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What Original Gameboy version of NES games were better?
- Thread starter G-Fex
- Start date
calc84maniac
Member
The Game Boy's third audio channel uses a program-defined 32-sample waveform, which can be used to closely simulate a triangle wave (among others like sawtooth).
Fun thing: I hated this game, because I finished it during my first playthrough, 20 minutes after unpacking it.
I found it way too easy, without any challenge and little to no replay value. I felt I wasted my money, even if beside the lack of difficulty the game is fine.
I agree that TMNT on NES is brutal, though, with really bad design choices.
How dare you !
Bullshit! Those pot holes suck harder than hookers!
One guy is going to get that reference.
SystemUser
Member
Super Mario Land 2 is more related to Super Mario World than it is to SMB 2 USA.
lovely ladies
Member
I remember the first Spiderman game for GB being pretty fun. It was one of the few LJN games I didn't shut off in disgust.
This is actually true and I probably should've edited it to say 'Which original game boy game do you prefer over NES similar games'
I'm aware they're not actually ports. So chill out.
And now that you say this, I'm not taking any of your onions seriously ever again thanks.
Metal Gear nes good..Cmonnn
Tennis and Golf are very much enhanced versions of the NES originals. So are Baseball and Yuakuman. R&D1 and Intelligent Systems were tasked with pumping put these early conversions asap.
Metal Gear is way better on MSX but it's alone in that. Gradius, Salamander, Contra, Castlevania, Track & Field and basically everything else was better on NES. In some cases they were even different games really.
Metal Gear is way better on MSX but it's alone in that. Gradius, Salamander, Contra, Castlevania, Track & Field and basically everything else was better on NES. In some cases they were even different games really.
Effigenius
Member
No it isn't. It is good though. That last level is crazy difficult.
D.Lo
Member
Is this some new internet thing, to be down on Metal Gear NES, even though it's 90% the same game? And regularly features on 'best games on the NES lists?
Or are you all confusing it with Snake's Revenge?
Here's an HG101 article comparing the two versions, which concludes the NES version is slightly better overall.
http://blog.hardcoregaming101.net/2009/08/metal-gear-msx-and-nes-comparison.html?m=1
Kocolino67
Member
Zelda on NES is a classic, of course. But, and maybe therefore, was the subsequent Gameboy version better.
Adam Prime
hates soccer, is Mexican
You mean Link's Awakening, right? Holy shit. Yeah that game is a hundred times better than Zelda NES.
Donkey Kong '94 is better than any shit they put on the NES in the DK series.
bennywhatever
Member
Kirby's Dream Land 1 & 2 > Kirby's Adventure
In regards to music, the Game Boy reigns supreme for me. Sure, there are tons of memorable ones on the NES, but I think the quality felt higher on the GB in my opinion. It got rid of one channel but it has a 32 entry Wave channel to it which is really cool. I feel like the basses are a lot better in the Game Boy too, which rounds it out really well.
In regards to music, the Game Boy reigns supreme for me. Sure, there are tons of memorable ones on the NES, but I think the quality felt higher on the GB in my opinion. It got rid of one channel but it has a 32 entry Wave channel to it which is really cool. I feel like the basses are a lot better in the Game Boy too, which rounds it out really well.
Wow. Second time in a week I get to post this:
I fucking love this game.
Its pretty weird seeing Batman kill people with a gun though!
RickGhastly
Neo Member
The GBC ports of Dragon Warrior 1, 2 & 3 (based upon the Super Famicom remakes) are often considered to be preferable to the NES ones. They're a lot easier, but they're definitely superior in a lot of areas.
Edit: LOLCAN'TREAD. Sorry.
Edit: LOLCAN'TREAD. Sorry.
D.Lo
Member
it was released 11 years later, two entire console generations (Famicom launch to PS1 launch).
How anyone can possibly think of them as 'versions' of each other defies belief. DK94 is so much more modern a game it contains the whole of DK just as a reference.
NormalFish
Banned
Got a copy of DW3 in the mail, hoping to confirm your statement.
This is going to get push-back.
The Spoony Hou
Member
Well, I thought that, nowadays, since people actually know about the MSX game, noone in their right mind would play MG NES. The MSX version changes screens so much faster that, to me, makes it far more playable. I won't even mention the game design changes.
I also thought it was well-known that Ultra Games is shit, but I guess some people love them. Maybe it's an acquired taste or something. I guess modern day Konami doesn't look so bad to those people.
This is true and I loved both games.
As long as we're being loose with choosing a peer.
Alleyway > Arkanoid NES (without paddle)
Bases Loaded GB > Bases Loaded NES
Revenge of the Gator > Pinball
Escape from Camp Deadly > Bart vs the Space Mutants
Super R.C. Pro Am > R.C. Pro Am
Doctor_Thomas
Member
From a plot point of view, the NES version has no Metal Gear, Snake parachutes in with other soldiers who are never referenced or heard from again and Big Boss's final message is removed.
There's also things like being able to cancel an alert by moving to the next screen and messages appear in the wrong place due to their triggers not aligning with the redesigned game, the redesign also results in location changes which are also affected by these messages.
The best change it made was to the inventory sorting and the fact you can walk under cameras.
It's not a bad game, but very sloppy.
World SkiFree
Member
Yeah, wasn't the GBC game one of the first to release on GBC? I remember it getting pretty good reviews but I thought it was bad, too.
That was a really clever set-up. It was fun playing through those original levels with Mario's crazy SM64-style jumps and abilities. DK94 is simply one of the best GB experiences around.
sörine;139721566 said:
Tennis and Golf are still great today. I have Mario Golf and Mario Tennis on GBC; both are great games as well, but I may prefer the purity of those original GB releases.
Good point but I'm always happy to see DK94 get love on GAF. Was also happy to see that Link's Awakening is a bit of a GAF darling, too. It may be my fav Zelda game, but I've only played the NES and GB/GBC games ...
D.Lo
Member
It's fine to prefer the MSX version, but you described (at the very least perfectly competent) NES version as 'shit'.
And who ever said Ultra games was bad? It's literally just Konami. Metal Gear, Rollergames, Ninja Turtles II, Operation C, Nemesis, Motocross Maniacs, the GB Turtles games - all great games. Some of the games they published from other dev were bad (e.g. Skate or Die), which sounds a lot like modern Konami...
Konami were kings of the Game Boy too. Belmont's Revenge god damn.
My main beef were those jungle mazes. They never give you any clue in game what path to take and you had to read Nintendo Power to know.
Fair enough, I just don't like the screen flip personally. I think it's less of an issue in Vampire Killer or Metal Gear though.
Ultra Games was just a paper company so Konami could get around Nintendo's dumb QC policies and publish twice as many games annually in America. Same for Palcom in Europe. Both companies basically were Konami.
World SkiFree
Member
Yup, loved Snake's Revenge too. How can you NOT like names such as Higharolla Kockamamie and Vermon CaTaffy.
I would say Vampire Killer is an entirely different game from castlevania.
WHOA.
As much as I think that Six Golden Coins is a massively underappreciated gem, SMB & SMB3 stomp holes through Land 1. SMB1 gives SGC a good smack and SMB3 kicks it while it's down. SMB3's level design alone makes this impossible to compare.
Sectorseven
Member
Link's Awakening was pretty good. Certainly better on a technical level.
I never even knew about those names until EGM pointed them out. I never had access to the manual because the video stores always threw them out.
Those names were never actually used within the games but Konami's manual writers thought they were funny making stuff up as they went.
D.Lo
Member
Yeah there was something special about 80s Konami. The flawless presentation in the silver boxes, beautiful cover art, cheesy (and pun-filled) but nicely done manuals and back of box scpiels. And their classic blocky 'no character faces' in-house style.
I recently completed a boxed set of all silver box Konami NES games, including the ones that were Ultra in the US (like Metal Gear) and Palcom in Europe (like Castlevania 3). It's a thing of beauty.
Now onto the silver box GB games.
That's because it is? It's a completely different game using the same assets game because the MSX is too weak to scroll tiles very well.
The Spoony Hou
Member
Ok, let's put it this way: MG NES has a LOT of shitty decisions (and oversights). If you can put up with them, you can actually enjoy the game. I don't see the need to put up with them anymore since there's MG MSX.
About the other games... They are all pretty shitty, except Operation C, which is mediocre but perfectly playable, and Nemesis I don't think of as an Ultra Games games (didn't realize it has the seal).
Belmont's Revenge is awesome, but I thought it was a KCEK game.
sörine;139731301 said:
Might be a paper company, but their games do feel like they were made by the same people. Same smell of shit.
GB Tetris is not better than NES Tetris. For one it is slower and feels clunkier to play and secondly the playfield is only 18 by 10 instead of 20 by 10. It does have multiplayer though so I'll give it that. Not saying it is bad by any means though, but I just don't agree that it is better than NES Tetris.
I guess the proper comparison would be with the first Tetris on Famicom, which was also made by Bullet-Proof Software. Famicom Tetris is really really crap and the GB version is a million times better.
I guess the proper comparison would be with the first Tetris on Famicom, which was also made by Bullet-Proof Software. Famicom Tetris is really really crap and the GB version is a million times better.
Dude, yes.
Vampire Killer is an MSX2 game, and the MSX2 supports both hardware vertical page scrolling (as did the MSX) as well as hardware horizontal scrolling by putting the machine into mode 4, then adjusting register r#18 to adjust scroll steps of 1 to 16 pixels per character, with each tile being 8 pixels and each character being made of two tiles.
Example of konami games scrolling horizontally: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcZJ64PgtgA
Vampire Killer uses page flipping because of design choice, not because the MSX was 'too weak to scroll tiles very well."
I hesistate to say its the de facto better since its been a while since ive played them, but the GB version of Ducktales 2 added features like items that would help you find the hidden treasure that I dont think were in the NES original. I remember preferring the level design changes it made to some of the areas too.
Dash Kappei
Not actually that important
Tengen Tetris tho.
D.Lo
Member
And your example, like all scrolling on the MSX (1 or 2) is jerky?
Yes it's a design decision, likely because scrolling sucks on the MSX.
I actually owned a one-chip MSX and played through these games on original hardware (and sold it for a massive profit a few years ago). Gradius and Contra for example are clearly massive downgrades from the NES versions, as is AKumajou Dracula.
Yep.
Wicked Sushi
Neo Member
Daffy Duck: The Marvin Missions: Not NES, but the Super Nintendo version was terrible. Loose controls (you shoot, you get a slight recoil), enemies blend together with the background, and too spacious, boring levels. While the Game Boy version has tighter controls, a colder atmosphere and music (fits better with the space theme), and the levels themselves were better to play due to being more compact and linear. Not a great game by any means, partially because of the cheap deathtraps that could nearly rival Battletoads, but definitely better than its console counter-part.
BattleToads: It's better because they fixed the motorbike stage, as well as the stage where a saw keeps chasing you and you have to press the correct directional buttons to escape. Just recently played both on the NES and Game Boy, and I couldn't for the life of me beat the latter level on the NES, while on the Game Boy I got it within a few tries. Yet it's the same pattern.
I would also say F1 Race by Nintendo, but I might be biased since I played and owned the Game Boy version first.
BattleToads: It's better because they fixed the motorbike stage, as well as the stage where a saw keeps chasing you and you have to press the correct directional buttons to escape. Just recently played both on the NES and Game Boy, and I couldn't for the life of me beat the latter level on the NES, while on the Game Boy I got it within a few tries. Yet it's the same pattern.
I would also say F1 Race by Nintendo, but I might be biased since I played and owned the Game Boy version first.
..I just explained to you how scrolling on the MSX2 isn't jerky. You're describing character-width scrolling, a limitation of the MSX1, which stepped at 16-pixels. I just showed you single-pixel scrolling, the same as any other hardware scrolling. Any jerkiness you are perceiving is solely in your mind, it is scrolling at 1 pixel steps.
Guess what: I own these game and, unlike you, I don't use a SOC MSX clone to play them on, I use actual, real hardware.
Gradius is an MSX1 game.
Contra displays more colors at once, and more sprites on screen than the NES version, and has twice as many levels, and better music. The only "downside" is that it uses page flipping instead of scrolling - again, a design choice not made because of hardware limitations. It is clearly superior in almost every way to the NES version.
This is the "jerky" scrolling you are referring to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jIIPCUTxFjk
Space Manbow does not scroll like that. In fact, here is Salamander on real MSX hardware scrolling at 16 pixels per step: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rYffqQaBmM
And here is a port of the game running on a PSP through a special emulator in the Salamander Portable pack with the MSX2 hardware scrolling included, with the Salamander rom hacked to support 1-pixel hardware scrolling like space manbow:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ebNF9_NZ1PM
manueldelalas
Time Traveler
The Adventure Island games on GB were infinitely better than the NES games, something about the slower and smoother scrolling, less shit on the screen made them very enjoyable. Tiny toons too.
As a side note, there are GBC versions of N64 and PS1 games that are immensely better.
Mario Golf, Mario Tennis, Superman (less crappy at least, playable even), Quest 64, Rayman GBC (compared to Rayman 1 PS1), Grinch (was a great stealth/arcade game instead of a crappy PS1 platformer).
As a side note, there are GBC versions of N64 and PS1 games that are immensely better.
Mario Golf, Mario Tennis, Superman (less crappy at least, playable even), Quest 64, Rayman GBC (compared to Rayman 1 PS1), Grinch (was a great stealth/arcade game instead of a crappy PS1 platformer).
I admit. I bought this game because Mario was on the cover.
Very fun. Played the NES version years later, and I was disappointed.