My new MD console

[mickyboy]

Hey, I just took delivery of my new Megadrive and was wondering what model I have here exactly?

It was advertised as a Japanese MD so I have no doubts there and naturally, all the box text is in Japanese. The one I got appears to brand new, never been opened in fact, I'm very pleased with it.

Can anyone shed some light on whether this is the original shape JPN MD or whether it is a later revision of the old shape.

It has the gold "16-BIT" writing, blue reset button, blue start button on the control pad and has a red band around the power LED. There is no writing around the circular band where the power LED is, just plain black broken up by the afore mentioned red band.

The shape of the console looks slightly flatter and more blocky than I remember Megadrives to look back in the day but it's probably the same, I dunno.

Anyways, how can I connect my MD to my TV, I don't think I'll bother with the enclosed AV leads...I want RGB so am I correct in thinking that I can use my AES RGB lead ( with headphone bit that I purchased from VGI ) with this MD...I remember someone saying you could.

Also, can I use the same step down too...or are the consoles different when it comes to power comsumptions?

Thanks

Here's a photo of my boxed MD[IMG]http://[/IMG]

[Yakumo]

That's not a Japanese Mega Drive as such it's an ASIAN one for use in Japan and Asia as you can see written on the front of the box I have the same unit. On the back does it have English as well? Mine does. As for the console it's the 2nd version. The original has a much more chunky box plus around the outter black circle there's text written in white. Plus it's for Japan only unlike the one you bought. Don't worry though. That Mega Drive works just the same as the first Japanese version.

Yakumo

[mickyboy]

Hi Yakumo, yes it does have English on the back of the box aswell as the foreign text. So, does this mean I definately have an Asian one as aposed to it being proper Japanse...I'm slightly confused.

I thought the Asian ones had really large gold 16 BIT writing and text around the circular band? So what will the MD I have output...50 or 60Hz? If it's Asian then that means it'll need a 60Hz mod because they output in PAL ft: .

Also, I thought that Asian MD's could play any region carts without the need for alteration...mine clearly has the cart lock so it'll need a slight tweak in order to play UK/USA carts will it not?

Thanks, I do appreicate any info on this matter

[Resonance]

That box brings back so many memories. My first experince of importing! Christmas morining opened it up, plugged it in and wet my pants. Alex Kid and Space Harrier II

[Leon Retro]

I feel the same about the box- it brings back all the memories of getting Sonic1- Castle of Illusion and Wrestle War with my brothers import machine.

There were loads of games to choose from- but I think me and my Bro made wise choices.

[mr-monday]

Does that version have the modem port? I've got the original JPN version in a box with a handle like this

http://sega.jp/community/segahard/md/package/00.jpg

http://sega.jp/community/segahard/md/parts/0a_03.jpg

Is it worth any more?

[Yakumo]

Hi Yakumo, yes it does have English on the back of the box aswell as the foreign text. So, does this mean I definately have an Asian one as aposed to it being proper Japanse...I'm slightly confused.

yep, you have the Asian Mega Drive just like me and I bought mine right here in Japan.

I thought the Asian ones had really large gold 16 BIT writing and text around the circular band? So what will the MD I have output...50 or 60Hz? If it's Asian then that means it'll need a 60Hz mod because they output in PAL ft: .

Yes, the Japanese and Asian Mega Drives look the same. There are Asian versions with the white text around the outer circle and ones withough like you and I have. There are also Japanese only Mega Drives with and without. The Mega Drive you have there will output NTSC-J 60Hz NOT Pal.

Also, I thought that Asian MD's could play any region carts without the need for alteration...mine clearly has the cart lock so it'll need a slight tweak in order to play UK/USA carts will it not?

The Mega Drive you have there will play any region game as long as you take off the cartridge lock which is sooooo easy and if the game doesn't have a lock out chip in it. So you won't be playing PAL or US Sparkster or Gunstar Heroes for example on it with out getting a mod done.

I hope this helps you out.

Yakumo

[mickyboy]

I'm in heaven...just got my first JP MD cart today ( Eternal Champions ) and it plays in true full screen 60Hz...no borders...hurrah! What a weird game, never played it before but thought it was well worth a ?1 in fully boxed condition even if it turned out to be a huge steaming pile of dog dirt!

Luckily, it is not, it has a nice mix of varied charcters with some great moves. The graphics aren't bad, colourful enough but I know the MD is capable of so much more, I just think I've been spoiled by playing KoF 98 for too long on my AES. I love the sampled speech too...just got told I was a "LOSER" by Blade...hehe, he's the one with a flat top haircut, not me!

Now I don't know if this is just Eternal Champions or whether it will happen on most JP games I get but the text is all in English...I'm presuming if I bought a JP copy of Phantasy Star it would still be in Japanese but it got me curious.

Back to the MD, got it connected via my AES/MD RGB scart cable I got from VGI a few months back. I got some wicked games on the way, Crude Buster, Super Shinobi 2 and Gunstar Heroes to name a few, they should be in the post right now actually.

One other thing, just how easy is it to remove the cart lock on the MD, what's the favoured method?

Gotta love the MD, still brilliant after all these years!

[Yakumo]

Eternal Champions is in English because it was an American developed game. Not all western games get translated in to japanese. just takea look at Saturn japanese Worms !! 100% English !! If you play a japanese version of a RPG thenit will be in Japanese on any Mega Drive.

To remove the cartridge lock simply open the Mega Drive then unscrew the cartridge lock. easy.

Yakumo

[mickyboy]

Okay, I think I'm gonna open up the MD in the morning, looks like just a few standard screws are holding the top to the bottom, just abit scared if I open it up and it's full of wires that can be easily damaged...I'll just have to go carefully.

I've established some things now:

My MD is Asian but for some reason ( Yakumo...help me out here mate ) it is displaying at 60Hz/NTSC-J rather than the 50Hz/PAL setting that I originally thought ALL Asian MD's displayed at...is it because it's a newer version of the Asian MD?

Also, I understand that most Japanese games played on an "any" region MD will still display text in Japanese...I think

BUT ( and this is where I keep getting confused ) if I remove the cart lock on my Asian MD and insert a UK game, will that game display text in English as if the game was being played on a UK system...is that the case?..it's not is it...total confusion...all I wanna do is play a decent RPG but I was reluctant to buy an ( in my opinion ) inferior, slower basic UK MD!

Hmmmmm,

[Yakumo]

Hehehe, this Mega Drive Q&A sure brings back memories from the past. OK, here we go

Okay, I think I'm gonna open up the MD in the morning, looks like just a few standard screws are holding the top to the bottom, just abit scared if I open it up and it's full of wires that can be easily damaged...I'll just have to go carefully.

The only wire connecting the top of the Mega Drive to the bottom of the Mega Drive is the LED one. Just make sure you don't pull this off. Even if you did the Mega Drive would still work fine, just with now power on light.

y MD is Asian but for some reason ( Yakumo...help me out here mate ) it is displaying at 60Hz/NTSC-J rather than the 50Hz/PAL setting that I originally thought ALL Asian MD's displayed at...is it because it's a newer version of the Asian MD?

There are PAL and NTSC models of the Asian Mega Drive. THe PAL versions have a big shinny sticker on the box saying PAL 50Hz or something like that. The one you have was made for japan and other Asian countries that use NTSC such as Korea or Thailand I belive. It has nothing to do with it being old or new. I am however not sure if there were any Asian versions of the first Mega Drive. That passibly could have been for japan only.[/QUOTE]

I understand that most Japanese games played on an "any" region MD will still display text in Japanese...I think

OK, this is where Sega confuse many of it's fans. Sega and SNK for that matter are known for programming games with dual languages. many early games such as Quack Shot, Super Shinobi (Revenge of) and so on are dule language games. Buy a japanese super Shinobi and play it in a japanese Mega Drive and the whole game will be in Japanese. Plug the same cartridge in to a US or PAL mega Drive and it will come up as Revenge of Shinobi with English text. Same goes for if you put a PAL version of Revenge Of Shinobi in to a japanese Mega Drive. It will come up as Super Shinobi and be in Japanese. Of course Sega didn't program RPGs this was since the amount of text would take up too much memory and not to mention take forever to translate. Some Saturn and Dreamcast games also have this feature. Oh and not to forget that a PAL M<ega Drive game in a Japanese Mega Drive will run at 60Hz full screen where as a Japanese Mega Drive game in a PAL Mega Drive will run at 50Hz.

There is a 3 switch mod that you can do to your Mega Drive so that you can set it up as a PAL, US, ASIAN or Japanese system. One switch is for the language, the other is for 50/60Hz and the final is for the region.

Yakumo

[tokyochojin]

Hey Yakumo, which DC games also have the dual language feature?

[Yakumo]

Hey Yakumo, which DC games also have the dual language feature?

oh crap I knew somebody would ask me that Well to be honest I can't remember off the top of my head but there are deffinatly some dule language Dreamcast games out there. THe most recent one is Puyo Puyo Fever. Ok, this is bilingual anyway from the option menu but it also detects your Dreamcast default settings. So if you have a japanese DC and set your language to English then the game will load up as Puyo Pop Fever not Puyo Puyo Fever. There are others but I just can't remember them at the moment.

Yakumo

[mickyboy]

Well...thanks to everyone so far, especially Yakumo, you certainly know your Megadrives mate

I had a go at removing the cart lock and to my surprise, it was as easy as everyone made out after all...simply remove 6 screws, lift casing, remove cart lock screw, remove cart lock itself, then align headphone fader and on/off switch and put the casing back on, do up the screws...easy!

Now time for the acid test, I dug out all my old official UK games and tried them all, one by one. To my absolute shock and total delight, 9 out of 10 displayed in full English and full screen, the only one that didn't display text in English was Streets Of Rage 2, that come up as Bare Knuckle 2 and the intro story was in Japanese but hey, 9 out 10 ain't bad.

What interested me the most was the two E.A. games I tried, them being Risky Woods and Galahad, I don't know alot about these games, they could be upper crap for all I know but they both displayed all text in English and that got me excited because both them games appear to be Action/RPG hybrids...sooooooo, what are the chances that a UK or US copy of Shining in the Darkness or Sword Of Vermillion will display in English?

Like Yakumo already said, probably far too much text involved but at least by removing the cart lock, I can bust all my old UK carts and have them running faster with full screen and with English text...next stop Micky's Castle Of Illusion...love that game!

[Yakumo]

Like Yakumo already said, probably far too much text involved but at least by removing the cart lock, I can bust all my old UK carts and have them running faster with full screen and with English text...next stop Micky's Castle Of Illusion...love that game!

I'm sure Mickey is one of the ones which is bi-lingual so that will run in Japanese.

Yakumo