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RetroBIOS

PicoDrive

PicoDrive emulates Sega Mega Drive, Sega Genesis, Sega Mega CD and 6 more systems. It picks the BIOS for your game's region: us_scd2_9306.bin (North America and Latin America), eu_mcd2_9306.bin (Europe and Oceania) or jp_mcd2_921222.bin (Japan). The 13 other files are optional. A required file is needed only by the machines that use it. Each file below cites the line of source code that reads it.

About this profile
Detail Value
Type libretro
Classification Official port
Source https://github.com/libretro/picodrive
Upstream https://github.com/irixxxx/picodrive
Version 2.05, stated in platform/common/version.h
Revision libretro/picodrive@1890c2932234, irixxxx/picodrive@5f9e79f21774
Profiled 2026-03-24
Profile YAML, JSON
Cores picodrive
Systems Sega Mega Drive, Sega Genesis, Sega Mega CD, Sega 32X, Sega Master System, Sega Game Gear, Sega SG-1000, Sega SC-3000, Sega Pico
Install this emulator's files

The installer finds your setup and its BIOS folder, then downloads only the files this emulator reads there and checks each one.

Open the Start menu. Type PowerShell and open it. Paste the line. Press Enter.

PowerShell
&([scriptblock]::Create((irm https://abdess.github.io/retrobios/i.ps1))) --emulator picodrive
Platform details
Technical notes

PicoDrive is a fast Mega Drive / Genesis emulator with Mega CD, 32X, Master System, Game Gear, SG-1000, SC-3000 and Sega Pico support. The libretro port is part of the PicoDrive source tree (platform/libretro/).

Mega CD / Sega CD games require a region-matching BIOS file. The core searches the system directory for each name in order, trying .bin then .zip extension, and uses the first file found. If no BIOS is found, CD games fail to load with PM_BAD_CD_NO_BIOS. MSU-MD games can run without BIOS.

BIOS filename search order (platform/libretro/libretro.c:1272-1336): US: us_scd2_9306, SegaCDBIOS9303, us_scd1_9210, bios_CD_U EU: eu_mcd2_9306, eu_mcd2_9303, eu_mcd1_9210, bios_CD_E JP: jp_mcd2_921222, jp_mcd1_9112, jp_mcd1_9111, bios_CD_J

32X BIOS files (m68k, master SH2, slave SH2) are fully optional. The engine has built-in HLE that generates replacement code at startup when the BIOS pointers are NULL (pico/32x/memory.c:2202 get_bios(), pico/32x/32x.c:172). No current frontend (libretro or standalone) loads these files, and the standalone loading code is disabled (#if 0 in platform/common/emu.c:1530).

carthw.cfg is a cartridge hardware database loaded from the system directory. A built-in version is compiled into the core (pico/carthw_cfg.c). The external file supplements or overrides game-specific hardware detection (SVP, EEPROM types, special mappers, copy protection).

Master System, Game Gear, SG-1000, SC-3000: no BIOS file loaded. The core initializes VDP registers and RAM to simulate post-BIOS state (pico/sms.c:1080-1097).

Files

Section titled “Files”

16 files. One of 3 is required, for your games' region. 13 are optional. 3 have an HLE fallback.

In this collection: 16 in repo and 0 missing.

Required

Section titled “Required”
FileStatus

us_scd2_9306.bin

  • System: Sega Mega CD
  • US Sega CD Model 2 BIOS (September 1993). First in US search order. The US list serves every disc whose security byte is neither 0x64 nor 0xa1 (pico/cd/cd_image.c:190, 247-248).
Priority and source
required for Sega Mega CD in repo Region: North America and Latin America

eu_mcd2_9306.bin

  • System: Sega Mega CD
  • EU Mega CD Model 2 BIOS (June 1993). First in EU search order, used when security byte 0x20b is 0x64, the only PAL branch for Australian discs (pico/media.c:243-247, platform/libretro/libretro.c:1306-1308).
Priority and source
required for Sega Mega CD in repo Region: Europe and Oceania

jp_mcd2_921222.bin

  • System: Sega Mega CD
  • JP Mega CD Model 2 BIOS (December 1992). First in JP search order.
Priority and source
required for Sega Mega CD in repo Region: Japan

Optional

Section titled “Optional”
FileStatus

carthw.cfg

  • Cartridge hardware database for special mapper and EEPROM detection. Built-in fallback compiled into the core.
Source
in repo

SegaCDBIOS9303.bin

  • System: Sega Mega CD
  • US Sega CD BIOS (March 1993). Second in US search order.
Priority and source
in repo Region: North America and Latin America

us_scd1_9210.bin

  • System: Sega Mega CD
  • US Sega CD Model 1 BIOS (October 1992). Third in US search order.
Priority and source
in repo Region: North America and Latin America

bios_CD_U.bin

  • System: Sega Mega CD
  • US Sega CD BIOS (generic name). Last in US search order.
Priority and source
in repo Region: North America and Latin America

eu_mcd2_9303.bin

  • System: Sega Mega CD
  • EU Mega CD Model 2 BIOS (March 1993). Second in EU search order.
Priority and source
in repo Region: Europe and Oceania

eu_mcd1_9210.bin

  • System: Sega Mega CD
  • EU Mega CD Model 1 BIOS (October 1992). Third in EU search order.
Priority and source
in repo Region: Europe and Oceania

bios_CD_E.bin

  • System: Sega Mega CD
  • EU Mega CD BIOS (generic name). Last in EU search order.
Priority and source
in repo Region: Europe and Oceania

jp_mcd1_9112.bin

  • System: Sega Mega CD
  • JP Mega CD Model 1 BIOS (December 1991). Second in JP search order.
Priority and source
in repo Region: Japan

jp_mcd1_9111.bin

  • System: Sega Mega CD
  • JP Mega CD Model 1 BIOS (November 1991). Third in JP search order.
Priority and source
in repo Region: Japan

bios_CD_J.bin

  • System: Sega Mega CD
  • JP Mega CD BIOS (generic name). Last in JP search order.
Priority and source
in repo Region: Japan

32X_G_BIOS.BIN

  • System: Sega 32X
  • 32X 68K (Genesis-side) BIOS. HLE replacement generated when NULL.
Source
in repo HLE fallback

32X_M_BIOS.BIN

  • System: Sega 32X
  • 32X Master SH2 BIOS. HLE replacement generated when NULL.
Source
in repo HLE fallback

32X_S_BIOS.BIN

  • System: Sega 32X
  • 32X Slave SH2 BIOS. HLE replacement generated when NULL.
Source
in repo HLE fallback

Next steps

Section titled “Next steps”
.

Maintained by Abdess on GitHub. Report a problem.

Packs from release v2026.10.10, .

MIT for the tooling and metadata. BIOS and firmware files are third-party system software, preserved for personal backup, archival and interoperability.