Support NeoGAF

[Tizoc]

We all know that PSX and PS2 games released in Europe were made 50 Hz, with certain games having the option for 60 Hz.
During the PSX era for example, the FF games had it worse as IIRC, they were all very slow compared to their NTSC counterparts.
What games from the NES era til now, that had good 50 Hz conversions and which games had it bad?

 

[Jubern]

I think Kingdom Hearts II and Final Fantasy XII had good conversions, except for a crippling default in the latter's case: the FMVs had a fucked up ratio if the game was played in 16/9.
Beside those two, pretty much every Square-Enix conversion was terrible, having a fucked-up ratio, slower speed or (most often) both.

 

[Azuardo]

So many games were affected, but some of the main bad ones that stick out for me include:

Sonic the Hedgehog
Devil May Cry
Final Fantasy X
Mario Kart 64
Lylatwars/SF64

For speedy games like Sonic or racers like MK64, it was a right kick in the face.

 

[IdreamofHIME]

For me it has to be Final Fantasy X, Tidus feels like he's running in quicksand. He actually truly feels like he's permanently stuck in slowmotion when on the world map.

I cannot wait for FFXHD, I think it's gonna be a revolution for me considering how used to the shitty conversion I am.

 

[morukutsu]

Mario Kart Double Dash: Full screen, 20% slower (Bad)
Super Smash Bros Melee: Full screen, same speed but frames dropped (Good)

 

[Napalm_Frank]

I think Kingdom Hearts II and Final Fantasy XII had good conversions, except for a crippling default in the latter's case: the FMVs had a fucked up ratio if the game was played in 16/9.
Beside those two, pretty much every Square-Enix conversion was terrible, having a fucked-up ratio, slower speed or (most often) both.

KH2 PAL is noticably slower than the US version sadly.

FFIX is the single worst game that suffers from PAL. Mainly because the game was too slow without the extra help.

 

[Auskeek]

Playing the Gamecube RPGs Baten Kaitos and Skies of Arcadia Legends were pretty painful in 50Hz.

In Tales of Symphonia, there's an EX Skill which makes you run faster. I recently was able to play a non PAL version of Symphonia, and it feels like you have that skill activated all the time.

 

[Neff]

The majority of post-Wave Race N64 optimisations were excellent. N64 is pretty much the only console to ever take the notion of PAL optimisation seriously.

Anything that was left untouched, particularly brisk action games such as Sonic 1, Street Fighter II, RE2, MGS, Tekken 3, Mario 64, DMC etc looked painfully bad next to their NTSC originals. Even with a slower-paced game such as FFX, the difference is striking.

 

[Piotrek]

Vagrant Story. I thought the game itself was shit, with impossible to nail timings. It was much, much later that I learnt about the whole conversion business.
Let's just say that I consider VG to be one of the best Square games, once I got the proper NTSC version.

 

[Tizoc]

KH2 PAL is noticably slower than the US version sadly.

FFIX is the single worst game that suffers from PAL. Mainly because the game was too slow without the extra help.

I assume then that FF4-8 also suffer from slow downs on their PAL versions right?

Did Disney PSX games have good optimization? I recall playing Tarzan from EU PSN and it played fine to me.

 

[Synth]

The majority of post-Wave Race N64 optimisations were excellent. N64 is pretty much the only console to ever take the notion of PAL optimisation seriously.

Anything that was left untouched, particularly brisk action games such as Sonic 1, Street Fighter II, RE2, MGS, Tekken 3, Mario 64, DMC etc looked painfully bad next to their NTSC originals. Even with a slower-paced game such as FFX, the difference is striking.

The Saturn also had great 50hz conversions for many of Sega's first-party games. Virtua Fighter 2 and Sega Rally in particular.

Tekken 2 and 3 were probably the worst that I ever experienced. The speed difference made the games play very differently as too many actions became extremely easy to see and react to. They were barely the same game at that point.

 

[MrT-Tar]

These videos still shock me:

Castlevania: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmMXA7FpR_U

Sonic the Hedgehog: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nSSYo0npMhA