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How's the region lockout done usually on SNES games?

 
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Videogamer555



Joined: 01 May 2009
Posts: 102
PostPosted: Wed May 06, 2009 1:59 am    Post subject: How's the region lockout done usually on SNES games? Reply with quote
I know that in CD/DVD based games like PS1, PS2, Xbox, etc they have electronic lockouts (just like DVD movies have electronic lockouts that read region code from the disk). But with cartridge based games on SNES I hear of 2 different things.

1. The lockout is done mechanically. The cartridge slot is physically shaped slightly different on SNES than on the SFC (Japanese SNES).

2. The lockout is done electronically (such as CIC chip), so the chip on the mother board has to match the electronic signature of the chip on the game cartridge.

Which is used most often? Are they usually used together? I'm thinking of taking a utility knife and cutting my cartridge slot on my American SNES to make it fit both US region SNES games and JP region SFC games. But I know this will ONLY defeat the mechanical lockout, not anything electronic. Any info would help.
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MottZilla



Joined: 08 Sep 2004
Posts: 765
PostPosted: Wed May 06, 2009 2:47 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
There are two "lockout" chips for SNES. NTSC used in US and JP systems. And PAL used in Euro systems.

To play JP games on a US system, the only mod required is the phsyical cartridge shape barrier.

To play EU games on a US or JP system requires bypassing the lockout chip security, and could also require game genie codes to bypass software regional lockout.

If you just want to play JP games on your US SNES, only that phsyical barrier needs to be removed. No electronic barrier exists.
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Videogamer555



Joined: 01 May 2009
Posts: 102
PostPosted: Wed May 06, 2009 3:57 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
MottZilla wrote:
There are two "lockout" chips for SNES. NTSC used in US and JP systems. And PAL used in Euro systems.

To play JP games on a US system, the only mod required is the phsyical cartridge shape barrier.

To play EU games on a US or JP system requires bypassing the lockout chip security, and could also require game genie codes to bypass software regional lockout.

If you just want to play JP games on your US SNES, only that phsyical barrier needs to be removed. No electronic barrier exists.


Thanks.

Not to mention that if you use a 50Hz refresh rate TV signal on your 60Hz TV, the image will be a scrolling pile of crap. I know because I bought a B&W security camera that was using 50Hz (It said CCIR standard, but I had no clue what it meant, but now I know CCIR is 50Hz european refresh rate, and EIA is American 60Hz refresh rate, PAL and NTSC just refer to the method of transmission the color data), and the only TV I can use it on now is an old black and white TV with a manual V-Sync control knob Sad . So yeah, unless you have a good PAL to NTSC converter that handles BOTH the 50Hz to 60Hz conversion and the convertion of the color transmission scheme, your out of luck. And one that does BOTH of these conversions is between $150 and $200. You can get a cheap one that will only convert the color scheme, but not the frequency (which is completely useless, and I'm surprised anybody sells such a worthless piece of junk) for about $50.

By the time you go through ALL that hassle and spending tons of money, you might as well buy the NTSC (either U or J) version of the game and play it on an existing US or JP console with the cart slot modified, or using some kind of strait through adapter board that that brings your slot ABOVE the frame of the console so you can plug the cartridge into said adapter.
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xiaNaix



Joined: 10 Apr 2009
Posts: 67
PostPosted: Wed May 06, 2009 5:13 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Get an old Commodore 1702 monitor.
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