Favourite and/or most disappointing home arcade ports

[GhostSeed]

Some of my favorites.

Samurai Shodown - 3DO
This was another game I remember pining over after I'd read a glowing review in EGM. The conversion is pretty much spot on and is only missing some character splash screens or something similar if my memories correct. This is still one of a favorite 3DO games of all time and one of the few games I kept for the system.

Bubble Bobble - Apple II
I think I got this for Christmas one year and played it religiously for weeks until I finally beat it. Although to this day I've never played the arcade version of this.

Magic Sword - Super Nintendo
I had played and beat the arcade version of this multiple times before it was ported to SNES. But I didn't buy it at first because of the low scores EGM gave it, like 7's? Anyway, I picked it up years later and really liked it despite its numerous flaws, no 2 player, smaller sprites, etc.

Smash T.V. - Super Nintendo
I sunk a ton of money in the arcade game of this and the SNES version was spot on except for some censorship. It also has a double speed mode after you beat the game that I've never seen in any other port.

R-Type - TurboGrafx 16
The graphics in this game were mind blowing at the time. Although I didn't pick up the TG16 version until like 1997 and I've still never gotten past the 4th level.

Final Fight on the Mega CD - One of the games I played most in the arcade so I was very excited when a complete & 2P version was announced for the Mega CD - Cracking port IMO and the remixed music was ace. The speech over the intro was a bit of a novelty too. The SNES version which I owned before the Mega CD one was disappointing in hindsight but I loved it at the time - I always go Cody anyway

This would have made my list as well. It's such a good port and the CD quality music is leaps and bounds better that the arcade game. I also really like the GBA version of this game. There are some great unlockable skins and on the harder difficulties there are actually a lot more enemies. Worth checking out if your a Final Fight fan.

[Paulie]

Some of my favorites.

R-Type - TurboGrafx 16
The graphics in this game were mind blowing at the time. Although I didn't pick up the TG16 version until like 1997 and I've still never gotten past the 4th level.

Yep I thought it was amazing too on the PCE, just a shame you had to buy both Hu-cards for the full game

[crunchywasp]

Ahh! SNES Smash TV! Excellent game

I forgot Final Fight was ported to the GBA - Great little port it is too

[crunchywasp]

Sorry for going off topic but I love this remix of the Green Beret and Rambo C64 loaders. Always listen to it at work to get me in the right mood.

This is ace

[GhostSeed]

Yep I thought it was amazing too on the PCE, just a shame you had to buy both Hu-cards for the full game

That is still mind blowing to me even to this day.

[pubjoe]

Yep I thought it was amazing too on the PCE, just a shame you had to buy both Hu-cards for the full game

That is still mind blowing to me even to this day.

The one plus point being at least you got to see level 5.

[Paulie]

I forgot Final Fight was ported to the GBA - Great little port it is too

Another good un and I like how you can unlock Alpha Cody

[Paulie]

Yep I thought it was amazing too on the PCE, just a shame you had to buy both Hu-cards for the full game

That is still mind blowing to me even to this day.

The one plus point being at least you got to see level 5.

Very true.

Just remembered another one on the PCE that knocked my socks off Splatterhouse. Absolutely brill, I used to love playing it in the arcades and it felt pretty close on the PCE. That and Final Fight are 2 PCB's that I would love to own

[crunchywasp]

PCE Splatterhouse was

[instant_classic]

Whats the crack with PCE's?? I have always been tempted to get one but know nothing about them, there is too many flavours for me to get my head around

[NASguy]

Contra on NES, simply better than the Jamma on all fronts.

Moonwalker on Genesis, felt scammed when it wasn't a port of the Jamma board. Axis FZ uses the same ISO view so it could have been done justice on the genny.

[crunchywasp]

Whats the crack with PCE's?? I have always been tempted to get one but know nothing about them, there is too many flavours for me to get my head around

The PCE is ace. I sold mine and a TG-16 a while back but wish I'd kept them

IMO you can't go far wrong with a plain old PCE (the white one) or a CoreGrafx/CoreGrafx II (the grey ones), a 4 player tap and a couple of pads. If you're thinking of getting one I wouldn't recommend a TG-16 as you'll have to buy a £40 converter to play anything worthwhile (other than Gunhed/Blazing Lasers and Bonk's adventure really) as all the best games are Japanese.

I've never owned any of the other iterations/add ons but the majority of the best games are on the original standalone machine IMO

Some of my favourite Hu-cards are Soldier Blade, Gunhed, SF2CE (needs Avenue 6 pads really though), R-Type (I & II but they're just R-Type over 2 Hu-cards as Paulie's mentioned), Bomberman '94, Splatterhouse & Ninja Spirit

Moonwalker on Genesis, felt scammed when it wasn't a port of the Jamma board

Every day's a school day! I've never played Moonwalker on anything other than the Mega Drive and have always just assumed it was an arcade port. I wasn't keen on the MD version but everyone seems to love the arcade version so I'll need to give it a go sometime

[instant_classic]

Cheers mark, I think I'll pick up a plain pce at some point. Fancy doing an rgb mod when I do?

The pce everdrive is out now so will be worth me looking into. I have always fancied one but never got round to actually buying it

[crunchywasp]

I've never tried to RGB mod a PCE - From memory it's straightforward enough though. I looked at a guide a while back but never got round to it

[Hewitson]

So far no one has mentioned ports which had better graphics and/or sound than the arcade game.

[andygeezer]

So far no one has mentioned ports which had better graphics and/or sound than the arcade game.

If that is an example, then I think not, pretty sure the Arcade version is superior on all accounts. Might look like the arcade, but plays like a turd.

[crunchywasp]

Yeah, I also remember the MD DD being a bit of a turkey gameplay-wise. I remember it being pretty **** tough and frustrating as a result. I liked the GameBoy version though

Great angle though on home ports that surpassed the arcade versions

I forgot Final Fight was ported to the GBA - Great little port it is too

Another good un and I like how you can unlock Alpha Cody

I had this years ago but I don't have a clue what happened to it. I snagged a loose cart again last night on eBay though

[marktheshark]

One of my favorite ports would have to be Final Fight One on the GBA. Aside from not having Roxy and Poison for some strange reason, the port was really superb. I even like the GBA version's music on it a lot even though it was no where near the arcade version's in terms of quality.

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I also like the fact that you could use the SFA versions of Guy and Cody.

I also really like the home port of Soul Calibur II on the PS2/Xbox/GC.

Worst would no doubt be Guity Gear X on the GBA.




I loved how the Xbox and Gamecube didn't even get a port of GGX, yet the GBA did.

[SuperPang]

Whats the crack with PCE's?? I have always been tempted to get one but know nothing about them, there is too many flavours for me to get my head around

You want a Duo-R with RGB mod. Loads of great 8 bit shooters.

Love the CD version of R-R-R-R-R-Type.

[instant_classic]

Whats the crack with PCE's?? I have always been tempted to get one but know nothing about them, there is too many flavours for me to get my head around

You want a Duo-R with RGB mod. Loads of great 8 bit shooters.

Love the CD version of R-R-R-R-R-Type.

Cheers Pang, i will hunt down a Duo-R and ask crunchy to RGB mod it