Back in the 32-bit era, I originally owned a Saturn from the start of it, only moving over to the N64, then the PS1 much later. During this time, there was a great deal of interest in the magazines to PAL Conversions, something that we at Bordersdown know all too well - the process of converting videogames, predominantly made in the US and Japan, in NTSC TV format, to the PAL/SECAM formats used in the UK/France.
The Saturn was an unusual example for this, because the UK versions of some of its games differ from the US. The UK version of Sega Rally runs borderless at a higher resolution in the UK, and some of the Saturn's other games were manipulated in similar ways. It also meant that we occasionally got slightly better versions of some games (with bugfixes etc.) as we usually got them last. By the time the Dreamcast came along, consoles started to support multiple output formats, and games often let the user choose, which made this less of a problem for those of us with newer TVs.
However, I only know this because at the time, I was an avid reader of Sega Saturn Magazine, which detailed these. I also remember them lambasting the UK version of X-Men: COTA because its PAL conversion was poor (I remember an example saying that Ice-Man's Ice-Ball attack looked more like an oval, and the game felt sluggish).
So how were the PS1's PAL conversions? Are they generally good/bad? I was thinking about how I've recently reacquired some PS1 games I miss, and it made me wonder... Like even late titles like Vagrant Story or Metal Gear Solid, are they slower than the US versions?
The Saturn was an unusual example for this, because the UK versions of some of its games differ from the US. The UK version of Sega Rally runs borderless at a higher resolution in the UK, and some of the Saturn's other games were manipulated in similar ways. It also meant that we occasionally got slightly better versions of some games (with bugfixes etc.) as we usually got them last. By the time the Dreamcast came along, consoles started to support multiple output formats, and games often let the user choose, which made this less of a problem for those of us with newer TVs.
However, I only know this because at the time, I was an avid reader of Sega Saturn Magazine, which detailed these. I also remember them lambasting the UK version of X-Men: COTA because its PAL conversion was poor (I remember an example saying that Ice-Man's Ice-Ball attack looked more like an oval, and the game felt sluggish).
So how were the PS1's PAL conversions? Are they generally good/bad? I was thinking about how I've recently reacquired some PS1 games I miss, and it made me wonder... Like even late titles like Vagrant Story or Metal Gear Solid, are they slower than the US versions?
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