mod

For a long while I’ve known about modifications for the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive. There are several very practical things you can do to a Genesis. I’ve kept these ideas at bay because I don’t have any soldering or electrical skills. But despite this I’m slowly starting to warm up to the idea. This first step is a simple one. I’m going to create a list of the mods I would like to have on a Genesis.

The simplest mod for a Sega Genesis is to widen the cartridge slot so that you can insert Japanese Mega Drive games. For anyone who can’t stand of the idea of cutting into their Genesis then the story might end right here.
But for me I have several Genesis consoles and my original system is already modded. My original modded Genesis slot has been widened and regular Japanese Mega Drive games can fit into it. However, those fat Sun Soft cartridges cannot. Not even close. So the plan is to buy a dremel and expand my Genesis slot enough to fit what I believe to be the largest cartridge created for the system.

Here’s TheDamoMonster who does a great job showing us how this is done.

So what do you get for your efforts? You get a Genesis that can accommodate the larger size of the Japanese Mega Drive games. And with the exception of about 62 games that have region locks built into them you’ll be able to play all other Japanese Mega Drive games on your Genesis.

Thanks to markvergeer who put together a list of 62 games that have region locking encoded on them. These games will run only on systems that match the intended region of that cart.

Twenty one of these games were made in 1992 and 1993. The remaining forty two games where made in 1994 or later. Considering the size of the Genesis/Mega Drive game library the amount of region locked games is thankfully pretty small.

Now, back to my mod wish list. And of course we already know number on the list:

1) Widen Genesis cartridge slot to accommodate the largest Japanese Mega Drive Sun Soft carts.
2) Install Region/Language switches.
3) Install composite Video and Audio jacks.
4) Over clock the Genesis.

The region and language mods will ensure we’ll be able to play all games and possibly see first hand the difference in some games that vary from region to region.
Installing composite jacks will hopefully profide the best audio and visual experience you can have on the Genesis. I believe SCART is a better option available to PAL regions.
I only read about over clocking the Genesis recently and it’s something that will only be noticeable in a few scenarios; such as in Sonic split screen mode or when Sonic loose 100+ rings and the system really slows down when trying to draw all those sprites! I’m sure there are other good example of games that could use a little more horse power but you get the idea 🙂

OK, I’m going to need some tools…

I loved Fantasy Zone for the Master System. Back in the day I found it really hard but I loved it. And that is one of the reasons why I’m so pleased to add Super Fantasy Zone to the collection. An other reason is because it’s one of those few games that comes in a really cool small box. Not only do these Sunsoft games have the smallest cases but they also have the largest cartridges. This Super Fantasy zone cost me $34 (plus shipping). It’s a title that I was willing to pay extra for; beyond my typical $20 per game goal.
What I find funny is that I know exactly what these cases look like yet I didn’t notice that my Batman is in a normal cartridge and not the big fat one like Super Fantasy Zone. For a time I wondered if this one was a knock-off. But I’ve seen been told that it was common for some releases to receive changes for a particular region. This particular Batman is likely regionalized for Asia market and has a different plastic cartridge compared to the Japanese release.

Normally Japanese Mega Drive games will not fit in a Genesis. The Japanese Mega Drive carts are a little bigger and Sunsoft games are a lot bigger. Even though I had my Genesis modded to play Japanese Mega Drive games it is still not wide enough for these monster Sunsoft carts. I still have my original modded Genesis and I’m wondering how I use to play Batman because this Super Fantasy Zone cart does not fit at all and I remember having the same sized cart for my Batman. Anyways, speaking of modding my Genesis… when I first had this done I was told by a store called Video Connections that they had to carve the edges of the slot on the Genesis to make it a bit wider. This part was true. They also told me that they had to do “a little technical work here and there”. That part was a complete lie. So they took my $30 and off I went. It was many years later before I figured this out.