Play the Original, I'd rather play the port...

[MD]

Before games became arcade perfect, you had a port from a console / computer / arcade to console / computer. Sometimes they were really bad but other times they had written it in such a way that it played better then the original game. Do you play and games on other machines which you think are better then on the original machine?

I struggle to think of any, but...

Wrestle War - Megadrive. It's a fairly poor wrestling game, but it is still fun and if I want to waste 15 minutes of my life then I put this on and start button tapping. It feels better then the arcade if just because it's simpler and the graphics don't do anything complex, just a nice simple pick up and play game.

Outrunners - Megadrive. The port on the MD isn't wonderful, but it plays in the same fun way that Outrunners did on the arcade but it feels just a little better. The music sounds better then the arcade too and the extras of the Virtua Racing car adds a bit of replay value to the game.

Populous - Megadrive. Let's face it the Megadrive is better then the Amiga when it comes to the graphics hardware and Populous on the Megadrive is very polished and plays well even with a joypad.

Fantasy Zone - Master System. An excellent conversion of the Arcade game, although what makes this game better is the backgrounds disappearing when you fight the bosses, this means that the backgrounds don't get in the way of the bullets.

Sim City - SFC. The Macintosh version was simple, the Super Famicom version has the Nintendo magic and is a lot more fun to play.

[Commander Marklar]

Chase HQ on the Speccy (128k)

[MD]

Nice little joke there. :P Although saying that I'd rather play the Speccy version then the Arcade / Saturn version...

[Firsty]

Bare Knuckle. Better on Megadrive tbh. Although has anyone ever actually seen the arcade cab?

[Mayhem]

Spy Hunter on the C64. Arcade is rather unplayable a lot of the time with constant shifting and speed adjustment needed to avoid dying every 5 seconds. C64 version is a lot better balanced and plays so much better for it.

[Fastware]

Bare Knuckle. Better on Megadrive tbh. Although has anyone ever actually seen the arcade cab?

No, It was written for the Megadrive. (Yes, I'm aware of the Megaplay system)

[Il Postino]

Originally Posted by MD
Sim City - SFC. The Macintosh version was simple, the Super Famicom version has the Nintendo magic and is a lot more fun to play.

Super Famicom Sim City was/is a lovely version of the game.

I would also add to the list, Prince of Persia - Super Famicom (again).
Improved visuals, nice music, extra levels and a superior control system, made this the best (in my opinion) version of the game.

[Firsty]

Funny, I'd heard of an arcade version that was released about 2 years before the MD version. Prolly been lied to again :/

[Molloy]

Wonderboy 3: Monster Lair for the Mega Drive is a fantastic game unlike the System 16 original which was pretty damn cheap. The graphics and animation suffer alot but they take out all the rubbish levels and totally rebalance the bosses (with 3 genuinely different difficulty levels with rearranged gameplay and enemies). I love the tunes as well. It's strange.. I like the MD soundchip alot even though its famous for being very poor. It had a nice raw punchy quality.

I think that SoR was a System 18 arcade game released in 1989. I haven't ever seen it though. SoR1 was released for the Mega Drive in 1991.

[Fastware]

Absolutley not at all.

http://www.system16.com/sega/hrdw_system18.html

[Ady]

Sly Spy Secret Agent on the C64 is better than the arcade (even with all the loading). It certainly has much better music, too.

Oh and whoever thinks the Megadrive had a poor sound chip obviously never played any of the Sonic or Streets of Rage games or Revenge of Shinobi (it's weird to think we now have phones that sound like the MD, too).

The Megadrive was certainly rubbish at digitised speech, though...

[Jakeway]

Doom II

[Tom Salter]

PSX Doom is the best version ever.

[C']

Soul Calibur on the DC.

Namco changed so much from the arcade to Dreamcast port that they can barely be considered the same game.

All characters (especially the ones that were time released in the arcades) have completely reworked movesets and play significantly differently.

Add in vastly superior visuals, new stages and the return of Cervantes (absent from the arcade version) and you have transformed what was a pretty good arcade fighter, into one of the greatest beat em ups ever to grace any format.

[Lyle]

Some Konami ports are better than their arcade counterparts IMO. Salamander (Famicom & PC Engine versions), Contra or Green Beret (Famicom)...