JP/Eng Region Select Mod on Genesis 

You can get two of those wires, 5v and Ground, from almost anywhere in the system including places that are right around the switch. The only wire you need to run across the board to the switch like that is the I/O signal wire that goes to the switch’s common terminal. Heck, you can shorten that one a bit too by getting it off the bottom trace or from the I/O chip leg that it goes to.

This was an easy mod, and also the first I ever performed. I performed it some months ago and it works like a charm! Playing region-locked Japanese games will not be a problem for me.

This is a really well organized tutorial. I wish I had made my tutorial vid back in the day this good, it probably wouldn't be multiple parts...! :P

In case anyone is wondering about that late model 1 Genesis, no that's not the original color *obviously* it's same as the other 2 Genesis, but the LED part is suppose to be Red and it's a separate piece from the whole circle *for cost reduction* I know that because I have that model Genesis and the original High Definition graphics model. "Update I don't have that late model Genesis anymore, I sold it and bought the one with the blank spot on the back"

Another great video. I have actually learned alot from watching your videos. I really enjoy them and find them interestesting. I now know why all those games i would sometimes pick up at pawnshops would give me errors. DAmn i still wish i had a genesis

I just did this, and it really does work! The only two games I have seen work in both Japanese and English are Ghould n' Ghosts (Dai Makai Mura) and Revenge of Shinobi (The Super Shinobi).

Nice video. If you make a 50/60hz switch on your genesis you can also be able to play any Pal games that has a region lock chip by bypasssing the game from 50hz to 60hz.. There are a few games on the Pal Mega Drive that have been released only in the Pal region.Alien Soldier, Donald in Maui Mallard, Flink, Micro Machines Turbo Tournament '96 are some examples.

I've mentioned it before but I prefer to keep the console original. To play imported games, one only needs to buy a Game Genie. The benefit of having a Game Genie is two fold: 1. it allows the player to play foreign games on an North American console; 2. It gives the player the ability to use cheat codes to either bipass levels, gain extra lives, etc. For all intensive purposes this video educates the viewer as to what SEGA did with respect to programming game cartridges for all markets.

MERCS is a pretty good one to show the difference. and Streets of Rage 3 is the most infamous.

Awesome Video, Easy Mod. Thanks for explaining how to do this. Also I have 3 Genesis systems myself but don't have any of those earlier models with the high definition. Just the same one you just modded.

well this mod might save some time and boom there it is. nice work sir.

Also update on the late model 1 Genesis, it's not impossible to mod for the English Japanese mod, the jumpers are on the bottom side, but it's more noticeable with the earlier model Genesis.

Nice Job. I get this done with my GN twin clone, but I'd much rather have the option to use the real genesis. One of my goals is to learn how to solder by the end of summer.

@brtshstel Some people hollow out the cartridge slot to allow a Japanese Mega Drive game to fit into a North American SEGA Genesis cartridge slot. As I already stated before, you only need to purchase a Game Genie to avoid unnecessarily modifying your console, thus allowing you to keep your console in it's original condition.

It's suppose to look like the other 2 but he modded it to look like the Mega Drive (kinda looks like a merge between the PAL and Japanese), if you watch is video titled Basic M1 Genesis mods (that's the same model 1 genesis from this video).

Great video! Here's something to do if you're bored. How about changing the power LED to a bi-color one, and wiring it to the switch. Blue if in American mode, Red if in Japanese mode. Thanks for the upload :)

Nice easy mod. I may try this one out some day even though I have no real need for it. It'd be worth it for me just to see my Streets of Rage say Bare Knuckle though. lol Thanks for the tutorial.

I believe if you insert a Fatal Labyrinth cart into a JP system, I believe it changes the game's name to Labyrinth Of Death and the game's text turns Japanese.

Very cool mod. I bet next gen systems are harder to mod. They probably learned from older consoles being so easily modded. Not saying that modding is necessarily a bad thing.

Yay! I have the Hi def Graphics model 1, going to have to look into this.........

@MN12BIRD I'm looking at it right now and all the holes on the back are to the far right with no space, it only has the AC adapter out, AV out and the RF out. The date on the board says 15th February 1993 with this written on it IC BD M5 PAL so it looks like I was wrong all these years in thinking it was a VA7 board when it's actually a VA6 which explains why the sound is still clean. Thank god I didn't get a VA7 model 1 back in the day because I used to record the music from the headphone jack.

@legojunk96 Look for something called a Swap Magic online. It's a tool that most people use for booting burned games, but IIRC is advertised as a tool for booting out of region games. It requires either a flip top or a slide tool, but if you don't want to put in a mod chip, this is the easiest way to go.

awesome mod man! I love doing things like this!

@MN12BIRD This is getting to confusing to keep up with. You've given me alot to think about now. My original Mega Drive Genesis from when I was a kid was a later model 1 from 1993 which had the TMSS screen but it still had a clear sound circuit through the headphone jack, I always assumed it was the last of the model 1 before SEGA brought out the model 2 in 1994. Am I right in thinking that it was the very last revision of the model 1? Because others say that the headphone jack is distorted.

Boy I wouldlove to get a model 1 Genesis for the better sound and much eaiser to mod. I would love to play Monster World IV saddly I have a model 2 Genesis. Atleast I can still enjoy this wonderful console.

Thats so awesome dude. o>O

very cool more videos on mods please!

That late Model One looks like my PAL Model 1 but my ports on the back are the same as your earlier Model 1 in terms of layout. No EXT port though.

Great video!

You are aware that the mod you done was on a later model 1 console as it had that boot up screen when the turning the system on and it didn't say ''High Definition Graphics on it'' when you've just told us not to do it on a later model because it's harder? Anyway it's a good video.

you can also just flip the switch and hit reset.

Thanks! Now I will buy a Japanese one and mod it. :) Regards

I have a Model 1 Genesis which is actually an early model (without th EXT slot and High Defenition Graphics).

@MN12BIRD Did you notice that SEGA logo doesn't have TM in japanese games?If you run Sonic 2 in japanese mode you won't see TM.

Are you going to make the "one genesis to control them all" yet? Adding both region mods, AV with Stereo and S-Video out, LED mod, cart slot mod, and all that fun stuff in one system? Be kinda cool to have swiss army knife of genesis consoles since you know how to do all the mods.

@Lachlant1984 I should think it would be the same as pulling the cart out with the power still on, meaning it could kill your system.

Geat mod. I´ll try it some day! Thanks!

I guess Sega made the cartradges the same in both Japanese and Western markets, the only difference, early model 1 Genesis/Mega Drive-wise, was the motherboard.

@MN12BIRD So now you're telling us that they're are 3 different models of the model 1 Mega Drive Genesis? I thought there were only 2 variations of the model 1 All I know from my personal experience is that the later VA7 boards in the model 2's are the easiest to mod and tweak because they consist of cheaper parts. I guess i'm one of the lucky ones because my model 2 plays any game from any region without me doing anything (Jap, American and European) with that TMSS boot up screen aswell.

That's sick

Thats pretty cool! What happens if you switch the region while the system is on?

There is supposed to be a mod to run a Euro megadrive in NTSC (most modern TV's are multistandard anyway so why not) but it looks complicated and I don't want to do it without buying a spare console first. i've heard that in native PAL our version of sonic the hedgehog actually runs 14% slow or somthing - lazy programmers.

Big thank you as I finally understand where on the motherboard you change these things. I am thinking about either importing Genesis or modifying Mega Drive to 60 Hz. Thanks to this video I think I get it now - 60 Hz = jumper 4 ON, 50 Hz = jumper 3 ON - is that right?

is the hardware of the genesis the same in every country? (so that the only difference is the jumpers) that would be awesome, because i want to pick up one and i've seen a sonic the hedgehog but it was much slower than the us-version because of the framerate. we have 50hz consoles over here :/

Would it work if you were to disconnect all the wired jumpers, install a couple capacitors, I think originally it's a 10v 16uf on Jp1 and a 6.3v 220uf on back and and try to wire it up like a non-tmss. or is the second sega 160 pin chip the one with the lockout signal.

Does anyone know if Crusader of Centy/Ragnacenty (JP/US-NTSC) has the dual-language as well? I've been able to force an authentic JAP copy of Gunstar Heroes to display English text if I booted it up in PAL mode, see it read in English, then switch back over to US mode, and the speed is fine and the text is all in English. Does Ragnacenty have this same feature, too?

Yeah I've been thinking about doing this mod for years now. But I never do it because I never come across any Japanese games lol.

Thanks for the information Jake. Those Genesis Model 1s are quite a bit different from my PAL and NTSC model 1 Megadrives. Do you know how this works with model 2 genesii/megadrives?

The X'eye is easy to mod and their is a guide of that mod.

The model 2 is the worst of all the Sega genesis to mod because you have to lift pins. But, your +5 and ground is easy to get. The pins you lift are 107 for Region and 46 is for 50/60HZ.

Would it still play Japanese games only if I get a flat head screw driver and pry out the jumpers that encode american region? So I can by pass the soldering and wires? Thanks

nice tube amp

Wait, isn't this unnecessary on the early TMSS-free model 1 systems? You talked about that plenty before. The only mod needed for those was removing the end tabs that kept other cartridges from fitting, if I remember correctly.

@MN12BIRD I think is better buy a broken japanese megadrive and take the upside and put on genesis right?

So do I do the same for 50/60Htz mod useing JP3 and JP4 and a wire for ground on one of the other jump points with another switch or is there something else I am missing

When I went to do this I found that the grounding screw in my Genesis was covered in a blue glue, and the glue soaked down onto the metal plate below. I didn't want to damage anything by ripping the pieces apart so i didn't get to do this. =/

And I thought the Neo-Geo was the only system that could do that with the region.

I have one off topic question.What gamepad should I get?I need a good quality gamepad that is 360/Playstation 1,2,3 style and not too expensive.

isnt there anouther type of mod you have to do to your genesis 1 to play megadrive games because of cartrigde size?

wow cool im really interested in doing these mods to my genesis, does it really have to be the older modles cause i have a late model 1 and if its possible can yea give us a link on how to do these mods

What happens if you flip the switch from US mode to Japanese mode whilst the MegaDrive is powered up and the game is playing? Will the game continue to play in the previously selected language/region, will the game lock up, will the console malfunction and cause the game to stop running properly if at all? What will happen?

@MN12BIRD oh really? thanks anyway it would probably just be easier for me to get a model 1 also

But aren't Mega Drive cartridges physically different and therefore not fit in a Genesis?

Hi I have an early Genesis with high definition and the ext port on the back.Can you show a vid of doing the 50/60hz switch please?

Do you know if this mod would work for genesis games that don not work on a PAL Megadrive?

And how do you make Japanese games fit? I love playing games on their original language (Nintendo /Sega/Sony on Japanese, Ubisoft on French, Naughty Dog on English and so on) So I would play Sonic on Japanese

whats the extension port for on the early model 1 ive always wondered

Would this mod allow me to play the Japanese version of Virtua Racing Deluxe through an American 32X?

My megadrive has JP2, and JP3 are connected by a blob? They are on the left side. What does this mean? Is it 60hz?

@thomas3120 o okay then thanx for the info

Nice videos. Do you think I can still be able to get a Genesis?

That's an awsome mod, unfortunatly, I have a British Mega Drive :o(

Wait... 3 pole? I was told to get a SPDT ON/ON switch??

Million dollar man strikes again!

is there a simple way to disable region-coding for a PS2?

Kool

that is neat lol

Can you just scratch it out and would that keep the Genesis than in Japanese mod permanently? Without adding the switch if that's all I wanted to do.

do you know how to do the s-video mod to the genesis.

I have a question, is it possible to mod a genesis model 3? thanks

could you make a vid for model 2?

i plugged one in with my serial port

What about pal mega drive games ?

Are you still alive? You haven't made a video in forever.

Which one better M1 japan or Usa?

where did you geet the switch

just goes to show how a simple mod works and sega never done it .

long story short.... it plays imported japanese games