Cant fully understand PAL and NTSC

[retrosega]

For some reason I just cant get my head around the whole PAL and NTSC thing with the Genesis/Mega Drive games.

I've read and read but seem to have some stupid mental block. So here's what I can gather so far.....

PAL - 576 Visible Lines, 50Hz

NTSC - 486 Visible Lines, 60Hz

PAL games run 17.5% slower than NTSC

Now this is where I start getting confused.....

I presume that at least 95% of games for Genesis / Mega Drive are developed in USA or Japan and hence are by default NTSC.

So if a game is then released as PAL....is it optimized for PAL, as in... sped up and increased to PAL resolution?? (this doesn't sound very likely)

Or is the game cartridge that is in the PAL Mega Drive box identical to the NTSC Genesis cartridge, except with a different sticker. So in effect we are just plugging in a NTSC game into a PAL machine.

Hence the boarders above and below due to extra resolution not being used and the actual displayable image squashed due to incorrect ratio. If this is correct, then for the last 20 years of gaming for me...I have been looking at distorted (squished) in-game images??? That Sega start up logo was never actually that short???

I only though about this when I got a Jap NTSC Mega Drive and tried some games....and for the first time ever....saw how the Sega logo was actually meant to be!!!!

Does this mean the games that are region locked....(for example a PAL game that is region locked and wont work on Genesis), are PAL optimized??? or not???

Which games are PAL optimized??? I presume these will run extra fast on an NTSC console.


Thanks

[Elusive]

For some reason I just cant get my head around the whole PAL and NTSC thing with the Genesis/Mega Drive games.

I've read and read but seem to have some stupid mental block. So here's what I can gather so far.....

PAL - 576 Visible Lines, 50Hz

NTSC - 486 Visible Lines, 60Hz

PAL games run 17.5% slower than NTSC

Now this is where I start getting confused.....

This is true. It's because of differences in our electrical systems.


I presume that at least 95% of games for Genesis / Mega Drive are developed in USA or Japan and hence are by default NTSC.

There were many games developed and released in Europe, too - there's a thread about them somewhere way back.


So if a game is then released as PAL....is it optimized for PAL, as in... sped up and increased to PAL resolution?? (this doesn't sound very likely)

The 'game' is identical no matter where it's released, assuming it's not region-locked. Okay, let's use Sonic 1 as an example from here on. The worldwide revision everyone has.

If I take an American Sonic 1 cartridge and plug it into my Mega Drive, the data inside the ROM chips tell the Mega Drive how to create an image onscreen: the Mega Drive will then output this image in its native resolution, PAL. If I were to do the same on an American Genesis, the game would tell the machine how to create an image, then the Genesis would output this image in its native format: NTSC.

So the answer is yes.


Or is the game cartridge that is in the PAL Mega Drive box identical to the NTSC Genesis cartridge, except with a different sticker. So in effect we are just plugging in a NTSC game into a PAL machine.

Yes. Using Sonic 1 as an example.


Hence the boarders above and below due to extra resolution not being used and the actual displayable image squashed due to incorrect ratio. If this is correct, then for the last 20 years of gaming for me...I have been looking at distorted (squished) in-game images??? That Sega start up logo was never actually that short???

I only though about this when I got a Jap NTSC Mega Drive and tried some games....and for the first time ever....saw how the Sega logo was actually meant to be!!!!

The data is being rendered inside the Mega Drive, then output at NTSC frequency. So, uh, yes.


Does this mean the games that are region locked....(for example a PAL game that is region locked and wont work on Genesis), are PAL optimized??? or not???

Pretty much; region-locking came into place when the Mega Drive was hot shit everywhere. Including Europe. I don't know of any PAL-optimised games that aren't region locked, and I'm certain that not all region-locked games are PAL-optimised.


Which games are PAL optimized??? I presume these will run extra fast on an NTSC console.

Off the top of my head: Phantasy Star IV, Comix Zone, Ristar, and Sonic 3. They don't work correctly if you switch into NTSC after the game boots, so no they don't run extra fast. They use something other than the power supply for their timing.



Thanks

Hey, I'm still learning too. This is only what I understand :p

[evildragon]

American/Japanese: 224/448 lines of resolution
PAL: 224/240/448/480

If a game is 224 line only (Sonic 1 and 2), then you'll have borders at the top and bottom of the screen. If the game is for PAL exclusively, like Knuckles Chaotix (the PAL version), then the borders will be almost cone (but still there)...

Sonic 2 (sonic 1 may be the same), has a customized engine to detect the frequency, and make adjustments accordingly.. for example, if you boot up in 60Hz, then switch to 50Hz, the music will slow down.. If you boot up in 50Hz and stay there, the music will play at normal speed.. I believe the speed of the game is also "adjusted", but I'm not sure...

Some games are the same binary across countries, while some games (region locked), are for their respective countries/video frequencies..

[retrosega]

Thanks.

Toejam and Earl seems to be optimised. Hardly any borders at all.