NTSC games on PAL CD32...

[PowerPie5000]

Are there any major issues with playing NTSC games on a PAL CD32, apart from maybe being slightly slower and having larger borders? I've been burning a few CD32 discs lately but have no way of telling if the games are the PAL or NTSC versions . I've noticed the scrolling on some of the games isn't quite as smooth as the A500/600 & A1200 versions (Chaos engine amongst them is a bit jerky!).... Is this normal for CD32 games? It could just be my TV (although it's fine with other Amigas using RGB scart).

How do i tell if the games are the PAL versions? I'm assuming most emulation sites (including Back to the Roots) host the NTSC versions as with most of the games they host for other platforms.

[Anakirob]

Originally Posted by PowerPie5000

Are there any major issues with playing NTSC games on a PAL CD32, apart from maybe being slightly slower and having larger borders?

No, there are no major issues with this. Although the reverse can. Some PAL games in NTSC can be glitchy.

If it bothers you then you could always switch to NTSC mode in the startup menu. I always do so whenever possible as I like the faster framerate and dislike the black bottom border.

In fact, I doubt there were ever any NTSC CD32 games, as those systems never made it to market back in the day.

[BuckoA51]

If you force the PAL CD32 into NTSC you get a weird out-of-spec refresh rate that many displays can't handle without stuttering. Of course TV's don't handle the Amiga's low res modes properly anyway, so it's probably not a concern

[quarkx]

I got (and sold it now) an NTSC CD32. I only ran PAL games off of it, the few I could get. I never had any issues hooked up through RCA jacks to my big screen tv. Never had black bars on the side or anything. I didn't even have to boot into "PAL" mode, they just loaded up and played. NTSC CD32 were sold in Canada back in the day, Some Auto Vehicle branches used them for Driver testing and a bunch of banks gave them away with special modems IIRC.

[PowerPie5000]

Originally Posted by Anakirob

No, there are no major issues with this. Although the reverse can. Some PAL games in NTSC can be glitchy.

If it bothers you then you could always switch to NTSC mode in the startup menu. I always do so whenever possible as I like the faster framerate and dislike the black bottom border.

In fact, I doubt there were ever any NTSC CD32 games, as those systems never made it to market back in the day.

I get black borders all round, but the bottom border does seem slightly larger (i can almost fix this by using the 'Cinema Zoom' function on my TV... But Amiga games weren't designed for widescreen and can look a bit stretched ).


I'm pretty sure NTSC CD32's were available back in the day, otherwise the US and Canada would have had major issues running PAL CD32's with their TV's. I've also seen NOS CD32's being sold on ebay a few times.

Originally Posted by quarkx

I got (and sold it now) an NTSC CD32. I only ran PAL games off of it, the few I could get. I never had any issues hooked up through RCA jacks to my big screen tv. Never had black bars on the side or anything.

I get black bars no matter what TV i try... I think i need a mouse to boot up in NTSC mode (off to ebay i go ).

[Anakirob]

Originally Posted by PowerPie5000

I'm pretty sure NTSC CD32's were available back in the day, otherwise the US and Canada would have had major issues running PAL CD32's with their TV's. I've also seen NOS CD32's being sold on ebay a few times.

Indeed they would have been NOS, as they never made it to market in the USA. But I'm led to believe that Canada did get a few.