PlayStation's revamp of PS Plus is just on the horizon for North America, but one of its most anticipated additions isn't looking pretty. Fans have been excited about the arrival of classic PlayStation 1 games on the PlayStation 5 -- however, it turns out that most of these titles are the European PAL versions, regardless of region.

PAL is the analog TV color system popular in most European and Asian countries and is different from the video standard in North America, known as NTSC. The main difference between the two is the way power is consumed, with NTSC generating power at 60 hz while PAL only generates at 50 hz. During the PS1 generation, game SKUs made for NTSC targeted 30 fps, but PAL could only hit 25 fps, meaning that PAL versions of PS1 games run worse than NTSC versions. Thanks to Asian markets getting a crack at the new PS Plus before anyone else, the PS1 classics have already been put to the test.

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PlayStation has made the choice to emulate the inferior versions of most of these PS1 classics during a console generation that prides itself on running games at the highest frame rate and fidelity. A five-frame difference may not sound bad from the start, but for modern TVs that are more than capable of outputting at 60 fps, those 10 frames cause choppy and undesirable visuals. It's not just about the visuals though -- frame rate affects how a game feels to the player, and just five frames off can spoil the experience for nostalgic fans wanting to play their favorites the way they remember them.

Spike facing off against an enemy in Ape Escape

Offering an inferior way to play these beloved games devalues the new PS Plus service and the PS5 as a whole. Ape Escape is a big standout in the collection and a landmark title for PlayStation to showcase the DualShock's capabilities. Thanks to Digital Foundry, the world now knows that PlayStation chose the PAL version, which runs 17 percent slower than the NTSC version, making everything feel off as soon as players start moving. Even the cutscenes, which surprisingly hit 30 fps on PS5 instead of the 25 fps found in gameplay, are completely ruined due to archaic frame pacing.

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PlayStation's blunder in handling the PS1 classics is another example of the company not prioritizing game preservation. The PAL version backlash is a repeat of when PlayStation released the PS1 Classic micro console in 2018 only for it to run emulated PAL versions. That one decision completely tanked the PS1 Classic's success, and it's baffling that PlayStation would make the same mistake again only four years later.

PlayStation's weak practices with backward compatibility are unacceptable given how far behind they are compared to the competition. As PlayStation ignores the power of its latest hardware by bringing back old games with worse frame rates, Xbox has combed through its backward compatibility catalog and boosted the frame rates of their classics. The bar has been raised, and fans are growing increasingly frustrated with the non-stop bad news. If PlayStation can't get PS1 games right, then hope for downloadable PS3 games on the PS5 console is looking grim.

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PS1 Console And Library

Luckily, the new PS1 classics on PS Plus do come with some delightful perks. The ability to save, load, and rewind gameplay at any time is a novel addition that can alleviate some of the outdated challenges that come with playing old games. There are also different display presets that better recreate the classic CRT look if players want to inject a bit more nostalgia into their classic titles. Surprisingly, PSN Trophy support has been added to a select few PS1 classics, which goes above and beyond what any trophy hunter would have expected and gives many fans a good reason to replay these classics. It's a shame that the issue of the PAL versions will vastly overshadow these welcome additions for most players.

Nostalgic PlayStation fans have not been properly taken care of by PlayStation and deserve much better than the lackluster PAL versions of their beloved games. All fans can hope for now is that PlayStation listens this time and fixes these emulated titles in the near future.