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I don't know if anyone knows this already. Without modding, the system doesn't recognize the .sms files, so you can't play Master System games. However, when you change the extension to .gg, they run, as a Game Gear game with the wrong colors and the screen blown up.
However, not all roms behave like that. Certain roms don't go to GG mode despite the extension, they go to SMS mode and even get FM sound! I've tested the following ROMs from the No-Intro set and go to SMS mode:
[BIOS] Missile Defense 3-D (USA, Europe) (v4.4)
[BIOS] Sega Master System (Japan) (v2.1)
Addams Family, The (Europe)
After Burner (World)
Aleste (Japan)
Alex Kidd - The Lost Stars (World)
Alex Kidd BMX Trial (Japan) (unplayable due to the controller)

I've also tested some SG-1000 games and they do work too, they go to SG-1000 mode:
[BIOS] Othello Multivision (Japan)
Bomberman Special (Taiwan) (DahJee)
Bomberman Special (Taiwan)
Castle, The (Japan)

So, my guess is that these ROMs have something in them that allows the emulator to distinguish them from Game Gear games and run them in the proper modes. If anyone could look into it and perhaps make some sort of patch to the other ROMs, we could play any SMS and SG-1000 rom in this console without modding.

Looks like they are using Genesis Plus GX internal game database as the games you listed are all in there:
https://github.com/ekeeke/Genesis-Plus-GX/blob/master/core/cart_hw/sms_cart.c#L7...

You can likely try any game in that database and it will work fine as I guess they are simply (and illegally) using our emulator (probably the libretro/retroarch port), which is not really surprising as it seems to be the new trend with these shady products.

The easiest way to confirm it would be to load Charles Mac Donald SMS Mode 5 demo, which is the first entry in that database, on this thing (after changing the extension to .gg as you did for others) and see if it plays fine (afaik GPGX is the only emulator able to run it). That demo can be found in the attached zip file.

cgfm2 m5test.zip (8.96 KB)

Eke wrote

Looks like they are using Genesis Plus GX internal game database as the games you listed are all in there:

You can likely try any game in that database and it will work fine as I guess they are simply (and illegally) using our emulator (probably the libretro/retroarch port), which is not really surprising as it seems to be the new trend with these shady products.

The easiest way to confirm it would be to load Charles Mac Donald SMS Mode 5 demo, which is the first entry in that database, on this thing (after changing the extension to .gg as you did for others) and see if it plays fine (afaik GPGX is the only emulator able to run it). That demo can be found in the attached zip file.

It did run, so it confirms that it is using the emulator, the list also confirms that as those games are the ones that ran on SMS and SG mode, with the exception of GG games using SMS mode, those are still run in GG mode.
Are there alternate extensions of the roms that it could recognize? Also, could it be possible to add patches to SMS and SG roms so that the emulator could switch to SMS even if it's got a .gg extensión?

Author	Message
OMC79 Joined: 13 Jun 2019 Posts: 2	Master System and SG-1000 games on the Retro-bit Super Retrocade Posted: Thu Jun 13, 2019 7:48 am
OMC79 Joined: 13 Jun 2019 Posts: 2	I don't know if anyone knows this already. Without modding, the system doesn't recognize the .sms files, so you can't play Master System games. However, when you change the extension to .gg, they run, as a Game Gear game with the wrong colors and the screen blown up. However, not all roms behave like that. Certain roms don't go to GG mode despite the extension, they go to SMS mode and even get FM sound! I've tested the following ROMs from the No-Intro set and go to SMS mode: [BIOS] Missile Defense 3-D (USA, Europe) (v4.4) [BIOS] Sega Master System (Japan) (v2.1) Addams Family, The (Europe) After Burner (World) Aleste (Japan) Alex Kidd - The Lost Stars (World) Alex Kidd BMX Trial (Japan) (unplayable due to the controller) I've also tested some SG-1000 games and they do work too, they go to SG-1000 mode: [BIOS] Othello Multivision (Japan) Bomberman Special (Taiwan) (DahJee) Bomberman Special (Taiwan) Castle, The (Japan) So, my guess is that these ROMs have something in them that allows the emulator to distinguish them from Game Gear games and run them in the proper modes. If anyone could look into it and perhaps make some sort of patch to the other ROMs, we could play any SMS and SG-1000 rom in this console without modding.

Eke Joined: 06 Feb 2009 Posts: 110 Location: Toulouse, France	Posted: Fri Jun 14, 2019 9:51 pm
	Looks like they are using Genesis Plus GX internal game database as the games you listed are all in there: https://github.com/ekeeke/Genesis-Plus-GX/blob/master/core/cart_hw/sms_cart.c#L7... You can likely try any game in that database and it will work fine as I guess they are simply (and illegally) using our emulator (probably the libretro/retroarch port), which is not really surprising as it seems to be the new trend with these shady products. The easiest way to confirm it would be to load Charles Mac Donald SMS Mode 5 demo, which is the first entry in that database, on this thing (after changing the extension to .gg as you did for others) and see if it plays fine (afaik GPGX is the only emulator able to run it). That demo can be found in the attached zip file. cgfm2 m5test.zip (8.96 KB)

OMC79 Joined: 13 Jun 2019 Posts: 2	Posted: Fri Jun 14, 2019 10:25 pm
OMC79 Joined: 13 Jun 2019 Posts: 2	Eke wrote Looks like they are using Genesis Plus GX internal game database as the games you listed are all in there: You can likely try any game in that database and it will work fine as I guess they are simply (and illegally) using our emulator (probably the libretro/retroarch port), which is not really surprising as it seems to be the new trend with these shady products. The easiest way to confirm it would be to load Charles Mac Donald SMS Mode 5 demo, which is the first entry in that database, on this thing (after changing the extension to .gg as you did for others) and see if it plays fine (afaik GPGX is the only emulator able to run it). That demo can be found in the attached zip file. It did run, so it confirms that it is using the emulator, the list also confirms that as those games are the ones that ran on SMS and SG mode, with the exception of GG games using SMS mode, those are still run in GG mode. Are there alternate extensions of the roms that it could recognize? Also, could it be possible to add patches to SMS and SG roms so that the emulator could switch to SMS even if it's got a .gg extensión?

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