Do PAL Cartridges work on the North American C64?

[Protestari]

Does anybody know if PAL C64 Games Cartridges work on the North American C64 computer, thanks

 

[quarkx]

I am not 100% sure for the C64, but generally for most game systems NO- PAL carts usually are keyed (plastic tabs in front) to prevent them from being inserted into NTSC machines.

 

[SkydivinGirl]

I've never seen any cartridges for the C64 that are keyed like other game systems. Electronically, they are definitely compatible. I'm fairly certain it will run just about any game, but there may be graphical glitches and/or speed differences.

Good luck!

Heather

 

[protek]

How is it with C64 games in general? Are there separate NTSC versions or how does it work with titles released on tape/disk?

I know that running NTSC Vic cartridge games on PAL machine causes the screen to be offset in either or both axes, although in most cases it can be adjusted with either cursor keys or joystick. I really should try to find PAL versions for the games that I have in my Vic-20 multicart.

 

[CentralPerk]

Expansion port is definitely not keyed on C64. I believe that most early CBM game cartridges (e.g. Le Mans) should work just fine on both systems, perhaps with some minor speed/sound related issues.

Newer releases, however, might show some unwanted glitches on overseas machines, mainly due to extensive use of raster sinchronized code, but a quick search for "pal/ntsc" on CSDB will show you 2000+ "fixed" titles.