Radica Genesis cartridge connection SUCCESS!!!!

Red5 · Post by **Red5** » Tue Dec 21, 2004 5:44 am

OK I've tested those games that Ben has listed as not working using the GENS (emulator):

These games are REGION LOCKED (i.e. they will only work in the correct country/console):

Gunstar Heroes (1Mb = 8Mbit)
Sonic 3 (2MB = 16Mbit)
Aladdin (2Mb = 16Mbit) No sound if Z80 disabled* will run past the intro screen though

Ben does the system diplay a "Developed for use with a PAL/NTSC sytem" message or just freeze? I believe this message is on the carts themselves (not the Genesis) so this *should* be displayed if it's a region setting problem (i.e. Radica have wired the thing up incorrectly!), however...

If I set Aladdin (Europe version) to Japan/NTSC I get the region message, if I set it to Japan/PAL I just get a BLANK SCREEN!

Gunstar Heroes (Europe) displays the message with the USA/NTSC, Japan/NTSC & Japan/PAL settings.

Sonic 3 (USA) diplays the message with Europe/PAL and Japan/NTSC, but just gives BLANK SCREEN again with the Japan/PAL setting.

These games are NOT Region Locked (i.e. they will play in any Genesis/Mega-Drive), however they have NO SOUND if the Z80 is disabled* :

Afterburner 2 (512k = 4Mbit)
Ghouls and Ghosts (640kb = 5Mbit)

* I'm not sure if it's possible to completely disable Z80 emulation with Gens, I think it's still running the Z80 emulation in the background but with the Z80 sound registers disabled. I'm pretty sure it's NOT a Z80 problem though... Castlevania Bloodlines (and others) also require z80 emulation for sound and Ben has that working. Interestingly with Castlevania Bloodlines (USA) if I set it to Europe/PAL or Japan(NTSC or PAL) it just diplays the Konami logo and sits there.

I hope that lot helps Ben?

SgtBowhack · Post by **SgtBowhack** » Tue Dec 21, 2004 6:43 am

That makes a lot of sense, actually. I have a feeling that there is in fact a no-region setting that the Radica uses, which is why the system isn't working. If it's a matter of setting a voltage somewhere on the cart slot or something, that'd be easy to fix though... it's simply a matter of finding what is required by the cart to work properly.

Red5 · Post by **Red5** » Tue Dec 21, 2004 7:05 am

The Genesis/Mega-Drive uses 2 settings for region detection:

1) Frequency : 50Hz (NTSC) or 60Hz (PAL)

2) Language : Japanese or English

Most early games don't perform any region checks/lockouts as such, but may display an alternate title screen or Jap/English in-game text depending on the Language setting of your system.

Some (but not all) later games perform checks to make sure that you aren't trying to play an import cart. This can be done by checking either 1 or 2 or BOTH (depending on how paranoid the developer is!). Looking at SgtBowHack's comment and my results above I also wonder if one of the above is incorrectly implemted on the Radica (most likely the Language setting?) or even absent as SgtBowHack suggested?

Perhaps looking at 50/60Hz and/or Language Mods (on Mk1 and MkII systems) might be helpful? You can find some docs for those over @ eidolon's Inn : http://www.eidolons-inn.net/old/sega/gen_res.html

SgtBowhack · Post by **SgtBowhack** » Tue Dec 21, 2004 7:57 am

Well, if it's absent, the Radica won't care too much about that. But the cart does. So you just need to fool the cart into thinking there is a region set. How to do that is the problem.

Red5 · Post by **Red5** » Tue Dec 21, 2004 8:05 am

Actually having sat down a while and thought about it I don't think that's the problem

Interestingly with Castlevania Bloodlines (USA) if I set it to Europe/PAL or Japan(NTSC or PAL) it just diplays the Konami logo and sits there.

If it were a 50/60Hz or Language setting problem then Castlevania Bloodlines *shouldn't* be working on the Radica either, it should just display the Konami logo and "lock up".

Red5 · Post by **Red5** » Tue Dec 21, 2004 11:23 am

I am a stupid head, and no one should believe anything I have to say because I refuse to register my user name.

Post by **SpongeBuell** » Tue Dec 21, 2004 12:54 pm

^ JackFrost22 (just gessing)

HK-47 · Post by **HK-47** » Tue Dec 21, 2004 1:37 pm

*cough!*IP search*cough!*
Gannon?

Post by **gannon** » Tue Dec 21, 2004 2:16 pm

whoever this mysterious red5 is, he's posting from the UK with a unique ip, but he has also posted from here.

???? has posted from a few times

Oh yeah, and I don't use ip searches, I use pure magic...pretty magic..I can make flowers grow out of my ears if you really want too....

HK-47 · Post by **HK-47** » Tue Dec 21, 2004 2:21 pm

Sure...

Post by **gannon** » Tue Dec 21, 2004 2:23 pm

HK-47 wrote:Sure...

*pulls some flowers out of his ear*
They're a little smelly from the earwax and all, but I told you I could do it

HK-47 · Post by **HK-47** » Tue Dec 21, 2004 2:27 pm

Wow! It is magic! All hail gannon!

Red5 · Post by **Red5** » Tue Dec 21, 2004 2:50 pm

There happy now. I've registered

whoever this mysterious red5 is, he's posting from the UK with a unique ip

Actually that would be 2 ip's because I post to the forum from work & @ home

And for those of you who want to know I used to run the Genesis Project, a large Genesis/Mega-Drive site.

JackFrost22 · Post by **JackFrost22** » Tue Dec 21, 2004 5:31 pm

Ive seen your site really cool

SgtBowhack · Post by **SgtBowhack** » Tue Dec 21, 2004 5:57 pm

Well, we know one thing. The system is 60Hz. Now, the thing we must ask is- is this thing sold in Europe and if so, how do we get one so we can find out differences? It looks like the Japanese one is not set to a Japanese region, because they just used the USA ROMs for it too (it wasn't called Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine here, for example). It's because of that that I'm fairly sure region coding is not set in the Radica. I found this bit of info on Lik-Sang, which makes me highly recommend the Game Genie idea I mentioned before:

However, later in the MegaDrive's life, Sega and several third-party publishers started implementing a software territory lock-out in some games. For these software protections, the Honey Bee Game Adapter will not be helpful and only a GameGenie or an Action Replay Pro would do the job. To know whether or not a game includes a software territory lock-out, please check the link to Phil Eccles' Territory Lock-Out Games List at the bottom of this page.

So go forth and find a Game Genie! Gamestop.com has them back-ordered, but stores might have them, and the website lists them at $4. I looked a bit on eBay as well, and someone was selling what appears to be the NES Game Genie with a Genesis console

Anyway, good luck! Get that compatibility up!