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View topic - Another noob question, will Mark III carts only work on a Mark III ?

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  • Joined: 29 Jan 2018
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Another noob question, will Mark III carts only work on a Mark III ?
Post Posted: Thu Sep 01, 2022 1:49 pm
Will Mark III carts only work on a Mark III ? I know they physically fit the SG-1000 and SC-3000 (but don't work), and they are a different size to the SMS carts.

I have a SMS, but it's stored away somewhere, I need to find it :)
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Post Posted: Thu Sep 01, 2022 2:48 pm
Japanese Sega Mark III cartridges work only on Japanese Sega Mark IIIs, Japanese Master Systems and Korean Gam*Boy systems. At least one game (Hang On) has code to detect an SG-1000 and plays a special tune, but I’m not aware of any other examples of doing anything when plugged into the older systems.
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Post Posted: Thu Sep 01, 2022 3:39 pm
Thanks, I just wanted to check because I have Afterburner for the Mark III.
Maybe I could burn a SG-1000 game ROM and put it in that cartridge's case?
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Post Posted: Thu Sep 01, 2022 8:21 pm
I've seen a number of US to Japanese adapters, but is there a good quality Japan to US cart adapter, or is it better to find a Japanese Master System? For my purposes I'm ignoring the FM audio differences as I've already got an FM board mod installed in my US system.
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Post Posted: Thu Sep 01, 2022 8:25 pm
You would also need a BIOS mod because the Japanese carts will be rejected.
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Post Posted: Fri Sep 02, 2022 9:07 am
Maxim wrote
You would also need a BIOS mod because the Japanese carts will be rejected.


I was thinking it would just be the code in the ROM that isn't compatible, is there a region chip in these cartridges?
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Post Posted: Fri Sep 02, 2022 12:22 pm
no chip, but the European and American SMS BIOSes check for a specific signature (and checksum) in the ROM data.
Japanese games don't have that in their ROMs.
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Post Posted: Fri Sep 02, 2022 3:40 pm
sverx wrote
no chip, but the European and American SMS BIOSes check for a specific signature (and checksum) in the ROM data.
Japanese games don't have that in their ROMs.


But wouldn't that mean if I fit a new ROM it would work?
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Post Posted: Fri Sep 02, 2022 5:28 pm
RetroByte wrote
sverx wrote
no chip, but the European and American SMS BIOSes check for a specific signature (and checksum) in the ROM data.
Japanese games don't have that in their ROMs.


But wouldn't that mean if I fit a new ROM it would work?


They're discussing using Japanese SMS games on a Western SMS, the bios can be an issue for some games with regards to that.

What I presume that you're proposing (using Mark III Afterburner as a donor cart for an SG-1000 rom to play on an SC-3000) won't have that issue (SC-3000 doesn't have a bios for one reason). So software-wise that will be fine. Afterburner is a big game though, so has a mapper (I think only Sherlock Holmes requires one on SG-1000), so I'm not sure if that needs to be taken into account on the hardware side.
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Post Posted: Sat Sep 03, 2022 12:06 am
Maxim wrote
You would also need a BIOS mod because the Japanese carts will be rejected.

You can buy an adapter that is compliant with the BIOS checks from there:
https://www.arcade-projects.com/threads/announcement-coming-soon-apocalypses-fir...
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Post Posted: Sat Sep 03, 2022 8:57 am
Jumping into the conversation, is it available? You shared with me the link and I "thought" it was an announcement, as there's no contact no link to buy it
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Post Posted: Mon Sep 05, 2022 2:58 am
If you don't need/want a shell it is available yes.
It does fit in an OG shell if you cut a slot at the top.
High quality PCBs (hard gold and bevelled edge).
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Post Posted: Mon Sep 05, 2022 7:32 am
I've shells, so no problem in that sense!

How I can order one?
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Post Posted: Tue Sep 06, 2022 11:12 pm
Yes you can, there's contact information in the thread there if you don't want to register.
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Post Posted: Wed Sep 07, 2022 9:54 am
great thanks!
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Post Posted: Mon Oct 17, 2022 9:18 am
Is there an estimation on when would the adapter with a shell (and collectors edition) be available?

Not in a hurry so I can totally wait.
But maybe getting shells done involves a lot of work and will take a long time, so in that case maybe better to pick one now.

PS: it's great to be able to order by e-mail without needing to register.
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Post Posted: Tue Oct 18, 2022 5:44 am
Hi Jair,

Our best option for the shells right now is to order repros and have them CNCed to create an opening at the top. This is not a small investment compared to the very few number of units we plan to sell.
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Post Posted: Fri Oct 21, 2022 3:33 pm
Thank you Apocalypse.

Then I’ll just go ahead and order.
It’s great this product even exists, I don’t want to give you extra work.
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