Pal game on a GCN

[kennyk]

I have an NTSC Gamecube and imported Doshin the Giant (thinking I could just use freeloader to play it on my NTSC TV). I forgot about the lower refresh rate . The graphics are black & white and scroll constantly. Does anyone know of a fix?

I appreciate any info on this

[Metal Ghost]

Well, maybe no one knew of anything back then, but perhaps now?

 

Over the last several days I've been giving some serious thought to modding my spare Gamecube for region-free play. It's nothing that really interested me in the past, but long story short Doshin the Giant (thanks OP!) was a game that seemed like I'd really enjoy it. And I happened to notice that it was not only released in Japan but Europe as well. This is good because I have almost no desire to muddle my way through screens written with Kanji (which is probably why region free play has never reallly interested me in the past....its greatest benefit is typically in playing Japanese games, or so it seems to this noob).

 

Anyway, note that I know basically nothing when it comes to either modding systems or specifically the ins and outs of playing games from different regions. Basically, is it possible to mod ones Gamecube in order to play both NTSC and PAL games? Or is that not even workable??

[Rex Dart]

Possibly. Have you done a search for 'gamecube mod pal ntsc'? I'd think that'd be your first step.

[Metal Ghost]

Yes, and my head is spinning from either all the non-information or conflicting information.

 

It would appear that rather than installing a region switch, the easiest route would be to use Datel's Freeloader GCN disc. However, over at digitpress there was a forum thread (sorry, thought I'd bookmarked it and now can't find it) talking about versions of Freeloader and how new versions will not convert from PAL to NTSC, though it will unlock region. So while the disc will play you won't be able to see it properly on your TV. Then there were of course exceptions depending on if you had the Digital A/V out on your 'Cube, whether or not you are using Component cables, etc.

 

But what I don't understand is that none of that is mentioned on the Freeloader product page. It simply states that you can play any game from any region on your US Gamecube. Is it just a sly ommision on their part (i.e. you can play the game, just not see it output correctly??)? Perhaps, but then on the same product page the do call out being careful not to save your Japanese game saves on the same memory card as your US game saves, as the formatting is different (or different flags are set, I'm not sure) so that you may loose your US game saves. So it seems as though they're being upfront about that at least.

 

I have an e-mail inquiry to Datel asking them this as well, but haven't heard back yet.

 

If it was Japanese games I was most interested in playing, there'd basically be one less thing to concern me (only the region lockout part). But having to deal with NTSC vs. PAL as well is where the issue now lies. I'm not sure why an older version of Freeloader would allow for PAL to NTSC conversion while another would not, but I guess you never know, it wouldn't be the first time a product took a step backward.

[Metal Ghost]

I know that someone around here knows the idiosyncracies involved with import gaming on a 'Cube, including PAL gaming in the US, right??

[Rex Dart]

Seems there are tools out there to patch a PAL ISO to NTSC. Have you tried looking up other phrasing, like "50hz/60hz mod"?

 

 

I know that someone around here knows the idiosyncracies involved with import gaming on a 'Cube, including PAL gaming in the US, right??

 

On AtariAge? Possibly not. Now if you wanted to know what setting to put your dishwasher on for your Jaguar...

Edited November 20, 2012 by Rex Dart