Side Connector (Mega CD)

The connector block that joins the Mega CD to the Mega Drive has several versions, and it must match the Mega CD motherboard revision to work correctly.

Some Mega CD revisions use a side conector with passive components, while others use a version that has Peel IC (custom FPGA/PLD).

If you use a passive side connector with a motherboard that requiers a Peel IC or the other way around, it may not work at all, or it may work but with graphical glitches on the BIOS screen.

There is a remake of the side connector PCB with the Peel IC logic here.

There are motherboard remakes and details of identifying which motherboard uses which side connector here.