Favorite ports you enjoy more than the arcade?

[Koa Zo]

Why? Why?
Why?
And why?

Interesting thread topic. But it doesn't mean much if nothing is said of what substantiates a preference.

[Az]

I prefer the SNES port of World Heroes 2 over the Neo original most of the time. The 2 bosses are playable, additional speed settings, and most importantly it allows you to play the deathmatch levels with normal life bars (or conversely, normal levels with seesaw life bars).

I prefer US Genesis port of Fatal Fury 2 over the arcade. It plays differently enough to be it's own thing, dipswitch mode makes flat out crazy combos, and the 4 bosses are playable but different than they are in Fatal Fury Special.

The Xbox port of Samurai Shodown V beats the Neo original due to including an English translated 1P mode. If you don't own a modded AES or MVS Unibios the Xbox version of SNK VS Capcom is slightly better since you can pick the dozen or so bosses without a stupid code.

The PS2 ports of a few of the King of Fighters games are better than the Neo and Atomiswave originals, especially when you install them to a HDD. Both Neowave and KoF XI have some additional characters while 2000 and 2001 have extra strikers and backgrounds.

Yes, I'm an SNK fan

[Edmond Dantes]

One minor one--Galaga '88 (aka Galaga '90) for the PC Engine/TurboGrafx seems somehow more fun to me than its Arcade original. Memory is vague here but I seem to recall in the arcade version you moved slower which made it artificially harder, and the graphics were duller than the more vibrant TG16 port.

[Melf]

I prefer the Genesis ports of Golden Axe, Shadow Dancer, and ESWAT over the arcade versions. The visuals are better, the gameplay seems more refined, and the games seem more fleshed out. That's likely because a console version had to offer more than the arcade one did, but the games are better because of it. Golden Axe has more stages and that cool duel mode, and SD and ESWAT look a ton better.