Bare Knuckle region access?

[mikey.shake]

I've been tidying up my Mega Everdrive, and remembered that I'd had some hiccups with my Bare Knuckle files. Anyone have any advice?

 

1) I've found ROMs from two different sources that purport to be the first Bare Knuckle ("Ikari no Tetsuken"). This file loads just fine, but the title screen and all the pre-title text is in English. Have I just been finding mislabelled program files, or is this one that somehow detects which system it's on and adjusts accordingly? While I assumed that could happen as region protection in a physical cart, I guess I'm surprised that it could be software based. (I have an Altered Beast cart that appears to be US all over on the outside, but has the Japanese-only title screen, so I have no idea what's going on in there.)

 

2) So then I get to Bare Knuckle II. I LOVE SoR II. It's my favorite Genesis game, hands-down. I've wanted to try BKII, but I get a message saying that this game is not for play in this region. Once again, I'm surprised, but mostly because I've never seemed to have ANY problem playing any other Japan/Europe ROMs on the Everdrive. I've tried adjusting the region setting on the ME, but no luck. The ROM plays fine on an emulator. Is there a patch that could be applied, or perhaps an Everdrive setting that I'm overlooking?

 

Oh, and for what it's worth, I'm playing this on a Model 1 US Genesis, completely stock as far as I can tell.

 

Thanks in advance, Genesis experts!

 

[MrMaddog]

Sounds like you need to have a region chip mod done for your Genesis. Some earlier carts have both the Japanese and US versions on the same rom and shows certain text/title graphics based on the regional settings the Mega Drive/Genesis uses. And some carts are made for a certain region only...

 

Emulators bypass all that and can automatically select the right region setting based on the ROM type (with the exception of MAME/MESS which emulates each different model).

[Gabriel]

I have a Mega Everdrive Firmware version 4, OS version 5.

 

The Bare Knuckle II rom I tested was labeled as a Japan and Europe version.

 

On the Bare Knuckle II rom, hit C to bring up the Main Menu for the rom. Select Options.

 

I got this rom to work by selecting Megakey Region as MULTI or JAP NTSC and turning the Megakey State option to ON.

 

I played to level 2 and didn't notice any problems.

[mikey.shake]

Thanks for responding!

 

 

I have a Mega Everdrive Firmware version 4, OS version 5.

 

The Bare Knuckle II rom I tested was labeled as a Japan and Europe version.

 

On the Bare Knuckle II rom, hit C to bring up the Main Menu for the rom. Select Options.

 

I got this rom to work by selecting Megakey Region as MULTI or JAP NTSC and turning the Megakey State option to ON.

 

I played to level 2 and didn't notice any problems.

 

 

This totally worked!

 

Something I did this time that I hadn't before (and I'd looked at the Options menu), was loaded the rom (without running) before tweaking the Options settings. I was then able to run and play the game without issue.

 

Then I did the same thing to BK1, and lo and behold, that music started up and a kanji pre-game crawl started rolling. No problems at all.

 

Thanks for the help, I really appreciate it! AtariAge, you're the best.