Those read, listen to / bugged / eavesdrop / overheared / tapped, watched, spied, copied and steal many of my ideas (=inventions) initiated by me: + open, transparent 360° sunlight Buildings, construction methods, architectures, designs, concepts; + Step-floor / -storey / -level / -tier pyramid (e.g., as a residential building); + 360° stepped floors / storey / level / tier buildings (constructions, architectures, construction methods, designs, concepts, 2D, 3D, models); + 3D 360° environment (surround), volume, space (room) audio / sound; + 360° environment (surround), volume, room screens (displays), monitors, TVs; + Screens (displays), monitors, TVs without backlighting; + many things with magnets like Micro-OLED; + 360° screens, monitors, TVs, panels, glass; + curved screens, monitors, TVs, panels, glass; + 360° reflections and light digital: "ENB", "Ray-Tracing" / "RTX", “Lumen illumination” and whatever renaming! + Short Throw Projectors; + dark backgrounds / themes / skins for windows, browser windows, internet sites, programs / apps, etc.; + fanless, passive cooling (I’m not the inventor of water-cooled); + 360° open, transparent PC cases; + 360° Sphere, Ball as a Wheel (2D, 3D) “Omniwheel” / “Omni-Wheel”; + Flying objects, planes that take off and land vertically, for example by hot air, example fighter jet; + and much more! + I'm not the inventor of VR, but of "AR", AR glass, AR glasses, objective in real life! It was only later that I realized that they derived a lot from my ideas (=inventions), a lot came about that has to do with color and light, through me as an initiator, booster / catalyst, e.g., through my idea, invention of the Screens without a backlight and without a built-in / integrated backlight! It is no coincidence that only afterwards, after I initiated this, they built, built and are building those inventions thanks to my impetus! They sell my ideas (inventions) as theirs! They are not the inventors, but the first technical implementers of my ideas (=inventions)! And those are not the inventors, but the thieves of my ideas (=inventions) initiated by me, because those act as if I wasn't the first hand and the first domino, and they take unjustly, undeservedly a lot of money, stolen money (blood money), recognitions, awards, certificates, fame and history, they boast of my laurels / merits! Before me they all were stucked at LCD, Plasma TV and less lights! I have made a deep impact in evolution! Those manipulate, sabotage, falsify, distort images, paintings, digitized and real, animations, videos, films, also composed of many images, even the publication dates of mine, others and their posts, images, videos, etc.! You have to understand, those can distort everything that can be heard and seen in real life and digitally! They block and delete my pictures, videos, posts, comments, comments-answers and answers! They are poisoning and murdering the world with fake diseases, treatments, "vaccinations"/ "vaccines" and injections by syringe! Now they also make it out as if they haven't been ripping off, cheating, enslaving, murdering other countries with the money currency, money exchange by even -99% for more than two centuries! And as if I'm not the first to disclose that and more! As if I didn't disclose and initiate > 1.00 Ruble = 1.00 Euro (€) = 1.00 Dollar ($) = any (X) any country < years ago! Each and every non-civilian you hear and see on TV is involved! You can hear and see their > blue blue blue
Lyrics of the PAL rap: Hey everybody, how do you do? Allow me to tell you about the eu. The United Kingdom may not be there anymore, but there's some history we can't ignore. A chunk of the world is split into 3 things: there's PAL, there's SECAM, there's NTSC. Here in Europe everything is PAL, when you go back, you wonder how? So if you're an american have a splash... Everything in these drawers is trash. *Garbage*
@@caseys2698 They're the same roms for NTSC. In fact, all of our gaming systems followed the NTSC pattern (as far as I know) , but the TV displays were different concerning the color scheme
It also worked the other way, some games they made to a specific speed for PAL regions, then forgot to slow it for the NTSC release, Shadow of the Beast on the Genesis/Mega Drive is borderling unplayable in the US as it plays so fast. The Japanese version was fixed though.
Yeah, back then I thought that Europeans loved to make impossibly hard games. Only later I discovered that they were just running too fast. Playing Lotus II on the NTSC Amiga was like a rollercoaster! 😂
I can't even imagine what Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life - Special Edition at 50hz would look like. The closest I could guess would probably be a Jon Cartwright™ Powerpoint doused in molasses.
I can agree with this, I feel bad for everyone who has been subjected to this torture as a kid. I grew up with Sonic the Hedgehog so hearing and seeing it 20% slower just hurts
I remember when TH-cam first hit and Sega fans from the UK were complaining on NTSC Sonic the Hedgehog videos that the "music was too fast" and insisted that NTSC players were playing on emulator with a speed enhancement or something. The arguments that ensued were classic.
I recall always setting my games to 50 Hz, since I noticed pretty early on that if I set them to 60 Hz, I'd get a high pitched noise coming from the TV. It wasn't loud, but it was noticeable enough to be unbearably annoying.
As a german, I'm at least thankful, that the PAL-Versions provide my native language and therefore still have a certain value over the american or japanese releases. But if you live in the UK, having the PAL-Version is just inferior in any way, I feel like...
Yeah, that USK logo sure is gigantic nowadays :) But a cool thing Nintendo does with special editions recently, is having these logos on an extra sheet of paper, so when removed, the boxart is fully visable (e.g. Link's Awaking).
Especially during the SNES era it was not common to have games localized in german. So with games like Zelda or Yoshis Island it was a huge thing to have that. I played so much ALTTP in NTSC but I have almost no nostalgia for that. I once converted to PAL german rom to NTSC and played that, and just the fact that it says "Energie" instead of "Life" somehow triggered all the nostalgia in the world for me. But since that game was optimized for PAL, it now ran a bit too fast. I wish there was some kind of tool to just put translations into the NTSC roms. But of course thats impossible and would have to be done at game-by-game basis.
Back when I got super smash brothers brawl, I played it on a 4:3 CRT. When going through the options menu there was an option for widescreen, and not knowing any better, it confused me that when I would choose widescreen, the game looked like it was squished. Not understanding this was about the tv monitor, I questioned why an option called "wide" would make the game look squished which is the exact opposite of wide.
@@refat17 yeah tbh i kinda miss having a crt, Threw my last one away a few years ago. i dunno probably nostalgia, and actually having watchable old games is nice too
I had no idea that the games were actually slower, crazy. Awesome video Jon! I would love to see more content like this in the future. Keep up the great work
I remember having the same complaint years ago about Sonic's speed just being an over-hyped marketing gimmick (especially since I had Mega Collection+ and not the regular one) and then a friend told me about how he was watching a TH-cam video with American Sonic footage and being blown away by how quick it was, that's when I looked into it personally and found out how slow our games were generally I'm glad you're educating people outside PAL regions about this
I remember playing PAL Final Fantasy X back in the day on my PS2 with Tidus looking like he'd been under a press and running in slow motion lol Those were dark times indeed.
I remember playing sonic heroes on my dad's ps2 as a kid, it asking whether to play on 50 or 60hz and not knowing what it meant (similar to your experience with the dreamcast) Since then I learned a basic understanding but this video helped me to learn a lot more about it. I was shocked to learn that it it was still a problem during the wii days. All of your videos have been consistently entertaining and this one is no exception, great job!
I was just having to explain to someone why his Aussie N64 looked more squished! I've been getting into video game hardware lately and I'm finding stuff like this fascinating! Also, I can relate with the Wii being my introduction into Nintendo games! Started with New Super Mario Bros Wii and then I branched out to other Mario games, soon Zelda, and then tried out games the older games with the Wii Shop. I loved how much of Nintendo history I experienced from the Wii alone. Loved the video and I hope to see more!
This popped on my feed today, but so good. You guys in there UK have patience like a saint. I don't think I would be a gamer if my games ran that slow back then.
It took so damn long until Europe started getting 60hz. I think Wind Waker was one of the earliest games that came with the option that I can remember. Then you have games like Final Fantasy X that is both running slowly and has giant black borders. "Everything in these drawers is trash." That's honestly how I feel about all my pre 360/ps3 era PAL games.
What a timely video, I have been playing the NTSC version of FFVII for the first time on a modded PS1. I love the added smoothness. PAL is still fine, but once you've gone 60hz it's hard to go back.
C'mon Jon, in an era where Matrix was the coolest thing ever, don't tell me you didn't love playing games in slow motion. Or did the EU not get the Matrix.
Being an Australian game collector is such a wild experience partly because of this. Like we run on PAL but quite often games released here use the American name for the game as opposed to the European name except sometimes they don’t and sometimes we just never got an Australian release so I have to buy the European release instead. Also we quite often got games before Europe at the same time as the US except not always etc etc. fun times
This has just helped me realise why I was able to play Sonic 1 on the Megadrive really well when I was younger, but now struggle to keep control when playing the rereleases.
Really fascinating video! I'm also trying to prepare myself for the next What's That Track video by trying to pick out the background music in this video.
As a kid I loved to play mischief makers on N64. I totally loved the intro music and always let it play out before starting the game. Years later I watched a youtube video of that game and I was shocked to hear that the intro theme song was sped up... but it was actually how it was supposed to sound...
@@rafamalaman Oh, I see! I remember that we used to use PAL-M, but I thought it was just the "full name" of PAL, and that PAL and PAL-M were the same thing, hahaha. Thanks for clarifying it, man! Abraço!
Brazil uses 60hz as the standard, but Argentina uses 50hz. PAL was developed after NTSC and it is better, also cheaper to implement, but it was made for 50hz. So Brazil grabbed it and modified to be compatible with 60hz. That's how PAL-M was born. Also, due to this factor, TV sets in Brazil usually have compatibility options with pure NTSC, pure PAL and PAL-N.
The benefit of growing up with 50hz makes playing old games even better I was mind blown the first time I played Sonic at 60hz. I realised that an entire library of already great games just got better
I’d love to see more videos like these, really informative and interesting. If you take video requests, I’d like to request a video in this style on why the NES failed in Europe and the Sega Master System succeeded.
@Salieri also there were 2 versions of the nes, and some games were only compatible with one or the other and it was hard to tell when picking a game up if it worked on your nes
Very good video. I grew up in the UK playing 50hz games and like you I never knew the difference of NTSC 60hz until later on in life (well, not until my Dreamcast asked me in 2000 if I wanted to play Jet Set Radio in 60hz, which when I tested it didn't work on my telly 😭). I am sort of annoyed that we only got 50hz, but I do see certain things I prefer the 50hz versions of, for example Star Light Zone and Scrap Brain Zone music in Sonic 1 are perfect in 50hz, but when I heard the 60hz versions I couldn't stand them! Nostalgia does play a big part in all that of course but I'm glad that all gaming seems to be a universal 60hz moving forward. Subscribed!
Heh what a great video. 50hz games never affected me until the N64 era where I played the Japanese versions of Wave Race and F-Zero X and I couldn't believe the difference with the speed and the lack of borders. After that, 50hz still didn't bother me but I certainly started importing a lot more after that during the Saturn, N64 and PS1 eras.
For SM64, the compiler used for the PAL release had optimisations enabled, while the NTSC version had debug code enabled, explaining the better overall performance on PAL. Enabling optimisations on an NTSC version improves framerate considerably.
I’ll be honest. When Jon said he was 13 when Brawl came out, I was shocked because that means he’s born in either 1994 or 1995, which is only 1-2 years older than me. I guess I always thought that Jon was a bit older due to (1) his extensive gaming knowledge and (2) him being a parent now. Plus, a lot of gaming channels are made by people who tend to be at least 4 years older than me. Then again, it’s also a sign that I’m getting older as I’m turning 26 in a few days from when I’m writing this comment. Regardless, Jon is one of the best TH-cam personalities when in comes to video games, and I can listen to him talk all day.
Fortunately it's really easy to modify an European Megadrive to play games at 60hz, so we can have the real deal without buying another console or game. That's the easiest console to mod. Genesis does!
A lot of people didn't know any better, including me. It's like if someone told Americans that their games from the 90s ran at 40 fps to the Americans, 40 fps version would seem weird.
@@requiem165 Both France and Russia (or the USSR back then) had its own format called SECAM, or SÉCAM in France (although a lot of countries in both Europe and outside of Europe also used SECAM during its first few years before switching to PAL), and while the console differs a bit when it comes to outputs (that's the reason why the N64 took a while to release in France), the games themselves are very rarely converted to SECAM, so most games released on SECAM markets are exactly the same their PAL counterparts.
@@lol-ih1tl in non-broadcasting use, only color encoding. If you plug PAL console to SECAM TV, you will get B&W picture with sound. Thats why RGB Scart was made, to remove that limitation. Shame that there is no such bridge between NTSC and Brazilian PAL, because its the same problem.
@@lol-ih1tl I know, but thats whole different thing, since resolution and framerate are different. I was talking about PAL consoles that can be played with color on SECAM (same resolution and framerate) TVs with RGB Scart solution, since there are only few truly SECAM consoles, that can output SECAM through composite rca cable (no more than 10 systems). So this was solution that allowed PAL consoles to be in color on SECAM TVs, so manufacturers saved money from not developing SECAM systems.
@@lol-ih1tl Quick recap: NTSC 480i 60Hz (NTSC consoles) European PAL 576i 50Hz (PAL consoles) SECAM 576i 50Hz (SECAM consoles-very few, PAL consoles can be in color through RGB Scart) Brazilian PAL 480i 60Hz (NTSC consoles displayed in B&W, solution excluding component???) South American PAL 576i 50Hz (odd one, different color frequency than European one, solution is that most of their TVs are NTSC compatible, so NTSC consoles are sold there, PAL consoles can be displayed in color through RGB Scart tho)
I remember playing GoldenEye (n64) for the first time in a European device and it took quite a while before getting somewhat used to it. Sound was slightly higher pitched as well.
Weirdly, the Mega Man II title screen music sounds pretty cool in the slowed down PAL release. But yeah, I didn't know better growing up, but now with the benefit of what I know now, it is very annoying to know so many of my old games weren't properly optimised. Sometimes even with some pretty impressive features removed; Gran Turismo 4's PAL releases don't give you the 1080i option at all. And you covered the PAL gamecube's lack of 480p output (at least, without some modifications. Swiss is a pretty nice softmod) But it was nice that some companies (like Rare, being a UK developer) did put the work in to fix the PAL releases.
At 6:43 the Game Cube version of Sonic Mega Collection in PAL regions also ran at 50Hz something you didn't mention naughty boy. Yes there was a trick you could do by holding down a button when the console was first being booted up, a message would come on the screen prompting the player to select NTSC 60Hz but without holding that button down when the console was first turned on the player would get the PAL 50Hz version.
For those who are wondering: The PAL System is just a colouring encoding system for analogue TVs. While most countries using PAL also have a frequency of 50hz, the PAL System is not defined by its frequency. Brasil, for example, uses PAL, while still running at 60hz (just like in the US). So when a video game is labelled with "PAL", it's slightly misleading. PAL games are NOT meant for countries using PAL, but for countries using the 50hz frequency. Countries like France and Russia don't use PAL, but do use the 50hz frequency, so they get PAL games. Also, because Brazil uses the 60hz frequency, it gets NTSC games, even though Brazil is technically in the PAL region. Some other interesting things to note: while most first party Nintendo games supported a 60hz version in the GameCube and Wii era, the Mario Party games by Hudson Soft only supported 50hz for whatever reason. On the other end of the spectrum, Super Mario Galaxy heavily discouraged playing in 50hz. If your Wii was set on 50hz, the game would advise to switch to 60hz every 100 days. So far, it's the only game I know that does this. Also, I think the PlayStation Mini chose the PAL version of games because of language support. Most of the time, classic NTSC-US games only support English, but PAL versions usually include every major European language. If you want to play a game in a certain language, it sadly has to be in 50hz.
Cool vid, one small observation in regards to Goldeneye. While the game seems practically identical for the casual player, as someone who has spent thousands of hours speedrunning goldeneye there is a notable difference in the way the game handles lag, and PAL is somewhat disadvantaged due to this differentiation in lag handling (more lag = slower Bond). With that said, the lower frame rate does actually make some levels slightly easier for casual players, as the guard's fire rate is reduced slightly, so you'll get shot less often.
Thing is that the UK always had the option to import from the US or Australia, play the Game in 60Hz and in English. For the rest of Europe where English is not the first language we had to wait for translation and localisation what left us with the 50 Hz disadvantage. To this day, if I wanna play OOT on the switch in German I have to do it in 50 Hz. Today I would just chose the American Version and play the game in English but back when I was a child I was dumb and not capable of doing so. And still I decide for the PAL version whenever I get the chance due to nostalgia.
I grew up believing 50 was superior and 60 was a worse experience since the games / TV I had didn't run 60 well, some went black and white if I tried it. I remembered finding games like Sonic the Hedgehog easier when I was younger and harder now, I was going to blame it on growing older but CLEARLY the only fault is 60hz gamespeed making it harder, my eyes are obviously flawless!
I do believe some few PAL games however are superior. Since they come out later, sometimes they can have fixes or even different level design compared to the NTSC version. I think one of the better examples would be Crash Warped, they fixed most of the NTSC bugs and make the game slighty harder.
An interesting thing is that for home computers it was usually the oposite, games were developed in Europe and targeted 50Hz, which had more CPU-time each frame and for some computers like the Amiga could use the increased vertical resolution. I have problems when I watch US streamers play Commodore 64 games because the music sounds so off, and often the games are glitching and not behaving properly. We were still screwed because the best games back then were definitely for consoles, but it's always something.
Jon, how have I just now found this channel? I have been a huge fan of Gamexplain since the Wii U era and love hearing your voice, why have you never mentioned this on Gamexplain?
I love how rapping has just been a recurring theme in your videos haha
Jon Cartwright yes,please do
@@tahamohammad8842 I ditto that
Hey nathaniel did you notice some scott the woz influence ? It was really cool 👌
Nathaniel Bandy no way NO WAY
Hi bandy
Anyone else think he’s just Scott the Woz but 20% slower
So, he's European Scott the Woz?
20% sexier
50Hz Scott > 60Hz Scott
Both are good in their own way.
I was thinking the same, and was hoping I would already find it in the comments, and you’re the first comment I saw
Sonic in Japan: "Gotta go fast!"
Sonic in America: "Gotta go fast!"
Sonic in Britain: "Gooottaaa gooooo faaaaaaaaaaast."
Sonic in brazil: gotta still sell well after 20 years!
@@kaspervletter290 brazil is full of sonic fans?
@@arisenpawn425 master system fans yes
Britain was the AoStH sloth kid, basically
Those read, listen to / bugged / eavesdrop / overheared / tapped, watched, spied, copied and steal many of my ideas (=inventions) initiated by me:
+ open, transparent 360° sunlight Buildings, construction methods, architectures, designs, concepts;
+ Step-floor / -storey / -level / -tier pyramid (e.g., as a residential building);
+ 360° stepped floors / storey / level / tier buildings (constructions, architectures, construction methods, designs, concepts, 2D, 3D, models);
+ 3D 360° environment (surround), volume, space (room) audio / sound;
+ 360° environment (surround), volume, room screens (displays), monitors, TVs;
+ Screens (displays), monitors, TVs without backlighting;
+ many things with magnets like Micro-OLED;
+ 360° screens, monitors, TVs, panels, glass;
+ curved screens, monitors, TVs, panels, glass;
+ 360° reflections and light digital: "ENB", "Ray-Tracing" / "RTX", “Lumen illumination” and whatever renaming!
+ Short Throw Projectors;
+ dark backgrounds / themes / skins for windows, browser windows, internet sites, programs / apps, etc.;
+ fanless, passive cooling (I’m not the inventor of water-cooled);
+ 360° open, transparent PC cases;
+ 360° Sphere, Ball as a Wheel (2D, 3D) “Omniwheel” / “Omni-Wheel”;
+ Flying objects, planes that take off and land vertically, for example by hot air, example fighter jet;
+ and much more!
+ I'm not the inventor of VR, but of "AR", AR glass, AR glasses, objective in real life!
It was only later that I realized that they derived a lot from my ideas (=inventions), a lot came about that has to do with color and light, through me as an initiator, booster / catalyst, e.g., through my idea, invention of the Screens without a backlight and without a built-in / integrated backlight! It is no coincidence that only afterwards, after I initiated this, they built, built and are building those inventions thanks to my impetus! They sell my ideas (inventions) as theirs! They are not the inventors, but the first technical implementers of my ideas (=inventions)! And those are not the inventors, but the thieves of my ideas (=inventions) initiated by me, because those act as if I wasn't the first hand and the first domino, and they take unjustly, undeservedly a lot of money, stolen money (blood money), recognitions, awards, certificates, fame and history, they boast of my laurels / merits!
Before me they all were stucked at LCD, Plasma TV and less lights!
I have made a deep impact in evolution!
Those manipulate, sabotage, falsify, distort images, paintings, digitized and real, animations, videos, films, also composed of many images, even the publication dates of mine, others and their posts, images, videos, etc.!
You have to understand, those can distort everything that can be heard and seen in real life and digitally!
They block and delete my pictures, videos, posts, comments, comments-answers and answers!
They are poisoning and murdering the world with fake diseases, treatments, "vaccinations"/ "vaccines" and injections by syringe!
Now they also make it out as if they haven't been ripping off, cheating, enslaving, murdering other countries with the money currency, money exchange by even -99% for more than two centuries! And as if I'm not the first to disclose that and more! As if I didn't disclose and initiate > 1.00 Ruble = 1.00 Euro (€) = 1.00 Dollar ($) = any (X) any country < years ago!
Each and every non-civilian you hear and see on TV is involved! You can hear and see their > blue blue blue
"There is one thing that Europe is forever cursed with..."
*Proceeds to rap*
This difference between regions *hertz* me
I hate you and love you for that
AC what you did there
@@newageBoundhippie you're a DC.
Ah frik
It hertz quite frequently
Lyrics of the PAL rap:
Hey everybody, how do you do?
Allow me to tell you about the eu.
The United Kingdom may not be there anymore,
but there's some history we can't ignore.
A chunk of the world is split into 3 things:
there's PAL, there's SECAM, there's NTSC.
Here in Europe everything is PAL,
when you go back, you wonder how?
So if you're an american have a splash...
Everything in these drawers is trash.
*Garbage*
Brazil has a system that combines the 60hz of NTSC the color scheme of PAL
vitor kk that sounds wonderful- any idea if there’s ROM files of those versions for older games? 🤔
*_Garbage._*
@@caseys2698 They're the same roms for NTSC. In fact, all of our gaming systems followed the NTSC pattern (as far as I know) , but the TV displays were different concerning the color scheme
"The United Kingdom may not be there anymore"
its true, we floated away from the mainland.
Sonic in the US: GOTTA GO FAST
Sonic in the UK: Gotta go moderately well-paced
I would love to hear a British Sonic say that
Have y’all noticed that Beethoven has been reaaal quiet since Jon dropped that rap 👀. Just saying.
rip
Because he’s dead
@@soundbreaker8174 uh wrong
Sound Breaker r/whoosh
hEs dEaD
It also worked the other way, some games they made to a specific speed for PAL regions, then forgot to slow it for the NTSC release, Shadow of the Beast on the Genesis/Mega Drive is borderling unplayable in the US as it plays so fast.
The Japanese version was fixed though.
Interesting
Yeah, back then I thought that Europeans loved to make impossibly hard games. Only later I discovered that they were just running too fast.
Playing Lotus II on the NTSC Amiga was like a rollercoaster! 😂
I read that as Altered Beast lmao
Sonic in slow-mo reminds me of those nightmares where my legs feel like they're made of lead and I can barely move.
Daimaou.Spîkle 😰😓😱😥
Hmmmm.... that reminds me of a sonic rom hack where sonic can get drunk.
You get those too, where it's like gravity is three times softer but you weight is four times heavier?
That Sonic intro made it sound like the Genesis was drunk
Bruh I'll have you know us Europeans call it a Mega Drive
Big MiniSaur So does japan
I can't even imagine what Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life - Special Edition at 50hz would look like. The closest I could guess would probably be a Jon Cartwright™ Powerpoint doused in molasses.
This thought frightens me
It wouldnt be legal to drive that slow on the highway
69th like ;)
the EU rap was FIRE
I'll be honest: hearing that slowed-down version of Green Hill Zone caused me physical pain.
I came here to say that exact thing.
I can agree with this, I feel bad for everyone who has been subjected to this torture as a kid.
I grew up with Sonic the Hedgehog so hearing and seeing it 20% slower just hurts
It's fine hearing it slow, you don't know any different and all games were like that.
@@blooga3941 But growing up with NTSC and then going to Pal is just painful
I know right?
Damn. This video is so high quality. I really liked your editing and your choices of music. Amazing!
I remember when TH-cam first hit and Sega fans from the UK were complaining on NTSC Sonic the Hedgehog videos that the "music was too fast" and insisted that NTSC players were playing on emulator with a speed enhancement or something.
The arguments that ensued were classic.
That’s actually sad.
Jon is literally just becoming a rapper at this point and I love every single part of it.
I recall always setting my games to 50 Hz, since I noticed pretty early on that if I set them to 60 Hz, I'd get a high pitched noise coming from the TV. It wasn't loud, but it was noticeable enough to be unbearably annoying.
It's Jon, back and forth!
Welcome back men
I literally never know what to expect from this channel
As a german, I'm at least thankful, that the PAL-Versions provide my native language and therefore still have a certain value over the american or japanese releases. But if you live in the UK, having the PAL-Version is just inferior in any way, I feel like...
Germans have my sympathies regarding that USK logo demon.
Unfortunately, some PAL special editions have it too.
Yeah, that USK logo sure is gigantic nowadays :)
But a cool thing Nintendo does with special editions recently, is having these logos on an extra sheet of paper, so when removed, the boxart is fully visable (e.g. Link's Awaking).
Especially during the SNES era it was not common to have games localized in german. So with games like Zelda or Yoshis Island it was a huge thing to have that.
I played so much ALTTP in NTSC but I have almost no nostalgia for that. I once converted to PAL german rom to NTSC and played that, and just the fact that it says "Energie" instead of "Life" somehow triggered all the nostalgia in the world for me. But since that game was optimized for PAL, it now ran a bit too fast. I wish there was some kind of tool to just put translations into the NTSC roms. But of course thats impossible and would have to be done at game-by-game basis.
"i'm too slow" - sonic in europe
Later: SPED
Back when I got super smash brothers brawl, I played it on a 4:3 CRT. When going through the options menu there was an option for widescreen, and not knowing any better, it confused me that when I would choose widescreen, the game looked like it was squished. Not understanding this was about the tv monitor, I questioned why an option called "wide" would make the game look squished which is the exact opposite of wide.
do you still have the crt. i need it for melee blip blip toryahhh
@@pedlar6839 No, and it was quite small anyways. But I do wish I had it because PS2 games look awful on flatscreen monitors.
@@refat17 yeah tbh i kinda miss having a crt, Threw my last one away a few years ago. i dunno probably nostalgia, and actually having watchable old games is nice too
Still have my Wii and crt...although the wide screen is perfect for running dophin
I had no idea that the games were actually slower, crazy.
Awesome video Jon! I would love to see more content like this in the future. Keep up the great work
I remember having the same complaint years ago about Sonic's speed just being an over-hyped marketing gimmick (especially since I had Mega Collection+ and not the regular one) and then a friend told me about how he was watching a TH-cam video with American Sonic footage and being blown away by how quick it was, that's when I looked into it personally and found out how slow our games were generally
I'm glad you're educating people outside PAL regions about this
I remember playing PAL Final Fantasy X back in the day on my PS2 with Tidus looking like he'd been under a press and running in slow motion lol Those were dark times indeed.
FfX is one of the worst PAL versions ever made. Absolutely trash in every way, just look the aspect ratio.
Dude, i never noticed, even if i replayed it years latter on the vita version, how… i didnt notice it 🥲…
Now release the PAL version of this video, 20% slower.
(Wonderful video essay, by the way.)
This is the PAL version though...
@@tibethatguy Oh dang, then he gotta make the NTSC version 20% faster.
So then the PAL segments now plays at 64% speed.
Lovely.
@@yellowpowr8455 the ntsc version of this is scott the woz
Great video, love how the raps are becoming a consistent inclusion in your content.
I remember playing sonic heroes on my dad's ps2 as a kid, it asking whether to play on 50 or 60hz and not knowing what it meant (similar to your experience with the dreamcast)
Since then I learned a basic understanding but this video helped me to learn a lot more about it. I was shocked to learn that it it was still a problem during the wii days.
All of your videos have been consistently entertaining and this one is no exception, great job!
I mean the Wii didn't have this issue because a lot of pal games on 50fps just skip frames to keep up with 60fps
I was just having to explain to someone why his Aussie N64 looked more squished! I've been getting into video game hardware lately and I'm finding stuff like this fascinating! Also, I can relate with the Wii being my introduction into Nintendo games! Started with New Super Mario Bros Wii and then I branched out to other Mario games, soon Zelda, and then tried out games the older games with the Wii Shop. I loved how much of Nintendo history I experienced from the Wii alone. Loved the video and I hope to see more!
Loved the video, highly informative and I love your personality!
This popped on my feed today, but so good. You guys in there UK have patience like a saint. I don't think I would be a gamer if my games ran that slow back then.
Jon, I love how creative you are with your channel!
Thank you for these really awesome videos! :)
It took so damn long until Europe started getting 60hz. I think Wind Waker was one of the earliest games that came with the option that I can remember. Then you have games like Final Fantasy X that is both running slowly and has giant black borders.
"Everything in these drawers is trash." That's honestly how I feel about all my pre 360/ps3 era PAL games.
Yup that's why i only buy pal game that have a 60hz option if not i import the US version 🙂
What a timely video, I have been playing the NTSC version of FFVII for the first time on a modded PS1. I love the added smoothness. PAL is still fine, but once you've gone 60hz it's hard to go back.
C'mon Jon, in an era where Matrix was the coolest thing ever, don't tell me you didn't love playing games in slow motion.
Or did the EU not get the Matrix.
Matrix came out in 1999, most of these games are mid 90s
They got the Matrix 3 months late and 20% slower
ShermTank7272 there’s a matrix three? we’re still waiting for the second one to come out
Being an Australian game collector is such a wild experience partly because of this. Like we run on PAL but quite often games released here use the American name for the game as opposed to the European name except sometimes they don’t and sometimes we just never got an Australian release so I have to buy the European release instead. Also we quite often got games before Europe at the same time as the US except not always etc etc. fun times
This has just helped me realise why I was able to play Sonic 1 on the Megadrive really well when I was younger, but now struggle to keep control when playing the rereleases.
Well made video. Thanks for sharing, Jon
For some reason your rap reminded me of don't hug me I'm scared
Also you're doing fantastic work man, keep it up
This video deserves a million views!!! Explained so well.
Really fascinating video!
I'm also trying to prepare myself for the next What's That Track video by trying to pick out the background music in this video.
The track that starts playing at 1:14 sounds so familiar i really want to know where its from
@@sly3759 It's one of level themes from Super Mario World 2 - Yoshi's Island. It's usually used in the cave levels.
I didn't know this was a thing! Thanks for the entertaining and educational video
Great insight! I already liked your GX content, but this really sold me on you. Keep up the good work, you eraned my sub :D
Dammit Jon, I should hate your rapping but it's the reason I subscribed. I don't quite know what it is you're doing, but please keep it up.
I hollered at that rap. Great job Jon! Love your content
I never thought I'd see the gamexplain guy's face
And I never thought I'd hear him rap
Fantastic video all around!!!
damn, with everything working against this, it's still charming as hell. i loved it. keep it up man, you're doing great.
As a kid I loved to play mischief makers on N64. I totally loved the intro music and always let it play out before starting the game. Years later I watched a youtube video of that game and I was shocked to hear that the intro theme song was sped up... but it was actually how it was supposed to sound...
This was a nice topic Jon. I love the WAHAHAHA part regarding the PSONE classic! hahaha!
I love this documentary/retrospective feel to this video. Especially with that 90s and early 2000s touch.
This is quickly becoming one of my favorite channels
Man it was really cool getting to learn some history in the video. Really liked that
As a brazilian, I totally feel you, man. We were all in this together, Europe, living the slow life back in the day.
No. We aren't. Our frankensteinish PAL-M is not really a PAL. So, our games uses the same resolution and speed of US ones. :)
@@rafamalaman Oh, I see! I remember that we used to use PAL-M, but I thought it was just the "full name" of PAL, and that PAL and PAL-M were the same thing, hahaha. Thanks for clarifying it, man! Abraço!
You guys are so lucky...
Brazil uses 60hz as the standard, but Argentina uses 50hz. PAL was developed after NTSC and it is better, also cheaper to implement, but it was made for 50hz. So Brazil grabbed it and modified to be compatible with 60hz. That's how PAL-M was born. Also, due to this factor, TV sets in Brazil usually have compatibility options with pure NTSC, pure PAL and PAL-N.
Ei, porque vocês ainda tão falando em inglês
The benefit of growing up with 50hz makes playing old games even better
I was mind blown the first time I played Sonic at 60hz. I realised that an entire library of already great games just got better
I’d love to see more videos like these, really informative and interesting. If you take video requests, I’d like to request a video in this style on why the NES failed in Europe and the Sega Master System succeeded.
@Salieri also there were 2 versions of the nes, and some games were only compatible with one or the other and it was hard to tell when picking a game up if it worked on your nes
@@IanMalcolm99 wasn't that in Japan
Mattel distributing NES consoles through Boots and Wilko's was pretty much a non-starter
Love your channel so far keep it up man!
Very good video. I grew up in the UK playing 50hz games and like you I never knew the difference of NTSC 60hz until later on in life (well, not until my Dreamcast asked me in 2000 if I wanted to play Jet Set Radio in 60hz, which when I tested it didn't work on my telly 😭). I am sort of annoyed that we only got 50hz, but I do see certain things I prefer the 50hz versions of, for example Star Light Zone and Scrap Brain Zone music in Sonic 1 are perfect in 50hz, but when I heard the 60hz versions I couldn't stand them! Nostalgia does play a big part in all that of course but I'm glad that all gaming seems to be a universal 60hz moving forward. Subscribed!
Heh what a great video. 50hz games never affected me until the N64 era where I played the Japanese versions of Wave Race and F-Zero X and I couldn't believe the difference with the speed and the lack of borders. After that, 50hz still didn't bother me but I certainly started importing a lot more after that during the Saturn, N64 and PS1 eras.
I feel like im watching a scott the woz video, love this :)
This video really could have opened with "Hey, y'all, Jon here", and I wouldn't have batted an eyelid.
@@NoobixCube hey all
US: We use NTSC!
Europe: We... use... PAL.
Brazil: Well, why not both?
For SM64, the compiler used for the PAL release had optimisations enabled, while the NTSC version had debug code enabled, explaining the better overall performance on PAL. Enabling optimisations on an NTSC version improves framerate considerably.
I'm so glad I found this channel after almost no rep in Gamexplain's channel.
You talked a lot about Pal & NTSC, but here in France we were the only country in EU to use Secam which made this all thing even more complex
I’ll be honest. When Jon said he was 13 when Brawl came out, I was shocked because that means he’s born in either 1994 or 1995, which is only 1-2 years older than me.
I guess I always thought that Jon was a bit older due to (1) his extensive gaming knowledge and (2) him being a parent now. Plus, a lot of gaming channels are made by people who tend to be at least 4 years older than me. Then again, it’s also a sign that I’m getting older as I’m turning 26 in a few days from when I’m writing this comment.
Regardless, Jon is one of the best TH-cam personalities when in comes to video games, and I can listen to him talk all day.
Fascinating Video! I always wondered about this.
I love that you slowed down the background music too!
Watching Jon explore his creativity has been a lot of fun. He’s really talented.
Damn I didn't know this.... very informative and sorry to hear that you guys didn't grow up on true blast processing.
Fortunately it's really easy to modify an European Megadrive to play games at 60hz, so we can have the real deal without buying another console or game. That's the easiest console to mod. Genesis does!
A lot of people didn't know any better, including me. It's like if someone told Americans that their games from the 90s ran at 40 fps to the Americans, 40 fps version would seem weird.
Loved the vid dude 😎👍
They actually did this because they put meth in the water in Europe, and people thought the games were too fast
Great choice of background music
Broooo a delightful educational rap!!! Finally! Life during corona is not so bad.
“Here in Europe, everything is PAL”
*LAUGHS IN FRENCH AND RUSSIAN*
Is France not pal?
@@requiem165 Both France and Russia (or the USSR back then) had its own format called SECAM, or SÉCAM in France (although a lot of countries in both Europe and outside of Europe also used SECAM during its first few years before switching to PAL), and while the console differs a bit when it comes to outputs (that's the reason why the N64 took a while to release in France), the games themselves are very rarely converted to SECAM, so most games released on SECAM markets are exactly the same their PAL counterparts.
@@lol-ih1tl in non-broadcasting use, only color encoding. If you plug PAL console to SECAM TV, you will get B&W picture with sound. Thats why RGB Scart was made, to remove that limitation. Shame that there is no such bridge between NTSC and Brazilian PAL, because its the same problem.
@@lol-ih1tl I know, but thats whole different thing, since resolution and framerate are different. I was talking about PAL consoles that can be played with color on SECAM (same resolution and framerate) TVs with RGB Scart solution, since there are only few truly SECAM consoles, that can output SECAM through composite rca cable (no more than 10 systems). So this was solution that allowed PAL consoles to be in color on SECAM TVs, so manufacturers saved money from not developing SECAM systems.
@@lol-ih1tl Quick recap:
NTSC 480i 60Hz (NTSC consoles)
European PAL 576i 50Hz (PAL consoles)
SECAM 576i 50Hz (SECAM consoles-very few, PAL consoles can be in color through RGB Scart)
Brazilian PAL 480i 60Hz (NTSC consoles displayed in B&W, solution excluding component???)
South American PAL 576i 50Hz (odd one, different color frequency than European one, solution is that most of their TVs are NTSC compatible, so NTSC consoles are sold there, PAL consoles can be displayed in color through RGB Scart tho)
I remember playing GoldenEye (n64) for the first time in a European device and it took quite a while before getting somewhat used to it.
Sound was slightly higher pitched as well.
Great video, Jon! 👍
Another great video and also that rap was great.
Very informative! thank you
I had the same impression regarding Somics speed seeming like a marketing thing. Its hard to go back to 50hz after being exposed to 60hz.
Wow, seeing these games slowly made me nostalgic in a way I haven't gotten from replaying them on other systems. Strange
This was a good video Jon
Sonic in the EU: Gotta go... pretty quick
Weirdly, the Mega Man II title screen music sounds pretty cool in the slowed down PAL release.
But yeah, I didn't know better growing up, but now with the benefit of what I know now, it is very annoying to know so many of my old games weren't properly optimised. Sometimes even with some pretty impressive features removed; Gran Turismo 4's PAL releases don't give you the 1080i option at all. And you covered the PAL gamecube's lack of 480p output (at least, without some modifications. Swiss is a pretty nice softmod)
But it was nice that some companies (like Rare, being a UK developer) did put the work in to fix the PAL releases.
At 6:43 the Game Cube version of Sonic Mega Collection in PAL regions also ran at 50Hz something you didn't mention naughty boy. Yes there was a trick you could do by holding down a button when the console was first being booted up, a message would come on the screen prompting the player to select NTSC 60Hz but without holding that button down when the console was first turned on the player would get the PAL 50Hz version.
For those who are wondering: The PAL System is just a colouring encoding system for analogue TVs. While most countries using PAL also have a frequency of 50hz, the PAL System is not defined by its frequency. Brasil, for example, uses PAL, while still running at 60hz (just like in the US). So when a video game is labelled with "PAL", it's slightly misleading. PAL games are NOT meant for countries using PAL, but for countries using the 50hz frequency. Countries like France and Russia don't use PAL, but do use the 50hz frequency, so they get PAL games. Also, because Brazil uses the 60hz frequency, it gets NTSC games, even though Brazil is technically in the PAL region.
Some other interesting things to note: while most first party Nintendo games supported a 60hz version in the GameCube and Wii era, the Mario Party games by Hudson Soft only supported 50hz for whatever reason. On the other end of the spectrum, Super Mario Galaxy heavily discouraged playing in 50hz. If your Wii was set on 50hz, the game would advise to switch to 60hz every 100 days. So far, it's the only game I know that does this.
Also, I think the PlayStation Mini chose the PAL version of games because of language support. Most of the time, classic NTSC-US games only support English, but PAL versions usually include every major European language. If you want to play a game in a certain language, it sadly has to be in 50hz.
1:10 The way you said garbage was gold!
Cool vid, one small observation in regards to Goldeneye. While the game seems practically identical for the casual player, as someone who has spent thousands of hours speedrunning goldeneye there is a notable difference in the way the game handles lag, and PAL is somewhat disadvantaged due to this differentiation in lag handling (more lag = slower Bond). With that said, the lower frame rate does actually make some levels slightly easier for casual players, as the guard's fire rate is reduced slightly, so you'll get shot less often.
Awesome game collection. Maybe a game room tour one day?
Seeing sonic 1 run like that awoke a whole childhoods worth of repressed memories lol
Genuinely good rap. I demand an extended version. *_Now._*
Thing is that the UK always had the option to import from the US or Australia, play the Game in 60Hz and in English. For the rest of Europe where English is not the first language we had to wait for translation and localisation what left us with the 50 Hz disadvantage. To this day, if I wanna play OOT on the switch in German I have to do it in 50 Hz. Today I would just chose the American Version and play the game in English but back when I was a child I was dumb and not capable of doing so. And still I decide for the PAL version whenever I get the chance due to nostalgia.
I grew up believing 50 was superior and 60 was a worse experience since the games / TV I had didn't run 60 well, some went black and white if I tried it.
I remembered finding games like Sonic the Hedgehog easier when I was younger and harder now, I was going to blame it on growing older but CLEARLY the only fault is 60hz gamespeed making it harder, my eyes are obviously flawless!
I do believe some few PAL games however are superior. Since they come out later, sometimes they can have fixes or even different level design compared to the NTSC version. I think one of the better examples would be Crash Warped, they fixed most of the NTSC bugs and make the game slighty harder.
DUDE I just found your channel on recommended
Love the video but what about the sega classic mini, and how is bullet hell games in PAL?
This was super neat to learn about
The other problem with PAL is that films in 24 frames per second have to be sped up by 4%.
I love how Jon's side stuff outside of GameXplain is...explaining games.
An interesting thing is that for home computers it was usually the oposite, games were developed in Europe and targeted 50Hz, which had more CPU-time each frame and for some computers like the Amiga could use the increased vertical resolution. I have problems when I watch US streamers play Commodore 64 games because the music sounds so off, and often the games are glitching and not behaving properly.
We were still screwed because the best games back then were definitely for consoles, but it's always something.
Jon, how have I just now found this channel? I have been a huge fan of Gamexplain since the Wii U era and love hearing your voice, why have you never mentioned this on Gamexplain?