never realised my Snes was so odd...

[god]

So about two years ago I rang about an ad in The Trading Post because I wanted a Pokemon N64. The guy was selling one plus a Snes and a Gameboy Colour, so those were an added bonus especially since I didn't have a Snes. The Snes came with a Super 8-in-1 cartridge. I loaded it up and it worked, then I put it away and forgot about it (I'm more of a Sega guy you know...). As a side note, the guy was genuinly suprised that anyone called about it or still plays those old games.

So I pulled it out recently and noticed on the underside that there's a 50/60hz switch that's been installed. Hmmm, interesting, while I was down there I noticed its a UK Snes. Still, I'm that much of a Sega guy that I still didn't test it til last night when my curiosity got the better of me. Anyway, my Aus carts wouldn't work on it, so the only game i can get to run is the Super 8-in-1. The Super 8-in-1 also won't run on my Australian Snes. The Super 8-in-1 says in its menu that its a Super Famicom Game. This brings me to the few points I wanted to bring up:

I thought that Pal Aus and Pal UK Sneses (Sneses? I wonder if you'd get away with that in Scrabble) were compatable with eachothers games. Am I wrong on that point?

If that's the case, and they are normally compatable, does that mean I have a console which has been modified to only play Super Famicom games?

And if that is the case, and it can only play games from one region, what is the point of the 50/60hz switch. Wouldn't it just have been straight up modded to whatever hz they have in Japan?

[Ziggy]

Is there only one switch? Common practice is to put a switch for 50 and 60 Hz, and a switch to turn the lock out chip on and off. Sounds to me like maybe the previous owner deactivated the lockout chip, and might not have installed a switch so you can turn it back on.

It's preferable for PAL users to run most SNES games at 60Hz, because most PAL SNES games weren't properly coded for 50Hz, so running them at 60Hz will present them the way they were intended. However, some games will check to see if the console is in NTSC or PAL mode and will not boot the game if it doesn't like what it finds. This is true for both PAL and NTSC games. It will give you a message at start up "This game is not intended for use on this SNES or SFC" or something to that effect. On top of that, some games wont boot if the console's lockout chip has been disabled, though I believe these games are limited to S-DD1 and SA-1 games. Anyway, these are the reasons why it's preferable to install a switch for both options.

How do you know it's a 50/60Hz switch? Did you switch it while playing that 8-in-1 cart and see it running at two different speeds? Or maybe it's labeled on the console or something?

Anyways, that 8-in-1 cart is definitely a pirate carts of some sort. It probably doesn't have a lockout chip. This is why you can't get it to boot on your stock SNES. And it helps my theory that it will boot on your modded SNES because the lockout chip was permanently disabled.

If it IS a 50/60Hz switch and the lockout chip is permanganate disabled, you still should be able to play most PAL games on it.

If my suspicions are correct, it should be an easy fix. So long as you know how to solder.

[god]

Is there only one switch? Common practice is to put a switch for 50 and 60 Hz, and a switch to turn the lock out chip on and off. Sounds to me like maybe the previous owner deactivated the lockout chip, and might not have installed a switch so you can turn it back on.

How do you know it's a 50/60Hz switch? Did you switch it while playing that 8-in-1 cart and see it running at two different speeds? Or maybe it's labeled on the console or something?

Just one switch. It has a sticker on it that shows 50Hz/60Hz. While I am playing the 8-in-1 I can switch it (to 60Hz) and it changes the game to full screen ie. eliminates the 'Letterboxing'. It doesn't seem to change the speed however. At first I thought it was changing the speed, but now I'm sure its just an optical illusion caused by the screen size changing, because the music is definately not changing speeds when I switch.

A-HA, I was testing it with Mario World on the 8-in-1. Just tried with Pit Fighter and the speed changes, you really feel it when the music lurches into a different speed. So lets say that it does change the speed, but Mario World was probably made to run at correct speed in 50 or 60Hz. Does that seem likely?

It's preferable for PAL users to run most SNES games at 60Hz, because most PAL SNES games weren't properly coded for 50Hz, so running them at 60Hz will present them the way they were intended. However, some games will check to see if the console is in NTSC or PAL mode and will not boot the game if it doesn't like what it finds. This is true for both PAL and NTSC games. It will give you a message at start up "This game is not intended for use on this SNES or SFC" or something to that effect. On top of that, some games wont boot if the console's lockout chip has been disabled, though I believe these games are limited to S-DD1 and SA-1 games. Anyway, these are the reasons why it's preferable to install a switch for both options.

I just tried all my Aus Snes games (I only have 6 of them) and in each case the Snes acts as though theres no game in at all, the screen stays blue. So no message at all.

Anyways, that 8-in-1 cart is definitely a pirate carts of some sort. It probably doesn't have a lockout chip. This is why you can't get it to boot on your stock SNES. And it helps my theory that it will boot on your modded SNES because the lockout chip was permanently disabled.

If it IS a 50/60Hz switch and the lockout chip is permanganate disabled, you still should be able to play most PAL games on it.

If my suspicions are correct, it should be an easy fix. So long as you know how to solder.

I may have just gotten unlucky with my selection of Snes games, but the console won't play ball with any of them. Just to clarify, can you usually play any PAL Snes game on any PAL Snes?

And I have a friend who loves electonics, soldering and gaming. He's currently working on my Famiclone, but I think this might just be his next project!

[Ziggy]

I just tried all my Aus Snes games (I only have 6 of them) and in each case the Snes acts as though theres no game in at all, the screen stays blue. So no message at all.

1)What games were they? 2)Try cleaning the cart slot and the game paks and try again.

Just to clarify, can you usually play any PAL Snes game on any PAL Snes?

I would think so, yes.

And I have a friend who loves electonics, soldering and gaming.

Ah, perfect. You can either get this console back to stock, or modify it further.

[god]

1)What games were they? 2)Try cleaning the cart slot and the game paks and try again.

1) Super Turrican 2, Killer Instinct, Maximum Carnage, Rise of the Robots, Tetris + Dr Mario, X-Kaliber 2097

2) I don't have anything to clean them with at the moment. The fact that they load fine on my Aus Snes, and that the bootleg cart runs fine on the UK Snes makes me suspect that that's not the issue

Is there anyone in the land of PAL who can tell me what happens to them when another country's PAL games are loaded on their system?

[Ziggy]

I don't have anything to clean them with at the moment. The fact that they load fine on my Aus Snes, and that the bootleg cart runs fine on the UK Snes makes me suspect that that's not the issue

The more important thing would be to clean the cart SLOT of the AUS SNES, cleaning the carts is just good measure. All you need is some rubbing alcohol (can be bought just about anywhere for cheap) and cotton swabs (for the carts) and cardboard wrapped with an old, but clean, cotton T-shirt (for the cart slot).

I kinda lost my train of thought with this thread. Our theory is that a previous owner installed a 50/60Hz switch and disabled the lockout chip with no switch to turn it back on, right? If that be the case, I believe all those games you tried should be able to boot with the lockout chip disabled. At the worst you would get the "This game pak was not designed for you SNES or SFC" message I described above, but they should at least get that far. The only games I'm aware of that wont actually boot with the lockout chip disabled are SA-1 games.

Your 8-in-1 cart says it's a Super Famicom game, so we can assume it has an NTSC lockout chip. This would make perfect sense why it doesn't boot on your stock SNES. It helps my theory that the lockout chip was disabled on your other SNES, because the 8-in-1 one does boot.

Hmm, I just had a thought. Maybe the lockout chip isn't disabled. Maybe the previous owner removed the PAL lockout and installed an NTSC lockout. This would make perfect sense regarding your 8-in-1 cart, as well as why your other 6 carts wont boot.