The Best Version Of... Thread

[chopemon]

Not sure if anyone else would find this thread useful but I wanted a place to ask the assembled experts of BD about best versions of games.

This was inspired by reading a recent post about the different versions of Ikaruga. I had a sealed PAL GC copy I was about to finally open but then I read it was a bad version. So that got sold and I bought the PS4 version.

I'm currently doing this with my PS1 Capcom fighters as well. As a kid I was uneducated about region and version differences but now I'm selling off my PAL PS1 games and replacing them with either updated ports on modern consoles or with Japanese Dreamcast versions. I've just listed a couple of PAL DarkStalkers on eBay and will use the funds to buy the DC Vampire Chronicle. People are paying good money for PAL PS1 games at the moment so seems like a good time to make the switch.

With that in mind, I'm going to sell my PS1 Metal Slug X and either replace it with the much cheaper Japanese version or modern port. So my question is, what is the best version of Metal Slug X? I don't have a NG so it needs to be on PlayStation onwards. Is the ACA version on Switch good?

[Nu-Eclipse]

Neo•Geo ACA is emulated from the AES/MVS original.

Metal Slug X is 1:1 perfect, as are all Neo•Geo ACA titles.

[dataDave]

Get a MiSTer and never have to either compromise with cut-down ports or pay for software emulation ever again.

Things like the software emulation layer (1-2 frames of input latency), as well as non-integer resolution scaling, are the new 50Hz.

Some of those Dreamcast versions are worse than their Saturn counterparts (Vampire and SFZ3 instantly spring to mind). In many cases, you're better off with MAME/Retroarch.

[ZipZap]

The emulation on Arcade Archives/Neo Geo ACA is generally pretty solid, but a bit bare bones. On games I know quite well it's closer to the arcade than the PSX/Saturn collections (the Konami shoot 'em ups being a good example). It will add a couple of frames of input delay over the original hardware, but the earlier ports probably had that as well. Also the scaling options are so-so. On the newer Arcade Archives you can get an integer scale, on the earlier releases, I've found that you can get an integer scale on the Switch (but not PS4) by switching to 720p, probably not ideal! As dataDave says, MiSTer is definitely the best option.

Anything by on PS4/Switch by M2 is generally worth a look.

[Asura]

I know that the best version of Sonic Adventure is the modded PC version you can get on Steamworks.

It makes the game widescreen, makes the framerate much more consistent, the draw distance longer, and fixes many of the bugs introduced in the GameCube version.

[chopemon]

Cheers guys!

I'm not going with MiSTer at the moment as I'm not after a project. Just enjoying hitting go on consoles and not worrying about new cores etc.

[chipsgravy]

I find this topic fascinating, especially concerning Arcade titles. Is an emulated version of the game using the original ROM the best way to go? Probably for the purest version of the game. Or is it better at home to get the best port, possibly with more balanced difficulty and extra game modes? I flip wildly between the two. But often prefer playing the best home port.

With games designed for the home its a little bit easier, and I rarely buy any title on release now as later versions nearly always come with extra "quality of life" improvements as well as all the patches/DLC.

[Brad]

Bang on ^^^

The arcade experience is cool. If you 2 player street fighter for example then the actual arcade game is clearly the way to go but if you want to play Q Bert then a more forgiving home port is probably going to give you more fun

[SUMIRE]

Not to hijack the thread, but is there any point to MiSTer if you have a PC and just want to play arcade games? I get that it is obviously smaller and more specific, but from a just playing games point of view, is there any advantages?

[Brad]

Not to hijack the thread, but is there any point to MiSTer if you have a PC and just want to play arcade games? I get that it is obviously smaller and more specific, but from a just playing games point of view, is there any advantages?

It does a number of things better:

1. It is simulating all the hardware of the device vs emulating the functionality of the entire system.

In an emulator they know things like "when button A is pressed, the result is X". So, to emulate that they make it so that when you press A, X happens. Now, how soon should X happen after you press A? Well, they can measure it and emulate it so that it does it somewhere between EXACTLY the right time and CLOSE ENOUGH that no one will notice. This is done for every part of the emulator.

For an FPGA simulation they model the actual chip that take part in that chain. That might be an input device, a CPU and a GPU. They don't Make X happen when A is pressed; they make the input device exactly the same as it was in the original hardware, same for the CPU and gpu. After doing all that you can guarantee that X happens at exactly the right amount of time after A is pressed. If it doesn't then that means you didn't make one of the components correctly and you go and fix it.

The result is that once you've done the hardware everything just works 100%. If you find an outlier then, again, you've messed up the hardware simulation somwhere so it gets fixed.

2. You can output video exactly like it was on the original hardware (because of 1 above). So, if you want to hook up a compatible CRT to the analog outputs of the MiSTer you can have the exactly correct refresh rate. This of course requires suitable hardware. If you don't want to go to that trouble then a second video feed goes into something that can output a more normal video refresh rate and/or and HDMI output

3. You can have inputs that are super responsive (as responsive or more responsive than the original hardware). You are not beholden to the USB port scanning limitations of a PC/Raspberry Pi

The folk involved in making the MiSTer Cores will often de-lid the actual chips, put them under a microscope and then program the FPGA to have the same identical logic gates, with all the same connections. Note that when new chips are designed, they use FPGAs to design and implement and debug them. Once this is complete they then make real chips out of those designs; a literal, fixed interpretation of what is on the FPGA. That's how chips are designed and made. Simulating old machines in FPGA is the same thing but backwards.

Conclusion:
Now, you either care about the above or you don't. If you don't then a MiSTer is probably a waste of time AND money!

[Baseley09]

Not to hijack the thread, but is there any point to MiSTer if you have a PC and just want to play arcade games? I get that it is obviously smaller and more specific, but from a just playing games point of view, is there any advantages?

Nein. It's the most authentic emulation (ok, simulation), but mame is quick, easy, no specialised hardware and has a massive array of games.

[kryss]

This was inspired by reading a recent post about the different versions of Ikaruga. I had a sealed PAL GC copy I was about to finally open but then I read it was a bad version. So that got sold and I bought the PS4 version.

So, what is the best version of Ikaruga?
I have 3 regions of it for GC, the Switch version, and Steam.

[chopemon]

I can't find the post right now or remember who wrote it. It was recent so if anyone remembers, shout!

What I remember from the post is that DC is probably the best of the older consoles and the PAL GC is the worst. Of the modern versions the Switch has compressed audio and PC is the best. I went for PS4 as I almost never play PC games.

Still keeping the hope alive that I can achieve this dream find. https://mobile.twitter.com/retrospec...57478495604736

[Deuteros]

This thread is the 2003 version of the one you just started, @chopemon:

https://bordersdown.net/threads/11945-The-Definitive-Version

I was a lurker and wanting to post there made me register.

[kryss]

Wow, there was a lot of work there!