Forums

Topic: UK vs US game cart compatibility

Posts 1 to 14 of 14

ouroborous

PAL vs NTSC cart compatibility???

I live in the US and have a North American Switch console. I know that the Switch is technically region-free and as NTSC is the TV format in the US and Japan, our games are fully compatible.
What I want to know is if I can buy a UK copy of a game and use it on my US Switch, since our TV formats are technically incompatible (PAL-UK vs NTSC-USA). Now maybe ALL game carts are really the same and the output is handled entirely by the console, but in the past, for example, you could play UK games on a PS1 but the video was all messed up on a US TV (there was a fix for that, but that's another story).
Anyone have any actual experience with this (either using a UK game on a US console, or using a US game on a UK console)?
The reason I am asking is that there is some truly epic pre-order bonus items in other countries sometimes since the US tends to get shafted when it comes to that stuff. So I would like to order the country version of the game with the best physical bonus items, but I don't want to have to buy the game twice just to get the swag and be able to actually play it also.

good with a speeding bullet ;p -

ouroborous

I really havent been able to find a definitive answer to this question online so far.

good with a speeding bullet ;p -

Octane

@ouroborous It's 2017, not 1997. Unless you're playing on a CRT TV, there's nothing to worry about.

Octane

Sisilly_G

Just to reiterate what Octane said, we are no longer living in the age of analogue TVs. You won't experience any issues whatsoever.

In fact, only PAL users using ridiculously out-of-date TVs would be the ones with any reason to worry seeing as all games nowadays conform to standardised frame rates of either 30fps or 60fps.

"Gee, that's really persuasive. Do you have any actual points to make other than to essentially say 'me Tarzan, physical bad, digital good'?"

Switch Friend Code: SW-1910-7582-3323

Octane

@sillygostly I don't think modern consoles even support interlaced video anymore. I'm fairly certain they're useless on a CRT TV.

Octane

1UP_MARIO

@ouroborous welcome to 2017 or nearly 2018

We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.

ouroborous

Excellent, I mean that seems to be the case in a general sense, but it's good to have some input. And yea I wondered with HD TV's and all if the difference really no longer applied. Thanks guys.

good with a speeding bullet ;p -

Heavyarms55

You have nothing to worry about. The Switch is entirely region free. The only thing you need to be concerned about is using the correct power cord for whichever region you are in. That is it.

Nintendo Switch FC: 4867-2891-2493
Switch username: Em
Discord: Heavyarms55#1475
Pokemon Go FC: 3838 2595 7596
PSN: Heavyarms55zx

Sisilly_G

Octane wrote:

@sillygostly I don't think modern consoles even support interlaced video anymore. I'm fairly certain they're useless on a CRT TV.

Interlaced video is supported, particularly in the case of DVDs/Blu-ray players and other devices (HDMI supports interlaced video), and while I can't vouch for the rest of the world, many Australian free-to-air TV networks air interlaced video (i.e. 1080i) with bitrates so low that they may as well be standard definition. It's a wonder that UHD TVs sell at all over here. Unless you have a UHD compatible gaming console or a UHD Blu-ray player, there's no point in owning one. And our internet is so abysmal that it can barely stream HD content without constant buffering let alone UHD.

But yes, the latest devices only seem to support HDMI out nowadays, so one would need an adapter to use their devices on a CRT TV anyway.

"Gee, that's really persuasive. Do you have any actual points to make other than to essentially say 'me Tarzan, physical bad, digital good'?"

Switch Friend Code: SW-1910-7582-3323

skywake

Octane wrote:

I don't think modern consoles even support interlaced video anymore. I'm fairly certain they're useless on a CRT TV.

They don't have analogue video output more to the point. Because some CRTs supported non-interlaced signals and some even supported HD signals. But even the ones that did support such things still did so via component video. And on the other side of the equation as I understand it the PS4 supports both interlaced signals and sub HD video modes. Just not via analogue video cables.

In any case as others have stated the difference between PAL and NTSC was with the refresh rate. PAL was 576i at 50Hz and NTSC was 480i at 60Hz. And it was only that way because it was cheaper to make a TV that matched the frequency of your local power (110V at 60Hz vs 240V at 50Hz). Which was a big deal for earlier consoles because game speed was often tied to framerate which was locked to the refresh rate of your TV.

But that's not an issue anymore. The only refresh rates a TV will generally run at are 60Hz, 30Hz or 24Hz. The first one being the most common, 30Hz existing for some resolutions and 24Hz existing for movies because a lot of films are shot at that framerate.

@sillygostly
We may be behind on our infrastructure but we are the great early adopters. Mostly because we have so much disposable income compared to other countries. We kinda have to because everything is expensive. As a result things like 4K TVs and games, which we don't pay a premium for, appear relatively cheaper to us than they do to people in other parts of the world.

Edited on by skywake

Some playlists: Top All Time Songs, Top Last Year
"Don't stir the pot" is a nice way of saying "they're too dumb to reason with"

RichKK

i am in the UK and I buy and play US and Japanese Switch titles with no issues.

RichKK

Cracajackninja

I ordered a UK game and it said "some online abd multiplayer features may not work." is is this a real issue?

Cracajackninja

Sisilly_G

@Cracajackninja : Not particularly. Only if online multiplayer is in some way restricted by region and your NNID is from a region not supported by the version of the game that you have bought. But this would be a very rare issue that would only affect a very small number of games.

"Gee, that's really persuasive. Do you have any actual points to make other than to essentially say 'me Tarzan, physical bad, digital good'?"

Switch Friend Code: SW-1910-7582-3323

ouroborous

@Crackajackninja I would imagine that if you have trouble, you could create a UK user account on your Switch to use while playing that game. That's all it takes to fool the eShop. It might work for online features of games too?

good with a speeding bullet ;p -

  • Page 1 of 1

Sorry, this topic has been locked.