I had hoped to have play tested the PAL version of Impossible Mission (7800) in time for this month’s issue. Rumor has it that this is the only complete version. I picked up several copies of the cart by trading overseas. For those of you that may not know, some 7800 PAL games (maybe all?) will not work on an NTSC console. You may get the title screen, but that’s it. Nothing, but a striped pattern. It will not load. I did have a PAL console. I just never tried to hook it up because the adapter had a strange 240v plug. I therefore thought I would try something when the game arrived. For some strange reason I tried to use a different adapter to fit my outlets. I don’t claim to be an electrical engineer. As soon as I plugged it in the 7800 started to smoke like a toaster with burnt toast. Oh, shit! I guess I fried that sucker. I picked up another PAL system in trade. This time I used an original 7800 NTSC adapter. There was no need to be plugging into a 220v outlet, because the unit only needed 9 volts to operate anyway. Besides the adapter had the same jack. Damn it! Still only the title screen.

I would try one more thing as a last resort. I would spring for a PAL TV. The only place that I know that sells them is New York City. I found one in a discount store in midtown. I plopped down $300 for a 14” multi-system. This TV could play anything. Two kinds of PAL, NTSC, Secam and more. Plus it came with a 110v adapter. I set everything to PAL. Same thing happened. Title screen, then nada. I must have used every curse word I knew of and probably came up with some new ones. It was time to pack it in. The only thing I could think of that was stopping me was that I also had to be in a position to receive a PAL signal. Since I didn’t plan on moving far, far away, I had used up all my options. Maybe somebody in a PAL country can tell me what I want to know or, how to make this system work. The only odd thing that I noticed about the PAL consoles was that there was no Channel 2-3 switch in the back. Even trying different channels didn’t help. I still would like to get this system up and running, if at all possible, so that I can also get to play Sentinel, which was released in PAL only.

To facilitate matters, I have added a map of what I know about the NTSC game (CLICK HERE TO VIEW). There are actually 4 possible maps. The manual does not mention this. The one shown here is I believe is the default or first map, which occurs after power up and start. To see the different maps, keep hitting reset. The start screen will show an immediate: left tunnel (see map), right tunnel, both left & right tunnels, or no tunnels. All versions seem to have 32 rooms similarly arranged and you always start at the top of the first elevator. I had neither the time nor the inclination to play out these other versions. Since the one I tried was incomplete, I did not trust the others. There could be a complete version somewhere. Perhaps one of our readers will be up to the challenge?