Megadrive 1 50/60Hz and Jap/Eng Switches (Continued)
50/60Hz switch
Take a look at the picture below, look which wires to solder to the prepared pads. Then look at which order to solder the wires onto the contacts of the switch.
That's it, put the upper shielding back on, mmmonkey routed the wires out of this hole near the controller ports, and tucked them under the headphone socket board (shown lifted up in this picture). This way the wire doesn't interfere with the on/off switch, volume control or the case.
If required, widen the cartridge slot so Japanese games will fit, then re-attach the LED and put the case back together. Be sure that the volume control and on/off switch line up properly when re-assembling!
mmmonkey has used a Dymo Letra Tag machine to label the switches. Here's the switch placement, hidden away, but still easy enough to use.
The following pictures show a Megadrive running a PAL copy of Streets of Rage in 3 different modes, UK (Eng 50Hz), US/Genesis (Eng 60Hz) and Jap (Jap 60Hz), notice the size of the image and the name of the game changing depending on the selected mode.
You also need to know that unless you use an RGB Scart cable, the picture of the 60Hz mode will be a very bad quality black and white image (regardless of whether or not your TV accepts an NTSC signal or not). You can buy an RGB cable from shops on our links page, or you can make one yourself (mono or stereo). The reason break-before-make switches are used is so that you can safely use the switch whilst the console is switched on, useful if you want to play an American game that will only start up in US/Genesis mode but your TV doesn't support 60Hz, you can start the game in US mode, then switch to UK mode and play the game.
Update - there are many different MD1 motherboards, another common one has a capacitor on JP1 (JP's 1-4 are located in a slightly different place). Many people have emailed asking how to mod this, I emailed this diagram to Santiago Romero who tried it out and confirmed it worked. Santiago also provided a photo showing where the JP points are (follow the wires coming from the switch in the top right of the photo) - thanks Santiago!
There are some games that refuse to start if the machine is set to a different region than the cart expects. This is Street Fighter II Championship Edition refusing to start.
A big credit must go to SegaXtreme, this guide is based very heavily on the one featured on this site, with a few minor alterations introduced by mmmonkey.
Here's a brief explanation of how the jumpers are configured. The photo below shows JP2 and JP4 linked up, this is PAL console.
JP1 and JP2 controls the language of the console (GND for Japanese, +5v for English) - the 2 points on the left (highlighted in green) are linked on the underside of the motherboard.
JP3 and JP4 controls the video mode (GND for PAL, +5v for NTSC) - again the 2 points on the left (highlighted in blue) are linked on the underside of the motherboard.
All the switches are in the guide are doing is controlling which of the GND/+5v on the right is linked to the point on the left.
Summary of Components needed
2 x Single Pole, Double Throw
switches
6 x lengths of wire
