Tatsujin Mega Drive Menu....

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ATTRACTS
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Tatsujin Mega Drive Menu....

Post by ATTRACTS »

Hi guys,
For years I've had a loose retail copy of Truxton for the Sega Genesis. A few weeks ago I imported the Mega Drive version (Tatsujin). It came in the original box with manual and the cart's label looks decent. Big beatiful TATSUJIN on the spine and obviously the cover. I'm playing on a generation 3 NTSC Genesis (which plays most Japanese games without a Game Genie or mod)....

I just noticed today that the main splash screen says "TRUXTON" instead of "TATSUJIN", is this normal or did I get shafted somehow? Cart's label is the Japanese version.
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Re: Tatsujin Mega Drive Menu....

Post by trap15 »

Not sure, but it sounds like the game chooses the region of the game based on your console, and the cart has both regions. You'll need to use a game genie, or get a Japanese Mega Drive, or some other trick to get it to boot into the JP version.
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Re: Tatsujin Mega Drive Menu....

Post by ATTRACTS »

trap15 wrote:Not sure, but it sounds like the game chooses the region of the game based on your console, and the cart has both regions. You'll need to use a game genie, or get a Japanese Mega Drive, or some other trick to get it to boot into the JP version.
Ok, so there are retail/legit carts out there that have both regions on them? I had no idea. I was just worried that I got some kind of bootleg cart.
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Re: Tatsujin Mega Drive Menu....

Post by BareKnuckleRoo »

According to er... various 'sites... the rom doesn't come in a Japanese or American format. It's listed as a (JU) [!] rom, basically they released the exact same rom in the cartridge in all regions it was released, the only difference being the outer case and its name.

Just confirmed this in an emulator - by forcing a region change, the JU rom will, depending on whether the country code is set to USA or JAP, the game will display the Truxton or Tatsujin title.
Last edited by BareKnuckleRoo on Wed Jul 24, 2013 1:56 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Tatsujin Mega Drive Menu....

Post by ATTRACTS »

BareknuckleRoo wrote:According to er... various 'sites... the rom doesn't come in a Japanese or American format. It's listed as a (JU) [!] rom, basically they released the exact same rom in the cartridge in all regions it was released, the only difference being the outer case and its name.
Ok, that's a relief. I really only it bought to have a complete (cart/box/manual) set, I don't mind not "seeing" the Tatsujin menu, but I'm glad to know it's there. I was just worried that the seller slipped me a bootleg NTSC cart and slapped the JPN art on it. Thanks so much for the info, I really appreciate it. :)
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Re: Tatsujin Mega Drive Menu....

Post by BareKnuckleRoo »

This wasn't too uncommon for games with little to no text for the exact same game to get released in multiple regions with only the title tweaked. But I guess in the Genesis's case, its carts can be programmed to detect what region they're on to change the title/language depending on what model it's played on, so basically a multiregion cart. A lot of the english releases have UE listed, so obviously they used a single rom for the USA and European releases.

If you played your American version of Truxton on a Japanese Mega Drive, I am pretty sure it'd see it's a Japanese region console and display 'Tatsujin'.

The Game Gear seems to work the same way - Aleste II/Power Strike 2 is listed as JUE and the title changes depending on the region that's detected.
Last edited by BareKnuckleRoo on Wed Jul 24, 2013 2:07 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Tatsujin Mega Drive Menu....

Post by ATTRACTS »

BareknuckleRoo wrote:This wasn't too uncommon for games with little to no text for the exact same game to get released in multiple regions with only the title tweaked. But I guess in the Genesis's case, its carts can be programmed to detect what region they're on to change the title/language depending on what model it's played on, so basically a multiregion cart. A lot of the english releases have UE listed, so obviously they used a single rom for the USA and European releases.

If you played your American version of Truxton on a Japanese Mega Drive, I am pretty sure it'd see it's a Japanese region console and display 'Tatsujin'.
It's really very interesting. 27 years gaming and I never realized this. I have a bunch of other JPN Mega Drive games, will have to take note and see what others do this...Thanks again man :)
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Re: Tatsujin Mega Drive Menu....

Post by BareKnuckleRoo »

Apparently they added some kind of region lockout to games released after 1992, but it seems to be a hardware lockout related to the cartridge slot type? I'm not too familiar with any of the Genesis hardware, though (I owned one only for a very short while as a kid and never got a chance to get one after it got broken). Someone else on here will be more familiar with this I'm sure.

You can enter A2HA-AN46 in a Game Genie to force a switch to the Japanese version, tried this myself, but I've no idea if the versions differ in gameplay or just cosmetically in the title, so I can't guarantee that this code actually makes the game play like you're playing it on a Japanese console if there are any gameplay differences (I've never played Tatsujin before).
Last edited by BareKnuckleRoo on Wed Jul 24, 2013 2:30 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Tatsujin Mega Drive Menu....

Post by BrianC »

This was discussed here before. I have the US Truxton and it plays as the JP version when I switch the Genesis to Japanese. With some knowledge of soldering, a region switch can be added to a US genesis to switch between US and JP regions. It's also possible to remove some of the plastic from the top shell to widen the cart slot.
BareknuckleRoo wrote: You can apparently enter A2HA-AN46 in a Game Genie to force a switch to the Japanese version (no idea if the versions differ in gameplay or just cosmetically in the title, so no idea if this code actually make the game play like you're playing it on a Japanese console).
It was mentioned a few times in other topics that the game is noticably harder in Japanese mode. I noticed more and faster bullets in JP mode. I haven't tried the code so I don't know if works the same as playing the game on a system set to JP mode, though.
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Re: Tatsujin Mega Drive Menu....

Post by Ed Oscuro »

the bottom line is that your game has computer rabies and you should send it to a game clinic to be disinfected. PM me and I will give you the address of a reputable provider of this service.

About this allegation that Tatsujin was not released in an exclusive version for glorious Nippon, I am shocked, shocked! Of course if this is true the Japanese Game Purist need not suffer - the console's CPU determines the region of a cartridge by checking two pins leading to the CPU for appropriate voltages; this two-bit combination would allow for four region settings (actually two different settings - 50/60Hz, and English/JP territories; the CPU normally checks which of the four jumper pins are connected), and a switch to allow you to select the correct region code for the software (and bypass the console's built-in region jumper settings) will allow the game to be played unmolested, as intended, so long as you aren't doing anything inhumane like trying to play PAL software on a NTSC machine, which may still not work due to differences in the basic design of each region machine.
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