Is there such a thing as a PAL-optimized PS1 game?

Gamer Bhoy 89

Title speaks for itself.

I'm trying to research but I have one group of forums telling me there isn't and another group of forums confirming that there is - but only list a handful. (Crash Bandicoot, for example, is supposedly optimized well for PAL systems but I'm not trusting the source)

I'm confused as a result so here I am again pestering all the retro gamers on Boards on yet another 50hz/60hz/PAL/NTSC thread. Sorry. I'm still learning here

The reason I'm asking is, similarly to another thread I made here regarding my PS2 games, I have a heap of PAL PSone games and I'm wondering which ones are actually worth keeping and not needing an NTSC replacement.

I'm guessing I should just continue importing as many as I can like I have been doing, but I don't want to spend money on a game that I already have the EU version of if it doesn't make much difference.

Anyway, I promise I'll stop annoying everyone

Regards

Retr0gamer

I think Metal Gear Solid is.

Kula World definitely is.

It's hard to know, most companies didn't give a ****.

One weird one worth hanging on to is suikoden 2. It's not optimised at all but Konami improved the translation over the awful US one.

CiDeRmAn

Retr0gamer wrote: »

I think Metal Gear Solid is.

Kula World definitely is.

It's hard to know, most companies didn't give a ****.

One weird one worth hanging on to is suikoden 2. It's not optimised at all but Konami improved the translation over the awful US one.

Curious that PAL should be so under represented, given the output of European coding teams, from all across the EU.
Speed Freaks, Wipeout 2097, VRally, Destruction Derby 2, they are all coded in Europe, why not optimised for our hardware?

Retr0gamer

They might be... been years since I played them.

We at least got the better Wipeout soundtracks.

CiDeRmAn

I wasn't aware the soundtracks were different in the various regional releases of Wipeout.
Must check that out

Retr0gamer

Europe got way more licensed tracks.

CiDeRmAn

Retr0gamer wrote: »

Europe got way more licensed tracks.

Looked about and not so sure....
I know the Saturn version I have, and the Wipeout 64 I used to have, was all Cold Storage, in house stuff.
But 2097/XL seems to have the same line up at least.

Retr0gamer

Might just be the first wipeout.

CiDeRmAn

Retr0gamer wrote: »

Might just be the first wipeout.

Yeah, you're dead right.
The EU got the best version, with a few licenced tracks in there, from Orbital and Leftfield.
The US got the in-house stuff only.
Which is a pity, but the game was a hit regardless.
Gods, but I loved that game,

Kenjataimu

That's Sara Cox in that advert, if my memory is correct.

CiDeRmAn

Kenjataimu wrote: »

That's Sara Cox in that advert, if my memory is correct.

Yup, that's her!

o1s1n

I started off with 2097 and could never get into the first game. The crash mechanics just seemed too stiff.

CiDeRmAn

o1s1n wrote: »

I started off with 2097 and could never get into the first game. The crash mechanics just seemed too stiff.

I started with the original and completed it.
But, then was spoiled by 2097 and 3:SE which were much better.
Fusion on the PS2 was not great, and it took HD/Fury and the PSP games to really give the franchise a boost, but it never really made it back to the home formats, with 2048 being a Vita title.
This "new" Wipeout title is a hodge podge of 2048 and HD/Fury , which is the same as the Vita based game too, so not so new.
I wonder if the sales of the Omega collection will spur on new Wipeout development, probably not.

Retr0gamer

Retr0gamer wrote: »

One weird one worth hanging on to is suikoden 2. It's not optimised at all but Konami improved the translation over the awful US one.

That's mad, was the US one that bad? I remember playing through about half of suikoden 2 several years ago on epsxe , dunno if I had the European or American version. There's that much of a difference?

Retr0gamer

Cake of Tremendous Power wrote: »

That's mad, was the US one that bad? I remember playing through about half of suikoden 2 several years ago on epsxe , dunno if I had the European or American version. There's that much of a difference?

I was created by Jeremy Balustein and the guys that used to work at Gamefan so it had some serious translation talent behind it but they had less than 2 weeks to translate the entire script and it got sent to Konami japan to be inserted into the game without a QA pass. The guys were on Warning a Huge podcast saying if they could do over one thing in their life it would be to do that game justice. It's not terrible, the strength of the story carries it but character names change from their English names to the Romanised Japanese ones and there's loads of typos and some sentences don't make sense. There's even a minor side optional village were the entire script is untranslated. It was theorised that the poor state of the translation kept it from release on PSN until recently.

Stoner

CiDeRmAn wrote:

I started with the original and completed it. But, then was spoiled by 2097 and 3:SE which were much better. Fusion on the PS2 was not great, and it took HD/Fury .

Me too. I liked the HD one though,
The 64 version was disappointing after the 4 player trick got old. The impact of the music was badly missing on cartridge.

Retr0gamer

Stoner wrote: »

Me too. I liked the HD one though,
The 64 version was disappointing after the 4 player trick got old. The impact of the music was badly missing on cartridge.

Yeah it made you realise without the soundtrack it was a bad f-Zero clone

Fight me Ciderman!

CiDeRmAn

Retr0gamer wrote: »

Yeah it made you realise without the soundtrack it was a bad f-Zero clone

Fight me Ciderman!

Slaps Retr0, you're going to get slaps!

The biggest issue with the N64 version was the appalling draw distance.

The game also had it's roots in the Amiga/ST scene in Europe, the original Powerdrome for example.
It had a similar setting to F-Zero but there the similarities ended.
F-Zero on the N64 was fantastic, the GC game still astounds with it's visuals, but there is room for those alongside Wipeout 2097 and Wipeout 3:SE, as standard bearers for the genre of futuristic racing.

Certainly, when you look at what simply didn't work as a futuristic racer, with Hi-Octane held back by a poor choice of engine, the likes of Extreme G and Quantum Redshift, they all attempted to copy aspects of the successful Wipeout/FZero approaches and failed.
I still hold a candle for the remake of Powerdrome, I have it for the PS2 and, while I've never been particularly good at it, I always found it to be superb.

Shapey Fiend

First Wipeout is the king for me. The way it absolutely crucified you for hitting the walls made mastering the airbreaks and getting a totally clean lap incredibly satisfying. I liked the brutal looking environments as well suggested a world outside the track. 2097 everythings at night there's just darkness. Think the weapons were a bit punchier as well? Less emphasis on racing anyway.

Flaregon

I hear Seikoden 2 was better in pal vs NTSC , not 100% sure thought.