Help Needed With Snes Regional Bypass and Master Codes

[hng]

Hello, I just picked up the Super Famicom games Hokuto no Ken 6&7 on ebay and ground off the 2 plastic tabs of a game genie so that I could play them in my Super Nintendo without opening up my console and butchering it. This worked fine for Hokuto no Ken 6, but when I fired up Hokuto no Ken 7, all I got was a black screen. I'm sure that the Snes is looking for either a regional lockout bypass code or possibly a master code, before the game will run. I have searched high and low over the internet looking for someone who has these codes, but I have had no success. In my searches I also noticed that in general there are not alot of regional lockout bypass codes for the Snes on the internet. Is there something particularly hard about finding these codes for Super Nintendo, or have people just not requested them? If anybody out there could please answer my question regarding the lack of Snes regional codes and possibly find a code that lets me play Hokuto no Ken 7 through my game genie, I would be very grateful.

[ReyVGM]

The SNES doesn't have regional lockout. It's probably the gamegenie that's doing that. If you don't want to butcher your console or games, just open up the Japanese cart and put the circuit board on an American SNES cart. That's what I did to my games back when I was importing. I even made a cool cover art for them and they looked like USA releases!

[OldSchoolGamer]

That's what I did to my games back when I was importing.

When you were "importing"? What project were you working on then?

[hng]

I have considered doing a cartridge swap, but I just don't think that it will work in this case. If it was the game genie's fault, why did Hokuto No Ken 6 boot up and play perfectly? I even tried hiting the switch and turning the green light off to just use the genie as a holder for the cartridge and I STILL got a black screen. The pins on the game are completely clean and I cleaned it again just to be sure, so there's no dirt or other junk in both ends of the game genie or the cartridge. I believe for these reasons that it has to be master code or more likely, a regional bypass code issue. I know that the Snes DOES have region lockout, both physically and internally. I did some research on the 2 games and think I that the dates on the games may be the key clue. Hokuto no Ken 6 came out in 1992 and Hokuto no Ken 7 came out in 1993. I believe that companies began putting internal region lockout programing into the cartridges and consoles in 1993. An example of this would be Sailor Moon for the Sega Genesis. Even though it fits into the game genie, the regional lockout still refuses to run it, UNLESS you input Tony Hedstrom's regional bypass code into the game genie to trick the console. I actually emailed Tony asking for help with Snes regional bypass codes and he recommended I post here. To sum it all up, I believe Hokuto no Ken 6 runs fine because the cartridge has no internal region lockout and Hokuto no Ken 7 won't run at all due to the internal regional lockout that Toei programed into the cartridge. Please somebody help me. I'm a big Fist of the North Star fan and nothing beats playing the games on the Snes with the good old "milkbone" controllers.

[rimsky82]

You are right that the SNES has an internal regional lockout. However, Japan and USA are considered the same region for the SNES. The chip only locks out PAL games.

When I take your word for it, and try to debug, my choices are NTSC(USA/Japan) or PAL(Europe). So, I can't even trace to find a region indicator in the cart.

It's possible albeit uncommon that Game Genies are not compatible with some games, even if there are no enhancement chips in the cartridge. I would take the advice ReyVGM gave you put it in a USA cart. If you want to test it, you can put the board in with no cart, but be absolutely sure it's facing the right direction or you'll fry the motherboard.

[ReyVGM]

Yeah, if you have the screwdriver to open SNES carts, just put the circuit board in the system. It should boot without problems. I would advice to just put it in a SNES cart. You won't damage anything by doing that.

When you were "importing"? What project were you working on then?

Oh, back in 1995 or 96, before I even knew what the Internet was, much less emulation. I didn't get very far though, I just imported a few Square RPGs that never made it over here.

It wasn't a project, I just really really wanted to play Final Fantasy 5, Seiken Densetsu 3 and other stuff.

[hng]

Ok, I will give the cartridge swap a try, but I'm still puzzled why the game genie method doesn't work with the green power light switched into the off mode. If this does work, it still doesn't answer my question about the lack of regional bypass codes existing, the only one that comes off the top of my head is the bypass code to play japanese Donkey Kong Country 3 on Super Nintendo. How can the Sega Genesis have so many despite being an older system, while the Super Nintendo has next to none, despite having so many popular titles that never got released in the USA. Clock Tower, Terrigama, Undercover Cops, FEDA, Laplace no Ma, Dragon Quest 5&6...the list is HUGE!

[OldSchoolGamer]

I just imported a few Square RPGs that never made it over here.

What do you mean by "that never made it over here"? You got stiffed?

Edit: Nevermind. I misunderstood. You meant games that never had USA releases. I thought you meant that you bought the games from a seller and he never sent it to you.

[lee4]

SNES only has video output lockout, Game with NTSC 60Hz only runs Japan/US consoles and Game with PAL 50Hz only runs European consoles.

Does Hokuto no Ken 7 have any extra connector pins?

Genesis has builtin with region lockout on motherboard and game genie just trick the game.

[hng]

I used my tools to perform a cartridge swap and thankfully, it worked. I would like to thank everyone who helped me find a solution to this problem. It still ticks me off though that a game made only 1 year later by the same company and design team, WITH NO EXTRA PINS, doesn't load with my game genie even in the off position. This is really sad, because I was going to also try to use it to make Mr. Heart and the Fang Clan King (2 bosses) playable characters. How hard is it to fit a grinding tool down into the plastic slot to grind off the 2 plastic tabs? I don't want to leave Hokuto no Ken 7 siting in my Battletoads & Double Dragon cartridge forever. Since I don't like to get something for nothing, I'm posting this link I found online to show my graditude. If any of you have seen the 1986 Fist of the North Star movie released by Carl Macek (Robotech dude) and Streamline Pictures, YOU MAY FIND THIS EXTREMELY INTERESTING!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XmmLBcl-2Hs

The full version that has this alternate cut can be located on Veoh.com by searching [ITA] Ken Shiro - Il Film
it will be under "1:55:12" [Anime ITA] Ken il Guerriero - Il Film

[hng]

My hyperlink to the youtube footage doesn't seem to be working, so just type in on youtube search: Uncensored scenes in Fist of the North Star the Movie. Sure is sad that an Italian vhs has not only less censorship, but also is in the correct (for animation anyway) fullscreen version compared to Toei's "remastered" widescreen versions found throughout the world.

[ReyVGM]

I used my tools to perform a cartridge swap and thankfully, it worked.

Of course it did

It still ticks me off though that a game made only 1 year later by the same company and design team, WITH NO EXTRA PINS, doesn't load with my game genie even in the off position.

They could have made it one day later, it doesn't matter. They could have put something in the code to prevent it from loading if it's not directly plugged in the SFC.

This is really sad, because I was going to also try to use it to make Mr. Heart and the Fang Clan King (2 bosses) playable characters.

Use emulators.

How hard is it to fit a grinding tool down into the plastic slot to grind off the 2 plastic tabs?

Don't mangle your console.

I don't want to leave Hokuto no Ken 7 siting in my Battletoads & Double Dragon cartridge forever.

Buy a crappy SNES game from ebay, put hokuto 7 inside that cart. Scan the cover art of the game or get a high quality scan from the net, print it in high quality glossy paper and glue it to the cart (or buy sticky glossy paper) and bam, you'll have a decent Hokuto 7 "USA" cart.

Keep the original Japanese casing in case you want to switch back in the future, for whatever reason.

[Helder]

The game more than likely has some kind of copy protection thats why GG will not load the game when its plugged in, Eurasia many a moon ago sold these copy carts and I bet this game has a means to try to prevent it from being copied.