Region coding
From Sega Retro
More than any other Sega system, the Sega Mega Drive is affected by differing forms of region coding, implemented so that games were optimised for (or locked out of) three main marketing regions; NTSC-J (Japan and parts of Asia), NTSC-U (North America) and PAL (Europe and Australia).
Like the Sega Master System and rival console the Nintendo Entertainment System, Japanese cartridges are a different physical shape to their Western counterparts, meaning Japanese games could not be played on American systems or vice versa without some sort of adapter (or by disassambling cartridges or consoles). However, Mega Drive hardware is also configured to be one of the three aforementioned regions, meaning software could adjust itself depending on what sort of Mega Drive system is detected.
The latter is not an unusual practice (and indeed similar methods were employed for many consoles going forward), however unlike more modern systems, software was under no obligation to adapt to the detected region, meaning only part of the Mega Drive's game library takes note of what type of system is in use.
The following details games which are known to have issues running in certain regions:
For information, see Mega Drive region coding.
Pages in category "Region coding"
The following 200 pages are in this category, out of 979 total.
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- NFL '95/Region coding
- NFL 98/Region coding
- NFL Football '94 Starring Joe Montana/Region coding
- NFL Quarterback Club '96/Region coding
- NFL Quarterback Club/Region coding
- NFL Sports Talk Football '93 Starring Joe Montana/Region coding
- NHK Taiga Drama: Taiheiki/Region coding
- NHL 95/Region coding
- NHL 96/Region coding
- NHL 97 (Mega Drive)/Region coding
- NHL 98 (Mega Drive)/Region coding
- NHL All-Star Hockey '95/Region coding
- NHL Hockey '94/Region coding
- NHL Hockey (Mega Drive)/Region coding
- NHLPA Hockey '93/Region coding
- Nigel Mansell's World Championship Racing/Region coding
- Nightmare Circus/Region coding
- Nikkan Sports Pro Yakyuu VAN/Region coding
- Ninja Burai Densetsu/Region coding
- No Escape/Region coding
- Nobunaga no Yabou: Bushou Fuuunroku/Region coding
- Nobunaga no Yabou: Haouden/Region coding
- Nobunaga's Ambition/Region coding
- Normy's Beach Babe-O-Rama/Region coding
- Nyuushi Chokuzen Check Nanmon Kimon Kiki Kaikai/Region coding
O
- Olympic Gold/Region coding
- Olympic Summer Games/Region coding
- Onslaught/Region coding
- The Ooze/Region coding
- Operation Europe: Path to Victory 1939-45/Region coding
- Osomatsu-kun Hachamecha Gekijou/Region coding
- The Ottifants/Region coding
- Outback Joey/Region coding
- Outlander/Region coding
- OutRun 2019/Region coding
- OutRun/Region coding
- OutRunners/Region coding
P
- P.T.O.: Pacific Theater of Operations/Region coding
- Pac-Attack/Region coding
- Pac-Man 2: The New Adventures/Region coding
- Pac-Mania/Region coding
- Pachinko Kuunyan/Region coding
- The Pagemaster/Region coding
- Panorama Cotton/Region coding
- Paperboy 2/Region coding
- Paperboy/Region coding
- Party Quiz Mega Q/Region coding
- Pebble Beach Golf Links (Mega Drive)/Region coding
- Pelé II: World Tournament Soccer/Region coding
- Pelé!/Region coding
- Pepenga Pengo/Region coding
- Pete Sampras Tennis/Region coding
- PGA European Tour/Region coding
- PGA Tour 96/Region coding
- PGA Tour Golf II/Region coding
- PGA Tour Golf III/Region coding
- PGA Tour Golf/Region coding
- Phantasy Star II/Region coding
- Phantasy Star III: Generations of Doom/Region coding
- Phantasy Star IV: The End of the Millennium/Region coding
- Phantasy Star/Region coding
- Phantom 2040/Region coding
- Phelios/Region coding
- Pink Goes to Hollywood/Region coding
- Pinocchio/Region coding
- The Pirates of Dark Water/Region coding
- Pirates! Gold/Region coding
- Pit Pot/Region coding
- Pit-Fighter/Region coding
- Pitfall: The Mayan Adventure/Region coding
- Pocahontas/Region coding
- Pocket Monster II/Region coding
- Pocket Monster/Region coding
- Pokemon Stadium/Region coding
- Populous/Region coding
- Power Drive/Region coding
- Power Monger/Region coding
- Powerball/Region coding
- Predator 2/Region coding
- Premier Manager 97/Region coding
- Premier Manager/Region coding
- Primal Rage/Region coding
- Prime Time NFL Football Starring Deion Sanders/Region coding
- Prince of Persia/Region coding
- Pro Quarterback/Region coding
- Pro Striker Final Stage/Region coding
- Pro Yakyuu Super League '91/Region coding
- Psy-O-Blade/Region coding
- Psycho Pinball/Region coding
- Puggsy/Region coding
- Pulseman/Region coding
- The Punisher/Region coding
- Puyo Puyo Tsuu/Region coding
- Puyo Puyo/Region coding
- Puzzle & Action: Ichidant-R/Region coding
- Puzzle & Action: Tant-R/Region coding
R
- R.B.I. Baseball '93/Region coding
- R.B.I. Baseball '94/Region coding
- R.B.I. Baseball 3/Region coding
- R.B.I. Baseball 4/Region coding
- Race Drivin'/Region coding
- Radical Rex/Region coding
- Raiden Trad/Region coding
- Rainbow Islands Extra/Region coding
- Rambo III (Mega Drive)/Region coding
- Rampart/Region coding
- Ranger-X/Region coding
- Ransei no Hasha/Region coding
- Rastan Saga II/Region coding
- RBI Baseball '95/Region coding
- Red Zone/Region coding
- Template:RegionCodeTable
- The Ren & Stimpy Show Presents Stimpy's Invention/Region coding
- Rent A Hero/Region coding
- The Revenge of Shinobi/Region coding
- Revolution X/Region coding
- Richard Scarry's Busytown/Region coding
- Rings of Power/Region coding
- Rise of the Robots/Region coding
- Risk/Region coding
- Risky Woods/Region coding
- Ristar (prototype; 1994-07-01)/Region coding
- Ristar/Region coding
- Road Rash 3: Tour De Force/Region coding
- Road Rash II/Region coding
- Road Rash/Region coding
- RoadBlasters/Region coding
- RoboCop 3/Region coding
- RoboCop Versus The Terminator/Region coding
- Rock n' Roll Racing/Region coding
- Rocket Knight Adventures/Region coding
- Roger Clemens' MVP Baseball/Region coding
- Rolling Thunder 2/Region coding
- Rolling Thunder 3/Region coding
- Rolo to the Rescue/Region coding
- Romance of the Three Kingdoms II/Region coding
- Romance of the Three Kingdoms III: Dragon of Destiny/Region coding
- Rugby World Cup 1995/Region coding
S
- S.S. Lucifer: Man Overboard!/Region coding
- Saboteur!/Region coding
- Saint Sword/Region coding
- Sampras Tennis 96/Region coding
- Samurai Shodown/Region coding
- San Guo Zhi V/Region coding
- Sangokushi IV/Region coding
- Sangokushi Retsuden: Ransei no Eiyuutachi/Region coding
- Sansan/Region coding
- Saturday Night Slam Masters/Region coding
- Scholastic's The Magic School Bus: Space Exploration Game/Region coding
- Scooby-Doo Mystery/Region coding
- SeaQuest DSV/Region coding
- The Second Samurai/Region coding
- Sega Game Toshokan/Region coding
- Sega Sports 1/Region coding
- Sega Top Five/Region coding
- Sensible Soccer/Region coding
- Sensible Soccer: International Edition/Region coding
- Sesame Street Counting Cafe/Region coding
- Shadow Blasters/Region coding
- Shadow Dancer: The Secret of Shinobi/Region coding
- Shadow of the Beast II/Region coding
- Shadow of the Beast/Region coding
- Shadowrun (Mega Drive)/Region coding
- Shanghai II: Dragon's Eye/Region coding
- Shaq Fu/Region coding
- Shikinjoh/Region coding
- Shin Samurai Spirits Haohmaru Jigokuhen/Region coding
- Shining Force II/Region coding
- Shining Force/Region coding
- Shining in the Darkness/Region coding
- Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master/Region coding
- Shougi no Hoshi/Region coding
- Shove It! ...The Warehouse Game/Region coding
- Show do Milhão Volume 2/Region coding
- Show do Milhão/Region coding
- Shui Hu: Feng Yun Zhuan/Region coding
- Shura no Mon/Region coding
- Side Pocket/Region coding
- The Simpsons: Bart vs. the Space Mutants/Region coding
- The Simpsons: Bart's Nightmare/Region coding
- Skeleton Krew/Region coding
- Skitchin'/Region coding
- Slap Fight MD/Region coding
- Slaughter Sport/Region coding
- Smash T.V./Region coding
- The Smurfs Travel the World/Region coding
- The Smurfs/Region coding
- Snake Rattle 'n' Roll/Region coding
- Snow Bros./Region coding
- Socket/Region coding
- Sol-Feace/Region coding
- Sorcerer's Kingdom/Region coding
- Sorcerian/Region coding
- Soul Blade/Region coding
- Space Harrier II/Region coding
- Space Harrier/Region coding
- Space Invaders 90/Region coding
- Sparkster: Rocket Knight Adventures 2/Region coding