UK Virtual Console games have borders! - Screens inside

[wraggster]

via cvg

In preparation for the European launch this Friday, the UK version of the Wii Virtual Console has just gone live, and blighty gamers will be disappointed to hear that some downloadable retro games suffer from black borders and significantly slower game speed than their US equivalents.

Among the games reported to suffer from poor PAL ports on the UK Virtual Console are Sonic the Hedgehog and F-Zero.

We tested Sonic on our PAL system and low and behold the game does indeed sport a pair of black borders along the top and bottom of the screen, but even more worrying is that the PAL version of the game runs significantly slower than the US equivalent, somewhat hampering its speedy platforming gameplay.

For anyone young enough not to remember, this is down to 1980s Japanese and American game designers' failure to accommodate the extra 100 lines of the PAL display signal, resulting in a squashed and bordered view. Back before the days of 60hz options, the slower scan rate of the European TV system also resulted in slower-running games.

Bizarrely we also tried out Donkey Kong Country and Super Mario 64 - a game that suffered from a terrible PAL port - on our UK Wii, and they both matched the US Virtual Console versions with no borders and smooth-running gameplay.

When we contacted Nintendo UK regarding the issue it was unfortunately unavailable for comment, but we'll let you know when they get back to us.

UPDATE: You can now see Sonic's borders for yourself in our screen and Mario's full-screen conversion as well (ignore the dodgy Mac button).

Screens Via Comments

[strumstrum]

I am only worried about Mario64 and Pilotwings64(if they release it) so phew..

it has always been the case we get a tad ripped off when it comes to gaming.

[Hawq]

I seem to recall the pal Sonic ran at a decent(ish) speed back in the day which meant any borders where a slightly lessened evil. Its the Snes Streetfighter 2 I fear if it appears on the vc though, remember those inch or so in size borders?

[NoQuarter]

Eh,borders dont bother me but I don't live in the UK.I rarely play my psp emu's at full screen.

[Meekasko]

I'm not too fussed about the borders but the speed issue is a little unfortunate

[GazeboflossUK]

I always remember how slow sonic used to play.
It's was horrible as the music really dragged too.

It didn't matter too much to me as I was a "Nintendo Kid" in my youth. Although I did have a Megadrive.
I also have the Gamecube Sonic Mega Collection disc so I won't need to get Sonic on VC.

I remember being very annoyed at the slow rates on Mario 64, Mario Kart 64, Waverace and most games for the N64 actually. All the track records had to be divided up in regions in magazines. Just very inconvenient.

Glad to hear they have at least sorted this out for some of the titles....they could very well have done nothing.....which was something I feared.

They better pull out all the stops to get Goldeneye....as this would be a great V.C game and would probably sell very well.

[archangel1024]

thats too bad, glad im in teh US