While Nintendo was busy single-handedly saving the American home video game market during the 1980s, Sega was playing catchup with its Master System. However, the Genesis/ Mega Drive era is when Sega gave Nintendo a run for its money (and birthed the original console wars). Outside North America, Sega’s first 16-bit console looked slightly different and was called Mega Drive.
Can a Sega Genesis play Mega Drive games? Yes, but it depends on when the game was produced because Mega Drive games started implementing the region lock after 1992. There are ways to bypass this region lock using hardware mods and the Game Genie cartridge, but these fall into a legal grey area.
In total, there were three different models of Sega Genesis. You had a PAL version for Europe that ran at 50Hz, with many games suffering from slow audio and gameplay. Then, you had the American and Japanese NTSC versions that ran at 60Hz (there is a 50Hz to 60Hz switch mod available).
Can A Sega Genesis Play Mega Drive Games?
Yes, but this depends on the game. Earlier games released between 1988 and 1992 typically run fine on both American and Japanese versions of the console. However, games released after 1992 on Genesis have a region lock built into the ROM.
A section of header code in the game ROM tells Genesis that it’s from a different region. Japanese game cartridges for Mega Drive also have a slightly different locking tab at the bottom. So you might have to cut off a bit of plastic from the cartridge slot in your American Genesis.
Other than that, there are no internal hardware differences between Genesis and Mega Drive. PAL region Mega Drive consoles need a hardware mod to run games at 60Hz. There are various tutorials online that show how you can do this, but be warned- you’ll have to do some soldering.
The easy way to play Mega Drive (Japanese) games on Genesis is with a Game Genie cartridge. This is an adapter that plugs into your Genesis, and it has a slot on top for accepting game cartridges. Depending on the region, you enter a code into your console using the controller and it will play Mega Drive games.
Finding Game Genie cartridges can be quite hard, as the original manufacturer doesn’t make them anymore. Used ones may be damaged. So if you have the skills or know someone who works on retro game consoles, I recommend hard modding your Genesis to play imported games.
What Is The Difference Between Mega Drive And Genesis?
There isn’t any difference internally, other than the locking slots for game cartridges. Externally, the two consoles look slightly different. Genesis has different branding and logos on the face plate, plus it uses white for the reset button (Mega Drive uses red).
Sega of America went with a different name. Officially, the reason stated was that Sega of America’s co-founder didn’t like the international name. He wanted Sega’s latest console to represent the beginning of a new era for gaming, hence the “Genesis”.
However, the real reason behind this rebranding is more complicated. You see, there was already a company in the US called Mega Drive, and it specialized in computer storage devices. To avoid a potential copyright dispute, Sega of America decided to rename its 16-bit console.
This is very different from the Super Famicom vs SNES redesign, in which both consoles have radically different shapes. Nintendo USA redesigned the SNES to look boxier and “more mature”. Sega did no such thing with the Genesis; they just redid the graphics and used a different logo while retaining the same shell.
How Much Did A Sega Genesis Cost?
Launched in August of 1989, the Sega Genesis cost $200. Adjusted for inflation, it’s just over $480 in today’s money. Not bad for a revolutionary console such as the Sega Genesis.
The 4th generation of game consoles represents the absolute peak of 2D gaming. This was the era when console developers figured out how to make the most of the technology they had. And I dare say a lot of these old 2D games have aged better than early PS1 3D games.
With the PS1, developers had to start from scratch. Nobody had experience with making a 3D game, and they were figuring it out as they went along. Plus, the PS1 simply didn’t have enough muscle to generate good-looking 3D graphics.
It wasn’t until the PS2 and GameCube that developers understood how to style 3D games. Hence, games from that era look so much better than early 3D stuff from the 1990s.
What Is The Oldest Sega Console?
Sega’s first-ever console is the SG-1000, released only in Japan. Sega iterated on this with the Mark II and Mark III versions. The Mark II featured detachable controllers, while the Mark III included a faster GPU.
To try and compete with Nintendo in the North American market, Sega brought the SG-1000 Mark III and sold it as the Master System. Sega sold 10 to 13 million Master System consoles. In contrast, Nintendo sold nearly 62 million NES consoles.
What Is The Rarest Game On Sega Genesis?
You may not believe this, but the rarest and most expensive Genesis game is Tetris. No, not because it used a complicated cartridge with specialized chips. But because of a copyright dispute with Nintendo who claimed exclusive rights to Tetris back then.
Sega had the code up and running, along with a production line for cartridges. But it’s rumored that only 5 to 8 cartridges of Tetris for the Sega Genesis were made before production was cut off. In reality, thousands would have been printed but management told the factory to destroy these cartridges.
What remains today of this game can be counted on both hands. These are original copies smuggled by factory workers. You won’t find these on eBay, they are sold exclusively via auction or insider channels- and don’t expect to pay below $20K for a copy.
What Was Sega’s Most Popular Console?
The Sega Genesis/ Mega Drive, with over 30.7 million units sold. Nintendo won the 4th generation with SNES, which sold 49.1 million units. But Genesis was Sega’s best performance ever in the console war, and they could never replicate it again.
In the portable market, Game Gear sold a miserable 10.62 million units to the 118 million of Game Boy + Game Boy Color. Saturn was a massive failure that got scrapped within 3 years of release. Dreamcast is a sad tale of bad management and misguided ambition bringing down an otherwise exceptional console.
Conclusion
Playing Mega Drive games on Genesis can be a mixed experience. A lot of it depends on the game’s age because Sega started implementing region lock via header code in the game ROM after 1992. Some Japanese games even require physical modification of the cartridge slot to run on American consoles.