MD Terra Onion releasing Mega CD (SD-based) cartridge

[Maverick]

Apparently FirebrandX is involved with this. He worked on my Genesis last year for his audio mod and it turned out great! With his OCD nature I'm willing to take a chance. I'll be ordering from Stoneagegamer however.

M1 Mini Mega

 

[Greg2600]

Sonic CD on the Nomad! you know you want that!

I wonder if this could be installed in a MegaCD shell and connected to the expansion socket? (with an adapter)

First, yes expansion port with adapter is possible. They said they may do it if there's enough interest. The cart slot was clearly the most practical. Second, I think the Nomad and Genny III need mods for CD audio but the games do run.

 

[8bitplus]

First, yes expansion port with adapter is possible. They said they may do it if there's enough interest. The cart slot was clearly the most practical.

Yes I agree it it. Good to know anyway, I wasn't sure if the expansion socket could address anything larger than the MegaCD Bios.
I've got a empty MegaCD shell and would love to put this inside.

 

[Greg2600]

 

[Braintrash]

Where is Gamegear? Not supported?

 

[Arcadia]

Where is Gamegear? Not supported?

You have to convert the files, but yes, they should be supported.

Some thing that's not supported though, are CD 32X games. Too bad, they're not that many, but feel very exotic and illusive.

 

[Greg2600]

Yeah, the roms that have been palette swapped and whatnot are here: http://www.smspower.org/Hacks/GameGearToMasterSystem

At which point you're basically playing a Master System game.

Saw this on another forum, I suppose it's accurate?

 

[8bitplus]

So another reason for the expansion slot adapter would be to allow Master System support while keeping the 32X attached... but then would 32x games work?

 

[8bitplus]

Actually when reading that chart. Looks like SMS wont work on the MDSEXP adatper. Or regular Mega Drive games, or regular 32X games.
Just MegaCD and 32X CD games..
Dissapointed now

And not good news for MM/CDX owners. Not working for CD games. I guess its because you cannot isolate the MD from the MCD in that unit. A custom bios should fix that surely?

 

[Chaotic Mind]

This guy managed to get one for review. Lots of good info about operation and even some audio comparisons.

 

[MockyLock]

Very nice item. Finally a SegaCD solution.
But damn, that' so pricey :/

 

[Greg2600]

Actually when reading that chart. Looks like SMS wont work on the MDSEXP adatper. Or regular Mega Drive games, or regular 32X games.
Just MegaCD and 32X CD games..
Dissapointed now

And not good news for MM/CDX owners. Not working for CD games. I guess its because you cannot isolate the MD from the MCD in that unit. A custom bios should fix that surely?

The Mega SD won't run if the Mega CD is attached (and powered on I guess) because their outputs use the same bus on the MD motherboard. Similarly, the 32X causes some issues as well. In reality, one should not use the 32X for anything but 32X games, and that really goes for the Everdrives, too. It's not optimal. As for the Multi-Mega and CDX, I mean, what percentage of collectors only have those systems? Most likely have a model 1 or 2 MD/GEN on hand. With a standard Model 1 or 2 system, which cost quite little these days, you'll get full functionality from MD/GEN, SMS, and CD games aside from Virtua Racing. 32X as with any flashcart requires the system. For what it is, tough to complain. They also modeled the shell after VR (SVP) to maintain a degree of OEM flavor.

 

[Arcadia]

Good thing Virtua Racing is so common and cheap, seeing as it's the only game that won't work.

 

[Braintrash]

You have to convert the files, but yes, they should be supported.

Given the price, I want them to run without having to convert them.
That's mandatory. You can't ask this much without providing this basic feature.
If they can't do that, I question the quality of the gadget.

 

[MonkeyBoyJoey]

Given the price, I want them to run without having to convert them.
That's mandatory. You can't ask this much without providing this basic feature.
If they can't do that, I question the quality of the gadget.

You don't understand, it isn't possible without heavily modified hardware.

The Game Gear isn't just a portable Sega Master System. It has a wider color palette that isn't supported on the original SMS. While the Genesis does have enough colors to support it, the system swaps into SMS mode when SMS games are loaded (or for GG games if Sega had that from the start). This disables the Genesis color palette so you are stuck with the SMS palette which doesn't work with GG games. The conversion process for certain GG games reprograms them to be compatible with the SMS palette and therefore playable on normal SMS hardware. I'm also pretty sure the games are programmed differently.

One other thing that will not work on the Mega SD is SG-1000 games but that is a fault of the Genesis' VDP chip not supporting any SMS video mode that isn't Mode 4 (iirc). They will function but there will be no video.

The ONLY way for SG-1000 games and Game Gear games to work on a Genesis would require a complete redesign and replacement of the VDP, something that isn't easy to do.

 

[Braintrash]

But the Mega Sg can do GG, isn't it? And SG-1000 too.
It is just a matter of allowing .gg file to load on the Mega Sg. Why not advertising it? Krikzz' hardware already do that, SG-1000 and GG on Mega Sg...

 

[Arcadia]

The Mega SG is not a Mega Drive, it's a modern machine. The Mega SD has to pass through a real Mega Drive and with that comes all of the Mega Drive's limitation.

 

[Braintrash]

The Mega SG is not a Mega Drive, it's a modern machine. The Mega SD has to pass through a real Mega Drive and with that comes all of the Mega Drive's limitation.

Still, they account for the Mega Sg. So, why not including the GG in that table? Also, they don't speak about SG-1000, but people are going to try to these since most people assume it as pure SMS. I rest my case.

 

[dj898]

As for the Multi-Mega and CDX, I mean, what percentage of collectors only have those systems? Most likely have a model 1 or 2 MD/GEN on hand.

I got rid of all MD hardware except Sega Wondermega and did the same with PC Engine where I got rid of them all except the SuperGrafx. After all it was hard to justify to missus with all the hardware essentially doing the same thing.

 

[Opa-Opa]

Wait I'm confused. You can technically plug in a MCD into a MD cart slot?

The MD side connector has severe limitations, I wonder if the MD slot would be better for communication between these two devices.

Edit: Ah ok, same limitations.