Picked up a Megadrive PAL game in the US...had a few questions

Hello,
I picked up a PAL Megadrive game today: Warlock (Beware the Ultimate Evil of,)
It has the megadrive blue spine, has multiple languages on back and the instructions are the 'landscape' style. The cart also says Megadrive...
Anyway, played it on my model 1 Genesis (NTSC) and plays great...sounds good, looks good.
Atm, only have the language mod (Jp/Eng) on my Genesis.
Just wondering how a PAL game works fine on a NTSC machine... I'm guessing maybe some games can be played on both systems (PAL & NTSC)?

t

This ties into that other thread about early Canadian Genesis games being PAL releases.

Not every game is region-locked.

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Originally Posted by Olls

Not every game is region-locked.

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I've also found out that all Master System titles are region free, at least with the Power Base Converter. I don't own a Master System.

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Originally Posted by NinMicroSega

I've also found out that all Master System titles are region free, at least with the Power Base Converter. I don't own a Master System.

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Not true, some PAL SMS games are only enhanced for 50Hz...They will play with glitches at 60Hz in any system or converter...

Thanks for the replies :)
Yeah, knew about the region lock, but was wondering about the 50/60Hz and also the line/resolution difference 625/525 (PAL/NTSC). I guess I was expecting some glitches or problems running the game...

Warlock is underrated. Loved this game and finished it. I think the 2D graphics are gorgeous.

Some games aren't region locked...some are the same world-wide, and the only differences show when playing on another region console.

I got PAL carts of Phantasy Star 2 and 3 for $10 total, I have never seen carts so mint in my life, and much cheaper than buying US copies.

There's the region lock but there also are PAL optimizations which might cause serious problems when trying to play some PAL games on a 60Hz machine (and TV). Others might simply run slightly too fast - like some European SMS releases.

Both US and Europe Warlock cartridges have the same ROM, so there should not be any issue with your copy (unless Acclaim did something weird we don't know about, which is unlikely).

I found PAL Sonic 2 in the wild by chance and it seems compatible with even my US S&K. Hearing praise after praise for MD rather than Genesis has been influencing me very slowly.

Sonic 2 is the exact same way — same ROM for all regions (though there are different versions, with newer versions having bugfixes, but all ROMs circulated in all regions). S&K (which is also the same for every region) doesn't care.

I should make a NTSC/PAL list on Sega Retro after I finish correcting the List of MD Games.

Yup, there's a lot of games out there without region locks, and with either no PAL-specific optimizations (i.e. they'll run with black borders and at a slower speed on a European console), or with both NTSC and PAL code on the same cartridge. Most games up until 1993 are region free and cross-region compatible, and somewhere around 1995 the trend towards multi-region games started once again.

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Originally Posted by andlabs

S&K (which is also the same for every region) doesn't care.

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The funny thing about this is that S&K's lock-on technology is an effective way to make Sonic 3 (which is otherwise region locked) a region free game.

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Originally Posted by NinMicroSega

This ties into that other thread about early Canadian Genesis games being PAL releases.

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Canadian Genesis releases aren't 100% PAL though. They all have a Genesis logo in place of the Mega Drive version ("MD" might appear in normal text though) and are meant for NTSC systems. So basically CAN region games are US games with PAL packaging.

I still think we got the better Sonic coverart. The background may be weird, but you cannot deny how epic Sonic looks, just chilling on the cover. :cool: