GoldenEye can’t distract from Switch retro games’ most annoying pitfall – Opinion: GoldenEye’s 16:9 support doesn’t help other 4:3 games marred by borders.
GoldenEye can’t distract from Switch retro games’ most annoying pitfall – Opinion: GoldenEye’s 16:9 support doesn’t help other 4:3 games marred by borders.
by Kodiack
8 Comments
Kodiack
> Players have been complaining about the mandatory gray borders since the launch of the Switch’s subscription-based classic game library back in 2018, but Nintendo has never done anything to change it.
I have been complaining about those very borders for ***years***. They are gaudy, distracting and immersion-breaking, especially on an OLED display. They’re so bad that I’ve given up on using NSO for emulating old games with 4:3 aspect ratios. Nintendo really needs some better options here.
The especially baffling thing is that someone would have had to design and implement those borders in the first place, which means they’ve actively spent time making something that explicitly makes for a less pleasant experience.
**EDIT:** In case it’s somehow not clear, I just want an option for black borders instead of the dotted grey and black borders that are used currently. That’s the point of the article, and it’s pretty easy to implement. I’m not asking for widescreen support in other games.
PM_ME_KERERUS
I agree they’re awful. They don’t add anything to the experience. Just keep them as black borders smh.
eojrepus
People will complain about anything.
MBCnerdcore
Better bust out the pitchforks over this clearly intolerable issue. Yep, it sure is unforgivable that games made in 1997 don’t display perfectly on 1080p HD screens when emulated as if they were on a N64.
Oh, here come the downvotes. I must not have sounded distraught and angry enough.
Dreyfus2006
Overblown. Anybody can tell you that having black and grey borders is not the biggest problem NSO has, nor the most annoying. It’s annoying but only in a small way.
Hestu951
Grey borders were used to display 4:3 content on some old plasma TVs. The purpose was to have all the border subpixels glow at an average intensity, to keep wear at the more-or-less the same level as the rest of the screen, avoiding visible burn-in.
Nintendo uses grey borders, maybe originally for the same reason (to avoid burn-in on OLEDs), but then they stamped the static player icon on the border! Boggles the mind.
Wubbzy-mon
Feels weird for them to be 4:3, but I know people want that
SmashingEmeraldz
The borders didn’t bother me until I got the OLED Switch, known that it could be pure black instead makes me hate them.
8 Comments
> Players have been complaining about the mandatory gray borders since the launch of the Switch’s subscription-based classic game library back in 2018, but Nintendo has never done anything to change it.
I have been complaining about those very borders for ***years***. They are gaudy, distracting and immersion-breaking, especially on an OLED display. They’re so bad that I’ve given up on using NSO for emulating old games with 4:3 aspect ratios. Nintendo really needs some better options here.
The especially baffling thing is that someone would have had to design and implement those borders in the first place, which means they’ve actively spent time making something that explicitly makes for a less pleasant experience.
**EDIT:** In case it’s somehow not clear, I just want an option for black borders instead of the dotted grey and black borders that are used currently. That’s the point of the article, and it’s pretty easy to implement. I’m not asking for widescreen support in other games.
I agree they’re awful. They don’t add anything to the experience. Just keep them as black borders smh.
People will complain about anything.
Better bust out the pitchforks over this clearly intolerable issue. Yep, it sure is unforgivable that games made in 1997 don’t display perfectly on 1080p HD screens when emulated as if they were on a N64.
Oh, here come the downvotes. I must not have sounded distraught and angry enough.
Overblown. Anybody can tell you that having black and grey borders is not the biggest problem NSO has, nor the most annoying. It’s annoying but only in a small way.
Grey borders were used to display 4:3 content on some old plasma TVs. The purpose was to have all the border subpixels glow at an average intensity, to keep wear at the more-or-less the same level as the rest of the screen, avoiding visible burn-in.
Nintendo uses grey borders, maybe originally for the same reason (to avoid burn-in on OLEDs), but then they stamped the static player icon on the border! Boggles the mind.
Feels weird for them to be 4:3, but I know people want that
The borders didn’t bother me until I got the OLED Switch, known that it could be pure black instead makes me hate them.