Favorite SNES Arcade Port

[allyourbase]

I've been in the mood to gather up some of my arcade ports for the SNES and pop 'em in and comparing. I did this last month when buying 6 or 7 NES baseball titles for about $15 and taking the weekend playing and comparing them just out of boredom (little league, btw IMO)
Anyone have a favorite SNES arcade port? I have about 10 of them based on the Online Rarity Guide's 'arcade port only' filter (too many titles at my apt. to go through one-by-one on my own) and am excited about picking up a few more and spending the weekend in some arcade bliss.
Personally Im excited about Area 88/UN Squadron and Knights of the Round. Anyone care to share on their favorites? Any recommendations?

[kedawa]

UN Squadron is great. It's not so much a direct port as it is a remix of the arcade game. The ability to choose your missions and buy different planes are great additions, and the bombing runs are really fun too.

I actually prefer the SNES game over the arcade original.

[j_factor]

Super Buster Bros. Extremely addictive game. I'm not sure that it's actually better than the original, though.

[SpaceHarrier]

I'll be unoriginal and say Street Fighter 2. I don't think I had ever really anticipated a game until that one was set to release on SNES. Then of course second would be Mortal Kombat 2, what with its blood and all intact..

[Steven]

The SNES had many amazing arcade ports... one reason why I really love the system. But my FAVORITE? Street Fighter II Turbo (Hyper Fighting Edition, whatever) and World Heroes 2. My favorite fighters and just terrific ports.

Fighter's History, King of the Monsters 2, Saturday Night Slam Masters, Mortal Kombat II, etc. all great translations as well.

[Rob2600]

Out of the ones I've played:

favorite:

Final Fight
Street Fighter II
Street Fighter II Turbo
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV: Turtles in Time

I'd probably like Captain Commando, Knights of the Round, and Magic Sword too, but I've never played the SNES versions.


least favorite:

Pit-Fighter

[Timstuff]

Super Street Fighter II, easy.

[Damaramu]

Undercover Cops is probably my favorite. Sunset Riders was also a great port. Super Baseball 2020 is also a fave of mine.

[thom_m]

Sunset Riders is my favorite one, I guess. I also like Super Street Fighter 2 - the new challengers.

Oh, and Revolution X, of course! LOL

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

Saturday Night Slam Masters

Capcom fighting game and party gold with a 4 player adapter, even if you don't dig WWE type wrasslin'.

[Ro-J]

IMO, The SNES version of Mr. Do! is a perfect arcade port of the original.

[kjmontana]

IMO, The SNES version of Mr. Do! is a perfect arcade port of the original.

I agree! Plus, it featured a graphically enhanced 2-player version!

[AMG]

Mortal Kombat II

[kupomogli]

Sunset Riders and Saturday Night Slam Masters were already named. Both are awesome games.

[kedawa]

The SNES had many amazing arcade ports... one reason why I really love the system. But my FAVORITE? Street Fighter II Turbo (Hyper Fighting Edition, whatever) and World Heroes 2. My favorite fighters and just terrific ports.

Word. I actually won a SNES SF2Turbo tournament today. It was a blast.

[c0ldb33r]

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV: Turtles in Time
Agreed.

TMNT IV on SNES was better than arcade. It introduced those mode 7 3D bonus levels that the arcade lacked.

[allyourbase]

Is it just my faulty memory or was the Turtles in Time arcade very different than its snes port? Not only the mode 7 graphics but i remember the levels being very different.
NOTE- it is ENTIRELY possible that i'm wrong, i haven't played the arcade since circa 1994.
OTHER NOTE- can I get a 'hell yeah' on the fact that TMNT-turtles in time for the snes was way better than the genesis version, hyper-stone heist?

[Rob2600]

Is it just my faulty memory or was the Turtles in Time arcade very different than its snes port? Not only the mode 7 graphics but i remember the levels being very different.
NOTE- it is ENTIRELY possible that i'm wrong, i haven't played the arcade since circa 1994.

According to the Wikipedia entry, some levels were added to the SNES version, but the levels ported from the arcade are very similar.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turtles_in_time

[allyourbase]

ahh, wikipedia.

see what laziness gets you, kids? Thanks for the info- must be that photographic memory of mine, ha.

[spoon]

My vote would go to Ninja Warriors. I think it is a lot better than the arcade version actually. Arcade version was cool with it's monitors though.

I must be the only one that likes Saturday Night Slam Master better on Genesis ? Death match is awesome and the game is faster.

[kedawa]

Ninja Warriors is actually a sequel to the arcade game.
I think the japan version is called Ninja Warriors Again.

[Aussie2B]

I'm going to be the weirdo in this topic and say On the Ball. :P There's no better version of Cameltry. It's way better than the arcade original, especially because it had around 4 or 5 times as many stages. Beats the pants of the DS semi-sequel too.

Actually, I can't remember if On the Ball has precisely the same stages as in the arcade game, so maybe my answer completely fails, haha.

[Bloodreign]

I'm going to be the weirdo in this topic and say On the Ball. :P There's no better version of Cameltry. It's way better than the arcade original, especially because it had around 4 or 5 times as many stages. Beats the pants of the DS semi-sequel too.

Actually, I can't remember if On the Ball has precisely the same stages as in the arcade game, so maybe my answer completely fails, haha.

I believe the stages from the arcade game are the same as it's SNES/SFC counterparts, but the home port on SNES/SFC as you've said has tons more stages (more so than the X68K and FM Towns ports which seem to be straight ports).

[RCM]

Mortal Kombat II. I bought a SNES just to play that game.

[bangtango]

I'll name two that are a little unpopular.

-Mortal Kombat 1: I prefer the cleaner graphics/sound, compared to the Genesis version, and don't give a damn about the lack of blood or fatalities.

-Final Fight 1: First of all, I thought Guy sucked as a playable character. Second of all, I think two player simultaneous/co-op play is overrated (there ought to be a thread on that topic). Thirdly, the level from the arcade that is missing happened to be the blandest level in the game and it contained the "cheapest" boss. What made it over to the SNES intact were the great graphics and sound, along with the rock solid gameplay. As for the boss names being changed and the chicks being turned to dudes, who cares? This was a very early SNES game but it also clearly displayed the difference between your new Super NES at the time and the obsolete NES.

[bust3dstr8]

Combatribes has to be my fav since I think the Snes got the only port.
The sound is a kinda a let down considering they had decent hardware to
work with.

[Steven]

Combatribes has to be my fav since I think the Snes got the only port.
The sound is a kinda a let down considering they had decent hardware to
work with.


OH MAN! How did I forget this? I love this game. Back in the day, I rented it many times at many different stores over many years.

CYBORGS AIN'T LADIES! ;)

[XYXZYZ]

I tend to be nitpicky about arcade ports in the 16 bit days, being a bit of a purist I always found something to bitch about. Even though I loved playing SF2 at home, I'd always go back to the arcade to experience that CPS1 sound.

UN Squadron was definitely great, I love it when developers rework ports and improve the game beyond the arcade version. Another game I was quite pleased with was Magic Sword, one of my favorite arcade games. Capcom managed to do everything right in that one. Gradius III was really close to the arcade version as far as graphics and sound, and thankfully they turned the difficulty down to a reasonable level.

The Neo Geo ports played very well, I think. Especially Samurai Shodown and Fatal Fury Special. But in terms of graphics and sound they weren't even close to the mighty Neo Geo hardware, and I didn't expect them versions to be. I loved experiencing the contrast between playing the SNES versions and getting blown away by the 200+ megabit powerhouses at the arcade.

I still need to play Raiden Trad. Did anyone else play that? And I'd love to get my hands on Aero Fighters, and see how that went.

By the way, I searched google for "SNES arcade ports" and this very thread was the first hit...

[Steven]

I still need to play Raiden Trad. Did anyone else play that? And I'd love to get my hands on Aero Fighters, and see how that went.


Haven't played RT yet, but AF is a solid SNES shooter. Never played AF arcade so I can't compare though.


BTW, I'm sort of the opposite of you, in terms of I actually loved the idea of these games "coming close" to replicating the spirit of their arcade version. I knew it couldn't be 100%, but as a little kid, some of them did seem to come AWFULLY close. I never felt compelled to play the SF2 arcade after my brother bought the SNES port just to hear the improved sound of the arcade version. I was always quite satisfied with the SNES home ports... it's kind of hard to put into words but basically, it was just an innocent and terrific era of gaming, when the arcade scene was still buzzing and you couldn't wait for your latest favorite arcade to receive the ole SNES translation :)

[j_factor]

Raiden Trad on SNES is garbage. Avoid.

[XianXi]

I really enjoyed Smash TV and SFA2.

[onReload]

SFA2, really? I bought it just for the kitsch value, because it's such a technological feat and the hilarious wait after "FIGHT!" gets me every time I show someone.

I'll have to go with TMNT IV on this one - my brother and I loved it at the arcade, and although they sacrificed some graphics, some sounds, and changed it up a bit, we took home a game we knew so well, and got to know it even better. My dad thought he knew the industry, telling us that they made the home versions easier (and the arcades harder to steal our quarters), so kids would beat them and buy more, but after beating *Super* Shredder and then having the game itself encourage us to try a harder difficulty...I can't say I agreed.

It barely edges out SFII Hyper Fighting; I didn't play SFII in the arcades unfortunately, but like a lot of people, this was my first fighting game. A special move was like a shooting star for us, as it seemed to come at random. "Turbo 2" still seems a bit slow when I'm playing an SNES Street Fighter thanks to this game. (As a side note: try having serious matches on 10-star turbo, which is accessible via a cheat input. It's pure madness.)

[Az]

The SNES had many amazing arcade ports... one reason why I really love the system. But my FAVORITE? Street Fighter II Turbo (Hyper Fighting Edition, whatever) and World Heroes 2. My favorite fighters and just terrific ports.

Fighter's History, King of the Monsters 2, Saturday Night Slam Masters, Mortal Kombat II, etc. all great translations as well.

I see you've got great taste in games.

World Heroes 1 was a very good translation by Sunsoft, even improving on the coin-op by allowing a full 4 button control scheme and character vs character.

[Steven]

I see you've got great taste in games.

World Heroes 1 was a very good translation by Sunsoft, even improving on the coin-op by allowing a full 4 button control scheme and character vs character.


Yeah, WH was a great translation. EGM gave it somewhat ho-hum scores though (an 8 and three 6's) which prompted the producer Dan MacArthur to send a huge letter to EGM, which they printed. Ah fun times, heh.

My old best buddy bought the game and many-a-night we slugged it out in his room. Having played the arcade to death, it blew my mind what an accurate port the SNES version was.