Simple guide to playing American games on a PAL Mega Drive

[Hateshinai]

When it comes to Retrogaming, living in Europe means the following:
1. RGB SCART video output. Yay!
2. Games running slower than their NTSC counterpats.
3. Ugly borders and "squashed" graphics
4. Missing out on a lot of interesting games that were never ported.
5. Paying MUCH more for the PAL version of a game compared to the NTSC one.
So, not that great, huh? Luckily most of these problems are easy to solve if you have a Mega Drive ("Genesis" for our transatlantic gaming brothers)

Mega Drive
The vast majority of NTSC-U games will run on a PAL MD without any modifications, but they will be slower and have borders. Some games (e.g. Rocket Night Adventure) will not boot on a PAL machine. This is easily solved by modding your MD with a 50/60 Hz switch. This is a well documented mod which works both on MD1 and MD2 (I've done it on both). It requires minimal soldering skills. You can also install a language selection switch but that's only useful if you are planning on playing Japanese games. To play Japanese games you will also need to enlarge the cartridge slot opening. I have no interest in Japanese games so I didn't do it.
Once you have the switch in place you can force your MD to run at 60Hz which has three benefits:
1. You can now play all NTSC-U games
2. The games are now in full screen
3. The games are faster. Try Sonic at 50Hz and 60Hz and TASTE the difference!
Some games will only boot in 50 or 60Hz. No problem. Start the game at the frequency it needs to boot and then switch it over to the speed you want to play at.
The music in most games will be affected by speed you are using which might actually be an improvement (Sonic once again).
The only game I found a problem with was PAL Virtua Racing, which has messed up graphics at 60 Hz. The same problem applies to the SuperFx games on a modded SNES btw.
IMPORTANT: to play games at 60Hz in colour you will need an RGB SCART cable. These aren't exactly cheap but totally worth it. You can always make your own if you're skilled enough.

Power Base Converter
That's the adapter that let's you play Master System games on your MD.
Master System games have no region protection as far as I know.With the Power BAse Converter you can play all your MS games at full screen and full speed by setting your MD to 60Hz.

32X
The PAL version of this add-on and PAL games are stupidly expensive. It's much cheaper to get one from the States. (Mine cost me 35 euros with postage and cable.) An American 32X works perfectly well with a PAL MD set to 60Hz. You can even use an European MD2 power supply. You can even force the games to run at 50Hz after booting (if you're insane).
When playing MD games the 32X does nothing so you can still play MD games at both 50 and 60Hz through it without removing it. Considering the larger cartridge slot size, I think it might be possible to plug in Japanese MD games into it but I can't check personally.
As far as I know an American 32X will not play PAL 32X games without modding it but honestly there is no point in doing that anyway.

Mega CD
It is possible to have a multiBios chip installed on a Sega CD to play import games but it's much simpler to burn copies of your games after changing the region of the ISO to Europe. A PAL Mega CD (model 1 or 2) requires the MD to be set to 50Hz while booting the game. However you can then flip to 60Hz which will put the game at full speed and full screen (Silp Heed rocks!).
If instead of burning CDs you prefer to buy an NTSC Sega CD console to play imports, all you need to do is set your MD to 60HZ before powering on and everything should be fine.

Joypads,etc
The MD/Genesis peripherals are not region locked, unlike the SNES joypads. You can also use Master System pads on the MD, MD pads on a Master System, and even MD pads on an Amiga and on an Atari 2600. You can probably even use an Atari 2600 joystick on the Megadrive but I haven't tried it.

Links:
http://www.mmmonkey.co.uk/index.htm 50/60Hz mod and other fun stuff
http://www.epforums.org/showthread.php?t=23390 Sega CD game region change

[RBT]

Thanks for the info, I'm thinking of getting a spare Mega Drive to try the 50/60 mod.

I'm assuming most PAL games will run at 60Hz is this right?

[alienjesus]

does this have to be a specific type of mega drive? I'm assuming not, but it's worth a double check. I have 2 model 2 mega drives, so I'd be willing to use one as my first attempt as a mod.

Also, I wasnt aware that US cartridges worked on a european mega drive :S

[emwearz]

As my TV doesnt support RGB I ended up having a Genesis sent to me which I 50/60hz modded so I can play PAL games in colour @ 60hz.

For a long while I was using my MDII with a 50/60hz switch just to play imports but still at 50hz as I couldn't get a colour output.

Easy mod that any body who owns the console should do.

[Hateshinai]

Thanks for the info, I'm thinking of getting a spare Mega Drive to try the 50/60 mod.

I'm assuming most PAL games will run at 60Hz is this right?

Yes, I play all my PAL games at 60Hz except Virtua Racing (graphical problems) and Robocop VS Terminatior (I don't like the music at 60 Hz).
All Model 1 and 2 Mega Drives can be modded.

[senjaru]

Actually the 50/60hz switch is uneeded in most cases, since developers just sped up the megadrive versions of games so they ran the same. Lord knows why the didn't do this for all games though

[Hateshinai]

Actually the 50/60hz switch is uneeded in most cases, since developers just sped up the megadrive versions of games so they ran the same. Lord knows why the didn't do this for all games though

The vast majority of games were not optimized for the PAL market so the switch makes a huge difference. Optimization takes time and costs money so it was easier just to release the game as it was.

[alienjesus]

The most interesting aspect of this Mod to me is the fact that I can buy a US Sega CD. I'm not into burning ROMs, but there are a good few games on sega cd i want to play that didnt make it here.

Is the master system really region free aswell? I'm honestly quite shocked if so. I wonder how tricky it'd be to lay my hands on the monica versions of the wonderboy games from brazil, and perhaps some of their SMS exclusives like street fighter 2, baku baku, dynamite headdy and some others: http://segacollect.blogspot.com/2008/07 ... hacks.html

Any brazilians here know how much it'd cost them to get hold of these games and how much shipping would be to UK ?

[Curlypaul]

If instead of burning CDs you prefer to buy an NTSC Sega CD console to play imports, all you need to do is set your MD to 60HZ before powering on and everything should be fine.

Can I play NTSC imports on my PAL Mega CD if its attached to a switched MD?

[Erik_Twice]

Hey, thanks for the guide! I have to do this to my megadrive soon.

Something I really wonder. Some games were released in PAL regions but were obviously programmed to run in NTSC so they run slow, the first Sonic the Hedgehog comes up as an example. Will this mod fix that? I don't want my Megadrive to suffer the same fate as my european NES