PALification

Regarding: How to compete in CTEC ONLINE with an NTSC System.

Online competition is typically played from players private homes. The equipments is not owned by CTEC.  Players may choose to compete online on equipment listed as “accepted systems”. The game, however, must always be original licensed by Nintendo. alternative solutions so more can join in and enjoy the game & competition.

Look for “accepted systems”.

On location: CTEC strictly use original equipment when organising official events. This will include Nationals as well. Players are allowed to use controllers (with no mods) but will not accept 3rd party products for competition. 

 

However, we only encourage players to buy original Nintendo consoles, controllers & games.

About PALification

  • A solution to allow NTSC players with Game Genie + accepted clnse system.
  • Coding walkthrough (shows all of the differences): https://youtu.be/k3brHZoGuvg

Please note: Final Game Genie codes to put in CTEC might be different. 

Hardware (INCL. GAME)

  • NTSC NES Cartridge
  • RetroUSB AVS – Game Genie code solution will have 5 codes.
  • Monitor that runs 50hertz (PAL)

Please note: Retro AVS is the only accepted clone system this has been tested which also supports the use of 5 Game Genie codes.

Regarding systems check: It is visible and easy to verify that the specific 5 codes and only those 5 codes are in use: There is a big screen with only 5 slots.

Methodology: Fractal161 used the Mesen emulator, recorded himself playing short games on levels 19, 18, 15, and 12 in order on an unmodified PAL rom. Then took an NTSC rom, added the Game Genie codes, then ran the original movie file (identical inputs) on this new ROM. The results were identical (actual movie files are available). A voicechat with screenshare to demonstrate was offered as well.

Text file that summarizes the codes used for the test

CODING

Text file that summarizes the codes used for the test. Comments to clearify has been offered as well. 

				
					FORMAT

GGCODE - [address] (new memory value)
*description of function*

***NECESSARY CODES***
------------------------------------
LPNEEP - 8978 (13)
OPNEKP - 897C (91)

Gravity codes. LPNEEP tells the game that the killscreen should start at level 19, and OPNEKP changes the address for gravity lookup, which fixes gravity for all levels 9+.
------------------------------------
GEKEOO - 89C9 (0C)
AEKESO - 89CD (08)

DAS codes. Changes from 16 frame startup/6 frame repetition to 12 frame startup/4 frame repetition.
------------------------------------

***POSSIBLY UNNECESSARY***
------------------------------------
KLUEZY - 873A (B4)

How long the first piece stays in the air. On unmodified NTSC this quantity is slightly larger, so not including this code *might* be an advantage to someone using these codes (but I really don't think it is one and I believe lots of people would agree)
------------------------------------
KGUAYX - 8237 (CC)
KGUEGX - 823C (CC)

These two change how long the copyright screen lasts for, which does not affect gameplay.
------------------------------------
TTSPKZ - 9A54 (66)

This affects how long it takes the rocket screen to load. This should only matter for qualifiers, but on NTSC this number is bigger, so not using this code is a strict disadvantage to us.

Please note:   The bottom 3/4 icodes was included to guarantee the rng lined up for the pal and ntsc recordings, but this shouldn’t need to be the case in competition, which is why 5 codes is still enough