Sega Genesis / Mega Drive Questions

[raging]

Hi There:
I hope I'm posting on the right forum....I'm new.

I've got a Sega Genesis system but my power cord has gone missing. I hate to spend the money on an original one....they seem really expensive. Are the after market ones any good?

Also, I purchased second hand a Genesis game recently, Streets of Rage. I'm confused now, whether its Genesis or European Megadrive. Or do the games work for both? The emblem at the top of the front of the box says Sega Genesis, the writing at the botton of the box does not show one or two player symbol like most of the others I've seen...it just says 16-bit cartridge for use with the Sega Mega Drive video entertainment system. Also, the manual is horizontal, not verticle and has 8 languages.

Also in the manual in the start up instructions says to power up your Sega Mega Drive/Genesis system.

I always thought that there was a separate Pal system that did not play North American games. Am I wrong?

I should also note that I'm from Canada and purchased the game locally. I wonder if the packaging and manual had to be the European version due to Canada being a bilingual country (English and French).

??? Thanks for any insights.

[CapnCrunch53]

Hmm I'm not sure if your game is PAL (Euro) or NTSC (US), but I do know that earlier PAL games will work in a NTSC Genesis; from what I understand only in later years did they add region locking. So it would at least be worth a try in your Genesis.

Maybe the packaging is because of Canada being bilingual, I wouldn't really know..

As for the power supply, as long as you got one with the correct specs I think you would be okay. Remember the different models of Genesis used different power supplies, so you'll want to make sure you get one with the correct power rating for your system.

[Baloo]

What model Sega Genesis do you have? AC Adapters are NOT expensive for them, unless you have the CDX Model. If it's a Model 1 2 or 3, then you can get Universal AC adapters on eBay for very cheap, or if you want an original they're not going to cost you more than $7 or $8 dollars max.

The copy of Streets of Rage that you have sounds Canadian. The system was called Genesis in Canada, but it is indeed a bilingual country.

You are wrong in a sense. The Sega Genesis didn't start region-locking games until about 1994, around the release of Sonic & Knuckles. Before then games made could be played on any system, JPN, PAL or US.

[raging]

Thank you both! Great information!!

[theclaw]

CDX AC adapters can't be mistaken for anything else. If you have one, its label explicitly states it is to be used with CDX. Aside from the different shape.

[Sysop]

You are wrong in a sense. The Sega Genesis didn't start region-locking games until about 1994, around the release of Sonic & Knuckles. Before then games made could be played on any system, JPN, PAL or US.
I tried playing the Japanese version of Super Hang-On on my European Sega Mega Drive, and it didn't work, are you sure that there weren't games which had problems with region-locking before 1994?

[allyourblood]

My copy of Kid Chameleon has what appears to be a US Genesis box/insert, but the cartridge states "Mega Drive" on it, and the manual is the multilingual version. I always guessed at it being a Canadian release, but I can't say for sure. Either way, it's mostly awesome.

[MrNelson]

I'd definitely try to track down one of the official AC adapters if I were you. I've used a few after-market ones and didn't really care for them.

It's not that they didn't work, the console actually powered on (to my surprise). The problem was that using them caused the audio and video quality to go to crap for my model 1. I used my Super Famicom AC adapter to make sure it wasn't the system and sure enough, everything was fine when that was used.

[kedawa]

A copy of Castle of Illusion I bought in Nova Scotia has MegaDrive on the cart label. Most early Genesis games shipped with multilingual European manuals in Canada.