The Easiest Console Modification Ever

[Australian Ninja]

Okay so I'm on holiday in NZ and dug out my old Mega Drive II. Years ago I clipper it's wings (the little corner bits in the top of cartridge slot shell) so I could jam in NTSC games with those horrible chunky bits on the side that were supposed to be 'region protection'.

But you either slice the edges of the cartridge off, or do this......

[Australian Ninja]

The easiest mod ever....

-Take one extra chunky NTSC game such as the one below

-Take one standard electric drill, with a cone attachment for grinding soft things..(or your dads drill if you are too cheap to buy your own like me)

-Grind the inside corners that normally stop larger games from fitting (easier still if you use wire cutters and trim out the sharp angular bits, then smooth it down with the drill grinder)

-Use your standard small "+" screwdriver and put the screws back in (takes like 60 seconds, if even that)

And then you have a Mega Drive II that will play foreign games (keeping in mind that many foreign mega drive games will work, but not all of them, I'm hoping to find a list so I can know about which ones to avoid on import)

Light Crusader NTSC (works on PAL system)
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a88/Jonny9999/SDC10024.jpg

Standard electric drill
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a88/Jonny9999/SDC10026.jpg

Mega Drive II top shell after grinding off inside of slot corners
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a88/Jonny9999/SDC10023.jpg

Mega Drive with shell back on top and NTSC game inserted
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a88/Jonny9999/SDC10028.jpg

IF SOME MOD WANTS TO MOVE THIS, PLEASE CONSIDER IF THERE IS ANYTHING MORE RELEVANT THAN RETRO TOPIC AS I DON'T THINK THERE IS.
Certainly not tech head, where some people with actual tech knowledge will laugh and deride such a post. So please THINK about it, rather than moving it just for the hell of it.

[FX-GTZ]

I actually saw a similar guide in a old retro magazine issue. It wasnt a detailed guide, but it's worked for me in the past as well. Dont risk damaging your console though, you cant replace those old things too quickly..

[Australian Ninja]

Did some searching online and found a list of games that are region locked

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

Somebody on another forum said SEGA started adding region locking into carts around 1993, but seen no verification on that date. Watched some tutorials on youtube that show people with dip switches added that allow you to switch from PAL / JP / US NTSC modes, where the games run at proper 60 HZ instead of 50 HZ. ( I guess there is always exceptions to what games will run without soldering the MD with switches, i mean this game above is 1995, obviously no region lock-out)

The couple of game I got about 12 years ago that are chunky NTSC ones (light crusader and battle toads) both work on my unit without adding dip switches. One day I was curious and just took apart the cart and shoved the rom into the unit and it worked, so then decided to make the hole bigger so they would fit.

You can't damage the slot seeing as the whole top shell lifts straight off.

Still looking for a better list of games that have region encoding as so far there is nothing I want to import that would require the solder / dip switch method

I don't see much sense in adding 60 HZ switch to a MD seeing as most games play fine, where as if you had a sega saturn it's much better to have 60 HZ for fighters etc

[Australian Ninja]

Actually, the ONLY reasons I've come up to consider adding / buying a 60HZ modded MD is that Sonic and ESPECIALLY Street Fighter play better at 60HZ. But then I can just play a better SFII Turbo on various compilations anyhow.

But I'm still thinking about it, it would be a good excuse to learn how to solder.

[Not Matt]

Yay Light Crusader... just got that in the mail the other day :)

[Australian Ninja]

It's Treasure's secret shame. But really, I don't know why people talk shit about it these days, it's a good game. I actually got my one for free in the mid 90s when I bought Phantasy Star III for $10 off some dude, and he gave me this for free. Then I sold PS III the next week for $25 and kept light crusader. Not a bad deal really.

[Knuckle Children]

I've got a 60Hz dipswitch on my SNES and I could never go back to 50Hz gaming on the system. Got it done by Sprint Electronics about 16 years ago as it required a bit if circuitry modification.

It doesn't always work 100% seamlessly though. Some games like DKC require you to boot up in 50Hz, and then flick the switch after authentification. A couple like Super Mario RPG don't work at all.

[Australian Ninja]

Yeah I watched a youtube video of a guy with his modded MD, and most games he flipped the switch AFTER turning the game on, otherwise they crash / don't start.