What is PAL/NTSC?

PAL and NTSC are different TV standards. NTSC is used in Japan, and the majority of North and South America. There are also a few other smaller countries that use it. PAL is mainly used in Europe and Australia. NTSC TVs operate at 30fps (60Hz, 60 frames interlaced), while PAL run at 25fps (50Hz). To satisfy the frame output requirement of these standards, consoles between NTSC and PAL regions run some games at different speeds. Some games are adjusted, but not all. Super Mario Kart is not one of them. PAL runs a few seconds slower on most races. Some slight notable differences are that the off-road terrain such as grass, sand and water slows the kart down more on the PAL version. Such important differences induce separate charts, and scores between the two versions are incomparable.

Example~~~   

Unfortunately I only have the PAL version of SMK, wish I’d kept my sfc cart of it now instead of giving it away but it does seem unlikely I will be challenging anyone’s time given that I’m at a time disadvantage. Still for the sake of it here are my times for a few tracks.