Author Topic: NES Video Game Music  (Read 888 times)

Offline theredguy03

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NES Video Game Music
« on: August 21, 2013, 10:16:44 pm »
The other day I was playing the NES (one of my favourite consoles ever!). I played the likes of Blaster Master, TMNT and Super Mario Bros. All the games are under the PAL format, when I noticed the music had a slower tempo so I had a look on Youtube videos to confirm my suspicions and the music there was normal speed.  ???

I'm asuming it's because of the regions where they sell the games, or I must be losing my marbles  :wave
« Last Edit: August 21, 2013, 10:18:35 pm by theredguy03 »
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Offline Macphisto80

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Re: NES Video Game Music
« Reply #1 on: August 21, 2013, 11:51:24 pm »
Ah, the blast from the past. The old NTSC vs PAL speed issue. If I recall correctly, it had something to do with the TV's refresh rate, or latency. PAL TV refresh rates are slower than the NTSC counterpart, so the game video updates slower as a result. It's not just the sound, but the game itself. I remember my Japanese N64 Mario 64 being far superior to the PAL version when it eventually released in Europe because of the difference in the speed of the game, and the fact that NTSC also nullified the aspect ratio issues so it didn't have big black borders top and bottom of the screen. I had to hunt down a TV that had a 60hz refresh rate. Rare during the 90's.

Found a video of the two side-by-side.

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/SRWNaCVM8Dk" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="bbc_link bbc_flash_disabled new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/SRWNaCVM8Dk</a>
« Last Edit: August 22, 2013, 12:02:32 am by Macphisto80 »

Offline FiSh77

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Re: NES Video Game Music
« Reply #2 on: August 22, 2013, 01:37:57 am »
yeah it was caused by the different refresh rates of pal & ntsc

early games had a noticeable difference in the sound but then they started programming pal games with faster sound, the actual code would be faster than in the ntsc version to compensate so they both sound the same when run on the correct consoles, if you can find pal & ntsc roms of the same game and run them in a nes emulator in ntsc mode you'll notice the difference in the sound, the ntsc version should sound fine and the pal version should be faster (the pal version might also be in a slightly different key as well iirc) run them in pal mode and the pal version will be ok and the ntsc will be slow, if it's an early title then they should both sound fine in ntsc and slower if you run them in pal as the sound was programmed identical

Offline Malaysian Kopite

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Re: NES Video Game Music
« Reply #3 on: August 22, 2013, 08:26:50 am »
The best thing about the HD consoles/TVs was that it solved this.
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Offline theredguy03

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Re: NES Video Game Music
« Reply #4 on: August 22, 2013, 10:26:53 am »
I see. Cheers for the feedback everyone.
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Offline Macphisto80

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Re: NES Video Game Music
« Reply #5 on: August 22, 2013, 06:33:33 pm »
The best thing about the HD consoles/TVs was that it solved this.
Yeah, although it was pretty much solved when TV's went to scart as the main input anyway.