Are Gameboy Games Regional?
11-01-04, 12:35 PM
#1
DVD Talk Legend
Thread Starter
Are Gameboy Games Regional?
I know absolutely nothing about video games. With that said, I have a quick question for all of you gamers. My brother is heading over to England this Friday and he wanted to buy some Gameboy games for his nephew. Are Gameboy games regional like DVDs? Will Gameboy games bought in the US work on a system bought in England? Thanks in advance for the help.
11-01-04, 03:26 PM
#3
DVD Talk Hero
I may be wrong, but has there even been region coding for any cartridge based system? The worst I can think of is that they made the shape of the cartridge a little different so you'd have to either modify your system or get some kind of adapter... otherwise, you could play any region you want...
11-01-04, 03:34 PM
#4
DVD Talk Legend
NES games were region coded. While the Famicom carts were a different size, European games were not, and will not play on our NES. BUT the top-loading NES does not have a region chip, so you can play European NES games on it (and there are some really good exclusives!!). Famicom->NES converters usually were region coded for whatever region they were released in or hacked to bypass region coding (like unlicensed games). Some of the later Genesis/Mega Drive games had regional coding. The Turbo Grafx/PC-Engine cards were not region coded but the pin-outs on the cards are in reverse order, making region-free switches for the system a pain.
11-01-04, 04:48 PM
#5
DVD Talk Hall of Fame
Originally posted by PixyJunket
NES games were region coded. While the Famicom carts were a different size, European games were not, and will not play on our NES. BUT the top-loading NES does not have a region chip, so you can play European NES games on it (and there are some really good exclusives!!). Famicom->NES converters usually were region coded for whatever region they were released in or hacked to bypass region coding (like unlicensed games). Some of the later Genesis/Mega Drive games had regional coding. The Turbo Grafx/PC-Engine cards were not region coded but the pin-outs on the cards are in reverse order, making region-free switches for the system a pain.
NES games were region coded. While the Famicom carts were a different size, European games were not, and will not play on our NES. BUT the top-loading NES does not have a region chip, so you can play European NES games on it (and there are some really good exclusives!!). Famicom->NES converters usually were region coded for whatever region they were released in or hacked to bypass region coding (like unlicensed games). Some of the later Genesis/Mega Drive games had regional coding. The Turbo Grafx/PC-Engine cards were not region coded but the pin-outs on the cards are in reverse order, making region-free switches for the system a pain.
11-01-04, 05:24 PM
#6
DVD Talk Hero
Ah, thanks for all the info! I just remember having to saw off the edges of the cartridge slot to allow my Genesis to play Megadrive games, and that the Super Nintendo adapter just added grooves to the bottom of a straight connector...
11-01-04, 08:39 PM
#9
Suspended
SNES could play Famicon carts if you broke off to little plastic things inside the SNES.... Thats how I play my dozen Super Famicom games I for to $2
