retro OG or port?

[Nintegageo | 582]

When a game was originally done on a console you own, but then a port was done on a console you also own; which would you choose?

Example: Earthworm Jim was originally planned as a Genesis game, but then was ported to the SNES. I own both however would rather the original so I decided to purchase the Genesis version.

Anyone else care?

[RH | 4,903]

I think for most of us, it's what we grew up with.  For instance, I do enjoy an occasional play of Duck Tales on the NES but I much prefer the Game Boy version.  I doubt anyone calls the GB version better, but I spent countless hours playing that on on my GB, so that's what I prefer.

[Webhead123 | 675]

I agree that the "nostalgia factor" can definitely be a big one for most folks. For me these days, when it comes to multiple ports of a game (Earthworm Jim is a perfect example), I tend to research all the differences and choose the option that I find most appealing. While the version of EW Jim that I grew up with was definitely the SNES port, detailed comparison in more recent years ended up converting me to the GEN version and now that's the one I almost exclusively jump to when I decide to play it.

The GBA ports of Super Mario World and Yoshi's Island are another good example. Honestly, I find Mario's added voice lines in GBA Mario World to almost entirely ruin the game for me. Call it nostalgia if you want but something just feels "wrong" about hearing Mario chime in every single time he grabs a power-up. It actually grates on my ears. I love you, Mario, but just shut up, huh? The same applies to GBA Link to the Past. I don't need/want to hear Link's "hyyaaaah" every time I swing his sword. So, I just don't play those ports.

So, for me, while I have an underlying tendency to prefer an original to a port in 90% of cases, these days, I evaluate them on a game-by-game basis.

[DefaultGen | 5,401]

I play the original if feasible. I'm interested in what a game was like when it came out/became popular, not the Star Wars Special Edition version of it where they reversed the camera controls like Mario 3D All-Stars. Why did you reverse the camera controls. I have so much muscle memory. Why.

[RH | 4,903]

Oh, here's another one I've brought up before.  I assume you could call it a port, but really it's a game that's been upgraded many times.  Myst.

I played the original at my Dad.  Lo res, 256 colors and all.  Killer experience.  However, if you want to experience it today, go with a Myst Remastered to get the updated resolution and graphics or realMyst so it's more of a FPS Puzzle world.  It's still point and click, but a lot more explorative.

So, yes.  I want Duck Tales on GB because it is the first one.  But with Myst, eh, the OG is nothing more than a collector item on my shelf and when I want to go back to the world of the D'ni, I'll get an upgraded port. So really I think preference of ports is relative per game.

[DefaultGen | 5,401]

realMyst (or any of the Myst re-releases) are a perfect example of what I don't want to play, at least the first time I play something old. It's like metaphorically putting an RTX 3080 into a 486 computer. It would be better but the limitations of the time, the historical shittiness if you will, is kind of what I'm looking for.

[RH | 4,903]

11 minutes ago, DefaultGen said:

realMyst (or any of the Myst re-releases) are a perfect example of what I don't want to play, at least the first time I play something old. It's like metaphorically putting an RTX 3080 into a 486 computer. It would be better but the limitations of the time, the historical shittiness if you will, is kind of what I'm looking for.

This is why I suggest Remastered unless someone is truly interested but can't get into ye olde point and click style games.

I know everyone is different, but 256 color FMVs are just hard for me to watch and even as a kid in the mid-90s, the graininess was cool to see that they tried, but I was still hoping for something more.

Don't get me wrong, though.  99% of the time I want the original experience, warts and all, but this is my one major personal exception where taking the quality bump isn't that big of an offense. It really is the exact same game, with just higher quality renders for the details.  It's worth it to me because I knew the original didn't quite feel perfect, even back then.

[Tanooki | 4,933]

9 hours ago, Nintegageo said:

When a game was originally done on a console you own, but then a port was done on a console you also own; which would you choose?

Example: Earthworm Jim was originally planned as a Genesis game, but then was ported to the SNES. I own both however would rather the original so I decided to purchase the Genesis version.

Anyone else care?

 

I like your idea of the Genesis vs SNES as it had a common problem between them that go around.  You had the good ports or side-by-side made games to both systems potentials.  But often as Genesis came out first, you had the meh, the bad, and the ugly.  Boogerman with the buzzy tinny muffled copies of the audio mixed with poor color and animations.  Or you'd get some of that nicer, but then cheap or lazy out on the job like Mickey Mania and have load screens and removing entire stages that wouldn't have a problem functioning well.

Handheld conversions of consoles had problems too, sometime addressed, and sometimes straight up ruined.  Going from the TV to square aspect ratio was worst, yet sometimes even going wide (gba) you'd still get some really stupid choices going on.  Take Donkey Kong Country or the MM Xtreme games on GBC.  They didn't fix the stages or scale of the sprites at all.  You'd end up with so many senseless suicidal deaths into pits and contact traps from off screen in flight.  Or you'll end up with large sprite you and larger sprite boss now in a small square or rectangle not scaled in size down to the lower resolution so it ends up being a punching bag of attrition who dies first instead of having the normal room to evade and counter.  Yet you would get some games that would get smart, remove or minimize on screen prompt/menus and shrink things correctly for size and they'd be utterly marvelous still like Link to the Past and the Super Mario titles, Super Ghouls n Ghosts, Final Fight One, and others on the GBA too.  It really did go both ways.

[LostLevel83 | 85]

I generally like to play games on the system I originally played them on. Port or no port.

For Final Fight, I originally played the arcade, but played the SNES port a lot as well.

I own a copy of the SNES version largely for the nostalgia, but also Capcom Classics for PS2, because it retains the co-op mode from the arcade that the SNES version lost.

Regarding “retro” games, I can enjoy the heck out of Streets of Rage 4 without it impacting my appreciation of playing the original games on a Genesis.

[Reed Rothchild | 9,521]

Generally OG, and whatever my collection has in it.  But handhelds basically always trump consoles right now for me, convenience-wise.

[Estil | 1,264]

On 11/9/2020 at 12:46 PM, RH said:

I know everyone is different, but 256 color FMVs are just hard for me to watch and even as a kid in the mid-90s, the graininess was cool to see that they tried, but I was still hoping for something more.

Better that than the lovely 64 color FMV's that the Sega CD offered!

[cj_robot | 540]

On 11/9/2020 at 12:27 PM, DefaultGen said:

I play the original if feasible. I'm interested in what a game was like when it came out/became popular, not the Star Wars Special Edition version of it where they reversed the camera controls like Mario 3D All-Stars. Why did you reverse the camera controls. I have so much muscle memory. Why.

I always like starting with the original whenever I can, but I'll move on to other versions after I've got that frame of reference. After that, I'll default to whichever version I like best.

For example, I'll always pick NES Super Mario Bros. over the All-Stars versions, but for many PS4 remasters (Uncharted, for instance) I find it pointless and not at all practical to boot up the PS3 versions anymore.

[T-Pac | 7,539]

I have a hierarchy for which version of a game I prefer to play:

1) The original release

2) NES ports

3) the earliest port available for the consoles I have

As an example, my preferred way to play Pac-Man is on an original arcade cabinet. If that isn't an option, I play the NES port. If that isn't an option, I play the Atari 2600 port. It's my own calculated madness.

-CasualCart

[Sumez | 2,949]

I can't really imagine that a lot of people would intentionally go with bias or nostalgia for this one.

If you have the option of both versions, there's no reason to not look at the individual releases and compare them before making the choice. Usually the factors that makes the difference for me is something like:

• Even if the two versions are close, but the re-release is a downgrade, go with the orignal (eg. for Bubble Bobble, anything other than the original just feels wrong)
• If the re-release changes things up entirely, go with either both, or the most coveted one. (eg. the NES port of Contra)
• If the re-release is just straight up emulation, I'll most likely go with the original - especially if it has a cartridge release it'll always be a higher priority to me, and emulation releases with input lag are a no-go.
• If the re-release has obvious upgrades or quality-of-life additions it gets more complicated. Depending on the game, I might be more interested in experiencing it in the context of the original release, and even if QOL additions might be praised in many online debates etc. there is often no guarantee that they won't also compromise intentional design aspects of the original game. (a good example would be Dragon Quest VII on 3DS which a lot of people feel loses a lot of the intensity of the PS1 original)

 

Some times a re-release is just a clear cut improvement, but even with modern "remasters" it's not always a given.
I'm trying to think of actual examples from classic ports (it not modern remasters or emulation releases), but I struggle to think of any. I know they are out there.

Edited November 13, 2020 by Sumez