Sega Master System 2 50/60Hz Switch Hack

Ok so its not Amiga related nor is it a massively complex mod but hey its not very often i attack a machine with a soldering iron and it still work when i'm finished. Well this works and so does my hack! I'm very proud of myself lol

Ok so the aim was to fit a toggle switch into my Sega Master System Mark 2 to toggle between 50hz (Pal) and 60Hz (NTSC).

The main reason for doing this was because i'd been reading and apparantly Pal games run 17% slower and have a top and bottom border where as the NTSC has a full screen and runs at full speed and i wanted to see the difference and it didn't look that hard to do it.

All i had to do was lift a leg (Pin 57) from the graphics chip and solder it to the middle leg of the toggle switch and then find a +5v and a ground and solder each of those to either end of the toggle.

I will be honest and say its lucky i have 2 SMS consoles as my first attempt at lifting the pin from the IC just snapped the leg off. Console still works but am now unable to try the mod.

Second attempt was a lot smoother, leg lifted, tinned and soldered to the switch.
+5 found very close to the lifted leg and ground taken from a capacitor situated next to the IC.

Again I will be honest and say i didn't find the +5v and ground myself as i don't have a multimeter and wouldn't have a clue where to start even if i did.

I located the +5v and ground using the tutorial i was following to install the switch.

Anyway, all points soldered and switch mounted to the side of the machine. On test all is working perfectly.
As the toggle switch is "break before make" i can even switch without turning the machine off.

Some piccys if anyone interested.

[attachment=1:voplhgr1]soldering.JPG[/attachment:voplhgr1]

[attachment=0:voplhgr1]mounted.JPG[/attachment:voplhgr1]

Also a link to the tutorial if anyone is interested in performing this mod themselves.

Re: Sega Master System 2 50/60Hz Switch Hack

sweet hack Mike, good job!

Re: Sega Master System 2 50/60Hz Switch Hack

Nice work mate, thanks for the photos and write up.
Does it make a significant difference?
I love a good photo story of people's work, I only wish more people would post up their little projects. They're always interesting to read about and can sometimes provide inspiration.

Re: Sega Master System 2 50/60Hz Switch Hack

thanks for the comments guys.

It is very noticable when you switch it and to be honest once i'd played Alex Kidd in Miracle World at 60Hz ntsc i didn't want to switch back to pal. Everything just sounded a lot better and seemed a lot smoother.

My next projects (when i can get out to maplins again) is to try and fit a switch into my mark 1 sms now and an AV socket into my mark 2 as in this tutorial.

I am also in the process of acquiring FM sound boards to install into my both my master system Mark 1 & Mark 2.
details here.

Mark 1 should be easy at it connects to the 50 pin expansion port on the back but Mark 2 has about 20 wires to solder.

I shall post pics and write ups when i do attempt the next mod.

Mike

Re: Sega Master System 2 50/60Hz Switch Hack

Good stuff Mike!

Heather

Re: Sega Master System 2 50/60Hz Switch Hack

Nice mod. I always wanted to have a 50/60Hz modded Master System but never did have many spares on hand in case i stuffed one up. I did however manage to mod a Model1 Megadrive. This is a must is you have a Megacd attached. Not having borders and the speed increase makes playing those classics just that little bit more special. This really is inspiring me to get out my Master system and start modding it. I performed the 50/60Hz mod on my Megadrive but was not able to get Colour when in 60Hz unless i had a scart cable and scart compatible tv, which at the time i never had, i do now though. Does your Master System display colour through the RF when switched to 60Hz.

Cheers

Re: Sega Master System 2 50/60Hz Switch Hack

Hey Amiganut, i purchased 5 master system mark 2 consoles and 2 mark 1 consoles last year as untested on ebay for only a few pounds. They had no cables or joypads just the consoles. I had a tinker but couldn't get any of them to work so put 4 of the mark 2 in the back room in a box marked faulty. I also sent a mark 2 and a mark 1 to zetr0 as he offered to take a look and see if he could get one working.
Well after i broke the pin i knew i was stuffed at fitting a switch even though the console would still work. I then decided to take another look at the faulty ones in the box and to my suprise two of them kicked staright in, one comes on but seems to have a problem cause although i can see the picture on screen it keeps flicking back to an untuned picture then back to the master system picture (as if i have unplugged the rf cable) and the 4th i just didn't get nothing.
I guess i must of just had a faulty psu last year when testing them.

And to answer your question yes the master system does output coulor without rgb scart. Although rf picture is not the best so i am looking at fitting an rgb port so i can use scart on the mark 2.

Mike

Re: Sega Master System 2 50/60Hz Switch Hack

@scrappysphinx

It would be worth trying to get a cheap mark 1 Master System to mod as these have the round din connector at the back that outputs A/V and is of the same quality as any other console that has A/V outputs. A C64 monitor cable plugs into this A/V din socket. I am using a C64 monitor cable on a Model 1 Master System and its great, but you do have to experiment with each of the 3 ends of the cable to see which color outputs the video and which color outputs the audio.

Cheers

Re: Sega Master System 2 50/60Hz Switch Hack

@amiganut, i actually have 3 mark 1 consoles (one of which was new old stock and i haven't even opened yet!) as well as the 4 mark 2's lol
I am awaiting the fm sound boards as stated in my earlier thread for both my mark 1 and mark 2 and will also be adding the 50/60hz to my mark 1 console.

Mike

Re: Sega Master System 2 50/60Hz Switch Hack

scrappysphinx said:

@amiganut, i actually have 3 mark 1 consoles (one of which was new old stock and i haven't even opened yet!) as well as the 4 mark 2's lol
I am awaiting the fm sound boards as stated in my earlier thread for both my mark 1 and mark 2 and will also be adding the 50/60hz to my mark 1 console.

Mike

Click to expand...

Damm , wish i had a good supply of Mark 1 Master Systems About the FM sound board. Do all games take advantage of this soundboard?? Cant remember if i read a while back that only a select few games sound different because of this board. :shrug:

EDIT: Yippy i just remembered i had a stuffed mark 1 Master system stashed in the garage. The master system works but it locks up when i start playing a game. This is perfect for me to use as a guinea pig, so to speak as its been some time now since the last mod i performed and i will most likely screw something up. Now to find some free time. I am busy with other ventures till at least the end of the year. Speaking of things taking up free time, my A2000 is really pissing me off and if i have to spend anymore time that i dont really have on it, i may start selling the cards inside and just keep the A2000 and GVP card and store it with the rest of the collection.

Re: Sega Master System 2 50/60Hz Switch Hack

your right only a few games take advantage of the fm sound but the maker says he's routed the sound through the chip so it sounds better than standard even if its not fully using the fm chip.

Mike