Today, Kotaku writer Owen Good wrote an article mocking Europeans who demanded proper emulation speeds on the Wii U Virtual Console. He defends his stance after admitting most video games are too fast for him.
The Wii U Virtual Console’s first release of the NES title Balloon Fight has many Europeans furious due to an archaic standard which led to a frame refresh rate of 50 Hz compared to North America or Japan’s 60 Hz. This in turn makes old European releases slower and more frustrating to play despite modern gaming consoles having already fixed this problem.
The inflammatory title “Europe Ungrateful for Slower, More Authentic Version of Balloon Fight on Wii U” is par for the course at Kotaku, but writer Owen Good says he has a valid reason for poking fun at Europeans who have made such a fuss.
“I see it as a non-issue, at least in Europe,” says Good, “I mean, these old Nintendo games are way too hard for me at their normal speeds. I would have never beaten Super Mario Bros. on the NES if I didn’t play the European version.”
“It makes the game more accessible,” he elaborates, “I mean, I would have definitely bought the games on the North American Wii U if they were slower. Once again, Europeans get all the luck so they shouldn’t be complaining. Americans should be.”
Kotaku editor-in-chief Stephen Tolito allowed the article to go through as he too agrees that games are too fast nowadays. He admits, “Most of us at Kotaku can’t even beat half the games we review unless we use cheats to slow them down.”
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