N64 Pal v the rest of the world.

[Link83]

You can actually RGB mod European consoles now. All you need is to install the Nintendo video chip used in the US consoles (IIRC). I know chaoticjelly has done this kind of modification.

You can do that aswell but I think the mod your probably thinking of is 'Viletims Replacement DAC' which uses a CPLD programmed chip to capture the RGB data, and then an R2R resistor ladder to convert it into analogue RGB. Theres a thread about it here:-
http://nfggames.com/forum2/index.php?topic=2563.0
and a small guide here:-

http://members.optusnet.com.au/eviltim/n64rgb/assembly.html

This method will work on absolutely any N64 console, but as you can probably see in the last pictures its a pretty complex and requires a programmed chip. It would be nice if some Hong Kong company would produce a PCB board with SMT components already soldered on, but thats not very likely to happen!

[Oldgamingfart]

The reason people think that later PAL N64's dont support S-Video is because both revisions of the European N64 use different video encoder chips:-

Yeah that's what I thought, anyway thanks for the explanation. I still have the N64 I purchased on launch in 1997 (for ?250 ), plus I have a few of the Japanese NTSC machines, although my Sony TV struggles with the video output from these (especially the Clear Red/ Blue machines).
It just flicks back and forth between B&W (PAL mode) and Colour (NTSC mode) with both machines. I wonder if the video signal is weaker with the later consoles?

[punio75]

Strange question I know but..

I appreciate PAL games will not work on a NTSC console. But do they fit in the cartridge slot or are they different shapes?

[mekanor]

think there are tabs that stop it fitting. pal carts maybe the same size as jp ones? or maybe thats for the snes. someone who actually has a us machine should probably answer that. ill be quiet now

[egparadigm]

The answer is that PAL carts are physically identical to JPN carts. All carts are the same size, but the position of the tab slots is different on US carts.

Remove the tabs on an N64 and any region cart will fit, though only NTSC cart will boot on an NTSC N64.

[Link83]

{EDIT} beaten by monomaniacpat!

PAL N64 Carts are physically identical to the JPN N64 carts, in fact if you open up a PAL N64 cart you will see that the plastic casing has 'JPN' molded into it. The same applies to the PAL N64 cartridge slot which is also marked 'JPN' Obviously Nintendo used the same molds for both PAL and Japanese N64 games and cart slots.

Nintendo's region lockout for the N64 consisted of two different lockout chips, and two different game/cartridge port shapes - using a combination of each they created 'three regions'.

The USA and JPN N64s use exactly the same lockout chip and all that differs between them is the plastic cartridge slot tabs and the matching slots on the game cartridges. Because of this the plastic tabs in the cart slot can easily be removed allowing either a US or JPN console to play the opposite regions games

However even though the PAL machine also use the JPN cartridge slot/game cases it also uses a PAL specific lockout chip, and so far this lockout/security chip has never been properly defeated because it also controls all the connected accessories (such as controllers and memory cards) so it cant just be 'disabled' like the SNES lockout chip

The Passport Plus III is able to boot NTSC games by using a PAL games security chip, which is why you always need a PAL game in the back aswell (or visa-versa) In this way the consoles lockout chip still thinks its 'talking' to a PAL game and allows the NTSC game to boot. This isnt always successful though, and its not really 'defeating' the security chip, but merely trying to dodge around it.

Hope that makes sense