50 Hz vs 60 Hz

Archived from https://sites.google.com/site/palgameversions/50-hz-vs-60-hz

What is the 50 Hz issue?

During the earlier days of gaming, the main TV system used in Japan and America was NTSC, whereas the UK and Europe used PAL. Since most console games are made in Japan and America they were built for NTSC, but unfortunately very few of them were properly converted for PAL. As a result, the vast majority of retro games in the UK and Europe suffer from the following problems:

Gameplay, animations, and audio run 16.7% slower than the original NTSC version
Lower frame rate, resulting in a slightly less smooth performance
Slightly squashed graphics (vertically), and therefore small black borders at the top and bottom

You can see this for yourself by searching for "PAL vs NTSC" on YouTube, but this video is probably my favourite example. The guy plays the opening level of Sonic the Hedgehog the exact same way on the NTSC and PAL versions. Notice how much slower Sonic moves in the PAL version (not to mention the timer itself), and also the slower music speed when the audio switches halfway through. This video doesn't show the squashed graphics properly (for technical reasons), but this video does.

Why does this happen?

NTSC displays 480 lines of graphical information at 60 frames per second (480p in 60 Hz), whereas PAL displays 576i in 50 Hz. Nowadays most TVs we use are capable of displaying in both formats, as well as a range of alternatives including our more recent HD standards, such as 1080p. When moving a game from NTSC to PAL, if no changes are made, then it will still attempt to display those 60 frames, even though PAL is incapable of displaying them all in one second. The result is that PAL displays 50 of them in a second, and then takes an extra fifth of a second to display the final 10 frames, meaning it's displaying the same information slower than its NTSC counterpart. As for the squashed graphics, PAL is technically displaying a higher resolution, but both display at the same aspect ratio (4:3). Because the game was only built to display 480 lines, the PAL version displays those 480 lines in the middle, leaving 48 blank lines above and below the image. This leaves unused black lines on the screen and slightly squashes the game's aspect ratio.

Which games does this affect?

Exactly which games are affected, and how, is the reason for this guide, because it's not as simple as making blanket statements. There are essentially three states a PAL game could be in:

60 Hz - Using more recent technologies (either PAL60 or HD resolutions) UK games can now display in 60 Hz, providing the original experience at the full frame rate, speed, and aspect ratio.
50 Hz - The unconverted, direct ports feature the full list of negative side effects mentioned above.
50 Hz Optimised - This describes a game where the developers made changes for the PAL version to try and correct or diminish the issues. How much is changed can vary massively though. Some PAL optimised games have had the music speed corrected, some fix the aspect ratio, and some attempt to fix the game speed, although some are more successful than others. Occasionally, PAL optimised games can run too fast, or some bits can run faster than others. Regardless of the changes, the game will still run with the slightly slower frame rate. Even if the optimisation is really good, it's never quite the same as playing the original 60 Hz version, unless the game was actually designed for 50 Hz.

This means UK games can differ quite a bit in terms of quality, and one of the goals of this guide is to keep track of how each game runs. However, you can generally rely on the following rules to be true:

All games released on the NES, Master System, SNES, Mega Drive, N64, PS1 & Saturn run in 50 Hz (sometimes optimised, sometimes not).
Games released on GameCube, PS2, Xbox and Dreamcast vary. Some run in 50 Hz only, but many will give you a 60 Hz option.
Most games released on the Wii, PS3, Xbox 360 (and more modern consoles) don't suffer from the 50 Hz issue at all, though a small number do.

The Wii's Virtual Console contains the original PAL versions of the game wherever possible. A few games on this shop were never released in the UK, so they are the NTSC versions and are marked with a sun icon.
The 3DS' Virtual Console contains slightly-modified ports of the NTSC versions, so they run at the 60 Hz speeds.
The Wii U's Virtual Console mostly uses the NTSC versions, and where they use the PAL version they go into detail about what level of quality it is.
PS1 and PS2 games released on PSN (playable variously on PS3, PS4, PSP & PS Vita) are usually the original PAL versions. Games with a US or Japanese flag in the corner are supposed to be the NTSC versions, but sometimes this isn't the case.

PC games have never suffered from this issue, because they don't use TVs, and the PAL vs NTSC issue is entirely to do with TV standards.
Handheld consoles have also never suffered from this issue, since they use their own custom screens

Should I care?

I've seen many different reactions when people discover this issue. Some people want to play the 60 Hz versions because of the higher frame rate and faster gameplay, and/or they appreciate their games being like the developers originally intended, whereas some people prefer the 50 Hz version, either because it's what they played as a child and feel nostalgic toward, or because they find it easier at the slower speed. Lots of people just don't care, or at least don't care enough to do anything about it. It's understandably frustrating to be told that all your childhood retro games are inferior versions, especially if you still have and play them lots. Deciding how to deal with this situation is important.

For me, I prefer the 60 Hz versions quite a lot, but I also enjoy collecting retro games. If I see a cheap SNES game in a shop I'm still going to pick it up and have fun playing it. A good game is still a good game, even if the version I'm playing has issues. But wherever possible I like to get 60 Hz versions, and if I really enjoy a game I usually don't mind paying again for a 60 Hz version of it, within reason.

So how can I play my favourite games in 60 Hz?

There are a number of ways around this issue:

Import US games - If you buy the NTSC versions, then that's what you play. Unfortunately, most consoles are region-locked, so you'd have to buy a US or Japanese version of the console in order to play the game. Even in the case of region-free consoles (like the Master System) you'd still have to find and buy NTSC copies of the games, which can be expensive.
Modify your UK console - With many consoles it's possible to take them apart and modify them so that when you play a PAL version of the game it runs it in 60 Hz, and therefore at the correct speed. This obviously doesn't work so well for the PAL-optimised games, which then get sped up too much when run this way. I won't be talking about this in my guide, but there's plenty of information out there on the internet for how to modify various consoles, and even some people documenting the effectiveness and side effects this has on specific games.
Play them on emulators - Downloading and playing an NTSC version on a PC emulator is an easy way to play the 60 Hz version, but I won't be discussing it here because of the dubious legality, moral issues, and because I think it's just more fun to play these games on a console.
Find a 60 Hz version of the game here in the UK - This is what I try to do, and what this website is about. Even though the original release of a game might be in 50 Hz, there might be a later release of it that plays in 60 Hz. While not quite as fun as playing the original copy on the retro console, it's great to play the game in the quality it was originally intended.

Why make this guide?

This guide is as much for my benefit as anyone else's. It's quite hard to keep track of all the information, so writing it all down here helps me even if nobody else cares. The problem is that there's just not a lot of documentation about this subject on the internet. That kind of makes sense, since the people who might write about it would have to live in the UK, be interested in retro games, know about the issue, and care enough to do something about it. Most game publishers don't like to actively tell you when you're going to be playing an inferior version of a game, which leaves it up to us to work out which versions of a game are good and bad.

Even when people on the internet have documented parts of this issue, their efforts are largely incomplete (although mine is too) and don't usually go into the level of detail I'd like. I've seen some guides that talk about the frame rate and aspect ratio but don't mention the speed, and some guides that say which games were optimised but don't provide any details about how well they were. You can find lots of video comparisons on YouTube, which is a very helpful way to tell how the speed compares, but these videos usually fail to demonstrate the squashed graphics, and don't give you an accurate impression of the frame rate difference because you're viewing both versions on whatever device you're watching the video on.

At the end of the day, nothing beats playing two versions of a game side-by-side in person and recording the differences. I attempt to do this in my guide as much as I can, but since I don't have access to every game (and every version) I want to document, sometimes I pull information from where I can on the internet, but I make sure to cite my evidence for my claims. Where evidence is completely unavailable, I work on a number of assumptions, which I also mention when used. I have a page listing the types of evidence and assumptions I use.

The aim of this guide is for you to be able to search for a game you want to know about and see a detailed comparison of every version of the game, complete with clear details about what I know about it and where the information came from. Hopefully you find it helpful!