Arcade games that received good ports to the genesis

In some instances the ports actually improved on the original game VASTLY. Prime example Shadow Dancer (a la my name).


Games that I know got good accurate as possible ports I will start it off

Fatal Fury 1, wow, If I would have owned this in the early 90s I probably wouldnt have bought it first for my NeoGeo later in my teen years like I did. Playing my NeoGeo copy then going directly to the Genesis version, it is a phenomenal port of its time and loses no speed if anything it plays faster than the original. 10/10 compared to the rest of the 1993 releases that year. Its even better than Fatal Fury 2 port in my opinion

Strider, wow, awesome game, total arcade experience at home.

Shadow Dancer, a whole new game compared to the arcade one, and a much better one to boot. Bonus levels that give you vertigo and all.

I'm sure you guys got tons of games you can think of

Strider and Shadow Dancer. Also Street Fighter 2, it had bad sounds but that's pretty much all that was wrong with it. Golden Axe too I suppose, it was a good port the original wasn't that good to begin with. Altered Beast was a good port too, the game just sucks whatever version.

Looking at the list of genesis games I typically play there isn't a single arcade port in there.

Truxton is probably the only game where I preferred the Genesis version to the arcade.

Pit fighter was a bad game that got a good port on the Genesis.
Street Fighter II CE was a tremendous port.
Super Street Fighter II wasn't half bad either.
If you can get past the missing audio, the ports of MK I and II were both very good.

^ I have to disagree with your Pit Fighter comment

the arcade game is very good. You must turn down the difficulty only one notch so its not a quarter stealer.

My list of good arcade ports to Genesis/MD:
Strider -> Superb job, almost arcade perfect. Go for the Japanese version, the US one is missing several samples.
Forgotten Wolds -> Another great job, the 2-player mode was a very rare feature at those times...
Ghouls N' Ghosts -> Great job, fantastic soundtrack.
Vapor Trail -> Fantastic soundtrack and 2-player mode maintained.
Aero Blasters -> One of the most overlooked games on MD. Such an awesome job here and so much fun! Arcade superior IMO and 2-player mode!
Golden Axe -> Good port of an average game and 2-player mode maintained.
Altered Beast -> Good port of an average game and 2-player mode maintained.
Super Hang-On -> Commendable early effort, fantastic soundtrack (the game is using everything that the console has in terms of soundchips)... Slow sometimes, but if can do an overclock on you system it becomes perfect.
OutRun -> great music and controls, good graphics and some slowdowns.
After Burner II -> Simplified but still a good port.
Burning Force -> Great conversion by Namco, impressive scaling quality.
Rolling Thunder II -> Another great job by Namco, maintaining the 2-player mode...
MK3 & UMK3 -> very good conversions and some extras... Much faster gameplay compared to the SNES versions...
WWF Wrestlemania Arcade-> Excellent job and far superior to the SNES version.
SF2 CE Plus -> Weak samples, but the rest is great. The Japanese version is the only home port to retain the original introduction intact.
FireShark -> Very faithful port. Based on the original game, not on the special version with 2-player mode, sadly.
Crude Buster -> Butchered backgrounds but far better gameplay and great soundtrack. 2-player mode maintained.
Slap Fight MD -> A whole new freakin' mode with awesome soundtrack.
Rainbow Island Extra -> The original + Extra versions...
Snow Bros. -> Great, great port.
Crack Down -> Watered down, but still great. Co-op mode is very addictive.
E-SWAT-> I like this game, has some unique feeling on it. Clanged for the better.
Shadow Dancer -> Same as above.

Great ports but with the 2-player mode removed:
Truxton
Hellfire
MERCS
Darius II
Chiki Chiki Boys
...

The above + OutRun. Dunno how you forgot that one.

Pit Fighter in the Arcade is the only game that ever made my arms sore after playing it. I really loved that game, but I thought they could have made the sprites larger in the Genesis port, I prefer the Lynx version.

I thought After Burner II was a competent adaptation for the time, but I'll play pretty much anything After Burner. That game is why I am a gamer.

Shadow Dancer and E-Swat are basically better games on the Genesis. Rolling Thunder 2 is way closer to being Arcade perfect than Strider or Ghouls N Ghosts are. I thought Golden Axe was a bad adaptation back in the day, now I like it fine.

The Punisher and Captain America and the Avengers are good and disappointing in different ways. Growl is good if you don't mind the single player only nonsense. Sunset Riders might as well be a prequel.

Hard Driven' and Race Driven' are about as good as can be expected, better than the SNES handled them anyway.

I was kind of let down by the job done on Crack Down back in the day, but man do I love that game.

Oh and scaling sprites or no I insist that Super Monaco GP is the best racer of that generation.

Ironically, the MD port of After Burner II is technically the worst of all, completely missing the intermission landing scenes. All the other console ports seem to have them, even the NES ports (and don't get me started on the PCE port, that's ridiculously accurate for the most part).

Also nobody's gonna mention Rainbow Island or Slap Fight? Those are definitely accurate ports and both received a special mode with updated graphics and sound =P

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Originally Posted by Olls

The above + OutRun. Dunno how you forgot that one.

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Me too! Fixed. ;)

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Originally Posted by sheath

Pit Fighter in the Arcade is the only game that ever made my arms sore after playing it. I really loved that game, but I thought they could have made the sprites larger in the Genesis port, I prefer the Lynx version.

I thought After Burner II was a competent adaptation for the time, but I'll play pretty much anything After Burner. That game is why I am a gamer.

Shadow Dancer and E-Swat are basically better games on the Genesis. Rolling Thunder 2 is way closer to being Arcade perfect than Strider or Ghouls N Ghosts are. I thought Golden Axe was a bad adaptation back in the day, now I like it fine.

The Punisher and Captain America and the Avengers are good and disappointing in different ways. Growl is good if you don't mind the single player only nonsense. Sunset Riders might as well be a prequel.

Hard Driven' and Race Driven' are about as good as can be expected, better than the SNES handled them anyway.

I was kind of let down by the job done on Crack Down back in the day, but man do I love that game.

Oh and scaling sprites or no I insist that Super Monaco GP is the best racer of that generation.

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How come? The Japanese Strider on MD is only missing the narration samples in the cutscenes and the other level of parallax (some color too, of course, but it was a great job).

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Originally Posted by Sik

Ironically, the MD port of After Burner II is technically the worst of all, completely missing the intermission landing scenes. All the other console ports seem to have them, even the NES ports (and don't get me started on the PCE port, that's ridiculously accurate for the most part).

Also nobody's gonna mention Rainbow Island or Slap Fight? Those are definitely accurate ports and both received a special mode with updated graphics and sound =P

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After Burner II plays great on MD. Compare it with Space Harrier or Super Thunder Blade ports...
Rainbow Island has a flicker fest with the updated graphics. But both this and Slap Fight MD are good ports.
Snow Bros. is better than Rainbow Island IMO.
I forgot about Aero Blasters too. Awesome job there.

List updated and fixed.

In my opinion there were none because there was always too much stuff missing that I noticed. Golden Axe kinda made up for it by adding an extra level.

I thought Marble Madness and Paperboy were close but to be honest its not too difficult to emulate MM on most systems and it still remains one of the most frustrating games i have ever played :mad:,i also enjoyed Golden Axe,Strider,Alien Storm and Outrun as i though they were close.Some shooters were pretty close converstions too like Master Of Weapon which i enjoyed and Air Buster (Blaster) was a real good looking game,a few other shooters were close like Zero Wing and Hellfire,they seemed to be slightly lacking a few things though such as the purple gas type formations in the background at the start of LvL1 on Hellfire in the arcade were replaced with just a starfield on the MD version.

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Originally Posted by agostinhobaroners

How come? The Japanese Strider on MD is only missing the narration samples in the cutscenes and the other level of parallax (some color too, of course, but it was a great job).

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I'm not calling Strider or Ghouls N Ghosts bad adaptations by any means, I've just found Rolling Thunder 2 to be even more similar to the Arcade original.

Mercs, it has a new genesis only arranged mode that can be selected. Also Midnight Resistance let's you select contra style controls to play it with.

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Originally Posted by agostinhobaroners

After Burner II plays great on MD. Compare it with Space Harrier or Super Thunder Blade ports...

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Yes, but it's still the worst of the console ports (EDIT: well, not worst (NES ports are worse) but definitely the laziest). Also, technically they didn't port Space Harrier, they made a new game =P And Super Thunder Blade has a different name because of the massive tweaking going on for the levels (they removed the initial part where you see from the top of the helicopter but IIRC they added more stuff later in the levels to compensate).

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Originally Posted by agostinhobaroners

Rainbow Island has a flicker fest with the updated graphics.

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That's because for whatever reason they tried to use the same kind of algorithm used in third generation consoles (where flickering is practically needed because of the ridiculously tight sprite limits). The game really didn't need it as sprite overflow is really rare (does it even happen?).

EDIT: unless you mean playing in the special mode, I usually just play in the original mode >.>

Twin Cobra
Raiden (Trad)
Street Smart (sucked just as much as the arcade version did lol)

Ka-Ge-Ki?

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Originally Posted by agostinhobaroners

Super Hang-On -> Commendable early effort, fantastic soundtrack (the game is using everything that the console has in terms of soundchips)... Slow sometimes, but if can do an overclock on you system it becomes perfect.

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Sorry but that game is shouting for save feature in its carreer mode. Or do you like writing down codes like an idiot? Sega did spoil several games by not adding EPROM into carts: Super Monaco GP as a good next example...

EPROM EEPROM -> FTFY!

Sorry, but I can play it until the very end in a single playing session.
Save would be great, but EEPROM in 1989? Unlikely.

I will add two that I didn't see mentioned:

Cyberball - this is actually better than the arcade game. The Genesis version lets you play an entire season with playoffs similar to the NFL schedule. Teams vary in strength and ability, too. The two player mode lets you choose from any play in the book rather than just a random four. It also has modem play built-in so that you can play an opponent by phone; you can even make a set-up with dual monitors like the arcade this way. I suppose the arcade has better graphics and sound but I haven't seen the arcade game ever since I got it for Genesis; it's very close. The only major difference is the lack of four-player support but it was made years before any four-player adapter was even available for Genesis.

Pigskin Footbrawl - I've only seen this once in the arcades but the home version seems to be identical. The only difference is the addition of Jerry Glanvilles name and likeness, plus an audio clip of Jerry saying, "Let's kick some butt!" when you select an aggressive strategy.

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Originally Posted by Tom M.

Or do you like writing down codes like an idiot?

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Actually, I prefer codes for several reasons; I don't think that makes me an idiot, though. I used to write them down years ago but these days it's just as easy to take a picture with my cell phone.

ghouls and ghosts. its an amazing port and strider of course

paperboy

Gauntlet IV - 4 player support and it's even got new amazing music and an RPG mode which is a blast to play with a friend.
Thunder Force III - This game isn't an arcade port - it was so good it was ported to the arcades!
Super Monaco GP - Not exactly the most faithful port technically, but it's got a very good championship mode to make up for it.

There are just so many, I would actually say that around half my MD collection is arcade ports especially of Sega games.

Favourites of mine are:

Klax - Great puzzle game that I never see mentioned
Pit-Fighter - One of my favourite games ever
Galaxy Force II - MD conversion isn't great but I just love the game
Crackdown - Hence my username!
Mercs - If it was 2-player it would be one of the best MD games full stop.
Outrun - I love this game in pretty much every incarnation
Golden Axe - Easily one of my fave games on the MD
Alien Storm - Always felt this game was really under rated
Double Dragon - Best home console port of this game
Sunset Riders - Great game in 2-player mode
Forgotten Worlds - As far as early MD games go this is one of the best
Wonderboy III - One of the few platformers I actually enjoy
Altered Beast - I like this game, so sue me!
Smash TV - Not a great port but I enjoy playing it

Cadash - great port, unfortunately TAITO was very cheap and cut 2 playable characters. Too bad because it's quite faithful

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Originally Posted by Crackdown

Smash TV - Not a great port but I enjoy playing it

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The issue here is mainly the controls. Somebody should add 6-pad support to it and see what we can get out of that =P

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Originally Posted by Tor Landeel

Cadash - great port, unfortunately TAITO was very cheap and cut 2 playable characters. Too bad because it's quite faithful

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http://i.imgur.com/CLHbn.jpg

You obviously have not played the arcade and its conversions and know it as well as me.
I'm not adding anything else.

I have played the PC Engine version too and that's a good arcade conversion, the MD version is a joke.

whats so bad about the Mega Drive version? out of curiousity

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Originally Posted by DanceroftheShadows

whats so bad about the Mega Drive version? out of curiousity

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Originally Posted by Tor Landeel

Cadash - great port, unfortunately TAITO was very cheap and cut 2 playable characters. Too bad because it's quite faithful

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Music and graphics are also rather poor. I supose he means the gameplay was left mostly intact, which is all fine and good except 2 characters are missing from an original 4, that's half.

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Originally Posted by Sik

The issue here is mainly the controls. Somebody should add 6-pad support to it and see what we can get out of that =P

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Yeah tha'ts what makes the SNES version so playable, the controls. The button facing is perfect for it. The controls of the Genesis version severely gimps the fun.

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Originally Posted by Kamahl

Music and graphics are also rather poor. I supose he means the gameplay was left mostly intact, which is all fine and good except 2 characters are missing from an original 4, that's half.

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PC Engine version a good conversion? That's a joke.
That's a different game, plays very differently from the arcade, despite the inclusion of the 4 characters.
The Genesis version has only 2, but looks and plays just like the original, has quite faithful level design (unlike the PCE).
Music and graphics are also rather poor?? They are almost identical! And you praise that 8 bit bleeps and bloops version?

I really feel obliged to repost this.
http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q...ashJUc_000.gif http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q...adashU-001.png
http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q...ashJUc_002.gif http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q...adashU-003.png
http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q...ashJUc_003.gif http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q...adashU-004.png
http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q...ashJUc_005.gif http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q...adashU-006.png
http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q...ashJUc_006.gif http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q...adashU-007.png
http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q...ashJUc_009.gif http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q...adashU-010.png

This is the arcade, just for some comparison:
http://www.retrocpu.com/mame/images/...ash_france.png http://www.arcade-history.com/images/game/368_1.png
http://media.dirtyslot.com/cadash-6.png http://mini-game.net.ru/sega/advent/cadash/cadash-a.png

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Originally Posted by Tor Landeel

PC Engine version a good conversion? That's a joke.
That's a different game, plays very differently from the arcade, despite the inclusion of the 4 characters.
The Genesis version has only 2, but looks and plays just like the original, has quite faithful level design (unlike the PCE).
Music and graphics are also rather poor?? They are almost identical! And you praise that 8 bit bleeps and bloops version?

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No, music on the PC Engine is also really poor.
Graphics are most certainly not identical, the genesis might look "drab" like the arcade, but like most drab looking genesis games it looks like crap because a 9bit palette simply doesn't allow for good looking "dark" graphics. They took that into account on the PCE version and made it colorful, the game looks great.

And yes, the PC Engine did not leave the gameplay intact, but that's a good thing, they adapted the game to the system instead of doing a lazy port. I'd rather have my favorite character (the ninja) and slightly modified levels than copy pasted levels that look like crap and being forced to play as either the warrior or the mage in them.

I'd rather play CADASH than an 8 bit game that has ninjas and pretends to be the real thing.

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Originally Posted by Tor Landeel

I'd rather play CADASH than an 8 bit game that has ninjas and pretends to be the real thing.

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Well that's all fine and good. I'd rather play the better game. With my favorite character.
EDIT: None of this changes the fact that 2 missing characters automatically means terrible port. Remember all the hate about Final Fight on the SNES?

Final Fight was a terrible port because it was butchered. One character missing, no 2p game, censorship and slow downs all the time.
It's not the same thing.

It's true that it could have been better, but as a great fan of the original (lucky me I love playing with the mage) I really like playing the Genesis version, because it's more arcade accurate, despite the cuts and a few changes. The PCE version is a fine game on its own, a better game? Maybe, but it's a really downgraded and different port.
I'm gonna play it tonight and give it another shot.

Well yes, final fight on the SNES was a much worse port than Cadash but my point still stands.

If you go into the PC Engine version expecting arcade Cadash you'll be disappointed, if you are simply expecting the "idea" of Cadash, than it's a freaking awesome game. The fact that it's not a lazy port but instead a version designed for the system is what makes consider it a better "port" than the genesis version.

Shame all 3 versions have poor music. The arcade is the best because you barely notice it.

As far as ports I've actually played both the arcade and Gen game of:
OutRun
Sunset Riders
Double Dragon

I think many of the fighting ports are superior on the Genesis than that other 16-bit machine. I'm thinking:
WWF Arcade
Samurai Shodown

You could argue that Street Fighter II Championship Edition is superior to the SNES Turbo version, but you'd be arguing semantics because they are so close. I prefer the Gen gameplay with the 6-button though. A similar argument could be made for MKII. WHile it looks better on the SNES, gameplay-wise it's faster and handles better on the Gen. It seems like the really popular fighting games of the early 90s got pretty good ports on the Gen considering the limited technical power of the system in comparison to the arcades.

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Originally Posted by Kamahl

If you go into the PC Engine version expecting arcade Cadash you'll be disappointed, if you are simply expecting the "idea" of Cadash, than it's a freaking awesome game. The fact that it's not a lazy port but instead a version designed for the system is what makes consider it a better "port" than the genesis version.

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I'm playing the PCE version, right now I'm in the skeleton caves below the cemetery..I really remembered little of it, I must admit!
First thing: the colors hurt my eyes..they are too bright!
Then..the gameplay is ok, every strategy of the original doesn't quite work here, and using long range weapons (like the fire cane in my case) make the game too easy because the hits stop still the enemy.
Too bad many parts are VERY simplified, for example the cemetery was SCARY in the Arcade and Genesis version..here on the PCE is just too short, and easy.

On the other hand you're right, it's a good game on its own, maybe I can't say any better because I know too much the arcade version and I'm addicted to it.
I'm going back to play..