Is this Mega Drive legitimate?

[Decider-VT]

After many years I've decided to take the plunge and accompany my SNES with a Mega Drive so I can play all of the classics I enjoyed after school at other people's houses. I decided to browse through eBay and happened upon this:

Link

It just seems too good to be true, with the seller claiming multi-regional capability on top of it being brand new. I'm generally suspicious of potentially counterfeit consoles being sold from the Far East but this seller has really good feedback- should I risk it?

(If so, would it also be compatible with a UK Mega CD?)

[Crisp_Rapper]

how come that's got an actual sliding power switch? i acquired a MD2 just today and it's got a red power button, certainly not a sliding one.

i know for a fact that if you pop the lid off a UK MD2 you can play any game on it... (or just dremel the lid).

[Decider-VT]

how come that's got an actual sliding power switch? i acquired a MD2 just today and it's got a red power button, certainly not a sliding one.

i know for a fact that if you pop the lid off a UK MD2 you can play any game on it... (or just dremel the lid).

The Japanese models had a sliding switch, as seen here. This one seems to lack the Japanese text on the box, though- possibly since it may have been sold in the Thai market.

[Baseley09]

possibly since it may have been sold in the Thai market.

Indeed this would be an "other asian" region version, is multiregion inc chip locked but 50hz.

[vanpeebles]

just out of interest i have a bootleg mega drive 2 its proper mad, the inside of the case is all like fibreglass wadding marks. and on the box all the game pictures on the back are of playstation 1 games

[Decider-VT]

Okay, I just bought one as the feedback seemed good enough. Let's see how this goes...

[Tirian]

If you want a properly illegitimate Megadrive, try this one.



Kind of appealing in an insane pirate 8-bit "Megadrive" that you can play Mario and Pokemon on ...

Tirian

[Decider-VT]

Well, I'm hoping that it's real and simply a licenced Asian variant of some sort. I did some digging around with Google and turned up this page, which states that it is liquidated stock that has been sitting in a warehouse for ten years. Whether or not I believe that is another matter.

[internetuser]

I have one just like that pic in my loft. Not sure its region free tho..

traded alod of snes games for it and virtua racing...

[carbon boy]

If you want a properly illegitimate Megadrive, try this one.



Kind of appealing in an insane pirate 8-bit "Megadrive" that you can play Mario and Pokemon on ...

Tirian

Good to see eBay are keeping standards as high as ever

[Madjock]

redzoo, please let us know how you get on, I fancy picking one up...

[Decider-VT]

Well, it arrived a couple of days ago- here are my first impressions.

The box was brand new, though it wasn't sealed and had been opened. The free game that the seller had sent me arrived the day before and each item had a sticker with a barcode on it, no doubt for some sort of stock control. The Mega Drive was sealed in a new plastic bag with tape and was in mint condition, as was the control pad. It was supplied with a mono AV cable so I had to dig out the SCART connector from my Xbox to hook it up to the CRT television in the front room- I'm not sure if this is standard for a Mega Drive as the manual stated that the RF unit was sold seperately.

There was some small degree of flicker/interference at the bottom of the screen while playing Streets of Rage and Golden Axe but I'm sure this could be put down to the quality of the cable supplied. The positioning of the screen was also oriented a bit too far to the left horizontally, obscuring some of the 1P energy bar. I haven't tested it out on my Sammy LCD yet, so I'll let you know if that's a problem when I do. The display was also letterboxed so I'm guessing that it was forcing the Asian cart to run at 50Hz as previously said in this thread.

The build quality of the console was somewhat cheap (though it wasn't flimsy) and the PCB is visible through the dust flaps covering the cartridge port. I wasn't too sure of this at first but I'm assured by my Sega-loving friend that this is normal for a MK2 Mega Drive. I tested the unit with my Mega CD2 and it worked perfectly, although one of the fixing plates wouldn't fit onto the bottom of the console properly as the slots were too far apart. I also had a peep at the internals through the expansion slot with a torch and it's pleasingly free of fibreglass. I'll be taking it apart to have a closer look at the PCB over the next couple of days so I can provide pictures then if necessary.

In summary I'd say that it seems genuine enough and a bit of a steal for a brand-new Mega Drive with a free game for 20GBP.

[Yakumo]

Well, it arrived a couple of days ago- here are my first impressions.

The box was brand new, though it wasn't sealed and had been opened.

Console boxes are never sealed anyway. It was probably opened to check the contents.

There was some small degree of flicker/interference at the bottom of the screen while playing Streets of Rage and Golden Axe but I'm sure this could be put down to the quality of the cable supplied.

Are you sure this isn't the normal Mega Drive machine code? It can be seen on almost EVERY PAL game due to the borders.

although one of the fixing plates wouldn't fit onto the bottom of the console properly as the slots were too far apart.

That's because it's for the Mega Drive 1 to connect to the Mega CD.

Yakumo

[Decider-VT]

Console boxes are never sealed anyway. It was probably opened to check the contents.

I wasn't expecting it to be shrinkwrapped but it didn't have any sticker seals on the edge of the box.

Are you sure this isn't the normal Mega Drive machine code? It can be seen on almost EVERY PAL game due to the borders.

Ah, I can't be sure. This is the first Mega Drive I've owned and I can't remember any interference from the games I played years ago but I may be forgetting it entirely. My first Sega console was the DC, which now seems to have an obvious improvement over the MD2 in build quality.

That's because it's for the Mega Drive 1 to connect to the Mega CD.

Which plate do you mean? I followed the Mega CD instructions carefully but it still doesn't seem to fit.

[Yakumo]

There should be two plates with a Mega CD 2. A big and small one. The small one is for the Mega Drive 2 while the other is for the Mega Drive 1. There's also a very small plate that is used to connect the Mega Drive 1 extension to the Mega CD 2.

For the seals on the Mega Drive box, I'm afraid it never came with any. I can't remember if the PAL machines did but I know that the Asian / Japanese systems didn't.

Yakumo