PAL Wii: What's 60 Hz and What's Not

[EJG1980]

Totally agree with Peo, saying that people who only buy PAL consoles can't be serious gamers is total rubbish. My younger sister has been playing games since the N64 days, has bought her own consoles all the way up to the current Wii, and she only ever buys PAL stuff that's released here. A good solid ten years of gaming, but not an NTSC console in sight. Does that make her a "casual, non-serious" gamer? Of course not.

[sj33]

It is a true thing, and can't really expect them to.

Just wish Nintendo would have taken a leaf out of MS's book and made 60Hz mandatory.

[Kiigan]

A serious gamer would have to be crazy to buy a PAL console, no matter what.

Heh, That might be the funniest comment I've ever read in my years of lurking on NTSC-UK!

Well, clearly I'm not as "serious" a gamer as yourself, but this Friday I will be playing Zelda in glorious 480p on my PAL Wii. I doubt very much that I'll feel like a second-class gamer, given that many of you here are still waiting for your VG+ orders.

Importing is wonderful - if that's what you choose to do, good for you. However there really aren't many significant disadvantages of being a PAL Wii owner, that I can see anyway. Perhaps the games will arrive a bit later, but I have patience and a life, and I like the convenience of being able to pick up a game on a whim when I'm buying my groceries. Also, once we've got WarioWare here it is going to be quite a while before any significant Wii titles appear anywhere, here or in NTSC regions.

As for the Virtual Console issues... if the original PAL releases were 50hz, they'll have to remain 50hz now. There's not much can be done about that, and I don't think Nintendo have done anything wrong. At least by going the PAL route you have the advantage of being able to actually buy stuff via credit card without having to pretend to live in Brazil. I personally am unconcerned about Virtual Console either way - I wasn't planning on paying yet Nintendo again for titles I've already bought previously, and I'm not buying a Wii to play old tat I've been able to easily emulate on my PCs for years.

Anyway, I played Sonic on my PAL Megadrive years ago, and lots of other great games in 50hz... and not once do I recall ever complaining that they were 50hz. In fact, I recall having lots of fun and not giving two ****s about such unimportant details. Some of you guys might try enjoying games more and obsessing over cables and framerates less. Yes, some PAL conversions have been notoriously attrocious, but many aren't and it might be a good idea to stop ludicrously exaggerating the problem. If it IS that big a deal to you, then you'll either import your Wii or stick to PC emulation for your retro hit. You can't expect Nintendo to design their business around dorky hardcore obsessives who are never satisfied. The vast majority of PAL Wii owners won't give a ****, they'll be busy enjoying themselves. Pity they aren't as clever as you though, or else they'd remember not to have any fun eh?

[Pirotic]

'Bizarrely we also tried out Donkey Kong Country and Super Mario 64 - a game that suffered from a terrible PAL port - on our UK Wii, and they both matched the US Virtual Console versions with no borders and smooth-running gameplay.'

http://www.computerandvideogames.com....php?id=150524

CVG? I remember writing into the website before the xbox launch asking if the PAL version of Halo ran in 60hz. Ed Lomas replied saying "we've got them running side by side and they are completely identical"

2 weeks later Bungie admitted a glitch, the game's 60hz mode didn't work and so the game (when set to 60hz) ran in 50hz with a nasty frame skip.

In other words, I wouldn't trust a word they say.

[Ryo Saeba]

Of course is Donkey kong Country running in full speed. It's from Rare so that means that the game was firstly developed on a pal machine with the pal tv-standard in mind. The us-verseion has undergone a localisation, to match the speed.

Every Rare (after Donkey Kong Country, I'm not that sure about their older NES games) game runs at "full speed / full screen" in europe and not slower than the us/jp-versions.
That was the coolest thing in N64 days, knowing that some of the best games weren't in any way inferior to their us counterparts.

I dunno, it's easy to think that, but we all KNEW what Nintendo were like in Europe, we're all know perfectly well what it's like, slow releases, some games not released at all, being unable to rely on all games being 60Hz/480p, yet every time a new console comes out people get the dillusion that 'this one might be different' and always act so suprised when it's the same old crap.

It has always been like that and it will remain like that, if you want all the games, you either have to mod your system or buy an additional import machine, and if it's just the absence of a 60Hz option on an emulator it would be an easy task to add that feature with a future firmware update (or more likely a firmware hack or something like that^^').


EDIT:

A serious gamer would have to be crazy to buy a PAL console, no matter what.

A serious gamer would rather mod his pal system, so he could play games from all regions. There are games that don't see the light of the day in the us, yet they are coming to pal shores. There are even games that are getting upgrades or finetuned and their bugs adressed for the pal release.

[elkatas]

BTW, here are the CVG's screens:

[zipper]

I'll be keeping my PAL wii for convenience and importing if releases are slow / 60Hz lacking.

One thing's for sure - I wont be buying SNES Street Fighter 2 on the VC.
You wouldn't need to be elitist to be shocked by the 6" borders and 4-second jumps! Especially if your mate has it on XBLA...

[Leon Retro]

Elitist bull****.

Anyone serious about wanting to play 60hz virtual console games, has no choice but to buy an NTSC Wii.

No one would have to import any machine, if the systems and games were 100% the same.

Sadly.. that isn't the case. So if anyone is serious about wanting any particular thing the European market doesn't have access to, then obviously they have to seriously consider importing.

It's a serious issue!

[Leon Retro]

Though, peo is right. Outside of people I know who post here, I don't know anyone who cares less about this sort of stuff.

People that join ntsc-uk should be happy that there are actually people who do care about these issues.

We're not elitist. Maybe some people have strong views, but wanting games to look their best, is just a choice.

I know one person that is happy using a 14" beko television, composite lead, at 50hz. He has always been the same, and he has no problem with it.

People that like RGB, Progressive-Scan, big tv's etc... Are just choosing the things that make them happy. If anyone feels superiority, then they are sad.

Most serious gamers do seem to like having the best possible set-up though, but obviously some aren't too worried.

[Jay]

This is a software emulator, right? So all Nintendo would have to do is provide a firmware upgrade which adds a 60hz option. For already optimised games, the option can be disabled. Surely can't be that hard.

Jay

[Lenny]

Elitist bull****.

It's nothing to do with elitism. If you want to experience games the way their developers intended, the only way to guarantee that with every title you buy is to purchase an NTSC system.

[MikeRox]

This is a software emulator, right? So all Nintendo would have to do is provide a firmware upgrade which adds a 60hz option. For already optimised games, the option can be disabled. Surely can't be that hard.

Jay

Surely it'd just be like the 50hz/60hz switch I have on my modded SNES? None of my PAL software generally struggles in 60hz on that.

[Kotatsu Neko]

I'm always shocked that people on this import forum still buy PAL hardware and then are shocked they get screwed over. It's not elitist to import, it's just common sense. Nintendo EU have always been terrible, and you need only have looked at the recent DS and GBA software delays to see how little they have improved.

[peo]

If you want to experience games the way their developers intended, the only way to guarantee that with every title you buy is to purchase an NTSC system.

I couldn't agree more with this sentence, but that isn't what your original post said. You said that those who don't import aren't 'serious gamers' - which is total rubbish.

I'm always shocked that people on this import forum still buy PAL hardware and then are shocked they get screwed over. It's not elitist to import, it's just common sense.

Again, no one in this thread has suggested it is elitist to import, just that it is elitist to look down on those who don't.

[Pirotic]

I'm always shocked that people on this import forum still buy PAL hardware and then are shocked they get screwed over. It's not elitist to import, it's just common sense. Nintendo EU have always been terrible, and you need only have looked at the recent DS and GBA software delays to see how little they have improved.

It's true, but considering the price of the console I think a lot of people are probably picking up a PAL system on launch, then entertaining the idea of importing one from the US 6-12 months down the line when NoE start screwing us over with poor release dates. Getting a console on release date is stressfull enough, I don't want to worry about import delays and broken hardware I can't return.