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  • Joined: 23 Jul 2022
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SMS loose carts PAL / NTSC
Post Posted: Sat Jul 23, 2022 1:38 am
Hi all,

Is there any way to tell if a loose cart is PAL or NTSC?
Anything to look for on boards or chips?

Thanks
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Post Posted: Sat Jul 23, 2022 7:15 am
No, they are identical - apart from if the game itself is a regional exclusive.
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  • Joined: 23 Jul 2022
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Post Posted: Mon Jul 25, 2022 1:19 am
Maxim wrote
No, they are identical - apart from if the game itself is a regional exclusive.


Thanks for the quick reply!

I've read that PAL are on 50 hz and NTSC on 60 hz. I have an NTSC Master system 1, and I know for sure I have several PAL and several NTSC games, which all work as it is not region locked.

So I guess carts are "made" to be optimised in 50 or 60? Would it be possible that PAL games on my NTSC console could be identified because of visual glitches for example?

There is so much variation with pricing for some games depending on their region I'd really like to be able to identify loose ones but I cant find anything so far!
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  • Joined: 11 Mar 2018
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  • Location: New Zealand
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Post Posted: Mon Jul 25, 2022 4:24 am
Most PAL games should play fine on an NTSC console.

This site does have a list of "PAL Only" games that have known glitches when used on an NTSC console:
https://www.smspower.org/Tags/PALOnly
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  • Joined: 23 Jul 2022
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Post Posted: Fri Jul 29, 2022 2:16 pm
Thanks for your input. Yes my PAL games work fine, still there seems to be small image glitches from time to time. For example with Bomber Raid, sometimes the bullets I fire completely disappear, even if I still hear the sound effect, then it comes back after around 10 secs.

From the list you mentionned, I only have Sonic 2, and havnt encountered any severe issue except from the same little quick video glitches when for example rings or enemies tend to fade off for 1 or 2 seconds...

This pal vs ntsc is still really weird to deal with. For example an NTSC Alex kidd in miracle world is priced around 40$ while the PAL one is around 110$???!!!!
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  • Joined: 24 Aug 2014
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Question regarding buying games
Post Posted: Sat Nov 12, 2022 6:50 am
So just to be clear, is there no difference between carts whether they are optimized for PAL or NTSC if they were released in both the USA and Europe? All carts are optimized for whichever format was commonplace where they were initially developed and released? If I pick up both the American version and the European version of any game they will both play at the exact same speed, being optimized for only one of the two formats?

I'm asking because I'm trying to build up my Master System collection and in some cases the American versions of certain games are prohibitively expensive. I'd be more than happy to buy the European releases instead if they play the same.
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  • Joined: 01 Feb 2014
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Post Posted: Sat Nov 12, 2022 7:21 am
Yes, that’s correct. The carts are identical, the games just run a little slower on a 50 Hz machine.
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Post Posted: Thu Nov 17, 2022 4:11 am
Kagesan wrote
Yes, that’s correct. The carts are identical, the games just run a little slower on a 50 Hz machine.


Man, I went out of my way to buy the Japanese cart for Bubble Bobble just to be sure I'd have one that played at the right speed. Wish I'd realized I could have just bought the European cart.
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  • Joined: 23 Aug 2009
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Post Posted: Thu Nov 17, 2022 5:08 pm
well, if I remember correctly, the European version has a bug in it that was corrected in the JP version, so you may have inadvertently dodged a bullet.
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Post Posted: Thu Nov 17, 2022 7:25 pm
SavagePencil wrote
well, if I remember correctly, the European version has a bug in it that was corrected in the JP version, so you may have inadvertently dodged a bullet.


That's certainly nice to hear. Any idea what the bug was?
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  • Joined: 23 Aug 2009
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Post Posted: Thu Nov 17, 2022 8:11 pm
I am mistaken! That was in Rainbow Islands. However, there is some content that is specific in the JP version of Bubble Bobble: https://tcrf.net/Bubble_Bobble_(Sega_Master_System)
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Post Posted: Thu Nov 17, 2022 8:22 pm
Yeah, reportedly the Brazilian version of Rainbow Islands fixed a bug that caused the ending to not work when run on a console without a standard SMS BIOS (such as a Genesis).
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Post Posted: Fri Nov 18, 2022 2:19 pm
KingMike wrote
Yeah, reportedly the Brazilian version of Rainbow Islands fixed a bug that caused the ending to not work when run on a console without a standard SMS BIOS (such as a Genesis).


That's really good to know. I'll make a point to pick up a Brazilian copy.
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Post Posted: Sat Nov 19, 2022 3:35 pm
There's two games with different US/PAL ROMs. Space Harrier (50Hz version glitches at 60Hz), and World Grand Prix. I was unable to find any differences playing the two different World Grand Prix versions side by side. These also have different product codes for US/PAL versions.
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  • Joined: 05 Apr 2020
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Post Posted: Sun Nov 20, 2022 11:02 am
BKK wrote
There's two games with different US/PAL ROMs. Space Harrier (50Hz version glitches at 60Hz), and World Grand Prix. I was unable to find any differences playing the two different World Grand Prix versions side by side. These also have different product codes for US/PAL versions.

You can add Captain Silver ;)
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  • Joined: 01 May 2011
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Post Posted: Sun Nov 20, 2022 12:47 pm
yogi_om wrote
BKK wrote
There's two games with different US/PAL ROMs. Space Harrier (50Hz version glitches at 60Hz), and World Grand Prix. I was unable to find any differences playing the two different World Grand Prix versions side by side. These also have different product codes for US/PAL versions.

You can add Captain Silver ;)


I forgot the most obvious one :p
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  • Joined: 02 Jan 2005
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Post Posted: Mon Nov 21, 2022 4:52 am
Operation Wolf resets after the second stage in NTSC. I wonder if they fixed that in the Brazilian version.
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Post Posted: Tue Nov 21, 2023 1:39 pm
CRV wrote
Operation Wolf resets after the second stage in NTSC. I wonder if they fixed that in the Brazilian version.


They would have had to. Brazilian systems use PAL colors, but they run at 60hz, same as an NTSC system.
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