Jungle Hunt - NTSC or PAL?

[Andre81]

I got this copy of Jungle Hunt today, which I thought would be the PAL release. Atarimania also has this box style only listed as PAL: http://www.atarimania.com/game-atari-2600-vcs-jungle-hunt_8054.html

 

I was quite surprised to find an "N" on top of the box, under the factory shrinkwrap. I haven't seen such an "N" on any box yet.

 

So I assume this is an NTSC release?

[+Omegamatrix]

That is weird. Could be a sticker mix-up, or did they sent NTSC games to a PAL country? Looks like the shrinkwrap is too tight for the box now.

[Andre81]

It is definitely the factory shrinkwrap, the original sticker from the International Division is also on the shrinkwrap.

[Rom Hunter]

These N stickers were also found on the NTSC Asterix box.

 

Canadian was my first thought, but this German sticker doesn't lead to that direction.

 

[Philflound]

As far as I know, any N sticker on the top of the boxes had NTSC carts inside. At least based on my experience of what I've gotten in collections. You could always open it up and test it.

 

Phil

[high voltage]

I used to have the same one for a sealed ET way back in 85, purchased at Quelle.

Of course I didn't know it meant a TV standard but I found out later as the cart didn't work in my VCS so I sold the game to a work colleague in the US Army.

[Rom Hunter]

I wouldn't open it if I were you, Andre.

 

99.9% certain NTSC.

 

BTW, here are Asterix and Obelix NTSC:

http://www.atarimania.com/game-atari-2600-vcs-asterix_13734.html

 

http://www.atarimania.com/game-atari-2600-vcs-obelix_11764.html

 

Both with the N sticker.

 

I'm sure others exist as well.

 

[Philflound]

This is the reason why Rom and I have sites like these to identify things. He definitely goes more indepth as to which version is NTSC and PAL. But it's always good to identify things for people who can only use PAL.

 

Phil

[Pioneer4x4]

I have no idea why, but it made me think of NTSC for Japan...

[Luc]

Games with an N sticker were also sold in Belgium and The Netherlands in the early nineties. They are indeed NTSC and wouldn't work correctly if you had an old television set. I guess the sticker was there to warn you about this (not that anyone had the slightest idea what the N meant, so people bought them anyway).

[ccc---]

I got a Jungle Hunt yesterday in exactly the same style. The box has 6 languages on it and the manual has 5 languages in it, like the standard PAL releases. But the top flap of the box has also that "N" sticker, so probably NTSC. Funny thing - the same as with Andre's Jungle Hunt - the shrinkwrap had the sticker with the address of Atari Germany on it.

 

Why would they make this?

 

One (adventurous) idea: They made that style for the US Army troops in Germany back then. But I doubt that the demand was big enough that it would pay off ...

 

Or maybe Atari just didn't care anymore at that time and used what they had. Makes still no sense though, because if they would sell those games in Europe, the cart wouldn't run on many TV sets and Atari had a massive claim problem.

 

Or Atari Germany produced those for the US market. Atari USA would send the carts to Europe and here they put them in a Euro style box. Why would they do that? No idea ...

Edited November 17, 2012 by ccc---

[nofrills100]

NTSC always runs fine on PAL sets - just the colours are not as intended - isn't that right?

Perhaps Atari didn't give a damn about this and needed to offload some NTSC stock?

[ccc---]

NTSC always runs fine on PAL sets - just the colours are not as intended - isn't that right?

Perhaps Atari didn't give a damn about this and needed to offload some NTSC stock?

 

Yes, I thought of that too. But I think if they didn't give damn, they hadn't put the "N" sticker on the box.

[Andre81]

I have a total of 5 games from Atari Germany with an N sticker. Volleyball, Pole Position and others. I also found a Pole Position with an N sticker in Canada without the Atari Germany sticker. There is an empty white field on bottom right of the back. I also found a sealed PAL box from Atari Germany, that has a white sticker on the back with a joystick + text in 5 languages. Will post pictures tomorrow. But that does not explain why they sold NTSC games. Maybe they had to sell the NTSC stock in Europe?

[ccc---]

But that does not explain why they sold NTSC games. Maybe they had to sell the NTSC stock in Europe?

 

If all those NTSC games really run on PAL machines (with false colours of course), that might be a possibility. Maybe there was an overproduction of NTSC carts. But in that case I don't understand why they would care to put the "N" sticker on the boxes when they sold those games in Europe.

[Mister VCS]

Some years ago, i owned an E.T. cartridge CIB. Same "N" sticker, shrinkwrapped with yellow Atari Germany-sticker, International-edition. I opened the box - the game was definitly NTSC (wrong colors on my PAL VCS). It was sold by "The Video Game Source" www.videogamer.de .

Edited November 18, 2012 by Mister VCS

[nofrills100]

If all those NTSC games really run on PAL machines (with false colours of course), that might be a possibility. Maybe there was an overproduction of NTSC carts. But in that case I don't understand why they would care to put the "N" sticker on the boxes when they sold those games in Europe.

 

Well... they would have been packaged and marked as NTSC because they were intended for sale in the US... only later when the time came that Atari discovered the stock wasn't moving as they imagined, they simply sent it off to Europe as it was.

[ccc---]

But why would they pack NTSC games that were intended for sale in the US, in multilingual European boxes with multilingual European manuals, with Atari Germany stickers on them?

Edited November 18, 2012 by ccc---

[nofrills100]

ahhhhh - I skipped those details........ hmm?

In that case I guess they wanted to at least be a little honest about slipping NTSC games into the hands of PAL consumers... 'can't say we didn't try to warn you with that big N sticker'.