I mean, yeah, compared to the arcade version, it's very bad.. but compared to botched ports of the arcade version in other games (ex: Pac-Man World 2)
It's just not the original, so everyone hates it?
There were more bad than good ports of Pac-Man, something I'll never understand. How can you fuck up a game this simple?
It's not bad per se, it's just that it was the much hyped home port to the biggest game of the day, and produced on an extremely tight schedule. It was much further distanced from the original game than the last big port, Space Invaders.
There are a lot of bad arcade ports, but the Atari 7800 seemed to have more than most.
>Galaga
>Mat Mania
>Rampage
>Double Dragon
All awful, awful conversions.
OP
I have a bunch of Atari 2600 games along with this port. Frogger, Space Invaders, even Kool-Aid Man XD
I also believe that, yeah, the fact it was a fucked up port of lines, dots, and 5 moving sprites... but under the circumstances of the
a.) lack of time
b.) so many copies made
this was received poorly.
Personally, the only GOOD port of the original game is from the Plug-n-Play Pac Man games... sadly those are hard to come by
The GBA Marble Madness was horrible and that was on a system released 15 years _after_ the arcade game. Absolutely inexcusable.
>>3248245
>Personally, the only GOOD port of the original game is from the Plug-n-Play Pac Man games
Forgetting the NES and Atari 5200 ports?
>>3248243
NES Double Dragon - eh, it's a good game in of itself, but it's not DD without the two player mode. Also SNES Final Fight is missing two player mode. Disappointing...
NES version was OK, but I'm meaning like direct ports. the plug-n-play versions are practically identical to the original cabinet.
it's mostly the speed of you and the ghosts that is different in the NES port.
A nitpick, yes, but it's important to me at least lol
NES Adventure Island was not as good as Wonder Boy on the SMS.
>>3248262
>Atari 2600 DD has two player mode
>NES version doesn't
I mean, seriously?
ports just never worked back in the day..
there were a few good ports like Golden Axe for Genesis, and the Donkey Kong ports. Just, at the same time, the existence of bad ports like Pac Man 2600 and Double Dragon NES... boi
NES Strider is disappointing - another arcade port that's not really a port, similar to DD and Rygar. The SMS version is far more arcade accurate. Also the Genesis Strider is excellent partially because the Genny's hardware is very similar to the arcade game which made the port easy.
SMS Paperboy was also terrible - the difficulty is toned way down from the arcade game and the collision detection is really bad. Nice graphics, awful programming.
I feel like the Genesis was majorly filled with arcade games.. let's be honest here lol
Joust - both Atari console ports were excellent, but the NES one is just...off and I can't quite explain the reason for it.
>>3248281
>lol
for what purpose?
Sidearms for the Commodore 64 is pretty bad. I tend to go easy on Atari 2600 ports because the machine is so limited that you can't expect much.
>>3248284
honestly a lot of them feel like arcade games. from the obvious arcade ports to even far more original games on there.
>>3248280
Other bad ports of Paperboy include the Game Gear and most of the Yuropoor home computer versions. The NES Paperboy is pretty good actually. It even kept some of the digitized sfx from the arcade game.
>>3248291
Well, why not? The Genesis is basically arcade hardware under the hood anyway.
>>3248280
To me, the lamest thing about SMS Paperboy is the music. Was it that hard to keep the original soundtrack from the arcade game? The NES and Genesis versions did it.
Spy Hunter for the NES blows.
>>3248262
SMS had the best port of DD.
I think 10 Yard Fight for the NES is pretty bad.
The NES had a surprisingly high number of less-than outstanding arcade ports. Defender II should have been called Defender 1.5, Joust was a tacky assault on the eyes, and Burgertime...Jesus fuck, what happened? You have to position yourself PERFECTLY to mount the ladders, but by the time you've found the sweet spot, you're already weiner-meat. Even a lot of later arcade ports like G&G and Double Dragon were questionable.
There are actually some strong coin-op conversions for the system... Galaga is for my money a huge improvement over its 7800 counterpart, and the Japan-only ports of Galaxian and Dig Dig are similarly excellent. Mario Bros. was cack at first, but there's a European remake for the NES that's much closer to the mark... not perfect, but close.
Hard Drivin' for the Commodore 64 is one of the worst ports I can think of.
How about Tutankhamen for the 2600? At least Pac-Man is recognizable.
>>3248309
I've never seen the C64 port, but I do know the Genesis version is awful.
I though the Genny version was supposed to be one of the better ones. I briefly had it for the SNES and it was AWFUL, as in completely unplayable. The frame rate was just high enough to get the barest sense of motion. The only upside to it is when you crashed the sound for it sounded an awful lot like a fart. Which about sums up the SNES port of Hard Drivin'.
>>3248309
It's not so bad once you've seen Stun Runner on the C64.
>>3248280
The GBC port is pretty bad too, though it's probably better in the controls department than the SMS version.
2600 Burgertime is one of the worst ports out there. It tried a bit too hard to reduce flicker and ended up being slow and not so fun to play.
Space Harrier for TG-16 is a very impressive port. For a system without scaling, the framerate is incredible and puts Space Harrier II on the Genesis to shame.
>>3248309
>Hard Drivin' for the Commodore 64 is one of the worst ports I can think of
How'd they even get that to run on a C64? o.O
>>3248198
Nope. I still like it.
Good: Ms. Pac-Man for the Apple II
Meh: Frogger for the SNES. This is the very last SNES game released outside of Japan and Frogger was given a CG makeover for his SNES appearance. It's not bad, but it's not very exciting, either It feels like one of those PD homebrew roms from that era.
Bad: C64 Hard Drivin'. This is definitely one of the most horrendous arcade ports ever. I'm not even sure if it should have been attempted.
>>3248243
Galaga for the 7800 is not a bad port. It looks slightly different, but it still plays the same.
>>3248326
At 2 fps.
I’m just going to say all ports of Pac-Man ever made. Even the later ones that fixed the bad graphics and flicker from the early days, none of them capture the essence of the arcade game for me. As soon as I hear an inaccurate sound effect or something moves at the wrong speed, or whatever, they’ve lost me. Not sure what it is about the arcade version, but it’s the only version for me, and it’s not a nostalgia thing because I never played the arcade version until about 5 years ago.
I actually thought that NES 10 Yard Fight was a decent game until I tried it on the arcade.
Total Carnage on the CD32. Also all ports of Congo Bongo. There are no good ones.
>>3248245
>Personally, the only GOOD port of the original game is from the Plug-n-Play Pac Man games... sadly those are hard to come by
Are they? I think my local re-seller has one.
>>3248352
The rare disk version of CB for the Commodore 64 is quite excellent, but the common tape/cartridge version blows as does all other ports of the game.
The Atari 800 Congo Bongo, in addition to its shitty gameplay, also made you reset the computer whenever you got a Game Over.
The long list of NES arcade ports that radically changed the gameplay/level design.
>>3248326
Tile based systems like the C64 and NES never do 3D well. Trying to port those games was a waste of time.
Alien 3 for Game Gear, the aliens movie like robots and it's impossible to avoid them. Ripley's jumps are horrible and elevators are too small.
Street Fighter II for Game Boy, the characters move horribly and it lacks characters.
Street Fighter II for Genesis, not the worst but still inferior to the Snes and PCE ports, horrible sound and small characters.
Sonic 2 for GG, what is it with the difficulty of boss battles?
Pac-Man for Atari VCS, not a bad game on its own but a bad port.
Donkey Kong for ZX Spectrum, so many barrels it's impossible to pass the first level.
Contra III for GBA, the Genesis levels are too hard and no 2 weapon switch nor aura bomb making the game even harder.
>>3248370
>Donkey Kong for ZX Spectrum, so many barrels it's impossible to pass the first level.
Every arcade port for the Speccy was the worst ever. Also most of those Domark/Tengen ports for the C64 (which includes Hard Drivin') were rubbish.
My vote would have to go to a 2600 game. There were some games that should not have been attempted on it. Donkey Kong Jr. comes to mind.
>>3248375
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ud3nXIbdJXY
Yet the Spectrum still had a better Hard Drivin' than the C64.
Space War 2600 is pretty disappointing. If Atari had been willing to put in 30Hz flicker, it could have allowed 3-4 shots per player quite easily. No prior version of the game that I know of was limited to one shot per player; that limitation really kills the game IMHO.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RqezF_Lv05Y
This video makes me smile
>>3248387
The worst part about that game is the dark green background? What was wrong with just black? My votes for worst ports ever are Donkey Kong, Donkey Kong Jr., and Space Armada, all on Intellivision. The Donkey Kong ports are some of the worst ever done of any arcade game and are almost completely unplayable. And Space Armada has got to be the clunkiest, most useless Space Invaders game ever witnessed by man.
And I almost forgot: SNES's Doom
Atari 2600 Congo Bongo might be the worst of all. Atari 2600 Zaxxon is pretty rough too.
>>3248394
I kind of liked SNES Doom, but yeah, the game didn't really translate well onto a system with tile graphics. Still it's better than the Jaguar or 32X versions, or even 3DO for that matter.
Let me add to the list of people who can't stand the 2600 version of Donkey Kong Jr.
Also, the Amiga version of Pac-Land is pretty awful.
ESWAT for the Amstrad CPC.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bzJREVHcYoI
Mother of God, a child in primary school art class could have drawn better graphics than this. Why, US Gold, why?
Other lousy ports onto the CPC include Quartet, Final Fight, PitFighter (that has to tie with ESWAT for worst port ever), Stun Runner, Hydra, Skull & Crossbones, Strider 2 and Thunderblade.
Congo Bongo on the 5200. Unplayable crap. Terrible control, bad animation, bad sound just all around crap.
Winter Games (NES): Another "gem" from Pony Canyon and Micronics, the clowns who brought you Raiden Densetsu on the Super NES. It's stiff, it lacks events... it's an all-around worse game than the 2600 version. Let that sink in for a while, then laugh at just how pathetic it is.
I feel the 2600 one is well done, but I agree, Winter Games NES sucks. The same company also did a terrible port of Ballblazer and a poorly done GB version of Penguin Land where you actually have to scroll the game to the side to see everything. The Winter Games port is especially disappointing considering the very good ports of World Games and California Games.
My vote would probably go to Street Fighter II for Master System. Looks about as good as you would expect an 8-bit street fighter to look but is near impossible to control. The game seems to take your controller inputs as vague suggestions at best. I'd also say Splatterhouse for the TG-16 was a pretty weak sauce port. The graphics were mostly there but the music and sound effects were way off. Splatterhouse was all about the atmosphere and hearing the satisfying "smack" of splattering an enemy all over the wall and the console port was unfortunately neutered in translation. It's far from the "worst port ever" but to anyone who has played the arcade version a lot the TG-16 game is quite lame. I wish that Namco would finally release this in one of their arcade compilations instead of the same 10 or so arcade games they like to repackage and release every couple years.
>>3248389
whats even happening there
Donkey Kong and Pac-Man for the 2600 were just awful in every way. Honestly, there were very few ports for the 2600 that were very good, as the systems limitations hampered the programmers. Look how bad Defender was compared to the arcade (I HATE the fact that you had to go under the skyline to use the hyper bomb).
Here are some I just thought of:
Rally Bike (NES) - In the arcade game, every time you crashed, you'd lose some fuel and then resume from where you crashed. In the NES version, you were given five chances, and if you crashed, it was back to the beginning for you. And did I mention those levels are rather loooooooooooooong and very difficult??
NARC (NES) - OK, this was just plain awful. I mean tapping the buttons to jump and fire grenades? Why not hold select and press the buttons or something? They should've put this on the SNES instead.
Just about any of Coleco's Atari 2600 efforts
Sonic the Hedgehog Genesis for GBA. Insanely bad port of the Genesis version of Sonic the Hedgehog.
>>3248306
As seen with the NES and their "Seal of Quality", such corporate control is not always a good thing.
With some titles, it's meaningless beyond absurdity.
>>3248443
It might have helped the NES avoid a flood of truly horrendous games. Overall the NES library was fairly large and strong. Also, more worryingly, the NES era was at the point where graphics started getting good enough for porno games and despite Nintendo's best efforts, a handful of unlicensed ones did make it through. Nintendo did become extremely greedy, still I don't think their licensing policies were entirely a bad thing. In any case, the worst Atari games far, far exceed the worst NES games for sheer horror.
>>3248474
I'm gonna have to agree with you here. If you compare the worst licensed NES games such as Ghostbusters and Heroes of the Lance with the worst unlicensed games, the difference is pretty enormous. Some of those Color Dreams/Bunch games were absolutely horrifying and if there'd been no licensing policy in place, games like Cheetahmen II would have been the norm rather than the exception.
Galaxian for the 5200 (on the other hand, the ColecoVision version was near arcade-perfect)
Time Pilot for ColecoVision (a real disappointment, missing a level, sluggish gameplay)
BurgerTime for PlayStation (it was on the Arcade's Greatest Hits Midway Collection 2 and had terrible controls)
Frogger for the SNES and Genesis (missing music)
Most ports of Frogger have missing or altered music, including recent ones like the XBLA and GBA versions. The Genesis one had more of the arcade music than many other ports. The arcade game also borrowed a lot of copyrighted music without permission, so it's likely that missing music will stay missing in most newer ports.
2600 Pac Man was simply a lazily made turd. Check out 2600 Ms Pac Man for an example of an excellent attempt at such a game on the 2600.
>>3248430
>Splatterhouse for the TG-16 was a pretty weak sauce port
It's not bad at all gameplay-wise, even has a nifty hard mode
Not as good as the arcade game of course, but surely not baD
>>3248262
I might be in a minority here, but I actually think the NES version of Double Dragon holds up a bit better than the AC original. It might lack 2P co-op, but it's a much better balanced game overall. The AC version is pretty easy to cheese your way with the elbow strike and suffers from constant slowdown when there's more than three characters.
>>3248273
The 2P mode in the 2600 version was pretty half-assed though, like everything else in that version. It was two-on-two only like on the NES version, but the game is split into two lanes and each player is forced to remain on his lane. You couldn't gang up on the same bad guy like on the arcade.
>>3248302
Nah, the SMS version has some fucked up physics and combos don't properly work, forcing you to resort to walk and punch all the time.
The Genesis version is pretty close to the arcade, but they fucked it with some ugly sprite redesigns, crappier music and some input lag when you press the attack buttons too rapidly.
The GBA version is the definite version of the first Double Dragon, but that's really more of a complete overhaul.
It's in Gaming History 101 or whatever that Pac-Man and E.T both helped to cause the game crash of '83 and every self-respecting nerd knows this narrative by heart. It's like Daikatana.
>>3248287
The problem is that the Atari 2600 is more than capable of a good Pac-Man port.
>>3248243
Rampage is not that bad of a port. Sure there are better versions but it's still a very enjoyable port of the arcade game.
And I own both.
