Super Game Boy pitch problem?

[BlastoiseVeteran]

I have a Super Famicom and a Japanese Super Game Boy, but for some reason American games play at a higher pitch than they're supposed to. When testing it out with a Japanese game, the sound is just fine (of course accounting for the sgb1 clock speed). I didn't think this would be a problem, seeing as how all gb consoles and gb games are not region-locked in any way. Is there a fix to this, or will I just have to change the pitch on OBS or my TV or whatever I'm using? Thanks in advance.

EDIT: If anyone does have a Super Famicom with a Japanese SGB, any help would be appreciated!

 

[Ryccardo]

Technically GB/C games do have a region (Japan or Export), though indeed to the best of my knowledge no official product cares - and indeed, the speed will be the same in any case...

 

[Deleted User]

I never recall this problem on a Super Gameboy 2
Does anyone else have a Japanese Super Gameboy 1 to check if it's a common issue?

Doesn't a Super Gameboy 1 play games slightly faster? Maybe that's related.

Do you have both Japanese and US versions of any games? Maybe it's just triggered by certain sound frequencies and the games you have from America just happen to be games which use those frequencies.

 

[BlastoiseVeteran]

Just tested out my Pocket Monsters Green cartridge, the pitch problem is now present. A US copy of Pokemon Red also presents the same problem. Testing out a Japanese copy of Puyo Puyo Sun though provides good results. ??? I guess it isn't just US games, but that's extremely strange.
A US copy of Pokemon TCG also brings out the pitch problem, as well as a US copy of Pokemon Pinball and a US copy of Link's Awakening. Going to start testing out random cartridges from a box I have, will update.

 

[AmandaRose]

The first SGB derives its clock from the SNES's clock. The SNES's master clock runs at 21.477270MHz and the SGB divides that by 5 to come to 4.295454MHz. A handheld GB runs by a discrete 4.194304MHz clock crystal. Despite the 2.4% speed increase, the SGB seemingly will never crash when running GB software. Even those games like Pinball Fantasies and Pinball Deluxe, which cause emulator authors nightmares with their pesky edge cases, will run on the SGB. Audio will be slightly higher pitched in most games because of the higher clock speed. All the above issues were fixed in the SGB 2

 

[BlastoiseVeteran]

Here's a list of the random games I picked, and if the pitch is incorrect or not.

Has correct pitch:
Pocket Puyo Puyo Tsu (JPN)
Puyo Puyo (JPN)
Game de Hakken!! Tamagotchi (JPN)
Kirby's Dream Land/Hoshi no Kirby (JPN)

Incorrect pitch:
Kirby's Dream Land 2 (US)
Tetris (US, don't know if it matters though. pretty sure all tetris carts are the exact same rom-wise)
Game & Watch Gallery (US)
Tetris DX (US)

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

Audio will be slightly higher pitched in most games because of the higher clock speed.

Well the thing is, some games are pitched higher by about 3 or 4 notes or something like that, extremely noticable.

 

[AmandaRose]

Here's a list of the random games I picked, and if the pitch is incorrect or not.

Has correct pitch:
Pocket Puyo Puyo Tsu (JPN)
Puyo Puyo (JPN)
Game de Hakken!! Tamagotchi (JPN)

Incorrect pitch:
Kirby's Dream Land 2 (US)
Tetris (US, don't know if it matters though. pretty sure all tetris carts are the exact same rom-wise)
Game & Watch Gallery (US)
Tetris DX (US)

The region of the game does not matter as its a clock speed issue with all versions of the SGB 1

 

[BlastoiseVeteran]

The region of the game does not matter as its a clock speed issue with all versions of the SGB 1

Exactly, so I'm wondering why some games sound higher pitched than others. I'm taking into account the SGB's incorrect clock speed, and still getting these results.

 

[Deleted User]

The only game you said you tested for both regions has the problem for both regions.

It sounds like certain game sounds are just more noticeable on the SGB speedup. Or your SGB in particular has a pitch problem which is more noticeable or triggered by certain game sounds.

Either way, get an SGB2.