PAL consoles face another incompatibility when playing out-of-region cartridges: the NTSC video standard specifies video at 60 Hz while PAL operates at 50 Hz, resulting in approximately 16.7% slower gameplay. Additionally, PAL's higher resolution results in letterboxing of the output image. Some commercial PAL region releases exhibit this same problem and, therefore, can be played in NTSC systems without issue while others will face a 20% speedup if played in an NTSC console. To mostly correct this issue, a switch can be added to place the SNES PPU into a 60 Hz mode supported by most newer PAL televisions. Later games will detect this setting and refuse to run, requiring the switch to be thrown only after the check completes. COUNT 4
QSN1 What video frequency does NTSC use? ANS1 60 Hz QSN2 What video frequency does PAL use? ANS2 50 Hz QSN3 How much slower do games run on PAL consoles than NTSC due to frequency differences? ANS3 16.7% slower QSN4 What hardware modification could be made to the SNES to support game speed differences? ANS4 a switch can be added to place the SNES PPU into a 60 Hz mode supported by most newer PAL televisions