Vintage gaming consoles NTSC vs PAL

Dramen

Dramen

New Member
I'm collecting vintage gaming consoles and at the moment I'm looking at getting some of the Sega range - Genesis, Megadrive etc off ebay because the console and gaming selection pool in New Zealand is a little limited.
Can anyone tell me what the deal is with the American NTSC game consoles? NZ uses PAL and I want to know what play issues I might have if I get an imported console and also if the games in Australasia would still be compatible?
 
NTSC won't work on PAL and vice versa so far as I'm aware.

Gameplay wise, they are exactly the same, the only difference is framerates, PAL works on 768x576 @ 25fps, where are NTSC works at 720x480 @ 30FPS and colour correction, PAL does it automatically, NTSC you have to do it manually
 
Using hardware similar to a graphics card, they can be re-encoded each way.

Software also claims to do this, however I haven't used it.
 
If you have a TV that can do both, but only one version of a console/games I'd take NTSC as it's 60hz where PAL is 50hz
 
well for older TV's I used to see a converter box sold in places like Wal-Mart and Best buy for travel oversea's so you could take like your VCR or Consoles with you to the hotel if you so wished, you might be able to find similar in store's there, it looked like a simple set top box that took American NTSC and converted it to Pal.
 
patrickv said:
Dude nice. I wish I was playing mega drive right now. Don't forget to get a copy of Streets of Rage (1-3) !!!
Click to expand...

I have Streets of Rage on my PC, brings back great memories of thrashing the hell out of that game. I'm thinking that buying consoles from overseas might end up being more problematic than getting them locally. I've seen a converter for the games only come up once for sale locally so they are incredibly rare too. I really love vintage gaming, one day I hope to own every console ever made (one can dream).
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top