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What's the best port of an arcade game (that's not emulation) on a home console?


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I think the "Classic Series" version of original Mario Brothers for the Famicom is the greatest home port of an 8 bit arcade game of all time. It offers difficulty levels and other slight improvements over the arcade game, but without creating something new. It just looks, sounds, feels, and plays better than the arcade game, while maintaining its charm... 

 

I think Turtles for the Odyssey 2 is the best example of a second tier arcade game being turned into a first tier home port... 

 

And the homebrew Vectrex Moon Patrol port Vector Patrol is simply the greatest thing in the universe. 

 

Oh, and TI Invaders is the bestest Space Invaders port out there, better than anything before or after, including the original arcade game. 

 

My vote for best 2600 port is Phoenix, not Space Invaders, and for Intellivision Burger Time of course. A lot of good arcade ports on Colecovision, but only Galaxian was arguably better than arcade... 

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Castle Crisis for the Atari 400/800 and Atari 5200.  Bryan did an amazing job of bringing Warlords to the Atari machines: the graphics, sounds, and gameplay are translated perfectly, and the authentic analog controls make both versions a joy to playparticularly on the 400/800, where you can have paddle controls for all four players.

 

I would also name some of the arcade ports that Atari produced for the XEGS (and the XL/XE computers) in the late 80s, such as Mario Brothers, Crossbow, and Crystal Castles.  I would even include Choplifter! and Commando, even though the latter was never officially released, and the former was on home computers first (the subsequent arcade version was clearly the basis of the XEGS version).  All great games, for an incredible gaming platform.  I would also agree about Odyssey2 Turtles, TI Invaders and Intellivision BurgerTime: they're not "carbon copies" of the arcade originals, but they succeeded in capturing the essence of the games while playing to the strengths of their respective platforms.

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Satan's Hollow for C64 should get mentioned, but I never played it BitD

 

I DID play the disk based version of Zaxxon for the C64 and while it is different than the arcade in some ways, it is still my favorite version to this day.  C64 Gyruss and Arkanoid are not too shabby either.

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8 hours ago, John Stamos Mullet said:

Joust for the Atari 7800 is arcade perfect.

i hope i never play a version like that in the arcade.

there's at least 10 things wrong with it looking at.

the sounds are wrong, the sprite sizes are off, the wave number is wrong, game physics is off ,

pterodactyls flight is off, etc etc.

 

sorry, not even close.

 

 

later

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On 7/24/2019 at 5:44 PM, Magmavision2000 said:

I gotta say, Space Invaders SNES looks just like the arcade version graphically, but it's a little off in the sound department. Anyone else got any good ports of arcade games? 

They did a lot of work, to get the color game boy adapter to make it very accurate:

 

Quote

"Although most Super Game Boy-compatible titles featured only minor enhancements, Taito's 1994 release of Space Invaders for Game Boy (itself an update to the 1990 Japan-only Game Boy release of Space Invaders) contains a unique "Arcade Mode" only accessible on Super Game Boy. When this mode is selected, the game reboots into a special remake of two of the original arcade versions of Space Invaders, complete with 16-bit color graphics and transparency effects. This mode also uses the SNES's full screen resolution as opposed to the bordered presentation of all other Super Game Boy-compatible titles, essentially lending Space Invaders' Arcade Mode the appearance of a game programmed specifically for the SNES."

 

later

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The Atari 2600 version of Zaxxon looks nothing like the arcade game, but I prefer the chase camera perspective and think it's interesting, though probably not "best port" material. 

 

Every 2D Zelda game reminds me of Venture, kind of a super evolution of the old game. 

 

Nowadays many arcade games are blown up recreations of phone games. That would have blown my little 1982 kid mind, especially the idea that the arcade games were uncommon and the pocket versions were everywhere. If you had told me that's what the future would hold, I don't think I'd believe you. 

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Many of the arcade compilations released in the mid-'90s were not emulations, but actual ports that strove to be pixel perfect and audio accurate.  Williams Arcade's Greatest Hits for the SNES and Genesis, and the NamcoMuseum titles for the first PlayStation, all qualify, and I would say that makes them the "best" ports.  I would also throw in a vote for the games in the Sega Ages series for the Saturn, After Burner and Space Harrier for the 32X, and Frogger for the Genesis.

 

Tempest and Centipede for the 5200 get an honorable mention for having arcade-accurate sound.  Having the same sound chip as the arcade cabinets didn't hurt.

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22 hours ago, John Stamos Mullet said:

Joust for the Atari 7800 is arcade perfect.

Damn near close enough anyway, and some might even prefer its slightly tweaked graphics and physics compared to the arcade. Seems to me, takes less effort to get your bird going - which is certainly a welcome feature IMO. Fewer button presses. Maybe I'm just so used to 2600 and 7800 Joust, that even I prefer it over the arcade. Certainly and definitely over the latest arcade versions of Joust that use microswitches. Yuck. Much rather rapidly slap a leaf switch button than micro. And naturally, much prefer leaf switch joysticks too. Not being a "purist" for the sake of it either. I know what I like that way and there's simply no contest. Kids growing up with microswitches don't know what they're missing/have missed.   ;)

 

Asteroids is another game that just feels OFF with microswitches. Not even having a vector screen is as much of a big deal IMO. It's all in the buttons. That said, I love Spiceware's Space Rocks and PacManPlus's Asteroids Deluxe with a Starplex controller. Controller feels at home with other games too of course, especially Space Invaders and Armor Attack.

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This topic can go in various directions whether a port is accurate, or subjectively better, or a technical feat, etc. 

 

I like Atari 8-bit/5200 Joust over the arcade game because 1) the flapping is a little more powerful; and 2) the semi-"bouncy" ceiling you can have high velocity rebounds :lol: 

 

I also like VCS Ms. Pacman on its own as it has a certain charm to me. 

 

As much as I liked/enjoyed it, I never thought 2600 Space Invaders was improved over the arcade because for all the new features, it missed some of the gameplay features that were integral to the original game (varying UFO bonus would have been nice.. even without shot counting).  That said the SNES version is great that it provides the original Taito moon background, but it's sad how they missed out on the green overlay  of the shields area leaving them and your base a generic white. How friggin hard could it have been??

 

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