How can I play non-US Genesis games?

[evil_genius]

I have a Genesis model 1601 and wanna play Japanese Genesis games. What must I do to accomplish this task and how much do you think it may cost me? Help appreciated, thanks. :D

[Daria]

Some earlier games will play just fine in an unmodded Genesis 1 or 2. For example Shining Force does while Shining Force 2 does not.

[Lemmy Kilmister]

Well, like Daria has already said, alot of older games shouldn't have much trouble playing on your existing system already. However playing on Some sort of converter or mod is probably your best bet if you're looking to play just about anything you want. Either way, it shouldn't cost you much very much in the end, Because, well.. genesis stuff is usally fairly cheap.

Oh, and here's (http://db.gamefaqs.com/console/genesis/file/genesis_master_system_language.txt) a link to US compatible imports.

[phreak97]

if you can solder, theres a language mod you can do to turn your genesis into a fully japanese compatable console.. just google genesis language mod
you might also need to dremel out some of the cart slot.. japanese games are a different shape. i guess you can play with the top off the genesis.. but who wants to do that.

[anagrama]

Do a search. I swear I've been over this at least a dozen times in the past.

[blue lander]

Modding the Genesis to play imports is pretty easy. You just desolder a resistor, hook some wires up to a few solder pads and wire it up to a switch. There's instructions somewhere on the internet. I believe it's also possible to mod a Genesis to play UK Megadrive games, but that might require more work. The biggest problem is that the guide only covers a few Genesis models. When I modded my Genesis 3, I had to find the right solder pads through trial and error.

If you're worried about cutting your Genesis' case up, you can wire the mod switch up to the reset button instead of adding a seperate switch. Games only check what region the system is on boot up, so if you wire the mod up to the reset button and simply hold the button down for about 5 seconds while it starts up, it'll run in Japanese mode.

The only caveat is that if the game resets itself, it resets itself into US mode. Why does this matter? Most games have "demo modes" that demo the game if you let it sit long enough without starting the game. At the end of the demo, the game resets itself and starts over, and then fails because it's reset in US mode because the reset button isn't being depressed. The only game I've noticed this with is Golden Axe III, but there may be others. It's not a huge deal, though, as long as you don't like watching the little demo mode.

[Fighter17]

I have a Genesis model 1601 and wanna play Japanese Genesis games. What must I do to accomplish this task and how much do you think it may cost me? Help appreciated, thanks. :D

Oh this I can help! I own a couple of Megadrive games for the Genesis, and the best way to play Megadrive games on the Genesis is thru a Game Genie. Just put a Megadrive game on top of the Game Genie, and power on the system. Don't enter any codes, just press start. After pressing start, the game loads. ;)

If the game has region projection, go here to find the Game Genie code for that game so the game doesn't do a region check:

http://db.gamefaqs.com/console/genesis/file/genesis_import.txt

Happy Gaming. ;)

[Mason P.]

Doesn't the fisrt model of the model 1 not have region checking hardware??

[crom]

Doesn't the fisrt model of the model 1 not have region checking hardware??

yeah man i was wondering about this after seeing the replies... shit i remember buying a jap version of shinobi when I was like 13 and all I had to do to play it was cut 2 lil squares off the cartridge input slot...

I was like the first kid on my block to do this and I thought I was cool...

but yeah I didnt have to mod anything else... it was version 1 of the gen...

[crom]

............

[toredauei]

heres a link to a really good tutorial. very simple to do if you have basic soldering skills. http://www.mmmonkey.co.uk/console/sega/md1switches.htm