How to determine region?

[WERY]

I am collecting the North American library on the 7800 ProSystem. The problem is that I cannot determine what region a game has. I have bought severel games from USA, and last weekend, I was attending to a gaming expo, on which I purchased sealed games to the 7800. The seller said that the games were either PAL or Secam but I cant fins any indication, stating that this is a fact, apart from that two of the games had a french paperinstruction, placed within the seal, but outside on the rear of the box. One of the games has a printed text on it's rear, stating the it will only work on a NTSC console. I compared with the games that I've purchased from USA, and I could not find any statement about the region

 

How do I determine what region a game has? How do I see the difference between PAL and NTSC, without testing the cartridge? It's so much easier with Jaguar that has regioncoded games...

Edited October 7, 2013 by WERY

[WERY]

I can also be told that I bought the games last weekend here in Europe

[Mayhem]

How do I see the difference between PAL and NTSC, without testing the cartridge?

 

Simple answer: you can't. There's nothing on the cartridges, bar a P sticker that can fall off, to differentiate them.

[gambler172]

If you have the games in boxes from Activision,they are NTSC

If you have boxes from HES SALU,they are PAL

But if you have Atari boxes,there is no way ......only open and check it.....Then you will see

BTW Winter Games and Summer Games are NTSC

 

greetings Walter

[Mayhem]

Yeah, there are a few Atari published NTSC only titles: Winter Games, Summer Games, Robotron 2084, Touchdown Football, Real Sports Baseball. And the two Froggo titles (Water Ski and Tank Command) are NTSC only, and Rampage was only released by Activision in NTSC. Plus there's no PAL Asteroids release as the game was built into the console.

[WERY]

Okay, but does this mean that Atari-boxes are one and the same in both regions? Apart from games that were only released in one region...

[+Mitch]

Okay, but does this mean that Atari-boxes are one and the same in both regions? Apart from games that were only released in one region...

 

Yes, Atari branded boxes and manuals are the same in all regions.

 

Mitch

[WERY]

Thanks for all the answers about boxes, instructions and minor region differencies. When it comes to playing PAL-carts on a NTSC console, how do they run? Unstable? Or does the image look different?

[Andromeda Stardust]

Do 7800 games control the scanline count like 2600 games do or is this regulated by the PPU? Therein lies the answer. Also, are the colors FUBAR'ed like on 2600?

[Nognir]

there are actually some NTSC Games that will work on a PAL console, but every game behave different. When they work, they display some "rubbish" on the lower part of the screen because the PAL picture is higher than an NTSC picture. You have that in Pole Position II for example.

 

also you have games which don't work at all. Like Dig Dug or Dark Chambers. They instantly crash on the title screen.

 

I have a list on my website somewhere, but I have to check to find it.

[Mayhem]

When it comes to playing PAL-carts on a NTSC console, how do they run? Unstable? Or does the image look different?

 

You can't, because the NTSC 7800 requires games to be signed, and this requirement was removed for the PAL console. No PAL games are signed, so they won't boot.

[WERY]

Nognir: As far as I know, the games that were exlusively released in USA, will not work on a PAL-console. I've Heard that but I have not tried it myself, as I dont have any PAL-console and never will get one

 

Mayhem: That is very good. That way I will know instantly if an unmarked cartridge is PAL or not. I have two cartridges I thought were PAL, because they behaved strangely(probably due to shit on the connectors). I have always thought the 7800 ProSystem to be a regionfree console, like the Video Computer System and Jaguar. After reading this thread I am sure it was never meant to be regionfree at all. It simply must be a minor coincidence that some NTSC games work on the PAL console, apart from that it does not require signature from the games

[Nognir]

We had already a thread here a few years ago about NTSC games which are working on a PAL console. Someone wrote there that the both games from Epyx, Summer Games and Winter Games, would actually work on a PAL 7800 if you hold down the Select button on the console. I don't know if that really is the case, but if so, I would be curious why.

[jhd]

The seller said that the games were either PAL or Secam but I cant fins any indication, stating that this is a fact, apart from that two of the games had a french paperinstruction, placed within the seal, but outside on the rear of the box.

 

I am not very familiar with the 7800 (it was not widely sold here in Canada), but adding French instructions under the shink-wrap is common with PlayStation2 games here. This is a response to the blingual packaging requirements and Anglophone publishers. Canada (even Francophone Quebec) uses NTSC format televisions and game systems. It is very unlikely, but not impossible, that your bilingual game may have been originally destined for the Canadian market.

[WERY]

Nognir: Well the one that collects both regions, ought to try it. I do not know if or why it works, but I have a theory. Perhaps the reset-button causes a bypass to the signature?

 

jhd: Well the seller said that it was possible, that those two could be canadian, due to the french instructions on the outside. But after checking, I realise that it could be french games, since one of them is Sentinel and it was not released outside of Europe

[Mayhem]

NTSC 7800 games will run on a PAL 7800, but they generally fall into three groups: they will run with minor graphical glitching; they will run with major graphical glitching; they will crash shortly after boot. Unfortunately most of the NTSC only titles fall into the latter category.

[+Mitch]

I have never seen any 7800 games with the french instructions shrink-wrapped to the back that were NTSC. They were always PAL format.

 

Mitch