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What games do you know where you find a specific console port better than the original arcade game?

It needs to be an actual port. Games that just have the same name, but where both versions are actually two completely different games, like "Strider" for the arcade and the NES, don't count.

Same with expanded ports. While "Donkey Kong" for the NES could be a valid example, "Donkey Kong" for the Game Boy from 1994 isn't. That comparison would be a bit unfair.

Or imagine they had done a Super Nintendo version of "Donkey Kong" with just the four original levels, but with graphics like from "Donkey Kong Country" and the game physics of "Super Mario World": That wouldn't count either.

Just regular ports please. A new soundtrack here ("Rush'n'Attack") or a different level there (some "Turtles" game for the Super Nintendo) is o.k. But if the port is basically "<Game name> Deluxe", then that's not what I mean.


In my case, I recently tried the arcade version of "Paperboy" on MAME just because I have never seen it before. And what shall I say? I don't like it.

I just cannot control the guy properly. O.k., it might have to do with the unconventional controls that have to be mapped to the keyboard in MAME.
So, I tried the Game Boy Color version which seems to be a scaled-down, but othewise faithful port, right down to the same options screen. And it didn't get better.
The way the paperboy moves to the left just feels odd. And I always run into every object because I always misguide the whole "visual real world perspective vs. sprite-based collision detection" thing.

Now, the NES version (and the regular Game Boy version which looks and plays identical to the NES game, as I said in another thread) is a really neat little game. I've never had problems with the controls. The game just plays much better.

The graphics are another factor. The NES version looks much more "classic" and stylish. I have always been very fond of those visuals. They remind me of various movies and shows that play in the suburbs. In this game, it's easily concievable that you ride your bike through Elm Street or Wisteria Lane or whatever. The arcade graphics somehow don't do this for me.

Oh, and by the way, let's compare the protagonist in both versions:


Yeah, I would say the NES rendition is a huge improvement over Hamster Cheek.

The trope you're looking for is Polished Port as opposed to Adaptation Expansion.

Control in Klax (NES) feels more responsive than control in Klax (arcade), plus you get a speed metal soundtrack. Control is likewise far better in the Bitmasters ports of Rampart to NES and Super NES compared to the emulation of Rampart (arcade) in Midway Arcade Treasures for PS2, and there's a good reason for that: Bitmasters is the staff from Tengen.

tepples wrote:The trope you're looking for is Polished Port as opposed to Adaptation Expansion.

Well, at least in my case with "Paperboy", this trope wouldn't really apply. My preferences here are purely subjective. Objectively, there is nothing polished with the NES version of the game.

For example, while I prefer the NES graphics, I do have to say that, from an artistic point of view, the arcade game graphics are of a much higher quality.
It's just that I like the simplistic look of the NES game while the arcade game looks too colorful and too cartoony for me. But pixel-art-wise, yeah, the arcade game is of course of a higher caliber.

I believe that NES versions of Contra, Super C, and Jackal are way better than their arcade originals.

Off topic, but I'm becoming very curious about all these extra specific games lists you're asking for, DRW. Identical Game Boy/NES games, better console ports, all Konami games...

Are you brewing some project or article?

No. It's just a coincidence:

When I digged out "Paperboy", I became aware that the NES and the Game Boy version are basically alike. And since in another thread I played with the thought to program a game and use the same game logic code on the NES and the Game Boy (which, as the others told me, isn't really possible after all), I was curious which other games are equal nevertheless.

About the Konami stuff: Konami seems to be the biggest developer and publisher of NES games. No other company had more games (apart from Nintendo itself of course). And I wanted to see if they actually have a well-known franchise in their NES and Famicom list that is not based on a non-videogame license and that is not an arcade port.
But interestingly, as far as I see, the "Castlevania" games are the only very well-known Konami games that are NES originals.
"Contra": Arcade port.
"Gradius": Arcade port.
"Turtles", "Goonies" etc.: Licensed from a non-game franchise.
For some reason, even though Konami was such an active developer, "Castlevania" is the only franchise that is well-known, invented by Konami and where the first game is really original and native to the NES.
That's what I wanted to verify: I wanted to see if there is another Konami franchise that originated on the NES or Famicom.

And the question about arcade/console comparisons, this is a subjective thing anyway and I wanted to hear other people's opinions, after I became aware that I like the NES "Paperboy", but I don't like the arcade "Paperboy".

Even Castlevania was not so straight NES original. It first released for FDS, but just month later alternative version (Vampire Killer) was released for MSX2. It only got to the NES next year after these two, and shortly after this another alternative version, Haunted Castle, was made for the arcade. So maybe they not actually intended to release the console version first.

Well, you say it yourself: First the FDS version, then MSX. Then, much later, the arcade version.
Ergo: NES-original.
O.k., Famicom-original, but I don't distinguish between NES and Famicom games.

What companies internally intended cannot be said for sure. All that counts is what was actually released. And in this case, while "Contra" and "Gradius" clearly have their roots in the arcade and "Metal Gear" is from the MSX, "Castlevania" is the one Konami series where the original game indeed came out for NES hardware.
O.k., the MSX version lost just by a month. But since the NES game is clearly the superior game and since all subsequent games follow from the NES version, I guess we can say that the NES game deserves its first place of being the original ur-"Castlevania".

I think the Mega Drive version of Chelnov/Atomic Runner was an improvement over its arcade counter-part. The game was basically the same, but the updated graphics and the parallax scrolling were so much better than the crude ones in the arcade version.

UN squadron snes is apparently better than arcade version

The NES version of Super Dodge Ball seems to be a well received port, despite changing gameplay slightly. (Personally, I'd say the same goes for the PC Engine port as well, though that version is a bit closer to the arcade.)

Also throwing in my hat for Contra on the NES, mainly because of the soundtrack.

Same thing goes for Guerrilla war. The music is so much better on the NES version that I prefer it to the arcade version.

Anyone else think the soundtrack to Double Dragon has a better arrangement on NES?

Haven't played the arcade version, but just from looking at Youtube videos the console version of Punch-Out!! seems superior. The larger player and wireframe makes things too cluttered in the arcade version.

strat wrote:Anyone else think the soundtrack to Double Dragon has a better arrangement on NES?

Me. The composition is just legendary.

Though many people considered its gameplay not as good as the arcade version (mainly for the removal of 2-player mode and the dragons are no longer "double"), I personally regarded it as a step forward as I quite liked its level up system (though it could be abused so that it's easy to level up close to max level in the first stage).


The Famicom version of Double Dragon 3 though, was 999999999999999999999 times better than the arcade version. That's for sure.