Wanted: Early Mega Drive

I hear the earlier models (the ones with "16-bit" marketing crapola written around the top) have better sound and are less cheaply made. How much would one of these go for?

I don't mind if it's not boxed or whatever. All I'm looking for is one in good working order, two controllers (or 4 if you like me), don't mind if it needs a PSU, either Japanese or PAL, modded would be nice, RGB SCART lead would be REALLY nice, and someone who'll deliver to Ireland at a reasonable price.

If someone notices anything suitable on eBay, please inform me too!

 

You mean this one?



I have 3 of them. If you want, I can 60hz mod one of them (already have one modded but I'm holding on to that), chuck in 2 pads (sadly not as responsive as newly bought ones) and sell it to you for 15 euros + shipping. Note that I have no PSU for it and no SCART lead (well I have one but I'd rather keep it myself, was damn hard to find). Interested?

 

That's exactly what I'm looking for! It'd be great if you could do a 60Hz mod - I'm not really in the mood for buying like a 25-pack of switches just to use 2 of them :angry

Could you tell me what the power ratings are for it? Is it 10V @ 850mA like the MDII, or something different?

And do you have the AV pinouts, or a link to them? I can only seem to find pinouts for the MDII and Genesis 3...

 

I hear this only about the original model ones - those with the expansion port and those that don't display the licensing message on boot.

It's also worth noting that the Mega Drive 1 only outputs Stereo via the headphone jack, and not via the TV lead.

 

You can get a megadrive 1 av lead from rob webb's site for pretty cheap iirc.

 

Well, I have never done a language mod, I guess I could do that too (my MD only has the switchmod and it suffices for me). I imagine you want a switch, or is it also ok to permanently set it to 60hz? (saves a lot of work)

I've seen it being mentioned as 10V 1200mA and 9V 1200mA, keep in mind it has a different plug than the MD2/32X. However I've successfully powered a MD1 using a 500mA SMS1-PSU.

Sure. http://www.hardwarebook.net/connector/av/sega1.html

 

Lawrence's site should have the pinouts www.gamesx.com

By the way, the Mega Drive 1 only has Mono audio. The Mega Drive 2 has stereo. I think you can get stereo from a 32X.

It was said you could get stereo from a Mega CD, but it just routes it from the headphone socket... and I'm fairly certain the headphone socket is mono. I'll have to check.

 

I'm pretty sure the headphone jack is stereo - even Sega say themselves: http://sega.jp/community/segahard/md/data.html

On the specs thingy, on the row after "sound", it says "Stereo Headphone Something-ri Something-ke Something". My Japanese is great, as you can see. I don't care about audio on the AV output - I don't have a stereo TV anyway, plus it'll be right next to my hi-fi!

@AntiPasta:
I would like a switch for language if possible (I can show you pic's of how to do it if you don't know how). But are there any PAL games that won't run at 60Hz? I remember hearing how some SMS titles that go glitch-tastic, but are there similar problems with some MD games? If there aren't I won't bother with a switch - out of the 4 TVs in my house, there isn't one that can't do 60Hz!

Thanks for the AV pinouts - I think I'll just buy some cheapo €5 SCART cable and wire it up myself. Do you know if you need to put cap's on the R, G and B signals though, or anything else weird?

 

The headphone socket is stereo.

 

Don't think you need to modify the SCART lead in any way. I think MD headphone sounds weak through headphones but probably through an amp it'll sound great.

The best Mega Drives IMO are the ones with all off the shelf parts, at least they make repair possible.

 

Alright, I'll have a look thru my electronic thingies bin to see how many switches I have left. And about the 50/60hz, you're right that some games won't boot when the system is set to 60hz so I'll see about adding a switch for that. Pretty stupid actually as 99% of PAL MD games aren't PAL-optimised anyway :angry

 

That's a great price. :smt023 If I was still living in Europe you'd be 15 euros + shipping richer right now.

 

Wow thanks :smt023

 

PM sent - it'll be like christmas 1995 all over again! Yes, I only got a MD in 1995 (I'm such a lamer :smt042)...

 

Hey, I got a NES in '92 or '93 even :smt043

 

I didn't get a NES till like 2001!

 

Almost all region-locked Euro games can be fooled by flicking to 60Hz after start up, but there's the odd bitchy game (Mega SWIV springs to mind) that does a region-check at various points rather than just on booting.