Sega Genesis 3 - The Search for Something More...

Inviere · 13-10-2025 05:15PM #1

The Sega Genesis 3 is little more than a cut down, bargain bin licensed version of the Genesis. It IS licensed though, with custom Sega hardware, so I'm not inclined to call it a clone like some do, but hey ho. It's omissions are well known, no 32X support, no Sega CD support, Mono Audio output (and crap quality at that)…it's really been stripped bare. However, we CAN restore some of these functions back to it, to turn into into the Neptune's baby brother (the Genesis 3 shell does have mini Neptune vibes.)

^^ Little Neptune! It's a tiny, kinda nice looking shell I admit.

^^ The AV and DC ports are on the side sadly, but with this thing being so small, I can see why.

^^ A little test to make sure it works before I do anything to it. I think I bought it as untested, can't remember to be sure, but very little can go wrong with these so they're usually a safe bet.

^^ Under the shell, there's a large RF shield.

^^ and under the shield, lies the interesting stuff. The main IC in the middle is a GOAC (Genesis on a Chip).

^^ The great Luke from Console5 provides once again…a full cap kit for the G3.

^^ Luckily I checked, as many of these caps were showing signs of letting go. Their solder pads had gotten very dull, and patches of corrosion here and there too.

^^ Decapped!

^^ Recapped!

^^ Another test, and all is well.

^^ Next up, is a treble bypass mod. This way we'll get audio that's on par with the best versions of the Megadrive, and while the G3 has solid video output already, this will bring it to the highest level.

^^ I'll mount it on the underside of the board, atop the AV port pins. It's designed to be mounted here, but some might choose to do a top install.

^^ I flush cut all of the solder pads here, to get the 3BP to lie as flat as possible.

^^ I then cut this trace, to ensure the mono output isn't being sent to both speakers anymore.

^^ Internal guide post removed, as the 3BP board blocks the hole where this guide is meant to go.

^^ The Red, Green, and Blue video output pins are now disconnected. The 3BP board will handle it's own processing for these signals instead.

^^ x5 SMD components removed, and the x3 audio wires connected up in circuit.

^^ Re, Green, & Blue wires now soldered into circuit.

^^ 3BP Board configured for the Genesis 3, and now soldered into place.

^^ RBG wires now soldered on the other end to the 3BP

The 3 audio wires now soldered to the 3BP too (Left, Right, and PSG).

^^ Now, what about this little gem from Jo at Consoles Unleashed? A QSB that gives me back Virtua Racing Support (the Genesis 3 natively can't play it), and CD audio back too!

^^ Test fit, looks great.

^^ Simple to solder, great little product.

^^ I then patch in the CD Audio to my 3BP board with the purple & grey wires.

^^ Top side done

^^ Bottom side done.

^^ One last thing, let's add a power led! We take a 5v and ground, for use later on.

^^ The cheapest of cheap solutions to a power indicator, an order sticker. This has to go!

^^ I remove the sticker, and refit it on the inside of the shell. No reason other than not wanting to throw out the original sticker

^^ Small hole drilled, and filed as close as possible to a rectangle shape. It's a tiny drill hole in person, so it can be hard to judge.

^^ Nice snug fit.

^^ I lightly sand the top of the LED to give it a brushed/opaque effect. You can see it here compared to an identical unsanded LED.

^^ A drop of hot-glue. Not my preferred weapon of choice, but sometimes it's perfect the job.

^^ 5v connected to the LED through a 3k ohm resistor. I used a pretty high rated resistor to dim the light down enough to what looks like a factory-glow level, not retina burning!