Same Game, Better Version

The Contra talk in NeoZeed's thread got me thinking:

How many games out there got ported to home systems and ended up being better than the original while at the same time keeping the game design true to the original despite weaker hardware?


Since Contra inspired this thread, I'll start the list with Contra. It owns the arcade version. If anything because the horizontal monitor orientation just works better for side scrollers. More appealing graphics and music along with better game physics don't hurt either.


SNES Smash TV: I love the SNES sound chip, so I'm going to claim a better audio experience. The graphics got a big downgrade, no arguing that... But the arcade game (as most arcade games are) was designed to suck quarters. The SNES version eases up and has a much better difficulty in my book. Just more fun to play, and still hard as nails to 1-credit. And the whole Pleasure Dome key thing gives you great incentive to run out in the open and take risks when you might otherwise be comfortably dug in.

Mario Brothers: This game ramps up in fun if you forget about clearing the board of enemies and concentrate on killing the other player. But once somebody runs out of lives, you need to start a new game. Much easier to hit the reset button on the NES than to commit suicide x-number of times in the arcade. Saves on quarters, too. A bit irrelevant now due to MAME, but it stood true back in the day.

Radiant Silvergun: Saturn mode ahoy!

The Genesis is home to many of these:

- Golden Axe: More levels and a cool battle mode.
- MERCS: Lost the second player, but made up for it with an awesome original mode that let you swap Mercs at your leisure and power up their weapons and defense.
- ESWAT: Much better visuals, imo and not as linear in level design.
- Final Fight: Same great game but enhanced with an incredible soundtrack and a cool time attack mode.

As much as I love the SNES version of Smash TV, it is not better than the arcade.

I would add Beatmanias, especially if you buy/build a better controller. Soul Calibur is another one.

Double Dragon II NES, what an awesome game! Double Dragon II arcade, what a shitfest!

Tecmo Bowl nes was far superior to Tecmo Bowl arcade as well.

DC Crazy Taxi >>>> Arcade Crazy Taxi.

Yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah!

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Originally Posted by Biff

Double Dragon II NES, what an awesome game! Double Dragon II arcade, what a shitfest!

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While I will agree with the NES superiority, we're talking about games that were ports/same concept/design instead of something totally new.

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Originally Posted by Bacon McShig

DC Crazy Taxi >>>> Arcade Crazy Taxi.

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So true I never really liked Crazy Taxi as an arcade game. Though the cabinets were pretty slick.

Donkey Kong Jr. (NES) - The arcade game looks better but the control is much more responsive in the NES port.

Omega Race (VIC-20) - Same basic game but there are lots of subtle manuevers you can do only in this version.

Bubble Bobble (SMS) - It was the only port at the time to get the gameplay and animation intact, and it added a ton of levels and other content. It's like a special edition.

Monster Lair (Duo) - I like the CD soundtrack with the electric guitars.

Xenophobe (Lynx) - I would have to compare them again to see all the differences (it might count barely as a different game) but I recall the Lynx one playing better.

I could never get the shift-boost to work in the arcade version of Crazy Taxi. True story.
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Super Mario Bros. (NES) - This was an arcade game first, let us not forget. (edit: OR PERHAPS I DID FORGET)

Turtles in Time (SNES) - Bebop, Rocksteady, early Shredder fight, tighter gameplay, bosses have life bars. No four-player mode, but that's ok.

Soul Calibur (DreamoCasto) - Of course. If you prefer the arcade version, you are a freak.

Donkey Kong 3 (NES) - better version of a weird game. Graphics were downgraded, but so what?

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Originally Posted by YellerDog

Super Mario Bros. (NES) - This was an arcade game first, let us not forget.

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Nope. The arcade version was a bit after.

DK3's a good port but it's a shame they took out where the bugs eat Stanley alive.

Really? Weird. Somebody was on here raving about how the NES only caught on because of arcade ports, and cited that.

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Originally Posted by Cheebs

More appealing graphics and music along with better game physics don't hurt either.

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How are color-reduced versions of the same artwork, and tinnier versions of the same songs more appealing?

Soul Edge/Blade was better on the PS1 than the arcade.

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Originally Posted by Frogacuda

How are color-reduced versions of the same artwork, and tinnier versions of the same songs more appealing?

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It's so much better. They didn't know what the fuck to do with the extra colors on the original, and the repeating synth thing on the arcade version is for shit.

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Originally Posted by YellerDog

Really? Weird. Somebody was on here raving about how the NES only caught on because of arcade ports, and cited that.

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That was dog$ in the Grudge List thread:

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Originally Posted by dog$

Just remember that one large selling point for the NES was that the home version of Super Mario Bros. was so close to its arcade counterpart. People wanted to play the arcade game at home, not the other way around - therefore, they were interested in the arcade game first.

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...Wow.

Anyway, with the exception of the Japanese Accent Core port and its oddities, the GGXX series is a better experience at home. The transition from versus screen to Heaven or Hell is almost instantaneous in the PS2 versions, while the Atomiswave originals subject you to a solid four or five Mississippi count before loading each match.

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Originally Posted by Dolemite

Soul Edge/Blade was better on the PS1 than the arcade.

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EDGE MASTER MODE.
thats what it was called... right?

Doom 64

Gradius III snes. I must stress this one. It must be stressed.


I'd like to think anything arcade konami made in the 8-16 eras got a great job in the cleanup editor porting department.

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Originally Posted by Dog$

Just remember that one large selling point for the NES was that the home version of Super Mario Bros. was so close to its arcade counterpart. People wanted to play the arcade game at home, not the other way around - therefore, they were interested in the arcade game first.

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The arcade (Pistol Pete's Pizza) was where I'd first played Super Mario Bros. as well.

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I would add Beatmanias, especially if you buy/build a better controller.

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whaaaaaaaat

The arcade version songlists totally dwarf the home versions. That's reason enough.

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Originally Posted by DJ Incompetent

Doom 64

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no.

Doom 64 was amazing but it wasn't a port.

Rush 2049 on DC is my choice for biggest improvement from arcade to home console. The DC version added the stunt mode, the battle mode, and the retractable wings that completely opened up the gameplay.

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Originally Posted by gamevet

The arcade was where I'd first played Super Mario Bros. as well.

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thirded.

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Originally Posted by Tain

The arcade version songlists totally dwarf the home versions. That's reason enough.

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Isn't that only because they include a fair amount of songs from previous styles? The console versions have brand new songs (and in the last two games, were the best songs of the package!)

What about the nes port of TMNT arcade, it was pretty decent actually.

It was good (for NES), but it was not better than arcade.

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Isn't that only because they include a fair amount of songs from previous styles? The console versions have brand new songs (and in the last two games, were the best songs of the package!)

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Yeah. The bulk of the songs are returning from old styles, with fifty or so new ones per game. Still, I prefer a hundred returning songs to twenty or thirty. And I think the arcade games have been getting the recent console-exclusive songs via e-amuse, but I'm not totally sure on that.

Can you mess with all the variations of notes and what not like you can in the home versions of Beatmania?

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Originally Posted by kingoffighters

Can you mess with all the variations of notes and what not like you can in the home versions of Beatmania?

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Do you mean high speeds and random and whatnot?

yah, stuff like that

Yeah, the arcade is usually a step up from the home ports with better options on recent versions. Arcade had .5 high speed increments before home versions did, etc. They're usually about the same though, no significant differences as far as speeds and random modes are concerned.

Border Down and Mars Matrix- added content

Cannon Spike- Not a fan of the game but can safely say the DC version controls better.

Super Dodgeball NES: Wasn't a fan of the arcade version's large/small characters, looked more uniform with a 8 bit makeover.

*-neo

In dog$'s defense on the SMB thing, even though the game originated on Famicom, there probably were a good number of people first exposed to it by the arcade version. It's possible some places in North America got the arcade version before the NES was in stores.

I also played it first in the arcade.I remember it had a time limit per stage and NO it wasn't playchoice-10

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Originally Posted by Biff

I also played it first in the arcade.I remember it had a time limit per stage and NO it wasn't playchoice-10

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You are aware that the home version also had a time limit per stage, aren't you?

Hmmm, guess I don't remember that bud :)

Pit Fighter is so much better on the Sega Genesis than it is in the arcade. They're both awful games in most respects, but the Genesis version managed to be somewhat playable.

Wow, Pit Fighter is what you have to play while waiting to get into hell.

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Originally Posted by kedawa

Pit Fighter is so much better on the Sega Genesis than it is in the arcade. They're both awful games in most respects, but the Genesis version managed to be somewhat playable.

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No.



This is NOT tool-assisted, the game is just broken.

IBTN, pit fighter really, really sucks complete ass. The only game that may be worse is Time Killers.

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Originally Posted by Biff

IBTN, pit fighter really, really sucks complete ass. The only game that may be worse is Time Killers.

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Arcade Time Killers wasn't that bad by standards of the day. It was an average fighter with some major balance issues. Certainly leagues better than Pit Fighter. And both of them are better than like... Tattoo Assassins or a lot of the downright bizarre "me too" fighting games from the Mortal Kombat era.

The Genesis version, however, took an already rapidly aging game + broken controls + shit collision + tiny ass ugly sprites and made something truly legendarily bad.

Speaking of bad ports, THIS is what they truly have to play in hell

Here's a totally bizarre one. Balloon Kid on Gameboy and Hello Kitty World on Famicom are the same game - only Hello Kitty World has bright and cute pastel graphics, which beat out the lime green barf of the Gameboy Mono.

Oh wow, it really is. Neat.

Genesis Time Killers is worth owning for shits and giggles.

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Originally Posted by Frogacuda

No.



This is NOT tool-assisted, the game is just broken.

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I always heard this game sucked, but... fuck.

The NES and SMS versions of Renegade were essentially the same, but the SMS version was better (of course, it was released years later - and it was developed by Natsume).

I remember playing Pit Fighters in the arcade (and liked it), but I could never get past the 3rd level. The home ports are horrible as I recall.

Turrican (Amiga vs Genesis): The Genesis version does copy the graphics fairly well, but Chris Huelsbeck's great BGM gets massacred and the special weapons control sucks. Instead of just hitting one key to bust out grenades or power lines, you have to hit the Pick Weapon button once or twice then fire. Amiga wins.

Mega Turrican (Genesis) vs Turrican 3 (Amiga): These are both the same game, but MT is the better of the two versions, esp. if you use a Genesis 6-button pad/stick. The Amiga's BGM is a tad better, but it doesn't rout the Genesis this time. Turrican 3 suffers major color loss, thanks to only 32 colors on screen at once rather than the Genesis' 64. Score one for Genesis.

Rolling Thunder 2 (Genesis vs. Arcade): The Genesis version has more levels, secret items, and a harder final boss. The arcade one has 3 less levels but has nicer sound/BGM, much better graphics with more color, and occasional use of sprite scaling. It's a draw.

Double Dragon 2 (PC-Engine SCD vs. Arcade): The PCE CD turns out being a mix between the arcade and NES ones. Game speed is a bit faster on the PCE CD one, while the arcade version is relatively sluggish. You lose the elbow punch on PCE, but you still have everything else including the hurricane kick. Enemy AI is somewhat improved. While the arcade does have better graphics, the PCE plays better and has more levels.

Guitar Freaks series (PS2 vs Arcade): While the arcade version of a GF mix also has tracks from older mixes, this isn't so for the PS2 versions- much like other Bemani franchises.

That Amstrad version of Pit-Fighter is a disgrace. They should've done it more like the Genesis one, where they didn't bother scaling the sprites but instead focused on how it plays.

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Originally Posted by bVork

Here's a totally bizarre one. Balloon Kid on Gameboy and Hello Kitty World on Famicom are the same game - only Hello Kitty World has bright and cute pastel graphics, which beat out the lime green barf of the Gameboy Mono.

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I was not aware of that and must track down HK World right now.

I personally prefer Super Street Fighter 2X for Matching Service over the arcade version.
The extra options and dipswitch menu allow for some serious fine-tuning.

There are lots of people here that are letting nostalgia get the better of their decisions for sure.

As a few little notes:

-we always had fun playing pit fighter, even if it was crap
-renegade, to me, was always crap
-crap

what the hell attack were they doing in Pit Fighter after cartwheeling through the enemies?

Re: Renegade: Why is the music so cheery?

What, kicking ass doesn't make you happy?

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Originally Posted by Brisco Bold

Re: Renegade: Why is the music so cheery?

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Don't you remember the 80's? Everything had cheery music. Remember Scarface?

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Originally Posted by Kidnemo

-we always had fun playing pit fighter, even if it was crap

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Me and a buddy rented that game back when it came out and about shit ourselves laughing our asses off - I'm talking gut-busting tear-streaming laughter that went on for hours and we couldn't stop. Just thinking about that game puts me into a laughing frenzy. About fell out of my chair and had a heart attack watching Frogacuda's youtube link. So damn funny.

*you'll die!*

My favorite part was knocking out the spectators that shoved me away from the edge. That and the music.

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Originally Posted by YellerDog

Yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah!

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Everyone I know has the exact same reaction to hearing the words "Crazy Taxi."

Gradius III seconded, fucking horrible fly-into-the-background levels, fuck you!

Pit Fighter was always garbage, the only fun I ever had was making fun of it.