Super Mario RPG on a PAL console

declan · Post by **declan** » Sat Feb 16, 2008 11:09 am

Hi everyone
I just purchased a copy of mario rpg from the american ebay, and as i understand it, it is VERY difficult to get SMRPG to play on a pal console, because the CIC is built into the SA-1 chip. so naturally the SA-1 chip won't alow the game to boot on a foriegn console.... But what if i, sort of hardwire a pal CIC from another game cart onto the snes mother board? do you recon this could override the security features of the SA-1? Am i wasting my time, and should i just buy an american SNES, (since most moder TVs will take both PAL and NTSC). has anyone else here ever tried to play SMRPG on a pal snes before? any of your thoughts would be appreciated.
Cheers
Declan

declan · Post by **declan** » Wed Feb 27, 2008 2:44 am

hey don't worry guys.

I found a US snes on the AUS ebay (don't know what it was doing there) and it works great with SMRPG.
I had to mod the USS imediatly though. the US snes does not accept PAL transformers, 'cause of the different plug shape, also, USS uses 10V DC for power and PALS uses 9V AC (that i am sure of).
So i found a 9V DC 'tranny' that has the same plug as the PALS trany and i took the power socket from a broken PALS and it soldered perfectly onto the USS mother board real easy.
Infact when i compared the PALS and USS mother boards, the internals seem much the same, except the CIC differes and the APU in the USS is in a closed capsule.
Any way, I'm just providing this information incase any one else ever wants to do this (use an USS in Aus or any other 240V location).
Cheers
declan

Post by **grinvader** » Thu Feb 28, 2008 8:52 pm

declan wrote:hey don't worry guys.

hey we were so madly worried, thanks guy.

Mark57Raider · Post by **Mark57Raider** » Sat Mar 01, 2008 2:10 am

pfff, PAL games usually run slower than NTSC games anyways. Take Super Mario Kart for instance. It's a good game, but the PAL version usually runs slower. If I were you I'd just stick with the Super Mario RPG NTSC version. But if you want it modified then that's your call.

Post by **grinvader** » Sat Mar 01, 2008 10:47 am

It's not "usually".

They DO run slower. And over that, the programmers rarely recoded time-based events such as sprite speeds, animations or timers, which made it OBVIOUS.

Gil_Hamilton · Post by **Gil_Hamilton** » Sat Mar 01, 2008 10:51 am

grinvader wrote:It's not "usually".

They DO run slower. And over that, the programmers rarely recoded time-based events such as sprite speeds, animations or timers, which made it OBVIOUS.

Or fix the graphics to accommodate the higher line count and correct the aspect ratio.

And I'm sure some precious few games are recoded so they run at the same speed with less frames.

Post by **grinvader** » Sat Mar 01, 2008 11:00 am

Gil_Hamilton wrote:And I'm sure some precious few games are recoded so they run at the same speed with less frames.

Fortunately SM is like that. Choppier animation, but similar speeds. 'Splode timers updated, but not "close Torizo door" timer, as Flatley proved... a while ago now.

declan · Post by **declan** » Sun Mar 02, 2008 2:26 am

grinvader wrote:
declan wrote:hey don't worry guys.
hey we were so madly worried, thanks guy.

Gee i'm sorry you lost sleep over it

Mark57Raider wrote:pfff, PAL games usually run slower than NTSC games anyways. Take Super Mario Kart for instance. It's a good game, but the PAL version usually runs slower. If I were you I'd just stick with the Super Mario RPG NTSC version. But if you want it modified then that's your call.

No you misunderstood me.
I didn't mod the refresh rate of the console.
It's still running at the full 60Hz, and TV doesn't seem to mind at all, i think most modern PAL TV's will accept an NTSC signal.
Gil can probly tell you more about it than i can.

All i did was change the power socket at the back of the console so it would take an autralian power supply.

Gil_Hamilton · Post by **Gil_Hamilton** » Sun Mar 02, 2008 8:19 am

declan wrote: No you misunderstood me.
I didn't mod the refresh rate of the console.
It's still running at the full 60Hz, and TV doesn't seem to mind at all, i think most modern PAL TV's will accept an NTSC signal.
Gil can probly tell you more about it than i can.

Nope. I am America. Just tech nerd America that spent ENTIRELY too much time looking at TV standard specs.

For non-spec hardware features of specific regions, I'd send them to a native.
So... Are most modern PAL TVs NTSC-compatible?:P

declan · Post by **declan** » Sun Mar 02, 2008 9:05 am

Gil_Hamilton wrote: So... Are most modern PAL TVs NTSC-compatible?:P

I know my PAL TV is NTSC compadible, and i'm almost certain all new ones are too. but to my suprize there was no visble loss in picture quality, (i would have thought either, the pal snes' trademark 'black bars' top and bottom, or some scan lines appearing twice as thick as others).

Post by **grinvader** » Sun Mar 02, 2008 12:20 pm

Gil_Hamilton wrote:So... Are most modern PAL TVs NTSC-compatible? :P

They are since ~'90. Only older POS that are probably dead by now or should be can't eat the colour signal, and even older POS can't even vsync properly.

Johan_H · Post by **Johan_H** » Sun Mar 02, 2008 8:29 pm

Sort of on topic:
Does anyone know of an internationally shipping place that sells those damn bits needed to open the SNES up, or how I could make something sufficient myself?

Post by **grinvader** » Sun Mar 02, 2008 8:31 pm

In the worst case, the molten plastic pen trick works wonders.

Johan_H · Post by **Johan_H** » Sun Mar 02, 2008 8:39 pm

Plastic pen, melt it, jam it in there, wait for it to stiffen, screw attack. That it?

EDIT: Ha! I can get one from an auction site for ~€10, awesome. I don't know why I didn't check there before.

declan · Post by **declan** » Sun Mar 02, 2008 10:54 pm

have you tried nintendorepairshop.com
they ship internationally and they also sell the bits to open nes, snes and n64 carts, (which is a different bit BTW).

Chris8282 · Post by **Chris8282** » Thu Mar 13, 2008 2:34 am

grinvader wrote:
declan wrote:hey don't worry guys.
hey we were so madly worried, thanks guy.

Must you always be an asshole?

corronchilejano · Post by **corronchilejano** » Thu Mar 13, 2008 3:03 am

Chris8282 wrote:
grinvader wrote:
declan wrote:hey don't worry guys.
hey we were so madly worried, thanks guy.
Must you always be an asshole?

You should lurk these forums for at least three years before trying to state the obvious. And a year means 365 days, every day, at every oppourtunity.

Chris8282 · Post by **Chris8282** » Thu Mar 13, 2008 2:26 pm

Why would I waste my time? Posting here is pointless considering the subject matter and the popularity.

But just so you know I've been coming here since 2001-2002. Pretty much since I found out about SNES emulation.

But back then I usually came to see if certain people want to play on zbattle.net

So, please, whine more.

Clements · Post by **Clements** » Thu Mar 13, 2008 2:30 pm

Wow, we have ourselves an...

Deathlike2 · Post by **Deathlike2** » Thu Mar 13, 2008 2:40 pm

Clements wrote:Wow, we have ourselves an...

adventure_of_link · Post by **adventure_of_link** » Thu Mar 13, 2008 2:51 pm

what's ironic about that macro is that the dude is holding a cigarette and those are bad for your health

corronchilejano · Post by **corronchilejano** » Thu Mar 13, 2008 3:11 pm

I've always wondered who that guy is.

Chris8282 · Post by **Chris8282** » Thu Mar 13, 2008 3:44 pm

Please show me where I said I was a tough guy.

Post by **grinvader** » Thu Mar 13, 2008 6:46 pm

Chris8282 wrote:Must you always be an asshole?

Hey, gotta fill the job since most of the mean guys left the board. I'm not half as good as they were to make you feel like shit, at that.
But I can improve, if you feel like it.

Johan_H · Post by **Johan_H** » Fri Mar 14, 2008 12:47 am

Haha.

Sort of back on topic:

grinvader wrote:
Gil_Hamilton wrote:And I'm sure some precious few games are recoded so they run at the same speed with less frames.
Fortunately SM is like that. Choppier animation, but similar speeds. 'Splode timers updated, but not "close Torizo door" timer, as Flatley proved... a while ago now.

Are you talking about Super Metroid? It seems to me it has the usual speed difference.