ATARI 2600 NTSC PAL COMPATABILITY

[shminty]

Hi everyone, this is my first ever post! I was wondering if any of you know about the compatibility of Atari 2600 NTSC US games with UK machines. I was under the impression that they would be ok on a UK machine as long as the tv was modern enough, but now someone has told me that they had problems with the one's which state they are NTSC ONLY on the back. Can anyone help me? Thanks! :D

[Mayhem]

It really depends, and I've found no rhyme or reason why some work okay and some don't yet. They generally fall into one of 3 categories:

1) Works fine
2) Colours flash due to the PAL/NTSC colour frequency difference
3) Screen rolls, making game unplayable

Witness the three new releases from AA on the UA label. Cat Trax and Pleiades work fine for me, Funky Fish rolls its arse back to the stoneage.

I've been told you can assure 100% working by running the 2600 through an NTSC compatible VCR and watching the picture through that channel. Haven't tried it yet as my VCR doesn't appear to work on that...