Atari 8-bit games NTSC/PAL

[Trooper]

I am thinking of ways to focus my "collection" and since the A8's were my first love I'm thinking of getting rid of my 600+ C64 games and invest the money on a much more sizable collection of games for the A8's on both tape, cart and disk. The question however is, can I run NTSC software in my PAL machines? The reason for the question is that Atari 8-bit games are much easier to come by in the US than in Europe.

[mimo]

oops

Edited April 12, 2008 by mimo

[mimo]

yes, the 8bit software is not regional like the 2600/7800 so work on PAL and NTSC. However things will run a bit slower on a PAL system, and some colours may be different.

There are a couple of exceptions, but I think that mainly relates to later demos from Europe.

I think that Bounty Bob strikes back may have "issues" with the cassette version, but the cart version is fine (good luck finding it though)

Also some information can be found at Atarimania in the 8bit FAQ (Chapter 1.14)

[Rybags]

A "fixed" version of BBSB was put up here not long ago.

 

Despite speed differences, very few games bothered to differentiate re NTSC/PAL so will run quicker on NTSC.

 

Some modern games/demos are PAL only but that is due to PAL allowing more cycles per frame.

 

Put it this way - if it happens that you buy a game that won't work for you for whatever reason, there's a 99.9% chance that you can easily download it anyway.

[deathtrappomegranate]

One of the very pleasant aspects of collecting for the A8, as opposed to the 2600 and many other consoles, is the lack of regional variation in software. For almost all titles, the versions sold in Europe and Australasia were identical to those sold in the US, so everyone is collecting the same thing.

 

The 50/60 Hz issue, as has been pointed out, means that some games will run more quickly on NTSC systems (or less quickly on PAL systems, depending on your point of view).

 

A very small proportion of commercially released titles will only run on NTSC or PAL systems, but this is really an insignificant issue IMO.

[Trooper]

Thanks everyone!

[Ross PK]

This is a great thing, as a lot of great titles only came out in the US, like Rainbow Walker, Journey To The Planets, etc.

 

I would've never experienced these games as a kid otherwise.

[Rybags]

Don't worry.

 

The rest of the world had the so-called "US exclusives" too.

 

No internet back then, but snail-mail and BBSes ensured that games reached all the markets, even if the punters didn't pay for them.

[Ross PK]

Don't worry.

 

The rest of the world had the so-called "US exclusives" too.

 

No internet back then, but snail-mail and BBSes ensured that games reached all the markets, even if the punters didn't pay for them.

 

Yeah, I probably had around 70 copied games on disc (which were copied from copies), little did I know at the time that a lot of the games were only available in the US and that even one of them (Super Pacman) was an actual prototype and never got released at all.

 

I think a lot of the UK games, probably most, totally paled in comparison to the US ones.

 

It seems that the majority of UK games came out as budget releases in the last half of the A8's life. Can anyone confirm this? If so, why?

Edited April 12, 2008 by Ross PK