Japanese Megadrive games on US Genesis?

[satoshi_matrix]

Hey all, I've got a quick question I hope one of you guys can answer. I love old school gaming, and recently saw an import copy of Rockman: Mega World for sale for a hefty price.

The game, for Europeans, was Megaman: The Wily Wars and it was only ever released in North American on the short lived Sega Channel. I've played the ROM and its awesome problem is that I can't save after beating all three games to play the Wily Tower. So thats why I want to track down the cart. But before I go shelling out the cash for it, I want to make sure I can actually play it!

I live in Canada and have the North American Sega Genesis II. Can I play Japanese Mega Drive games (specificlly this one) on it? Both Japan and North American use NTSC so I'm cerious as to that. I've heard that Mega Drive games are slightly thicker so if its a phycial size issue I can resolve that by taking the security screws out and just using the PCB board, but as I said, I want to make sure I can actually play it. Thanks in advance.

Cheers.

[KaiserWAVE]

Yeah, the game is great. The first time I actually played Mega Man 1 back in the days was with this game. I'm glad I bought it when it was released since it's pretty rare and expensive here, too.

As for your problem, I don't know for sure, the cartridges do indeed look slightly different. When in doubt I would recommend looking for an Action Replay as it can be used as an import adapter. I have an Action Replay Pro 2 for my Mega Drive and it plays my only Japanese import (Splatterhouse 3) without any problem.

I know this is not the answer you wanted but if it turns out that you can't play the cart on your system this would be an alternative.

[Bungleboss]

You'll definitely need an Action Replay or similar adapter to get around the slot problem unless you have a modded system.

Also had a look around a and found this on another forum..

"The usual rules apply to early non-region checking games....plug and play. Using the AR as an extender therefore bypassing having to make your cart slot wider.

However, later region locked games (Bare Knuckle 3, Mega Man: Wily Wars..so on) will still need some type of code to be tricked into playing on your system (assuming its not region modded).

As for where to get any codes...you'll have to check Google"

[tiktektak]

I've just recently modded my Mega Drive(PAL) with two switches(Region, 50/60Hz) and with this method around 90% of the import games work(the american ones) I heard.... For the japanese you have to make the cratridge slot alittle bit wider to fit.... I can send you a photo of mine widened when I get home after work! It's just a tiny little bit of plastic you have to remove with a flat needle!
Was much more work when I modded my SNES.... 

I've up to now only tested one JAP Mega Drive game(King Colossus) but this didn'T have any regional lockout because it worked without "activating" my Region switch!

This said if you want to play many imported games you should mod you MD it's really not to hard!!!!!! Just a little bit of soldering! Some switches, some cables.... If you just want to play some imports an adapter will do too but the problem is not every game works with every adapter....
This site is pretty good for getting some info on modding. Take a look:
http://www.mmmonkey.co.uk/console/index.htm
But don't wide the MD slot as he pictures it!!!!! It's really too much!!!!

Regards Sebastian