Given T ⊂ R and a metric space M, we introduce a nondecreasing sequence of pseudometrics {ν n } on M T (the set of all functions from T into M), called the joint modulus of variation. We prove that if two sequences of functions {f j } and {g j } from M T are such that {f j } is pointwise precompact, {g j } is pointwise convergent, and the limit superior of ν n (f j , g j ) as j → ∞ is o(n) as n → ∞, then {f j } admits a pointwise convergent subsequence whose limit is a conditionally regulated function. We illustrate the sharpness of this result by examples (in particular, the assumption on the lim sup is necessary for uniformly convergent sequences {f j } and {g j }, and 'almost necessary' when they converge pointwise) and show that most of the known Helly-type pointwise selection theorems are its particular cases.