Retrocomputing Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for vintage-computer hobbyists interested in restoring, preserving, and using the classic computer and gaming systems of yesteryear. It only takes a minute to sign up.
Sign up to join this community
Take the NES, the Super NES and say, the PlayStation, they all have something in common : games on PAL regions were about 16.7% slower than their NTSC counterpart.
Now if on you play an arcade game, let's say Pang 3, the ROM for Europe region runs at the exact same speed than the ROM for Japan region.
So why did arcade cabinets designated to run in 50Hz regions didn't exhibit the same slower speed as it was the case for consoles running also in 50Hz regions ?
Arcade cabinets are closed systems that you simply plug into the wall; the only thing that needs to change between regions is the PSU. The internal hardware will run at the same frequencies and therefore output graphics at the same rates and sizes regardless of the region.
Conversely, consoles and home computers of the era mostly expect the user to supply their own display, which may be a television. Therefore they’re adapted for each country’s television standards.
Market realities of the era plus the way that relevant hardware usually varies between 50Hz and 60Hz regions tends to lead to letterboxing and slower games; it’s not unavoidable but is common. Arcade games don’t have that hardware variation.
Take the NES, the Super NES and say, the PlayStation, they all have something in common : games on PAL regions were about 16.7% slower than their NTSC counterpart.
Sure? Any proof for that? They did display maybe 16% less pictures per second, but so does every US TV show aired in Europe. To me no of the actors seam like pumped with tranquillizers.
Now if on you play an arcade game, let's say Pang 3, the ROM for Europe region runs at the exact same speed than the ROM for Japan region.
Well, it isn't a ROM, but a game board that does the display. And most important here, they use the same board in Europe than in the US or Japan. The software (ROM - but more often than not EPROM) differs only for on screen language - if at all, as some games can be switched between languages.
So why did arcade cabinets designated to run in 50Hz regions didn't exhibit the same slower speed as it was the case for consoles running also in 50Hz regions ?
As these, unlike game consoles, do not differ between regions - at least not in game related parts. What differs are transformators and PSUs as they need to cope with the different frequencies and, more important, different voltages. Another part that usually differs are the coin slots/money detectors, as different countries happen to have different coins.
Arcade cabinets are closed system, not intended to be interoperable with other devices, like local TV. Consoles in contrast have to do exactly that, work with a local TV at default setting.
A comparable situation with computer would be the Commodore PET. An all in one solution, much like a game cabinet. Id did not have to bother with 50 half frame per second TV. Again, it was the power supply that had to be changed to work with the various voltages available in Europe at the time.
The equivalent in game consoles would be the Vectrex. Here again it was an all in one unit containing the CRT as well. So when MB sold it in Germany, all they did was replace the 115V transformer with a 220V unit. Nothing else ... well, ofc, warranty sticker and packaging had to be changed as well :))
