What Spanish PAL means and how to spot a Spanish copy

PAL is the colour television system used in Spain and almost all of Europe: 625 lines and 50 frames per second (50 Hz). Consoles sold there were built for those TVs, and by extension all European software and hardware is called “PAL”. The technical explanation, and what it means for actually playing, is in the PAL vs NTSC guide.

“PAL” on its own only tells you the game is European. “Spanish PAL” (PAL España, as Spanish sellers put it) goes a step further: it is the version that was sold in Spanish shops. Within Europe each country got its own print run, or at least its own boxes and manuals, and for collectors that makes them different editions, just like a book published in two countries.

There is no official standard defining the term: it is second-hand market jargon. In practice it is used for copies that meet at least one of these conditions, and the best ones meet all of them:

• The box, the cover or the manual is in Spanish, or in several languages including Spanish, and was distributed in Spain.
• The product code carries the suffix or reference of the Spanish edition.
• It has items specific to the Spanish market: distributor stickers, Spanish age rating, warranty or registration card in Spanish.

They are all PAL and, as a rule, they all work on the same European console. What changes is everything around the game:

• Language of the box and manual. UK copies come in English; French and German ones in their own language. There are “multi” editions with a manual in five or six languages that were sold in several countries at once.
• Language of the game. In many cases the cartridge or disc is the same across Europe and only the cover and manual change. In others, especially text-heavy games, there are translated versions that were only sold in one country.
• Different cover art. It is not unusual for the same game to have different artwork in the UK, France or Germany. For a collector, that alone makes it a variant.
• Age ratings and content. Before PEGI (2003) each country had its own system, and some games were altered for the German market because of its ratings. That is why a German copy of certain titles is not the same as the Spanish one.
• Print runs. For many consoles Spain was a smaller market than the UK, France or Germany. Fewer copies made does not guarantee a high price, but it explains why some games in Spanish are harder to find.

With the copy in front of you, go through these points in order. None of them is conclusive on its own; it is the combination that gives you the answer.

Back cover and spine

Spanish text, the address or name of a distributor in Spain and, from 2003 onwards, the PEGI rating. On multilingual boxes, check that Spanish is among the printed languages: some European editions leave it out and were never sold in Spain.

Manual

This is the biggest giveaway. A Spanish-only manual, or a booklet with a Spanish section, is the clearest clue. A “Spanish PAL” game with an English manual is usually a UK copy someone has swapped the inlay on, or a game missing its original manual.

Stickers and paperwork

In the 8- and 16-bit era, consoles and games reached Spain through local distributors. In Nintendo's early days there, for example, it was companies such as Spaco and later Erbe, before Nintendo España existed. Those distributors' stickers, warranty cards and registration forms are part of the copy and are worth keeping.

The cartridge or disc itself

Some cartridges and discs carry the same code printed on the box. If the code on the cartridge does not match the one on the box, they are two parts from different copies put together later.

Almost every game has a catalogue code on the spine, on the back cover or on the cartridge or disc itself. It is harder to fake than a cover, and it is the first thing to note down when you catalogue a game.

• Nintendo (NES, Game Boy, Super Nintendo, Nintendo 64, GameCube…). Box and cartridge codes end in a country or region suffix: ESP for Spanish editions, and others such as EUR (Europe in general), NOE (Germany and the German-speaking region), FRA or FAH (France), UKV (United Kingdom), ITA (Italy) or HOL (Netherlands). A box with an ESP suffix is almost certainly Spanish; a EUR one may or may not have been sold in Spain, and you need to check the manual.
• PlayStation, PlayStation 2 and PSP. European codes start with SCES or SLES (UCES or ULES on PSP). Some games have a single code for the whole of Europe and others have a separate code for each language version. If your copy has a code specific to the Spanish-language version, all the better: it is easy to verify.
• Sega. On Mega Drive, Master System or Saturn the codes do not always indicate the country; here the manual and the box carry more weight.

With the code you can compare your copy against collectors' catalogues and other copies for sale. If two sellers are offering “the same Spanish PAL game” with different codes, one of them is wrong or there are two editions.

There is no rule saying Spanish copies are worth more or less. What there are, are factors that push the price one way or the other:

• Local demand. Collectors in Spain mainly look for the editions they saw in the shops as children. That keeps demand up for complete Spanish copies with their manual.
• Translation. A game that was only translated into Spanish in the Spanish version has no substitute: for anyone who wants to play it in Spanish, a UK copy is no good.
• Print run and survival. For some games fewer copies were made for Spain, and of those, fewer have survived complete to this day.
• Condition and completeness. These matter more than the country. A loose Spanish copy can be worth less than a complete UK one. The how much is my collection worth guide explains how these factors combine.

That is why it pays to record the exact region of every copy. In Games Library each game has a region field and a condition field, and the value is calculated on that combination, not on the bare title.

• On PlayStation 2, SingStar: La Edad de Oro del Pop Español is an edition made only for Spain: its track list is what defines it, and it has no equivalent in other countries.
• Many PlayStation 2 games, such as Ratchet & Clank, arrived with Spanish voice dubbing. The Spanish version is not just a different cover: the disc contains a different voice language.
• On Super Nintendo there are RPGs that were translated into Spanish for Europe and are sought after in Spain precisely for that reason. We cover them in the Super Nintendo guide.