Has anybody looked into doing this? A small handful of games are known to set their language through hardware (Puyo Puyo, Streets of Rage, etc). I'm just not sure how. Haven't seen PCB comparison pics. I don't ATM own any Game Gear, let alone both English and Japanese units to examine their differences.
I've got PCB shots of two of the three/four American Game Gears. Never seen anything that looks remotely like a jumper.
Yeah not much luck if it's a BIOS or firmware function... Like the way DSi/3DS's fewer options makes languages in certain DS games inaccessible.
http://www.smspower.org/forums/viewtopic.php?p=46012#46012 I stand corrected. I've replaced caps on plenty of GameGears over the last few years but I never noticed J1 before. I checked the images I have that I took of the two PCB models I've personally had and only one has J1. According to some of the posts (haven't read everything yet) there exists a J2 and J3 that may control region. AFAIK there are only 4-5 models of GameGear total. I have VA1 and VA4 myself here and I'm 99% sure the Majesco GameGear was of a different board revision but I can't confirm it myself. There is also the European version whose board has PAL on it. Based on what I've read and common sense there must be at least one other version out there. VA2 and VA3 likely exist as well.
Neat. If way over my head to grasp. I didn't realize the kinds of stuff about GameGear that hasn't been fully explored. >_>
