Do USA sega genesis/mega drive systems play Foreign games?

[BonBon]

I was thinking of importing some mega drive games need to know if they will play on my usa genesis?

[untinip]

Most will, however if you play PAL-optimized Mega Drive games on your Genesis they'll play faster (same issue as when playing PAL NES-games on an NTSC-console). Some PAL games refuse to run on NTSC-consoles, though, and some NTSC games refuse to run on PAL-consoles. Also some Japanese games will refuse to run on foreign consoles as well, but you can install a switch to work around that:
http://www.mmmonkey.co.uk/console/sega/md1switches.htm

or this if you have a the second model:
http://www.mmmonkey.co.uk/console/sega/md2switches.htm

I've used the above mentioned mod to play American Genesis games at the correct speed on my European Mega Drive. It works great!

If you have a Game Genie you can also "patch" any game that refuses to run on your console. I did this to play McDonald's Treasure Land Adventure (NTSC-version) on my Mega Drive before I modded it.

[BonBon]

Thank u for your help also I have uforia my only pal nes game and it runs just fine on my av famicom with a 72 to 60 pin converter never played it on a usa nes though. I really want to get beauty and the beast for nes do u think it will have issues on my av famicom. What i'm trying to ask is does the famicom have the same issues as the usa nes does playing pal games?

[untinip]

The Famicom and the US NES are both NTSC-systems, so any PAL game will run identical on either system. Not all PAL games have issues running on NTSC-systems, but some do (run faster and/or have graphic glitches). An example is the PAL version of Mr. Gimmick!, which is so glitchy when running on NTSC-systems that it's unplayable.

Since Ufouria is a PAL-optimized game it'll run faster than intended on your Famicom/NES. You can see this for yourself if you play Hebereke (the Japanese name for Ufouria) in an emulator (or on a real console if you have it) and compare it to when you're playing Ufouria on your Famicom. You'll hear that the music in Ufouria plays much faster. No graphical glitches though, but still...

Beauty and the Beast is a also PAL-optimized game, but not only will it run faster it'll also be very glitchy. You can see this for yourself if you play the game in an emulator and force it to run in NTSC-mode.

If you'd like I can help you get a PAL NES so you can play the games at the correct speed. You can use the AC-adapter of your NES/Famicom to power it, and the controllers would be the same as well. If you hook it up using the AV cords it should work fine with your American TV as well (most modern TV:s can handle both NTSC and PAL signals just fine via composite video).

[Frank_fjs]

Re the Mega Drive, as mentioned it depends on the game in question. Most of the earlier games work fine, but later releases implemented region checking so won't work without a mod to the console or a pass through cart like the Magic Key, Action Replay etc.

[untinip]

Re the Mega Drive, as mentioned it depends on the game in question. Most of the earlier games work fine, but later releases implemented region checking so won't work without a mod to the console or a pass through cart like the Magic Key, Action Replay etc.

Do they work on all games?

[Frank_fjs]

Not sure, all the ones I own at least. There's probably a few that don't but I suspect that compatibility is quite high. PAL optimised games won't work properly as mentioned earlier.

I actually have both a PAL and Japanese MD and this keeps me covered. Modding is probably the best way to go but I hate defacing my consoles with ugly switches.

[untinip]

Do you have one? What games do you use it with?

[Frank_fjs]

I have a Magic Key III and it works on all my games. I have a mixture of Aussie PAL, Japanese & Genesis games and it works with all of them. The only game it hasn't worked for is a PAL copy of Virtua Racing I have, it loads the game fine but it doesn't display properly on an NTSC machine due to the 50/60Hz discrepancy.

[untinip]

Interesting! Can you give an example of a game that doesn't load in a "foreign" console without the adapter?

[Frank_fjs]

Lethal Enforcers, Genesis version. This game won't load on my Jap MD without the Magic cart.

[untinip]

Interesting! It would appear that it does more than just change the region code in the ROM, since that didn't help me load the US version of Lethal Enforcers on an emulated Japanese Mega Drive. Do you happen to have McDonald's Treasure Land Adventure? I know this game (at least the American version) won't load on PAL-consoles.
Post Merge: August 01, 2012, 02:02:07 am
Isn't that only to prevent unlicensed games from running? I believe the regional lockout is a different story.

[Lum]

Genesis / Mega Drive uses two region settings (inherited from Master System, so they have effects on backwards compatible mode also):
50hz or 60hz
English or Japanese language

Ability to switch them independent from each other while powered-on is perhaps the best way to allow every game show every possible behavior.

US Streets of Rage 2 for example contains Japanese text, its lockout screen blocks conventional access.
NBA Jam will play too fast if switch from 50hz to 60hz after starting up.