worst multi-system ports? new and old?

[sabre2922]

I just played Max Payne 2 for PS2 ugh man what the hell happened? Its not a very good port to put it nicely. Im sure that they could have done a better job its not even close to the Xbox not to mention the PC version.
If they can do good ports of games like Splinter Cell on PS2 (except for the load times ) why do some companies continue to release inferior versions of multi-port games on the PS2?
Its actually scary to think of how RE4 might turn out on PS2 if not done right.

Heck even though the Gamecube sees fewer Ports these days the GC ver of Splinter Cell:PD while looked great had many glitches in it.
also what happened to the ports of great Dreamcast games like crazy taxi and especially the hacked to death version of Grandia 2? I mean if my PS2 is sooo much more powerful than the DC why did many DC ports both look and play better on Dreamcast?

[zektor]

Well, I don't think the PS2 is THAT much better than the DC...but...

I think the reason ports are not as good as they should be is because the PC has progressed to something of a beast. Ever look at HL2 on a 3.2Ghz system with a GeForce 6800, tons of memory and a high definition monitor? It literally makes your eyes bleed. I think it has gotten to a point where the software designers have to "scale down" ports on the PSX2 and Xbox because they are no longer powerful enough.

[cat-mince]

Final Fantasy 6 on PSone. It had loading times! and it's a simplistic 2D SNES game.

[sabre2922]

yes I have never beleived the PS2 to much much more powerful than the DC only recently have some of the PS2 games really topped what the DC COULD have been capable of doing if Developers had just a couple more years of Development experience in it.
I have to admit that games like Killzone and the new Silent Hills with all their great detail and sharper graphics could not have been done on DC. but thats for another thread.

[cat-mince]

*agrees* then on the other hand you have games that PROBABLY wouldn't look that good on PS2 i.e Shenmue. All Systems have strengths and Weaknesses.

[EnemyZero]

yeah ports usually are cruddy going over to ps2 but then again usually any multi-system game is worse on ps2.....i cant think of alot of games that are better...one notably game thats worse is sonic heroes ugh ::shiver:: i love sh on my GC ... i'll stay away from ps2 tho....i agree with RE4 i wouldnt doubt if it gets butchered ....once again this shows why the games make or break a system because sony is and always will be the underdog in the hardware department compared to nintendo and xbox.....even dreamcast games lool better

[GobopopRevisited]

Just about anything... If you get a multi-system game, you'll have to make sure it works on the weakest system. So unless a developer just makes an overall beautiful game, or spends a lot of time reworking it to the specifics of annother, more powerful console, your going to get an ugly game in all areas...

Annother big problem with ports is always going to be controls, but in a lot of cases the port is so much better than the original simply because the new system has a much more workable controller. A lot of current MultiSystem games are on PC as well now. Many Ubisoft Titles just look insane on the PC. One that really stands out in particular is Beyond Good and Evil. Its console releases didn't look bad (I personally think its one of the most artisticly beautiful games available) but compared to PC, it was nothin' spectacular. I don't even want to see what Half-Life 2 will look like on Xbox, Chronicles of Riddick was a technological masterpiece but I think it looks like complete shit... I only expect the same from Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory and DOOM 3, "Normal Mapping" just can't be done on a current console.

SoulCalibur looked marvelous on the Dreamcast, but the game was originally made using PlayStation based hardware. Same thing with SoulCalibur II. While it was produced to run on PlayStation 2 based hardware, the game looked like crap when ported to the PS2, but looked absolutely stunning on GameCube and Xbox.

[dreamcaster]

Years ago, when it was first released, I had a friend over and we went out and rented San Francisco Rush for the N64. We were very surprised how great this arcade racer was, and we both vowed to buy it.

I of course bought the N64 version. My friend (who only had a PSX) went out and got the PSX version. Well, he told me at school the next day how shit it was, and then I went over and played it for myself.

My god - how badly did they screw up this game? Fogging that came up the front of the car, horrendous pixelation, simplified polygon models and a terrible frame rate. The game could've been mistaken for an average 3DO effort.

[klausien]

I have always felt that the version of Sonic 2 in Sonic Jam for the Saturn was below average. The other games seem about right, and having the spin dash in the original is pretty cool, but there is a lot of unecessary slowdown in Sonic 2 that wasn't in the original. I guess it is because Sega ported them instead of emulating them. Worth having for the 3D Sonic world alone though.

The Saturn version of Symphony of the Night is also a notoriously bad port. The addition of Maria as a playable character is very cool, but the game is littered with unecessary slowdown. The transparencies are poor as well, but that is to be expected.

Working Designs ruined Silhouette Mirage for the US Playstation. The weapons are too expensive and the changes they made to the actual system of play are to be desired. The Saturn version is leagues better.

The Playstation version of ThunderForce V, though it plays fine, is a big step down from the original Saturn version graphically. What was once breathtaking is rendered drab.

[Dangerboy]

CSI: Crime Scene Investigation for the Xbox.

I hated that the PC game ran so choppy on my PC, so I was happy to see the XBox version.

*ugh*

The XBox version had:
- Wacky animation loop glitches
- Incorrect voice overs
- Sped up voice overs, forcing you to read the notes
- Incorrect voice overs (the ending movie has one character mouthing 3 people's lines, than one of them nto even moving his mouth)
- Completely mis-aligned layers in the graphics
- Many of the bonus artwork links when clicked to do not lead to the correct artwork
- A very non-friendly controller set-up
- And the best: A glitch in the last assignment where you can't pick up the most crucial piece of evidence to move on to the final scene. You have to go back and forth between the lab and the crime scene until the game glitches the evidence into your inventory

[MegaDrive20XX]

I have always felt that the version of Sonic 2 in Sonic Jam for the Saturn was below average. The other games seem about right, and having the spin dash in the original is pretty cool, but there is a lot of unecessary slowdown in Sonic 2 that wasn't in the original. I guess it is because Sega ported them instead of emulating them. Worth having for the 3D Sonic world alone though.

The Saturn version of Symphony of the Night is also a notoriously bad port. The addition of Maria as a playable character is very cool, but the game is littered with unecessary slowdown. The transparencies are poor as well, but that is to be expected.

What drives me buggy is, Saturn can handle any 2D game...make perfect Capcom and SNK fighter ports, but NOT CV SOTN?? Who the heck was in charge of this? I pass the loading screen...but get another "NOW Loading" screen?

As for Sonic 2 on Sonic Jam....I have to try that again, it's been a long while...but now I must find out about this port of Sonic 2

[CreamSoda]

Daytona USA, an incredible Arcade game that I still love, a pretty crappy Saturn port that I pretty much hate.

How could they have done this?! I mean I know the Saturn wasen't the best at 3D, but this was just terrible compared to the Arcade version. If only they didn't rush the launch...

Virtua Fighter, Once again a rushed Saturn port. X_X

Doom, the PC version was a classic, the PSX version is awesome and the Saturn version... Well it's not good. (I hear the Japanese version is actually improved abit).

Duke Nukem 3D, the PS1 version is horrible, the framerate is bad, the animation is choppy, the graphics have take a hit. In this case the Saturn version is WAY better then the PS1 "mistake"

Just to name a few...

[cat-mince]

oh and how about Worms on SNES! you use the Select button to select stuff on the menu. I can't see why you couldn't just use A or B :/ oh and has anyone played Worms 3d on GameCube. It comes up with insufficient Memory errors.

[Ze_ro]

Most Coleco games on systems other than the ColecoVision were generally terrible, although this may have actually been on purpose. Zaxxon on the 2600 and INTV is one that particularly annoys me, since it's not even remotely the same game anymore.

Primal Rage on the JagCD always annoyed me too... it got all the graphics and such from the arcade version, but they COMPLETELY fucked up the combo system, and you're forced to load before fatalities... disappointing. And while I'm mentioning mid-90's Atari arcade games, I'm still disappointed that there was never a port of T*Mek to the Jaguar... I loved the arcade game, yet all we got was a 32X version... bleah.

On the other hand, I'd have to say that pretty much every port of the old arcade game Toki was surprisingly good. I haven't played a bad version of it yet... even the C64 and Lynx versions are top-notch!

--Zero

[Ze_ro]

Oh wait, another one I forgot was NHL 2002 on the GBA... oh man, what a train-wreck that was. I think it was a port of NHL 98 on the Genesis, which in itself was one of the worst of the Genesis hockey games. The game is just WAY too fast to the point of being uncontrollable. Maybe I'm just being too picky, but I'd rather have my hockey as realistic as possible. The fact that this is the only hockey game (aside from Hitz) on the system is quite disheartening.

--Zero