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Metal Man on 18 September 2016
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Is 60fps required for a game to be playable? No, but at the same time, it is hard for me to grasp how anyone would defend 30fps in this day and age. There was a time when sub-60fps had to be expected, because the technology just wasn't advanced enough. The majority of 3D games from Generation 5 or before were 30fps or less. It didn't stop them from being great games, but it was obvious that for games to be 3D, certain concessions had to be made because of the technology at the time. Sure, we were accustomed to 60fps scrolling in 2D games ever since the NES days, but 3D games required a lot more processing power and it just wasn't realistic to expect most 3D games to be 60fps. There were, of course, some notable exceptions like F-Zero X (N64). Nowadays, consoles are so much more powerful, I just don't see any reason to justify 30fps. Resolution is not the be all, end all. F-Zero GX (GCN), when played on an HD CRT in 480p, still looks great even today. One of the big reasons for that is that it is 60fps. There's nothing like buttery smooth racing at 1000+ km/h.

The difference between 30fps and 60fps is pretty big. This may, however, depend somewhat on the TV. With CRT, the benefit of 60fps was unmistakable. With 60fps, I feel a sort of connection to the game where the images on screen feel like they are actually moving. With 30fps, I feel slightly detached from the game and the sensation is lost. It is probably worth mentioning that I haven't felt that sensation when playing on an LCD. Plasma gets really close, though. I haven't played on OLED, so I can't comment on those. For a more recent example of this sensation, take Mario Kart 8 (WiiU). Single player is really smooth and the motion feels real, but 4-player split screen has a totally different feel to it. It's not just the reduced screen real estate that makes the difference. The game runs at a slower frame rate in 4-player split screen which has a big impact on how the game feels. It doesn't stop me from beating my friends, but I feel like I have to compensate for it a bit.