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What Original Gameboy version of NES games were better?

G

G-Fex

Member
You know I got the thinking.

Gameboy ports or adaptations were vastly different.

Take two of my favorite Gameboy games.

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I bought this at Toys R Us on a whim, never having played it before I liked the cheesy 80's cover.

I LOVED It, it's addictive, it's fun as hell and a instant classic.

I later played the NES and arcade original which were bland in my onion.

Here's a CGR review of it http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uiR5U_ytUXo

Then there's this.

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loved it, and I never played a Tennis game before, and it's like instant love. Later I'd find that baseball is also a great port as well. Tennis is amazing, great fun and quite challenging. A go to pick up and play game like Elevator Action above.

I played the NES version later which I found not quite as fast.

Here's footage of it http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iax0P3iIXYA

and then there's

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Which frankly I enjoyed more as a kid cause I actually could make progress in t his rather than getting endlessly loss in the 'progression' of the original NES game.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r1sPSAEm2Yo


There's tons more I could list but I chose these in particular.

You've got any in mind?
 
That TMNT game is an entirely new game with no relation to the NES games beyond the license.

Bionic Commando GB is on par with the NES game, at the very least. The swinging is much more satisfying and, unlike many other handheld adaptations, the sprites are all sensibly sized and nothing feels cramped. If you liked the NES game or the Rearmed games, do not sleep on the GB game. (You can skip the GBC game, though, that one's a bit of a dud.)
 
@MUWANdo said:
That TMNT game is an entirely new game with no relation to the NES games beyond the license.

Bionic Commando GB is on par with the NES game, at the very least. The swinging is much more satisfying and, unlike many other handheld adaptations, the sprites are all sensibly sized and nothing feels cramped. If you liked the NES game or the Rearmed games, do not sleep on the GB game. (You can skip the GBC game, though, that one's a bit of a dud.)
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I've never played Bionic Commando for the NES, arcade, or Game Boy, but I quite liked the GBC version. Same with Rearmed.
 
These games are proof that resolution doesn't always make the better game ;).

I'd still stray far away from anything from Ultra Games though. *Shivers*
 
I never played DuckTales 2 on the NES but I loved that game on the Game Boy so for what it's worth I think it's a pretty good and faithful port!
 
Star Wars - On the NES version I'd lose most of my lives in The Asteroid Field so could never get much further, in the Gameboy version you could hide in the corner of the screen and not take a single hit which let me go on to complete the game.
 
Grizzo said:
I never played DuckTales 2 on the NES but I loved that game on the Game Boy so for what it's worth I think it's a pretty good and faithful port!
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The GB DuckTales games were closer to remixes than ports; they used the same sprites/music and the gameplay was the same but the level designs were changed, sometimes drastically, and GB DuckTales 2 actually has a bunch of extra powerups that aren't in the NES version.
 
Most of the games in the OP and thread are not 'versions' at all, just games with the same or similar names.

Tennis, Golf, TMNT:FOTFC and Donkey Kong (94) are completely new games, not versions, ports or adaptations of anything. Might as well say Game Boy Golf is a version of the Atari VCS game 'Golf'.

Games which were actually ports of the same game are things like Duck Tales and Hook - same levels just somewhat remixed for the smaller screen.

I can't recall any actual ports I'd say were better on the GB. the best were games specifically for the console, like most of Konami's stuff e.g. Contra/Operation C.

Tetris is a great answer though.

Oh and Game Boy is two words people...
 
D.Lo said:
Most of the games in the OP and thread are not 'versions' at all, just games with the same or similar names.

Tennis, Golf, TMNT:FOTFC and Donkey Kong (94) are completely new games, not versions, ports or adaptations of anything. Might as well say Game Boy Golf is a version of the Atari VCS game 'Golf'.

Games which were actually ports of the same game are things like Duck Tales and Hook - same levels just somewhat remixed for the smaller screen.

I can't recall any actual ports I'd say were better on the GB. the best were games specifically for the console, like most of Konami's stuff e.g. Contra/Operation C.

Tetris is a great answer though.

Oh and Game Boy is two words people...
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Fuckin' THIS
 
civilstrife said:
Super Mario Land is far more ambitious and varied than Super Mario Bros.
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That's a very bold statement, i've never considered the original Mario Land that great from a gameplay standpoint. Super Mario Land 2 is an improvement and may exceed Super Mario Bros but no way do either come close to SMB3
 
keidashxd said:
Battletoads, more beat'em'up focused than his brother. It was more enjoyable, I always hated some NES levels.
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Yes Battletoads on Game Boy is awesome while its NES/Megadrive counterpart is fun because of multiplayer but is also really frustrating.
 
WillyFive said:
Both of the Mario Land games were better than their console counterparts (SMB and SMB3).
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What kind of nonsense is this?
Not only are they once again not 'versions' of Super Mario Bros but completely new games, but they're also vastly inferior step-children of the kings.

The Spoony Hou said:
They're shit. Metal Gear (NES) and Skate or Die are shit. I can't believe you actually mentioned those games.
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Skate or Die sucks because it was made by EA.

Metal Gear on the NES is amazing. It's all very hipster to claim the janky movement MSX version is better (because the humble man who made the masterpiece of cinema called MGS4 said so), but the NES version is IMO superior and at the very least is still a very very good game.

Rollergames is also amazing.

Neither are Ultra where I come from, both were released in Konami silver boxes under the main label!
 
D.Lo said:
Metal Gear on the NES is amazing. It's all very hipster to claim the janky movement MSX version is better (because the humble man who made the masterpiece of cinema called MGS4 said so), but the NES version is IMO superior and at the very least is still a very very good game.
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Er... really? You think just because the NES version has a better frame rate it's a better game? Have you actually played both? i don't care what Kojima says, though I'm happy for him that he had balls for once in his life to actually say it. Kojima is a has been after the MSX days, though you'll probably say I'm a hipster for saying so.

That's what hipsters do, they play MSX all day.

I'll accept Rollerblades is mediocre and not shit, though I haven't played it since I was a kid.
 
WillyFive said:
Both of the Mario Land games were better than their console counterparts (SMB and SMB3).
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I guess I can buy the argument that SML1 has more "variety" than SMB1. I'm not sure if that actually makes it better though.

But SML2 an improvement over SMB3? Not in a million years.
 
PepsimanVsJoe said:
But SML2 an improvement over SMB3? Not in a million years.
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Yep exactly.

The Spoony Hou said:
Er... really? You think just because the NES version has a better frame rate it's a better game? Have you actually played both? i don't care what Kojima says, though I'm happy for him that he had balls for once in his life to actually say it. Kojima is a has been after the MSX days, though you'll probably say I'm a hipster for saying so.

That's what hipsters do, they play MSX all day.

I'll accept Rollerblades is mediocre and not shit, though I haven't played it since I was a kid.
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I have played through both. I prefer the NES one, it's a slight remix with much better performance. And it is certainly not 'shit'.

I finally finished Rollergames last week after 20 years. Hard as hell but a hidden gem.

On-topic, the Game Boy (Color) Metal Gear is as much a 'version' of another game as many listed here, and it is superior. It did come out a decade later of course...
 
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Not to be confused with the Game Boy's all-new exclusive Battletoads (which was just called Battletoads), this one was a port of the original NES game.

Better music, sprites and they made the game a bit easier due to the smaller screen. The speeder bike part is still bloody tough, but more forgiving with timing.
 
Donrule01 said:
CPU wise yes but NES games could use custom memory mappers to do more things. Not to mention better audio.
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Game Boy games used custom mappers too. Nothing too crazy and Nintendo kept tighter reigns on it all due to power draw but different memory configs/chips were used for various games. There were even 3rd party mappers from Hudson and Bandai.

SNES had a similar setup with co-processors. GBA also had a couple weird carts but then mostly for specific features like rumble, tilt control or FMV. DS and 3DS are pretty universal for mask rom configuration though, the most they really do is add extra flash.
 
@MUWANdo said:
That TMNT game is an entirely new game with no relation to the NES games beyond the license.

Bionic Commando GB is on par with the NES game, at the very least. The swinging is much more satisfying and, unlike many other handheld adaptations, the sprites are all sensibly sized and nothing feels cramped. If you liked the NES game or the Rearmed games, do not sleep on the GB game. (You can skip the GBC game, though, that one's a bit of a dud.)
Click to expand...

I love the GB game, but the NES version is generally better in most aspects I feel.

The updated swinging mechanics and the new Albatross level in GB are great though. Didn't feel like the Albatross level was as interesting on the NES.
 
Adventure Island II (actually III on NES) was a pretty perfect port, but the Game Boy version had a password system and level selection, so the GB version is way better imo save for the limited resolution.
 
Leynos said:
I've never played Bionic Commando for the NES, arcade, or Game Boy, but I quite liked the GBC version. Same with Rearmed.
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Wow, really? I thought the GBC version was trash when I tried playing it years ago. Game was weird as hell.

The NES and GB versions are amazing though, you should absolutely play them if you like Rearmed. The GB version is even on the 3DS virtual console these days.
 
sixteen-bit said:
Huh? Unless there was custom sound hardware in the carts like VRC7, Game Boy would have had better audio. And Stereo sound.
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The Game Boy is missing one channel that the NES has, the triangle wave, often used for bass. That's it's primary shortcoming.

However, Wikipedia says that it has "one audio input from the cartridge," and I'm not sure what that means exactly. I think it means that if the cartridge wanted to include an expansion chip for audio, they could, but I'm not sure if this was regularly used.
 
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