When playing these games on CRT, I am going to tell you that 25 fps is good enough. It is not a huge difference, and back then having 3D games running at a stable 30fps was already quite rare. I don't remember PAL optimized Saturn games having their HUD butchered.
When you are optimizing for 3D, there is no reason to alter the ratio. Characters/objects should not be longer are wider, and I don't think that this is what happens in my Saturn games (the ones I know the most). I need to make some more verifications I guess.
And we kind of derailed the thread, sorry about that.
CRT or no CRT, 25fps or 30fps is a big difference, and yes, when you start screen stretching to optimise, you mess up the original vision of the developer. We can agree to disagree of course, but 5 frames drop is significant.
When you can make an informed choice and go for NTSC, there is zero reason to pick up a PAL copy of anything. Even the 60hz stuff on PS2, gamecube and Xbox usually had the prog scan ripped out.
Incidentally, I use a facebook gaming collector group that is predominantly people 20 years younger than me, and they collect PAL games almost exclusively. Barely a single one of them, in this massive group, has a clue about the inferiority of PAL old games, and they will defend them to the hilt.
Meanwhile, 30 years ago I was paying £50 for my NTSC copy of Super Mario Kart, and running it on my parma violet US snes via RGB on my Sony Trinitron TV. When I see these actively hostile young folks running their PAL Sneses through an RF lead on an LCD TV, in 50hz, incorrect aspect ratio, input lag off the charts, it's like witnessing the cycle of life..as in seeing people dismissing older wisdom because they know best. You have to let them get on with it, but it is quite funny to watch. I solved these problems for myself aged 14 or so, poring through old game mags, sending off to importers, making my own RGB lead with a wiring guide. Now here I am all these years on, ranting against shitty PAL conversions.