Top-Loading NES question

[baraka]

Ok, so in addition to my European regular NES console I want to import a toploader from the US to be able to play US games at full speed that werent released in Europe (there were many, im thinking of Silver Surfer, Ninja Gaiden 3 for example). And I also read its regionfree, which sounds great.

Now, there are some things that arent quite clear to me and hopefully someone with a toploader could clarify:

- Do all games play at 60 Hz? Or does it switch to 50 for PAL games?
- There's no AV-out, but its easy to mod that in?
- When connected to a PAL TV, would you need any transformers for the RF-unit and/or AV-out?

Especially the first thing is important for me to know...

[ApolloBoy]

1: Since the top loader is an NTSC console, all games will run at 60 Hz, even PAL games. Some PAL titles will either have glitches or won't run at all on an NTSC system however.

2: AV out is a fairly easy mod compared to most other systems; just don't use the GameSX mod.
3: If you have a newer TV, it should handle NTSC systems without major problems. You'll either need an adapter for the switchbox (since antenna inputs are different in Europe) or you can use an RF cable from another system.

[Cornelius]

Since you are importing either way, you may want to consider the av famicom. I don't know the answers to your questions for it, but worth looking into.

[baraka]

1: Since the top loader is an NTSC console, all games will run at 60 Hz, even PAL games. Some PAL titles will either have glitches or won't run at all on an NTSC system however.

2: AV out is a fairly easy mod compared to most other systems; just don't use the GameSX mod.

3: If you have a newer TV, it should handle NTSC systems without major problems. You'll either need an adapter for the switchbox (since antenna inputs are different in Europe) or you can use an RF cable from another system.

Great, thanks for your elaborate answers

And Cornelius thats a good idea, I'll look into that and maybe if they turn out to have some advantage or theyre a lot cheaper ill buy one of those.

[baraka]

Great, thanks for your elaborate answers

And Cornelius thats a good idea, I'll look into that and maybe if they turn out to have some advantage or theyre a lot cheaper ill buy one of those.

Ok its rather confusing. The great advantage of the Famicom newer model over the US top loader is that it has AV support built in instead of RF-out. However, it seems that its not regionfree and I'm not sure if this has to do with the 60/72 pin difference or just a lockout-chip again... And this is not any cheaper than the us top loader either, the prices are about the same.

[Franky]

I'd suggest you definitely get an AV Famicom. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong here, but I believe that one of the differences between the 60 pin famicom slots and the 72 pin NES slots is the region lockout paths. In other words, they don't exist on the famicoms, so there will be no region troubles. That's one of the reasons they changed the slots in the first place. Plus, with a famicom you can hear that enhanced music some japanese titles have, like Akomajou Densetsu (Castlevania 3).

[dreamcaster]

On the topic of NES top loaders - are PAL NES top loaders also region free?

[baraka]

On the topic of NES top loaders - are PAL NES top loaders also region free?

I asked a guy whos selling it on the Australian eBay and he said its 50 Hz-only and that he wasnt sure about regionfree.