5 Best games ever

Retr0gamer

And then there's the worst kind of people. The people that play console ports in 50 Hz.

CiDeRmAn

Well, I suppose it's like Super Ghouls and Ghosts, the home port takes on an identity all of it's own.
Sure, Street Fighter II on Mame will be a perfect emulation of the title played by so many, but, the truth is, the majority of people who have played SFII, and that includes everyone not just fighting game fans, played it on a Snes.
This, in turn, means that the Snes experience of SFII is the one they associate with the name, they do not see the limitations, the short cuts taken in bringing the game to the home.
They, therefore, idealise the Snes title and, I'm sure, in some cases the arcade version seems to be the one that is not quite right.
I never played Samurai Shodown in the wild, but played plenty of it on the 3DO and loved it.
I have played it since on the MVS but, I suppose for many reasons, it is simply not the same.

And then there's the worst kind of people. The people that play console ports in 50 Hz.

Sorry... you rand m'lud?

Retr0gamer

Well when I saw the difference between the real arcade versions I broke down a cried and shook by fists at the heavens screaming 'what have I been wasting my time on all these years!'.

I think that's how it went down.

I think it's more ignorance is bliss for those people that play the crappy home versions.

Myrddin

CiDeRmAn wrote: »

Well, I suppose it's like Super Ghouls and Ghosts, the home port takes on an identity all of it's own.
Sure, Street Fighter II on Mame will be a perfect emulation of the title played by so many, but, the truth is, the majority of people who have played SFII, and that includes everyone not just fighting game fans, played it on a Snes.
This, in turn, means that the Snes experience of SFII is the one they associate with the name, they do not see the limitations, the short cuts taken in bringing the game to the home.
They, therefore, idealise the Snes title and, I'm sure, in some cases the arcade version seems to be the one that is not quite right.?

Then that is a definite case of rose tinted glasses, because the 16bit ports of the SF2 games are really terrible. Why drive a Fiat Punto, when you can drive a Ferrari? Because you learned in a punto? C'mon

o1s1n

Some home ports, when they do something different (like Super Ghouls and Ghosts) can be good - but it's because they're using the hardware limitations to do something interesting rather than just trying to be a bad imitation.

Myrddin

o1s1n wrote: »

Some home ports, when they do something different (like Super Ghouls and Ghosts) can be good - but it's because they're using the hardware limitations to do something interesting rather than just trying to be a bad imitation.

Oh definitely, but in the case of SF2...the 16bit machines are out of their depth. The ports suck, sure they may have nostaligic value...but I will never in a month of Sundays say to myself "Oh I fancy a few rounds of SF2...I think I'll play on the SNES today"

Retr0gamer

Retr0gamer wrote: »

when I saw the difference between the real arcade versions I broke down a cried and shook by fists at the heavens screaming 'what have I been wasting my time on all these years!

I think that's the point. Arcade ports really only happened because back in the 90's (when arcade games were still around to be ported) the vast majority of people didn't have any access to the originals apart from a handful of the most popular ones. There was no interwebs, no youtube, no way to compare, and because of that, all that many people ever got to see were the console ports.

When you see the difference, and in particular if you get to play the original in a proper cab with proper sticks and buttons, it's quite stark.

For me, the biggest differences were things like sprite sizes, black bars at the top and bottom of the screen to allow devs to shrink everything down a bit, and the sound. The sound in particular always stuck out for me. The sound chips in a CPS1 cab booming out of it's big speakers were streets ahead of anything the SNES and my 14" portable CRT could provide back in 1991, and a real arcade monitor with screen burn and scanlines, and a curvature you had to get used to just added even more to the experience.

EnterNow

EnterNow wrote: »

Oh definitely, but in the case of SF2...the 16bit machines are out of their depth. The ports suck, sure they may have nostaligic value...but I will never in a month of Sundays say to myself "Oh I fancy a few rounds of SF2...I think I'll play on the SNES today"

Most definitely. The sprites were tiny, had less animation frames, the PAL versions all ran too slow because of 50hz, the used screen size was smaller, the music wasn't as good and hadn't nearly as many sound chanels, there weren't as many layers of parallax in the backgrounds, etc, etc. They were generally just inferior ports, but they pushed the cartridge's storage to the limit, and were absolutely lapped up. The SNES version are still, to this day, Capcom's biggest ever seller on home systems.

And then there were the mega drive versions.....sheesh. Special champion edition? Don't even get me started!)

(btw, that last remark is just troll bait for ciderman )

CiDeRmAn

Something impressive about Street Fighter Alpha on the Snes though, despite its limitations compared to the original, and they can still be fun to play given that the arcade title is nearly a subject of nostalgia now too.

Myrddin

The sounds on the Megadrive version are truly woeful

Comparison vid between MD and SNES

Myrddin

Deleted User wrote: »

Comparison vid between MD and SNES

God they're horrific. They were great in their day because they were our only option, but nowadays...they're clearly inferior. Now, see the real thing

o1s1n

EnterNow wrote: »

The sounds on the Megadrive version are truly woeful

Not as woeful as the sounds people made trying to play it with three buttons!

Hank Scorpio

I still enjoy sf2 turbo to this day and play it alot, obviously its not as good as the arcade version but to call it horrific is unfair imo. Its the best fighting game on the snes by far

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLVoMW-OVyg

Myrddin

o1s1n wrote: »

Not as woeful as the sounds people made trying to play it with three buttons!

God that was some solution wasn't it

Myrddin

nuxxx wrote: »

I still enjoy sf2 turbo to this day and play it alot, obviously its not as good as the arcade version but to call it horrific is unfair imo. Its the best fighting game on the snes by far

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLVoMW-OVyg

Well I wasn't calling the game horrific, what I meant was in comparison to the arcade version they're horrific. I honestly don't get why they're played today & I'm a huge SF fan. With the arcade perfect emulation, the likes of MAME etc offer a vastly superior experience.

They're grand for a quick dip in a nostalgia bath, but otherwise, no thanks

nuxxx

nuxxx wrote: »

I still enjoy sf2 turbo to this day and play it alot, obviously its not as good as the arcade version but to call it horrific is unfair imo. Its the best fighting game on the snes by far...

It's one of the most played games on my Cab, possibly THE most played game. Superb, no nonsense 2D fighter.

The SNES version pails in comparison to the CPS1 board, particularly in terms of sound effects and sprite size, but back in the day it was a big achievement. It was 50% larger than any cart that had appeared on the system so far, and was the closest thing you could get to the game anywhere outside the arcade.

I'm a big SF fan, and it's definitely in my top 3 street fighter games (of which there are a huge number).

Hank Scorpio

I don't think the snes version is horrific compared to the arcade one, the sprites and animations are worse and there is alot of difference in gameplay mechanics, but overall its an excellent port. Maybe one day I`ll invest in a cab and play the arcade version, atm I don't see the point in buying 2 gamepads to run an emulator on my pc when I can just throw the cart into my snes and play on the couch with a friend

Doctor DooM

To be fair, although the look of it is clearly inferior, as is the sound, the Megadrive version of SF2 played fine, and in those days I recall that's all that mattered.

I was perfectly capable of going over to my SNES owning friends house and busting the combos from one platform out on the other.

I'd also disagree witgh Mackdaddi slightly on one thing- From admittedly anecodotal evidence I would say it was Super turbo, not Super, which really damaged the arcade scene here in Ireland, no matter what the SRK official line is. ST's one player mode was simply too hard to be worth spending money on so you'd never see anyone grinding 1P mode on it, which meant if you were on your own, you'd never have anyone to challenge or play with...

Retr0gamer

Then just get a version on the console that is arcade perfect. There's been plenty of releases of the game on other consoles that are perfect. It was grand back in the day but now there's really not much excuse to be playing the 16-bit versions.

Myrddin

nuxxx wrote: »

I don't think the snes version is horrific compared to the arcade one

Oh it is.

the sprites and animations are worse and there is alot of difference in gameplay mechanics, but overall its an excellent port.

Ok, here's the arcade version:

Watch it. Then compare to the SNES:

It's vastly inferior. Vastly so. Ok if you've no pc gamepad, then you'll get by with the Snes...but for the sake of a few quid...you seriously need to do yourself a favour & invest in even a crappy pad for it.

If you wanna talk about excellent ports, here's how its done:

Maybe one day I`ll invest in a cab and play the arcade version, atm I don't see the point in buying 2 gamepads to run an emulator on my pc when I can just throw the cart into my snes and play on the couch with a friend

Yeah for pick up & play casual gaming, sure you can use platform. But to enjoy the game itself, the arcade port is how to experience it.

Myrddin

Doctor DooM wrote: »

To be fair, although the look of it is clearly inferior, as is the sound, the Megadrive version of SF2 played fine, and in those days I recall that's all that mattered.

I was perfectly capable of going over to my SNES owning friends house and busting the combos from one platform out on the other.

I dont think anyone is saying it wasn't playable in any form, but in this day & age...why play the clearly inferior versions?

I'd also disagree witgh Mackdaddi slightly on one thing- From admittedly anecodotal evidence I would say it was Super turbo, not Super, which really damaged the arcade scene here in Ireland, no matter what the SRK official line is. ST's one player mode was simply too hard to be worth spending money on so you'd never see anyone grinding 1P mode on it, which meant if you were on your own, you'd never have anyone to challenge or play with...

I use to own the actual pcb of SSF2T...my god it was bastard hard. Goo dpoint

Hank Scorpio

Yeah fair enough I agree there are much better versions out there even away from the arcade version. The only console I have is a snes so my fanboyism is gonna defend it passionately :pac: I`ll keep an eye out to pick up a joypad or a better console+version but its not really a priority at the moment.

That 3d engine port looks worse than the snes one, the 3do port is awesome though.

Doctor DooM

Doctor DooM wrote: »

From admittedly anecodotal evidence I would say it was Super turbo, not Super, which really damaged the arcade scene here in Ireland, no matter what the SRK official line is. ST's one player mode was simply too hard to be worth spending money.

yeah that's true. ST was rock hard. Annoyingly so, and from memory (although I might be wrong) it was expensive too. I think it was 50p a credit in doctor quirkeys, when most games were 20 or sometimes 40p. It was (and still is) like the AI was just messing with you. It would string you along and let you think you were going to win then crush you in a few seconds with something cheap and nasty.

I do remember that less people were interested in street fighter by the time it arrived though. Hyper fighting was the busiest I ever remember the street fighter arcade scene being here. Every arcade had it without exception, and it was always busy. Super was the first street fighter game I ever remember opinion being divided on, not everybody thought it was better and plenty of people didn't keep playing it.

Also the SNES Port of hyper fighting was released a couple of months before super hit the arcades in winter 93, and by Christmas absolutely everybody had it. That really hurt the arcade crowds for both super and ST, probably more than either arcade game did.

Doctor DooM

Deleted User wrote: »

yeah that's true. ST was rock hard. Annoyingly so, and from memory (although I might be wrong) it was expensive too. I think it was 50p a credit in doctor quirkeys, when most games were 20 or sometimes 40p. It was (and still is) like the AI was just messing with you. It would string you along and let you think you were going to win then crush you in a few seconds with something cheap and nasty.

I do remember that less people were interested in street fighter by the time it arrived though. Hyper fighting was the busiest I ever remember the street fighter arcade scene being here. Every arcade had it without exception, and it was always busy. Super was the first street fighter game I ever remember opinion being divided on, not everybody thought it was better and plenty of people didn't keep playing it.

Also the SNES Port of hyper fighting was released a couple of months before super hit the arcades in winter 93, and by Christmas absolutely everybody had it. That really hurt the arcade crowds for both super and ST, probably more than either arcade game did.

There was admittedly less people playing Super in our scene, but there was zero people playing ST. It had something of a rebirth with Alpha 2.

chopperbyrne

The Tallaght Leaisurebowl/Lesiureplex had a big SF II scene and was one of the first arcades to get Super.

They got linked cabs with Tournament Mode. Although most people were a bit disappointed at the speed drop (and 50p a credit), it still got a lot of play.

When ST was announced shortly afterwards, people just dropped the game in droves. Even when they got an ST cab, it didn't get revived.

When Alpha 2 was released, there was another boom, though everyone now played at the Atari Expo in the Square. Alpha 2 was so popular that when SF III bombed, the big sit-down sanwa stick/buttons cab bought for SF III had an Alpha 2 board shoved in instead.

juan.kerr

SWOS
Cannon Fodder
Monkey Island series
Kick Off 2 (superceded by Sensible Soccer / SWOS)
Wings

chopperbyrne

chopperbyrne wrote: »

The Tallaght Leaisurebowl/Lesiureplex had a big SF II scene and was one of the first arcades to get Super. They got linked cabs with Tournament Mode....When Alpha 2 was released, there was another boom...Alpha 2 was so popular that when SF III bombed, the big sit-down sanwa stick/buttons cab bought for SF III had an Alpha 2 board shoved in instead.

I remember those sit down 2 player cabs. They were gorgeous. Quirkeys had a row of them around the time super came out. There were 8 positions linked, I think, for tourneys, but it was mostly 1v1 being played on them.

Alpha 2 and 3 were both very good, but I think alpha 2 was the last game that really felt like the street fighter 2 series, A3 was completely different. After that I think arcades had mostly died out, and I had discovered booze and girls, so that was the end of arcade gaming for me till I built my first cab a few years later and got back into it.

unky chop chop

Yeah Tallaght bowl was the first place I saw super SF.
Those monster cabs were Sega weren't they..if memory serves right?
Looking at pics they looked like Naomi deluxe maybe?

chopperbyrne

Yeah the cab looked really similar to that, though kitted out with six buttons on each side and SF III artwork.

I seem to remember the pedestal having a gap between it and the screen, but then I'm getting on a bit now, and the old grey matter ain't what it used to be, so i may be wrong.

Looks very like it though. 4 of them in a row, all dolled out with the official artwork, including the marquee on top, and linked up together for 8 way tourney play.

I can't even find a photo online of them. Would love to see one again.

davet82

i could probably list at least 20 favourites but i'll try...

1. Steet Fighter 2

2. Resident Evil

3. Zelda 3: A Link to the Past

4. Final Fantasy 7

5. FIFA series

Myrddin

davet82 wrote: »

i could probably list at least 20 favourites but i'll try...

1. Steet Fighter 2

2. Resident Evil

3. Zelda 3: A Link to the Past

4. Final Fantasy 7

5. FIFA series

Ooh, & you were going so well

davet82

EnterNow wrote: »

Ooh, & you were going so well

:pac:

i had to add it because of the endless hours of playing friends at the various releases over the years

the groutch

TIF is my favorite footie franchise by a mile (assuming you don't count Championship Manager)