Question about NES playability in PAL vs. NTSC

XYZXYZ
in Collector's Corner
I just watched an episode of AVGN where he reviewed Dragon's Lair for NES. The game sucks big time. But he makes a comment that the PAL version is much smoother. Upon viewing some videos of the PAL version, it appears so. I am very curious to know 2 things. First what is the actual difference between the two? And second, what other NES games have known differences between NTSC and PAL? I personally am now VERY interested in obtaining a PAL Dragon's Lair because the NTSC version is seriously pitiful but to me, with the right controls, it looks like it could be fun.



I have been working on a list for years that documents PAL vs. NTSC title differences (e.g. Bad Dudes Vs. Dragon Ninja for PAL and Bad Dudes for NTSC). But I've never bothered to even consider actual gameplay differences. This to me is a very interesting thing to learn. What if all the shitty NTSC games are masterpieces on the PAL? ;p

Comments

  • Luigi_MasterLuigi_Master
    The US version was designed for use on a UNROM chip, while the PAL version was designed for a TLROM chip. I'm not exactly sure how that would factor into the speed difference, unless the TLROM board can process more than UNROM or something like that.



    The Japanese version of the game also runs faster than the US version. It runs as fast as the PAL cart on a PAL system, but the PAL cart on an NTSC system would, I guess, run the fastest.
  • removed04092017removed04092017
    Just by looking at the games boards you should know: the US version got cheapo-d out. They didn't want to buy Nintendos mappers and decided to put it on UNROM and throw a TON of updates for the animations...which as you can clearly see, hurt badly.



    Jut played some, the PAL version has bad scanline glitches at NTSC speed.



    And does anybody really play this game? I'd suggest you check out Prince of Persia instead...



    ETA: Okay, Arcade might be good, but this NES verson just sucks... (Just watched SNES and Arcade gameplay, this game got killed on the NES.)



    ETA Again: As for PAL vs NTSC, there is no set difference, it only matters how the game is programmed. Most of the times NTSC will be faster unless there was a sub-pixel implementation for objects and they compensated for it that way making the movement speed proportional for only 50 frames vs 60. Some homebrewers today like th drop every 6th frame and do nothing too, to try to get the same speed with little programming. And I'm sure theres some I missed on what to do to try to fix it.
  • dra600ndra600n

    Originally posted by: 3GenGames





    And does anybody really play this game? I'd suggest check out Prince of Persia instead...



    Because Dragon's Lair is a good game and people like it? It might be bad port on the NES, but on SNES, Sega CD, and the arcade version, they're fun games.


  • Luigi_MasterLuigi_Master
    Prince of Persia for the NES was also programmed by the same people who made Dragon's Lair for the NES, who was Motive Time, correct?



    I like DL for the NES. Kinda fun once you get the hang of it.
  • removed04092017removed04092017
    Same people and same company don't mean the same thing, but it's possiblish. Anyone got a credits video for both to check it out? But they also share the same delayed-control style, so it's got me thinking it's probable.
  • XYZXYZ
    I want to like Dragon's Lair NES NTSC. I really like the concept, it's just executed poorly in the US version. I've yet to try the PAL or Japanese version so I can't comment on it yet. Trial and error games which involve memory are actually far and few between, and that's why I think the original was so cool to play back in the day. If you think about it, the NES version turns the original animated version into a platform memory game. It really is a unique idea. Want to talk about the worst game ever? Try the sequel to Dragon's Lair on SNES: Space Ace - same concept but even worse. That one's absolute trash and aggravating as hell. Yet Dragon's Lair SNES is not bad at all and steps away from the trial and error concept altogether. Oh, the Game Boy game is pretty f'n bad too. It looks like DL for SNES was made by Data East, which might explain a few things.
  • ShinjuShinju

    Originally posted by: Luigi_Master



    Prince of Persia for the NES was also programmed by the same people who made Dragon's Lair for the NES, who was Motive Time, correct?



    I like DL for the NES. Kinda fun once you get the hang of it.

    Motive Time did not program Prince of Persia, they just ported it. Prince of Persia was programmed by Jordan Mechner.



    No idea who did Dragons Lair NES.




  • Luigi_MasterLuigi_Master
    That's what I said, "Prince of Persia for the NES". NES Cart DB tells me that Motive Time did both games, and both games use a UNROM board, not to mention they both have incredibly fluid and smooth graphics.  Factor in the delayed input and the similarities start to manifest themselves.



    They also say that T&C Surf Designs and Gotcha were programmed by a Japanese company called "Shimada Kikaku", and they also did Felix the Cat, but that's for another thread.
  • bronzeshieldbronzeshield
    Since this thread comes up immediately on a search for "Dragon's Lair" + PAL + NTSC, I thought it could use a link to some actual hard info:



    https://tcrf.net/Dragon's_Lair_(NES)



    They did a fair bit to spruce the PAL version up, even beyond the framerate increase over the NTSC-U version.



    Whether those changes represent an improvement to the underlying game, well, that's a different question...
  • TulpaTulpa
    The link got cut off.

    tcrf.net/Dragon's_Lair_(NES)



    Someone posted this video of the two.

  • VGS_OptOutVGS_OptOut
    As someone who grew up playing the PAL version, never getting past the first screen, I can assure you that whatever they may or may not have done to the game it still fucking sucks!  
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