Battle of the Ports

[samanosuke]

Mean Machines couldn't have really said anything less about the SFC port back then. The magazine was obsessed with SF2 and was suckered in by the SFC hype machine. C&VG was much the same.

Let's face it - we all were. I can't recall a single bigger milestone in gaming than SF2. Raised the bar in so many ways.

[Grapple Convoy]

Mags had really different definitions of "arcade perfect" back in the 90s. For some, it was pixel-perfect (which is really what it's supposed to mean) whereas others adopted the idea that home consoles were inherently weaker (apart from the NeoGeo) and a game was "arcade perfect" if it replicated the experience to the point where the port played like the original and could be considered a very good game.

Yeah, I pretty much agree with that assessment. If you came from a background of playing the ropey arcade 'conversions' on the ZX Spectrum or Amiga,* or even the 8-bit consoles, in 1992 home conversions like Street Fighter II really did seem impossibly accurate to the arcade machines, certainly in terms of how it controlled and played. We know better now of course.

* I'll admit that some arcade conversions on the Amiga were pretty decent, mostly those of 'cutesy' Japanese games like New Zealand Story or Rodland, but most were awful, and certainly technically lacking by the time the 16-bit consoles had arrived in the western world.

[samanosuke]

Yeah, I pretty much agree with that assessment. If you came from a background of playing the ropey arcade 'conversions' on the ZX Spectrum or Amiga,* or even the 8-bit consoles, in 1992 home conversions like Street Fighter II really did seem impossibly accurate to the arcade machines, certainly in terms of how it controlled and played. We know better now of course.

* I'll admit that some arcade conversions on the Amiga were pretty decent, mostly those of 'cutesy' Japanese games like New Zealand Story or Rodland, but most were awful, and certainly technically lacking by the time the 16-bit consoles had arrived in the western world.

I think we have to think contextually; back then the NeoGeo and even moreso the X68k were mythical beasts that nobody had ever seen, never mind played. Close god-damnit to the arcade was seen as arcade perfect, and given the limitations of mainstream console hardware, arcade perfection would have been close to impossible unless, say, an out-dated, mid-eighties coin-op was converted to a 16-bit machine.

When I look at arcade perfect ports of SF2 or Outrun on the Sega Saturn I am not so impressed as the hardware specs of the console far exceed those of the original arcade boards so in my mind these ports should bloody well be perfect. I am far more impressed by the SF2 conversions on SNES, PCE and MD as despite not being arcade perfect, I understand the limitations the developers had to work with and appreciate the efforts made in overcoming these. Golden Axe and Strider for MD, Final Fight for Mega CD, Gradius 3 for the SNES, R-Type on the PCE... These are conversions I saw as "perfect" BITD and they retain enough of the original versions to still make them worthwhile today.

[Leon Retro]

I am far more impressed by the SF2 conversions on SNES, PCE and MD as despite not being arcade perfect, I understand the limitations the developers had to work with and appreciate the efforts made in overcoming these. Golden Axe and Strider for MD, Final Fight for Mega CD, Gradius 3 for the SNES, R-Type on the PCE... These are conversions I saw as "perfect" BITD and they retain enough of the original versions to still make them worthwhile today.

Yeah, it's all about 'great conversions' rather than 'arcade perfect' conversions. If a game looked close to the arcade and played really well, people got very excited. No one expected perfection; they just appreciated good ports that gave you an arcade look and feel at home on cheapish consoles.

Gradius 3 on the SFC suffers from severe slowdown( the dev wasn't used to programming the machine ) but the graphics and sound are excellent, so you do get that impressive arcade quality experience, despite the slowdown issue. People could have said it was "rubbish" because of the slowdown, but most people just focused on the good points, and they were impressive.

[Yakumo]

All new Battle of the Ports out now on YouTube

Super Street Fighter II

I'll be updating the official site too with two more videos over the weekend.

[jonathan_ingram]

I have a funny feeling this will shatter my fond memories of playing the 3do version with a Capcom soldier/fighting pad (hey I was young!)

[Yakumo]

Nope because the 3DO game was Super Street Fighter II X / Turbo. Thi svideo is only for Super Street Fighter II.

Your dreams are safe

[QualityChimp]

Thanks again, Yakumo, I love these things!

[Yakumo]

No worries. I love making them too. It's fun to see the difference between all the versions of the same game.

[Baseley09]

Cool, Samurai Showdown might be a fun one to do

[SUMIRE]

Yeah, the Saturn version is impressive, but of course came out long after the other versions, so it should be better. I also had the 3DO street fighter, which I remember being pretty impressive, the music being the best of all versions.

[lettuce]

Wasnt the aspect ratio all cocked up on the 3DO version?

[Yakumo]

Some things were wrong with it. I remember back in the day I noticed the way the floor scrolls was wrong. I mean so wrong it was the first thing I noticed.

[Baseley09]

From my recollection it runs in a window (maybe only on PAL) and has zero parallax scrolling.

Otherwise is still pretty gnarly.

[Yakumo]

New Battle of the Ports - Vigilante

The official site is also being updated as I right this. - http://www.segagagadomain.com/botp/botp-menu1.htm