Mega Drive Games Vs. Genesis

[Polygon]

So, I've heard that NTSC Mega Drive games work in the Genesis with no modifications. Is this true? If so, are there some games that work and some that don't and is there a list of these games?

[dendawg]

Until very late in the Genesis' life, the only mod you had to make was physical, similar to the SNES/Super Famicom.

[theclaw]

http://segaage.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=45&threadid=83645

A good place to start. List of lockout normal Genesis / Mega Drive carts.

The settings are more useful than that. Various region free games still detect mode to apply English or Japanese differences.
Some games even left content hidden behind their lockout screen. Functional yet few users could see it.
Sega CD drives are also locked. Official BIOS only loads on a matching console.

Genesis inherited its region concept from Master System. So dual language SMS games on Power Base Converter are supported.

[MarioMania]

Go to Sega-16

[ccovell]

Some games even left content hidden behind their lockout screen. Functional yet few users could see it.

Could you elaborate on this? Sounds interesting.

[theclaw]

Could you elaborate on this? Sounds interesting.

US Streets of Rage 2 needs the region lock bypassed to play with Japanese text.
6-Pak didn't really remove the JP content from its games.
Sonic 3 alone has level ending cards for Tails/Miles, but lockout means normal users only get to see one or the other. (Sonic & Knuckles makes all versions region free)
PAL Sonic Compilation was region locked so you couldn't get the Miles name in Sonic 2.
Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine only enables its sound test in Japan mode. It isn't clear why that doesn't happen on the Sonic Compilation/Classics re-release...

Other consoles have similar games.
US and JP version Starfox Adventures for Gamecube is dual text language. Except unusable by most people due to being detected by console region.

[SparTonberry]

I heard the Japanese version of Mickey Mania had an amusing lockout screen.
If it didn't detect a Japanese console, it would say something like "This game is designed for an NTSC Mega Drive.". If you had a region switch installed and changed it while that screen was running, it would detect that and say something like "Somehow your console has become an NTSC Mega Drive" and run the game.
... kind of defeating the point of having a region lock :D

[j_factor]

If you have an X'Eye or Nomad, any region cart will fit without modification.

[theclaw]

If you have an X'Eye or Nomad, any region cart will fit without modification.

Yeah all X'Eyes, Nomads, and Genesis 3s, use the 60hz English setting. They only play US compatible games.

Every 32X has that notch to fit any region console. While US 32X got a revision (I don't know about PAL) that fits most Japan Mega Drive carts.

[xelement5x]

Also, the LaserActive PACs have cart slots wide enough to fit either kind of cartridge as well.

[FoxNtd]

I heard the Japanese version of Mickey Mania had an amusing lockout screen.
If it didn't detect a Japanese console, it would say something like "This game is designed for an NTSC Mega Drive.". If you had a region switch installed and changed it while that screen was running, it would detect that and say something like "Somehow your console has become an NTSC Mega Drive" and run the game.
... kind of defeating the point of having a region lock :D

Whereas the US version of the game on the JP Mega Drive will crash with extremely irregular behavior on the third level. I have no idea how they programmed the game such that it runs fine on US NTSC but not JP NTSC. Deliberate region detection and locking aside shouldn't it be exactly the same? Guess not. I'll have to import the JP version if I want to play the game. :roll:

For those wondering, the scene where Mickey is running towards the front of the screen away from an angry moose behaves highly irregularly. When exactly the game crashes is unpredictable. The graphics don't render right, the physics are somewhat broken and either the moose or Mickey (I forget which) were running very high off the ground which prevents collision detection so you can't lose the game, or win the game either.. haha.

[theclaw]

Hence why I tend to favor region switches over imported consoles that are too similar to local ones.