PAL MD games on NTSC US Genesis

[tz101]

I know that Jap MD games play fine on my NTSC Genesis console with a Game Genie, or by carving the plastic around the cartridge slot. Do European PAL MD carts play fine in NTSC Genesis systems? Are they larger in form than US carts, like the Jap games, or is there some other PAL electronic stuff going on that prevents these games from playing on US consoles?

[Christuserloeser]

Same carts, and most will work without issues.

[Thenewguy]

There's no problem with cartridge sizes, but some will have a region lock-out.

Generally games released prior to 1993 don't have a region lock-out, but a notable amount of 1993 and later games do.

The Game Genie should bypass region locking for any game so long as you have the right codes, but some games will also be optimised for PAL and will run incorrectly (not many though).

Was there any specific games you were thinking of importing?

[Devil N]

Physically, PAL games have the same shape and size as US games, so they will fit in your console without modification.

Whether or not they'll actually play properly on your US console though, depends entirely on the game. As mentioned above, most pre-1993 PAL games are region free, and most of those will work on an NTSC console without problems. However, many later games will have either region locks or PAL optimizations, which will prevent you from playing the games just like that. Region locks can usually be circumvented, but PAL optimizations can be fatal.

Playing PAL optimized games on an NTSC console can produce varying degrees of problems. Some will actually work fine, others will have either gameplay or music playing too fast, and some will go completely bonkers, either with weird graphics glitches, terrible slowdown or by having the entire screen roll.

It's hard to make a clear categorization that applies to each and every PAL game, because the behavior can vary subtly in so many ways. That didn't stop me from trying to define some categories though, and I made a short write-up of my findings in another thread, not too long ago: link

[The Jackal]

Konami games have terrible regional lockout; the game will boot, but you'll be stuck at the Konami logo.

Also, I'd advise you to mod your console; that way you can just play the games at their correct speed (if you're NTSC tv supports PAL that is].

[tz101]

Does a Game Genie get around a lot of the region locking junk?

Does a 50/60hz console mod make the situation any better, as far as more carts being compatible with my NTSC system?

Somebody really needs to publish a matrix of all the MD/Genesis games, which ones work fine in all regions, which ones will only work on MD PAL, etc.

Is there a way to mod my NTSC console to get past the region locking on Euro PAL game carts, like the Konami title screen, et al?

[PHANTOM2040]

Does a Game Genie get around a lot of the region locking junk?

Does a 50/60hz console mod make the situation any better, as far as more carts being compatible with my NTSC system?

Somebody really needs to publish a matrix of all the MD/Genesis games, which ones work fine in all regions, which ones will only work on MD PAL, etc.

Is there a way to mod my NTSC console to get past the region locking on Euro PAL game carts, like the Konami title screen, et al?

Honestly there isn't many EURO games that the U.S. didn't get. Worms, Second Samurai, Alien Soldier, have region lock but work thru game genie. Twin Hawk and Battle Frenzy are not region locked.

These two links are also helpful.

http://www.gamefaqs.com/genesis/9163...sis/faqs/60595

http://www.sega-16.com/feature_page....%20Made%20Easy


If all of this doesn't help you then just look up each game your interested in on google and find the game genie codes. An easy way to find out if a game is region locked is to get the rom from the country your interested in importing from, play it in the fusion emulator. Put US as the country and turn off auto detect. If the game has region lock it will go to a screen that says such and you will not be able to play the game. As far as testing game genie code on the fusion I haven't had luck with that but whenever I have imported a game the codes on the above links mentioned always worked.

[The Jackal]

Well, like I said, if you're TV supports PAL, then modding your console would be the easiest and best way to go. But seeing as most NTSC sets don't support it, which is really makes it even more bothersome.

If you mod your console (and find a TV that can display PAL) then you can simply set the console's "region" to Europe and then simply pop in a PAL game with no fuss. That includes Konami games.

But like I've said [alot in this post), TVs in the US are rare to find that support 50hz; so you'd be better off with the Game Genie route.

[tz101]

But like a said, TVs in the US are rare to find that support 50hz; so you'd be better off with the Game Genie route.

So Game Genie solves all problems? That is the clarification I am looking for because I have two Game Genies. All I would have to do is look up the GG codes and, presto, all the region locking garbage would be vanquished?

[The Jackal]

It doesn't solve all problems, but yes, it works.

Some games were re-programmed to work at 50hz, so even if you did get around the region-lockout, the game would be too messed up to play at 60hz.

The UK version of Comix Zone is a prime example of this. The only way around this is to use a emulator to play the PAL game by forcing it to 60hz - if you have graphical errors, then it's you can't play that game on a NTSC console. At all.

[o1s1n]

You guys in the states not have access to RGB scart at all no?

My PAL TV doesn't support 60hz, but I can play all my consoles in 60hz via RGB scart.

There are very few MD PAL titles that won't play in 60hz. Some of them are completely unplayable at 60hz like Samurai Showdown. But thankfully they're pretty few and far between. 99% of my MD collection is PAL and I play most of that at 60hz with no problem.

Alien Soldier is an odd one, I know it was 50hz optimized, but I always play it at 60hz. 50hz seems too slow and easy

[The Jackal]

I thought Alien Soldier was European/Japanese? In other words, both regions are really the same game with regional-lockout if you use it on a US console ala Bare Knuckle II?

[BrianC]

I thought Alien Soldier was European/Japanese? In other words, both regions are really the same game with regional-lockout if you use it on a US console ala Bare Knuckle II?

That isn't the case. The EU Alien Soldier is PAL optimized and plays faster than the JP version when the region lock is bypassed. The EU version also fixed some of the Engrish in the JP version. No "terrolist".

[PHANTOM2040]

For Alien Soldier, I'd definately go with the japanese version over the euro version importing to the U.S. Engrish is cool and both consoles are NTSC instead of PAL. Being a later game it is safer to go the Japanese route. Offcourse, the best and least expensive easiest route would be a repro since it is the japanese version that is already fixed to play directly on a U.S. player. People say there is no collector value to a repro but not being a collector, I don't care. Also there still is value whether people like it or not. You buy a repro for $40, if you play your cards right you will get the same for it or more if you want to rip people off on ebay.

[The Jackal]

OK, thanks for the correction BrianC. Rep on it's way to you!