MiSTer FPGA Forum

The top of the screen flickers. Even the character sprite looks messed up when turning back and forth. I used the same rom on retroarch with no problems. I'm probably never actually going to play this game I just wanted it to be known lol.

What system? It is most likely a combination between the output signal and your used monitor.

From what my ROM set and the internet is telling me, The Addams Family for the Sega Master System was only released in Europe, a PAL region. I booted it up on my MiSTer and saw the same thing both on my LCD and CRT TVs. But, my default is for NTSC, not PAL. I changed the TV mode to PAL under Audio and Video and the graphical issues went away. The SMS version was only made for the PAL region so I'd guess there's nothing in the programming for NTSC standards like other games released for multiple regions. That would explain the unexpected flickering and why the music should have been faster for you (you can compare it to the US Game Gear version).

FPGA is going to be different than software emulation. You have to keep in mind it's going for hardware accuracies and doesn't ignore the same issues as software emulation. If a game is only for PAL or NTSC, you may have to select that as your region or core's TV setting if it doesn't choose it automatically. They try, but there's always the occasional ones standing out like The Addams Family in this case. And of course, always make sure you source your files as compatible with real hardware. There's a lot of early ROM dumps circulating that weren't accurate and won't work properly if loaded on real hardware; actual or FPGA recreated. In this case, looks like it should just be a regional difference issue. If it continues happening even with the correct TV standard, try another source for the file.

Although with that ear piercing noise for taking damage, I wouldn't blame you for still not playing the game. That one can induce a headache!

Adding onto this, there is no real method of automatically detecting whether or not a Sega Master System game ought to be PAL or NTSC, so you will have to do this manually as @DevilHunterWolf has said.

Ok that makes sense. The only problem is my CRT TV is NTSC so I can't use the pal tv mode.