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Hey guys, if there's already an existing posting for this, I apologize. I did a search and couldn't find anything.

Anyway, my question is this:

If a Brazilian version exists of a game that's known to only be compatible with PAL systems, shouldn't the Brazilian version still be fully functional in NTSC systems?

I ask this because Brazil's PAL-M standard only uses PAL for color, but still runs at 60HZ, the same as an NTSC system. I figure if it can run on a Brazilian system without crashing, it should likewise be able to run just fine on a standard NTSC system.

I know some games like Back To the Future 2 and Operation Wolf received Brazilian releases, so I figure that's the way I should go for collecting.

Any thoughts?

While it is true that it is the 60Hz vs 50Hz timing that matters, not the TV signal encoding, I was under the impression that TecToy simply released those games unaltered with glitches.

I have Tec Toy's Prince of Persia and Bart vs. the Space Mutants on my collection and can confirm they were released without any changes. Space Mutants is basically unbeatable on a 60hz Master System, because the last stage glitches uncontrollably. Prince of Persia has lots of ugly graphical glitches. Stick to the European versions, at least you'll have English text on their boxes and manuals.

This is a bit shocking to hear. It's not like TecToy was without their own programmers. I suppose I could test these games to see the results by loading the Brazilian roms on a flash cart? It should play exactly the same as the actual cart, right?

Yes, and I think you’ll find the Brazilian ROMs are in fact the European ROMs with no changes.

You can see from TecToy’s own software that their quality control was not very rigorous. They did not have source code for most of the games, nor did they (probably) have the skills to adapt them. The Game Gear version of Prince of Persia is probably safe to use on a 60Hz SMS - maybe test that too.

Maxim wrote

Yes, and I think you’ll find the Brazilian ROMs are in fact the European ROMs with no changes.

You can see from TecToy’s own software that their quality control was not very rigorous. They did not have source code for most of the games, nor did they (probably) have the skills to adapt them. The Game Gear version of Prince of Persia is probably safe to use on a 60Hz SMS - maybe test that too.

So that means that BTTF 3 is not working on Brazilian console if 60Hz only...

yogi_om wrote

Maxim wrote

Yes, and I think you’ll find the Brazilian ROMs are in fact the European ROMs with no changes.

You can see from TecToy’s own software that their quality control was not very rigorous. They did not have source code for most of the games, nor did they (probably) have the skills to adapt them. The Game Gear version of Prince of Persia is probably safe to use on a 60Hz SMS - maybe test that too.

So that means that BTTF 3 is not working on Brazilian console if 60Hz only...

Maybe that explains why Tectoy never released BTTF3 on the SMS.

Now I remember finishing PoP back in the day on a Tectoy SMS + Tectoy PoP without any issues, but Bart vs the Space Mutants, oh boy I always thought my cart was damaged somehow until I saw the glitches on other carts as well. So it was a 50/60Hz issue after all...

PrOfUnD Darkness wrote

Now I remember finishing PoP back in the day on a Tectoy SMS + Tectoy PoP without any issues, but Bart vs the Space Mutants, oh boy I always thought my cart was damaged somehow until I saw the glitches on other carts as well. So it was a 50/60Hz issue after all...

Yup, Prince of Persia is winnable. But it is ugly as f*ck in some parts because it's running too fast (take a look at the stones the Prince must step on to activate something - they flicker as if there is no tomorrow). But Bart vs the Space Mutants is truly a mess. My brother and I used to laugh at the game all the time, until we finally discovered - years later - that the joke was on us, TecToy had released a 50hz game.

mateusbond wrote

PrOfUnD Darkness wrote

Now I remember finishing PoP back in the day on a Tectoy SMS + Tectoy PoP without any issues, but Bart vs the Space Mutants, oh boy I always thought my cart was damaged somehow until I saw the glitches on other carts as well. So it was a 50/60Hz issue after all...

Yup, Prince of Persia is winnable. But it is ugly as f*ck in some parts because it's running too fast (take a look at the stones the Prince must step on to activate something - they flicker as if there is no tomorrow). But Bart vs the Space Mutants is truly a mess. My brother and I used to laugh at the game all the time, until we finally discovered - years later - that the joke was on us, TecToy had released a 50hz game.

I remember I could avoid the game from crashing walking to the opposite side from where the glitches were showing up. I believe I got up to the last stage, maybe finished it (not really sure).

PrOfUnD Darkness wrote

I remember I could avoid the game from crashing walking to the opposite side from where the glitches were showing up. I believe I got up to the last stage, maybe finished it (not really sure).

Yeah, I could avoid most of the glitches by doing that. I remember Maxim answering a question of mine about it some years ago, and explaining how the game's graphical tricks work in tandem with the horizontal movement. Maybe he can elucidate again, please Maxim?

I have no memory of that, sorry.

Maxim wrote

I have no memory of that, sorry.

No problem, I've found it:

Maxim wrote

Yeah, the background corruption was caused by the game updating an 8px column while scrolling but the glitch was making it scroll faster than 8px per frame so you got a mix of the left and right sides of the screen - but only when you made it scroll.

It's from this thread:

https://www.smspower.org/forums/18377-Cyberpunk2077AsSMSGameAuthenticityAnimationAdvicePls

I'm still curious if they fixed Operation Wolf for Brazil like they did Rainbow Islands.

CRV wrote

I'm still curious if they fixed Operation Wolf for Brazil like they did Rainbow Islands.

It's at the top of my list for the next batch of Brazilian games I'm planning on getting. If I can get my hands on it, I'll let you know.

Master System from tec toy runs at 50 hz

Edit: ¿PALM Runs at 60hz? O:

weirdzod wrote

Master System from tec toy runs at 50 hz

Edit: ¿PALM Runs at 60hz? O:

"PAL-M is used exclusively in Brazil, and is a hybrid of NTSC and PAL. PAL-M uses the same scanlines, frequency, and frame rate as NTSC, but uses a PAL color pallette. Keep in mind that this is the video format used by the TV, to our knowledge there aren't any cartridges actually programmed for PAL-M. This means that NTSC games will display on a PAL-M TV but the color may be different from that of an NTSC TV. Therefore, we have listed Brazilian games as being in NTSC format, even though the Brazilian video standard is PAL-M. Brazilian games should play fine on North American TV's.
Scanlines: 525
Frame Rate: 30 FPS
Frequency: 60 Hz"

https://atariage.com/common/video_key.php#:~:text=PAL%20is%20used%20in%20most,th...

CRV wrote

I'm still curious if they fixed Operation Wolf for Brazil like they did Rainbow Islands.

My batch of Brazilian games arrived today. Tell me what to look for and I'll check.

The King of the Mods wrote

My batch of Brazilian games arrived today. Tell me what to look for and I'll check.

In NTSC, on SMS 1 systems with Snail Maze built-in, it crashes and resets after the second stage. It does work with the Power Base Converter, though.

The King of the Mods wrote

weirdzod wrote

Master System from tec toy runs at 50 hz

Edit: ¿PALM Runs at 60hz? O:

"PAL-M is used exclusively in Brazil, and is a hybrid of NTSC and PAL. PAL-M uses the same scanlines, frequency, and frame rate as NTSC, but uses a PAL color pallette. Keep in mind that this is the video format used by the TV, to our knowledge there aren't any cartridges actually programmed for PAL-M. This means that NTSC games will display on a PAL-M TV but the color may be different from that of an NTSC TV. Therefore, we have listed Brazilian games as being in NTSC format, even though the Brazilian video standard is PAL-M. Brazilian games should play fine on North American TV's.
Scanlines: 525
Frame Rate: 30 FPS
Frequency: 60 Hz"

https://atariage.com/common/video_key.php#:~:text=PAL%20is%20used%20in%20most,th...

my memory on this _very_ fuzzy, since its been over 40 years, but i remember that videogame stores used to also sell "pal-m<->ntsc transcoders", because if you had a imported system, it would display in black and white, with artifacts sometimes aswell.
Other shops would simply transcode your console, changing components inside to make it work with pal-m tv.
this was more commonly done on nes system, because the master system was being produced by tectoy and importing a sms would cost more than buying a tectoy one, but since there were no Ni****do representation in the country, all nes'es were imported and had to be transcoded or used with a transcoder.
eventually, around the release of the megadrive, vcr's were able to transcode stuff, so you could use the a/v cables to hook up a ntsc system into your vcr and then relay the correct image to your tv.

some magazine ads i quickly looked that talked about this:
https://retroscans.org/scans/revistas/acao_games/acao_games_2.pdf - page 45, the yellow box on the right.

https://retroscans.org/scans/revistas/acao_games/acao_games_5.pdf - here, page 37, again, yellow box.

https://retroscans.org/scans/revistas/acao_games/acao_games_5.pdf - here page 6 - "mega importado" (translated: imported megadrive), talks about this.

there were a period of transition, where tvs would have a pal-m / ntsc switch, but this were only avaiable on the most expensive tvs (i never owned one of these), and eventually, Brazil transitioned to full ntsc tvs.

All big or small game stores and their grandmas would offer ntsc-palm "transcoding" (basically replacing the crystal and a few components) services back then. It was really popular for the original JP/Asian Mega Drive (it was everywhere, almost no one had a Genesis). Fun times to be a gamer for sure.

It's the poor quality Game Gear to Master System hacks that get on my nerves. Sonic Blast was 'officially' ported to the Master System by TecToy, except they didn't even move the ring counter into the top corner, left glitches all around the screen on the special stages and made the stage select inaccessible. It's done better by fans in this forum for fun in their spare time, and yet these are licenced releases.

Motivated ROM hackers can often do better than 'professionals' that are given very limited time and/or resources. Yes, I do agree that the quality of those conversions is often... meh.

True, I'm sure it wasn't the devs' fault. They will have just been told 'Make it work, we want it out right now' and did their best in the time they had.

Well, considering almost everything Tectoy did after the early 90s was at best "half baked", I'd think it was just another lazy attempt to grab some money. Their translation of Phantasy Star 3 for the Mega Drive is another good example.

yogi_om wrote

Maxim wrote

Yes, and I think you’ll find the Brazilian ROMs are in fact the European ROMs with no changes.

You can see from TecToy’s own software that their quality control was not very rigorous. They did not have source code for most of the games, nor did they (probably) have the skills to adapt them. The Game Gear version of Prince of Persia is probably safe to use on a 60Hz SMS - maybe test that too.

So that means that BTTF 3 is not working on Brazilian console if 60Hz only...

Does that game have lockout?
I know that Acclaim (under one of their other labels) published the Genesis version without caring about the framerate, so it wouldn't be the first time.
(though fans also discovered the palettes in that versions were also incorrectly encoded for the VDP, explaining why the colors were so dark)

tsp wrote

Well, considering almost everything Tectoy did after the early 90s was at best "half baked", I'd think it was just another lazy attempt to grab some money. Their translation of Phantasy Star 3 for the Mega Drive is another good example.

I could say the same for a lot of their hardware too, I have a Super Compact and it feels pretty flimsy considering how bulky it is.

CRV wrote

The King of the Mods wrote

My batch of Brazilian games arrived today. Tell me what to look for and I'll check.

In NTSC, on SMS 1 systems with Snail Maze built-in, it crashes and resets after the second stage. It does work with the Power Base Converter, though.

I've been backed up with projects but I finally got around to testing out Operation Wolf. I tested it on both my old American model 1 and my Japanese Master System and got the same results. There are definite problems with the game, but I'm not sure if it's a PAL/NTSC issue, or if there's something legitimately wrong with my cartridge, as these glitches are not what I was told to look out for. Bear in mind that I've never played this game before, so I have no frame of reference for how this game should behave under ideal conditions.

I'm under the impression that this game is intended to be played with either the light phaser or the controller. The start screen says press button 1 or fire trigger. Pressing button 1 seems to start the light phaser mode of the game instead of the controller mode, as there is no onscreen cursor, and the screen flashes white with every button press. There are also very noticeable glitches and artifacts on the screen, and on one play the screen changed colors and froze.

I haven't had the chance to try it with the light phaser yet, as my light phaser is buried in a box somewhere, and I'd have to hook up to the CRT in my bedroom.

So far, playing it on an NTSC system isn't looking promising.

I think you start with the controller in port 2 to use it. The system can’t tell the difference between the gun trigger and button 1 on a control pad.

The corruption you describe basically cannot be caused by a bad cartridge, either your system is faulty or the game is exceeding the timings (which is what 50/60Hz compatibility is all about).

Maxim wrote

I think you start with the controller in port 2 to use it. The system can’t tell the difference between the gun trigger and button 1 on a control pad.

The corruption you describe basically cannot be caused by a bad cartridge, either your system is faulty or the game is exceeding the timings (which is what 50/60Hz compatibility is all about).

I thought the Hang On/Safari Hunt cartridge started the same way and knew the difference, but I could be wrong, I haven't played it in years. Anyway, I'll try it again with the controller in the second controller port when I get home.

CRV wrote

The King of the Mods wrote

My batch of Brazilian games arrived today. Tell me what to look for and I'll check.

In NTSC, on SMS 1 systems with Snail Maze built-in, it crashes and resets after the second stage. It does work with the Power Base Converter, though.

So I went home and tried it again with the controller in the second controller port and it played just fine. No noticeable glitches or freezing. The only problem is I can't make it to the second stage to look for the problem I've been instructed to look for. I tried several times, but I get killed too fast. Quite frankly, the controls in the game are crap. The cursor is difficult to use, and while I can adjust to the left and right movement, the up and down movement is just way too fast. They should have slowed down the vertical movement to compensate for the screen dimensions.

I'm sure I'd be considerably better with the game if I was playing with the light phaser. If I can manage to find one of mine, I'll give it another try.

Author	Message
The King of the Mods Joined: 24 Aug 2014 Posts: 53	Question regarding Brazilian games and PAL compatability Posted: Tue Mar 12, 2024 1:21 pm
The King of the Mods Joined: 24 Aug 2014 Posts: 53	Hey guys, if there's already an existing posting for this, I apologize. I did a search and couldn't find anything. Anyway, my question is this: If a Brazilian version exists of a game that's known to only be compatible with PAL systems, shouldn't the Brazilian version still be fully functional in NTSC systems? I ask this because Brazil's PAL-M standard only uses PAL for color, but still runs at 60HZ, the same as an NTSC system. I figure if it can run on a Brazilian system without crashing, it should likewise be able to run just fine on a standard NTSC system. I know some games like Back To the Future 2 and Operation Wolf received Brazilian releases, so I figure that's the way I should go for collecting. Any thoughts?

Maxim Site Admin Joined: 19 Oct 1999 Posts: 14745 Location: London	Posted: Tue Mar 12, 2024 3:47 pm
	While it is true that it is the 60Hz vs 50Hz timing that matters, not the TV signal encoding, I was under the impression that TecToy simply released those games unaltered with glitches.

mateusbond Joined: 19 Aug 2006 Posts: 102 Location: Brazil	Posted: Tue Mar 12, 2024 7:12 pm
	I have Tec Toy's Prince of Persia and Bart vs. the Space Mutants on my collection and can confirm they were released without any changes. Space Mutants is basically unbeatable on a 60hz Master System, because the last stage glitches uncontrollably. Prince of Persia has lots of ugly graphical glitches. Stick to the European versions, at least you'll have English text on their boxes and manuals.

The King of the Mods Joined: 24 Aug 2014 Posts: 53	Posted: Tue Mar 12, 2024 8:11 pm
The King of the Mods Joined: 24 Aug 2014 Posts: 53	This is a bit shocking to hear. It's not like TecToy was without their own programmers. I suppose I could test these games to see the results by loading the Brazilian roms on a flash cart? It should play exactly the same as the actual cart, right?

Maxim Site Admin Joined: 19 Oct 1999 Posts: 14745 Location: London	Posted: Tue Mar 12, 2024 9:39 pm
	Yes, and I think you’ll find the Brazilian ROMs are in fact the European ROMs with no changes. You can see from TecToy’s own software that their quality control was not very rigorous. They did not have source code for most of the games, nor did they (probably) have the skills to adapt them. The Game Gear version of Prince of Persia is probably safe to use on a 60Hz SMS - maybe test that too.

yogi_om Joined: 05 Apr 2020 Posts: 28 Location: Marseille	Posted: Wed Mar 13, 2024 7:34 am
	Maxim wrote Yes, and I think you’ll find the Brazilian ROMs are in fact the European ROMs with no changes. You can see from TecToy’s own software that their quality control was not very rigorous. They did not have source code for most of the games, nor did they (probably) have the skills to adapt them. The Game Gear version of Prince of Persia is probably safe to use on a 60Hz SMS - maybe test that too. So that means that BTTF 3 is not working on Brazilian console if 60Hz only...

PrOfUnD Darkness Joined: 29 Jun 1999 Posts: 383 Location: Brazil	Posted: Thu Mar 21, 2024 12:20 am
	yogi_om wrote Maxim wrote Yes, and I think you’ll find the Brazilian ROMs are in fact the European ROMs with no changes. You can see from TecToy’s own software that their quality control was not very rigorous. They did not have source code for most of the games, nor did they (probably) have the skills to adapt them. The Game Gear version of Prince of Persia is probably safe to use on a 60Hz SMS - maybe test that too. So that means that BTTF 3 is not working on Brazilian console if 60Hz only... Maybe that explains why Tectoy never released BTTF3 on the SMS. Now I remember finishing PoP back in the day on a Tectoy SMS + Tectoy PoP without any issues, but Bart vs the Space Mutants, oh boy I always thought my cart was damaged somehow until I saw the glitches on other carts as well. So it was a 50/60Hz issue after all...

mateusbond Joined: 19 Aug 2006 Posts: 102 Location: Brazil	Posted: Thu Mar 21, 2024 1:35 am
	PrOfUnD Darkness wrote Now I remember finishing PoP back in the day on a Tectoy SMS + Tectoy PoP without any issues, but Bart vs the Space Mutants, oh boy I always thought my cart was damaged somehow until I saw the glitches on other carts as well. So it was a 50/60Hz issue after all... Yup, Prince of Persia is winnable. But it is ugly as f*ck in some parts because it's running too fast (take a look at the stones the Prince must step on to activate something - they flicker as if there is no tomorrow). But Bart vs the Space Mutants is truly a mess. My brother and I used to laugh at the game all the time, until we finally discovered - years later - that the joke was on us, TecToy had released a 50hz game.

PrOfUnD Darkness Joined: 29 Jun 1999 Posts: 383 Location: Brazil	Posted: Thu Mar 21, 2024 6:51 am
	mateusbond wrote PrOfUnD Darkness wrote Now I remember finishing PoP back in the day on a Tectoy SMS + Tectoy PoP without any issues, but Bart vs the Space Mutants, oh boy I always thought my cart was damaged somehow until I saw the glitches on other carts as well. So it was a 50/60Hz issue after all... Yup, Prince of Persia is winnable. But it is ugly as f*ck in some parts because it's running too fast (take a look at the stones the Prince must step on to activate something - they flicker as if there is no tomorrow). But Bart vs the Space Mutants is truly a mess. My brother and I used to laugh at the game all the time, until we finally discovered - years later - that the joke was on us, TecToy had released a 50hz game. I remember I could avoid the game from crashing walking to the opposite side from where the glitches were showing up. I believe I got up to the last stage, maybe finished it (not really sure).

mateusbond Joined: 19 Aug 2006 Posts: 102 Location: Brazil	Posted: Thu Mar 21, 2024 8:50 pm
	PrOfUnD Darkness wrote I remember I could avoid the game from crashing walking to the opposite side from where the glitches were showing up. I believe I got up to the last stage, maybe finished it (not really sure). Yeah, I could avoid most of the glitches by doing that. I remember Maxim answering a question of mine about it some years ago, and explaining how the game's graphical tricks work in tandem with the horizontal movement. Maybe he can elucidate again, please Maxim?

Maxim Site Admin Joined: 19 Oct 1999 Posts: 14745 Location: London	Posted: Thu Mar 21, 2024 9:17 pm
	I have no memory of that, sorry.

mateusbond Joined: 19 Aug 2006 Posts: 102 Location: Brazil	Posted: Thu Mar 21, 2024 9:29 pm
	Maxim wrote I have no memory of that, sorry. No problem, I've found it: Maxim wrote Yeah, the background corruption was caused by the game updating an 8px column while scrolling but the glitch was making it scroll faster than 8px per frame so you got a mix of the left and right sides of the screen - but only when you made it scroll. It's from this thread: https://www.smspower.org/forums/18377-Cyberpunk2077AsSMSGameAuthenticityAnimationAdvicePls

CRV Joined: 02 Jan 2005 Posts: 668	Posted: Sun Mar 24, 2024 12:36 am
CRV Joined: 02 Jan 2005 Posts: 668	I'm still curious if they fixed Operation Wolf for Brazil like they did Rainbow Islands.

The King of the Mods Joined: 24 Aug 2014 Posts: 53	Posted: Sun Mar 24, 2024 1:17 am
The King of the Mods Joined: 24 Aug 2014 Posts: 53	CRV wrote I'm still curious if they fixed Operation Wolf for Brazil like they did Rainbow Islands. It's at the top of my list for the next batch of Brazilian games I'm planning on getting. If I can get my hands on it, I'll let you know.

weirdzod Joined: 29 Sep 2010 Posts: 5	Posted: Tue Apr 02, 2024 7:38 pm
weirdzod Joined: 29 Sep 2010 Posts: 5	Master System from tec toy runs at 50 hz Edit: ¿PALM Runs at 60hz? O:

The King of the Mods Joined: 24 Aug 2014 Posts: 53	Posted: Tue Apr 02, 2024 7:45 pm
The King of the Mods Joined: 24 Aug 2014 Posts: 53	weirdzod wrote Master System from tec toy runs at 50 hz Edit: ¿PALM Runs at 60hz? O: "PAL-M is used exclusively in Brazil, and is a hybrid of NTSC and PAL. PAL-M uses the same scanlines, frequency, and frame rate as NTSC, but uses a PAL color pallette. Keep in mind that this is the video format used by the TV, to our knowledge there aren't any cartridges actually programmed for PAL-M. This means that NTSC games will display on a PAL-M TV but the color may be different from that of an NTSC TV. Therefore, we have listed Brazilian games as being in NTSC format, even though the Brazilian video standard is PAL-M. Brazilian games should play fine on North American TV's. Scanlines: 525 Frame Rate: 30 FPS Frequency: 60 Hz" https://atariage.com/common/video_key.php#:~:text=PAL%20is%20used%20in%20most,th...

The King of the Mods Joined: 24 Aug 2014 Posts: 53	Posted: Sat Apr 13, 2024 10:09 am
The King of the Mods Joined: 24 Aug 2014 Posts: 53	CRV wrote I'm still curious if they fixed Operation Wolf for Brazil like they did Rainbow Islands. My batch of Brazilian games arrived today. Tell me what to look for and I'll check.

CRV Joined: 02 Jan 2005 Posts: 668	Posted: Sun Apr 14, 2024 4:39 am
CRV Joined: 02 Jan 2005 Posts: 668	The King of the Mods wrote My batch of Brazilian games arrived today. Tell me what to look for and I'll check. In NTSC, on SMS 1 systems with Snail Maze built-in, it crashes and resets after the second stage. It does work with the Power Base Converter, though.

tibone Joined: 30 Mar 2009 Posts: 296	Posted: Sun Apr 14, 2024 5:15 pm
tibone Joined: 30 Mar 2009 Posts: 296	The King of the Mods wrote weirdzod wrote Master System from tec toy runs at 50 hz Edit: ¿PALM Runs at 60hz? O: "PAL-M is used exclusively in Brazil, and is a hybrid of NTSC and PAL. PAL-M uses the same scanlines, frequency, and frame rate as NTSC, but uses a PAL color pallette. Keep in mind that this is the video format used by the TV, to our knowledge there aren't any cartridges actually programmed for PAL-M. This means that NTSC games will display on a PAL-M TV but the color may be different from that of an NTSC TV. Therefore, we have listed Brazilian games as being in NTSC format, even though the Brazilian video standard is PAL-M. Brazilian games should play fine on North American TV's. Scanlines: 525 Frame Rate: 30 FPS Frequency: 60 Hz" https://atariage.com/common/video_key.php#:~:text=PAL%20is%20used%20in%20most,th... my memory on this _very_ fuzzy, since its been over 40 years, but i remember that videogame stores used to also sell "pal-m<->ntsc transcoders", because if you had a imported system, it would display in black and white, with artifacts sometimes aswell. Other shops would simply transcode your console, changing components inside to make it work with pal-m tv. this was more commonly done on nes system, because the master system was being produced by tectoy and importing a sms would cost more than buying a tectoy one, but since there were no Ni****do representation in the country, all nes'es were imported and had to be transcoded or used with a transcoder. eventually, around the release of the megadrive, vcr's were able to transcode stuff, so you could use the a/v cables to hook up a ntsc system into your vcr and then relay the correct image to your tv. some magazine ads i quickly looked that talked about this: https://retroscans.org/scans/revistas/acao_games/acao_games_2.pdf - page 45, the yellow box on the right. https://retroscans.org/scans/revistas/acao_games/acao_games_5.pdf - here, page 37, again, yellow box. https://retroscans.org/scans/revistas/acao_games/acao_games_5.pdf - here page 6 - "mega importado" (translated: imported megadrive), talks about this. there were a period of transition, where tvs would have a pal-m / ntsc switch, but this were only avaiable on the most expensive tvs (i never owned one of these), and eventually, Brazil transitioned to full ntsc tvs.

PrOfUnD Darkness Joined: 29 Jun 1999 Posts: 383 Location: Brazil	Posted: Mon Apr 15, 2024 6:27 pm
	All big or small game stores and their grandmas would offer ntsc-palm "transcoding" (basically replacing the crystal and a few components) services back then. It was really popular for the original JP/Asian Mega Drive (it was everywhere, almost no one had a Genesis). Fun times to be a gamer for sure.

Hillbert Joined: 08 Apr 2021 Posts: 50	Posted: Tue Apr 16, 2024 3:26 pm
Hillbert Joined: 08 Apr 2021 Posts: 50	It's the poor quality Game Gear to Master System hacks that get on my nerves. Sonic Blast was 'officially' ported to the Master System by TecToy, except they didn't even move the ring counter into the top corner, left glitches all around the screen on the special stages and made the stage select inaccessible. It's done better by fans in this forum for fun in their spare time, and yet these are licenced releases.

sverx Joined: 05 Sep 2013 Posts: 3828 Location: Stockholm, Sweden	Posted: Tue Apr 16, 2024 3:54 pm
	Motivated ROM hackers can often do better than 'professionals' that are given very limited time and/or resources. Yes, I do agree that the quality of those conversions is often... meh.

Hillbert Joined: 08 Apr 2021 Posts: 50	Posted: Wed Apr 17, 2024 7:15 am
Hillbert Joined: 08 Apr 2021 Posts: 50	True, I'm sure it wasn't the devs' fault. They will have just been told 'Make it work, we want it out right now' and did their best in the time they had.

tsp Joined: 04 Oct 2019 Posts: 84 Location: Brazil	Posted: Wed Apr 17, 2024 5:16 pm
tsp Joined: 04 Oct 2019 Posts: 84 Location: Brazil	Well, considering almost everything Tectoy did after the early 90s was at best "half baked", I'd think it was just another lazy attempt to grab some money. Their translation of Phantasy Star 3 for the Mega Drive is another good example.

KingMike Joined: 14 Oct 2008 Posts: 513	Posted: Mon Apr 22, 2024 5:31 pm
KingMike Joined: 14 Oct 2008 Posts: 513	yogi_om wrote Maxim wrote Yes, and I think you’ll find the Brazilian ROMs are in fact the European ROMs with no changes. You can see from TecToy’s own software that their quality control was not very rigorous. They did not have source code for most of the games, nor did they (probably) have the skills to adapt them. The Game Gear version of Prince of Persia is probably safe to use on a 60Hz SMS - maybe test that too. So that means that BTTF 3 is not working on Brazilian console if 60Hz only... Does that game have lockout? I know that Acclaim (under one of their other labels) published the Genesis version without caring about the framerate, so it wouldn't be the first time. (though fans also discovered the palettes in that versions were also incorrectly encoded for the VDP, explaining why the colors were so dark)

ApolloBoy Joined: 30 Jan 2007 Posts: 317 Location: San Jose, CA	Posted: Mon Apr 22, 2024 9:24 pm
	tsp wrote Well, considering almost everything Tectoy did after the early 90s was at best "half baked", I'd think it was just another lazy attempt to grab some money. Their translation of Phantasy Star 3 for the Mega Drive is another good example. I could say the same for a lot of their hardware too, I have a Super Compact and it feels pretty flimsy considering how bulky it is.

The King of the Mods Joined: 24 Aug 2014 Posts: 53	Posted: Tue Apr 23, 2024 9:19 pm
The King of the Mods Joined: 24 Aug 2014 Posts: 53	CRV wrote The King of the Mods wrote My batch of Brazilian games arrived today. Tell me what to look for and I'll check. In NTSC, on SMS 1 systems with Snail Maze built-in, it crashes and resets after the second stage. It does work with the Power Base Converter, though. I've been backed up with projects but I finally got around to testing out Operation Wolf. I tested it on both my old American model 1 and my Japanese Master System and got the same results. There are definite problems with the game, but I'm not sure if it's a PAL/NTSC issue, or if there's something legitimately wrong with my cartridge, as these glitches are not what I was told to look out for. Bear in mind that I've never played this game before, so I have no frame of reference for how this game should behave under ideal conditions. I'm under the impression that this game is intended to be played with either the light phaser or the controller. The start screen says press button 1 or fire trigger. Pressing button 1 seems to start the light phaser mode of the game instead of the controller mode, as there is no onscreen cursor, and the screen flashes white with every button press. There are also very noticeable glitches and artifacts on the screen, and on one play the screen changed colors and froze. I haven't had the chance to try it with the light phaser yet, as my light phaser is buried in a box somewhere, and I'd have to hook up to the CRT in my bedroom. So far, playing it on an NTSC system isn't looking promising.

Maxim Site Admin Joined: 19 Oct 1999 Posts: 14745 Location: London	Posted: Tue Apr 23, 2024 9:24 pm
	I think you start with the controller in port 2 to use it. The system can’t tell the difference between the gun trigger and button 1 on a control pad. The corruption you describe basically cannot be caused by a bad cartridge, either your system is faulty or the game is exceeding the timings (which is what 50/60Hz compatibility is all about).

The King of the Mods Joined: 24 Aug 2014 Posts: 53	Posted: Tue Apr 23, 2024 9:41 pm
The King of the Mods Joined: 24 Aug 2014 Posts: 53	Maxim wrote I think you start with the controller in port 2 to use it. The system can’t tell the difference between the gun trigger and button 1 on a control pad. The corruption you describe basically cannot be caused by a bad cartridge, either your system is faulty or the game is exceeding the timings (which is what 50/60Hz compatibility is all about). I thought the Hang On/Safari Hunt cartridge started the same way and knew the difference, but I could be wrong, I haven't played it in years. Anyway, I'll try it again with the controller in the second controller port when I get home.

The King of the Mods Joined: 24 Aug 2014 Posts: 53	Posted: Wed Apr 24, 2024 9:02 pm
The King of the Mods Joined: 24 Aug 2014 Posts: 53	CRV wrote The King of the Mods wrote My batch of Brazilian games arrived today. Tell me what to look for and I'll check. In NTSC, on SMS 1 systems with Snail Maze built-in, it crashes and resets after the second stage. It does work with the Power Base Converter, though. So I went home and tried it again with the controller in the second controller port and it played just fine. No noticeable glitches or freezing. The only problem is I can't make it to the second stage to look for the problem I've been instructed to look for. I tried several times, but I get killed too fast. Quite frankly, the controls in the game are crap. The cursor is difficult to use, and while I can adjust to the left and right movement, the up and down movement is just way too fast. They should have slowed down the vertical movement to compensate for the screen dimensions. I'm sure I'd be considerably better with the game if I was playing with the light phaser. If I can manage to find one of mine, I'll give it another try.

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