macdlsa

Well, with my PAL L6 on PAL TVs that are capable to "sync" the 60Hz signal I see the NTSC carts video with "only" wrong colors (all the rest is perfect and extremely more enjoyable than PALs), 'cause an NTSC game program tell to the PAL TIA to point at a specified color, but it's obviously not the same color intended by the programmer, since the two palettes are different
The matter is that anything I know about the video of the VCS leads me to say that even if I have NTSC games into a modded NTSC VCS viewed on a PAL TV I cannot see the right colors...
This problem would not have been occured if VCS had an RGB out, 'cause in that way the cathode electron beams are directly "driven" by the Red/Green/Blue signals , while composite or separate (luma/chrome) video "mix" colors all together in one only signal...

I supposed that some VCS modboard had a sort of internal DAC/DSP, but I was wrong .

At least, I have to catch, as well as an NTSC VCS, a NTSC/multistandard CRT TV
... or I'll have to use the LCD TV in the living room, with both great joy for me and my daughter and great sorrow for my wife !

[ Again, sorry for any translation troubles... I use my "refreshed" school english ]

That should be the second on the list, Capt. Kirk

Ok, I set all the colors according to TIA NTSC palette and following your [raindog] advices about scanlines...
 Donkey Kong Arcade_SCREEN posteriore.jpg   226.1K   70 downloads
[ also UPDATED here ]
Well, ladders on the 1st level are of the same color of the hammer handle and the right (time) counter (which is of a different color of the left (score) counter and does ALTERNATE scanlines with it !); the can has the same blue of Mario's trousers and does no longer share any scanline with the ladders on its right. Kong is yet a "2-frames" quad-sprite.
On the 2nd level we have the platforms sharing the same color of Mario's face, the same can of the 1st level, while ladders and hammer handle are white. Kong is the same 2-frames quad-sprite of the 1st level, but it can MOVE HIMSELF across the platform on which it is (maybe with flames' pattern), hindering Mario when he attempts to climb the last stairways, just like it happens playin' the coin-operated...
In the 3rd level Kong returns to be a "fixed" sprite like in the 1st level, lifts has the same color of the platforms and bouncing springs/coils are the "new" enemies; ladders are white but when they have to share scanlines with platforms they turns in the color of these last. Too much sprites, indeed... flickering would be inevitable .
The 4th level is a bit different from the original Kitchen's game: Kong is the same 2-frames-quad of the 1st and 3rd level, but is now placed in the center of the upper platform, blocking Mario's way (just like in the arcade): flickering ? Yes, but only for a few seconds... just the time to unlock the bolts .

... I think you already *caught* I'm a die-hard DK fan, as well as Dragon's Lair !

Yeah, Garry "guide to the galaxy" Kitchen's job was (is) awesome, considering as it is a 4k program... but here we thought Coleco didn't want a complete DK for the VCS nor the Inty... the rest is history !

Oh, yep... as I said I'm not smart with VCS programming, but I took a look at the "beginner's guide" then I modified the 1st screen, following your "hints". Ladders' color follow the platform's when in the same scanline, while on the others there is the "light blue".
[I didn't follow the TIA palette, so sure colors don't match...]
The can is blue but now it alternates the "double scanlines" (reading the manual I thought: tere are double scanlines to save some bytes in the kernel's "weigth"...) with the ladders on the right, while the counters on the top alternate their lines (single scanline)...
For the 4th screen: yes, Mario and Kong would sure flicker, but it's just for some instants that they are on the same platform .

Copyrights: well, just a couple of months ago I contacted (through a friend who is the official italian translator of their booklets) a man from Digital Leisure, asking him about a *possible* VCS version of Dragon's Lair. We talked a lot (oh, I forgot: sorry for my "school English" ), also rimembering the time when we of the Daphne Team asked the rights for sharing the official captures of their laserdisc-based games, and the DigLeis "headquarter" answered me there wuold be not enough "money reasons" to say no to that project... You know what I mean: *only* 100 or more cartridges sold are not properly an affair for them, but they said they sure want to be informed about it. Well, then this project was stopped almost from the beginning, although I still have an almost complete set of mockupped sprites, kernels and a storyboard .
Nintendo ?
Well, I think you're right... the names of Mario, Kong and Pauline are still worth lots of $... but never say never .