Would a UK console work in the USA?

Question

Hi, would any of my UK bought consoles work in the USA?

I own an Atari 2600, a Commodore 64, a NES, a Sega Master System, a SNES, a Sega Mega Drive (Genesis), a Nintendo Game Boy Advance SP, a Sega Game Gear, a Sony Playstation, a Nintendo 64, a Sega Dreamcast, a Sony Playstation 2, a Microsoft Xbox, a Sony PS3, a Sony PSP, a Nintendo DSi, a Nintendo Wii and a Microsoft Xbox 360

Answer 1

There are 3 factors to consider on these things as far as I know.



First is the electrical input. The UK is 240V while the US is 120V, so you'd need an adapter for those units that aren't 120 and/or don't have the correct US style plug. Some electronics can be plugged into 120 or 240 and they are auto-selecting.



Second, the video output in the US is NTSC while in the UK the output is PAL. The difference (again, as far as I know) is that the frame rate for NTSC is 60Hz while the frame rate for PAL is 50Hz. That won't be a factor for things like the PSP and Game Gear that have their own screen. You may be able to get an adapter that modifies the PAL signal into NTSC. As far as modifying a system, the only one I can speak of is the Commodore 64. On the motherboard inside the video signal modulator box is a jumper that can be cut or soldered to select between NTSC and PAL.



Third, for those systems that use CD or DVD media, those are specific to a geographic region. The US is region 1; I don't know what the UK is. Because your units were bought in the UK they would only work with disks specific to that region code, including movie DVDs.

Answer 2

Yes, but you might need to buy new Plug Leads as North America and Europe don't use the same type of plugs due to fact we have different Voltage standards.



In America they use a plug with 2 Pins, whereas here in the UK we use 3 Pins



don't forget that some older consoles are Region Locked - PAL, NTSC. Any new game you buy for those consoles in the USA won't work on UK consoles. You can tell what Region the game is from by looking at the rating.



E.G. any game with an ESRB label like M - Mature, T - Teen will be from North America, whereas in Europe we put the Age Rating - 12, 15, 16, 18

Answer 3

Most of them would work fine, you would need an adapter to convert the power plug but that is pretty cheap. The main concern is games. Some of those consoles are region locked and you can not play games from the US on the UK console while others will play.