I’ve been playing a lot of Gauntlet: Dark Legacy lately and it seems like it has a number of improvements over the arcade release. I’m curious what other ports people find particularly good.
I’ve been playing a lot of Gauntlet: Dark Legacy lately and it seems like it has a number of improvements over the arcade release. I’m curious what other ports people find particularly good.
There’s a lot. Consoles didn’t have the power to deliver what arcade machines could.
Altered Beast, Double Dragon, Primal Rage, Hang On, Space Harrier, Rampage, ghosts n goblins, Bad Dudes, Smash TV, Final Fight
The ones that did better on consoles were either made into different games or had some other gameplay improvement to make it more appealing.
I read the title wrong at first, too. And when I realized the question would be stupid, rather than answer it, I read it again.
I feel like an idiot, bit also I was trying to get kids to sleep for 4 hours in the middle of the night. So can’t be too hard on myself.
You should never be hard on yourself online because everyone else will do it for you
Eh it’s worded in a strange way. I also read it wrong the first time.
“… better in their console ports” is weird
This is the definitive answer. In the 80s and 90s it was not that rare. Although I find the examples very lacking as e.g. the Sega arcade games had quite faithful ports on the mega drive.
My answer however is lacking too because I can not think of any good ad hoc examples.
Mega drive ports were generally great. Ghouls n ghosts was better than the arcade absolutely, but ghosts n goblins only had that piss poor nes port.
Super Hang On on mega drive, I love that game, but the frame rate really kills it.
Altered Beast. Amazing on mega drive, but I played the shit out of it in arcade and I just think it’s not close. As a kid I absolutely did, but it feels a bit sloppy now. I started with the master system port, the MD version goddamn blew me away though!
Smash TV feels good on mega drive but I can’t get down with the controls. Xeno Crisis all these years later just feels so much better somehow though
The Double Dragon port on mega drive, ouch. I love the Master system version, actually I was on the fence about putting DD on this list because I do love the Master system version more than the arcade, but that’s not a convincing argument. I played so much DD arcade in the pub near where I grew up, years later I played the rom on mega drive emulator and it’s not a fun time. It’s the fighting and weird animation speed or something.
Primal rage is super fun on mega drive, that’s how I used to play it with my cousins. It was ages later that I played an arcade version. Mega drive has the fun gameplay but that arcade version really shows how the game is carried by graphical spectacle. Obviously you won’t find an arcade for comparison now, but check out the Saturn version. Just much better.
Go the other way, like the original post title actually asked for 😑. Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter ports, I love the mega drive ports more, they lose graphical fidelity but they play so much more fun. Paperboy, best on mega drive. Golden Axe is definitive on the mega drive. Strider, I’ll take the mega drive version all day. Alien Storm, more fun on mega drive.
If we want to talk 32x, I’ve still got mine from 30 years ago. Afterburner and Space Harrier are excellent. I know I said Space Harrier was better in arcade, but that’s because realistically people aren’t counting 32x as the console version. Space Harrier on master system is great for that system, but it’s no arcade. Space Harrier 2 on mega drive, same as hang on, just should have been great but almost unplayable frame rate.
This is what OP was asking about
I’ll just smack myself in the head here
I recall Final Fight being a spot on port for the SNES, but it didn’t look quite as good as the CPS1 hardware. Actually, I recall a lot of those on your list being the same, but that could just be fuzzy memory. Double Dragon, Ghost and Goblins, and Bad Dudes definitely were different and IMO more fun on the console though.
Final Fight on mega cd is a very good port. Still not as good as the arcade, but as enjoyable.
Final Fight on SNES was just bad. Guy removed as a character choice. No two player mode. An incredibly low sprite limit, like no more than 3 or 4 characters on screen at once. One of the stages is cut out.
Are you sure about the lack of two player? I could swear I played two player with my brother when we rented Final Fight.
Definitely no two player. It was a pretty butchered port.