Noob Q - Do PAL Games work in the US?

Pedro12345Pedro12345
in Collector's Corner

Like the title says...can PAL games be played in the US.  Just looking through the game list I can see that they weren't meant to be, but say by some freak occurance I came across Snowboard Challenge or something, could I play it on my US system?  Is there some sort of block out chip or something that you can disable?

Also, on a possibly related note, does the "72-pin connector" have anything to do with it and if not, what is that for?  Thanks in advance for any help.

Comments

  • nes_kingnes_king
    you can play most pal games on a top loading nes system... i believe there is a lockout chip on the normal toaster style nes, but i think you can disable that chip... someone here will know for sure..
  • arch_8ngelarch_8ngel
    The timing on the game will be incorrect. I think PAL stuff is 50Hz instead of 60Hz.
  • PalcomPalcom
    Many games will react differently from each other when played on a foreign-region medium. I have some videos on my channel where I showcase how games will play on a different console. Most of them will play faster (PAL in NTSC) or slower (NTSC in PAL) and some will have issues while playing.



    http://www.youtube.com/user/Hardstylerocka?feature=mhw4



    Both the Toploader and the Toaster are able to play these games, the latter one however needs to be modified in order to get the games to work. The Toaster uses a lockout chip which will prevent foreign carts to play. There are tutorials on Youtube which explain how to mod your NES.
  • mb7241mb7241
    Yup; different PAL games will work differently on NTSC systems. On a toaster, you may need to cut pin #4 on the lockout chip to get them to work at all...but on a top-loader, you should just be able to pop in and play.

  • Baksteen666Baksteen666
    The music of the PAL games is too high pitched and sometimes runs faster. Overall the game runs faster and therefore timing could be off and glitches will appear. This does not hold for all games. I haven't tested many of my games on my PAL NES but I know similar problems occur when playing NTSC games on a PAL NES lice Palcom shows in his youtube video
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