Insanely Downgraded Ports Thread (feat. SF2 on Commodore 64)

[TrueReligion]

Perfect Dark (GBC)

..one of the shittiest games I've ever played.

[Taichu]

I have that game with SFII, Mega Man 1 and 3.... Good times on my old 486.

I was just going to post this!

http://www.mobygames.com/game/dos/me...meShotId,5575/
http://www.mobygames.com/game/dos/me...meShotId,5577/
http://www.mobygames.com/game/dos/me...meShotId,5576/

I got this as a stocking stuffer for Christmas when I was a kid. Even then, as a Mega Man fan, I knew this game was shit. There were three bosses, and the controls were terrible. Mega Man himself looked like a fat Chinese Tron wannabe. The game was also pretty impossible to beat IIRC, though I think I did manage to get to Dr. Wily. I remember one level with these robot frogs that you just couldn't hit with your buster.

I don't really know if this is classified as a port or not. They gave it the name Mega Man, but used totally different bosses. Some of the enemies were the same.

Edit: Here's a youtube link. http://youtube.com/watch?v=MdgcA_6q6Ko

[Davidion]

King of Fighters on the NES.

Jesus christ...

http://youtube.com/watch?v=L9ViZO02iV8

[Endow]

Viruta Fighter 2 for Genesis. No 3D? No problem.

To this day I still want to play that game.Having obsessed over VF2 on the Saturn for so long I'm sure I'd have one heck of a surprise though...

-edit, oh and Game Gear Panzer Dragoon. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wy7E_bj-oik"

That's not actually a port of PD1 since the levels bosses and dragons are different.

[camineet]

Altered Beast

Arcade


Amiga


Master System


Genesis


Famicom


P.C. Engine


IBM PC - DOS


C64


MSX


I wanted to start off with the version of the game that first got me comparing arcade-to-home ports / translations / conversions and adaptions. the MEGADRIVE / GENESIS Altered Beast.


now although the Genesis version was hardly downgraded compared to the other games in this thread, it is the game that got me started compaand back in the day. I noticed the difference right away in the Genesis version. I never felt so much disappointment, because back in '89 I had no idea or concept that home versions of arcade games were downgraded. To me, a game was a game, and I didn't know there would be differences since I was pretty new to gaming then. it was only my 2nd year of having my own videogames at home. Before I saw the Genesis versions of various games in motion, I bought into Sega's marketing; "play games that look, sound and play exactly like they do in the arcade"

if you look at the Arcade and Genesis screens, they almost do look exact. but if you were an Altered Beast freak like me, you could notice really significant differences in graphics, audio and gameplay pacing/difficulty.

[Father_Brain]

Perfect Dark (GBC) ..one of the shittiest games I've ever played.

It may have been shitty, but this thread is about ports, not spin-offs.

My votes:

Double Dragon for 2600


Diablo for the original Game Boy (doesn't quite count, since all that was completed was a demo where you can move a character around a small isometric level)

[Grifter]

MK1 and MK2 on the Game Gear were actually kind of good and remotely playable. I remember getting MK3 on the Game Boy and it was literally the worst thing I had ever played in my life. I thought it had the opportunity to be good after KI GB turned out passable, but noooooooo.

I owned a scary amount of these fighter downports, despites playing them in the arcades all the time. I recall GG MK was hilarious to my friends cuz when you deplete their life bar, they do the stun animation, pause, THEN collapse to the floor.

Also enjoyed the NES SF2 (pirate?) due to the bizarre juggling that was possible. Basically downgraded SF2 with MK style juggles available.

[Bluemercury]

I thought deus-ex for ps2 was a good port?i've heard it was better in some regards.....

[Cruzader]

I thought deus-ex for ps2 was a good port?i've heard it was better in some regards.....

I thought the same thing...I liked it alot!!!

Also should i get the PC version?? Any benefits?

[NekoFever]

Shenmue for Saturn

For some reason I'm glad that it was moved to the Dreamcast.

[Bluemercury]

I thought the same thing...I liked it alot!!! Also should i get the PC version?? Any benefits?

i was searching for info for the ps2 version and i came into this:

http://www.gamespot.com/news/2815816...ren%20robinett


edit: oh you already played the ps2 one, well the only thing i can think its definetely better its the interface of course.....mouse and keyboard....

[XiaNaphryz]

Seeing as how this is the downgrade thread, are "downgrade" jokes still ban-worthy? I remember that whole ruckus a little while ago...

[Eiji]

X-Men vs. Street Fighter PSOne

X-Men Children of the Atom is MUCH worse on the PSOne.

[jetjevons]

Duke3d - Saturn

WTF are you talking about. That was an incredible port.

[koam]

Killer Instinct on SNES


Not enough? How about Killer Instinct GB?

[TekunoRobby]

I used to play games on my TI-92 back in highschool during science (was always more of a math guy). There were actually quite a few good games and it was fun coding your own stuff in.

The most impressive port I played was probably Street Fighter 2:



Although not nearly as impressive, here's a port of Link's Awakening for the TI-89:

[Barry Lightning]

MK1 and MK2 on the Game Gear were actually kind of good and remotely playable.

ha, it really was. it had most of the combos. it was a very faithful recreation.

i remember my pc version of mk2 was off the chains tho. this was back in the dos era, of course. getting the thing to work with my gravis pad was a pain in the ass initially. i remember whoever published the game had to send me a new driver on a 3.5 floppy to fix the sound or something because companies were not offering downloable drivers at the time.

but once i patched the game, it was arcade perfect. especially if you had a soundblaster!! do YOU have a soundblaster??! omg!!!

speaking of which, did anyone have THIS??

[Rlan]

Dragons Lair 1 and 2 on the C64. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mcNYUAU1dz4 Dragons Lair 2 was actually pretty good on C64 and it had a great sound track (thanks Mr Hubbard again!)

I think I recall an Angry Video game nerd [or something like that] with the NES game, which was just as rediculous, or more.

[plagiarize]

I'm gonna have to go with the 2600 version of Double Dragon, Alex.

at least it's colour.

the zx spectrum version of double dragon was black and white as i recall. couldn't find any images.

[TekunoRobby]

I was just going to post this! http://www.mobygames.com/game/dos/me...meShotId,5575/ http://www.mobygames.com/game/dos/me...meShotId,5577/ http://www.mobygames.com/game/dos/me...meShotId,5576/ I got this as a stocking stuffer for Christmas when I was a kid. Even then, as a Mega Man fan, I knew this game was shit. There were three bosses, and the controls were terrible. Mega Man himself looked like a fat Chinese Tron wannabe. The game was also pretty impossible to beat IIRC, though I think I did manage to get to Dr. Wily. I remember one level with these robot frogs that you just couldn't hit with your buster. I don't really know if this is classified as a port or not. They gave it the name Mega Man, but used totally different bosses. Some of the enemies were the same. Edit: Here's a youtube link. http://youtube.com/watch?v=MdgcA_6q6Ko

Here's a nice writeup from the Mega Man Home Page.

http://www.mmhp.net/GameHints/MM1PC.html
http://www.mmhp.net/GameHints/MM3PC.html

I also owned Ninja Gaiden and Street Fighter II, all from Hi Tech Expressions. I bought all of them in some sort of shit package of horror back in 1993.

[AstroLad]

Altered Beast arcade really was a gorgeous game. Awful gameplay, but I can excuse my 12-year-old self for being hyped for the Genesis port.

[Kobun Heat]

Tekuno: Holy penis. All we ever had for our TI-85 was Snake and Tetris.

Also, the thing about SFI on the PC was that it was, as stated by several other unfortunate souls above, unplayably bad. I mean, the game could have looked like it did and still played okay, but this didn't. As soon as you shot a fireball, the entire screen froze because the game had to spend all of its power moving the fireball across the screen at a snail's pace.

Trying to engage the enemy with punches and kicks resulted in a clusterfuck of sprites that inevitably led to your death in one second. Literally the only way to win was just to repeatedly do the fireball motion and pray to God that one or two actually came out. These would do like 50% damage. Once you got that down, it was just a matter of playing over and over again until you get all the way through, which was like hitting the lottery.

[bengraven]

I thought the same thing...I liked it alot!!! Also should i get the PC version?? Any benefits?

Modding support and multiplayer with t he Game of the Year version.

Other than that, it's definitely a passable game. It's not nearly as much a downgrade (and in some aspects, it's an upgrade) as some of these games.

[Rocksteady33]

Dragon's Lair on Game Boy Color!

[thetrin]

Although not nearly as impressive, here's a port of Link's Awakening for the TI-89:

Having LA in math class would have been bloody incredible. WOW.

[Father_Brain]

Dragon's Lair on Game Boy Color!

By all accounts, that was an amazingly faithful port considering GBC's technical and storage constraints. Not sure why you're posting it here.

[jiji]

I spent way too much time on MK1 GB and Commando for PC (I think it was a CGA port of the C64 version). Qix for GB runs at about half the speed (or less) of the arcade version.

Broken Sword for GBA actually played well, but it completely massacred the backgrounds with that low resolution and tons of compression artifacts.

The SMS/GG versions of lots of Sega arcade games are included on the Sega Ages 2500 discs, and they're always good for a larf. Space Harrier 3D on SMS is actually...3D, though!

Has anybody played the Game.com version of Symphony of the Night? YouTube's coming up empty.

Here's RE2 for the Game.com: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jq3G4nssRL0

[Galactic Fork]

Maybe not on the same scale as SF2 for the C64, buuut the TMNT arcade game for the nes was a pretty big downgrade. It was still fun, even had a new level, but the turtles were pretty much one solid color and didn't have the smooth animations the arcade games had.

[Lemming_JRS]

Let's not forget the abomination that was Intellivision Donkey Kong:




From the Blue Sky Rangers website:

FUN FACT: When the programmers at Mattel Electronics saw the Intellivision version of Donkey Kong, they were shocked at how bad it was. They actually suspected a conspiracy: that Coleco released an awful version for Intellivision so that the ColecoVision version - and the ColecoVision itself - would look that much better. Far more likely it was the result of a rushed development schedule and having no experienced Intellivision programmers on staff. But whatever the reason, the programmers (specifically Bill Fisher, Steve Roney, Mark Urbaniec and Keith Robinson) begged management for the opportunity to program their own version of Donkey Kong - not for release, obviously, but to demonstrate for the press what Intellivision could do when programmed properly. They were confident they could put together a version more faithful in feel and gameplay to the original arcade game than even the ColecoVision version. Management said no, feeling the programmers' time could be better spent.

[Meatwad]

Symphony of the night Game.com

http://www.vgmuseum.com/mrp/2/canceled-page3.htm

[AstroLad]

Has anybody played the Game.com version of Symphony of the Night? YouTube's coming up empty.

Game.com version of SOTN never came out. Can't believe I forget it as I bring it up any opportunity I get.

[Project Midway]

Maybe not the worst but pretty awful anyway: Outrun on Commodore 64: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=agJVL0UAQ9s

Music is kinda cool, have to admit that. btw, here's a nice remix of racing games on C64: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mseNd...elated&search=

Memories... =)

[Project Midway]

oh I have to add few more racing game stinkers on C64:

Chase HQ
Cisco Heat
Hard Drivin'
Super Hangon :(
WEC Le Mans

[Gary Whitta]

Just to clarify, the 64 version of Commando was great, and had a couple of awesome Hubbard tunes.

But it wasn't as good as the unofficial rip-off WHO DARES WINS starring Tommy Atkins.

[Hitler Stole My Potato]

Pretty much every arcade port from 1980 onward on the 2600 was god awful. Even by the incredibly low standards that we had at the time, we still knew they were shit. It was a miracle if you could have a game on the 2600 that even remotely resembled its arcade counterpart.

[Threi]

HL2 Xbox

[egocrata]

Killer Instinct on SNES Not enough? How about Killer Instinct GB?

Actually, I play the shit out of the SNES version. Maybe it was not 100% faithful, but it was a pretty damn good game, all things considered.

[plagiarize]

outrun on the zx spectrum...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxJDq...elated&search=

smoother than the commodore 64 one, but looks worse. it's hard not to laugh at the speed the car is supposedly going at in the bottom left corner.

[Forgotten Ancient]

Oh, pfft ... DUH-

Winnar.

I still played the shit out of that game until pacman jr. came out on the 2600. That one actually was decent and had huge, scrolling levels (if my memory serves me)

[Xav]

Yeah I know it's not a port but I couldn't resist.

[jaypah]

Tekuno: Holy penis. All we ever had for our TI-85 was Snake and Tetris. Also, the thing about SFI on the PC was that it was, as stated by several other unfortunate souls above, unplayably bad. I mean, the game could have looked like it did and still played okay, but this didn't. As soon as you shot a fireball, the entire screen froze because the game had to spend all of its power moving the fireball across the screen at a snail's pace. Trying to engage the enemy with punches and kicks resulted in a clusterfuck of sprites that inevitably led to your death in one second. Literally the only way to win was just to repeatedly do the fireball motion and pray to God that one or two actually came out. These would do like 50% damage. Once you got that down, it was just a matter of playing over and over again until you get all the way through, which was like hitting the lottery.

lol, yes sir. down, right, down, right, down, right. either a sporadic barley noticeable fireball would come out or a dragon punch that went nowhere. actually i had more luck pulling out dragon punches than fireballs.

[pCeSlAyEr]

Game.com version of SOTN never came out. Can't believe I forget it as I bring it up any opportunity I get.

that looks pretty damn awesome

[vas_a_morir]

that looks pretty damn awesome

Agree. DO WANT.

[Dr. Zoidberg]

What about Daytona USA on the Saturn? The graphics were utterly horrible...

But it was playable and the music MORE than made up for the graphics. And you can rip the soundtrack right off those Saturn discs so the OST was just a PC away.

[Talamius]

SF2-wise, there were two PC versions I remember. The first was this shitty port of the SNES version by Capcom that shipped with a VHS copy of the movie (WOOHOO!). The second one was an amazing almost 100%-perfect port of SSF2T by Eurocom with an INCREDIBLE remixed CD score.

I had the remixed SSF2T. That was an awesome port but I really didn't have a good pad for it :/

[Rocksteady33]

By all accounts, that was an amazingly faithful port considering GBC's technical and storage constraints. Not sure why you're posting it here.

Oop, I just thought the thread was about games being ported to insanely inferior hardware. It was incredibly faithful, which is why I'm impressed they pulled it off on the GBC.

[radjago]

To this day I still want to play that game.Having obsessed over VF2 on the Saturn for so long I'm sure I'd have one heck of a surprise though...

It's available on the Sega Genesis collection for PS2/PSP and I believe it's available for Virtual Console as well. As a 2D fighter, it wasn't that bad, but it didn't compare the intricately balanced mechanics of the arcade version.

[RSP]

I was always so damn excited to play SFII on my SNES after I went to the arcades. Somehow it didn't feel the same.

Heck, I was 12 years old by that time, and didn't have any internets.

[Odrion]

not a port, but they could have made a psx port and it would still be good

Is this a remake of the original game, or is it Ghost Babel and they never bothered putting that on the box?

Also, the Gameboy (and Gameboy Color) was the home of incredibly shitty ports. It seemed like whenever a popular game was released the developers tried to cash in some more by teaching their dogs how to program in basic and having them make shitty handheld versions.

[ShowDog]

SFA3 - PS1 Quake 2 - PS1 Duke3d - Saturn Doom - Saturn

Are you crazy?! Duke 3d on Saturn was the best of the 32/64 bit ports (it even featured online play), and Quake 2 and SFA3 on PS1 both pushed the limits of what that system was capable of and were huge improvements from previous games in the series (Saturn Quake was awful, and SFA2 on PS1 was bad as well).

I thought maybe you were listing good games until I saw you grouped these three games with the awful Saturn port of Doom... what were you thinking?