Home Arcade Translations

[ClassicBoy]

As a gamer that started playing back in the Pong days and has always had a strong interest (read obsession) in videogames ever since, I've always been enamored with a good arcade-to-home translation. I'm sure many of you know what I'm talking about. In the old days, a perfect translation of a game like Asteroids or Pacman was out of the question with the limitations of home hardware (just forget about nearly perfect versions in a plug and play battery operated stick for under $20...this still thrills the 15 year-old in me). We never expected arcade perfection back then so it was always fun to see "how close" a developer could come to the actual arcade experience at home. So, anytime that a home game bore a good likeness and play experience to an arcade game in the 2600 or Colecovision days, I was thrilled. Even all the way up to the Saturn, N64, and PS1 days, arcade perfection was not a given so it has always been a "crap shoot" of sorts over whether a translation would truly match the arcade game or not. Now, with hardware at home rivaling and even eclipsing arcade hardware, perfect translations of arcade games have become pretty much a "given" to a certain degree. Yet, even with less and less arcade games being made, I find myself comparing and looking forward to good arcade-to-home translations. For instance, I'm eager to get my hands on Tekken 5 for the PS2 and am looking forward to seeing how close it comes to the arcade version. I find myself pouring over screenshots and reading previews to find out how close it will be...and I'm not even necessarily a huge Tekken fan. Maybe I'm just a "kook."

 

At any rate, does anyone else still feel a little obsessed about how good an arcade-to-home translation is? ...and, if so, is this a product of being an "old" gamer that grew up with the limited systems of the past? Do "kids" these days even notice or become excited about a good home translation anymore since it has pretty much become a "given?"

 

I'd love to hear other thoughts on this...

[CPUWIZ]

For instance, I'm eager to get my hands on Tekken 5 for the PS2 and am looking forward to seeing how close it comes to the arcade version.  I find myself pouring over screenshots and reading previews to find out how close it will be...and I'm not even necessarily a huge Tekken fan.

 

Well, since I used to work for Namco, I know for a fact that Namco uses the PS2 arcade hardware for Tekken now (used to be the PS1 arcade hardware until Tekken 4). Hence, the game will likely be exactly the same, with the exception that the home version will have extra stuff that the arcade version didn't have.

[joeybastard]

The PS2 arcade hardware doesn't have more video memory or anything like that?

[ClassicBoy]

For instance, I'm eager to get my hands on Tekken 5 for the PS2 and am looking forward to seeing how close it comes to the arcade version.  I find myself pouring over screenshots and reading previews to find out how close it will be...and I'm not even necessarily a huge Tekken fan.

 

Well, since I used to work for Namco, I know for a fact that Namco uses the PS2 arcade hardware for Tekken now (used to be the PS1 arcade hardware until Tekken 4). Hence, the game will likely be exactly the same, with the exception that the home version will have extra stuff that the arcade version didn't have.

 

See? How thrilled would we have been "back in the day" if our home hardware specs were exactly the same as the arcade specs? That would have been mind boggling!! Whether or not a translation today will match the arcade seems to have become a non-issue.

 

Perhaps if the development of arcade games was still a strong industry this would be different as the focus today has clearly shifted to home games.

[CPUWIZ]

The PS2 arcade hardware doesn't have more video memory or anything like that?

 

Nope, it does however not have a DVD drive, it uses a protected harddrive. The PS1 arcade hardware was different, it ran at 50Mhz as opposed to 33Mhz and it had more memory.

[NE146]

At any rate, does anyone else still feel a little obsessed about how good an arcade-to-home translation is?  

 

You've pretty much described me to a T. Being an arcade gamer at heart, arcade to home translations are an obsession to me to the point where they're what I prefer on the 2600/Colecovision/Handhelds vs. purely original concepts or rarities. However, my viewpoint is I don't look for perfection, but rather how close and what techniques did they use to get to the spirit of the game. I like looking at what sacrifices were made, and what made it, and what didn't. MsPacman on the 2600 for example.. I could go on and on about

[figgler]

Arcade-to-home translation are quickly fading away. Arcades are dying and consoles are generally more powerful it seems Lately, Soul Calibur 2, Tekken, Street Fighter 3 and the new FZero are about the only games I can think of that have any arcade counterpart.

I certainly do miss the old days when arcades flourished and a hit in the arcade meant a hit on your console, even if it was dumbed down (see: Double Dragon) or totally altered (a la Strider)

[+FujiSkunk]

Yep, this fascinates me too. There aren't too many left to explore, but I've always enjoyed picking up an arcade translation I haven't played before, seeing how it compares to the original, seeing how the game looks and plays with the "signature" of the console it is running on, seeing what could have been done better, thinking about how the programmers worked against the limits of the hardware to come up with the tricks they did, and so forth.

 

The last time I really got into this was when Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 came home. The Saturn port is more or less a straight arcade translation, so much so that it has the same faults that the arcade version has (lack of character bios, for one thing). On the other hand, the Genesis and SNES versions not only showed just how capable those systems really were of recreating a fighting game (not to mention putting to shame the previous efforts on Mortal Kombat and Mortal Kombat II), they also showed how clever the programmers could be when something wasn't quite within the hardware's grasp. Neither port has animalities (your fighter turns into an animal before dispatching with the other fighter), presumably because the extra animation would have required too much memory. So instead the programmers introduced "brutalities" (your fighter launches into a tirade of kicks and hits which literally blows the other fighter up), which require no additional animation but are just as entertaining. In another neat twist, the SNES's better audio and video hardware means it obviously has the better looking and sounding port, but the Genesis programmers realized that lower quality requires less storage space, so they crammed even more graphics and sound effects into their port. This was the last time I got the impression that a team of programmers really went above and beyond to produce a great arcade translation.

[Jess Ragan]

Arcade translations? Hell, we're not even seeing any arcade GAMES lately.

 

Anyway, to answer your question, yes, faithfulness in an arcade translation is very important to me. We never really saw any arcade perfect ports on home consoles until the Sega Saturn was around for a few years... when the four meg RAM cart was released, game companies finally had the resources they needed to create perfect arcade conversions.

 

When the Dreamcast was introduced, gamers came to expect exact arcade translations from home game systems... which is part of the reason why arcades are no longer anywhere near as popular as they were in the 1980's. Back in the 1980's and part of the 1990's, dedicated arcade machines offered a more complete gaming experience than more versatile but less powerful home consoles.

 

Today, home consoles are so powerful that there's no longer any real advantage to driving to an arcade some thirty miles away. The only thing arcades offer that home consoles cannot are oversized, overpriced peripherals that would be impractical to use at home... stuff like steering wheels, sniper rifles, and the ever popular foam rubber butt and finger. Sure, all of this stuff is fun, but it doesn't provide enough incentive to pull gamers away from their GameCubes and Playstation 2s. They're novelties, not true enhancements.

 

JR

[Atariboy]

Steering wheels and pedals are quite popular among PC gamers, and are gaining in popularity among console gamers.

 

They're not that large, expensive, or impractical to use at home.

 

There are many quality under 100$ steering wheels out there. Though there are more expensive ones like TSW wheels for PC's (Mine cost over 500 dollars).

[Atariboy]

"They're novelties, not true enhancements."

 

And that's nonsense too, at least when it applies to steering wheels. No one with a joystick or keyboard is going to be able to compete against someone such as me in something like Grand Prix Legends. They'd be lucky to be able to even complete a lap. Even if they are successful at it, they won't have half the fun someone would with a nice wheel and pedals. Its definately a enhancement if you've ever used one in a racing simulation.

[spacecadet]

Lately, Soul Calibur 2, Tekken, Street Fighter 3 and the new FZero are about the only games I can think of that have any arcade counterpart.  

 

I agree that arcades ain't what they used to be, but the above statement isn't really true - there are a lot more recent arcade translations than that, some of which you may not even know were originally arcade games. These include (in addition to your list):

 

DOA Ultimate (Xbox)

Ridge Racers (PSP) and Ridge Racer DS

Puyo Pop Fever (PSP, DS, PS2, GameCube)

DDR Max 2 (PS2)

Metal Slug Advance (GBA)

Guilty Gear X2 (PS2, Xbox)

Outrun 2 (Xbox)

Time Crisis: Crisis Zone (PS2)

 

That's not everything by any means, just off the top of my head. Obviously almost any fighting game, many racing games, many puzzle games, almost all light gun shooters, and most music games started out as arcade games. So there's still quite a bit.

[intvgene]

The DC really changed this for me. With the similarities between it and Sega's Naomi hardware, not only were we getting perfect translations, but most of the games were being released almost simultaneously in both markets (in Japan at least). It really changed things for me.

 

The Saturn and its 4 Meg cart was also a big difference. Those Capcom fighters were so sweet!

 

Having said all that, I've had friends who were counting frames of animation, and noticing the differences between the arcade and home versions. I'm not that much of a freak!

[Flojomojo]

"Arcade perfect" used to be the highest form of praise for a home system. I worshipped the Colecovision when I was 12 because of its beautiful renditions of the then-interesting arcade games. It was just amazing to be able to play these highend games in your living room, without quarters!

 

The thrill of emulation is finally wearing a bit thin for me, now that we have pretty much everything at our fingertips -- and it's been that way for about 10 years now. The 2600/7800/Colecovision arcade ports are a lot less interesting to me now that the commercial emulation collections and MAME have filled in that niche.

 

"Arcade perfect" is now sneered at by modern reviewers, as code for "shallow, short, not that interesting," in reviews of games like House of the Dead III and Silent Scope. They're right in a way, but I for one don't really enjoy the 60+ epics like Final Fantasy; I prefer the old rythms of the pay-to-play 1980s arcade.

[AncillaryDrone]

Want to see some fantastic arcade ports? Try some on the C-64. I was able to play Donkey Kong with all four levels years before MAME, and it made the Colecovision version look like crap. Gradius, Ms. Pac Man and Pooyan were really good ports too.

[Flojomojo]

Want to see some fantastic arcade ports?  Try some on the C-64.  I was able to play Donkey Kong with all four levels years before MAME, and it made the Colecovision version look like crap.  Gradius, Ms. Pac Man and Pooyan were really good ports too.

The DTV 30-in-1 C64 joystick has made me a Commodore believer. I don't care so much about DK and Ms. Pac anymore, since they're ubiquitious, but it's fun to delve into all the NEW (to me) games on that system.

[bjk7382]

Mr. Do! on the atari 8bit computers is near arcade perfect. The only difference is it is horizontal instaid of vertical.

[ATARIeric]

i really liked mortal kombat and nba jams for sega genesis, when i got those games i couldnt see myself droping quarters in those machines anymore. at the time,those 2 games for having at home saved me so much money

[keilbaca]

i really liked mortal kombat and nba jams for sega genesis,   when i got those games i couldnt see myself droping quarters in those machines anymore.  at the time,those 2 games for having at home saved me so much money

 

the reason why arcades are dying...

[Shannon]

No doubt about it the things that made arcades so popular was the better more expensive hardware. As that advantage has diminished so have the arcades.

 

It's much more fun to play a title at home, at our own convenience, with controls you know work (hopefully), etc etc.

 

I also used to get a big kick at analyzing how well a title compared to an arcade release. That is why I like playing all the different console versions. Just to see how they compare.

 

I still get to occasionally go to an arcade an play the jurassic park gun games with my son. So that is kinda fun.

[Classic Pac]

To me this arcade to home translation thing just boils down to this: How powerful was the Arcade machine meaning CPU speed and RAM/ROM vs. Home console/computer CPU and now video card. When it is equal or better on the home side of thingds you have a great translation, when the other side is worse as in most of those made for the early consoles/computers it was bad when the home side was worse than the arcade.

[Breakpack]

 

Well, since I used to work for Namco, I know for a fact that Namco uses the PS2 arcade hardware for Tekken now (used to be the PS1 arcade hardware until Tekken 4). Hence, the game will likely be exactly the same, with the exception that the home version will have extra stuff that the arcade version didn't have.

 

Why the poop you guys never ported Pac-Man Plus or Jr.Pac-Man to home consoles.....yarrrghhhh

 

 

*still huggs CPUWIZ*

[Shannon]

Jr. Pac-man....

 

A great under rated game..