Worst arcade port to a home console

[treismac]

*Sorry if this thread has been done before.*

Was there an arcade game that you loved dearly that broke your heart when it was miserably converted to home console?

For me, there was Bad Dudes on the NES. Dearly did I love the arcade version, and eagerly did I await its arrival to my Nintendo. O' what joy would be found as I sat before my glowing television with my faithful NES controller in hand as Bad Dudes left the local arcade to take up residence in my very own Nintendo (that I actually shared with my brother). Sadly, as was often the case, the game I cherished and enjoyed so dearly was butchered terribly by a combination of poor programming and inferior technology. A loss of graphic fidelity is to be expected when an arcade game was squeezed into a NES cartridge, but the flickering game play rendered the game unplayable like drunken night time frisbee. Oh... and forget playing with your friend. There was a two player mode, but you had to take turns rather than fight back to back. Horrible. Probably the single most disappointing gaming experience I suffered on the venerable gray box of plastic.

[Emperor Megas]

I could talk about those all day. Man, some of those NES arcade ports were the worst. One of the things I hated the most was the way that they'd make a completely different game sometimes. It wasn't always a bad game, but I'd always be disappointed that it wasn't the arcade version at all. They'd even write shit like "the arcade hit" on the box sometimes or in the ads sometimes.

Rygar was the one that really got my goat, because it was one of my all time favorite arcade games, but it was a totally different game on the NES though. The NES version is what most people think about when you say Rygar, and everyone loved it. But I wanted my arcade port.

I thought that Double Dragon on the NES was pretty terrible too, with the whole collecting hearts thing.

Pac-Man for the Atari 2600; I don't even have to go there.

[Baloo]

Really hard to say, as so many 80s arcade games got awful ports on Atari 2600 and the other systems of the time.

[InsaneDavid]

Considering arcade to NES comparisons has been my shtick at Retrogaming Times Monthly since 2004, I'd say 720 Degrees for the NES.

It's complete garbage, really.

[sfchakan]

I bought this one game called Time Killers for the Sega Genesis. There's no way that the arcade game was that shitty! It was real bad, man!

[Leo_A]

Many classic era home ports of Outrun fall into this category. I've played some horrible renditions of Outrun over the years.

[retroguy]

I bought this one game called Time Killers for the Sega Genesis. There's no way that the arcade game was that shitty! It was real bad, man!

I don't know, I wasn't too impressed with the arcade game. It's about ten times gorier than Mortal Kombat, but aside from that, there's not much of interest. But then, I don't play a lot of fighting games, so what do I know?

[Dangerboy]

I think it's more important to bring in the "how close is the arcade hardware to the home console" to fully appreciate the task at hand. Obviously the early days would be pretty rough, but some of the worst offenders are in the later day systems. SNK absolutely butchered Samurai Shodown III when it hit PlayStation 1, Mortal Kombat 1 on the Super NES lost any and all play control, etc.

Though truth be told, SNK censoring the blood on Sam Sho 1 and KoF 95 on their own hardware was a huge crime.

[RPG_Fanatic]

I'd say 720 Degrees for the NES.
It's complete garbage, really.

I was going to say the same game. I remember waiting for this game to come out and when it did I bought it since I loved the arcade game. Opened it up and put it in my NES and I just thought this game is SHIT!!!!!!!!

[Greg2600]

Had it come out, Pit Fighter for the Atari 7800. Since this one actually did, Pit Fighter for the SNES.

[Ro-J]

Frogger for the SNES is the worst arcade port I've ever played....and is the only game released for both the 2600 and the SNES in which the 2600 version is superior.

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

The NES version of Paperboy is IMO, a horrendous port of the arcade version and I've always had a hard time understanding why people seem to have some type of affinity for it. I suppose nostalgia + rose tinted glasses + having never actually played the arcade version on the original arcade hardware has a lot to do with it, but seriously the NES version is just awful in comparison.

[jammajup]

The NES version of Paperboy is IMO, a horrendous port of the arcade version

Its not all that bad to be honest,but i think the nes color palette does not quite fit the game as we know it.

[RCM]

I felt burned by the Saturn port of Mortal Kombat II. I remember asking a Babbages employee if it was arcade perfect and she responded "completely." It was a dripping mess, and to add insult to injury, the Ultimate Mortal Kombat III port was much better.

I've purchased MKII for several consoles over the years (Genesis, SNES, Saturn, 32X, Xbox, PS2, PSP) and still haven't received a 100% perfect version. I have yet to try the new compilation released a little while ago for 360 and PS3 and hope my search will finally end.

[Emperor Megas]

I felt burned by the Saturn port of Mortal Kombat II. I remember asking a Babbages employee if it was arcade perfect and she responded "completely." It was a dripping mess, and to add insult to injury, the Ultimate Mortal Kombat III port was much better.

TELL ME you went back and returned it (I believe that was when you could return games to Babbages for them being shitty), and give her an earful.

[Blitzwing256]

Street fighter (the first) for pc
dear god, pain

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

Its not all that bad to be honest,but i think the nes color palette does not quite fit the game as we know it.

That's always the stock response, but I can't think of a single redeeming quality.

The graphics are atrocious, the music is laughably bad, the controls are infuriating, the scrolling is painful.

I think it's right on par with 720 in terms of Mindscape murdered conversions, yet it continues to get passes from the public that I'll never understand.

[Emperor Megas]

That's always the stock response, but I can't think of a single redeeming quality.

The graphics are atrocious, the music is laughably bad, the controls are infuriating, the scrolling is painful.

I think it's right on par with 720 in terms of Mindscape murdered conversions, yet it continues to get passes from the public that I'll never understand.

I'm going to have to play the NES port now and see for myself.

[Ze_ro]

Pretty much every home port of Congo Bongo has been terrible... but especially the 2600 and INTV versions (Arguably, neither system had any business attempting it in the first place, but still).

Also, Toki on Genesis. Toki is one of the few games where almost every home port is GOOD (hell, even the Lynx version is excellent), and there's no reason the Genesis version couldn't have been perfect... but they changed all the levels and completely ruined it.

--Zero

[treismac]

Street fighter (the first) for pc
dear god, pain

Wow. I struggle to imagine the original Street Fighter being any worse than it already was at the arcade. Sure, you could downgrade the graphics but how could the game play be made more horrendous than it already was? Any success with pulling off a move felt like the result of pure chance. For whatever reason, I actually like the horrible digitized voice overs. If, hypothetically, those were lost, the game would be irredeemable.

I'm going to hunt on YouTube for a video of the PC version. How could that game be even crappier than it already was?