Importing my euro SNES in the US

[daoud]

Hi everybody,

I'm a long time european SNES gamer. I have a European (FRENCH) SNES, and I have the "Fire" adapter that allows me to play US and Japanese games. I also have a Pro Action Replay 2 and a Game Genie for my European SNES. Anyways, I am a happy man. Or at least I was, until, for professional reasons, I had to move to the US. It's been 6 month without my SNES, and I plan bringing it over next time I come home for a visit.

So I am trying to figure out a way to play my european SNES games in the US. What are the solutions you'd recommend for someone who has no electronic knowledge whatsoever? (I don't feel comfortable "opening" the console).

I don't care buying a new console or even a Clone if I have to. What's important to me is that I have more than 60 games, most of them are european, and I would want to be able to play them raher than having to buy them all in their US version (some of them may even nly exist in european).

So what would you advise me to play my european games?

Thanks in advance.

[JLukas]

You won't be able to use your PAL SNES console here in the USA because the TVs don't support 50 Hz and the PAL SNES uses 220v power adapter.

Your best bet is to just bring over the Fire adapter and Pro Action Replay 2 along with your PAL games. Then buy a USA SNES console here (average price is around $35)

With the Fire and PAR2 adapters, you've previously been using them to play NTSC games on a PAL system, but they work just the same for playing PAL games on a NTSC system. That's how most USA gamers play the PAL-exclusives like Terranigma. Instead of placing the NTSC cart in the front slot of the Fire/PAR2, the order is reversed.

You'll probably want to avoid buying a clone system. They have some compatibility issues as-is, and it's not clear how well they handle playing imports through an adapter.

[daoud]

Amazing ! I'm glad it works. See, I've browsed many SNES/nintendo/retrogaming forums trying to find if the "Fire" adapter worked on US SNES, but I was unable to find the answer (even though I found that the much demanded Honeybee Super Magic Converter did). Likewise, I didn't know if the Pro Action Replay 2 bought in France was an appropriate adapter for a US system. Besides, considering the enormous amount of people who seem to practice surgery on their SNES, I thought that it may have been the only solution.

Well thank you very, VERY much. I've check some of the other threads of this forum, I feel that I'm going to like it here.

Once again, thanks a lot for your help. I'll keep you guys updated if I happen to have any problem.

[Leo_A]

You can get tv's with PAL compatibility here. You can buy something like a JVC TM-A13SU off Ebay that is going to support NTSC and PAL.

And could his SuperNes use a North American power supply? On some platforms, the systems themselves get the same power regardless of the region and it's just the power supply itself that is different to handle 110 volts versus 220.

So if that's the case with the Super Nintendo, all he needs is a power supply from here.

[JLukas]

And could his SuperNes use a North American power supply?

The end of the connector that goes into the system is different. It's possible something like a US Genesis model 1 power supply might work (as is the case with a Japanese Super Famicom), but the connectors and output specs would need to be compared.

[daoud]

Yeah, I figured out there would be several solutions. I use most of my electronic things here in the US (computer, external drives, hi-fi....even brought my printer) but they are made to handle 100V to 240V input.

For instance, my electric razor is not made to handle the low voltage you have in the US, and therefore, it works really slowly if I plug it here. Since the french Snes alimentation cable reads "input: 220-230V", I fear that the US electric input would not be enough to make it work. Plus, I don't really trust tension amplifiers, and I don't want to ruin myself in something that can burn my good old SNES. I mean I would if it was the only solution, but if I can play most of my games on a US SNES with the fire adapter, it's just great. Besides, there's an antique store next to my place that has plenty of 'em (certified working). The only thing is that they are selling them 60 bucks a piece. Hence my next and lsat question: where can I find those 35 bucks SNES you were talking about in you previous post JLukas? (except for ebay)

My

[JLukas]

Look around local pawn shops and flea markets, and maybe craigslist. Unless the console is like new/complete in the box, $60 seems like a lot to pay.