hong kong and Japanese MD differences

[beecee]

Whats the difference between these machines, if i had ONLY the consoles in front of me, how can you tell them apart?

[Yakumo]

I made a thread all about this but it's probably gone now

[dyer60]

The most obvious difference will be in the sticker on the bottom of the console, if it states “PAL-1” it’s from Hong Kong.

A pure Japanese machine will also have some white text on the top towards the back, can’t remember what it states though!

if you can post a pic of the top and bottom and I’ll let you know.

[JazzFunk]

I got a Hong Kong one without leads for a quid back in the day at a car boot, visuals were always 'fizzy', don't know if it was due to damage or what, it DID actually work and play games, just fizzy.