hi everyone, this is my first post/topic on these forums, nice to meet U all Im from Bosnia (Europe) and I have a few questions about Net Yaroze PS1 PAL console which I would like to buy so I can play NTSC-U and NTSC-J games on it. (Original games, I know there is emulation and mods, Im not interested in those) so, on with my questions I would like to know some things about Net Yaroze PS1 PAL console I saw unboxing of it on YT, so, I think I got 2 of my questions already answered, and those would be 1.Is it region free? As it say on the box I saw in the video and on wikipedia = YES, it is REGION FREE 2.Does it requires PAL consoles to be used in PAL region (220V - 50Hz) for example? As it say on the PAL console I saw in the video = YES, its seems that PSU is made for specific region, and can be used only in appropriate voltages and frequencies. next questions I would like to ask forums if some1 can answer me these > 3.Can Net Yaroze PS1 console use standard PS1 accessories, like gamepads (DualShock), arcade sticks (Konami Hyperstick / Namco), AV cables, memory cards? So I can try to buy only console and use standard AV/gamepads/memory cards with it? Arcade sticks are of utmost importance to me, because I would play mainly shmups on it. 4.Are there any bugs/glitches known to players when playing NTSC games on PAL Net Yaroze console, that affect gameplay or make games unplayable on PAL consoles/TVs (even if they support NTSC standard)? (for example: if I play DonPachi NTSC-J on Net Yaroze PAL, will game be too fast/too slow or something like that? or will game run just fine as if standard PS1 is modified with chip that allows all region games to be played on) 5.For what price I can hope to find loose Net Yaroze PAL console on ebay/online? I know this is Programming and Development forum, but I dont know where else on the internet to ask, I posted this question on PlayStationCollecting forum also, but it seems that no1 is willing to answer it. Im not a Programmer and/or Developer, Im just a gamer and I would like to be able to play some Japanese games and/or US games in my PAL region on my PAL console, original games on PS1 (not modded), I just prefer a real thing if I can afford it, and games today cost 50 EUR new, so giving a few games away for a REGION FREE PS1 console is not much to ask, if U ask me And, I hope I did understand correctly, PS1 Net Yaroze PAL is my only option? I read some topics on this forums and it seems that debugging PS1 consoles are not Region Free? Of course I could just buy NTSC-U/NTSC-J consoles but they are different voltages and frequencies and that would mean that I need to use converter and I dont like those, and I would have 3 different consoles for 3 regions and much more cables and buzzing from converter... So, I would be really nice if You could answer me these questions and if U have any advice on anything about this topic, that would be great. Thanks!
A Yaroze console itself is just a PS1 without a region lockout. It'll work with the same accessories. Heck, it'll even work with mod chips, but don't do that. Yarozes are rare and valuable, so don't destroy them. A Yaroze will come with something called an "access card" that goes in the memory card slot. This is a simple copy protection system for the boot disk used for software development. Hackers cracked it instantly, so Sony wasted their time. Anyway, this access card is only necessary for booting that Yaroze boot disk, so you can still use both memory card slots for games. I don't know of any cross-region issues other than that on some PS1s, the console will output the wrong colorburst for the mode (causing a black and white image). I think that the first-revision hardware that's used in a Yaroze will correctly output NTSC for NTSC even on a PAL Yaroze once the game has booted. As long as your TV/display understands NTSC, it should be fine. The game will run at 60 Hz. You will definitely want a European Yaroze (DTL-H3002), due to the need to run on a 220-240V mains. As an aside, it's not common for consoles to care about the difference between 50 and 60 Hz mains for the Japanese and American markets. This is because manufacturers don't want to bother with having two power supply hardware models if cheaply possible. Japan itself has two independent electric grids, one at 50 Hz and the other at 60 Hz, so right there they have to make a power supply tolerant of both frequencies. Japan is ~100V. The United States and various other countries run in the 110V-120V range at 60 Hz. Due to the small difference between Japan's voltage and the U.S.'s voltage, it makes sense to just design the power supply such that Japan and the U.S. are within tolerance. Europe at 220V-240V is considerably harder to simultaneously support, so most don't, but there exist systems that do. A European retail PS1 with a mod chip will provide the same experience for a lot cheaper. Mod chip-detecting games I've seen disable the check on European consoles, so you don't even need a "stealth" mod chip.
That's what I concluded also. If you have a PAL console with a classic 4 wire chip it will play modchip detection NTSC games normally. MM3 is only needed for US consoles it seems. I've checked with multiple games and PAL consoles to be sure. @mnneurope: Get a chipped console with a SCART RGB cable and you are set. All games will work properly with that setup. No reason to waste money on a Net Yaroze since retail consoles can do the exact same thing. If you can't get RGB cable at least get S-Video cable and perform a "color mod" on your console to get PAL60, even if your TV supports NTSC. I really advise against stock composite cables (yellow, white and red cinch) because picture quality is simply horrible (blurry, washed out and it has a dot crawl). --- Btw, I don't know why but when I boot NTSC games on a non-color-modded PAL console colors tend to be off (too warm is a best way to describe it) it happens on 3 CRTs and 1 LCD I tried. All TVs support 60 Hz NTSC mode so I'm not sure if that is only PS1 related or NTSC is actually that bad opposed to PAL colorburst. Edit: It's very similar to this comparison images for Mega Drive.
I know this to be completely true and not just a theory, at least for mod chip detections new enough to display messages in English. (The first ones were only in Japanese, and I don't remember for those.) I know that this is true because the code actually checks the region of your system BIOS by reading the J/A/E ASCII byte near the end of the BIOS. If it is 'E', it aborts the scan. I know this because I used to make GameShark codes to play games on my modded system. The easiest way to break the protection was to look for the check for the letter 'E' and make it always branch using the GameShark code. I had some legitimate Japanese games that I would've otherwise had to copy and patch in order to play, and I didn't want to do that.
I'm going with "actually that bad". NTSC had a backronym once among broadcast engineers and now retro gamers like us: Never The Same Color.
Absolutely not true, not all, but some pal console i have with oldcrow with dino crisis USA shows the antimod logo Seems to be varius version of the oldcrow modchip...
Probably - I just tried it with a SCPH-9002 with a 4-wire mod and some of the early Japanese mod detecting games (Dino Crisis - SLPS-02180 and Final Fantasy VIII - SLPS-01880) - in both cases that 強制終了しました。screen came up.
