Sega Genesis MK1 Region Mod PART 1

[BackForwardPunch]

Nice alec, I JUST finished doing this and then found your vid. I just figured it out based on the spots on the board. and i had a tiny switch and put it in from of the channel 3, 4 thing. Now mine can only do channel 3, but who cares.

[SNESosT]

ok EVERY BODY SKIP TO PT 3 because the first 2 pts are about what you need, should do and stuff, in pt 3 he basically just soldiers 3 points, JP, US, GORUND,

and soldiers those to the switch, The END

[flipponzin24]

@SNESosT

No. I've seen enough on-line tutorials that go way too fast, and this one on the contrary goes into detail nice and slowly.

[SNESosT]

go to search, Sega Genesis Region Mod (Model 1) , his video is much simple, 4 mins long and doesn't include pointless chats as well as unneeded drawings of everything <_<

[alecjahn]

@SNESosT I agree, not everyone cares what they're doing, but I figured I'd make a comprehensive video in case someone wanted to understand everything.

Thanks for watching.

[HospitalWaste]

have you tested it?? i have some japanese games and used to have an adapter but cant find the adaptor and now they dont boot. They are not mega drive games just NTSC games. Will this mod make them work?? cuz i cant seem to find a replacement for that adapter

[Globalmap1]

Helpful tutorial, I learned a lot

[videogameobsession]

Will this mod let those cartridge based region lock out games work on a North American Genesis model 1? Or is it just to let you change languages for games that contain both languages (Mystic Defender, Ghouls N Ghosts, Revenge of Shinobi, etc..)

Thanks for sharing.. it's very helpful!

[alecjahn]

@videogameobsession I suppose I don't own any completely locked-out games, but I am under the impression that the only difference between motherboards between regions/countries are those jumpers - just a simple manufacturing money saver.

[boom10123]

thats cool

[pinwiz3000]

hi i opened my sega and the jp 1,2,3,4 are in the middle of the board and jp 1 has a Capacitor on it i think its a real early model without tmss goes straight to the game no sega trademark screen if you would be willing to help id be grateful thx

[doujindance]

It's a popular mod. I also tried to region(JP/US) mod 12 years ago. Really nostalgic mod. My MegaDrive playable almost Genesis cartridge. I love SUNSET RIDERS.

[kudgcn43]

ha I find this video extremely relaxing.

[Sillyzombie666]

i finally was about to do this mod and the damn switch i bought wont click...its defective... just wasted money on it and there no way i can return it... it was at a convention/ hobby show

[Sillyzombie666]

ont have the high def graphics, will this still work? i just opened mine up i have the switch in hand and every thing, so let me know soon. i mean the like jumpers look the same here

[alecjahn]

I guess technically I haven't modded one of those, but I don't see why it wouldn't work. Same jumper numbers go to the same places.

[Sillyzombie666]

@alecjahn holy crap your fast...im still watching the second vid lol, ok thanks again dude. let me know if you need any sega stuff i still have a pile of games i dont need. so after i get this mod done i just need to mod the slot so the jpn mega drive games fit.... i just wish i had a mega drive game to test it with lol

[egdqv13234]

@alecjahn damn nice wire cutters where did you get them?:|

[xXshamm3rsXx]

Hey i just cleaned my genesis model 1, however now my on/off switch has become really stiff and is really annoying any help also that cable from the case to the motherboard came unplugged (Red power light) and now i cant plug it in any ideas?

[Sillyzombie666]

quick question im getting a freebie system and i was wondering can i mode it so i can switch to all 4 of those instead of the 2, would it just be as simple as a 3 or 4 position switch or 2 switches (im a big noob) if so i want to do this pretty much so i can resell it since i own 0 imports

[alecjahn]

Well, with a 4-way, double-pole switch you could technically have one switch setting for each possibility, however that's a little cumbersome so it might be better to just do two switches.

[Sillyzombie666]

ok that sounds easy enough i just dont under stand circuitry at all so im bound to be confused but i know i can handle soldering, my father knows so i can bug him one of theses days lol.

[Sillyzombie666]

could you just send me a simple diagram of that, also if i do not have this mark 1 genesis can this mod be done on the others? also remember i know shit about circuitry

[jacktsang05]

awesome tutorial , you have inspired me to mod my gensis also. But im not as bright as you so ill def run into alot of prob. But great vid and long live the Genesis :)

[jawsykilla]

Ok, so I live in the Uk and have a PAL mega drive 1, how would i make a switch to switch between pal, jap and ntsc?

[tehmccann]

So heres something I found to be odd. I had assumed with jumpers 1 and 2 disconnected completely the system wouldnt be able to boot a game. Well I have neither the USA or JAPAN region connected and its working......

[alecjahn]

Well, basically the jumpers are just sending either 5v or ground to some pin on some chip. Aparently sending nothing must be ok for one of the two.

Hmmm. I'll keep this one on my mind, but in the mean time be sure to let me know if you figure anything else out so the info's available to others!

Cheers.

[tehmccann]

ya man bummer. What could I done wrong? I connected wires to the right jumpers. I then connected to the switch with the correct wires. And I get no power. So I removed everything re-bridged jumper 2 with a wire and still nothing!!!?

This makes me very sad. Im worried I killed it, but I honestly cant think of a single reason this shouldnt have worked. What are the possible ways I could haved ruined it?

[alecjahn]

So, is the entire system broken now, or just the LED? If the entire thing is dead, does the TV flicker at all when you turn it on? Unless there's a short added somewhere, I'm a bit lost for recommendations!

[tehmccann]

lol i wish there was an easier way to communicate.

Well, I get nothing. It was working before for sure, although i got it on ebay. and its a bit old (the rf shield is a bit tarnished). But it did work.

When I first got done. I put the wires on the switch accordingly. I plugged it in with top off but shield on, and nothing happend no tv flicker, no led, power to the system........ (crossing fingers).

Its a model one although it doesnt say high definition though.

[tehmccann]

ok!! some slight increase in luck. I the polarity on the LED was in fact backwards lol and I comes on, i do get a sceen flicker now but I cant get a game to play, although that may be cause by my pin connector its looking pretty bad, and one of the pins was slightly pushed in when i put a cart in last. maybe that finally went im not sure. ....... Do replacement pin connectors for the cart slot exist?

[tehmccann]

I Apologize for all the commenting. Ya it works again....but its definitely the pin connector for the cart slot. Its looks like some one tried to bend them out to increase contact with the cart to get the games to work better. Can these be replaced, I cant find anywhere that even mentions replacement pin slot connectors. Would the best way to buy a broken one and steal the pin connector off of it?

[tehmccann]

you mean do i have the switch/wires/jumpers incorrect orientation? Im positive. I took off the switch and just reconnected the jumper #2 using the wires I added. Still no good.

[alecjahn]

I mean the LED light. Do you mean it has no power, as confirmed by a multimeter/volt meter? I meant the orientation of that.

Maybe I'm misunderstanding.

[tehmccann]

I just finished the mod but unfortunately i get now power to my LED light. : ( Im am 99% sure I did it correctly. Anyone suggestions.

[alecjahn]

Sure you've got the polarity right?

[himynameisjollie]

arent all genesis models region free? all you have to do is cut the things on the cartridge port that dont allow megadrive games to be fit.

[alecjahn]

I should have titled the video "language mod", but technically some locations (I think of tobibroki's video trying out his lang mod) where it won't let you play a game unless those jumpers are in the right settings.

[desertman123]

i opened this to try this but my 4 jumpers were in a different spot and there is a capacitor in between the 2 points for jumper 1

[gdement]

Sounds like you have a VA2 or VA3, (mine is VA3).

I haven't tried this mod on it yet, but from what I've read I think those jumpers have the same function as on the later revision shown in this vid. They're in a different order though.

The trace you need to cut might be underneath the board, so the cap might not be in the way.

On VA3 there's a parallel, empty cap position nearby, which you can confirm with a multimeter. I put a modern low impedance cap there and removed the old JP1 cap.

[killdoser666]

my sega is region free and when i open it up it looks nothing like that

[alecjahn]

I should have named the video "Language mod"... whoops.

There are a handfull of subrevisions within the genesis models, which would explain the differences in internal layout.

[killdoser666]

true in mine there are wires connicting certain jumpers a resistor is on the base and a resistor is on a chip on the main board(a pin is removed to connect it)

[megaangryvideogamer]

same here

[smellmyfinger2x16]

All my genesis will do is lines on the screen and hum. does anyone know how to fix it?

[lukemorse1]

LOL, I use teeth all the damn time..Grrrrrr!

Must say, I'm impressed mad scientist :P

[sagafan13]

great job man :D

[alecjahn]

Thanks! Part 2 is uploading right now.

[themindsi]

dude please make a tutorial on how to add a s-video to the genny model 1

[alecjahn]

I do plan on it, but I'm not sure how many days it'll be until I get to it.

[themindsi]

take ur time bu tbe sure to make it very easy and simple to follow kinda of a noob here

[alecjahn]

Of course, of course.