14 replies to this topic

[kisrael]

Quick question, though it's probably too late (and not $$$ worthwhile, given the state of the dollar) to act on; are GBAs "regionalized"? If I bought a system here on my visit to the UK, could I play USA games, or if I had a US GBA, would games from the UK work on it?

For some reason more and more I'm jonesing for a cheap GBA, WarioWare, and Metroid Fusion...

[MegaManFan]

I've bought Japanese import GBA games that play flawlessly on my US purchased GBA handhelds. No worries. I think in "region lockout" terms no such thing exists on Nintendo handhelds, all you have to worry about is not being able to read whatever language the games are in.

[sdstuff64]

Yep MMF is right,no lock out.

[Ze_ro]

As far as I know, the only handhelds with a territorial lockout were adaptations of full-fledged console machines, such as the Nomad and the Turbo Express.

Anyone know if the Game Gear is region encoded? Since it was based on the SMS, there's a possibility (What about playing Japanese SMS games with the Master Gear Converter?)

--Zero

[ventrra]

Ze_ro said:

As far as I know, the only handhelds with a territorial lockout were adaptations of full-fledged console machines, such as the Nomad and the Turbo Express.

Anyone know if the Game Gear is region encoded? Since it was based on the SMS, there's a possibility (What about playing Japanese SMS games with the Master Gear Converter?)

--Zero

I've been playing the Japanese game "Coca-Cola Kid" on my US Game Gear with no problems. The SMS games might be region coded, but I've seen Japanese Master Gear Converters on eBay, so it would seem like an easy fix.

[kisrael]

Thanks for the responses.

Heh, I remember back in the day, the old GB Double Dragon port, I think it had some stern warning ala "this game for use outside Japan ONLY"...

Anyway, just on the offchance i get to do some price compares before I leave the UK, what's a new/used original GBA going for these days? And used/new prices for WarioWare and Fusion?

[MegaManFan]

Actually, I think it's odd SMS was used as an example, because I routinely buy games from Australia and the UK that work perfectly on my American SMS - in fact that was one of the reasons I became so enthusiastic about collecting for it. No dip switch or lockout work-around or foreign adapter necessary at all.

As for pricing, the old style GBA seems to average $70 new and $40 used around here (though I've seen them go for $100 if they have an Afterburner kit installed). Most stores want $20 for loose GBA games (no box or manual) which seems insane to me, considering you can buy them new and complete for only a few bucks more.

[Ze_ro]

MegaManFan said:

Actually, I think it's odd SMS was used as an example, because I routinely buy games from Australia and the UK that work perfectly on my American

Ah, my mistake... I usually assume that most consoles have some lockout... especially since Sega put lockouts on all their other systems. In fact, now that I think about it, I remember reading a FAQ somewhere that listed stuff that was different when you put a North American cart into a Japanese system... it could detect the region and change languages, or give different title screens and such.

But what about PAL/NTSC issues? Or using a PAL cartridge in a Game Gear/Genesis with a North American converter?

--Zero

[smsforce2k3]

MegaManFan said:

Actually, I think it's odd SMS was used as an example, because I routinely buy games from Australia and the UK that work perfectly on my American SMS - in fact that was one of the reasons I became so enthusiastic about collecting for it.  No dip switch or lockout work-around or foreign adapter necessary at all.

My U.S. SMS does not play any non-U.S. games.

BTW, If the Game Gear has no regional lockout, does the SMS convertor play all types also?

Brett (smsforce)

[MegaManFan]

Is yours a model II (without the card catcher slot) or up? Perhaps they put a lock in to detect whether games were supposed to be 50 or 60 mhz after too many people imported games for the first version.

Seriously though, I own the following list of imports, and except for New Zealand Story they all work perfectly - the latter has botched graphics, but for some bizarre reason works perfectly on a Power Base Convertor.

^ American Baseball
^ Arcade Smash Hits
^ Asterix
^ Basketball Nightmare
^ Chuck Rock
^ Chuck Rock II: Son of Chuck
^ Crash Dummies
^ The Cyber Shinobi
^ Dragon Crystal
^ Dynamite Duke
^ Fire & Ice
^ Ghost House (cartridge version)
^ Golfamania
^ GP Rider
^ Lemmings
^ The Lucky Dime Caper
^ The New Zealand Story
^ Olympic Gold
^ Rampart
^ Shadow of the Beast
^ Sonic the Hedgehog 2
^ Sonic the Hedgehog Chaos
^ Spy vs Spy (cartridge version)
^ Streets of Rage
^ Summer Games
^ Super Kick Off
^ Super Monaco GP II
^ Super Tennis (catridge version)
^ Taz-Mania
^ Terminator 2: Judgment Day
^ TransBot (cartridge version)
^ WWF WrestleMania: Steel Cage Challenge

[SmileyDude]

You're probably back in the states now, but as I recall, GBAs are more expensive in the UK than in the US. Also, if you pick up a GBA SP instead of a regular GBA, you'll need to buy another power adaptor for use back home.

[chrisbid]

i have quite a few JPN game gear games, no lockout problems there, nor with GBA or NGPC

[ApolloBoy]

Ze_ro said:

MegaManFan said:

Actually, I think it's odd SMS was used as an example, because I routinely buy games from Australia and the UK that work perfectly on my American

Ah, my mistake... I usually assume that most consoles have some lockout... especially since Sega put lockouts on all their other systems.

Actually, there are 2 variants of the Genesis (Model 1). One of them, which was made before Sonic (1989 & 1990) has no lockout system. The one made after Sonic (which I own) has a lockout system.

[MegaManFan]

ApolloBoy said:

Actually, there are 2 variants of the Genesis (Model 1). One of them, which was made before Sonic (1989 & 1990) has no lockout system. The one made after Sonic (which I own) has a lockout system.

How do you know if you have variant 1 as opposed to variant 2? I assume they both have the jack and the sliding volume control, so naked eye alone wouldn't confirm it. If I can find the variant 1 at a thrift or pawn, my days of hunting for a way to defeat the "Wily Wars" lockout are finally over.

[Video]

There is no regional lockout on GBA systems or games. The only compatibility issues you will have with it is being able to read the language the carts are printed in, and you need a power adaptor for whatever country you'll be visiting.