Home Ports that were BETTER than the arcade original!

[ChipTune]

I have been using MAME a lot recently and have played some arcade titles I already had on other systems and was surprised by the amount of games that were better (i.e. more fun, or even in some cases LOOKING better) than the Arcade game it was based on.

My votes go for the following games:

Nintendo NES

Bump N Jump (more cartoony and fun than arcade)
Rush N Attack (better controls, more appealing look)
Jackal (just wins over arcade due to being the difficulty level being manageable)
Contra & Super Contra (Probotector & Probotector 2) - both look and play better than the arcade versions)
Bionic Commando (a much better, more varied game)
Punch Out



Sega MEGA DRIVE

2 Crude Dudes (Plays so much better than the poor arcade game)
Paperboy (for some reason I just find this version much more fun to play, though I never played the arcade game with the handlebars so that could change things)
MERCS (extra content / gameplay modes)



Sega SATURN

Sega Rally (better handling, more music)

[ChipTune]

problem solved.. ill turn this isnt to more interesting thread later

[DanWelsh86]

Pleased it's solved. But get Theme Hospital........much better.

[The Laird]

There are quite a few on the Lynx, most of them have extra features added:

Battlezone
Super Asteroids / Missile Command
Xenophobe
Rampage
Rampart
Qix
Ms. Pacman
Relief Pitcher

[ChipTune]

There are quite a few on the Lynx, most of them have extra features added:

Battlezone
Super Asteroids / Missile Command
Xenophobe
Rampage
Rampart
Qix
Ms. Pacman
Relief Pitcher

Having played all those games I would strongly disagree that any of them are better on the lynx.. good maybe, better than the arcade, certainly not.. extra content doesn't automatically make it better (only if the game itself is identical or better). In fact I cant think of a single game on a retro handheld that is better than the arcade version, though I am sure someone will prove me wrong!

[Sel Feena]

Moon Patrol on MAME looks hideous. Hideous. Much prefer the clean, minimalist style of the Atari 2600 port.

[Pacman 83]

I don't think there's a comparison to be made really.
The whole idea of Arcade was that you went there, met up with mates, stood up or sat on a stool and used a control panel that was nearly identical in height to the other upright Arcade games. They sat next to others, the sounds, the atmosphere, everything about the arcade games was different to the 'home' gaming experience. It was this collective experience that made the originals what they were. If you played Moon Patrol at Funspot in the US for example, I bet you wouldn't feel the home console was as good then.
Everyone to their own though, but if you haven't played an original (NOT MAME), in the proper Arcade environment, then you can't make a proper comparison.

[Sel Feena]

Of course it's possible to make a comparison for things like visuals and sound; in an arcade or on my laptop, Moon Patrol still looks like the crayon scrawlings of a six year old.

As far as things like atmosphere or experience go, I'm in agreement with you. Apples and oranges.

[Mayhem]

Buggy Boy, Wizard of Wor and Spy Hunter on the C64 imo are better than the arcade versions.

[witchfinder]

Buggy Boy, Wizard of Wor and Spy Hunter on the C64 imo are better than the arcade versions.

I'd agree with you totally on Buggy Boy, yet disagree completely on Spy Hunter. I have no opinion on Wizard of Wor having played neither the C64 or arcade version!

in an arcade or on my laptop, Moon Patrol still looks like the crayon scrawlings of a six year old.

I like the look of the arcade version of Moon Patrol, it has a kind of psychedelic loveliness to it!

My nomination would be the Megadrive version of Golden Axe which not only plays better (IMO) but also has extra stuff compared to the arcade version.

However in general I'm in agreement with Jon that the thing that makes arcade versions better in most cases is the whole arcade experience rather than any technical superiority.

[Megamixer]

You could argue that the home ports of games like Tekken were superior. Sure the arcade versions looked better but the PS1 ports had more sets of BGM's, more modes, more characters etc.

Compare that to these days when fighters seem to have bugger all to do in them. What happened to stuff like survival mode, unlockable costumes/characters etc.? Oh that's right we have to pay extra for them now

[DreamcastRIP]

Soul Calibur (DC)
Bomb Jack (Speccy)

[GunstarHero]

Turtles in Time on the Snes? Maybe not as graphically good but added some nice content.

[joefish]

Commando on the Spectrum was far, far more playable than the arcade.

Robocop as well, but then that was because the arcade game was designed after the 8-bit versions, in parallel with the 16-bit versions, which were more arcadey in having more and bigger enemy sprites to shoot at.

Strider on the Atari ST was better too. The arcade game had big sprites that overlapped the scenery and jerked around quite a bit in their animations. The smaller and more restrained sprites of the 16-bit conversions made it all much more sensible and controllable.

[Hitman_HalStep]

probably a bad reason but ghouls and ghosts (MD) because of friendlier check points and less hits needed on enemies.i'm struggling to get past the first boss on the arcade,at first i thought i had lost my touch with it so loaded up the Md version and went through without taking a hit.