PAL games on NTSC PlayStations?

[bigbadboaz]

Hey all,

I've got a few modded PS1 machines, but I'm having trouble getting specifics on the NTSC/PAL situation. I'm wondering because I noticed the Capcom Generations discs were released in Europe as a really nice 4-in-1 set and that seems like a great way to get the whole collection at once. Will this set run normally on my modded NTSC machines? Will it run with video problems? Not run at all? If not, what needs to be done to get PAL games running properly? Is there a special type of mod chip, or is this just not a workable situation?

Any information appreciated.

-Will

[Bar81]

I know that my Messiah Pro has no problems with PAL games except that I need a PAL TV as it only outputs in PAL. Perhaps the DMS4 solves this "problem"??? Thankfully my Xbox has no problem outputting PAL games in NTSC but that's another topic entirely.

[bigbadboaz]

Thanks for the reply, Bar, but I'm talking about regular old-school PSOne modchips. I've got a full-size original PSX with a good old generic chip, as well as a PSOne with a stealth mod. Though I guess it's a good thing you bring up the PS2 chips - I could well find the situations are different with the two different generations of machine. Guess that's more questions I need answered! Or maybe I should just look after the Japanese discs, one by one....

thanks -
Will

[PC Engine Fan X!]

If you have an Innovation's Super Game Wizard or a Goldfinger cheat device (that hooks up to the back parallel I/O on the older PSX console: any PSX console but the 9000 series) for the USA NTSC PSX console, you can choose to output in either NTSC or PAL output by simply pressing all four should buttons: L1, L2, R1 & R2 and selecting that you want to change screen output to PAL instead of NTSC.

1.) You then would need an old TV monitor with a manufactured date of 1988-1989 that only can accept RF input and use a PSX RF adapter to get the PAL signal to be accepted into the TV monitor.

2.) I've used an old 1982 built Montgomery Wards Black & White 5" TV monitor that can accept PAL TV signals even though it accepts RF input or TV anntenna inputs only. I was able to play a PAL PSX demo disc on my NTSC PSX using a Super Game Wizard cheat device. Very cool cheat devices, those Goldfinger related devices.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[bigbadboaz]

Thanks for the info, PCE Fan X. Just the kind of obscure knowledge I knew would be found here.

Will

[matt]

Playing PAL games on an NTSC Playstation will result in a 50hz picture with some weird colour encoding that's stuck in a weird PAL/NTSC limbo. It'll look all rainbowy, weird, and will probably roll a lot on a US TV.

If you have an RGB monitor, however, PAL games will display just fine! Howeber, they'll still be stuck in 50hz. This is annoying, since many games will be too slow (Capcom Gen. suffers from this).

I believe that, if you look around, you can find patches for many PAL games that will force them to run in 60hz. This requires a bunch of work, though, so you will have to decide whether it's worth the trouble. Of course, with the Capcom disks, you can always just invest in the Japanese versions.

2.) I've used an old 1982 built Montgomery Wards Black & White 5" TV monitor that can accept PAL TV signals even though it accepts RF input or TV anntenna inputs only.

This is because the main difference between PAL and NTSC is in the colour encoding. It doesn't make a difference if you have a B&W TV.

Of course, there's always the 50/60hz issue, which can be gotten around with the aforementioned cheat devices (there are some boot disks out there too that can help). But, these do not work with all games.

<edit> - forgot to mention it, but I did try a couple of 50/60hz boot disks with Capcom Generations a while back and none of them worked.