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N64 Pal v the rest of the world.

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    N64 Pal v the rest of the world.

    I currently have a PAL N64 but I am trying to justify exchanging for a US/Jap one.
    Can anyone, in basic terms or detail ,tell me the main advatages of either version?

    Ta very much.

    #2
    Games run full speed and without massive black borders (some PAL games run noticeably slower than their ntsc counterparts & suffered terrible ports). US/ JPN N64's also support s-video output which offers improved picture quality.

    You can also 'mod' a US N64 to play Japanese games (& presumably the other way round too). It's just a case of removing a couple of tabs from the plastic cart slot.

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      #3
      I think Mario, Goldeneye, Zelda, Perfect Dark, Banjo, (in fact all Rare games) were optimised.

      Not too sure if the RGB mod was for NTSC machines only; best PQ I managed to get on my pal 64 was s-video, but the colour was desaturated.

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        #4
        A lot of the early games (most noticeably the likes of Mario 64, WaveRace 64, Mario Kart 64) were not optimised very well for PAL territories, and as a result run slower, and with borders. Even the likes of F-Zero X only ran at full speed on NTSC machines.

        As time went on, most games were better optimised and eventually ran at the same speeds and without borders, so it mostly affected early N64 games, or lazy conversions during that time (1996-98 approx.)

        As Kit mentions, all PAL Rare games were optimised OK, what with them being British and extremely talented I suppose.

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          #5
          Only US and Jap N64s can be rgb modded, and then only ones with certain serial numbers.

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            #6
            So i should change is what your'e saying.

            Just would have to exchange my Pal games for NTSC ones....

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              #7
              Where there exclusive games to these regions?

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                #8
                Originally posted by punio75 View Post
                Where there exclusive games to these regions?
                Yes, quite alot it seems:-

                Originally posted by Wikipedia
                Of its 387 releases, 83 were exclusive to Japan, 42 to North America, and 4 to Europe

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                  #9
                  Cheers, very useful.

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                    #10
                    I did this. After trying 1080 at the proper speed, there was no option. You won't notice so much on slower games like Zelda though.

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                      #11
                      Originally posted by punio75 View Post
                      Where there exclusive games to these regions?
                      as far as i know there were 5 pal exclusive games:

                      F-1 World Grand Prix II
                      F1 Racing Championship
                      HSV Adventure Racing
                      Premier Manager 64
                      Taz Express

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                        #12
                        There is a certain French (PAL) N64 model that can be modded to RGB (NUS-FRA 001). My PAL one does support S-Video but I think it was omitted from later revisions.

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                          #13
                          Originally posted by Oldgamingfart View Post
                          There is a certain French (PAL) N64 model that can be modded to RGB (NUS-FRA 001).
                          Yes, the code on the black sticker needs to read "NUS-001(FRA)", but its a pretty hard revision to find if you dont speak French, as you need to find someone and understands where you need them to look, and what they are looking for, plus they need to be willing to send a console to the UK (You'd be surprised how many sellers are not willing to ship overseas)

                          Originally posted by Oldgamingfart
                          My PAL one does support S-Video but I think it was omitted from later revisions.
                          I hope you dont mind me saying, but I have some info that may help explain this.

                          There were two motherboard revisions of the PAL (EUR) N64 console and both supported S-Video - the problem is that the PAL N64 deliberately had missing components on the S-Video line which were intended to be placed inside the PAL N64 S-Video cable (Nintendo's way of 'region locking' accessories )

                          However, Nintendo Europe never released an official PAL S-Video cable in the end. Even third-party S-Video cables appear to have all been designed for NTSC N64's, so if you want a PAL N64 S-Video cable you have to build one yourself

                          I made a diagram showing what components need to be added to the cable (or console):-


                          The reason people think that later PAL N64's dont support S-Video is because both revisions of the European N64 use different video encoder chips:-

                          -The first revision (Almost all black N64 consoles) use the 'DENC-NUS' chip - this will usually show an S-Video picture with an NTSC S-Video cable, but its often overbright and washed out (depending on your TV) because of the missing components.

                          -The second revision (All coloured N64 consoles and possibly some black ones aswell) use the 'MAV-NUS' chip which quite often wont even display a picture when using an NTSC S-Video cable without the necessary missing components.

                          You can understand why this led people to think later PAL N64's dont support S-Video.

                          Nintendo did the same thing with the PAL Composite AV cables aswell (For the SNES, N64 and GameCube) which are always different to the NTSC ones, so be careful not to mix them up if you own import consoles aswell!
                          Last edited by Link83; 18-05-2009, 19:29.

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                            #14
                            The only problem I had with having a NTSC 64 was that when i visited friends with PAL machines I got owned at Mario Kart because it was too slow. Of course, when they visite me the inverse was true

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                              #15
                              You can actually RGB mod European consoles now. All you need is to install the Nintendo video chip used in the US consoles (IIRC). I know chaoticjelly has done this kind of modification.

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