MegaSD Setup
The MegaSD is an amazing flash cart for the Sega Genesis that not only allows you to play your entire Genesis collection on one cart, but also Master System, Sega CD, and 32x games! (32x requires the 32x add-on.) It can be kind of confusing to set up, so this guide is here to help!
If you don't already have a MegaSD, definitely consider getting one! They're not cheap, but when you consider the trade-off of being able to play your whole collection of Genesis, Master System, Sega CD, and 32x games on one cart on the original system or equivalent, it's pretty worthwhile! I love using it to play fan translations of RPGs on the system they were made for. So if you're considering buying one, I highly recommend Stone Age Gamer! I've had nothing but good experiences buying my flash carts from them.
If the Mega SD is too expensive for you, there is also the Mega EverDrive Pro, which does largely the same thing as the MegaSD. But because I don't have one, this guide will not cover setup for that.
Resources
Setup
- Once you have your MegaSD and a micro SD card (up to 400 GB), use your comptuer to format the micro SD card with FAT32, or exFAT for anything above 32 GB.
- Download the latest firmware for the MegaSD from TerraOnion's website. (Requires an account and a product serial number.) Extract the firmware file from the .zip into the root directory of your micro SD card.
- Remove the micro SD card, put it into your MegaSD, and start up the flash cart in the system. Install the firmware through the prompts. Once it's done, turn off the flash cart and remove the micro SD card, putting it back into your computer.
- Create a new folder in the root directory of the micro SD card (NOT in any of the other folders). Call it whatever you like; roms, games, etc. This is where you will put your ROM files. Instead of one ROM folder, I like to put multiple folders that are titled after the platform (Genesis, Master System, Sega CD) and then the genre. (Action, Adventure, Puzzle, RPG, and so on.) This way it keeps my games more neatly sorted.
- Make sure that any Sega CD games that you add to the micro SD card are in the BIN/CUE format, and that each game has its own folder that matches the title. (ie. Folder is named Lunar - The Silver Star, contents of folder are Lunar - The Silver Star.bin and Lunar - The Silver Star.cue) Sega CD games will also require that you have the appropriate BIOS files in a BIOS folder in the root directory of the micro SD card.
- That's it! Put your micro SD card back in the slot on the MegaSD and go! You may need to fine-tune some settings in the MegaSD menu to get everything running the way you want it. If you're running into issues running any games, make sure you thoroughly read the Instruction Manual that came with the MegaSD. If you lost it, you can get a PDF of the manual from the same page you downloaded the firmware, or from this page.
I hope that this guide was helpful. Have fun! :)
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