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Sega Mega Drive / Genesis
Check the dumping hardware overview for a list of known preservation hardware.
If you need help, please come chat with us on the VGPC or No-Intro discord servers.
Introduction
Important Notes
- Unopened games should have their ROM and save data dumped before attempting to play them. This avoids inadvertent modification of the data and helps preserve the game in its unused/“factory” state. Note in your submission whether the physical media was sealed and include a photo of the cart/packaging in its sealed state, if possible.
- You should clean the physical media's electrical contacts before trying to dump it, and dump it twice, checking if both dumps match using a file comparison tool or calculating the SHA256 of each file and comparing those values.
There are numerous dumping tools available for the Sega Mega Drive / Genesis, several for sale and many, many more open source electronics projects.
Methods
Method 1 - Retrode2
This is a super simple system that works really well, and is affordable and readily available. See our hardware page for shop links.
- Plug your game into the Retrode2.
- Make sure the voltage setting is at 5V.
- Connect the Retrode2 to your computer.
- The Retrode2 should now show up as a regular USB drive, and you can copy the ROM from there for further analysis.
Method 2 - Sanni Cart Reader
The Sanni Cart Reader comes with Mega Drive / Genesis dumping capabilities by default. Follow the Sanni Cart Reader wiki for proper settings, and dumping instructions.
Method 3 - RetroFreak
See instructions here for NES / Famicom dumping using the RetroFreak, the same setup applies to dumping Sega Mega Drive / Genesis.
Method 4 - RetroBlaster 2.0 + Genesis Adapter
- Make sure the '5V' setting is selected on the device (not the '3V' setting)
- Connect the Genesis adapter to the RetroBlaster
- Insert the cartridge or PCB into the adapter
- Open the RetroBlaster software (available on the RetroBlaster github)
- Navigate to the 'Sega Genesis' tab, and click “Dump ROM.” Choose the location and filename for your ROM
- A progress bar will indicate the status of the dump, and information will be displayed on the 'status' log when the dump is complete.
- You can also dump the SRAM from this same tab, by clicking the 'Dump SRAM' button