Query about a SNES cart....

[Roganjohn]

hi everybody,
so i was at a swap market today, nothing really exciting.

however, at the back of a pile of overpriced N64 carts i noticed a boxed SNES game -- Bulls Vs. Blazers.

big deal, right?

well, what struck me about it is that it was an NTSC box. being in australia, that's not all that uncommon. i simply thought there would be an NTSC cart in there.

what was in there was what appeared to be a bootleg cartridge in the form of an Australian SNES cart. It was an ex-rental, so it probably should've worked. the cart had an oblong piece cut out of the top of it, engravings on the back and the sticker looks as if it had been restuck from the US cart.

the romantic in me at first thought 'prototype' (lol). but then it struck me as a possibility that the NTSC game could have been tampered with to adapt to a PAL format.

i could very well be wrong -- i would love to know some opinions on this as my knowledge of gaming stuff doesn't run that deep.

any clarification on what this possibly is would be good to know....

thanks in advance
john

ps -- i didn't buy it in the end (i don't like basketball games) ;)

[badinsults]

Pics or it didn't happen.

[Roganjohn]

Pics or it didn't happen.

easier said than done, unfortunately. if i had pics i'd post them.

but i'm wondering -- is it possible to convert a games regional code? that would then be the most logical explanation as to what it is

[EnforcerOfJustice]

I've seen many other ex-rental SNES games from video stores that were NTSC too here in Australia. I've always assumed that they imported these because they were cheaper and were available earlier than our PAL equivalent. Some of mine have store stickers on the box suggesting that they would provide region converter cartridges with their games upon rental.

The only methods of region lockout the SNES used were a physical lockout, with the NTSC cartridge casing being wider than the PAL counterpart and a region lockout, defeated by cutting one pin inside the console.

Obviously, the cartridge size issue would be bypassed by fitting the game in an aftermarket/original PAL cartridge case. The game itself could probably be easily modified to ignore the region lockout of the SNES too, allowing it to work on a PAL system. I think I saw someone do this to a Super Mario RPG so it would work on an unmodified console.

It seems like a lot of effort, but the video store could have gutted the game, grafted the sticker onto another cartridge case and modded the game to work on local systems without a converter.


P.S. NBA Jam is the only SNES basketball game you need http://www.digitpress.com/forum/images/smilies/0803_cool.gif