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Cart Variation by Region: Starting when?


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The PAL 7800 doesn't have the cart signature check because the cryptographic check could not be exported outside the US, at the time it was released. Some PAL carts don't work in NTSC machines because the expected signature in the ROM image isn't correct.

I don't think this is the reason either. Both the NTSC and the PAL 7800s were made in China. The PAL 7800s were shipped to Europe directly, so Atari wouldn't have been exporting any consoles from the USA. And the BIOS code with the signature check had been exported years earlier for the NTSC version.

 

I suppose it simply was cheaper to strip the BIOS code to the bare minimum and add the game code to it then it was to include a free game cartridge with every console. After all everyone who wanted to make games for the 7800 would still have to get a signature key from Atari to sell the NTSC version in the USA, so the key check wasn't really necessary in the PAL console.

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