nesdev.org

Ok, i just got a Us copy of a game and want to play it on my pal snes,

what do i do? is it a simple as desoldering a pal lockout chip from another cart then replacing it with the Us one?

I know of three categories of games:

1. games that work with a lockout chip swap (and just run slower),
2. games that detect the number of CPU cycles per vertical blank (which differs between 50 Hz and 60 Hz machines) and put up an error message on the wrong region, and
3. games where the lockout chip is integrated into the mapper (like SA-1 games).

Your technique will work for A.

Well the game is earthbound, Does that have any special chips?

also what if disabled the lockout chip on the actually snes? will some of my games stop working?

Nerdy Nick wrote:Well the game is earthbound, Does that have any special chips?

(looks around)
This isn't gbadev.org, so here's a list of the most popular Super NES games with a coprocessor. The page contains neither "earth" nor "mother". This leaves the 50/60 detection.

also what if disabled the lockout chip on the actually snes? will some of my games stop working?

Games where the lockout chip is integrated into the mapper will likely stop working because they won't bankswitch unless a matching lock is present in the console.

My suggestion: 1. Buy a NTSC SNES, & 2. Buy an NTSC or compatible TV.

Earthbound is definitely a standard ROM & SRAM game.

I was just going to get a Ntsc Snes but the shipping was ridiculous ($100us), I really only want to play Eb so whats my best bet Disabling the lockout chip on the snes or just desoldering another lockout chip?

If you get it working via lockout mod or otherwise, you might encounter speed & sound/music speed differences. Also maybe a different palette, although I'm not sure as I never looked into the SNES. To at least fix the speed, you might want to look into trying to get PAL60 video out of your SNES, if it's possible, & get your SNES to a TV that'll go up to 60Hz.

I found this and im gonna give it a try it looks simple enough


http://www.gamesx.com/importmod/snes5060.htm

Buy an adaptater and you'll be able to play american and japanese game just fine on your PAL system, this kind of adapter reads the lockout chip of a true PAL cartridge while connecting adress/data lines to the imported cart. This kind of adapters is VERY common here even if it's unlicenced.

Games may have NTSC/PAL lockout codes. By checking $213F, you can easily determine if you are running on a NTSC or PAL system. I doubt any game would calculate CPU cycles. If a game checks this, you will need a Game Genie to patch it. There are a fair number of games that check NTSC/PAL. I have no idea if EarthBound is one. To find out, use an emulator. Get the NTSC ROM and load it with the FORCE PAL option. If it gives you a message saying you can't play this, now you know.

The lockout chip is just one thing to stop you from playing NTSC games. You can get by it with an adapter, but then if the game checks $213F then you need a game genie code patch. If the game is SA-1 you are shit out of luck because it talks to the lockout chip and expects an NTSC lockout chip in the console.

Depending on what imports you want you may be better off buying a NTSC system than using adapters.

MottZilla wrote:Depending on what imports you want you may be better off buying a NTSC system than using adapters.

And given that I can find a Super NES on eBay.com for 30 USD, it's probably cheaper in the long run than adapters. Or are European Union members like Brazil in the insane ad valorem duty on electronics imported from the US?

SNES universal adaptaters tend to be very very common here (and with US/Jap games imported too) for some reson, while I never see any game imported nor adaptaters on any other console (exept the gameboy) exept among collectors.
You will need a TV that support a NTSC signal in order to use a NTSC console here, and that is much harder than buy an adaptater for the SNES.

Aren't 60Hz capable SCART TVs widely available?

I don't know, since I'm not buying TVs everydays, but however playing a NTSC console here would at least require a 1:2 transformer (with weird homemade wiring), and a television wich accept a NTSC signal, and possibly some adapters for the output jack or something (I'm not sure at all about this since I've no idea what a TV that is PAL but accept NTSC look like).