In Other Classic Systems

I recently picked up what I think is a model 1 genesis. It has a headphone jack and volume control.

Anyway I trimmed the opening in the top of the case to fit "megadrive" games (I picked up a japanese Landstalker for under $1) and the game plays, but in Japanese. I was under the impression that I would have to open up the case of the sega and solder in some switches to switch between english and japanese carts(and the language the game is presented in).

Do I have a REALLY early system that doesn't have regional lockout? Do I need to erase the saved games before it will play in english? Do I need to buy aanother game and try that one?

Some games will boot and play unmodified, as you now know. Other will refuse to boot until the region/refresh switches are installed. Some games contain both languages, though I assume most do not. playing japanese games generally means that they're going to be in Japanese.

I had almost bought a megadrive I saw at a local "hard-off" in the junk section, but decided to try researching how hard it was to modify a genesis because I have a couple spares.

Now I just need to figure out where my soldering iron is in all of these boxes. Pictures of my collection are coming as soon as I unpack,

Region lockout is probably a simple matter of where the pins are. One time I booted up my Sega CD only to find a blue screen telling me that I was using an Asian Megadrive system and that it'd only work on a US Genesis console.

Usually there is a set of 6 solder pads, you just need to cut all bridges between them, and attach switches properly to them to select region/tv refresh rate. I don't know the schematic for the pads from memory, but I usually use for AV mods, and region disabling guides.

Some games definately dont have multiple languages built in. Certainly my Assault Suit Leynos has never played in English on my Megadrive. (It was, i believe, translated later and released as Target: Earth)

A good way to find out is to dig out an emulator that allows region switching and seeing what difference it makes to some NES ROM dumps. To be honest, a region switch isn't really a nessescity, though for full compatability, it doesn't hurt.

Some games definately dont have multiple languages built in. Certainly my Assault Suit Leynos has never played in English on my Megadrive. (It was, i believe, translated later and released as Target: Earth)



is this game rare at all or expensive, because at Game exchange we get lots of stuff for all systems and i have never seen it, and is it a shooter?

Some games definately dont have multiple languages built in. Certainly my Assault Suit Leynos has never played in English on my Megadrive. (It was, i believe, translated later and released as Target: Earth)



is this game rare at all or expensive, because at Game exchange we get lots of stuff for all systems and i have never seen it, and is it a shooter?
I honestly have no idea. I've only ever seen the one copy (mine) but it cost me a pittance at the time. Likewise I've never seen Target Earth, only ever the NES ROM image.

It's a fine stompy side-scrolling shooter, right enough. I've heard it referred to as kind of a semi-prequel to Assault Suit Valken/Cybernator on the SNES, but not speaking Japanese, I couldn't really tell you much about the story (and as I recall, I think the Target Earth story was butchered). The two games feel quite similar, especially in terms of controls, but the graphics in ASL are much smaller than the ones in Cybernator. The weapon choice is a bit bigger though, and you can take different loadouts near the start of each stage.

I love the DP rarity guide.