Pal games on a famicom

[famiac]

So,
is there any way through hardware or ROM hacking to allow for the play of a PAL game at standard speed on a famicom?

[famiac]

Mario bros classic serie

[nerdynebraskan]

Does it not play correctly on an NTSC (60 hz) machine? I've been meaning to buy one of those for my collection, since I heard about the enhanced graphics and restored cutscenes.

[Phosphora]

Is it true that Summer Carnival '92 Recca was developed on / or is meant to be played on a PAL console? I've heard that the clock/timer is accurate on PAL consoles?

[famiac]

Does it not play correctly on an NTSC (60 hz) machine? I've been meaning to buy one of those for my collection, since I heard about the enhanced graphics and restored cutscenes.

Every game is going to run differently if used on its non-native region.

[nerdynebraskan]

Not really, famiac. Most of my PAL carts play perfectly on my NTSC top loader. As I understand it, a lot of PAL NES carts were only barely converted. Many actually run better at NTSC speed. A lot of PAL region gamers complain that the games they got run too slow on the native machines.

But it's true that I don't have a lot of experience with running first-party PAL carts. I think the only Nintendo-developed cart I've played on my machine was a copy of Duck Hunt a couple of years back, and I don't remember anything unusual about that. But one would hope that Nintendo might put some work into optimizing their games for alternate regional needs...

[Phosphora]

So is Recca a PAL speed game?
I know it was a Japanese title (intended for a single small event), can someone with a PAL system confirm the speed vs the in-game clock?

[nerdynebraskan]

I have my doubts about Recca being PAL speed. As you said, it was programmed by a Japanese company, to be played on a specifically Japanese console, for a Japanese game competition. What motivation would they possibly have to program it for PAL speed? Where did you hear this?

It's true the game does move mind-blowingly fast. That's a major reason why it's regarded as a technological highlight of the 8-bit era. I could see someone mistaking that high speed for the kind of "overclocked" effect truly PAL-optimized carts have when played on NTSC consoles. I have played a few of those, including PAL copies of Mega Man 3 and Tale Spin. One thing I can tell you is that overclocked carts' music is not only faster than it should be, it's usually higher-pitched. (Think of the effect used to create the voices of Alvin and the Chipmunks, but a bit less exaggerated in this case.) The Recca music doesn't sound like that, at least not on my console. (I have an NES repro, admittedly.)

[Phosphora]

I have my doubts about Recca being PAL speed. As you said, it was programmed by a Japanese company, to be played on a specifically Japanese console, for a Japanese game competition. What motivation would they possibly have to program it for PAL speed? Where did you hear this?

I've just heard that the in-game timer is accurate when ran on PAL speed as opposed to NTSC, which *could* explain much about the game's speed.

[famiac]

Not really, famiac. Most of my PAL carts play perfectly on my NTSC top loader. As I understand it, a lot of PAL NES carts were only barely converted. Many actually run better at NTSC speed. A lot of PAL region gamers complain that the games they got run too slow on the native machines.

But it's true that I don't have a lot of experience with running first-party PAL carts. I think the only Nintendo-developed cart I've played on my machine was a copy of Duck Hunt a couple of years back, and I don't remember anything unusual about that. But one would hope that Nintendo might put some work into optimizing their games for alternate regional needs...

Well, i didn't say anything about how correctly they play. They're going to play differently regardless of whether it's the correct speed or not.

[80sFREAK]

Ok, some science...

There is no "timer", but interrupts, called NMI(generated by PPU, so 50Hz for PAL and 60Hz for NTSC) and IRQ("soft" interrupt, usually generated by part of the mapper).

When NMI occurs, usually CPU execute code for refreshing screen and control sound(that's why "tempo" of NTSC games on PAL machines is slower). So far so good, BUT NTSC machines have less time between NMI to compare with PAL machines. It depends on the game, but most likely if we go PAL->NTSC lots of glitches will appear, both sound and graphics(flickering sprites, crashed background).

So... ROM hack? Possible(who gonna do that? But this is another story), but depends on the game. If PAL game code "fit" NTSC timing, correcting soundtrack and delays will do the job. If not, game engine should be re-build. Yet fps might go down to 30 or less.

[famiac]

Thanks 80sfreak. Since the game was nrom i just moved the proms to a broken donor cartridge and now it's on a famicom cart. I'll just play it on my fami now since i have no PAL NES.