How can I bypass the 32x's region-lockout??...

[dave4shmups]

Hello everyone; glad to be here!

I would really love to get Darxide for the 32x, and I read a 32x hardware FAQ on Gamefaqs that listed Darxide as being region-locked. (I have been told otherwise, which is confusing.)

If this game won't play on a US-NTSC 32x, is there anyway to bypass the 32x's region-lockout? I have a Genesis Model 2, if that helps.

I was thinking about using a Genesis Game Genie, since that works for some import Genesis games.

Any suggestions would be appreciated!

 

[Kuta]

You would be hard pressed to get a copy of that game. It is one of the rarest and most sought after Sega games. I'm not aware of any region lockout on the 32X. It may just be an incompatibility due to different colour standards. Most TV these days can handle both PAL and NTSC though. I would worry about getting hold of a copy before any problems with compatablility, it would make a good investment even if it didn't work on your system.

 

[dave4shmups]

You would be hard pressed to get a copy of that game. It is one of the rarest and most sought after Sega games. I'm not aware of any region lockout on the 32X. It may just be an incompatibility due to different colour standards. Most TV these days can handle both PAL and NTSC though. I would worry about getting hold of a copy before any problems with compatablility, it would make a good investment even if it didn't work on your system.

Most TV's in Europe can handle both types of signals, but, unfortunately, not over here.

Good advice about the game, though. Actually, the developers did make a cell-phone port! I wish they'd re-release the 32x one for Sega fans.

 

[ExCyber]

As far as I know, 32X itself doesn't really have any lockout mechanism. Genesis doesn't exactly have lockout, but it does have a region/version register that games can check. The original purpose of this was to allow one ROM to be sold in multiple markets (i.e. check the region to display the appropriate title screen, language, enable/disable censorship, etc.), but some later games use it as a lockout.

 

[Jedi Master Thrash]

I remember researching it back when I first discovered Darxide and wanted it more than anything. I don't remember the details, but the conclusion of my research was that you'd need a Pal region 32x for it to display right. I think it uses the genesis region lock, but then it will try mixing the pal genesis video with ntsc 32x video (the genesis is used for background video).

At the time, you could find australian region 32xs (which I believe are identical to the europe ones) for 8$ off of ebay.com.au. Nothing much seems to be up at the moment though, due to post xmas.

I think the game went for about 400$ the last time I saw it.

 

[Kuta]

At the time, you could find australian region 32xs (which I believe are identical to the europe ones) for 8$ off of ebay.com.au. Nothing much seems to be up at the moment though, due to post xmas.

I'm not sure when you saw them at that price but these days you would never get a 32x unit that cheap over here. Expect to pay at least $30 for and unboxed unit and with a gamble as to weather you get all the nessesary cables or not.

 

[Jedi Master Thrash]

It was about 5 years ago. I remember there always being tons of 32x systems on e-bay, and even though the UK and German sellers were getting 30+ bucks, the AU ones were going for 8. But regardless of region, there doesn't seem to be that many 32xs up on e-bay in recent months. Are all the incomplete ones just finally getting weeded out of the system, or is there some popularity surge where everyone scooped them up? I can still find them at local game stores.

I remember right after the 32x died in like '96, the local VGW (video game warehouse, which disappeared after I traded in 50$ in store credit with them, b@$t@rds. I still have the credit slip, someday I'll find them and make them pay up.) had a huge 3ft x 3ft bin in the center of the store filled with 32xii for sale.