Stupid Question

[marlowe221]

Sorry for the basic-ness of this question but...

If I get a US (NTSC) Master System, will I be able to play PAL, Japanese, or Brazilian carts?

[goldenband]

Sorry for the basic-ness of this question but...

If I get a US (NTSC) Master System, will I be able to play PAL, Japanese, or Brazilian carts?

Mostly, no, and I think so.

More specifically:

- PAL games will mostly work, but some aren't compatible with being run at 60Hz on a real US Master System (some of those will work on a PBC);
- Japanese and Korean games have a different pinout and, with a couple exceptions, won't get past the BIOS lockout even if you have an adapter;
- I think all Brazilian games should work unless there are subtle issues I don't know about.

[marlowe221]

Mostly, no, and I think so.

More specifically:

- PAL games will mostly work, but some aren't compatible with being run at 60Hz on a real US Master System (some of those will work on a PBC);
- Japanese and Korean games have a different pinout and, with a couple exceptions, won't get past the BIOS lockout even if you have an adapter;
- I think all Brazilian games should work unless there are subtle issues I don't know about.

Is there a convenient list someplace that happens to list the uncooperative PAL games?

[goldenband]

Here's one list:

http://www.smspower.org/Tags/PALOnly

Not sure if it's complete, though, and I'm pretty sure some of those games will work on a Power Base Converter. There's another list here that deals with other issues as well:

http://www.smspower.org/forums/12093...SGamesHardware

And yet another list here:

http://web.archive.org/web/200503061.../smscompat.txt