Dreamcast:Region-Locked Light Gun Games and Patches
Some NTSC-U Dreamcast games contain code to region-lock supported light gun peripherals. This prevents the use of the official SEGA light guns released in both PAL or NTSC-J territories, forcing players to use any number of the third-party guns available (or the officially licensed "Dream Blaster" from Mad Catz).
According to Wikipedia, the reasoning behind this decision from Sega is as follows:
Not releasing and locking out the official gun in North America was an intentional move on Sega's part, who were worried about bad press after the Columbine High School massacre. Instead, Mad Catz released an officially licensed light gun in America, which does work with Sega's US gun games. The official European and Asian Dreamcast Gun does not work with any American games. American consoles can run Japanese games using this gun since it is the software that disallows the gun, not the console.
Thankfully, patches exist for the three NTSC-U releases that implemented code for light gun region-locking.
Region-Free Light Gun Patches
The below patches were developed by megavolt85 (of Atomiswave conversion fame).
- Confidential Mission (NTSC-U, Download DCP patch for use with Universal Dreamcast Patcher)
- Death Crimson OX (NTSC-U, Download DCP patch for use with Universal Dreamcast Patcher)
- The House of the Dead 2 (NTSC-U, Download DCP patch for use with Universal Dreamcast Patcher)