Sony once again seems to offer the worst version of its PS1 games

Sony’s revamped PlayStation Plus service is beginning its slow kickoff around the globe, bringing users varying amounts of downloadable and streamable games — provided they subscribe at the right price point. This new PS Plus scheme represents a significant effort from Sony to showcase its old back catalog on the latest console generation. It may not, however, be the most prominent showcase of these classic games.

Videogames Chronicle’s early reports suggest that the PlayStation 1 games available on the service may be slower-performing PAL version of games. These are evident in lower frame rates, opening titles crediting Sony Computer Entertainment Europe and other indicators.

Regional video formats were used to standardize TV performance parameters in the pre-high resolution era. The European format for this was PAL. It had a 50hz refresh rate and a 25 fps frame rate. North America used NTSC format, which had a refresh rate of 60hz, 30fps frame rates, and a lower refresh rate. There are other differentiating factors between these two formats, but these are the most relevant today — on a crisp, modern display, the lower refresh and frame rates of a PAL game will have some slight choppiness when compared to the NTSC version, making the NTSC version preferable in most circumstances.

Since the revamped PlayStation Now is just starting its rollout — the service has just gone live for subscribers in the Asian region, and won’t arrive in North America until June 13, nearly three weeks from now — it’s unclear as to whether or not this will be the case in every region, or if the option to play the NTSC versions of the available PS1 games will be added later on. There are many things that could change over the coming weeks.

However, there’s a precedent for this. Back when Sony jumped in on the mini console craze with the PlayStation Classic, the company also made the baffling decision to emulate the PAL version of several games on the console — something that did little to dissuade those skeptical of the company’s investment in its back catalog. It will be evident how keen Sony is to make friends with retro-minded gamers over the coming weeks.

Polygon reached out to Sony in order for confirmation. We will continue updating this story until we receive a reply.