Battle of the Ports

[Team Andromeda]

Yes - they were not arcade-perfect on the MD, they were not 100% spot-on like you claim.

I've never said any Mega Drive port was Arcade perfect in this thread and I'll defy you to show otherwise; Maybe it's you that needs to read what people say

That's a fact, whether you want to acknowledge it or not. There were better ports, as shown by the X68000 versions. Simple, really.

Hence why I used the word 'almost'

[Team Andromeda]

1989/1990, the most advanced games that most people were exposed to were NES titles, so Altered Beast must have looked really special.

It did back in 88 and was way above and beyond what system like Master System could handle and very close to the Arcade game and that's all one could ask for at a system launch really . Much like R-Type wasn't quite perfect on the PC-Eng, but it was still lightyears ahead of what system like the Master System or NES could handle and played well

Look at how basic Golden Axe looks compared with, say, Streets of Rage 2.

Or just look at the difference between SOR and SOR 2 and see what getting used to the Hardware and having a much bigger Ram allowance can do for a game from the same Team

[Nu-Eclipse]

SEGA ports of Strider, Final Fight , Ghost N Ghouls , Mercs were also spot on

Nope, it's definitely you who needs to learn the art of comprehension.

And self-awareness on this evidence.

[Team Andromeda]

Nope, it's definitely you who needs to learn the art of comprehension.

And self-awareness on this evidence.

That's not Arcade perfect . I meant Spot on in terms of gameplay and in that area Strider and Ghost N Ghouls were really spot on

[monel]

I for one like Altered Beast, I'm a fan of games where you basically walk right punching stuff like this - The Kung Fu, Last Battle/FOTNS, Golden Fighter. Simple needs for simple minds.

I like simple games too, and my mind is quite simple.. For a walking and smacking people up game I liked Dragon Ninja a lot more at that time. Altered Beast, at least on the MD, has no impact or feeling when you dispatch an enemy. Not to me, at least. I understand people saying above that it would have looked impressive for a home gaming system when the game was first released, but by the time the MD was released over here there were loads of better titles. My issue is with it being a crap bundled game at that time, and also I don't like it as a game (I see now that it has some fans).

[usman]

I like simple games too, and my mind is quite simple.. For a walking and smacking people up game I liked Dragon Ninja a lot more at that time. Altered Beast, at least on the MD, has no impact or feeling when you dispatch an enemy. Not to me, at least. I understand people saying above that it would have looked impressive for a home gaming system when the game was first released, but by the time the MD was released over here there were loads of better titles. My issue is with it being a crap bundled game at that time, and also I don't like it as a game (I see now that it has some fans).

Were you a grandfather when the game released? Most of us were kids, no one cared about collision detection precision. In 1989, game looked amazing and played well enough for a child whose last point of reference was the NES or SMS.

In comparison even to a child the SMS one was very poor. One can rightfully savage that one.

The MD one was fine for its time, who it was aimed at, and the market. Sure it wasn't the best pack-in but Sonic came along and righted all that soon enough, didn't it.

[monel]

Were you a grandfather when the game released? Most of us were kids, no one cared about collision detection precision. In 1989, game looked amazing and played well enough for a child whose last point of reference was the NES or SMS. In comparison even to a child the SMS one was very poor. One can rightfully savage that one. The MD one was fine for its time, who it was aimed at, and the market. Sure it wasn't the best pack-in but Sonic came along and righted all that soon enough, didn't it.

Um no, I was a kid. But playing Super Shinobi or something at the same time showed Altered Beast wasn't very good. Don't really understand the hostility or sarcasm, everything I wrote was meant to be in good humour. I guess it's hard to detect when written down.

[usman]

Discerning child I suppose. Shinobi was too hard for me and a ninja game also. Changing into mythological beasts was a new thing. 'Rise from your grave' had a ring to it. I loved it all anyway. No doubt it is a poor port, unplayable now. There were much better games, I just think Altered Beast was good enough.

There was no hostility or sarcasm, you seem sensitive.

[Yakumo]

I owned Altered Beast and played it solid for a whole month since that was the only game I owned. Then came Super Shinobi. man, I soon found out how crappy Altered Beast was then. As conversions go, the Mega Drive Altered Beast is pretty good for such an early game on a new system. The problem is that the arcade original isn't a very good game either to be honest.

As for people saying X68000 version of games are better than Mega Drive versions, so what? A Hyper car is a million times better than my Subaru but that doesn't make my Subaru crap. It's all about cost and performance. The X68000 cost an awful lot so of course it was a lot more powerful and could do closer or many a time near arcade perfect ports. The Mega Drive was half the price so of course you get less quality. Not half the quality mind you but still less.

For it's time, the amount of RAM available in the early days of MD games and the power of the system it's running on, Mega Drive Golden Axe is a very good attempt. It's miles ahead of the Amiga in terms of sound, graphics and defiantly playability. It may not have every section of the arcade but I can sure live with those cuts. Had the game been released on a 16mbit cart it probably world have been near arcade perfect apart from character sizes IMO.

[sj33]

People should also bear in mind that larger cartridge sizes became more economically viable towards the latter end of the console's life. Super Street Fighter II used a 24Mbit cartridge, but this would have been completely unrealistic in 1990 or 1991.

[nakamura]

Super SF2 was 40mbit, hence it having more animation than the 32mbit SNES game.

[Team Andromeda]

As for people saying X68000 version of games are better than Mega Drive versions, so what? A Hyper car is a million times better than my Subaru but that doesn't make my Subaru crap. It's all about cost and performance. The X68000 cost an awful lot so of course it was a lot more powerful and could do closer or many a time near arcade perfect ports. The Mega Drive was half the price so of course you get less quality. Not half the quality mind you but still less.

Agreed .

I owned Altered Beast and played it solid for a whole month since that was the only game I owned. Then came Super Shinobi. man, I soon found out how crappy Altered Beast was then. As conversions go, the Mega Drive Altered Beast is pretty good for such an early game on a new system. The problem is that the arcade original isn't a very good game either to be honest.

As an Arcade port (of what it should really and only be based on) It was very good and close port and much better than other versions of the game on most rival consoles . Also back in that time corps didn't really bundle free games with consoles and most certainly not one of the consoles best titles (that changed with Sonic)

Changing into mythological beasts was a new thing. 'Rise from your grave' had a ring to it. I loved it all anyway.

I though the game was great back in the day . Simple Arcade fun with a nice 2 player

[usman]

Super SF2 was 40mbit, hence it having more animation than the 32mbit SNES game.

Do you know how large UMK3 was? I remember it coming out tail-end of Genesis' life for $99.99 (CAD) when by then the console basic set was the same price. Also VR but I know that had the SVP.

[Nu-Eclipse]

As for people saying X68000 version of games are better than Mega Drive versions, so what?

Is this some kind of joke?

Just so I've got this straight: You produce this thread, and YouTube videos, dedicated to comparing ports of classic games across several different platforms. Only for the above to be your response when people actually go and compare said versions of classic games on different formats?

[Yakumo]

Obviously you don't understand my point behind what I said. What I wanted to say was you can't really boast about something being better than something else if one is technologically more advanced. It's obvious it would be better.

Now saying Forgotten Worlds on the PC Engine craps all over the Mega Drive version is fine since those consoles while not the same in power terms are pretty close and did cost about the same. The X68000 was vastly more powerful than a Mega Drive and cost 10 times as much. So it's obvious X68000 versions are going to be better or at least should be better. Banging on about that in order to prove some petty point is meaningless since it's not a big deal. It's to be expected. One the flip side, if a Mega drive versions was better than the X68000 version then that would be something.

Anyway, who gives a ****? They're only games. It's all fun in the end to see what system can do what. That's why I make the videos. Personally I don't care which system is best. I just like to see how different systems handle the same game.