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[Romulus]

I'll start


DOOM SNES

Minimum specs for PC were 66mhz CPU and 8mb of RAM
SNES(FX2) was only 21mhz and 128KB of RAM for gaming lol

It included more levels, monsters, sound effects, a bigger screen, and better music than the 32x version. It actually has a more faithful PC map conversation than all the ports of that time. The framerate and resolution definitely suffered, but considering the specs it was insane.






From the developer Randy Linden

The development was challenging for a few reasons, notably there were no development systems for the SuperFX chip at the time. I wrote a complete set of tools — assembler, linker and debugger — before I could even start on the game itself.
The development hardware was a hacked-up StarFox cartridge (because it included the SuperFX chip) and a modified pair of game controllers that were plugged into both SNES ports and connected to the Amiga’s parallel port. A serial protocol was used to communicate between the two for downloading code, setting breakpoints, inspecting memory, etc.

As if all that wasn't impressive enough, when asked if there were features which Randy wanted to include but couldn't get working on the SNES he said:

Sure! More levels for starters — Unfortunately, the game used the largest capacity ROM available and filled it almost completely. I vaguely recall there were roughly 16 bytes free, so there wasn’t any more space available anyway!
However, I did manage to include support for the SuperScope, Mouse and XBand modem! Yes, you could actually play against someone online!

 

[ArtemisClydeFrog]

I want to know who's ambitious idea it was for the ports of FF8, 9, maybe 7 I can't remember to have cheats right in the pause menu or right on the controller? That shit was a terrible idea.

 

[Mr Hyde]

The Witcher 3 for Nintendo Switch. It's the most impressive I've ever seen.

 

[The Fartist]

not really a port but still:

 

[Romulus]

The Witcher 3 for Nintendo Switch. It's the most impressive I've ever seen.

I agree it took a lot of work. We live in time now with scalable systems that when downgraded enough, almost anything will run. Games like Doom weren't like that and many times needed to be completely rewritten to run and it was ridiculous on very exotic hardware that wasn't friendly at all.

 

[Azelover]

not really a port but still:

That takes the cake!

There was a port of RE2 for the GBA too. It's seriously downgraded, but works.

 

[captainraincoat]

Ark on Switch


I also remember getting this as a Birthday Gift and wondering why they even bothered...2 fucking buttons

 

[Mr Hyde]

I agree it took a lot of work. We live in time now with scalable systems that when downgraded enough, almost anything will run. Games like Doom weren't like that and many times needed to be completely rewritten to run and it was ridiculous on very exotic hardware.

Well, in that case I would say Resident Evil 2 on the N64.

 

[junguler]

out of the games i have played i think gtav on ps3 is the most impressive i have seen.

 

[molasar]

A port of Killer Instinct arcade (1994) on SNES and GB.

 

[Husky]

Xenoblade Chronicles 3D on that li'l portable... hah. Nuts. Looks fuckin rad in 3D too.

 

[Avallon]

Cyberpunk 2077 for PS4 and Xbox One seems pretty impossible.

 

[Futurematic]

Super Mario Bros. 3 to PCs of the time by id was insane, that smooth scrolling damn. It didn’t release I admit, but the prototype shows how close IFD got… but also that even those wizards couldn’t actually nail it.

 

[S73v3]

Not a technical marvel perhaps, but Starcraft on n64 was a real fun time.

 

[Orta]

Saturn Quake.

 

[Kenpachii]

While its not a port but still its impressive.

pokemon red and blue.

Entire pokemon world on a gameboy.

 

[Cravis]

Resident Evil 2 on the Nintendo 64.

 

[AeonGaidenRaiden]

 

[Quasicat]

Dragon’s Lair on the Game Boy Color. I got it for Christmas one year and I was never really good at it, but it was impressive how they got it all into a handheld cartridge.

 

[01011001]

Alone in the Dark 4 in GBC was pretty impressive.

Asterix & Obelix on GBA was crazy to see as well, a 3D platformer on that thing that actually kinda works is pretty hard core.

 

[Jimmy_liv]

Street fighter 2 on the Amiga. You only had one button instead of 6!
It was never going to work and that's before you tackled disk swapping and a poor 16 colour palette.

 

[crozier]

They did a damn good job porting Doom 3 to the original XBox.

 

[Romulus]

They did a damn good job porting Doom 3 to the original XBox.

Half Life 2 as well. The pc minimum specs were way above the xbox and they didn't cut any content.

 

[Cattlyst]

Quake 2 on the original PlayStation always impressed me. It had split screen multi player too if I recall. Obviously needed a multitap but still quite a feat.

 

[fart town usa]

That takes the cake!

There was a port of RE2 for the GBA too. It's seriously downgraded, but works.

I think the RE2 GBA is just a proof-of-concept from a random studio. RE2 was on the Game.com though. I actually played through the whole thing. Impressive in that it actually exists but not a good game by any means.

My choice is RE2 on the N64, everyone already knows at this point but still worth mentioning.

 

[Agent X]

There are some great portable games that come to mind.

The Lynx had some very impressive renditions of arcade games. The port of S.T.U.N Runner took an interesting approach. Instead of doing polygon-rendered tracks like the arcade machine, they used some cleverly drawn and positioned sprites with scaling effects instead. It actually worked, and retained the arcade game's sense of speed while fitting in all of the levels (and even the secrets).

About a year after that, the Lynx delivered a port of Steel Talons that actually did implement polygon-rendered graphics, although with reduced resolution and detail. The frame rate wasn't all that smooth, but it was still a very playable game by 1992 standards.

A decade later, the Game Boy Advance was the hot new portable machine. I see several GBA games have already been named, but one that hasn't been mentioned yet is Street Fighter Alpha 3. It had more characters than any version of the game at that time, including the extra characters from PlayStation and Dreamcast, and a few additional ones thrown in for good measure. Even though the GBA had 4 buttons instead of 6, the characters still had all of their moves, with most of their frames of animation (allegedly more frames than PlayStation, though at lower resolution). While this was later surpassed by the PSP version, the GBA version still stands as an amazing technical feat.

GBA also had some great classic game compilations. Two of the most technically impressive were Atari Anniversary Advance and Activision Anthology.

Atari Anniversary Advance had great emulation of six classic Atari arcade games, and also utilized optional vertical orientation (for games that originally used this in the arcade) and subpixel rendering. Believe it or not, the games on this collection were emulated more accurately on the GBA than the corresponding games on Atari Classics Evolved for the much more powerful PSP (although the fault can be attributed to a different developer behind the PSP collection).

Meanwhile, Activision Anthology took over 40 games that were originally developed for the Atari 2600, and squeezed them into a single GBA cartridge. The emulation was handled by one of the original developers of Stella (a well-known Atari 2600 emulator), and used a few clever tricks to keep the games looking crisp on the GBA screen, which had a lower vertical resolution than the 2600. A few of the games ran noticeably slower than the original hardware, but overall the package was very well done.

 

[Fredrik]

The Witcher 3 for Nintendo Switch. It's the most impressive I've ever seen.

Yeah this is it, haven’t played it myself but going by videos I’ve seen it’s an insane achievement.

 

[kiphalfton]

Resident Evil Revelations on 3DS

 

[GenericUser]

Warcraft 2 on the PS1. Up until mission 10 for both orks and humans, everything was fine. Then the game turns into a single digit fps slideshow. Unplayable. I still enjoyed it as a kid.

 

[Pegasus Actual]

I'll start


DOOM SNES

Minimum specs for PC were 66mhz CPU and 8mb of RAM

Yeah yeah... naw.... the minimum specs for Doom were much lower than that.

 

[Romulus]

Yeah yeah... naw.... the minimum specs for Doom were much lower than that.

DOOM 2016 System Requirements Guide - Can I run it?

🎮 Discover the DOOM 2016 system requirements to ensure your PC meets the specifications for optimal gaming. Learn about the minimum and recommended ...

www.sysrequirements.com

 

[celsowmbr]

Virtua Fighter 2 on Sega Saturn:
60 fps, extra stuffs but 2d backgrounds

 

[ACESHIGH]

Alpha 2 on the SNES!
Some of those late ps360 era games like GTAV and BF4

Rise of the tomb raider and the crew on the 360!

 

[Bernkastel]

 

[Woggleman]

I remember Street Fighter 2 when it came to the Super Nes looked and played almost as well as the arcade version which was a rarity in those days.

 

[Tickle My Tendies]

Witcher 3 on Switch is pretty ambitious, no?

 

[TheContact]

Toss one up for Mario 64 on the DS, especially since they added content.

 

[Hudo]

From a technical point of view, I found Capcom's Resident Evil Revelations for 3DS pretty impressive and also Nintendo's Captain Toad port for 3DS.

I was also impressed with the Doom 2016 port for Switch, especially when I heard that they used Unity for it.

EDIT: Correction: The ports of the original Doom and Doom II are Unity-based. The port of Doom 2016 is a straight port.

 

[Nikana]

Are we talking about games that are actually decent to good ports or just ports that were crazy ambitious but ended up being shitty ports in general? Theres a big difference.

Doom SNES is not a great version of that game by any means. Doom 2016 on Switch while not great is a good port and a way to experience the game in compelling way.

 

[01011001]

Toss one up for Mario 64 on the DS, especially since they added content.

that's not really impressive given that the DS was more powerful than the N64 in some ways, and pretty on par in most other areas

 

[lestar]

Driver 2 and Driv3r for the GBA



Actually, almost all 3D games on the GBA are imposible ports

 

[diffusionx]

Quake 2 on the PS1 was pretty crazy.

Alpha 2 on the SNES!
Some of those late ps360 era games like GTAV and BF4

Rise of the tomb raider and the crew on the 360!

I hate to be akshully guy but GTA5 was not a port, it was designed for 360/PS3.

I also feel like the BF3/4 on 360/PS3 compromised too much over their PC versions but they are neat games in their own right.

 

[Romulus]

Are we talking about games that are actually decent to good ports or just ports that were crazy ambitious but ended up being shitty ports in general? Theres a big difference.

Doom SNES is not a great version of that game by any means. Doom 2016 on Switch while not great is a good port and a way to experience the game in compelling way.

Either is fine because of the task. If it's impossible on paper and they tried it anyway, so what if it's "not that great." It's insanely ambitious. The title says it and obviously Doom SNES being the OP choice should say everything. The SNES version was not a great way to play it, but it was exactly as the title says. It also outshined all the other ports of that time in some way or another despite being the least powerful machine by a huge stretch. Whether it be more content, music etc. Ultra impressive.
Doom 2016 is different, while more playable, it lacks because Doom 2016 is faster paced, so the low fps hurts it considerably. You can play it the way it wasn't designed on the shitter though.

 

[RAIDEN1]

Street fighter 2 on the Amiga. You only had one button instead of 6!
It was never going to work and that's before you tackled disk swapping and a poor 16 colour palette.

Well I wouldn't say it was never going to work, Team 17 did a decent enough job with Body Blows, (even if as one review said at the time, the characters felt "weightless") also there is this:

 

[Nikana]

Either is fine because of the task. If it's impossible on paper and they tried it anyway, so what if it's "not that great." It's insanely ambitious. The title says it and obviously Doom SNES being the OP choice should say everything. The SNES version was not a great way to play it, but it was exactly as the title says. Doom 2016 is different, while more playable, its worse in some ways because Doom 2016 is faster paced, so the low fps hurts it considerably.

I would argue the "impossible" part of the title would make something like Doom SNES not a contender. It runs yes, but with major aspects of the game being changed. So the port wasn't really possible without changing things about the engine and even aspects of the game, meaning that the impossible was indeed impossible.

Doom 2016 on Switch, while is hurt by the lower frame rate, is still the same game as Doom 2016.

 

[01011001]

if you look up how Witcher 3 and Doom run on low spec PCs (that are similarly powerful as the Switch) the you'd know that these aren't impossible or impressive ports.

my old ass cheap laptop from 5 years ago plays Doom 2016 better than the Switch, not by much, but still better.
and on paper it is less powerful.

it's running a Geforce 820m and an i3 1.6ghz
the gpu has lower GFLOPs performance than the Switch and the Laptop itself has slower memory.

Doom 2016 still runs similarly on it and in some scenes slightly better than on Switch.
and this is a shitty laptop that this game was in no way optimised for as it is way below minimum spec of the game.

that Doom port is not a miracle nor is it impressive, it is running exactly as it is expected to run on hardware of that caliber, and in some ways even underdelivers.

 

[Onironauta]

Resident Evil Revelations on 3DS

From a technical point of view, I found Capcom's Resident Evil Revelations for 3DS pretty impressive and also Nintendo's Captain Toad port for 3DS.

I was also impressed with the Doom 2016 port for Switch, especially when I heard that they used Unity for it.

RE:R was originally developed for 3DS, all the other versions are ports.

 

[Romulus]

I would argue the "impossible" part of the title would make something like Doom SNES not a contender. It runs yes, but with major aspects of the game being changed. So the port wasn't really possible without changing things about the engine and even aspects of the game, meaning that the impossible was indeed impossible.

Doom 2016 on Switch while is hurt by the lower frame rate, is still the same game as Doom 2016.

Wouldn't that make it make it even more impossible though? The normal engine didn't work, so they rewrote it to make it... possible.

What "major"aspects of the game were changed?

That's even more impressive because no one knew it was a different engine until the developer told us so. Everyone else just saw it as downgraded Doom. And on top of that, the maps were more faithful to PC on SNES than all the other ports of the time, despite being the most underpowered console by miles.

Doom 2016 on the switch should be closer to PC, the engine was designed to run on incredibly underpowered hardware from the beginning.

 

[Hudo]

RE:R was originally developed for 3DS, all the other versions are ports.

still pretty impressive, though.

 

[Romulus]

if you look up how Witcher 3 and Doom run on low spec PCs (that are similarly powerful as the Switch) the you'd know that these aren't impossible or impressive ports.

my old ass cheap laptop from 5 years ago plays Doom 2016 better than the Switch, not by much, but still better.
and on paper it is less powerful.

it's running a Geforce 820m and an i3 1.6ghz
the gpu has lower GFLOPs performance than the Switch and the Laptop itself has slower memory.

Doom 2016 still runs similarly on it and in some scenes slightly better than on Switch.
and this is a shitty laptop that this game was in no way optimised for as it is way below minimum spec of the game.

that Doom port is not a miracle nor is it impressive, it is running exactly as it is expected to run on hardware of that caliber, and in some ways even underdelivers.

Exaclty my thoughts, game engines are built to be far more scalable today, and combined with optimization it seems it could have ran even better than it does.

Doom SNES runs like shit, and even back then it wasn't good. It mostly runs around 12-15fps lol, but when you think N64 games like Zelda were 20fps with drops