Superior versions of games for the same system

[Wraith Storm]

I was browsing my Gameboy games and realized that I have A copy of Zelda: Links Awakening and A copy of Zelda: Links Awakening DX.

Other than "collection purposes" is there any point in keeping the original Gameboy version? The DX version is better in every way correct? It can play on A standard GB just like the original and if you play it on a Gameboy Color then you net all of the DX additions.

Also instead of starting an identical thread in Modern Gaming I have the same situation with Persona 3 and Persona 3 FES. Is there any reason in keeping Persona 3 for more than "collection purposes"?

Also for the sake of curiosity... Are there any other games for classic (or modern) consoles that would also fit the bill. Zelda: Links Awakening DX and Persona 3 FES are the only two games that I can think of that could potentially render the original version pointless.

[Oldskool]

I can think of a couple, and I am sure there are MANY more examples. Final Fight and Final Fight Guy for the SNES. Same game, except Guy has all three characters in the arcade version, while the first Final Fight only has Haggar and Cody. No reason to own the first if you have the second.

Then there is the Street Fighter II fiasco. SFII, SFII Turbo, Super SFII, etc etc.

I personally like all the different version in their own unique ways, even though they are relatively the same game. I prefer SFII Turbo over the rest however.

[Edmond Dantes]

Should somebody mention Tetris vs Tengen Tetris?

[profholt82]

Resident Evil or Resident Evil Director's Cut
Metal Gear Solid 2 or MGS Substance
MGS 3 or MGS Subsistence
Super Mario Bros. or SMB/Duck Hunt or SMB/Duck Hunt/World Class Track Meet
Batman Arkham Asylum or Special Edition
Street Fighter IV or Special Edition

I guess that's all I can think of at the moment.

[Nebagram]

Fable vs Lost Chapters?

[Orion Pimpdaddy]

The best thing about a re-release is that it makes the old version very cheap and easy to find. So, that's an argument for buying the older version.

I can't think of any games right now, but there has to be hundreds.

[Kitsune Sniper]

I can think of a couple, and I am sure there are MANY more examples. Final Fight and Final Fight Guy for the SNES. Same game, except Guy has all three characters in the arcade version, while the first Final Fight only has Haggar and Cody. No reason to own the first if you have the second.

... Um, Final Fight Guy only has Guy and Haggar. It's the same game as the original Final Fight SNES port except for that.

[Emperor Megas]

Divinity II: Ego Draconis < Divinity II: The Dragon Knight Saga (XBOX360)
Ninja Gaiden < Ninja Gaiden Black (XBOX)
OutRun2006 < OutRun2006: Coast 2 Coast (XBOX)
Resident Evil 5 < Resident Evil 5 Gold
Silent Hill 2 < Silent Hill 2 Greatest Hits Version (PS2) The GH release has the 'Restless Dreams' Scenario that the XBOX version had.

[BetaWolf47]

Here's an interesting example: Battletoads for Game Boy vs. Battletoads in Ragnarok's World for Game Boy. The original got the treatment that many GB versions of NES games got: slower gameplay, bigger sprites, and reduced level complexity. Ragnarok's World came out later, when developers were more experienced with GB hardware. It was a true GB conversion of the NES game.

[E Nice]

Battle Arena Toshinden 2 < Battle Arena Toshinden 2 Plus (PS1) I think some things were tweaked, plus you could save the unlockable bosses.
Virtua Fighter 4 < Virtua Fighter 4 Evolution (PS2) The Greatest Hits version added characters and stuff.

[Dr. Dib]

Was Resident Evil Director's Cut any better than the original release of Resident Evil on the Playstation? I never really played either and have no idea if adding Dualshock control made the game better.

I do know that Nintendo rereleased some launch N64 games in Japan with added Rumble Pack support. Whether this made the game superior to the original versions are questionable. The only games I know off the top of my head that got this treatment were Super Mario 64 and Wave Race 64.

[lookfun78]

There is a reason to keep both because games that are directors cuts are the directors version of the game while the original or first release of the game is what they wanted you to see. So by keeping both you can see what they wanted you to play and what the director wanted you to play. Example sonic dx which is what the director wanted you to see of the original game.

[Aussie2B]

I do know that Nintendo rereleased some launch N64 games in Japan with added Rumble Pack support. Whether this made the game superior to the original versions are questionable. The only games I know off the top of my head that got this treatment were Super Mario 64 and Wave Race 64.

I'm pretty certain that those are the only two.

[Rickstilwell1]

I was browsing my Gameboy games and realized that I have A copy of Zelda: Links Awakening and A copy of Zelda: Links Awakening DX.

Other than "collection purposes" is there any point in keeping the original Gameboy version? The DX version is better in every way correct? It can play on A standard GB just like the original and if you play it on a Gameboy Color then you net all of the DX additions.

Also instead of starting an identical thread in Modern Gaming I have the same situation with Persona 3 and Persona 3 FES. Is there any reason in keeping Persona 3 for more than "collection purposes"?

Also for the sake of curiosity... Are there any other games for classic (or modern) consoles that would also fit the bill. Zelda: Links Awakening DX and Persona 3 FES are the only two games that I can think of that could potentially render the original version pointless.

To me it's still worth keeping the original Link's Awakening just because of the select button trick that allows you to appear on the opposite side of the next screen when you enter. They took that out of the GBC version. Going through all those weird scrambled places and finding certain heart pieces and secret shells early was cool.

[LaughingMAN.S9]

Was Resident Evil Director's Cut any better than the original release of Resident Evil on the Playstation? I never really played either and have no idea if adding Dualshock control made the game better.

I do know that Nintendo rereleased some launch N64 games in Japan with added Rumble Pack support. Whether this made the game superior to the original versions are questionable. The only games I know off the top of my head that got this treatment were Super Mario 64 and Wave Race 64.

the directors cut if i remember correctly had a new musical score if i remember correctly, and i also think (but not sure) that it included all the extra modes and costumes from the saturn version as well as the added dual shock controls

i know that they intended to include the original cut opening video from the japanese release but ended up forgetting to or something

[Emperor Megas]

Was Resident Evil Director's Cut any better than the original release of Resident Evil on the Playstation? I never really played either and have no idea if adding Dualshock control made the game better.I believe that the original version didn't have the Quick Turn feature. I could be wrong though.

[Guyra]

Silent Hill 2 < Silent Hill 2 Greatest Hits Version (PS2) The GH release has the 'Restless Dreams' Scenario that the XBOX version had.
Wow! I didn't know that. o.o

[Rickstilwell1]

Oh yeah, Marvel Ultimate Alliance Special Edition for Xbox 360 has extra characters like Hulk and Venom not in the original versions. And what's funny is that the Xbox 360 version already has more characters than the PS2 version, such as Colossus. So it's like this special edition has extra on top of extra.

[kedawa]

You could lump a lot of sports games into the category of redundant versions.
I don't think there's any point in owning the older Castlevania game for N64.
There were also those DualShock edition Resident Evil games for PS1.
Virtua Fighter Remix makes Virtua Fighter redundant. I know it has very different looking character graphics because of the texture mapping, but VF was just such a mess.

[theclaw]

Wow! I didn't know that. o.o

Yeah for the US PS2, that info was given just a new back of the box mention. Same title and front cover art as its original release. No "Restless Dreams" added to the name like we got on Xbox.

[Guyra]

Yeah for the US PS2, that info was given just a new back of the box mention. Same title and front cover art as its original release. No "Restless Dreams" added to the name like we got on Xbox.

Really weird choice, but definitely nice of them to add it!

[kupomogli]

Brigandine and Brigandine Grand Edition(JP only.)

Grand Edition is technically the superior Brigandine title, but both games are worth owning. On Brigandine, black/white are weaknesses against each other, red/blue are weaknesses, and then green is basically neutral. On Grand Edition it's Red > Green > Blue > Red with black/white still weaknesses against each other. Power is nerfed on Grand Edition. Zemeckis cannot move and attack on Grand Edition. A third rank class for Lizard Man called Lizard King. Samurai Iai Slash is now a long range attack similar to Spear Throw and can be used for no MP but is less powerful and can miss. Different updates for classes such as the Paladin has a percentage to parry attacks. Dinadin has his own class which is basically a rank higher than Paladin. All attacks are not done in 3D on Grand Edition. It's done right on the battlefield so the sprites themselves will attack and just like the original also have their own critical sequences. Also there's multiplayer for as many players as there are countries. The music on Grand Edition is kind of crappy.

While the games are the same game, the differences are enough to make both games worth keeping. I still play both games.

Castlevania and Castlevania Legacy of Darkness.

Unfortunately I haven't played as Reinhardt or Carrie whenever I've played it to know the differences between them, but I've heard that their quests are exactly alike aside from a few slightly redesigned areas. So if you own Legacy of Darkness you really don't need Castlevania 64.

[Oldskool]

... Um, Final Fight Guy only has Guy and Haggar. It's the same game as the original Final Fight SNES port except for that.

What? LOL so they take Guy out of the first one, then they remove Cody? I didn't know that - what kind of crap is that? Thanks for clearing that up. I was planning on getting Guy too - but forget that - I will just stick to my Final Fight CD.

Hey Kitsune Sniper - slightly off topic but did I see that you had a high score posted for an Information Society song on the game AudioSurf or was that someone else?

[Oldskool]

Yeah for the US PS2, that info was given just a new back of the box mention. Same title and front cover art as its original release. No "Restless Dreams" added to the name like we got on Xbox.

One of the few reasons some Greatest Hits games are actually worth owning.

[ccovell]

Not sure if it was also released in the US, but the JP version of Ridge Racer 4 (PSX) had a "High Spec" version of the original Ridge Racer as a bonus disc. The game had interlaced graphics, 60 fps, and the billboards along the course were updated to Namco's more current games at the time. The music selections were cut down to include only a couple tracks from RR1 and RR2, though.

[The-Wizard89]

"thats pure insanity!"

"i know cant believe he got addicted to hookers"

"no im talking about the guy who threw the original format....you never throw an original kid,never."

lol just keep it,nothing will ever render the original of a Nintendo game inferior to its new counter-part. my wife baby sited kids that have the new mario's but as soon as i show them the originals its like i introduced them to crack! lol

[Brianvgplayer]

Not sure if it was also released in the US, but the JP version of Ridge Racer 4 (PSX) had a "High Spec" version of the original Ridge Racer as a bonus disc. The game had interlaced graphics, 60 fps, and the billboards along the course were updated to Namco's more current games at the time. The music selections were cut down to include only a couple tracks from RR1 and RR2, though.

The US release has the high spec version of RR1, as well. It doesn't seem to have more than 2 cars per race, though.


Here's an interesting example: Battletoads for Game Boy vs. Battletoads in Ragnarok's World for Game Boy. The original got the treatment that many GB versions of NES games got: slower gameplay, bigger sprites, and reduced level complexity. Ragnarok's World came out later, when developers were more experienced with GB hardware. It was a true GB conversion of the NES game.

Those are different games, though. All of the levels in the GB Battletoads are exclusive to that game. It's not a conversion of the NES game, but a GB exclusive designed around the hardware. Many obstacles are unique to the GB game and only a couple levels resemble the NES levels (and even those have completely different layouts).

Ragnarok's World may be a direct port, but it doesn't seem to do much to compensate for the GB hardware. The port has less shown on screen than the NES version and the sprite size wasn't adjusted (seems to have the same size sprites as the first Battletoads on GB). It has fewer levels than the NES version, as well.

Pac-Man had a couple different GBA versions. A port of the NES, the Pac-Man Collection version, and the version on Namco Museum 50th.

Jet Moto 2's Greatest Hits version for PSX is different. It's called Jet Moto 2 Championship Edition on the title screen, has more levels unlocked for free play from the start, and has 5 racers instead of 10. In this case, the original Jet Moto 2 seems to be the better one due to more racers (the re-release also renamed the Heaven and Hell level).

Atari 800 got a couple different versions of Dig Dug. An earlier port with ugly sprites and a direct port of the 5200 version. The 5200 port is definitely the better one.

[kedawa]

There's also the Japan version of Marble Madness for the Sega MegaDrive.
It's apparently a completely different and superior port of the game than what the rest of the world got.

[Kitsune Sniper]

What? LOL so they take Guy out of the first one, then they remove Cody? I didn't know that - what kind of crap is that? Thanks for clearing that up. I was planning on getting Guy too - but forget that - I will just stick to my Final Fight CD.

Hey Kitsune Sniper - slightly off topic but did I see that you had a high score posted for an Information Society song on the game AudioSurf or was that someone else?

I know, right? When I heard about Final Fight Guy I figured they'd finally add the missing stage and Guy - and they pulled that bullshit. Jeez.

And uh, yeah, that Audiosurf guy was me. I got sick of the game after it got invaded by cheaters.

[exit]

There's two different versions of Maniac Mansion made by Jaleco, one being the English version and the other being in Japanese. For whatever reason they felt like original design wasn't relateable Japanese players and they decided to fully localized it. The end result is pretty ridiculous, with the rooms now appearing on one screen (instead of side scrolling) and the character designs are just awkward looking and don't get me started about the Game Over screen.

http://hardcoregaming101.net/maniacmansion/mm-fc5.png

[Smashed Brother]

Devil May Cry 3 Special Edition (PS2)

Tweaked difficulty, extra modes and the opportunity to fight that irritating Jester character. But best of all....the ability to play as Dante's twin brother, Vergil! Much like VF4 Evolution and Silent Hill 2 GH were upgrades to their respective predecessors, this is the superior version of an already great game and definitely the one that you want to own.

[Steve W]

There are two versions of Frogger for the Atari 2600, the version with mediocre graphics put out by Parker Bros. that's common as dirt, and the much rarer (and superior) Starpath Supercharger version that shows just how amazing Starpath's programmers were.

[Wraith Storm]

Silent Hill 2 < Silent Hill 2 Greatest Hits Version (PS2) The GH release has the 'Restless Dreams' Scenario that the XBOX version had.

Thats awesome! As some others have already stated, I had no Idea that they added stuff the the GH version. I thought they only added content for Special Editions and Game of the Year versions.


To me it's still worth keeping the original Link's Awakening just because of the select button trick that allows you to appear on the opposite side of the next screen when you enter. They took that out of the GBC version. Going through all those weird scrambled places and finding certain heart pieces and secret shells early was cool.

You know... I only recently heard of this trick. I can't believe I had never heard of it back in the day. Although I haven't tried it I had no idea that it was removed from the DX version. Normally I wouldn't care about glitches and the like, but I thought this one was pretty awesome.


I am surprised there are so many games that render the original somewhat obsolete. I figured that I was missing a few (I can't believe I forgot VF 4 Evo and DMC 3 SE) but not near the amount listed. This is interesting and thanks for the help.

[bcks007]

I am surprised there are so many games that render the original somewhat obsolete. I figured that I was missing a few (I can't believe I forgot VF 4 Evo and DMC 3 SE) but not near the amount listed. This is interesting and thanks for the help.


Don't forget Midnight Club 3: DUB Edition Remix for the ps2 as well. More stuff added to Midnight Club 3: DUB Edition, and greatest hit only.


There is also Midnight Club: Los Angeles (Complete Edition - Greatest Hits), for the ps3, i imagine you could get all the extras on Midnight Club: Los Angeles with DLC though...

[Edmond Dantes]

There's also the Japan version of Marble Madness for the Sega MegaDrive.
It's apparently a completely different and superior port of the game than what the rest of the world got.

That reminds me of the case of Might and Magic II: Gates to Another World for the Super Nintendo. Japan and Europe got completely different versions of the same game. IIRC the Euro one tried to be a straight port from the PC, but the Japan one was almost a completely new game.

[Zebbe]

The SNES has not two, but three different versions of Street Fighter II:

Street Fighter II: The World Warrior
Street Fighter II Turbo
Super Street Fighter II: The New Challengers

Super Street Fighter II Turbo would probably also have been released if the consumers didn't get sick with the third game already.

[Edmond Dantes]

Wasn't there also one called Street Fighter II: Hyper Fighting (which was basically Championship Edition with a different name)?

[SparTonberry]

I do know that Nintendo rereleased some launch N64 games in Japan with added Rumble Pack support. Whether this made the game superior to the original versions are questionable. The only games I know off the top of my head that got this treatment were Super Mario 64 and Wave Race 64.
Those were the only two.
But also, the rumble version of Super Mario 64 added voices that weren't included in the original Japanese release (first heard in the US version), such as Peach's intro (making "Princess Toadstool... Peach." sound even more odd).
Actually, I think Mario's only real voiced line might have been "It's a me, Mario!".

I had previously thought the Japanese version of Star Soldier: Vanishing Earth gave more and stronger power-ups than the US version, but now I think it could just have been emulation issues (at least the current setup I have for Project64, the US ROM has serious graphics bugs in the menus that the Japanese ROM doesn't)
So that's why I specifically bought a Japanese copy of the game.

[Suikoman444]

Didn't Link's Awakening have Game Boy Printer Support while DX didn't?

[Aussie2B]

Didn't Link's Awakening have Game Boy Printer Support while DX didn't?

Other way around. The original version of Link's Awakening came out long before the camera and printer. Actually, the DX version and the printer both came out in '98. DX added a photo album, and at certain points in the story you'd get pictures for it that you could then print if you wanted (some are easily missable, though). If I remember correctly, it kind of sucks to get a complete album, though. I think one of the photos requires you to steal from the shop, and then your name is stuck as "Thief" for the rest of the game. I chose not to save after seeing that one.

[jperryss]

Wasn't there also one called Street Fighter II: Hyper Fighting (which was basically Championship Edition with a different name)?

I believe that was SF2 Turbo and 'Hyper Fighting' was a subtitle of sorts.

[MarioMania]

Super Street Fighter II Turbo would probably also have been released if the consumers didn't get sick with the third game already.

The SNES was Maxed out at 32 megs for Super..How could Super Turbo work??

[Emperor Megas]

The SNES was Maxed out at 32 megs for Super..How could Super Turbo work??Would it have been more taxing on the SNES than Street Fighter Alpha 2 was?

[Brianvgplayer]

Super Famicom (JP SNES, hence the super) got two versions of Puyo Puyo Tsuu, Super Puyo Puyo Tsuu and Super Puyo Puyo Tsuu Remix. The remix is the better one with more modes (the hard course is awesome!), including more 4p modes.

[Zebbe]

The SNES was Maxed out at 32 megs for Super..How could Super Turbo work??

48 megs like Tales of Phantasia and Star Ocean.

[j_factor]

A lot of modern games have "GOTY Editions" which usually involves throwing a bunch of stuff in. Notably LittleBigPlanet and Uncharted 2.


OutRun2006 < OutRun2006: Coast 2 Coast (XBOX)

There is only one Out Run 2006. You may be thinking of Out Run 2, however, Out Run 2006 does not render it moot. Out Run 2 has some stuff that 2006 doesn't.

[Swamperon]

Edit: Never mind, misread the title!

[Satoshi_Matrix]

This might be a slight stretch, but Fantasy Zone for the Famicom by Sunsoft is a much better port than Fantasy Zone by Tengen for the NES. And of course, there's the three versions of Tetris. Tengen Tetris > Nintendo Tetris > Bulletproof Software Tetris.

[NE146]

There are two versions of Frogger for the Atari 2600, the version with mediocre graphics put out by Parker Bros. that's common as dirt, and the much rarer (and superior) Starpath Supercharger version that shows just how amazing Starpath's programmers were.

Personally I find the original PB Frogger an amazing effort in it's own right.. it's an awesome version of Frogger done with the bare 2600. The Supercharger version of course.. had the supercharger. :)

But yeah I pretty much agree that SNES SF2 Turbo pretty much makes the regular SF2 obsolete. Alpha is a different beast.

[Kiddo]

Off the top of my head, the Sega Saturn had Virtua Fighter Remix (VF1 with a graphical facelift) and Daytona USA: Circuit Edition (Daytona USA Re-ported using the Sega Rally Championship engine, and with a re-done soundtrack.)

The Saturn and Dreamcast also had various "Network service" enabled versions of their games, like the Saturn's "Netlink Edition" line and Capcom's "For Matching Service" on the JP Dreamcast side.

Super Mario All-Stars eventually had a 2nd release as "Super Mario All-Stars + World", where SMW was included. The GBA also had a ton of "Multi-in-one" packs for various games, including Sonics, Castlevanias and others. Speaking of which, on the GBA you could play either the classic Pokemon Red/Blue or the remakes, Pokemon FireRed/LeafGreen, and you could get the NES Classics Metroid, or you could get Metroid: Zero Mission which has both the remake -and- the NES original.

On the PSP, you could get either the original Castlevania: SOTN or the remake included in "Dracula X Chronicles" with bonus material and a new localization. Similar deal with Final Fantasy Tactics vs. Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions. These cases are considered more debatable for various reason, though.

[Nz17]

Not sure if it was also released in the US, but the JP version of Ridge Racer 4 (PSX) had a "High Spec" version of the original Ridge Racer as a bonus disc.

Yes, the North American edition also had that.

[kedawa]

This might be a slight stretch, but Fantasy Zone for the Famicom by Sunsoft is a much better port than Fantasy Zone by Tengen for the NES. And of course, there's the three versions of Tetris. Tengen Tetris > Nintendo Tetris > Bulletproof Software Tetris.
I've never heard of this third version of Tetris.
I used to have the Nintendo and Tengen versions, and I'd love to try out thie Bulletproof one.

[Brianvgplayer]

I've never heard of this third version of Tetris.
I used to have the Nintendo and Tengen versions, and I'd love to try out thie Bulletproof one.

Bulletproof Software Tetris was JP Famicom only. The Bulletproof Tetris plays like the early Tetris with quick drop only. The buttons are mapped oddly too (up for rotate and a button for drop, if I remember correctly).

There was also a JP only Tetris 2 + Bombliss for Famicom, which is different from the US Tetris 2 (which was Tetris Flash in Japan). It played like classic Tetris in one mode. The other mode, Bombliss is a variation where the blocks can only be destroyed with bombs when lines are made (Similar gameplay to Tetris Blast GB, a US localization of the GB Super Bombliss). The music was from a composer who also did music for Dragon Quest/Dragon Warrior (I have to look it up).

[SparTonberry]

I have Tetris 2+BomBliss. The Tetris mode plays like Nintendo's Tetris, but with a 2-player option.
(though me and my friend found that, while playing on my AV Famicom, having player 2 pause the game can crash it. :P
I know it was probably untested or something because the RF FC didn't have 2P Start/Select.)