Console translations that outdo the original

[Sotenga]

Yeah, I know that there aren't many of these around. Are there any that come to your mind? I like the SNES version of TMNT: Turtles in Time. The arcade didn't have Rocksteady, Bebop, Slash, or the entire Technodrome level. (Level 4 on the SNES) I can't think of any others right now. Oh, I'm not just counting arcade games here. If a game was originally on the PC and it came to the NES (e.g. Shadowgate) then that also counts.

[Ascending Wordsmith]

Double Dragon II on the NES is much better than its original arcade installment. In fact, the NES Double Dragon II basically outdoes all other Double Dragon games period.

[metal_head]

Just off the top of my head, There were some Saturn conversions of Sega Arcade stuff that definitely offered more in the home version...Daytona had the "Saturn" stuff, VF2 had a learning mode and ranking thing, Virtua Cop had target shooting and mirror modes and stuff.

And in the day people liked the 3DO version of Super street fighter 2 X which had better music than the Arcade, as again does VF2 and Raiden on the PS.

I think theres quite a few Arcade to home conversions that offer more on the home version....wether this makes them "better" I dont know.

[Retsudo]

Tekken Tag Tournment outshines the arcade version.

[soupforare]

I think Gyruss for NES outdid the arcade version, UN Squadron (Area88) on SNES was a lot better, too.

[SaturnRox]

SOUL CALIBUR comes instantly to mind

All the Tekkens 1-3 are better than the arcade games IMO

Radiant SSilvergun has more stuff on saturn than the arcade

[Retsudo]

UN Squadron (Area88) on SNES was a lot better, too.

I totally disagree on that. I always thought UN squadron was way better in the arcade...IMHO

[Anonymous]

Um, Hello?

BIONIC COMMANDO

[Dr. Morbis]

Um, Hello?

BIONIC COMMANDO

You can add Contra to that sentiment.

[Zaxxon]

Spy Hunter on CV. Much easier and much better control.

The home ports of Defender. They allowed you to just push the joystick in the direction you wanted to go in, instead of Williams fucked up, deliberately convoluted arcade controls.

[§ Gideon §]

Double Dragon II on the NES is much better than its original arcade installment. In fact, the NES Double Dragon II basically outdoes all other Double Dragon games period.
Really? Why?

[Darth Sensei]

Spy Hunter on CV. Much easier and much better control.

The home ports of Defender. They allowed you to just push the joystick in the direction you wanted to go in, instead of Williams fucked up, deliberately convoluted arcade controls.

Zaxxon are you suggesting that Spy Hunter on Colecovision is better than the sit down arcade version?

D

[Zaxxon]

Spy Hunter on CV. Much easier and much better control.

The home ports of Defender. They allowed you to just push the joystick in the direction you wanted to go in, instead of Williams fucked up, deliberately convoluted arcade controls.

Zaxxon are you suggesting that Spy Hunter on Colecovision is better than the sit down arcade version?

D

What has the sit down or stand up cabinet version have to do with anything? I'm talking about the game program itself. And yes, the CV version is better than the arcade's floaty controls, where you wipe out and die if you try to bump someone and it's extreme difficulty setting. The arcade's flight yoke, gear shift and gas pedal look neat but only serve to make the game harder to play. Neat concept and cool cabinet yes, but it wasn't a fun game to play in the arcades. Just a quarter sucker. If you want to play it at the arcades difficulty you can always select skill level 4 on CV.

[stargate]

Spy Hunter on CV. Much easier and much better control.

The home ports of Defender. They allowed you to just push the joystick in the direction you wanted to go in, instead of Williams fucked up, deliberately convoluted arcade controls.

Zaxxon are you suggesting that Spy Hunter on Colecovision is better than the sit down arcade version?

D

What has the sit down or stand up cabinet version have to do with anything? I'm talking about the game program itself. And yes, the CV version is better than the arcade's floaty controls, where you wipe out and die if you try to bump someone and it's extreme difficulty setting. The arcade's flight yoke, gear shift and gas pedal look neat but only serve to make the game harder to play. Neat concept and cool cabinet yes, but it wasn't a fun game to play in the arcades. Just a quarter sucker. If you want to play it at the arcades difficulty you can always select skill level 4 on CV.

Actually, the arcade game was fairly easy to master if you put a little time into it. I was pretty good at it and I thought the difficulty level and control were pretty decent. Granted, it took some time to get used to, but so did most games of that era.

[Kid Ice]

Spy Hunter on CV. Much easier and much better control.

The home ports of Defender. They allowed you to just push the joystick in the direction you wanted to go in, instead of Williams fucked up, deliberately convoluted arcade controls.

Disagree on both counts here. I've never played a Colecovision game that controlled well because the CV controllers are lousy. Just because a game is made easier doesn't make it a better experience. The home versions of Defender are easier to control, but you lose the frantic edge of the arcade game, and the satisfaction of becoming better at it.

[Kid Fenris]

Spy Hunter on CV. Much easier and much better control.

The home ports of Defender. They allowed you to just push the joystick in the direction you wanted to go in, instead of Williams fucked up, deliberately convoluted arcade controls.

Disagree on both counts here. I've never played a Colecovision game that controlled well because the CV controllers are lousy. Just because a game is made easier doesn't make it a better experience. The home versions of Defender are easier to control, but you lose the frantic edge of the arcade game, and the satisfaction of becoming better at it.

I've never handled the CV port of Spy Hunter, but I agree with Zaxxon about Defender. While the arcade version was fun, I didn't really get into the game until I played an Apple IIGS port with simplified controls. The ship was so much easier to maneuver, and it made things far more intense, as I could concentrate on the actual play of the game instead of the button-joystick manipulations.

[Kid Ice]

I've never handled the CV port of Spy Hunter, but I agree with Zaxxon about Defender. While the arcade version was fun, I didn't really get into the game until I played an Apple IIGS port with simplified controls. The ship was so much easier to maneuver, and it made things far more intense, as I could concentrate on the actual play of the game instead of the button-joystick manipulations.

To be honest, I would have agreed with you back in the day because I preferred the C64 version over the arcade. I didn't spend much time with the arcade game back then, but now that I have, I much prefer it over any of the console versions.

[Jorpho]

Come to think of it, when I finally tried the arcade version of Victory on MAME, I was astounded at how difficult it was to control compared to the CV version. There's no speech in the CV version, but at least one can start and stop instantly.

(Of course, the CBS version of CV Victory is far better than the regular release.)

[davidbrit2]

I have to agree with Colecovision Spy Hunter. At the very least, it's the best console version of the game.

And now I'm going for obscurity. ;-)

Drummania 1st Mix for PS2 got some really nice enhancements. They added about three more songs, and included the ability to play Session mode on one system, so you can have two friends playing the guitar part. And since you get Session mode, you also get 5 more additional songs that are Session-only. Yay. Oh, and it actually saves the high score list! Imagine that.

[Zaxxon]

Disagree on both counts here. I've never played a Colecovision game that controlled well because the CV controllers are lousy. Just because a game is made easier doesn't make it a better experience. The home versions of Defender are easier to control, but you lose the frantic edge of the arcade game, and the satisfaction of becoming better at it.

Spy Hunter was designed for use with the CV Super Action Controllers and came with overlays for them. I don't know anyone who plays it with the regular controller you're complaining about. If you only ever tried playing it with the regular controller than you're missing out. The arcade version of Defender is frantic because the controls were made so purposely unergonomic and different from every other arcade game out there. I don't know about you, but as a kid in the arcades I didn't have $90 in quarters to spend on one game so that I could eventually tackle Defender's learning curve and get the satisfaction of becomiing better at it. The CV Atarisoft games didn't get easier on lower skill levels they just gave you more lives. At least at home you could change it yourself and not have to deal with arcade operators setting it on 10 because some neighborhood kid mastered it and could play for hours on one quarter.

[Zaxxon]

To be honest, I would have agreed with you back in the day because I preferred the C64 version over the arcade. I didn't spend much time with the arcade game back then, but now that I have, I much prefer it over any of the console versions.

I'm sure arcade Defender would've been more enjoyable back then too if I could've just played it endlessly for free on MAME instead of having to insert another quarter every minute.

[pango]

definitely maniac mansion for the nes

[Tom61]

Thundercade for NES, alot more levels and sidecars than the arcade board.

Annoyed me when I bought the arcade board and it wasn't as good as the NES port (had better graphics is about all it had). O_O

[Kid Ice]

Disagree on both counts here. I've never played a Colecovision game that controlled well because the CV controllers are lousy. Just because a game is made easier doesn't make it a better experience. The home versions of Defender are easier to control, but you lose the frantic edge of the arcade game, and the satisfaction of becoming better at it.

Spy Hunter was designed for use with the CV Super Action Controllers and came with overlays for them. I don't know anyone who plays it with the regular controller you're complaining about. If you only ever tried playing it with the regular controller than you're missing out.

No, I've never played it with the Super Action controllers. I don't see how it could possibly be better than the arcade game, but since you've tried it and I haven't, I yield here.

[Kid Ice]

To be honest, I would have agreed with you back in the day because I preferred the C64 version over the arcade. I didn't spend much time with the arcade game back then, but now that I have, I much prefer it over any of the console versions.

I'm sure arcade Defender would've been more enjoyable back then too if I could've just played it endlessly for free on MAME instead of having to insert another quarter every minute.

I'm puzzled by this comment. For the record, there is a real Defender machine in a location not too far from where I live, so when I say I've spent more time with it, I mean with the real arcade game with the original controls. You seem to be implying that I'm basing my (original) comments on the MAME version, which wouldn't make a lot of sense since those controls are configurable.

[Ed Oscuro]

Um, Hello?

BIONIC COMMANDO

It does have that epic thing going for it, but I feel that taking away the charm of the arcade's graphics is a sad thing. I personally love the arcade game (note: MAME only until I can get a CPS Changer :/) and the nearly overwhelming challenge can be mitigated somewhat.

Don't care for the map or the character portraits, myself. The game makes much more sense on the NES though, by far.

[Neil Koch]

Genesis Golden Axe, they added a couple of new levels and the "duel" mode.

[ManekiNeko]

Gotta give this one to Solar Fox on the 2600. They had to scale down the game tremendously to make it work on the system, but that actually worked to its advantage. Solar Fox was a lot more frantic on the 2600 because you could no longer fire at enemies... all you could do was dodge them.

JR

[o2william]

How about the 2600 port of Space Invaders? Plays very close to the arcade version, and has 8 billion gameplay variations too (give or take).

I've always preferred the 2600 port of Crystal Castles to the arcade version. I can't say it "outperforms" the original, but for some reason, I can't get the hang of the arcade version so I prefer the (easier) 2600 port. I guess I lack mad isometric trackball skillz, or something.

There are many home ports that play close to the arcade but are easier, which might make them more fun. Examples: 2600 Missile Command and Dig Dug, Astrocade Incredible Wizard, O2 Turtles.

[Kid Ice]

How about the 2600 port of Space Invaders? Plays very close to the arcade version, and has 8 billion gameplay variations too (give or take).




Yeah, I was going to mention that one before I got caught up in the Defender thing. I enjoy the 2600 version more. Hard to say why, I guess because the targets are bigger.

[Aswald]

ColecoVision Carnival- As close to arcade-perfect as possible this side of emulation, and with 4 skill levels, too!

CV Space Invaders Collection- Because you can choose from all of those options, as well as getting a 99%+ perfect version. Of both the original and the sequel.

7800 Xevious- The option to drop bombs and fire with one button.

NES Gauntlet- Tengen gave it some extra dimension in gameplay.

[Neil Koch]

The Genesis version of Gauntlet also added some more stuff, and I like the music that they put in.

The NES version of Strider is a good game in its own right.

[davidbrit2]

Oh yeah, I forgot about Gauntlet IV. That game kicks ass. It's seriously worth getting a Genesis just for that.

[josekortez]

Crazy Taxi on GameCube is better than it was on Dreamcast and in the arcade. The arcade pedals are too stiff to pull off all the moves, and the DC version has some serious clipping.

[davidbrit2]

Huh. Interesting. I have no major qualms about the arcade Crazy Taxi, though it does kind of drop frames in a few key places. The pedals are fine for me. Just ask my $35,000 score. ;-) And it probably has issues on the DC since there isn't as much RAM as a full blown Naomi system, I don't think.

Ooh, ooh, I thought of another one. Monkey Ball. The Gamecube Super Monkey Ball got all prettied up, mini games were added, and things like that. But I wish they hadn't changed the voice-overs from that synthesized robotic voice.

[Jorpho]

Has anyone tried the PC version of Crazy Taxi? I notice it's in the bargain bin lately.

[davidbrit2]

Oh, wow, I never even knew about the PC version. I suppose it all comes down to the quality of your controller. As long as you have responsive analog input for steering and the pedals, it should be okay. Of course, that's assuming they haven't screwed something up in the translation. The descriptions seem to make it sound like mostly an exact port of the other console versions, though.