Sega MD2 Street Smart - rare version?

[ChaoticBiker]

Hey all,

it's me again
So going through my collection, I've found a cartridge I've previously dismissed as a famiclone fake.
But as I took a closer look, it appears to be a Sega Mega Drive game.
The thing is, I'm struggling to identify what version it is
Game is Street Smart, and is already categorised as "uncommon" by rarityguide.
Here's the pic of USA version cover off Sega Retro site:
https://segaretro.org/File:StreetSmart_MD_US_Cart.jpg

and here's the JP version:
https://segaretro.org/File:StreetSmart_MD_JP_Cart.jpg

and here's what I have:


Now it can be clearly seen, it has the JP style cart, but the art is a cut out and stretch of the original (or possibly the JP is a squeezed version?)
I was not able to fit this into my PAL MD as the cart physically doesn't fit. Don't want to take the board out to try, at least not yet.
Judging by what system this came with (an ASIAN PAL) I will take a guess this is exactly this - an ASIAN PAL version of the game.

Anyone know anything about this? I have a region-switch modded MD2, should I remove the PCB from the cart and try it out?

Any thoughts on this are appreciated
 

[Steven Pendleton]

Probably bootleg

[ChaoticBiker]

Not sure about bootleg. The cart is good quality, none of this modern day made cheap bendy plastic that feels like it's about to fall apart in your hands type.
Also, I had to take the top off my MD, and it works both on PAL and NTSC
the MD I'm running is region-switch modded
Here's with switch in the PAL position:


And here's with switch in the NTSC (same results for USA/JAP NTSC):

And yes, it's black/white as this little TV doesn't like NTSC signal - I'm sure if I plug this to another TV it would be full-colour. So it appears to be region-free.

And like I said before - when I initially got it, it did come with an ASIAN PAL system - that's why I'm wondering.
Also all the bootlegs I've seen so far, were in Europe/USA style cases - I've never seen one in a JAP case (not saying they don't exist tho)
Given the cartridge is made of good quality material just as you would expect a JAP version to be, and "feels right" to touch and also in terms of weight - I do have some bootleg cartridges and the first giveaway is they are LIGHT! (and flimsy), not to mention the pins - they just look right and you know what I'm talking about if you've ever seen a bootleg/cheap chinese cart

Oh well guess on to try and carefully remove the back label and unscrew to see what's inside...

Edited October 28, 2021 by ChaoticBiker

[Steven Pendleton]

There is no Asian version of the game. Either it's fake or it's a fake label on a real Japanese cart. There is absolutely no way that an Asian PAL MD game wouldn't fit in an Asian PAL MD, the system that it's designed to work in.

[ChaoticBiker]

8 minutes ago, Steven Pendleton said:

There is no Asian version of the game. Either it's fake or it's a fake label on a real Japanese cart. There is absolutely no way that an Asian PAL MD game wouldn't fit in an Asian PAL MD, the system that it's designed to work in.

I'm sorry but I don't think that's correct.
According to Sega Retrom, there's no European version of the game.
There are both USA and JP versions, as I posted in my first post with links to labels.

Also, the ASIAN PAL megadrive does take JAP carts without any mod - the cart slot does not have these notches like in USA or EU versions - it's more alike of JP megadrive -don't have one at hand to show, but they can be found on google.
Note I do have an Asian PAL megaCD - it outputs PAL and connects with a PAL system - but will only play JP region games.
Also - I believe this is EXACTLY what ASIAN PAL carts look like - they are just like the JP versions, take a look for example at this ebay listing: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Mega-Games-1-Video-Game-Sega-Mega-Drive-ASIAN-PAL-TESTED-/174693073413?var=0&mkevt=1&mkcid=1&mkrid=710-53481-19255-0&campid=5338268676&toolid=10044&customid=Cj0KCQjwlOmLBhCHARIsAGiJg7mM10oa4vQ2HhIX9K8SkiWBzHNUOSqk93k_Opym0EFoLNJl2BzCpSgaAtrREALw_wcB

And finally, while so far I've decided against opening the cart, having had a peek inside through the slot I can see full-size chips inside, none of them black blobs you'd expect in a bootleg. Tried to take a photo but it's difficult to show.

Edited October 28, 2021 by ChaoticBiker
fixing spelling mistakes

[+jgkspsx]

Vintage bootlegs don’t necessarily have black blobs. They could have eproms. I wouldn’t damage the label opening it, but it’s pretty clearly a bootleg. But that’s cool and vintage bootlegs can be worth some money in addition to just being interesting historical objects.

[ChaoticBiker]

2 hours ago, jgkspsx said:

Vintage bootlegs don’t necessarily have black blobs. They could have eproms. I wouldn’t damage the label opening it, but it’s pretty clearly a bootleg. But that’s cool and vintage bootlegs can be worth some money in addition to just being interesting historical objects.

Hey thanks for the info! 

I've actually managed to open the case without furhher damaging the label. 

Indeed inside is what looks like a vintage bootleg eeprom - see picture. 

Also the lack of copyright on title screen indicates this is a bootleg. 

I've never seen one like this before, as bootlegs usually have cheap/poor quality plastics and pcb's and this one is quite solid. And the label is proper thick paper sticker with coating - even the PCB and eeprom looks as close to the real thing as possible - except again Sega TM's are missing and the chip appears to be slightly lighter gray than original. 

I personally found this quite interesting. 

[+jgkspsx]

Is it an EEPROM? Or did they somehow mass produce ROMs? Seems like that would be awfully expensive. I can’t seem to find one with any of those part numbers…

[ChaoticBiker]

1 hour ago, jgkspsx said:

Is it an EEPROM? Or did they somehow mass produce ROMs? Seems like that would be awfully expensive. I can’t seem to find one with any of those part numbers…

yeah that is indeed weird which is why I started this thread.
I have never seen a bootleg quite like this. And I have seen a few, even still have some for comparison, some dating back to late 90's - none are like this particular one...
Also all my bootlegs (really only have 5 of them or so atm) are PAL region case, and this one is JAP region case.. an interesting oddity
And yeah - not even sure whether it is programmable or just a ROM. Which doesn't make sense for a bootleg
I tried looking up anything similar, and digging deep through internets you can find other carts similar to this one released in Asian PAL region. Not sure what to make of that. Would not surprise me at all if bootlegs of this kind in that region were the absolute norm. But not enough data to draw any such conclusion.