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SuperFC to save $

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JDavis:

I've certainly considered doing this for some of the pricier games... Not just SNES/SFC, but also NES/FC (since I have a FC and will get a Retron5) and Genesis/MD.

As it is, though, the only import games I've bought online are Gokujou Parodius Da and Zero Wing, neither of which didn't get a US release.
The rest of my "imports" I actually bought in Japan, bought off my friend who went to Japan with me, or were given to me as a gift... in Japan.

I've found a couple things when looking for imports of expensive US games, though...

For one, although they can often be cheaper than the US versions, the rarity of the US versions can drive up the imports' price as well. A Japanese copy of Seirei Densetsu Lickle will certainly cost less than a US copy of its counterpart, Little Samson, but that JP copy will still normally run you at least $70. PAL copies of Stadium Events especially suffer from this dumbness. ::)

Also, there's an issue of pirates, particularly on the Famicom. They're plentiful and can look pretty close to the official cart, especially if you don't research ahead of time what it's supposed to look like. Biggest tip-offs can be badly stretched art, lack of copyright blurb, and odd cart color (pirates are often soapy pastel colors for some reason... probably cheaper)

And most sadly, sometimes the rare games are even more rare or non-existant abroad. "Maybe I'll save some $ and get a Famicom copy of Flinstones: Surprise at Dinosaur Peak" = Nope, doesn't exist. Except as pirate carts. :P

Azazell0:

I would probably save a lot of money if my Megadrive unit would be modded to play Genesis/JP games like my SNES is. (Alien Soldier, Wily Wars, looking at you - with these prices I can never buy them) But I know nothing about electronics and my SNES was modded when I bought it, and I don't know anyone who could mod my Megadrive with the 50/60 hz switch and all.

JDavis:

--- Quote from: Azazell0 on August 04, 2013, 06:36:55 AM ---I would probably save a lot of money if my Megadrive unit would be modded to play Genesis/JP games like my SNES is. (Alien Soldier, Wily Wars, looking at you - with these prices I can never buy them) But I know nothing about electronics and my SNES was modded when I bought it, and I don't know anyone who could mod my Megadrive with the 50/60 hz switch and all.

--- End quote ---

IIRC, the Genesis/MD region mods are pretty simple... The board is set up with existing jumper points to tell the hardware which region and which refresh rate to set things to. It's just a matter of cutting the existing traces setting the thing to your region and adding a switch. This tutorial goes over it pretty well.

However, a lot of Gen/MD games work perfectly well at either rate and actual region locks weren't included on most games until 1993.

My PAL copy of Zero Wing, for example, works perfectly well on my unmodded US Genesis. It doesn't run fast or lock me out.

The only other thing is Japanese carts are a slightly different shape, and don't fit in US/PAL cart slots without modification, but that can be gotten around with a Game Genie/Action Replay. Game Genie/Action Replay codes can also get around region locks on many games without modding the system (just have to look up the right code).

Azazell0:

Problem is that you call that whole process simple. ;D

I have tried to look periodically if there's a modded MD for sale but haven't found 'em.

sheep2001:

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