N64 games on Switch: you will have to choose between 60 Hz and the French language – Frandroid

The extension to Nintendo Switch Online dedicated to N64 and Mega Drive games will have a small flaw. For games from its own console released in 1997, Nintendo offers the possibility of choosing between playing in English at 60 Hz and playing in French at 50 Hz.

Source: Nintendo

Bad news for all non-English speakers who were happy to rediscover the classics of the Nintendo 64 via the new Nintendo Switch Online expansion on their Switch, OLED or not. According to a tweet from Nintendo Europe, if you want to play these games in French, you will have to be satisfied with 50 Hz.

All Nintendo 64 games included with #NintendoSwitchOnline + 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/nZeO4WQaPN

– Nintendo of Europe (@NintendoEurope) October 11, 2021

This statement from Nintendo, who gradually seems to take the habit of responding to the press, comes after an article in the newspaper Eurogamer. This paper dated September 24, 2021 explained that the presentation of the service during a Nintendo Direct had scared fans. The latter had the impression that the European versions of the titles were running at 50 Hz.

You are all PAL

Indeed, historically, there are three television publishing areas: the NTSC, PAL and SECAM areas. In short, the NTSC version runs at 60 Hz, and covers part of the American continent, Japan and a few countries all over the world (Kuwait, Sudan, Burma or Albania for example). The PAL area, for its part, was running at 50 Hz. They are often associated with European versions of the games, although they are also present in much of the world.

Later, when the next generation consoles (Gamecube, PS2, etc.) were released, they were able to display 60Hz versions of games in PAL. But at the time of N64, this was not yet the case.

Launch at the end of October

The question posed by the article was therefore: will Europeans be condemned to stay at 50 Hz, or will they have the choice between an NTSC and PAL version.

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Nintendo responded quite clearly. Two versions of the games will be available: one in English and in 60 Hz and the other with choice of languages ​​(and we assume the possibility of playing in French) in PAL version. The Japanese firm does not however specify if these European versions will be in 50 Hz, but the mention PAL does not leave much doubt.

As a reminder, Nintendo did not specify the exact date of the launch of this N64 and Mega Drive extension. We only know that the launch is scheduled for the end of October.

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