On Retro Comparisons we compare the differences between video games for educational and entertainment purposes. Our goal is to be the go-to resource to see how games differ over generations.
The SMS Made A Really Good Arcade Port, Winner: None Why? (Because Its Unfair To Compare A Port To A Arcade Game Its Like Comparing Pasta To Pizza, And Its Obious That Arcade Won)
Yeah that SMS port is great. Perhaps it's unfair in a sense but this channel is more about seeing how things progressed between generations and how home ports handled arcade games and less about seeing how much one version destroyed the other.
Awesome transition man!!!! I have never played this game thanks to my wild frustrations witu Mr Do.... lol The SMS port is quite solid and if more effort was put into it, it very well could have been a perfect port! Winner: Arcade This is not an easy game, nice work and I enjoy seemless transitions!!! I did notice you just broke 12K, after your major drop of Sega V Nintendo I figured you would be closing in at 100k.. lol. Anyway your efforts are enjoyable and badass man!
Thanks buddy, I once again lucked out on this game having an easier transition point to make it as smooth as possible. Lol that damn Mr. Do ruining things! As others have said there's really not a bad port of this game so if you did ever try it there's no shortage of systems you can experience it on. And thanks again for the kind words! I feel really lucky to have such amazing people like yourself that helped me get to 12k.
@@RetroComparisons That makes sense on the transition, it is still fun to see lol. I will have to give this a chance after I complete my 20k game back log. So many games, not enough time! lol
The resolution on the Satun is higher for obvious reasons, the console is newer - but otherwise for me everything is better on the Sega Cd, the colors are better calibrated and the sprites are much more beautiful than the horrible quadrilateral pixel, which shows all your Ugliness in Virtual Figter
I was surprised that the Sega CD looked better on some of these. Time Gal is a great example of a better art style whereas the Saturn looked like a mess.
Yeah this is a top notch port. Outside of a homebrew version today with 40 years of know how I don't think the SMS could have a better port than what we got with this.
Looks like a solid port. Ive always been more or of a puzzle bobble over bubble bobble guy haha but tbese games are classics none the less. Great comparison!
Haha lots of bobbles to go around for everyone. I like both in different ways depending on my mood I guess, but I've only ever played solid ports of either Bubble Bobble or Puzzle Bobble. There was some excellent quality control going on there.
@@RetroComparisons haha yeah for sure. Puzzle Bobble aka Bust-A-Move is a great puzzle game and underrated imo a bit. I remember when I played Bubble Bobble thinking of the original Mario game and DK vs Mario flashbacks haha you know the one with a similar set up but a little different. Also, I always think of a funny story way back as a kid I couldn't remember the name of Bust-A-Move at first and asked the guy at Funkoland(at the time, also Babbages) if they had Bust-A-Load the game where you explode the bubbles. Dude looked at me like he was trying not to laugh and I remember getting mad like "do you have the game or not?!" 😠 LOL He got his boss and the guy was like ahh you meant Bust a move little bud? lol He was nicer. 🤣🤣 I was like 10 and didn't know what that term meant til I was a bit older lol
@@MKF30 Hahahaha!!! That's freaking hilarious!!! "Hey, please get me that Bust-A-Load game. I want to play with my joystick". I totally agree, Puzzle Bobble is a criminally underrated series. I've played the first 4 and they're all super addictive. Oh yeah I think I know what you mean there with the Mario setup, kind of like the original arcade game. I used to play that a lot on the 2600 and I wouldn't be surprised if Bubble Bobble took inspiration from that.
@@RetroComparisons Yeah for sure 👍 I agree.lol ok I didn't say that last part lmao 😂 Funny you mention that though one time with my friend we went to a convention store little Bodega welcome to quickie mart kind of place when I was a teenager and tried buying a playboy with an EGM, my friend looked surprised he was a little older. This dude who sounded like Apu says "ahh you like to play joystick game 🕹 eh? Yes owee goodie joystick game" and I was like yeah, video games EGM" then he looks and says "no no holds up playboy joystick game hahaha" 😏😐So I said "hey weren't you thr guy in 7/11 last week who gave me my slurpee?" Lmao 🤣 dude got triggered he was like."what, no, no I don't work 711 gas station, why you say this"? Lmao 😅🤣
The SMS port of Bubble Bobble is quite nice. It's not as good as the arcade, but it's fun, looks good, and sounds good too. I haven't played a whole lot of the SMS version, just bit of messing around with it, but it compares well against the NES port wheich a friend of mine had back in the day and where I played the game first.
Both this and the NES ports are excellent. The SMS port is just the slightest downgrade from the arcade but is about as masterfully done as possible for the hardware. You really get the same gameplay experience from the NES port though so you weren't playing an inferior version by any means on your first playthrough.
I think SomeOrangeCat is right about this being a game that is apparently either easy to port, or Taito exercised very strict quality control to make sure only good ports got made. I can't think of a bad version of "Bubble Bobble" off the top of my head. Regardless, I don't think that takes anything away from the fact that the SMS version here is pretty much arcade-perfect. The only differences I can spot are that the stage platforms on SMS make a tiny bit less effort at appearing three dimensional (no shadow), and the audio is a little different -- and I'd stress the word "different" rather than "worse", because I love the SMS sound and think it comes across beautifully here. If I were gaming in 1988 and bought this for my hypothetical Master System, I would be as proud of it as I could be, and it looks like a good way to play Bubble Bobble even today.
As per usual I agree with everything you said. This is about as close as it gets for an 8 bit console version of a contemporary arcade game. I'm sure it's already been done but I'd love to see how older systems could handle this done by the wizards in the homebrew scene. I bet even the Colecovision and 5200 could have had respectable ports of this game.
@@RetroComparisons Ha, that's fun to think about, and I think you have something there. The Colecovision, especially, could have pulled off a great Bubble Bobble!
@@RetroComparisons There's a while range of Taito arcade games ported to DOS that were pretty good. The best of the bunch being Operation Wolf and Rastan. The Tandy version of the latter looked like the Arcade game but sounded like the SMS version.
Dreamcast is a 6th gen console while the PS1 is 5th gen, so obviously it has better graphics. There are some other games with noticeable differences, like Legacy of Kain Soul Reaver. The question is, does it look better on Dreamcast or PS1 emulators?
I've seen some stuff on PS1 emulators that make the games look incredible. I'm not sure what the emulator scene is for the Dreamcast but it would be interesting to see if there's similar improvements that could be made.
Haha thanks! I don't know why they gave them the same name in America, though I guess technically the Saturn version has the word "The" in front of the title.
La genesis a une résolution très légèrement supérieur....mais 4 fois moins de couleurs en simultané!!! on a un rapport de 1 couleur pour plus de 1000 pixels...pour la genesis, et 1 couleur pour 224 pixels pour la snes, les graphismes snes sont donc très logiquement plus beau, après c'est selon les gouts! Le processeur de la snes est moins rapide...mais la famille de processeur de la snes sont redoutable d'efficacité! exemple : le processeur à 1,79 mhz de la nes éclate le Z80 à 4mhz du CPC...ce qui prouve bien que le processeur n'est pas seul responsable des performances...a part les jeux de 1ere génération, les jeux snes ne sont pas plus lents! Il n'y pas ou peu de ralentissement dans les Parodius, R type 3, R2, super Aleste, Super Turrican 2, alors qu'il y a des tonnes de sprites à l'écran...Par contre sur Genesis TF4 rame à mort et ça ne dérange personne (moi je préfère largement le 3!). En bref, les pros genesis, arretez votre mauvaise foi. Les pro nintendo, sachez que la genesis est une machine absolument géniale!!! Moi j'ai eu les 2, j'ai adoré ma genesis, j'ai préféré la Snes mais c'est purement subjectif, principalement pour super metroid, chrono trigger, FF6, Axelay, Parodius, Hagane,zelda. Encore une fois, tout est une question de gout! Ces 2 consoles sont 2 sœurs inséparables dont je ne me lasserai jamais :)
Le ralentissement n’a d’importance que lorsqu’il est sur Snes. Comme vous l'avez mentionné à propos de Thunderslow IV, il y avait beaucoup de ralentissements, mais cela n'a jamais dérangé les fans de Genesis. Inclut : Steel Empire, Viewpoint, Twinkle Tale, Mercs, Strider, Pulseman, Midnight Resistance, Jurrasic Park, El Viento, Sonic Spinball... Ce sont quelques-uns des nombreux jeux Sega Genesis qui souffrent de ralentissement, mais nous ne verrons jamais de fanboys se plaindre.
If you must choose, go with the NES version. But ideally, everybody should play both versions. The negativity I hear about the GBC version almost always come from people who had played the NES version before and were expecting a port. If you see the GBC version as its own little game rather than comparing it to the NES version, you'll enjoy it.
I was expecting much better with those. I can't imagine being someone who loved those FMV games on the Sega CD so much that they bought the "upgraded" Saturn version.
I have only seen the box art. I always looked at it when I would rent a game and always skipped over it. The Arcade version looks like a generic version of Black Knight one of my all time fav arcade platformers. The NES version looks pretty good although if no name was given it would not be a great port. It almost looks like a different game entirely. Winner: Arcade I am thankful you show these comparisons man, I do not think I have seen anything other than the box art.. Keep on being badass man!
Thank you as always for watching my friend! The box art is kinda lame on this one so I can see why you'd skip over it. Oh I've never played Black Knight, I wonder if that got any home ports. For this one the NES port looks really nice but is mostly different from the arcade game with only a few aesthetic things in common. Like many NES games I found this to be too hard to be fun, at least as an adult but maybe it would have been more fun as a kid.
Still a better name than one of the games in yesterday's Sega CD vs Saturn video. Mom, can you buy me Gambler Jiko Chuushinha 2: Gekitou! Tokyo Mahjong Land Hen?
Doesn't look bad at all, I've seen this game in lots of vids, compilations etc but never played it. Also that name doesn't exactly roll off the tongue smoothly lol. Great vid!
Lol! I don't know how a kid would even know how to pronounce this game's name to ask for it for a present. This is a really nice looking game for the system and may even be a hidden gem for anyone who likes this genre.
@@RetroComparisonsLess a hidden gem, and more a hot mess of ambition vs. inexperience. EGM gave it a failing grade. And it earned it. But it doesn't have a single ironic or self aware bone in its body, which can add some charm to the cut scenes. And waiting between strikes to gain more power (the secret to beating the first mini boss), or hacking away for rapid but very light damage? Add it to the multiple magic attacks per life (enough to wipe out the first stage's end boss before he can touch you), and you've got a deceptive amount of strategy. There's a great foundation for a game here. It mostly suffers from not respecting sprite limits and an ocassional cheap trap.
I haven't played Astyanax in a long time. I didn't realize there's an arcade version. I rented the NES version though, once maybe twice. I think I liked it. Ha, it's been so long I don't really remember. The graphics are definitely more detailed with a lot more colors in the arcade version. Those are some big characters for a NES game. I kind of prefer the NES version's music. Not sure which is better. Might have to try this out again some time.
This is one of those games where if you play the arcade and NES ports you're really getting 2 very different games. They're both pretty damn difficult which is par for the course I guess on the NES. This has never really been a genre that I love but if you do like this sort of game I think it's definitely worth giving a 2nd (or 3rd) chance.
This was the game that taught me about cel-shading and color relationships between the bright characters and detailed, shaded backgrounds. It really popped in a way few games did back then. It was as close as I'd ever seen to actually playing a cartoon. But it taught me more than that. Thanks to the crippling slowdown and intense sprite flicker, I learned a lot about how to tank performance and controller input response for the sake of a cool visual. I also learned about how to place surprise ambush enemies near bottomless pits. And I survived my first mid-boss gauntlet. That last one was actually a good thing. I love games that schedule rematches and reunions with old friends. And it had my favorite NES maze level of all time. If only more villains would station skeletons outside the right doors to follow, over and over again. It's just so thoughtful a way to sign post to anyone who paid attention. This game might not be anyone's favorite, but it was the very best of the bad to meh tier. I'm glad the man behind it all had a chance to try again with spiritual sequel Legendary Axe.
That first mid-boss was so hard for such an early part of the game. I wonder how many kids couldn't see the rest of the first level. Yeah the colors on this game look amazing but as you said the gameplay pays the price for that. It's pretty brutal and unforgiving but I guess that's a common theme for these NES games. It's good to hear your thoughts on how this ranks with others in the genre because this has never been my type of game so I have no insight into that.
That's an extremely impressive same-year port! The NES maintains the big character sprites and same action while only making moderate sacrifices on the background details. Kudos to the programmers!
I concur. This looks great for a NES game of its era not to mention that it came out the same year as the original. This kind of game is not my cup of tea but it looks like a lot of hard work went into it so I kinda feel bad for the programmers that this seems to be a game lost to time.
Same here. I kind of just assumed most of those FMV games were already starting to become the laughing stock of the gaming industry by the time the Saturn came out. Thanks so much for watching:)
