I'm wondering how well PAL games play on an NTSC SMS/Genesis with Power base converter and the other way around? Are there any major issues I should be aware of? Because some of the SMS games I'm getting are PAL-only.
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I'm wondering how well PAL games play on an NTSC SMS/Genesis with Power base converter and the other way around? Are there any major issues I should be aware of? Because some of the SMS games I'm getting are PAL-only.
SMS Sonic games run better in 50Hz than in 60Hz, they're all much less choppy then. Same will probably apply to other games... I have only 5 SMS games, all European, and all running poorly in 60Hz.
They are playable though, they just run with a few slowdowns here and there.
Most Japanese made games will play perfectly on American consoles, for some reason even though these games were only released in Europe the Japanese carried on designing the games for NTSC machines anyway. The only exception that I've personally seen is Taito who seem to have designed their PAL exclusives to run at PAL standard (if you play Rainbow Islands at 60hz you can clearly hear the music is sped up, also Sagaia feels like its playing too fast)Quote:
Originally Posted by 5233
However games made from 1993 and onwards are often ported from Game Gear, and it seems when porting games optimised for Game Gear to Master System the extra screen area and resolution causes a lot of slowdown, this is when having a PAL console helps because our machines play everything slightly slower and with a slower update rate so it takes some of the strain off the CPU.
European made games are another issue altogether though, most of our games will be created to play at 50hz so there will be a variety of issues ranging from not starting up at all (New Zealand Story) to graphical glitches (Dracula)
EDIT: just thought I'd better clear up, New Zealand Story is originally made by Japanese company Taito, but the Master System port was made by UK company Tecmagic.
The only really major problems are with Codemasters games, and maybe one or two others. If you've never played the game in PAL to begin with, you'll have no point of reference and any difference in speed will just seem like that's how the game is.
I have a modded megadrive with a powerbase converter. I am running all my sms games (shinobi, sonic 1-3, land of illusion,...) @60hz with no problems.
Does that mean that PAL SMS players never got to experience all those first party/NTSC games the way they were meant to be played?Quote:
Originally Posted by j_factor
Yup, every first party Master System game I've played is slow on PAL, even really late games like Sonic Chaos which were PAL exclusives run with slow music and gameplay.Quote:
Originally Posted by Black_Tiger
however it has to be said that late day Game Gear ports like Sonic Chaos are much more consistant in PAL due to the lower update rate of our TVs, I'd play Sonic Chaos slower but consistant on PAL over the up and down slow down ridden experience you get with an NTSC machine any day.
Fixed.Quote:
Originally Posted by Black_Tiger
- and it never really changed up until today. (Dreamcast and its VGA mode is an exception though. And Nintendo at least tried to provide players with PAL optimized games from time to time.)
Dreamcast 60hz mode works fine for like 90% of its games so i'd really say that it was the first time Europeans didn't get a raw deal.Quote:
Originally Posted by Christuserloeser
Nintendo took a leaf out of Sega's book and added a 60hz option to the Gamecube as well so that's was pretty much fine too.
Out of the last generation consoles I'd say the only one that had a lot of issues was the PS2, it was quite late by the time Sony got their act together with that.
The thing is that alot of Americans who come across PAL made only releases like for example ''Lemmings'' on SEGA Master System which was designed for PAL 50hz and play it on their NTSC 60hz SMS, they automatically assume that the music and speed of the game is meant to look and sound that fast, every video of SMS Lemmings on Youtube is uploaded with 60hz speed when that game is meant to run at 50hz seeing as it was made in England by Probe Software.
''Can Can'' ain't supposed to sound that bloody quick!