US MD games > Jp system?

[Atticus]

Is it possible to play US carts on a Japanese Megadrive without the need for an adapter or anything?

[Baseley09]

Yes indeed it is, Genesis carts have the same form factor as PAL carts.

[Atticus]

Grand. Cheers for that

[monel]

The cartridge lock has to be removed though, right? As, like Pal carts, the US games don't have the missing bit on the left that Japanese carts have for the cartridge lock. If Pal games work on your MD, I guess it's been removed. I don't think the MD2 had the cartridge lock, but not sure.

[Atticus]

Maybe I'll try a pal game first then. Thanks for the tip.

Do I need to watch out for any 'region locked' carts?

[monel]

Not sure, sorry. I know some games released later in the MD's life were harder to get running on a standard Pal MD (JP ones), but not sure of running US ones on a JP machine. The ones released in the first few years shouldn't be a problem at all. Someone else will have a better answer. edit- I think you should be able to see the cartridge lock mechanism by pushing the cartridge slot open and switching the power switch on, while unplugged, I can't remember what it looks like, though. If you have a Pal cartridge, that makes it easier I suppose, as you wouldn't be able to switch the MD on if it hadn't been removed.