PAL

Regions of the world which used the different encoding systems

PAL (Phase Alternate Line) was an analogue television encoding system used in Europe, Australia, Africa and parts of South America. While it has been made obsolete by the use of digital component encoding, the term survives as a colloquial reference to the version of games and other televisual media released in the former PAL regions, particularly Europe and Australia.

Regional differences

Regional variations

The PAL versions are available in Europe and Australia and contain some minor differences. The most well known difference is that in the PAL version of Melee, Marth is slightly lighter, placing him under the weight threshold to be susceptible to Fox's Waveshine Infinite combos.

Region coding

In an attempt to maintain the integrity of release dates that differ between continents, most DVDs and video games have region specific codes that allow them to only be played on consoles made in certain regions without hacking. Super Smash Bros. Melee and Super Smash Bros. Brawl, like all Nintendo GameCube and Wii games, are region specific.

See also

• NTSC
• Wikipedia's PAL article.
• Wikipedia's SECAM article, a similar but competing standard which is often mistakenly conflated with PAL.