NES Classic

[Reprise]

You know, I was just thinking that this could hopefully be really cool for PAL regions.

Surely Nintendo will give us full speed, proper aspect ratio NES gaming glory?

I could be wrong (I don't play a lot of virtual console games on the Wii or Wii U), but I'm sure I've heard that Virtual Console releases in Europe are still in their original PAL 50hz iterations, despite there being no reason for it (the same actually applies to classic PS1 games on PSN).

If these games run at full speed and in the aspect ratio they were intended in PAL regions, it will be great.

[Exhuminator]

If these games run at full speed and in the aspect ratio they were intended in PAL regions, it will be great.

If not, would it be impossible to import and use the USA NES Classic?

[Reprise]

If these games run at full speed and in the aspect ratio they were intended in PAL regions, it will be great.

If not, would it be impossible to import and use the USA NES Classic?

I assume so. Therefore Nintendo would be crazy to not have these games running properly now it's the 21st century and PAL/NTSC differences and poor PAL optimisation are more of less irrelevant in gaming.

[Exhuminator]

I mean, I thought the whole 50/60hz thing went away with the advent of HDTV & HDMI. Is that not true? I honestly don't know. If it is true, Nintendo would have to intentionally hobble the PAL version of this to run the games in an emulated 50hz mode. I don't see them doing that really.

[Reprise]

I mean, I thought the whole 50/60hz thing went away with the advent of HDTV & HDMI. Is that not true? I honestly don't know. If it is true, Nintendo would have to intentionally hobble the PAL version of this to run the games in an emulated 50hz mode. I don't see them doing that really.

Yes, you are correct. It went away with the advent of HDTV & HDMI (and to be fair, most Dreamcast, XBox and GameCube [not PS2 so much, oddly] games were optimised properly and provided 60hz options anyways). However, if they release the PAL versions of the games in an unaltered state, then they will play the same as the original PAL versions did. I hear that this is what happens (or happened) with some Virtual Console releases.

I could be wrong though or it might just have happened a few games and may not be an issue any more.

Just Googled it and Wikipedia has some interesting info on the issues. Seems I was right about Virtual Console games often still being butchered in PAL land https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_C ... PAL_issues

[Exhuminator]

Worst case scenario, I'd imagine the USA NES Classic would work on an HDTV in the UK. I mean the power works off standard USB, so no crazy adapters should be necessary. And I don't know how the console could check its region, being that its offline and unless somehow when it connected over HDMI it read the region from the HDTV or something. But I've never heard of anything like that.

[Tanooki]

^Yes that's the solution if they don't just mass box just one system with the appropriate box/paperwork for the region. They're being total cheap asses not giving people a way to power it with a USB cable alone where you need to find/buy a USB to wall adapter to use the thing. That is a bonus because the hardware with that and HDMI is universal. Just get the right plug and you're good to go.

[Betagam7]

I mean, I thought the whole 50/60hz thing went away with the advent of HDTV & HDMI. Is that not true? I honestly don't know. If it is true, Nintendo would have to intentionally hobble the PAL version of this to run the games in an emulated 50hz mode. I don't see them doing that really.

Yes, you are correct. It went away with the advent of HDTV & HDMI (and to be fair, most Dreamcast, XBox and GameCube [not PS2 so much, oddly] games were optimised properly and provided 60hz options anyways). However, if they release the PAL versions of the games in an unaltered state, then they will play the same as the original PAL versions did. I hear that this is what happens (or happened) with some Virtual Console releases.

I could be wrong though or it might just have happened a few games and may not be an issue any more.

Just Googled it and Wikipedia has some interesting info on the issues. Seems I was right about Virtual Console games often still being butchered in PAL land https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_C ... PAL_issues

I wrote this article for Nintendolife back in 2010. I had hoped we wouldn't still be talking about in 2016:

http://www.nintendolife.com/news/2010/0 ... al_problem

I haven't owned a Nintendo console since the Wii but I hear the Wii-U has the same infuriating mix of laziness and the stubborn excuse that people want to play this gimped shit because of nostalgia.

The idea that anyone is going to be like "woah, this is faster that I remember! I want my money back!" is a total nonsense. Magazines like Super play were railing against this in the 1990's. People knew about it and were unhappy about it back then but the problem is that too few will actively complain about it.

Nintendo even released the Wii retail disk of Super Mario All Stars in 50hz bordered mode. It's one of the reasons I stopped supporting the company with my money.

Since the NES mini has no territorial issues I would suggest that European gamers simply import and email Nintendo regarding their decision. Maybe one day, they'll quit being massive tools about this.

[KalessinDB]

I posted this in the Made You Happy thread, but yeah... I'm one of the bigger NES freaks on this board I think, and despite owning a half dozen NESes (RGB modded, component modded, soon HDMI modded) and well and truly over half the NES collection... I'm still absolutely buying one. I might not go day one (a relative might actually want to get me one for Christmas, who knows!) but I'm definitely buying one and a spare controller. And, for 10 bucks a pop, maybe 2 more controllers to just permanently live with my Wii.

And I'll probably get one for my brother's kids.

Aaaaand if it gets hacked, I'll probably buy one for every TV in my house.

Ditto with any as-yet-unannounced SNES Classic. Other systems... probably. But NES and to a lesser extent SNES are my love affairs. I'm an unapologetic Ninty fanboy.

[alienjesus]

I haven't owned a Nintendo console since the Wii but I hear the Wii-U has the same infuriating mix of laziness and the stubborn excuse that people want to play this gimped shit because of nostalgia.

It's not perfect, but a significant number of Wii U VC games are the 60hz US versions rather than the PAL releases.