I was wondering, if there is any reading anywhere about so called 'region free games'?

[Verm1]

I was wondering, if there is any reading anywhere about so called 'region free games'?

I mean, I know what they are. But I wonder how they came into being.

Did some developers/publishers release some of their games without region encoding or with code that bypasses the consoles region coding, are they fakes made later etc?

[Pacman0001]

Some systems, like the 3DO or the Gameboy, don't have regional lockout encoding.

[Oltobaz1]

Handhelds are typically region free, one notable exception being the 3DS. Major home consoles games usually have region encoding, yet, sometimes, that's not the case at all: PS3 games, for instance, are region free, and that's pretty cool.^^

[Verm1]

Well yeah, I understand that. I worded it poorly (my apologies), but my question was about games that are supposedly region free on systems that usually have region encoding.

[Glitchologteam1]

http://www.play-asia.com/paOS-00-3-xbox360_compatibility_guide-49-fr.html

this link show the compatibillity list of xbox 360 games tested on each regional xbox to see if the same game from the same region can run on all.



the NES only need an adapter to fit the famicom cartridge and the famicom disk system, so technically, it is region free. 

The sony playstation PSX require the swap trick (Which can be dangerous for the system) to run other region games

xbox require to be hard or soft modded to play import

all handled but 3DS are region free (but people will probaly manage to find a way to crack the 3DS to play import)

PS3 is region free

[porynog1]

Master System is completely region free. Genesis will play PAL MD games if I recall correctly too.

[Rev1]

I find it a lot more interesting how Nintendo has handled some of the region locking on their consoles. The N64 and SNES games are not actually region locked. The cartridges are just different shapes. If you unscrew the cartridges and put a US cartridge on the back it makes it super easy and quick to play import games without harming your US consoles. At least the N64 does. I heard it is very similar for the super famicon. I think I heard of something similar for the Genesis (but I'm unsure of that one). I have played many N64 imports by that method. Takes like 20 seconds and is easy to put the original cartridges back together afterwards.

[Oltobaz1]

While it's possible to fit in a Super Famicom cartridge in a PAL SNES, games just won't play that way, except if you use an adaptor. Even then, somes titles still won't play, due to increased region locking protection over time as newer games came out, and additional chips. Same goes for US games, though you can't even fit in the carts without an adaptor, since they were designed differently.

As for the Genesis/Mega Drive, it was possible initially to play PAL games on a US system and vice versa, there wasn't region protection. Japanese carts were designed different, but could still be read with an adaptor. Eventually though, region protection was implemented.

In my experience, the best way to access games from all regions lies in modding your systems, making these effectively region free. Adding a 50/60 hertz switch does wonders also. Still, a very small percentage of games may not work properly, even through such mods.