Ever since the days of the Wii, I’ve had a love-or-hate relationship with Nintendo’s revived console game efforts. You see, throughout the ’80s and ’90s, games were converted to run at 50Hz in Europe to work with common television standards at the time — effectively reducing their speed by 10%, unless the developer made efforts to disguise the drop.
Throughout the Wii and Wii U era, Nintendo released most of these versions via the European digital storefronts, though thankfully with the advent of Nintendo Switch Online things changed for NES and SNES games, with the English-language versions being the 60Hz US originals.
That decision will be carrying through to the upcoming Nintendo 64 launch as Nintendo UK has confirmed that the English versions of games will be their 60Hz American counterparts. Select entries with language options will still allow you to switch back to the European PAL originals.
All Nintendo 64 games included with Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack can be played in 60Hz English language versions. Select games will also have the option to play the original European PAL version with language options. pic.twitter.com/gS0ajmtxnY
— Nintendo UK (@NintendoUK) October 11, 2021
We’ll just have to wait and see what other Nintendo 64 games are on the horizon!
Written by Tom Brown
Whether it’s an exciting new entry in a series long established or a weird experiment meant only for the dedicated, Tom is eager to report on it. Rest assured, if Nintendo ever announces Elite Beat Agents 2, he’ll be there.
