Region Lock

[jefis]

So I bought 2 games on ebay that shows this screen that they can only be played by the NTSC system. I got PAL european mega drive.
If I buy Game Genie, will it help to bypass the region lock?
The games are:
Dr. Robotniks mean bean machine
Boogerman

[The Coop]

So I bought 2 games on ebay that shows this screen that they can only be played by the NTSC system. I got PAL european mega drive.
If I buy Game Genie, will it help to bypass the region lock?
The games are:
Dr. Robotniks mean bean machine
Boogerman

Most likely, yes. But be aware they may not play at the proper speed.

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

That's a guide with GG codes for bypassing the lockout. The US and PAL versions of Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine are mentioned, but only the Japanese PAL version of Boogerman is listed. However, if that Gamefaqs thread doesn't help, I'm sure Tony H can find bypass codes for you here.

[Guntz]

It all depends on if they were done properly for PAL's 50Hz.

I thought PAL region games had to be re-tooled specifically to account for the speed and resolution differences. I don't think NTSC Genesis games were programmed with PAL functionality included...

[The Coop]

Eh, I forgot to delete that part. When I first started typing, I was thinking playing PAL on a NTSC system. Then it hit me that it was the opposite so I fixed my post... except for that forgotten sentence. But, it's deleted now.


Anyway, as I said, they may not play at the proper speed. I would have said "won't play at the proper speed," but after my experience with the PAL version of Alien Soldier, I figured I'd cover my ass and leave the possibility there for the games to run all right

[TmEE]

Real PAL game will have issues on NTSC machine, but NTSC game will work fine on a PAL machine in most cases, albeit slower (but without slowdown :P)

I would just region mod the MD, its the most convenient way to play all games.

[Devil N]

Both Boogerman and Mean Bean Machine weren't optimized for PAL, so playing an NTSC copy on a PAL machine will give the same experience as the original PAL game. That is, once you get past the region lock.

Conversely, the PAL versions of both these games can be played on an NTSC machine without problems, either by booting up in PAL and switching to NTSC while the game is running, or by using a Game Genie.

[Greg2600]

Could I use a game genie (I have one) with the EverDrive cart to get E/J games to work on U Genesis? Is there a universal region lock code?

[Tony H]

Could I use a game genie (I have one) with the EverDrive cart to get E/J games to work on U Genesis? Is there a universal region lock code?

There is a "semi" universal regional lockout bypass code:

http://codehut.gshi.org/RegionalBypassGG.txt

or

http://www.angelfire.com/games2/code...alBypassGG.txt

[Defolto]

Region locks suck, its just another way for Sega to get more money.

[Devil N]

Region locks on the Mega Drive/Genesis are all software based, so it's nothing that Sega had any direct influence on. It was up to game developers and publishers to decide whether a game would be region locked. The only thing Sega enforced was that games had to be officially licensed (through TMSS), but that has nothing to do with region locking.

[Defolto]

None the less it is just a greedy way for companies to make more money.

[retrospiel]

^ Definitely. And around 1992/1993-ish Sega started region locking their games too.

[TonyTheTiger]

Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine are mentioned, but only the Japanese PAL version of Boogerman is listed.

It's not just the Japan PAL Boogerman listed (if one even exists). The list is organized by game, not region. The way I wrote it I used certain notations to avoid having to list the same codes over and over again. The (universal) note is acknowledged earlier in the document as being the notation that the semi-universal codes work for that particular game. The reason there's a code for Japan PAL is because the semi-universal codes don't enable Japan PAL compatibility so the dedicated Japan PAL code was listed separately.

In other words, the codes listed aren't for that version of the game. It's not like "this code lets you play the Japan PAL Boogerman cart." It's instead the code that lets you play any Boogerman cart on Japan PAL hardware. If you want to play any region Boogerman cart on USA, Europe, or Japan NTSC hardware, the semi-universal codes work.

It's all laid out in the preface to that particular section. Unfortunately GameFAQs is...not great when it comes to formatting. The original document (linked in the Preface) is much easier to read.