mega Drive.Without Sega, this guide would not exist!

Apple Computer, Inc. http://www.apple.com

Computer manufacturer, developer of Mac OS X. This guide was written on anApple Powerbook G4 running Mac OS X.

TEXShop http://www.uoregon.edu/˜koch/texshop

Frontend for the powerful LATEX typesetting system, primarily used for scientificdocument typesetting.

Eidolon’s Inn http://www.eidolons-inn.net

Site devoted to the classic Sega consoles. ’The Tavern’ message board inparticular was an invaluable source of information during the compilation ofthis guide.

GoogleTM Groups http://groups.google.com

A complete archive of every Usenet post since 1981. The alt.sega.genesis news-group was used to discuss many aspects of Mega Drive modification.

GameFAQs http://www.gamefaqs.com

Home of numerous useful Mega Drive documents which were consulted through-out the evolution of this guide. The Genesis message board raised some of thequestions included in the FAQ section of this guide.

THANKS!

Special Thanks. . .

Mike G, Galen Tatsuo Komatsu, Flavio, |Ray| (Arakon), Eidolon, Dark Grue,Samudra, Amano Jacu, Carlo Savorelli, Lorenzo Nocentini and everyone elsethat has contributed to this guide. I couldn’t have done it without you guys -thanks!



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http://www.sega.com

http://www.sega.com

http://www.apple.com

http://www.apple.com

http://www.uoregon.edu/~koch/texshop

http://www.uoregon.edu/~koch/texshop

http://www.eidolons-inn.net

http://www.eidolons-inn.net

http://groups.google.com

http://groups.google.com

http://www.gamefaqs.com

http://www.gamefaqs.com



6 Disclaimer

This guide has been checked and double checked. To the best of my knowledge, all of the information givenhere is correct. However, I am not responsible for any damage which results form the [mis]use of this guide.If you have any questions or wish to point out any typos, please contact me via Email. One of the reasons forme writing this guide was because I found it difficult to obtain thorough, reliable information on Mega Drivemodifications - so I encourage you to distribute this document as much as you want, using any methods yousee fit (e.g. through websites, file-sharing programs, message boards, . . . etc.), so that others can have aneasier time finding it. Finally, and most importantly, if you feel that you should be credited for any part ofthis guide, please Email me and you will be added to the "Credits" section in any future releases. Thanks!

-Matt



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Download - Multi-Region Mega Drive - Plusnet · "Multi-Region" Mega Drive Version 2.0 2 Adding Switches to your Mega Drive Well, there’s my switched Mega Drive - damn, it looks good! Notice

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