Strange Sonic Cart

I was at a friends house tonight and he had an opened (cleaning it I guess?) copy of Sonic the Hedgehog that was rather strange. It had the Japanese MD cover on it, and the notch in the side BUT it fits in a Genesis. I thought this was strange because the PAL games I have don't use the notch on the side and IIRC Japanese games are wider and don't fit in a Genesis. Anyway to make things stranger the PCB had no DIP chips on it but rather one glob top. Seriously a glob top? I can't imagine any Genesis games using this!

Whats up with this one?

Bootleg cartridge, probably.

100% pirate cart

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Originally Posted by MN12BIRD

Seriously a glob top? I can't imagine any Genesis games using this!

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My authentic Japanese Darius 2 cart does indeed use a "glob-top" chip in it... my other carts have either DIP or SO chips though.

And as Playgen said, its a pirate cart you have.

The description reminds me quite a lot of Beggar Prince. That's got a notch in it.

Maybe they got their cases from the same supplier?

Glop tops are typical in pirate games so as to cut expenses for buying a lot of chips and all that, at least as I understand it. I had no idea Begger Prince used that though, even in the localized version. :)

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Originally Posted by Bramsworth

Glop tops are typical in pirate games so as to cut expenses for buying a lot of chips and all that, at least as I understand it. I had no idea Begger Prince used that though, even in the localized version. :)

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I was only referring to the plastic case design, with the notch on the otherwise non-Japanese look. I've no idea what it's like inside.

My mistake. That notch must somehow help it fit in all systems of any region then. :)

Just in case anyone was interested in seeing this I took a picture of it.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e2...IMG_0011-2.jpg

Hey, I saw one of those carts for sale in my area! Does that pirate cart have the Japanese Sonic the Hedgehog ROM with the extra graphical enhancements? If it does, I'm going to buy it ASAP.

I dunno I haven't played it. Its just been sitting at my friends house apart like that for awhile. What was changed or "enhanced" on the Japanese version? Perhaps I could check it next time I'm there.

Keep an eye on the clouds in Green Hill Zone. In the US version, when Sonic isn't moving, the clouds are stationary. The Japanese version, however, has the clouds that scroll on various parallax layers.

I have one of such updated JP versions of the game, its same as original except for extra background scrolling effect and water ripples.

aaand that cart is 100% pirate, but with good JP cart art :)

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Originally Posted by Ace

Keep an eye on the clouds in Green Hill Zone. In the US version, when Sonic isn't moving, the clouds are stationary. The Japanese version, however, has the clouds that scroll on various parallax layers.

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I've got a PAL version of the game (i.e. legit PAL cartridge, art, box, and manual) with the Japanese release's improvements - I've dumped the ROM and found it's bit-for-bit identical to the Japanese game, so it's probably just a swapped cartridge board.

That is most definitely a board swap. PAL ROMs shouldn't have the extra parallax scrolling.

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Originally Posted by TmEE

aaand that cart is 100% pirate, but with good JP cart art :)

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I should buy a REAL Japanese MegaDrive game(found one in my area - some wrestling game of some kind, not appealing to me at all) and swap out its board with that of this Sonic the Hedgehog pirate cart if it turns out to be the enhanced Japanese version.