NES (versiones PAL)

Versions for Europe and Oceania, sold through local distributors and split into two mutually incompatible zones.

Nintendo sold the NES in PAL regions through local distributors. In Europe it reached Scandinavia first, in late 1986. In 1987 Mattel took the UK, Italy, Australia and New Zealand, while French company NESI handled France and the Benelux; because of Mattel's weak marketing, NESI also took the British rights the following year. Bandai replaced NESI in 1992 and Nintendo took distribution back in 1995. In Australia it only gained traction around 1993.

Europe was split into two zones: PAL-A, covering the UK and Italy, and PAL-B, covering the rest, and games from one zone do not run on consoles from the other. The UK, Italy and Australia had two versions, "Mattel" and "NES", differing only in the front lid text and a smoother top finish. French NES consoles have an AV port that converts the composite signal to RGB over a SCART connector.