How to play Dreamcast games from another region
The Dreamcast has many great games, but you might be missing out on some key titles depending on which region your console is. If you have an NTSC-U console, you wont be able to play a PAL game like Headhunter or Shenmue 2. Or you’ll miss out on all the great Japanese titles like Ikaruga, Under Defeat, Chaos Field, Trizeal, etc.
Luckily there are several different ways to get over this hurdle without having to buy a console from each region…
IMPORT BOOT DISC
This is the “easiest” way to boot import discs and there are several options. You can either purchase an Import Boot Disc like the DC-X, Gameshark, Xploder, Action Replay CDX, etc. This method requires very little work, but you will have to swap discs every time you want to play an import. This can become annoying if you play a lot of imports.
If you cannot obtain a retail import boot disc, you can always burn yourself a copy of the Action Replay CDX Demo Version. It’s a legal demo version of the full release, but still allows you to easily boot imports. Most will probably use this method, so we used it for our guide.
Using Alcohol 120% in windows, select your image to burn to your CD-R (not CD-RW!), then set the speed to the lowest. Pop in that CD-R and hit “START GAME”
Choose your import game of choice, insert the GD-ROM, hit “OK”, COOL!
BIOS REGION CHANGER DISC
While using a boot disc is simple enough, it can become annoying to have to swap out a disc every time you want to play your import games. Thankfully our Russian friends have come up with a Bios Region Changer disc. This allows you to change the region of your Dreamcast. Say you own a large collection of Japanese games but only an NTSC-U console, you can use this mod + disc to change your Dreamcast’s region to NTSC-J. That way it will always boot up your Japanese titles without needed a boot disc.
The downside is that it requires a bit of soldering after taking about the Dreamcast, and you’ll only be able to play games from the region you’ve set your DC to unless you use the disc to change the region once more.
First step is to take apart your Dreamcast, and pull out that motherboard. Flip it over, and look for two connections. One is +12v, and the other is labeled R512. Solder these two points together with some wire, and you can now use the Region Changer disc to switch the region of your Dreamcast! You can download the cdi from mmmonkey’s site for now.
REGION FREE MODCHIP
Our final option is the most elegant solution. It enables you to simply drop in a game from ANY region, and have it boot. No fiddling with boot discs, or making sure you have the right region set. Just drop it in a go. There is of course a cost to all this. Installing the modchip requires more precise soldering than the Region Changer mod, and Dreamcast modchips are hard to find these days. If you ask around the various Dreamcast related forums like dcemulation.org or the dreamcast dev section of assembler games you should be able to find one with some luck.
Note that this modchip is meant to make your Dreamcast region free and is not used for booting backups.
Step 1: Disassemble the Dreamcast
Once you’ve removed the casing, you will then remove the GD-ROM Drive, the PSU, the Controller ports, and then the Metal Plate. Be sure to remove the ribbon cable from the Controller port, as well as the molex connector that powers the fan.
Step 2: Prepare your modchip
This modchip is a 4 wire version and is the most common. We advise that you bend back the needed pins with a fine edge so that you can easily solder your wires to the pins without accidentally bridging any of the pins together. Two of the pins will be bridged with a wire. We’ve colour-coded the pins with where they must be soldered on the Dreamcast Motherboard to keep things clear. Make sure you have enough slack as we will be fastening the chip on top of the GDROM Drive Chasis.
Step 3: Insulate and Fasten the Chip
Now that we’re all soldered up, let’s wrap up that chip in Electrical tape. You might also want to fasten down some of the wiring onto the motherboard so that it doesn’t find its way into a screw hole.
Once you’ve assembled the Shielding, PSU, Controller Ports and GDROM DRIVE, simply tape the Insulated Chip onto the bottom right corner of the GDROM DRIVE.
Step 4: Reassemble and Test!
Get that case back together and pop in your favourite imported Dreamcast game! If it works, enjoy the fruits of your labour by never having to bother with pesky boot discs or other methods to play all the great games your region never offered you. If it doesn’t work… back to step one!
