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[IronBru]

A quick question for any European collectors. I've recently become aware of the whole 50hz/60hz division between PAL and NTSC games, which from what I've seen was quite common in the PS1 era. Is the difference enough to import games from America?

I really don't like the idea of collecting games that run slower, but the problem is the cost.
I'd have to import a PS2, a stepdown converter and then purchase all my games from the American ebay.

This also means I'd end up frequently paying import tax and it rules out finding cheap PS1/PS2 games in local shops and carboot sales, which for the most part are a hell of a lot cheaper than buying online.

It just seems weird to me purchasing something like Klonoa for upwards of £40 when I know it doesn't run like the NTSC version.

 

[NekoFever]

A quick question for any European collectors. I've recently become aware of the whole 50hz/60hz division between PAL and NTSC games, which from what I've seen was quite common in the PS1 era. Is the difference enough to import games from America?

I really don't like the idea of collecting games that run slower, but the problem is the cost.
I'd have to import a PS2, a stepdown converter and then purchase all my games from the American ebay.

This also means I'd end up frequently paying import tax and it rules out finding cheap PS1/PS2 games in local shops and carboot sales, which for the most part are a hell of a lot cheaper than buying online.

It just seems weird to me purchasing something like Klonoa for upwards of £40 when I know it doesn't run like the NTSC version.

Yeah, the PAL conversions were pretty bad back then. Very few developers bothered to do a proper conversion to get the games running full screen and full speed.

I only buy NTSC games nowadays and have replaced many of my PAL games, and the prices aren't too bad. There were enough collectors in PAL regions who knew the difference that it's not particularly hard to find NTSC games on eBay, and eBay itself has the option to filter games by region so that you can browse only the US ones. I've got a nice collection with some hard to come by games, all US NTSC, and have never paid import duty because most of them were in the UK already.

Rather than going to the effort of importing a US machine, why not see about getting your existing one modded? It's probably a similar price, if not cheaper, and it removes a lot of the hassle by letting you drop any game in there without having to worry about region or getting a step-down.

 

[IronBru]

Yeah, the PAL conversions were pretty bad back then. Very few developers bothered to do a proper conversion to get the games running full screen and full speed.

I only buy NTSC games nowadays and have replaced many of my PAL games, and the prices aren't too bad. There were enough collectors in PAL regions who knew the difference that it's not particularly hard to find NTSC games on eBay, and eBay itself has the option to filter games by region so that you can browse only the US ones. I've got a nice collection with some hard to come by games, all US NTSC, and have never paid import duty because most of them were in the UK already.

Rather than going to the effort of importing a US machine, why not see about getting your existing one modded? It's probably a similar price, if not cheaper, and it removes a lot of the hassle by letting you drop any game in there without having to worry about region or getting a step-down.

Thanks for the suggestion, I may look into that. Would it mean 100% compatibility with NTSC games running at 60hz?

I just don't understand why anyone would chose PAL over NTSC, other than for the price and convenience. From what I've seen, the differences can be quite substantial.

 

[NinjaCatfish]

Thanks for the suggestion, I may look into that. Would it mean 100% compatibility with NTSC games running at 60hz?

I just don't understand why anyone would chose PAL over NTSC, other than for the price and convenience. From what I've seen, the differences can be quite substantial.

My modded PAL PS1 and PS2 both play NTSC games flawlessly. If you're pumping it to a CRT, you need to be sure it's compatible with NTSC, but that's the only potential issue I can think of.

For me, I have almost all PAL games on PS1, purely because they're what I can pick up physically. If I want NTSC games, I have almost no choice but online buying, and it means I'd have to say no to some of the actually great pickups I've had locally.

 

[NekoFever]

Thanks for the suggestion, I may look into that. Would it mean 100% compatibility with NTSC games running at 60hz?

I just don't understand why anyone would chose PAL over NTSC, other than for the price and convenience. From what I've seen, the differences can be quite substantial.

I've never come across an NTSC PS1 or PS2 game that doesn't run on my modded PAL PS2. My modchip actually lets you force PAL games to run at 60Hz, but any of the notoriously bad PAL conversions I've tried the feature with have just glitched badly with it on.

I have a US PS3 with hardware BC, though, so I mainly use that these days.

 

[Big Papa Husker]

The PS1 and PS2 both support RGB SCART output, if that's what you mean. Just make sure if you're using it on a PS2 that you change the component video out setting in system configuration to output RGB instead of Y Cb/Pb Cr/Pr, or else you'll get distorted colours; IIRC NTSC PS2s default to component output since RGB isn't common in those regions.

Funnily enough, I was playing a PS2 over RGB SCART on a nice CRT TV yesterday for the first time in years. It looks glorious.

Is there an adapter to convert SCART into Component?

 

[Danny Dudekisser]

Is there an adapter to convert SCART into Component?

You're going to have to buy an XRGB or equivalent in order to convert it to something more common in the US.

 

[theSlacker]

Is there an adapter to convert SCART into Component?

Yes. Just google "scart to component" and will find some.

 

[IrishNinja]

man, i keep debating just playing PS1 over PS2 component > XRGB, the only thing i think i'm losing is the ability to play PS1 imports. i don't have many, mostly Um Jammer Lammy uncensored that i dig, but id still like to play stuff like Vib Ribbon one day....

 

[Zing]

I've never said this about a Mega Man X game, but Mega Man X5 sucks. It's barely tolerable. If it were not the "final" game in the series, I wouldn't even continue.

 

[ascii42]

I've never said this about a Mega Man X game, but Mega Man X5 sucks. It's barely tolerable. If it were not the "final" game in the series, I wouldn't even continue.

I've generally heard X6 is worse. At least X5 gave us bosses named after GnR members, that's got to be worth...something?

 

[NIGHT-]

Thanks to this thread I've retained a lot of my ps1 collection from when I was a teenager.

I now have,
Metal gear solid
Vr missions
Crash 1-3
Crash team racing l
Spyro 1-3 collectors
Medievil 1 and 2
Croc 1 and 2
Ape escape
Silent Hill
Resident evil 1-3
Dino crisis 1-2
Future cop lapd
Tenchu 1-2
Tekken 2 and 3
Jersey devil
Mortal kombat trilogy
Twisted metal 1-3
Gex
Rayman

I still have a long way to go! Some games are hard and expensive to find. Really want tomba 1-2 and clocktower

 

[Danny Dudekisser]

man, i keep debating just playing PS1 over PS2 component > XRGB, the only thing i think i'm losing is the ability to play PS1 imports. i don't have many, mostly Um Jammer Lammy uncensored that i dig, but id still like to play stuff like Vib Ribbon one day....

Can't buy a Japanese PS2?

 

[Teknoman]

I've generally heard X6 is worse. At least X5 gave us bosses named after GnR members, that's got to be worth...something?

X5 has a better soundtrack / more in common with the early game soundtracks than X4, so that makes it better for me.

 

[Danny Dudekisser]

X5 has a better soundtrack/ more in common with the early game soundtracks than X4, so that makes it better for me.

Honestly, I thought X6's soundtrack was the best in the entire series. It's just incredible.

X5... I will never understand why some people dislike it so much. I fuckin' loved that game. X6 is awful, apart from the OST.

 

[IrishNinja]

Can't buy a Japanese PS2?

eh, we're (currently) only talking about a few games, so nah...i just gotta find a workaround elsewhere i guess

 

[Jazzy Network]

Honestly, I thought X6's soundtrack was the best in the entire series. It's just incredible.

X5... I will never understand why some people dislike it so much. I fuckin' loved that game. X6 is awful, apart from the OST.

Not sure why people hate X5 either. I thought it was better than X4 at the very least. X6 is just a mess.

 

[RadarScope1]

While we're talking MMX games ... How is the emulation on that compilation release on the PS2? Or the classic MM compilation for that matter? I've been thinking those would be cool to toss into my BC PS3 sometime.

 

[Zing]

Not sure why people hate X5 either. I thought it was better than X4 at the very least.

Having played X4 and X5 for the first time, back-to-back, X4 was much more enjoyable than X5. X4 feels very polished and well-designed. The music is great. I've played the entire series sequentially, all for the first time, over the past year. X4 is second only to the first game in quality for me.

I don't know what to say about X5. I just know it is the first game in the series where I felt compelled to just shut the game off and put it away. It's the first game to make me speak the words, "this game sucks". Here is just one example of how little thought went into its design. On the speeder bike stage (Izzy Glow, I believe), the game literally kills you before the words "READY" are finished being displayed if you don't move. Never in the history of the series has the game presented a danger before you are "ready".

"Here are the four reploids that have the enigma parts. Oh, and here are four other reploids for no explainable reason at this time."
"Here, start the game with amour that makes everything far too easy to beat."

I also literally LOL'd at how they mistranslated the force armor as "fourth armor". I researched it a bit, and many fans have tried to explain it as being the armor from the fourth game, hence fourth armor, but in every official art book and documentation, it is force armor, so that is just wishful thinking.

 

[Danny Dudekisser]

While we're talking MMX games ... How is the emulation on that compilation release on the PS2? Or the classic MM compilation for that matter? I've been thinking those would be cool to toss into my BC PS3 sometime.

Mega Man Anniversary Collection... just forget about it. The emulation isn't great, and while it's better on the Xbox version, it's still not quite there. It's not awful, but it's a poor alternative to Virtual Console/original carts/the PS1 rereleases. Mega Man 7's probably the most off, of all the games. Mega Man 8 is probably the most accurate, which isn't surprising given that it was a PS1 game... but then, it ain't the Saturn version, so that's a shame. Still, if all you're looking to do is play the games and enjoy them, it's probably good enough... except for the rendition of MM7.

Mega Man X Collection...:

X4 seems to be a solid port. But it's a port of the PS1 game, which is fine... 'cept you don't get the visual doo-dads the Saturn version had. That's a shame, but it runs fine.

X5 is the definitive version of the game, I wanna say. Didn't notice any discrepencies from the PS1 version, but what I did notice is that the slowdown in the one stage that's set in space (for the first half of the stage, at least) was removed. Both the PS1 and PC versions would slow down to a crawl in that level when the visual effects in the backgrounds started going. So that's kinda cool that they fixed that.

X6 is still X6. The voice acting was taken out of this version, but it's still X6. It's still a piece of X6.

 

[Teknoman]

In light of recent events, whats the deal with Strider 2 on PS1?

 

[sixteen-bit]

In light of recent events, whats the deal with Strider 2 on PS1?

The deal is that it's actually on the Strider 1 disc.

 

[Teknoman]

The deal is that it's actually on the Strider 1 disc.

Capcom for you...how does something like that even happen. Guess I should go for the two disc set rather than Genesis Strider.

 

[drtomoe123]

Capcom for you...how does something like that even happen. Guess I should go for the two disc set rather than Genesis Strider.

I'm not the biggest or most knowledgeable Strider fan, but I'll vouch for the PS1 version. I had a lot of fun with it.

 

[sixteen-bit]

Yeah, the Gen port was great at the time, but you can't go wrong with the PS1 ver.

 

[patrickthehedgehog]

Picked up some weirdo racing/driving games at Seattle Retro Game Expo. Got Omega Boost for $8 yesterday.

I love that the main car in Ray Tracers is called "Spanker".

Right now I'm hunting for Parappa the Rapper and RC de GO!

 

[Danny Dudekisser]

The deal is that it's actually on the Strider 1 disc.

Speaking of Strider 2, I've heard the PS1 version was made a lot easier than the arcade version... any truth to that? Might just save up for the arcade board.

 

[RadarScope1]

So on the July 11 episode of the Playstation Blogcast podcast, Nick Suttner teased the fact that a long-requested PS1 game is coming to PSN soon. Any ideas what it might be?

 

[sixteen-bit]

So on the July 11 episode of the Playstation Blogcast podcast, Nick Suttner teased the fact that a long-requested PS1 game is coming to PSN soon. Any ideas what it might be?

Valkyrie Profile (lol)

If that was the July 11 episode, maybe the game he was talking about already came out.

 

[Lambtron]

eh, we're (currently) only talking about a few games, so nah...i just gotta find a workaround elsewhere i guess

I'm going to be the bad influence on your shoulder: buy a Japanese PS2!

So on the July 11 episode of the Playstation Blogcast podcast, Nick Suttner teased the fact that a long-requested PS1 game is coming to PSN soon. Any ideas what it might be?

Suikoden II? I know Vic had hinted at that a while back...

 

[IrishNinja]

I'm going to be the bad influence on your shoulder: buy a Japanese PS2!

haha...alright Lambs, what games you justifying this with? cause after my last pick up i cant even afford to pay attention nahmean

 

[sixteen-bit]

Irish, my favorite imports on PS2 are mostly arcade ports of Fighting games and 2D shooters, and Sega Ages comps like Treasure Box and The Phantasy Star collection, lol.

As far as original non-ports go, some good imports are Akira Psycho Ball (Pinball game by Kaze of Necronomicon and Last Gladiator fame), Another Century's Episode 3 (mech combat), and Earth Defense Force 2.

 

[RadarScope1]

Valkyrie Profile (lol)

If that was the July 11 episode, maybe the game he was talking about already came out.

No there hasn't been a North American ps1 game added for a while.

Suikoden II is the one that came to mind for me. If that follows the recent release of Earthbound on VC then probably the top two 1990s JRPG collectors items would now finally be available in digital format after nearly 20 years.

 

[hipgnosis]

Newest additions to my collection. Finally completed the Spyro trilogy. Such great platformers! Great graphics for the time as well.

 

[Chiaroscuro]

I am starting to think I should check the PS1 age games, but I am kinda lost of which hardware to get. I usually go for the first released model, but I am afraid of bad units when it comes to disc-based systems. The cd player from PS1 was quite abused around here, due to piracy rampant. Any tips?

 

[bud]

the og playstation which i bought in '98 still works. the only game i own is metal gear solid.

 

[Tribes of Trusty]

the og playstation which i bought in '98 still works. the only game i own is metal gear solid.

(I went through 3 of them due to CD player failure. Ah the good times where I put my PSX on the side for it to work ha ha).

I loved the PS1, but I absolutely hated the PAL CD cases. They're nightmares. They're bulky, the spin doesn't have any art in it, and it was fragile as glass. The only good (?) thing that came out of them were the manuals which could be quite thick...which I suspect was perfect as most packages were multi-langage anyway...

 

[Zing]

I am starting to think I should check the PS1 age games, but I am kinda lost of which hardware to get. I usually go for the first released model, but I am afraid of bad units when it comes to disc-based systems. The cd player from PS1 was quite abused around here, due to piracy rampant. Any tips?

Buy the PSone, for three reasons:
1) It is compact, has four rubber feet so as to not slide around, and can support the LCD screen if you decide to use it someday.
2) It was engineered to be more reliable and of higher quality, not just cheaper. The laser assembly is made of metal and won't warp or wear down.
3) The PSone version of the Dual Shock is superior to the regular version. The analog sticks are much tighter and much easier to use for fine movements.

 

[theSlacker]

Buy the PSone, for three reasons:
1) It is compact, has four rubber feet so as to not slide around, and can support the LCD screen if you decide to use it someday.
2) It was engineered to be more reliable and of higher quality, not just cheaper. The laser assembly is made of metal and won't warp or wear down.
3) The PSone version of the Dual Shock is superior to the regular version. The analog sticks are much tighter and much easier to use for fine movements.

On the other hand, the original one looks pimp as fuck. Also for the record, was only the first few revisions that had the plastic laser assembly, and if you want to use the older gameshark you need a system with the parallel port.

 

[sixteen-bit]

Does the PSOne still have the link cable port?

 

[arit]

Does the PSOne still have the link cable port?

No.

 

[ExitPlanetDust]

Probably the only negative, IMO. Kind of funny how the PSOne is missing a link port when it would be so easy to put two of them + official LCDs together for multi screen play.

 

[Zing]

I agree that the original looks cool, but the lack of rubber feet annoys me greatly. They only seem to have two, or no, rubber feet. The console slides around in my TV stand every time I touch it. It is also a little louder, probably due to all the hollow plastic reverberating. Either way, you really want the PSone Dual Shock. I hated the way games like Spyro controlled with analog until I tried the PSone. The sensitivity is just right.

 

[RadarScope1]

I am starting to think I should check the PS1 age games, but I am kinda lost of which hardware to get. I usually go for the first released model, but I am afraid of bad units when it comes to disc-based systems. The cd player from PS1 was quite abused around here, due to piracy rampant. Any tips?

This may be counter to your intentions, but you could always get a PS2. It's a great PS1. And it has some added functionality as well.

 

[Zing]

Any suggestions for fun co-op games that are kid friendly?

 

[Teknoman]

Today is my lucky day. Walking around a local thrift store, and guess what i run into in the home appliances section:

Lunar 2 complete in the box...perfect shape...just sitting there. Couldnt believe it! 14 bucks too. Missing something that went in a black bag, but all the discs and manual are in great shape.

 

[NIGHT-]

Is there any reason to buy a psone if I have a ps2 slim? Is emulation pretty much perfect on ps2?

 

[BocoDragon]

Is there any reason to buy a psone if I have a ps2 slim? Is emulation pretty much perfect on ps2?

Yes... It's more or less perfect for 99.9% of PS1 games. There are a tiny handful of games that have issues on PS2 (~10)... but it's almost nothing.

And actually... it's possible that the PS2 slim fixes a few of those games, compared to PS2 phat. The slim uses a little more actual "emulation" instead of using PS1 chips, and it's very solid emulation. I had heard that Gradius Gaiden has slowdown on a phat PS2... but it doesn't on my slim.

Anyway... in 10 years of using PS2 to play PS1 games... I have never actually encountered a single issue.

 

[jhmtehgamr20xx]

On the other hand, the original one looks pimp as fuck. Also for the record, was only the first few revisions that had the plastic laser assembly, and if you want to use the older gameshark you need a system with the parallel port.

Quoted for truth. You can get an SCPH-1001 model for about $20-$30 bucks if you'd like; these are the ones renowned for their audio capabilities, because they had separate audio channel jacks. If you're an audiophile and want to scratch together a booming sound system...you could probably do better for roughly a bit more these days actually, but still the vintage and cool factor is a big plus.

Unfortunately I never had one of those launch models, but was thinking about getting one some day off eBay. Any audiophiles/music makers etc. actually have one and used it? Just wondering how it holds up.

 

[BocoDragon]

Quoted for truth. You can get an SCPH-1001 model for about $20-$30 bucks if you'd like; these are the ones renowned for their audio capabilities, because they had separate audio channel jacks. If you're an audiophile and want to scratch together a booming sound system...you could probably do better for roughly a bit more these days actually, but still the vintage and cool factor is a big plus.

Unfortunately I never had one of those launch models, but was thinking about getting one some day off eBay. Any audiophiles/music makers etc. actually have one and used it? Just wondering how it holds up.

That's a bit of an urban myth. The DAC in the PS1 is ok, but nothing spectacular. It's no better than many average CD players. The fact that there are audio jacks on the back of the unit is nearly trivial. They just like it so they can hook up their expensive cables which are also of dubious superiority.

The reason you think its so great is because the "audiophile" community is very prone to superstition and rumors. It's hard to debunk these things. One person says it, another takes it as fact and he says it, another person takes that as fact, and so on.