-------------------------------------------------------------- MegaDrive/Genesis/Nomad Territory Lock-out list rel.18.08.03 By Phil Eccles phil_eccles@coseley43.freeserve.co.uk Copyrighted 18th August 2003 -------------------------------------------------------------- Legal stuff ----------- This document may be reprinted in its entirety without the author's permission. However, if material is taken from the document, credit must be given to myself and its contributors (and I'd like it if you e-mailed me first, too). Introduction ------------ For most of the MegaDrive's (or Genesis' if you prefer) life, cartridges were produced without any sort of territory protection. Some games even had multiple languages for different territories, Neo Geo-style. However, later in the MegaDrive's life, Sega and several third-party developers decided to start implementing a software territory lock-out to keep people from playing games outside of the territory they were intended for. The software routine is different in each game and always resides in a different part of the program code. Basically what the routine does is to check the hardware address in RAM that specifies what kind of MegaDrive the game is running on (Japanese, US, European, etc), and if that doesn't match the intended territory, the game locks up with an error message. What this list does is list MegaDrive games and states whether they contain a territory lock-out or not (but its far from complete). A large assumption has been made when producing this list. This list assumes that if the European version of a game has a territorial lock out then all other versions will (and visa versa). This is unlikely to be the case with every game so if you come across any inconsistances please let me know. My purpose for doing this is simple, I own a Sega Nomad and live in the UK. Therefore I thought it may be useful to know whether a game is going to be compatible or not before I purchased it. How do you know? ---------------- The only way to find out for sure is to test them yourself. All the games I own personally have been tested on my Nomad, everything else on the list was tested using an emulator or has been supplied from various contributors (see Credits). Emulator testing ---------------- The majority of MegaDrive emulator's contain an option to select the country of the machine to be emulated. By using this I've been able to test whether ROM images contained a territory lock-out or not. This method probably isn't as accurate as testing it on an actual machine so I take no responsibility if some of the following results prove to be wrong. Credits ------- I just want to say a quick Thank you to: o Blind13 o p.ederveen o shaia o supersaiyen02 o ScaleroD o Torben o Shakey_Jake33 o Andrea L Cook o Jeroen Verdel for their input into the list. If you have any comments on any of the results or have some of you're own results which could be listed then please feel free to e-mail me (the address is at the top). The List -------- Game Title Territory Lock-out (Yes/NO) ---------------------------------------------------------- 2 Crude Dudes No Aero the Acrobat 2 Yes Aladdin Yes Alien Soldier Yes Alien Storm No Alisia Dragoon No Altered Beast No Animaniacs No Art Alive No Art of Fighting Yes Asterix & the Great Escape Yes Back to the Future III Yes Ballz No Bart Vs The Space Mutants No Batman No Batman Forever No Batman Returns No Beyond Zero Tolerance No Blockout No Bloodshot No Boogerman No Busby No Cannon Fodder No Captain America and The Avengers No Castlevania: New Generation Yes Chakan No Chaos Engine Yes Chaos Engine 2 Yes Combat Cars No Comix Zone Yes Classic Collection No Crackdown No Crue Ball No Cyborg Justice No Death and Return of Superman, The Yes Decap Attack No (1) Divine Sealing No Donald in Maui Mallard Yes Dragon Yes Bragon Ball Z No Dragonsfury No Duke Nukem 3D No EA Hockey No Earthworm Jim Yes Ecco the Dolphin No Eternal Champions Yes Fantastic Dizzy/Cosmic Spacehead No (2) Fantasia No Fatal Fury No Flashback No Gauntlet 4 Yes General Chaos No Ghostbusters No Ghouls n Ghosts No Gods Yes Goldenaxe No Grand Slam Tennis No Greendog No Gunship No Gunstar Heroes Yes Gynoug No Herzog Zwei No International Superstar Soccer Deluxe No Itchy & Scratchy No James Pond No James Pond II No Jordan vs Bird No Judge Dredd No Kid Chameleon No King Of Monsters No Last Battle No Lemmings No Lionking No Marble Madness No Mario Lemeiux Hockey No Mega Games 1 No Mickey Mouse Castle Of Illusion No Micro Machines 96 No Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie Yes Mega Bomberman No Mega Games 2 No Mega Games 3 No Mega lo mania Yes MegaMan: The Wily Wars Yes Mega Turrican Yes Menacer six game cartridge No Moonwalker No Mortal Kombat No Mortal Kombat 2 No Mortal Kombat 3 Yes NBA Jam: T.E. No Olympic Gold No Phantasy Star 2 No Phantasy Star 3 No Phantasy Star 4 Yes Pinocchio No Pitfall Yes Prince Of Persia Yes Probotector Yes Puggsy No Quack Shot No Ranger X Yes Ren & Stimpy Yes Revenge Of Shinobi No Rise Of The Robots No Road Rash No Road Rash 2 No Rocket Knight Adventures No Rock 'n' Roll Racing Yes Sailor Moon Yes Saturday Night Slammasters Yes Samurai Showdown Yes Scooby Doo No Sensible Soccer Yes Shadow of the Beast No Shaq Fu No Shining in the Darkness No Shining Force Yes Shining Force 2 Yes Shinobi, The Revenge of No Skitchin No Smash TV No Soliel Yes Sonic & Knuckles No Sonic 3D No Sonic Compilation Yes Sonic Spinball Yes Sonic the Hedgehog No Sonic the Hedgehog 2 No Sonic the Hedgehog 3 Yes Sonic the Hedgehog 2 & Knuckles No Sonic the Hedehog 3 & Knuckles No Space Harrier 2 No Sparkster Rocket Knight Adventures II No Spiderman No Star control No Stargate No Story of Thor, The Yes Street Fighter II: SCE Yes Streetracer No Streets Of Rage No Streets Of Rage 2 No Streets Of Rage 3 Yes Strider No Strider 2 No Super Skidmarks No Super Street Fighter 2 - The New Challengers Yes Sword of Vermillion No Syndicate No T2 The Arcade Game No Talespin No Tazmania No Terminator 2: Judgement Day No Thunderforce 2 No Thunderforce 3 No Thunderforce 4 Yes Tiny Toons: Busters Hidden Treasure Yes TMHT: Hyper Stone Heist Yes TMHT: Tournament Fighters Yes Toejam & Earl No Toejam & Earl 2 Yes Toystory Yes Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 Yes Vectorman No Vectorman 2 No Virtua Racing Yes Winbledon Championship Tennis No Winter Olympics No Wiz n liz No Wolverine: Adamantium Rage No Wonderboy 3 No Wonderboy V No Wolrd Cup Italia '90 No World Cup USA 94 No World of Illusion No Worms Yes X-Men Yes Xenon 2 Yes Zany Golf No Zero: The Kamakaze Squirrel Yes Zero Tolerance No Zool No 182 Games listed and counting!!!! (1) Although this cartridge has no lock-out this game will not work on the Nomad. For some reasons the controls appear messed up. (2) Although this cartridge has no lock-out in order to switch from Cosmic Spacehead to Fantastic Dizzy the player needs to reset the console. This makes playing Fantastic Dizzy impossible on a Nomad.