Some sock puppetry is also in this video. I’m not entirely sure why, but apparently that’s what happens when I spend too much time surrounded by old Sega hardware!

I’d been working on a couple of Mega Drive 2 region modifications, with the intention of giving the finished machines to two good friends. The electrical side was one thing, but I still had to decide where to put the switches without making the cases look ridiculous.

Fortunately, I had a damaged Mega Drive 2 shell available for experimenting. This particular console had already been written off after suffering liquid damage, so it was a rather suitable candidate for some questionable drilling practice.

At first I tried positioning the switches along the rear seam of the case. It looked reasonable enough, although I wasn’t particularly happy with the alignment. The holes were slightly crooked, and moving them onto the upper part of the case introduced another problem: the wiring would get in the way whenever I removed the lid.

I’d also managed to select a drill bit that was probably better suited to putting holes in a brick wall. A 6 mm bit was the closest size I had for the switches, so I decided to make the initial holes smaller and enlarge them afterwards. That seemed rather more sensible than trying to get everything perfect in one go.

Of course, the drill itself wasn’t cooperating. After spending an absurd amount of time trying to change the bit, I finally discovered how the keyless chuck worked. I’d owned this thing for years! Perhaps reading the instructions might have been a good idea.

The smaller pilot holes made the next attempt considerably easier, even if I still managed to get the alignment slightly wrong. The plastic also developed some rough edges that needed tidying up. It’s amazing how much effort goes into making two little holes in the back of a game console.

Eventually I had both switches fitted. They looked rather better once everything was assembled, and the controls were secure enough that they weren’t going to fall out whenever I touched them.

There were a few things I’d do differently next time. One switch was a little too close to an internal plastic support, and I’d been rather generous with the cable lengths. It all fitted, but the wiring inside the shell was hardly going to win any awards for neatness.

With the console back together, I used Streets of Rage to check the language and 50 Hz / 60 Hz switching. It’s a particularly useful game for this because the regional differences make it fairly easy to see what the switches are doing.

The language selection worked, and I could switch between the different video modes. Unfortunately, the picture also developed some rather unpleasant blue rolling lines. Hmm. The switches themselves were working, but the video side still needed some investigation.

I’d added circuitry for the PAL and NTSC colour-clock arrangements, so there were a few possible things to look at. The long internal wiring was one concern, although I hadn’t established whether that was causing the interference.

Still, the holes turned out reasonably well, which was the point of this particular bit of surgery. Once you’ve put a drill through a Mega Drive case, there’s no particularly elegant Undo button!

Related Posts